Silent Night

by Foy the Snooze Button

Not a sound. Not a flicker in the blackness of the void. Ame lost its Ghost and Darkness gained a Leader, a shinobi that the Leaf dares not cross. The People of the Dark, suffering under tyranny and ravaged by a civil war, look up to the Ghost for redemption. The Silent Night will be the one to show the enemies of the Dark the way to the quiet insanity of the void. Leader!Naruto

28. Chapter 28

Sssssssssssup ya'll

How's it hangin?

GINORMOUS shout out to TheKing91, 777torn777, firetemplar415, Dawood Saqlain, Yamajiji, anthonym3, jmg1988, shinobinoyami16, Apocalyptica-sama, dreamkiller415, Primarx, biginferno, darkwolfz, DragoFae24, Lakitazz0, zerkses, KakeruPB, lord 7th, Banjo the Fox, FunMeMe, TigrezzTail, Darkwave20, Arraia, DuckedHard, insanemaelstrom, Bakeneko, InfernalGenocide, BigY1308 and boredasf13. You guys are effing fantastic :)

To Bakeneko, I'm sorry but I can't write time travel fics. Haven't read one, don't intend to any time soon. Time travel is already a complicated subject and most of my stories have complicated, roundabout plots that are mildly complicated in on themselves. Your idea honestly sounds wonderful and I'm honoured that you think my writing method will bring it to life but I have to say no.

Lady Wakono is the Fire country Daimyo, sometimes referred to as Fire Lord or Fire Lady, its interchangeable. Doesn't matter how you refer to her, as long as she is recognized as royalty. I tried not to bash Konoha too badly…

I don't think it worked…oof…

I want to remind you guys that the One tail in Suna and the three tails in Kiri still haven't been sealed into people. Yagura isn't the jinchuriki for the three tails and Gaara isn't born yet, and him being the jinchuriki for the one tails is highly unlikely. This chapter might start of confusing, but I assure you all that everything will be explained.

This chapter is long.

Enjoy…

CHAPTER 28

Seven months later

Clover Mountain,

Village Hidden in the Mountains

An axe fell down and split a log of wood in half.

Thunk!

Minato wiggled the tip slightly and yanked it out of the stump, pushing aside the short, halved log of wood and replacing it with another. He hefted up the heavy axe again, tapped the sharp edge on the top of the new short log and raised it.

Thunk!

One clean hit cut through the piece of wood down and the shaggy haired blonde pushed it onto the somewhat large pile he had been making since sunrise.

It was seven in the morning.

Minato split his last log of wood in half and released his hold on the axe, allowing it to stay fixed on the stump he had been cutting wood on. The man grunted and grabbed the two halves and tossed them onto the messy pile. The child that he was paying to arrange the halves of wood and help sell them in the market at the bottom of the mountain would arrive soon; Minato could very well have done it himself, but the girl came from a poor family and what little conscience the blonde had forced his hand to help however he could. The girl helped clean his humble cottage too, so it wasn't like it was an inconvenience helping her.

Two hundred ryu per day couldn't take the girls large family far but the girl was appreciative for what he gave her, so it was fine.

The man groaned and stretched, sighing when his back cracked mercifully.

Minato was in a short sleeved black shirt and black pants with dark brown working boots and the same coloured, thick gloves. Months of getting splinters for cutting wood had him buy them one of the few times he went down the mountain.

The man now sported a full, dark yellow beard, almost completely covering his pale lips, though connected to his shaggy blonde hair.

He shivered when a cold breeze blew up the mountain.

Winter was coming and chopped wood was in high demand in the market; lumberjack, like him, had to venture out of Hidden Mountain to find the best trees to cut down and bring them back to sell in the market.

He turned around when he heard a larger than life yawn at his doorway.

He sighed.

"Tsume…I thought I told you to take it easy." He went to her and placed a soft, morning kiss on her forehead, warming the woman up. The man felt a small smile come to his face when the former Kunoichi grinned at him and scoffed.

"I'm pregnant, not disabled."

True to what she said, the woman had a large belly. She was six and a half months heavy.

The father of her child gently wrapped his arm around her waist and guided her to a deck chair in front of the cottage, easing her into the chair and placing his fists onto his waist, frowning tersely at her stubborn chin.

