A/N: Thank you for your ideas/opinions! I've taken them all into consideration as to who will and won't join his crew. Sadly, we won't find everyone in Impel Down-that'd would be a tad too easy, wouldn't you agree? But I have taken all these suggestions to heart-again, thank you so much!-and I have a fair idea of who will join the crew. Look forward, to the Marineford Saga! It's going to be one hell of a ride! As a note, I've changed Mei's bounty, hers is now equal with that of Tayuya's at 400,000,000.

And with that...

...let the continued rebirth of this story finally begin! Sorry if this one is shorter than the others, my muse is being stubborn! Also, a surprise guest makes his appearance in this chapter!

"Well...this is unexpected!"

~Naruto D. Newgate.

Hatred is the Most Powerful Poison

"DIE!"

Tayuya cried out in shock and surprise as the rasenshuriken struck; spreading outward in a roiling dome of shrieking fury. It was like standing in the eye of the hurricane; watching the storm rage around you while you yourself were left unharmed. Naruto stood at the center of it all; his chest heaving in short, angry gasps, rasping with exertion as he lowered his arm to survey his work. Even from here, the redhead could see the burn marks lining his left arm; his sleeve had been obliterated by his own attack, marring the entirety of his wrist and elbow in angry red welts.

"Such power," Mei purred to herself; perversely pleased by their captain's devil fruit display. Tayuya shared her opinion!

Still the explosion swelled, forcing everyone back as its blast radius expanded, striking down annyone fool enough to stand their ground. Pirate, jailor, and blugori alike, each found themselves shredded by the powerful squall; all those fool enough not to currents of heaven itself.

Sasuke gritted his teeth.

"Watch our for the shockwave!"

"Yo!" Bee cackled, "Da boss knows how ta rock and roll! Ya catch my flow?!"

Everyone face-vaulted.

"NO, WE DON'T!"

Gradually the air currents began to abate.

Naruto waved a hand and banished the last blast, leaving nothing but dust and debris in its wake. There was a silence. Tayuya grimaced.

"Well, shit." she tried to whistle, ended up choking on the smoke instead. "You really don't hold back, dont'cha-

Naruto flung an arm outward, barring her path.

"Its not over yet."

Tayuya blinked. Rolled her eyes.

"Whaddya mean its not over?" She asked, incredulous. "You saw that explosion! He'd have to be a fucking monster to have survived-

"Zehahaha...

"That." The words dried up in her throat and her blood turned to ice as she saw a massive form stir within the smoke. Tayuya frowned and Mei alongside her, lips pursing in displeasure as the figure of Marshall D. Teach became visible and apparent to the onlookers.

"You really do pack a punch, Naruto!" Teach's voice cackled as the smoke cleared. "You could've killed me with that just now!"

Teach himself had fared worse than Naruto she saw; much worse. The massive man had lost his coat in the explosion...amongst other things. He was missing most of his right arm and all of his left leg, the wounds had forced him to a knee, his injuries dripping fresh ichor with a steady drip-drip-drip. The rest of his crew lay scattered about the floor like so much refuse, each bleeding from the dozens of wounds inflicted by the Naruto's unholy Rasenshuriken technique. They might live, if they received treatment in time-eh?

To everyone's dismay, the Blackbeard pirates began to pick themselves up.

"Persistent bastards." Tayuya snarled; her words little more than a furious hiss. Naruto wasn't fazed in the slightest. He simply raised his scarred palm again. A second Rasenshuriken burst to life in his hand-growing in size and volume with each passing second. His eyes pulsed a madddened, malevolent red that promised pain a

"I guess I'll have to use my full power this time-

Teach flung his remaining arm forward and opened a hand, fingers splayed and grasping.

"Kurozu!"

This time there was no witty retort; Naruto simply balked as his feet lifted from the floor seemingly against their own volition; leaving his crew to balk as tens of tendrils of darkness hauled him forward. He tried to hurl the Rasenshuriken at Teach as he flew, but the deadly missile buzzed harmlessly overhead and through the air...into Teach's awaiting grasp. To everyone's disbelief, Naruto was grabbed as though he were solid! There was a moment of pained silence as Blackbeard's hand closed around Naruto's neck, hoisting him off the ground and into the air.

"Zehahahaha!" Teach cackled, certain in his triumph. "That's right! You can't use your ability now! Weren't expecting this, were you, Naruto?!"

He punctuated the blonde's name with a devastating drop, slamming the blonde facefirst into the unyielding, scalding floor of Impel Down. There was a sharp snapping sound as he struck the floor, showering everyone in a cloud of dust and upturned stones. Despite his animosity towards the blonde for attacking Blackbeard first, Monkey D. Luffy felt a twinge of sympathy for him at that very moment. Even he would be roliling around on the ground after a hit like that!

"Naruto!" Tayuya shouted!

"Stay back!" Came the strangled reply. "He's mine to finish!"

Luffy thought he was an idot!

Tayuya seemed to share his opinion, her eyes wide with concern...only to relax moments later at the sound of her senchou's voice.

