Allo everybody!

How are you all doing?

GIGANTIC shout out to skfff, radeklegia (XD), Yamajiji, 777torn777, Xenobro (I appreciate it, dude), LeviDragon (really glad to hear that, man. Thanks), Arraia, invoker26, anthonym3 (thank you for your review!), KakeruPB (we'll just have to see 'bout all that. Thank you for reviewing, dude!), firetemplar415 (haha, yeah, looks like that huh), Saiyan prince1 (I appreciate you for still reading my stories. Thank you), lord 7th, Whitest Mania, TheKing91, nibashmangang (welcome, dear reader!), Primarx, champblaze (maybe, haven't thought of that tbh. Thank you), GamerX568, Bakeneko (haha, I'm sorry, dude. My bad), biginferno, Andreas Bass, insanemaelstrom and bumike99. You guys are effing amazing :)

Note: Dark country, like Fire country, is a real country. It is roughly one-third or one-fourth of the total size of Iwagakure, which is pretty big. Even though I've mostly written about the capital and the four regions inside the country, there are also towns and villages inside Darkness. The regions remain but there are still smaller settlements within these regions. I hinted how large Dark country is when Orochimaru spoke about its 'sturdy trees, silver caves, underground gems, rivers, ponds, mountains and hills'. I'm saying this in case I mention a town or village in Dark country.

Also, I will not be writing about the Kage's Summit. Let's just say they agreed to sign the Non-Aggression Pact, that's all. We'll be focusing on Naruto and the Conference of Wealth Nation Daimyos, if ya'll don't mind. My advice is that you don't stick to Snow country's canon story. I said in the first chapter that this story won't follow by canon (not fully).

And lastly, I'm aging up Obito; he's sixteen. Zetsu introduced Obito (or Tobi, in this case) to the Akatsuki and convinced them that 'Madara's' soul was transferred into a younger body. Zetsu has always been reliable and he's also a vital part of the organization, so Nagato didn't question (or care) much, just as long as 'Madara' (or so he's called by only Nagato and Konan) pulls his own weight, and 'Madara' has. The others call him 'Tobi', just so you know. I wasn't able to find a place to fit all of this new info in, not with all the stuff happening and all the stuff going to happen. This is all merely so we can get past Obito being too young.

I apologize for the confusion.

With all that out of the way, let's get right into the story!

Enjoy…

CHAPTER 21

-There were two of them now.

Naruto lowered his stance, grasping the head cleaver with trembling hands. Blood profusely poured out from his left brow, from the blow to his temple his best friend had given him. The black haired boy panted, reaching and dragging for every morsel of air to enter his lungs.

He was spent.

"What have you done to Granny?!" he bellowed to the twin monsters hovering high in the air.

The black and white scaled dragons rumbled with laughter. The black one looked to the white and tittered in a hauntingly deep voice. "He wants to know, he wants to know~"

"She sold us the amulet and left."

"She…" Naruto stammered, wavering to and from doubt and disbelief. "She would never-" he stopped as the hulking black dragon placed a clawed hand to his chest and the amulet seeped out of from his scaly chest.

The Eye of Yami.

The head cleaver fell from Naruto's hands and he collapsed onto his knees. "Granny…why…?"

The white dragon, a fractured, more serious copy of the black, tutted. "Humans will do anything for money, so it seems, so it seems~"

Naruto now felt like his battle with the black dragon had been all for naught.

Granny had encouraged him to fight for the sake of the world, for he was the only one that can seal away the dark evil his father had accidently unleashed, but now she…

She stole the amulet

…From him…

"I told you boy." Black dragon said with a satisfied, raspy exhale, blowing out deadly heat from the corners of his mouth as he spoke. "Humanity is a doomed project. Mass extinction is their only salvation. I was wrong to create such…filth. I shall now rectify my mistake, I shall, I shall~"

The two dragons, one a copy and other a Kami, watched, intrigued, as Naruto clasped his right hand around the handle of the legendary head cleaver, sliding it towards him as he stood up and perched the massive weapon onto his shoulder, having to bend his knees to accommodate the weight of the sharp slab of demon steel and his relatively short stature.

Naruto's black hair covered his eyes and his coal black eyes swirled dangerously.

He felt a sharp tug in the pit of his gut.

Then a sharp yank.

Fire welled up within him.

"I will not let you…no matter how detestable humans can be…there is still hope."

The white clone tutted. "Stubborn this one is, he is, he is~"

The black Kami shook his head and flapped his wings harder, forcing the red clouds in the sky to part to show the pale moon. "I have given you the chance to redeem yourself, to serve by my side and to aid me in forming new life for this waste land of a universe. I now realize…" the dragons head lowered and his beady yellow eyes burned with disgust. "You are nothing…but a waste of Sister Yami's hope. Give it to me." he ordered, gnashing his teeth powerfully and roaring. "Give it to me now!"

The young man, chosen to be the champion to the slumbering goddess of the underworld and the bearer of her hope for humanity, glared up at the dragon, fearless and vengeful. "Come and get it, ya lizard."

All of his trails flashed through his head and the heat in his belly turned into a smouldering furnace.