"Sayeko will be here to help with the cleaning and the laundry, just…take it easy, Tsume."

She huffed and sat back. "Oh don't mind me; I'll just be here getting fat." She pointed a stern finger at the exasperated logger. "Don't forget, Inuzuka women don't make good housewives, ya hear? Once I get this little fucker out of me, it's straight back to kicking ass!"

"I know, I know…" The man grumbled, crossing his arms. The woman refused to be treated like a helpless damsel, and Minato could respect that. "What about your knitting set?"

"I'm no good at it."

"…We'll go for a walk later, ok-"

The woman smiled brightly. "Ok."

Tsume had arrived in his mountain top cottage some five months ago, huffing and puffing.

He remembered her words exactly.

"Don't think you can just get me pregnant, go bat shit crazy and run away from me." She grabbed the exasperated man by his collar and snarled in his face. "I will not be a single mother. Take responsibility for this, jack ass."

It was the angriest she had ever been at him, and the first few months of living with her had been torture; her constantly yelling for something, one insistent craving or the other, screaming that he didn't love her enough, snapping at him if her tea wasn't how she 'imagined' it would taste-whatever that meant-and simply making it much harder for Minato to provide for their small family.

At least she had warmed back up to him.

She still hated him for getting her pregnant.

In his defence, he wanted to use protection but the woman insisted that she was on the pill. It wasn't her first time having sex and she was fairly certain that seeing as her previous experiences hadn't gotten her pregnant five times over, she would be fine.

Guess it didn't work.

Minato closed his eyes and chuckled.

Tsume had given half of the money and jewellery to her clan to fund their efforts in rebuilding the clan and she had given the rest of the money to the Yondaime so that Tsume would be released from duty and not branded as a missing ninja.

Speaking of missing ninjas…

Minato Namikaze, as of the moment he left Konoha, was branded an S rank missing shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato, to be approached with caution for only those with A rank skills and above. So far, no one had been able to track him, besides Tsume, and the reason she was able to find was because he had intentionally left a Hirashin kunai with her, which he had altered so as to serve as a guiding beacon to find him. It was his trust in her to not betray him that prompted his decision to leave the tracking beacon.

Before she left the village, Konoha ninjas had interrogated her on her involvement and she had denied ever knowing about Minato's plan, allowing a mind probe to show that she had been tied up for thirty minutes, throughout the massacre, though they thankfully didn't look further back to when Minato had ordered her-as her alpha-to run back to the apartment.

Her alpha…

The woman wasn't sure exactly when it had happened.

A small, insignificant part of her mind wanted to rat her friend out and tell the Leaf shinobi about the kunai in her possession, but she hid the tri-pronged kunai away from detection.

Minato gingerly took off his gloves and sat down heavily on the deck chair next to his expectant girlfriend, he smiled wanly at her, the most he could honestly muster in months since the massacre, and he laced his left fingers with her right, content with his life now more than ever.

Tsume smiled gently and leaned closer to him, softly dragging his hand to her heart and placing a small kiss on his lips. Minato lightly traced the back of her hand and kissed back, a loving peck on the beautiful Inuzuka's lips.

The wind became harsher and Minato turned his head, just as his girlfriend placed a warm kiss on his bearded cheek, and he looked to where the logs of wood were still arranged in a haphazard pile, waiting for Minato's helper girl to organize them for sale at the bottom.

Konan's feet lightly touched down and her massive paper wings flapped once more, before they folded up and disappeared into her back-or wherever she kept those many sheets of paper-. She briefly looked to the many pieces of halved logs and then proceeded to walk towards the cottage, where Minato and Tsume were lounging in front of, tucking a strand of her short purple hair over her ear and looking with expressionless brown eyes to the man she intended to meet. She was in her Akatsuki cloak and in her small, pale hands was a single sheet of paper.

"Good morning, Minato."

The bearded blonde nodded once. "Morning." He patted Tsume's hand and sat up, standing onto his feet and collecting the piece of paper from the Angel of Ame. "Another mission?"

"Hai. This one should be simple for you." Konan said in her usual monotone, standing back as Minato murmured under his breath and read the contents of the paper she had given him, skimming his eyes on each word. Her hands went to her side, showing just black painted tips of her fingers. "Your payment is already sealed inside. All you have to do is provide support for one of our members during this mission."