"Don't go scaring us like that, dumbass!" She sighed, dabbing a bead of sweat from her brow. "I was worried!"

"He rules 'em all!" Bee chorused. "The capi'n cannot fall!"

Mei smiled softly.

"As expected of Naruto-kun...

Sasuke smirked as the last of the dust began to clear.

"If he couldn't do at least this much then he wouldn't be worthy of being captain."

Luffy gawped. After seeing this, he was inclined to agree!

"This guy...

Because Naruto hadn't fallen. He was still standing; he'd taken the full brunt of the drop with his legs alone, leaving Teach hunched over him. Unprotected. Vulnerable. Even as Luffy realized that this would be the perfect time to strike, to take a shot at the large man's unprotected back, Naruto swarmed into motion, snapping his neck around, sinking his teeth into Blackbeard's arm. To his credit, Teach didn't release Naruto. That, proved to be a mistake. A fatal mistake, as Naruto used the momentum of his bite to thrash his legs against the ground, bringing his body full circle. Now he was facing Blackbeard.

And his hands were still free.

"For my mother," he hissed.

"Zeha!" Teach sneered and squeezed Naruto's throat even tighter, arrogant in his victory. "What're ya gonna do?! So long as gotta hold of ya, you can't use your Kaze Kaze no mi-

"Dai Sai Rin," (The Largest Ring) Naruto muttered, bringing both hands forward and upward, clenched into fists. Teach had just enough time to glance down, to see the clenched hands-feel them pressing up against his chest before he recognized the technique. Whitebeard's grandson flashed Blackbeard a grin that made the devil look tame. His muscles bulged with unseen power, not the power of his devil fruit, but one just as, if not moreso, deadlier than the rest, surging through his clenched hands and into his unwitting target. He uttered one word and one word only, giving name to a technique that sent a silent shiver of remembrance down Luffy's spine.

"ROKUOGAN."

Teach yowled in pained surprise as a wave of supersonic energy ripped up and through his chest, leaving him outwardly untouched. Inward was another matter. The deadly blast tore through his insides like a hurricane making a massacre of muscle and bone before smashing into the stairwell over yonder. Blood fountained forth between Teach's teeth, pouring down onto the battere blond below, the sudden shock of impact causing his grip to slacken, just for a moment. And in that moment, the very instant of his release, Naruto pounced, cackling madly.

"Oi," Tayuya swallowed, frightened by the sudden change in his behavior. "Is he okay?"

Ping!

Naruto stopped short as a bullet pierced his skull, dissipating harmlessly in a current of wind.

"Protect the captain!" Van Augur snapped, raising his rifle to reload for a second-if not fruiless-line of fire. That proved his first and last mistake; because instead of ending Teach, his comment caused Naruto to turn on him and the rest of the Blackbeard pirates. He was smiling, grinning from ear to ear, his mouth stretched in a rictus of mocking disapproval.

"Ah, ah, ah!" he tittered blackly, "Looks like someone forgot to teach you bitches the pecking order!"

Mei licked her lips in silent approval. Something about this side of Naruto made her blood sing!

Luffy saw only a whirlwind of black and red as the blonde ripped into Blackbeard's men; one moment Burgess was gawping at the flailing form of his captain, the next he was on the ground bleeding, clutching at what'd once been his left leg. Doc Q fared even worse; Luffy didn't see what Naruto did but he did see the doctor's head roll away alongside that of his horse, their expressions transfixied somewhere between horror and sheer disbelief that they'd been killed off so quickly.

"Shouldn't we do something?" Tayuya wondered aloud.

Sasuke shook his head solemnly. "This is vengeance. We will not interfere." He understood full well the state Naruto was in; far be it from him to deny the blond the change to avenge his mother. Whatever Blackbeard'd done to her must've been horrific; because Naruto gave him and his men absolutely no quarter.

Laffite managed to spread his wings and make it into the air, for all the good it did him. Naruto was suddenly above; his fingers closing around those white feathers in a vice. Laughing, he yanked. Hard. Blood spattered the searing cobblestones, steaming amidst the pale man's screams as the now useless appendages flopped away from him to burn amidst the fires of Level Four. A heartbeat later their owner joined them-carroming off the wall to land amidst the fires conjured by the burning vats. Crying in pain, he somehow scrambled back onto the bridge before the blonde blasted him into Blackbeard's rising form.

Marshall D. Teach, having only just now struggled to his feet, found himself driven to the floor yet again-spitting blood as the slight man crashed into him. Neither rose again. All this had happened in the time it took for Van Augur to reload. Naruto backhanded him almost contemptuously, then he turned upon Teach. Impossibly, the massive man was still getting back up. But this time you could see the fear in his eyes, smell the terror emanating from his very soul...

"Damnit, brat!" he hissed at Naruto. "I hate you!"