Naruto leaped up as the black dragon's long neck curled back. The reptile's wings opened wide and the heavens moaned.

A beam of light buzzed out of the moon, whizzing over the dragons head and zipping towards the lad shooting up towards his scaly adversary-

"Lord Naruto."

Naruto frowned ever so slightly and grunted, looking up from his novel to the person that had called his name. Kisame Hoshigaki, bowed and pointed a few dozen metres forward.

"We're almost near the train station."

"Ah," Naruto hummed, smoothing out his facial features into a brief smile. He ear marked his page and snapped the book close, stashing the small, thick back story book into the large sleeves of his ceremonial cloak. "So it seems."

Their group had been walking for some miles now, choosing to slow down their speed once they crossed Hot Water and into the shared territory of the Hot Water village country and Snow country. The Leader had been reading one of the few novels he had borrowed from the library.

Tale of the Gutsy Shinobi.

He patted down the place on his wrist he had pushed the book into, making sure that the seal had swallowed the book completely and didn't leave any lump.

The BLAK operatives that had been concealing their presences seemed to come into existence about twenty feet from Naruto in all sides, marching around their masked Leader in a cross cube formation, where Bat and the rest of the black ops body guards marched in an eight-pointed diamond formation. Kisame and Kushina were in the middle and Naruto was safely nestled in the middle.

The only sounds that could be heard was the shuffle of feet on the tarmac road, snow fell down from the sky, blanketing the surroundings in thin snow but not enough to prevent them from seeing the path ahead. Naruto tilted his head to the side and peered over his shoulder, breaking the silence.

"Hey, Kushina, wanna make a bet?"

The girl trooping close behind him furrowed her eyebrows at the sudden question, then shrugged. "Sure."

Naruto faced front again and spoke to the blue skinned ninja close in front of him. "What about you Kisame? You seem like a betting man. Want to join in?"

The shark man scratched his gilled neck and he did a quick mental conversation with his sentient sword on whether or not he should make a bet with the fastest man on the planet. Kisame then answered, reluctant. "…Depends."

"What are we betting on?" Kushina chimed in again.

"How many times we're going to be attacked while we're in Snow country." Naruto chuckled at the invisible way the shoulders of his black operatives tensed and the way Commander Bat's ears twitched, turning her head fractionally and keeping an ear on what Naruto was saying to Kisame and Kushina. He was almost tempted to ask his wife, while she was on duty, whether she wanted to get in on the bet as well. Kushina flexed her fingers; anticipating on such attack to happen any second and Kisame grit his teeth, not liking how terse the air suddenly became.

The Leader laughed and kept on walking in a leisurely stride, his hands to his sides and the long, wide sleeves hiding his hands to just his fingertips.

"Just to make this journey more fun."

Kushina cleared her throat. "Well…how many times do you think you'll be attacked?"

"We." Naruto corrected. "And I'll say…two times. What about you?"

The cautious redhead tried to shed of her rising apprehension at the confidence her uncle had in them being attacked, black ops included, being attacked, mirroring the carefree about him. "I'll go for three."

"Kisame?"

"I'm going with Kushina; three."

"Let me be clear," Naruto said, smiling lightly. "Within Snow country borders, while we are here for this mission, and during the duration of one week."

"Direct or indirect attacks?" his niece asked.

Naruto waved his hands. "Oh the other Leader's might come at me with verbal attacks and indirect attacks, that one doesn't count." Indirect attacks themselves couldn't really be classified as attacks, just prodding at the patience of the victim. "I mean direct attacks, including traps, suicide bombs, bandits, hired killers, bounty hunters, missing ninjas, the Leaders and/or their subordinates coming themselves…stuff like that."

A country such as Snow and for an event like the first Conference of Wealth Nation Daimyos, the Snow Daimyo was meant to clear the path for the other Wealth Nation Daimyos so as to prevent any such attacks that Naruto had spoken of. The meeting was meant to broach peace among the four wealthy nations and as it was the first then it was doubly important to not allow any little inconvenience reach the invited leaders.

For this reason, Bat and her subordinates were bothered by the amount of detail in the bet.

"What about poisoning our food?"

"For that one, I or Bat will be the primary targets, and I doubt Bat is going to eat anything this country gives her." The Commander looked back forward with a muted huff, knowing that what her husband was saying was true; she wasn't going to touch a morsel of food in Snow country, but the same courtesy couldn't be extended to Naruto, for at some point he and the other Leaders would have to dine together. "Don't worry about me; I'm immune to poisons."

"H-How?" Kisame stammered, almost tripping on his own feet.

"It might be because of how long I fought Hanzo way back when, or it could be for another reason…"

"Which is…?" Kushina poked for more Intel.

Naruto smirked. "I'm wagering five thousand ryu."

This time Kisame did indeed stumble in his step.

Kushina out right fell onto her face.

"Five thousand?!"

Naruto hummed, pleased with their reactions. "Shouldn't be too hard for you two, right?"

Their shocked reactions were spot on.

Five thousand of Dark country's ryu was a lot of money; it could afford a full weekend stay in the famous Sunagakure Beach Resort and a whole new seasonal wardrobe.