"…Into the Night Forest…" the blonde logger muttered and looked up at his mission contractor. "That's dangerous, Konan."

"I wouldn't have given it to you unless I was certain you'd succeed." She tilted her head back and met his eyes, pointing a dainty finger to the piece of paper. "Kisame Hoshigaki," the person Minato was to support during the mission. "Told us that there is no wall or seal barrier at the back of the Night Forest, only a barbed fence to keep the animals from escaping." The fuinjutsu protection over the country might be advanced and versatile in its defensive capabilities but it does not cover the back of the forest, hence the fence; to keep animals from escaping, was the primary function.

"It's more than that," the Namikaze said. "Darkness won't just leave that place so unprotected. The Defence Corp…their black operatives…there's a reason no person has ever infiltrated Dark country. I'm sure many people have thought of entering through the Night Forest-"

"Kisame has assured us that he knows a way. This is one of those days security near the forest is at its lowest."

"…If we come across Naruto during this mission…I will not fight him."

"I'm aware."

Seven months ago, Konan had come on behalf of the Akatsuki, not to recruit Minato but to contract him as a partial member of sorts to perform missions for them. The Angel knew that the man wouldn't want to be confined to the secrets of the red cloud organization, as he had just attained his freedom from Konoha and wouldn't exchange that freedom with an organization he had just discovered.

Konan informed Minato that Akatsuki wanted him to work for them and only them, whether on combat missions or to simply gather information. This was so as to keep their existence a secret and so that Minato wouldn't be used against them. She was assured of his silence at the promise that with his 'partial membership' he would be exposed to more truths about the world they lived in.

She had given him his black with red clouds cloak but no ring. No customary blood contract meant that all of Akatsuki's resources and benefits weren't open to Minato. Signing with his blood meant that he lived and died with Akatsuki, and Minato didn't agree with that.

He and Tsume were a package deal, so the Inuzuka finding out was inevitable but ignorable.

Up until that point, Minato's jobs had mainly been to gather information.

When it came to researching and discovering the truth, Minato was the best in the Akatsuki.

He was Zetsu's replacement.

The pay for each mission made living comfortable, though being a logger and making a living with the cash from selling logs of wood made Minato feel more accomplished.

Minato hummed and turned to his pregnant girlfriend. "I'll tell Sayeko to stay back a bit longer after she sells the wood." He'll pay her another two hundred ryu to make dinner for Tsume and watch the house until his return, and then he'll escort the girl back home.

"Fine by me."

Konan's body disintegrated into paper and blew away with the wind, just as a young girl no older than thirteen with long, black hair and dirty cheeks ran up the trail to Minato's house. She was in clean, though old, hand-me-down blue shorts, pink top and brown sandals, jogging up the road, a bit out of breath but ready to work.

"Mistuh Minato, Misses Tsume!" she waved and ran to the logs of wood waiting for her. "Mornin'!"

The man grunted with an expressionless look, as the girl bent down and made to fill her arms with pieces of wood. "Where are your gloves, Sayeko?"

"Ah," she hastily dropped the wood and jammed her hands into the back pockets of her blue shorts, pulling out a pair of worn out brown gloves, yanking them on so that they reached close to her elbows. "Here they are, Mistuh Minato, sir!"

"Alright, get to work then."

"Yes, sir, Mistuh Minato, sir!" she saluted and began picking up the pieces of wood. The cart she hired that morning before climbing the short way up the mountain-a ten minute climb on foot-would arrive in a few minutes.

Sayeko was streetwise and she was sharp. Minato could leave money with her to take care of his home and Tsume for a short while because she was an honest child. The black haired girl was scruffy though trustworthy, and despite being so young and having virtually no shinobi training, Sayeko could was smart enough to know her way around most situations, like traders attempting to rip her off while she and Tsume were out shopping for groceries. Thirteen she might be, but the girl was determined to help her family however she could, hence why she pleaded with Minato all those months ago when he began living on the mountain and cutting wood for a living, to employ her as a servant.

Minato could trust that Sayeko would get the job done.

The little girl earned her pay at the end of the day.