"You hate the fact that you're powerless to stop me." Naruto advanced upon him now, a black gale stemming from his body. "That you're completely outmatched. Well imagine feeling the way you do now all of the time like I have! Fools!" Sneering, he ripped the hulking captain from his feet and dashed him against the bridge like a rag doll. Once. Twice. Three times. "How do you think my mother Kushina felt...when you ganged up on her in the rain and she had no way out?! Well now its your turn." Snarling he flung him away to join his broken band of pirates. "I hope you enjoy it. Because I sure as hell plan to!"

Gasping, Blackbeard tried to raise his remaining arm.

"Kurozu-

"Kaze no Yaiba!" Naruto roared, opening another rent in Teach's chest before he could enact the gravitational pull. He struck down again and again, and again, and only when he was certain that the boisterous bufoon would not rise again did he finally advance, stalking towards Blackbeard, his fingers closing in for the kill-

"Hydra!"

Naruto's haki prickled in warning; he and his crew flung themselves aside just as a massive beast of pure poison slammed into the walkway they'd recently occupied. The Blackbeard pirates, injured as they were, were not so fortunate. They remained where they were, beaten and broken, unable to retreat as the viscuous creature crashed down around them, dousing them in the lethal liquid.

"Crap, its poison!" Teach yowled, clutching at himself with his remaining arm, gasping as he and his crew swiftly succumbed to its affects. "Damn you, Magellan! And you too Naruto! I won't forget this! Just you wait! I will...I will...

With a gasp he flopped over onto his stomach, unconcsious.

"Think he's playing dead?" Sasuke wondered.

"I wouldn't put it past him." Naruto growled. Then he saw the poison creeping towards them and sighed. Magellan! Of all the times...

"You're going back in your cage, boy!" The warden roared.

Naruto glanced at his first mate.

"Sasuke?"

The Uchiha unsheathed his blade.

"On it."

Magellan staggered half a step forward, alarmed to find a slice of crimson opening on his belly. When did he...? A blur of bloodsoaked black and white appeared in his peripheals, opening another rent in his coat. Uchiha Sasuke skipped backwards, narrowly evading the globs of poison as they spattered from the wound.

"Get him!"

Tayuya raised the flute to her lips and that was all the warden knew. Before he could blink before he could think, he found himself immobilized. A fine mist gathered about his face, searing into his skin, seeping through the deadly coat of poison he wore.

"Damnit Bee!" Naruto spat. "I told you not to touch him!" He drew back his hand, revealing the technique he'd been cradling there all along.

"Chou...

...Odama...

...RASENSHURIKEN!"

Luffy's last sight was of a Rasenshuriken so large it blurred the world white...

...then the whole Level Four simply dissapeared.

A/N: Bwaaaargh! I'm having such a hard time choosing crew members! Shikamaru seems to be an obvious choice for the navigator-almost everyone seems to agree on that one-but from there its fuzzy. It should also be mentioned that Naruto is going to have a fairly large crew, and an even larger ship, possibly bigger than the Thousand Sunny. But hmmm...what to call it and how to write it? I hope you enjoyed this! My damn keyboard keeps acting up, so I apologize for any grammatical errors. The War of the Best is nearly upon us! Look forward to it!

So...in the immortal words of Atlas...

...Review, would you kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview! Its not official yet-depends on what ye think-but its most certainly a surprise!

(Preview)

Sasuke shot Naruto a pointed glare.

"Alright, alright!" The captain flung up his hands in consternation. "I'll let you pick this time!"

"Hn."

The Uchiha permitted himself the smallest of smile as he inspected the surrounding cellblock. Naruto might be a stubborn man at times, but he knew when to take and when to give, the crew what they wanted. His own bloodlust had been satiated by the subsuquent slaughter of Teach and later Magellan, though he suspected both would be back to torment them soon. A man like Magellan wouldn't be trapped in an illusion for long. And Teach...would Magellan's poison truly be enough to kill him? Sasuke held an unspoken sliver of doubt in his soul.

Sasuke wasn't paying any attention to his captains' musings. His attention was riveted on a nearby cell.

"Oi...what's your name?"

The man raised his head, his dour features sharpening in a slight smile.

"Senju...Hashirama."

"'Shoot anything' Tenten."

"Nice ta meetcha, boss!"

"You're not a fruit user?" Sasuke arched an eyebrow, mildly impressed by both the power and accuracy of her shot.

"Nope! The brunette shook her head. "All natural ability right here!" A slight frown marred the features of her face. "That's...not a problem, is it?"

"Of course not!

"Oi oi, aren't you forgetting someone?"

Naruto dodged aside as a wave of golden energy streaked past, tearing a swathe of destruction where he'd been standing mere moments before. Mei gasped in shock.

"But that's-

"Not this guy again!" Tayuya groaned.

They found themselves face to face with a massive mountain of a man, his face hidden in the depths of shadow.

Zaraka Kenpachi, madman of the South Blue, grinned from ear to ear.

"Oi, brat of Whitebeard."

Naruto growled.

"Oh for the love of...I'm not interested in fighting you right now!

Cackling the swordsman brought his blade crashing down!

"I'm not giving you a choice, shitty brat!"

R&R! =D