The exchange rate of Naruto's country's ryu was very high; it was higher than a great chunk of the continents few currencies and it was in such high demand that at some time in the past, Suna and Kiri had adopted the use of Dark country's ryu in their own economies, which meant that they were now just called ryu among the three shinobi settlements. Uzushio was making headway in adopting the currency and River was sending a delegation to Naruto and his National Bank to start the process of introducing the Dark country ryu to their country.

It was similar to what Snow, Kumo and Iwa were doing, where the three shinobi settlements used only one currency, which had originally been Snow's.

To put it into perspective, the Dark country ryu was more valuable that Fire country ryu, and the latter currency was the most common, most used on the continent.

It was most likely that when a person in a market somewhere on the continent wanted to buy something and the trader gave the price without providing a specific kind of ryu, simply saying '100 ryu', then it was Fire country's currency they were referring to.

Within Naruto's first five years of leading, he had surpassed Suna's currency (Fire country ryu) and after another five years, Kiri followed suit. Presently they were just passing Uzushio (Fire country ryu) and nearing River's (Also Fire country ryu).

It had taken Naruto and Rasa several weeks to reach an agreement on Suna primarily using Naruto's currency, while not making it look like Naruto's country was annexing Suna, and both Leader's reached an agreement; for every exchange of money in the market within Suna, Dark country had a five percent stake that would be wired to their bank in full at the end of each month but if Suna was the one trading with Darkness, then there was no such stake. In essence, there were millions of ryu being funnelled into the Dark country National Bank every month from Suna.

This wasn't a handicap for Suna, because now that they were using Dark country ryu instead of their own, buying and selling outside of their country became much easier and less expensive.

The value of Suna's oil, gas and coal shot straight to the top, above Swamp oil, above Hot Water village gas and above Kiri's coal.

It was also because of their ryu that Suna could cancel their loan being taken from Darkness and were now in the process of paying back what they had already loaned and spent, which was seven point five billion ryu in total.

Rasa had never been so satisfied with his alliance with Naruto's country.

He wore a smile for weeks, hidden under his turban, of course.

Kiri took a leaf out of Suna's book and Naruto spent more weeks going back and forth with Kiri's Mizukage at that time, Gengetsu Hozuki. Their agreement was a copy of Suna's with Darkness and the benefits came rolling in soon after; more businesses sprang up in their country, people were building more houses and thus attracting tourists.

It was through Dark country's ryu that they were gradually recognized as a wealthy nation. There was a constant, gradually increasing demand for their ryu from non-allies to known Dark Traders; the buyers would use the currency they wanted and request for Dark country ryu as change, or outright ask the traders to change their ryu to Darkness's own. Even though Fire country's ryu was still the most commonly used, Dark Ryu was a precious currency that was growing in popularity.

Not many people knew what was going on inside of Naruto's country but many people could feel the ripple effect of the currency of Naruto's country outside of Darkness.

Dark Ryu, as at the end of the war, was now the second most valued currency, right behind Snow's.

One of the talking points in the meeting, proposed by the Chill Leader, would be on how a shinobi like Naruto, who used to be seen as someone that only lived to fight, could take a country like Darkness, which was being torn apart by the Civil War and the Second War simultaneously, bring the country out of the gutter and dart all the way into the Wealth Nation listing after twenty two years, all of which no one outside of their allies knew what was happening inside.

It was…unfathomable.

The five percent coming in from the two Great Ninja villages every month, the Suna loan being paid back, Darkness's separate investments into Suna's natural resources and the Uzushiogakure Fuinjutsu Research, the bi-annual returns from Dark and Dark born traders outside of the country, the nice and tidy profit from missions Naruto's ninjas went and succeeded in-still maintaining their ninety nine percent success rate-, and also adding the small cut workers paid from their salary as Country Tax contributed to why living in Dark country was so comfortable.

There really wasn't any way for anyone to live in poverty in Dark country.

There wasn't much to be dissatisfied about.

The people were loyal and obedient to the hierarchy and even if there were who doubted the Leader and his faithful council some-which there weren't-, it was still hard to fault Naruto.

The masked blonde pushed his glasses up his nose as he hid his smirk; Darkness was slowly dominating while maintaining its secrecy.

Naruto's shimmering smile radiated as Kisame and Kushina's eyes steeled over.

"You're on, Uncle Ruto." Naruto raised his hand for their procession to stop and he turned around, shaking his nieces hand firmly. He turned to Kisame and did the same.

"May the best man win." Kisame said with a wide, toothy smirk and Naruto, closing his eyes and releasing the other man's hand said to both of them.

"I'm feeling lucky."

Naruto nodded for them to continue walking.

After a few minutes of walking, they could spot the train station a short distance from them and they also saw a radiant young woman standing in front with a large group of armour wearing men and women.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Koyuki Kazahana, twenty years old, stood at the front of the entrance to the train station.

The woman had black hair with bangs swept to both sides of her face and violet-blue eyes. She wore a lime green kimono with wispy white swirls of snowy wind designs blowing delicately on the back, white socks that reached her knees and low heeled sandals.