The blonde logger scratched his cheek and turned to his girlfriend, kissing her once more and murmuring. "Let's go take a bath."

Tsume couldn't get out of her chair fast enough; giggling girlishly as her boyfriend slyly dragged her into their humble cottage.

Huffing and puffing as she carried the halved pieces of wood and loaded them onto the cart that had just arrived, Sayeko rolled her eyes.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The Shodaime's Personal Study

Empty Senju clan compound

Konohagakure no Sato

These days, it was always best to stay busy.

Keep the mind and body distracted and constantly engaged.

Don't give yourself time to remember, was the unspoken rule in Konoha nowadays.

Tsunade was breaking this law as she sat behind her late grandfathers former desk, blearily sifting through paperwork and casting only less than a quarter of the rest of her attention to Fugaku, Hiashi, Inoichi, Shikaku and Chouza as they squawked in her ear.

Something about returning the village council, and not ruling with absolute power.

She wasn't sure anymore.

Konoha had fallen from grace.

After the Konoha Bloodbath, as outsiders mockingly called it, things for the village went from bad to worse.

With Danzo's death at Minato's hands and discovering Jiraiya's mutilated and beheaded body behind the Onsen, the next best person most qualified to lead the badly beaten and battered village claimed the seat.

Orochimaru's first order of business as Yondaime Hokage was to bury the dead, de-clutter the corpses laid out around the blown up Hokage tower and to salvage what they had left. He dug deep into the village's accounts and found nothing.

Not spare change, not scraps of ryu.

Absolutely nothing.

Orochimaru then had to investigate where the hell all the money that was meant for the First Greatest Hidden Village on the Continent had disappeared to, and found out that each of the council members had been steadily siphoning cash from the village reserves, the shinobi councillors as well, though theirs was less than the civilian and went into their clans reserves.

The snake man ordered the Bank of Fire country, as the Hokage, to return all money back to the village but one of Konoha's ten accountants in Fire country's National Bank shrugged and said that none of the council members had accounts with them. They traced their accounts to as far as Iron country and Hidden Chill, and at that point Orochimaru might as well have forgotten the money, as those accounts had been investigated and dissolved the moment Minato defected, sharing the dirty, stolen money into the economy of Chill and Iron.

Orochimaru, roaring for blood, turned to the clans and ordered for every single penny to be given to the village, no matter where it came from and whether or not it was clan money.

The new clan heads refused, citing that support from their clan wouldn't reach Konoha until the council was restored.

Orochimaru had previously dissolved the Konoha council, as one of his first acts, as he had known all along of their dubiousness and had plans to rein them in.

He didn't know that their corruption had cost the Leaf well over eight hundred and ninety billion ryu (890, 000, 000, 000 ryu), and basically handing that money to the already vastly rich wealth nations of Iron and Chill.

He nearly had heart palpitations looking at how many zeros Konoha had lost. His coughs became haggard and tortuous.

Clans-what remained of them-as most of their members had been slaughtered by the vengeful Namikaze, withdrew to themselves and focused on rebuilding their clans, leaving the clanless, orphan or otherwise, to their own devices.

The snake Sannin saw that the village he had inherited was splintered.

Broken.

He stepped back and took a breath, returning thirty minutes later with a cooler head and a firmer resolve to make sure the Konoha council never exists again; he dug into his own pocket and funded the rehabilitation of the village, focusing on paying medics and builders to do what they could. He reached out to Konoha's prosperous allies-Suna and Waterfall-asking as humbly as he could for their help.

Waterfall did what it could, sending money and shinobi, but Suna was another story.

The Kazekage, Sabaku no Rasa, did indeed intend to send medicine, medics and builders to help reconstruct Konoha, though at a cost. The Sand Leader had no intention whatsoever to help Konoha out of the goodness of his heart.

That thought made Tsunade scoff.

Konoha had sapped life and hope from Suna before. She had been present with Orochimaru when he went to Suna to request for help, and she saw the glee in Rasa's shaded eyes in telling them that they would pay for every single thing he gave them.

There was a contract signing, a formal meeting with the Suna Branch of the National Bank of Dark country and everything.

Now, Konoha owed Suna over fifty million Dark ryu (50, 000, 000 Dark ryu)-not Fire ryu-in medicinal herbs, food, supplies and shinobi, and as of then One Dark ryu was equal to two hundred Fire ryu.

The value of Dark ryu had gone up to One Dark ryu equalling Four Hundred Fire ryu, reason being the Konoha Bloodbath and discovering the widespread corruption of the tattered village. Dark and allied traders, merchants, travellers and tourists were throwing more weight around, increasing the value and preciousness of Dark ryu. Snow ryu was finding it difficult to maintain its highest valued ryu position.

Fire ryu wasn't in the top five anymore, and Lady Wakono was livid.

Orochimaru had to bite his tongue during the contract signing, especially when the Deputy Director of the National Bank of Dark country arrived in Sunagakure to personally broker and witness the deal. Wind country had its own National Bank, as any respectable, fairly wealthy country did, but Suna was not on good terms with the Wind Daimyo, and so it didn't have an account with the Wind Bank. Seeing as Suna had adopted Dark ryu as its currency-meaning Darkness printed more ryu notes for both itself and for the nations using its currency-, then a branch of the Dark National Bank was built in the desert oasis to make money transfer and printing easier and faster.

The Yondaime had a coughing fit throughout the meeting, as everything inside the glimmering, perfectly maintained Bank Branch in Suna reminded him of his former student.

He died inside more and more when he realized that the place he had been standing in was just a muted reflection of the main Bank building all the way in the fortress that was the Country Hidden in the Darkness.

Suna's-expensive-aid helped.

Rasa-proud, headstrong Rasa-held nothing back and rubbed Suna's wealth in Konoha's face.

The Fire Daimyo didn't extend the same courtesy, even going as far as sending a letter threatening to have all of Konoha dissolved and absorbed back into her power if business didn't return back to normal in a year.

The stakes to get back to their usual life went up.

The next blow came a month after the bloodbath, when Konoha was notified about the shift in power on the continent; they were no longer at the top of the list of Major Hidden Villages.

They were fifth, only being on that list at all because of their large land mass and Fire country's already well-known influence-under Lady Wakono, the present Fire Lord-.

The new arrangement went like this: Kumo, Suna, Kiri, Iwa and then Konoha.

It became worse, as not only had the Hidden Leaf lost the respect of the other hidden villages and countries, and not only were their ninjas defecting in droves, but countries around the continent began investigating any former mission or association they had with Konoha, always and rightly finding some sort of two-facedness, cheating or outright stealing somewhere and somehow. The businesses and investments of the murdered councillors turned out to be fraudulent fronts for illegal trading.

Outside of the councillors, there had been discoveries of Konoha's ties with the Fire and Snow country Yakuza by the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Past clients diverted the flow of missions and requests to either Suna or Dark country-Konoha's western and southern neighbours respectively-forcing the Yondaime to sign another deal with Rasa to send missions over to Konoha to get the discouraged shinobi population working again. This would last for two years, when they hoped Konoha would remerge as a super power once again.

Their loan with Suna increased to seventy million Dark ryu (70, 000, 000 Dark ryu) and some change.

There was no Hokage tower, and there weren't any plans to rebuild it soon. His office was wherever it was convenient to sit down.

The Hokage's Monument was wrecked, and they had better things to worry about.

Animals from the Forest of Death were picking defenceless civilians off one by one, and they were still rounding them up, back to the forest.

The number of Konoha's shinobi drastically reduced, as if Minato hadn't already killed them and the escaped animals of the forest hadn't eaten them alive, then they ran away from the village, choosing the life of a missing ninja than remaining in such a desolate and hopeless place.

Civilians were losing faith in the few ninjas that didn't flee, vacating the Leaf themselves and vying for entrance into any of Konoha's neighbours, Suna and Darkness included, though the ban Naruto had put in place for non-allies was especially strict and unforgiveable for those that had crawled out of Konoha. The two refugee camps within Dark country territory was still occupied by those that had fled their countries or villages during the Third Great war, and denizens of Konoha found no safety hiding there, as those refugees would either expose them to their protectors or the Defence Corp would purge them out of the refugee camps.

It became too much for Orochimaru.

A chunin stumbled on the Yondaime forcing himself onto and into a ten year old, orphaned boy in a back alley, and an alarm was immediately raised.