Her eyes raptly watched the group of people approaching the country, keeping track of the ninjas she had been assigned by her uncle to escort into the country.

She purposely overlooked the eight animal mask wearing shinobi on the outside of the formation, and honed in on the three individuals nestled in their middle.

One was a large man with blue skin and unmoving gills on both sides of his neck. He was the one taking point in the middle. This man had black hair that spiked upwards, tied that way by his dark blue hitaite. He was as muscular as he was tall. He had three sets of curved facial markings under his eyes and coal black eyes with a white sclera. As he spoke, she could spot the man's shark-like teeth. He was wearing a dark sleeveless shirt and black ninja pants with white bandages winding down and wrapped around his black sandaled feet; this was standard gear for members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. In addition to all that, he was wearing a black and white Dark country jounin vest.

There was also the ominously lifeless bundle of bandages on his back.

She didn't need to be a sensor to feel the amount of blood lust curling out from the tall shark man.

Even as he suppressed it, she still felt a small chill on her spine.

The person at the inside back of the formation was red hair woman about her age. Her hair was straight, long and untangled, falling down her shoulders to her lower back but tied up as a ponytail, leaving just two fang-like bangs to fall down each side of her face to her chin. The redhead wore only dark purple lipstick that complimented her deep, enticing purple eyes and her pale skin. She wore a short sleeved black shirt, black shorts that reached her knees and red ninja grade tights with blue shinobi sandals. The Kunoichi had lean, tight muscles, which could easily be mistaken for no muscles if she was to wear civilian garb.

Koyuki wasn't deceived.

She knew the lithe Uzumaki woman, though carrying herself with a bounce in her step and glittering eyes after the person she was directly behind, could crush heads with one hand.

The red haired tomboy had a single sword strapped to her back.

Koyuki noticed the glow of adoration the two ninjas had for the man in their middle, the redhead's admiration was more pronounced and Kisame's was toned down to a perpetual bow if he so much as looked over his shoulder to the man walking behind him.

Koyuki had read about both jounin Dark ninjas.

They had their own individual entries in a few Bingo Books, so they were fairly infamous.

The Red Reaper, Kushina Uzumaki.

The Sea Monster of Dark country, Kisame Hoshigaki.

The last person Koyuki's violet-blue eyes looked at was one of the most feared, most respected and most dreaded person on the planet.

TheGhost, Naruto.

Also known as the Leader of Dark country, who walked right in the middle of his security detail.

The man had a hair of wild blonde hair, tucked under his white and black wide brimmed hat. There was a plain black half mask over his lower face and he wore a white ceremonial robe that had bubbling black mist designs at the bottom of his robes reaching his knees and on his sleeves reaching his elbows. If he turned around, she suspected that on his back would be the kanji for Darkness, much like how the kanji was on the tip of the Leader's hat perched on his head.

Naruto had serene sky blue eyes and a calm, kind disposition about him.

There was also a distinct warmth about him, one that eased her hidden nerves and soothed her festering rage against her murderous uncle.

It reminded her of her father…

Koyuki closed her eyes and centred herself once again as the procession reached her.

The prototype Chakra Armour wearing ninjas behind her, twenty in total, snapped into attention and saluted to the newly arrived Leader. The BLAK guards at the front parted slightly for Naruto to slide past Kisame and enter the front to stand directly in front of the black haired woman specifically charged to welcome him into the country. Koyuki stood at the front of the rigid Snow ninjas, before the Dark Leader, and bent forward, bowing deeply with her eyes respectfully lowered.

"Lord Naruto of Dark country, my name is Koyuki Kazahana and I was sent here by Lord Doton to escort you into the country." the cold expression of her face seemed to irk Kushina and the Uzumaki silently narrowed her eyes.

Koyuki straightened up and forced herself not to allow the serene gaze of the blue eyes Leader to throw off her stoic expression.

"I had thought you would come in a carriage, Lord Naruto. I hope the journey was not too stressful for you." She bowed again after her polite inquiry, this time only slightly.

"Oh no, fresh air, cool breeze and good company is much better than being cramped in a carriage, don't you think?" the Leader answered.

"So you say, Lord Naruto, but the weather is not so favourable here."

Naruto smirked. "We're used to the cold."

"Of course, Lord Naruto. Now," she turned and motioned to the entrance of the purposefully vacant train station. "If you'll follow me, I will take you to Lord Doton."

Naruto gestured to her. "If you don't mind."

The Snow soldiers pushed open the doors for Koyuki and Naruto to enter, Kushina, Kisame and the other guards flooded inside quickly.

That particular train station was devoid of other life because the Snow Daimyo had ordered his people and any visitors to not go there, for the Leader of Darkness to not be stressed by their presence. The same could be said about the road Naruto and his guards used to travel on once they entered the shared territory between Snow and Hot Water.

"Kazahana huh." Naruto wondered aloud, striding beside the woman towards the awaiting train. The steam locomotive was a masterpiece of gleaming silver and gold metal. The woman looked at him from the corner of her eyes, her face was neutral. "I've heard that name before…"

"I'm an actress."

Naruto snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "Yes, you do theatre plays, right?" she nodded. "I read about you in the newspaper some days ago; it said you started acting on television recently. Princess Gale, or something like that."

"That is…correct." She answered; a curiously raised eyebrow broke through her expressionless face. "Have you…not seen any of my movies…?"

"No, I prefer reading." He answered her honestly. "I mostly watch movies with the Mrs from time to time."

Koyuki coughed into her fist, affronted that he hadn't seen any of her-relatively-few movies and relieved that for a change she wasn't being fawned over for being a rising star actress. Scores of people were throwing themselves at her feet irrespective of their marital status. She even had a growing fan base in Fire country. Her offense at not being easily recognized by a figure as influential as Naruto took over and she asked, out of curiosity whilst maintaining a stony face. "What kind of movies do you and 'the Mrs' watch, Lord Naruto?"

The man easily ignored the shaded, unheard snarkiness in her tone. "Horror, thriller, mystery…anything heart pumping." Bat felt a smile inch up her masked face. "Romance movies…just aren't for us, Lady Koyuki."

Koyuki sniffed, yet another thing the man beside her had wriggled up from her cold façade. "I don't find that surprising; a man of your…gruesome past…might not know what romance is. 'The Mrs' might not even have a say in what to like or dislike in your household."

Naruto chuckled and lifted his hand, stilling Bat as the Commander looked over her shoulder to Koyuki with a dark, soul chilling glare. There was no physical change in the black ops but Naruto could sense the rising heat bubbling inside them. Kisame grit his teeth and Kushina clenched her fists, cracking her knuckles as her lips twitched down. The actress's tipped her chin up at the sudden drop in the temperature.

"I-I was merely voicing an opinion." She said with a small stammer, clearing her throat and ensuring her steps didn't falter. Naruto's head snapped around and he narrowed his eyes at Kushina, making sure the red haired woman didn't voice the insult burning on the tip of her tongue.

"Well, Lady Koyuki, that opinion was somewhat offensive." Naruto tutted and pushed his glasses up his nose, walking onto the train. "I could have poked at how 'Princess Gale' is a stereotypical damsel in distress, or how more than half of your appearances on the theatre is to act as a princess of some sort marrying 'the most unlikely of peasants out of love' despite your parents disagreeing and antagonizing the union. It all ends happily ever after, the end. I could have also made fun of how you insulting my household, me and my wife's preference in films, and saying that my 'gruesome past' makes me a domineering person is a reflection of how your uncle murdered your father just so he can take the throne, thereby giving you a 'gruesome past' and a pitiable present because you don't have a reasonable, effective say in anything. But I didn't say that," Naruto said with a uncaring shrug, turning around as they stopped before a private room in the train, looking to the silently glaring woman. "Did I?"

Kushina snickered into her hand and Kisame screwed his lips to the side, stifling his laughter.

Koyuki's coldly stared at the man; her father's murder wasn't a close kept secret. It was one of those things no one wanted to talk about, mainly because Doton was a powerful Daimyo and Snow was the first, wealthiest nation on the continent.

It wasn't exactly news to know that Doton was a cold, ruthless and calculating man who wore a mask of pleasant and genial warmth. The man could easily kill his brother by his own hands, as he would order his soldiers to assassinate a village in his country under the vague suspicion of them planning to overthrow him.

Doton might have an ulterior motive for arranging the meeting.

Naruto hummed with a smile as he suspected he had hit the nail on the head and effectively destabilized the actress.

Koyuki degrading him, Sueki and his household was meant to incite him and affect his mood throughout until the meeting of the other Wealth Nation Daimyos, where Naruto would take out his inability to answer to what Koyuki thought was the truth on his fellow country Leaders. The meeting would erupt, no agreements would be reached and the continent would be severely stunted as the mutual neutrality the fourth wealthy nations enjoyed would tip towards open antagonism. Koyuki must have been told numerous times that her beauty and her words could make even the most boisterous man mute.

The woman's first failure in thinking that her shaded words would get to Naruto.

Her second failure was thinking Naruto wouldn't reply in kind.

Her last failure was in thinking that Naruto gave a rat's ass of what she thought about him, his wife, his house or even his country.

The actress could think all she wanted that her cold and stony façade and her subtle, stinging words would touch a nerve and make the meeting of the Leaders fall in on itself, but that wasn't true.

Naruto could read her like a book.

Anyone else might have fallen prey to the obvious-for him-prod at their temper but Naruto had spent years before returning to Darkness reading situations and studying people, the reason then was to know the best way to kill them, frame them for a crime or to craft plans on the battlefield.

Emotions on the field were something Naruto didn't feel.

Now that Naruto was the Leader of a whole country, he used those skills to read people so as to dissolve a situation or properly address it.

The real question on Naruto's mind, as he maintained eye contact with the stoic actress, was her reason for wanting to extinguish the meeting that would aid in preserving long term peace on the continent.

Her uncle, the Daimyo, certainly wasn't the one that send her; Doton had lost too many ninjas in the war to want it to continue.

Was it to spite her uncle for killing her father?

To ruin the Snow Daimyo's search for peace on the continent by ruining the first Conference of Wealth Nation Daimyos set up by Doton himself.

Destroy what her uncle had so painstakingly done in revenge for what he had taken from her?

Then there would be continued collateral damage, right?

Naruto cocked his head to the side and his eyes bored deep into Koyuki's soul, pushing aside the cold exterior and finding the whimpering child within her, the one that wanted to avenge her father but was too weak to do so by herself. He glanced down to her hands and saw the small callouses on her palms, meaning she had been working with a weapon recently and he picked up her there was a nick on her palm, an injury only an inexperienced weapon user could sustain.

It looked new too.

Her body type and the fact that there were less callouses on her left hand than her right told him that the weapon was a single dagger.

The Leader of Darkness didn't need to have his Assassination Techniques to pick up those minute details.

Naruto was just good at observing, keeping a cool head and acting decisively.

He had to hand it to her; at the very least, out of the rest of the Leader's she tried to manipulate it was him. Maybe she thought he was as blood thirsty as most Ghost Stories portrayed him as, and so he wouldn't think twice to burn the meeting to hell, or maybe she assumed Naruto gave a damn.

He didn't.

For all of that, it took the masked blonde five short seconds to analyse, unknown to his security detail and the armour wearing Snow shinobi around. He asked, throwing Koyuki off even more than he already had. "Does this room have a TV?"

"…No."

"Ah…too bad." He reached into his sleeve and pulled out the novel he had been reading before; The Tale of the Gutsy Shinobi. "This'll have to do for now."

The woman sniffed petulantly and pointed at the door behind Naruto. "This would be your private room until we reach Light City." Three BLAK ninjas from Team Twelve rushed into the room and swept the place down for bugs and traps, finding none. "We will be there in an hour, thirty minutes. Lunch will be here in ten minutes. Please, make yourself comfortable."

Naruto nodded to her in genuine appreciation. "Thank you."

Koyuki wordlessly swept around and went somewhere else on the train, probably her own private room to blow off some steam. Her soldiers followed her, casting baleful looks to the Leader.

The blonde watched them go, his fists on his hips and a slight smile on his masked face. "Nice girl, that one."

Kushina scoffed and entered the room, perching herself on a seat. "She clearly wanted you to bow to her, uncle." Naruto entered the room as the black ops vanished from sight but not from detection, positioning themselves outside of the room in different places. Kisame, staying in visible sight, stood outside of the door and closed it as soon as Naruto sat down. The blonde Leader chose not to comment on the thumb up Bat sent Kushina before the older Kunoichi went to her position. "Kisame and I will take turns staying in her. I've got the first forty five minutes."

The Leader sat down neatly, making sure not to rumple or crinkle his ceremonial robe, flicked his right hand in front of him and craned his down slightly to read his novel.

Kushina fidgeted in her seat, shakily unstrapping her sheathed katana from her back and placing it on the seat. The quiet redhead drummed her fingers on her knees, using her right pointer finger to scratch her cheek and humming, casually throwing her eyes about the private compartment.

Naruto's blue eyes peered up from his book and he raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

The Uzumaki played with the ends of her black shorts, lowering her head and peeking up at her uncle through her bangs. "I was…wondering…?"

"…Yes?"

"Can I…sit next to you…?"

The blonde rolled his eyes and shrugged, dipping his eyes back to his book. "Sure."

Kushina leaped out of her place across from him and plopped down next to Naruto. The man didn't show any visible reaction and Kushina took this as a good thing, pursing her purple painted lips and nonchalantly tucking a stray strand of her red hair over her ear. She shifted a little closer to Naruto and the man didn't seem to notice. Kushina fist mentally pumped herself at the small achievement, pushing all the explosive happiness deep down into the bottom of her gut, making sure her quivering smile wasn't too wide.

Kushina scooted closer again and Naruto turned another page of his book.

She shuffled closer; almost close enough for their thighs to touch and Naruto briefly looked sideways, then went back to reading.

She hopped to the side and placed her hands on her burning cheeks as their thighs rubbed together.

"Ah, Kushina?"

She shook off the haze floating about in her head and muttered. "Hm, yes?"

Naruto's neck turned to the darkly blushing redhead. "Are you feeling alright? You're a little…close…"

"You…don't like it…?" she asked hesitantly and Naruto slowly earmarked his place in the novel and placed it down onto his knee.

After he and Sueki had their first night together as a couple, Naruto became a little more perceptive of when a person was infatuated with him. Amara Chui-Inku and Nanako Hogo first jumped out to him when he had spoken to them. He noticed the peculiar way they addressed him, their body language around him and their sharp change in their manners once he entered the room. There wasn't utter lust or perverse desires swimming in their eyes or their actions but real, sincere love.

He wasn't sure why.

Soon after realizing that a good chunk of his people like him that way he took notice of Kushina's attitude; her mother said that she was a whirlwind of red energy, a boyish girl, a loud mouth and a glutton. Tamaki Uzumaki, Kushina's mother, also told Naruto that the very first day she had worn a 'fancy' dress was when Naruto had first visited Uzushio.

Naruto chalked it up to a childish crush.

He didn't want to call it hero worship because that sounded insulting.

Most children around her age held that sort of crush for him; Naruto waved it off and told himself it would pass as she grew older.

Kushina became more comfortable around her, bringing out her real character traits like being a loud mouthed tomboy that loved food. Her infatuation stayed as she got older, and daresay she was more open with it.

He would have to blind and deaf to not know.

When she was fifteen and came out as a lesbian, Naruto purposely chose to forget that Kushina ever had a crush on him and treat her as he always had treated her.

She still crushed on him.

Naruto resigned himself that since she bore those feeling since she had first heard his story that liking Naruto as more than an uncle-figure was something she couldn't so easily discard.

It wasn't that Naruto didn't want to like Kushina that way, even if she referred to him as her uncle and she his niece for fifteen years now, the blonde man wanted to respect Kushina's sexual preferences and not push himself on her.

Kushina was a good girl.

Putting her in a situation that was uncomfortable for her was something he wanted to avoid, but now that she was at the peak of her infatuation, he wanted her to speak her feelings.

Put it all out there.

After doing so, she would look into herself and see if she still wanted to go further.

Naruto slipped his book into his sleeve and fully looked at her. "Kushina…"

The woman jumped as she noticed he was giving her his whole attention. "Uncle?"

"What's wrong?"

Her lips wobbled in embarrassment and the blush spread over her nose increased, turning her whole face red. "I-I don't know-" she stopped as Naruto looked at her factedly, non-verbally telling her that there was definitely something she wanted to say. "U-U-Uhm…"

The man slowly smiled, a light, airy expression that eased the tension out of Kushina's pores, lowering her shoulders and forcing a frustrated exhaled from her lips.

"Uncle…I-I-I…" her fist clenched the ends of her shorts and she bent her head forward, closing her eyes tightly and gritting her teeth, bracing herself for disappointment. "Uncle…I-I…I love you."

Naruto remained patiently silent, wanting her to get everything out of her system. The warmth ebbing from him eased more words from Kushina.

"I've…I've always loved you, uncle." She continued, her head lowered in submission, fearing that if she looked up she would see the disapproval in her uncles eyes. "Ever since my momma first told me about you…and-and how amazing you were. I-…Uncle, I liked you so much. At first…when I was a kid and momma told me Ghost Stories…I liked you as the Ghost, dattebane," she laughed quietly, pitying the poor, desperate image she was portraying to her idol. Now and back then. "But then I got to live with you, and-and with Auntie Su, and you-you stopped being the Ghost. You were just…just…" she looked up at him for the shortest of moments, tears swimming in her purple orbs and her fingers painfully closed around the ends of her shorts. Her chest tightened as she saw the friendly smile being directed at her, bowing her head down again. "You became…my Uncle Ruto…dattebane."

The blonde man still didn't speak.

"You became my…my super cool, super awesome, s-super supportive uncle and I liked you even more." Her right hand gripped her chest and she felt a tear drop onto her knee. "Then I started…liking you even more. I started having all these complicated feelings; I like, y'know…but I still like you…. I-I think I fell in love with you, completely, wh-when you didn't judge me for…for…you know…"

Naruto blinked and his smile became lopsided.

"I…Uncle, I can't get rid of these feelings. I've tried. I tried my hardest to stop loving you…that way…but-but," she looked up at him, the tears were now freely falling down her pale cheeks, her purple eyes quivering and searching his for even a sliver of disgust. "It didn't work. Nothing's worked. I…I can't hold back these feelings for you anymore; I need to tell you how I feel, dattebane." She ducked back down and mumbled sadly, already regretting all the words she had just said. "You…you must be disgusted of me, Uncle."

The man sighed with a quiet laugh and gently threw his left arm over her shoulder, bringing her in for a side hug. The shaking woman instinctively wrapped her arms around his midsection and pressed her face into his chest, having to fully slide onto his lap and sit sideways to do so. She closed her eyes and absorbed as much heat from her idol as possible, trying to control her breathing. The man chuckled at how much she looked like her younger self at that moment, when she had first started living with him and Sueki; insecure, unsure of each step she took and shy.

Kushina too felt like a child, sitting on his lap and fighting for his warmth.

"...You kept all of this bottled up in you, Nana." Naruto said in a low voice. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

The girl pouted and nestled her head under his chin. "You're married. You're happy and Auntie is happy." She said in a subdued tone. "I didn't want to be a home wrecker."

"What changed?"

"Auntie Su said…she said…" here Kushina blushed harder than she ever had in her life. Naruto felt sorry for his tomboyish niece. "S-She said…it was ok and that I should 'shoot my shot'" a larger than life, shaking smile slid up the flushed woman's face and her hands tightened around him as her uncle's head fell back into a rumbling laugh; yes, that did sound like something his wife would say, he thought and wiped a stray tear from his right eye. "She said we can…share you."

A large sweat drop slid down the side of Naruto's face as he laughed. "She said that huh."

"Mhmm." The feeling of being hated for bearing those feelings gradually left her, but the insecurity remained. "I…Uhm…if you don't mind…can we try and be a-a-a couple…just for this week, while we're in Snow." She sat up and looked at him in his eyes, there was a slight red at the corners of her eyes from her previous crying. She hastily wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and returned them around Naruto's midsection, fearing that any longer and he would lose him. "If-If you don't like me that way after this week…then we can go back home to Darkness and-and-and…and we can forget about this whole thing."

Naruto placed a hand on Kushina's head and he slowly ran it through her hair, soothingly rubbing the back of her head and eliciting a satisfied purr from his niece. She cozied up close to him with a content smile, awaiting his answer. And an answer he provided. "Alright, let's try it."

A wave of joy rushed into Kushina and her body finally loosened for the wound up tension, relaxing into her uncle's chest.

Finally.

She'd confessed and she wasn't shot down.

She giggled, pleased.

She swore to herself to put her whole heart and soul into that week with her long time crush. If not, then she would at least still have her memories.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

At that same time

The Lady's Royal Garden,

The Fire Daimyo's Palace,

Fire country capital,

Fire country

Lady Wakono, Daimyo of Fire country, lifted her cup of tea to her lips and sipped daintily, setting it back down onto the saucer. She in an intricately, delicately carved open-walled tea house, sitting on a seat instead of kneeling on a cushion and clothed in a casual red and white kimono, one that was free and unrestrictive though did not hide the amount of power she had in the country.

Her two attendants stood outside of the tea house, and dozens of her guards-samurai and ninja alike-patrolled up and down the illustrious garden, where flowers and foliage of all kinds and colours bloomed in controlled coordination.

Some gardeners were at work, sprinkling water onto the bushes and shearing off the excesses.

Mornings like this were Wakano's precious time.

She had the opportunity to sit in this sweetly smelling place, look out the symphony of colour and enjoy a fresh cup of green tea and a few pieces of toast.

The immaculately beautiful Fire Lady exhaled with a small smile.

A maid rushed up the walkway and skidded onto her knees before her mistress. Wakono frowned and said. "What is it?"

"My Lady Wakono, I am sorry to disturb you during this time," the maid began and the Daimyo waved off the apology, sipping her tea and motioning for the older woman to speak. "Master Minato is here. He seeks your audience."

Wakono hummed as she dropped the cup back onto the small saucer, dabbing at her cheeks with an embroided white handkerchief. "Send him in."

The maid walked back with quick, clipped steps and two minutes later, Minato was escorted into the garden and to the tea house by a different maid, this one looked younger than the one that had first come but bore familial resemblance to her.

The blue eyed man still had his jounin vest casually thrown open, intentionally looking dishevelled.

Wakono swept her eyes over the man's form, then she smirked and snapped her fingers. A chair was placed across from the tea table and the Daimyo flicked her wrist to Minato. The shinobi sat down on the seat and silently looked at her.

A deadly smirk cracked onto her tan face and her eyes darkened dangerously. "Is this really how you should present yourself before your Daimyo, Namikaze?"

"I'm not in the mood, Wakono." Minato said, looking down at his clothes.

"I should have you executed for the causal way you are addressing me." she said frostily as she sipped her tea, pushing a cup of tea towards the blonde across from her. "But I'm a merciful mistress, I shall overlook your manners for today." she frowned when all she got was a subdued nod. "You're not your usual self today; my words would have gotten at least some sort of snarky response from you."

Minato looked at his cup of green tea and he frowned at his reflection. "The truth…the real truth…I encountered it."

"Oh?"

"Wakono," Minato said and meshed his fingers together before him, saying in a serious voice. "I would like to see my collection."

The woman paused mid-sip, peering at the man across from her. She slowly dropped her cup, her eyebrows furrowed as she saw nothing in his eyes; merely a soulless, empty, hollow gaze of a vacant corpse. Goosebumps rose up on her sleeved forearms and she frowned, saying in a less formal, more concerned voice. "This look in your eyes…what are you planning, Namikaze?"

The Namikaze shook his head a little and looked outside of the garden, to the calming rose bushes, the tranquil tulips, and the clinically organized harmony of colours. "I'm not sure…yet." He looked at her and she was taken aback by the betrayal glazed over his normally jovial blue orbs. "But I'm going to do something crazy."

Wakono coughed into her fist, hiding her discomfort at the drastic change in Minato's attitude, more so than the many times he frequented her palace when he was meant to be stationed in Chill. She stood up and straightened the front of her 'casual' kimono. "Come then, I shall show you to your collection myself."

Minato's eyebrows furrowed lightly and he looked up. "Is that really ok? Are you done with breakfast?"

"Oh no need to worry, Namikaze, I too would like to see your vault." She moved around the table and extended a hand down to the sullen man, smiling haughtily. The man looked at the offered hand and reluctantly took it, Wakono yanked him out of his seat and they walked out of the tea house. "Going through your vault has been one of my favourite past times, Namikaze."

Authors note

Thus ends another chapter.

Leave a review on your thoughts, would you so kindly. Please stay safe, wherever you are in the world, and I will see you when I see you.

Foy.