Orochimaru fled the village with Kabuto, his assistant, with all of his property-experiments, notes, chemicals, luggage and weapons-though unfortunately there wasn't any available ninja to give chase, so the rapist got away and disappeared in Grass country. The depth of his crimes had yet to be investigated.

The snake man lasted only two months as Yondaime Hokage.

The curse of being Hokage was passed onto Tsunade Senju, who became the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato.

None of her predecessors had died of old age or natural causes, so the Godaime wasn't so keen on her fate while she was in the seat of power.

The Will of Fire had died, and it was unlikely to ever be reignited again.

Finding out about the Kurama clan fleeing the village, probably back to their home country, was the final nail on the coffin; the Senju didn't have to will power to get angry.

If this was a competition, Konoha vs. Dark country, then the latter shinobi settlement had won.

Konoha has had enough.

They were bowing out.

Darkness has won.

Congratulations.

They had tried to find someone to blame for their misfortune.

They looked to Naruto and Darkness but found no involvement from them, they looked to Suna but the case was the same, they looked to the Fire Lord and their search ended when they remembered the woman wanted nothing to do with them, they looked to Iwa but Hidden Rock was still busy licking its wounds from after the attack from the Gobi, Kumo couldn't care less about them, Kiri had better things to do-like having the exclusive Chunin Exams with Darkness, the Chunin Exams that wasn't participated by nearly all of the continent but by Kiri and Darkness alone-.

For a while, they tried to blame Minato Namikaze, though those wiser in the population brought down that logic, saying that Minato was the one that first saw through the farce and that he most likely snapped due to the pressure mounted on him by them.

The only culprit was themselves-

"Lady Hokage, are you listening?" Inoichi prodded, annoyed at the distant look in the Senju's eyes. The last Senju, as Minato had ensured during his murder spree.

The woman looked back at the man, irritated. "No, I wasn't."

Hiashi cleared his throat. "We want the Konoha council reinstated."

"I won't do that." Five months straight of trooping to her office in the Senju clan compound and you would think they would have given up. "If you're not here to do something productive, leave. As you can see," she motioned to the papers and documents scattered on her desk. "I'm busy."

"We have permitted our clan mates to take missions-"

"As their supposed to." The Godaime fired back, sitting back with a sigh. "The Konoha Charter said this specifically; clan shinobi or not, qualified ninjas are to take missions when necessary."

Fugaku shrugged with a wide smirk. "We didn't consider it necessary."

"It is the Hokage that determines when it's necessary." Tsunade grated. These clan heads had tried to get on her good side since she became Hokage four months ago, releasing their clan mates to take the missions that had been piling up on her desk once she took over from Orochimaru. "You all are insubordinate."

"Then accept that clan heads hold the real power in this kami forsaken village." Fugaku pushed.

Tsunade felt like it was now her duty to crush his head.

Though she contained herself with a slow, somewhat ragged exhale.

Shikaku finally introduced himself to the discussion, placing a hand on the Uchiha's shoulder and pulling him back, taking his place before the Godaime, the only person seated in the room. "What Fugaku was meant to say is that it is time for the Council to come back, so as to legitimize the Hokage's power, because let's face it," he lifted his arms and shrugged. "The reality of the situation is that the only people you command, as the Hokage, are scared civilians, orphaned genin and chunin, and clanless jounin."

Tsunade breathed out through her nose once more.

The bomb Minato had detonated near Shikaku, Inoichi and Chouza had scarred them in some way; Shikaku bore slash marks here and there on his face, all of Chouza's right arm was a burnt black, splotched with red burn sores and wrapped in bandages, and Inoichi wore a neck brace, lucky that even though all his bones had been dislocated, he could still walk. The Yamanaka was due to remove that brace in another week.

"We've agreed that you will stay Hokage and that we will pool our resources to find Minato, capture him and bring him to justice." Shikaku finished.

Tsunade stared into Shikaku's black orbs, then she replied. "…You're a smart man, Shikaku. Tell me this," she laced her fingers together, placed her elbows on her desk and propped her head onto her hands. "What is smarter; pouring our resources into finding a man that had killed hundreds of our very own, who could very well still have that skill and who could disappear in a flash," she snapped her fingers. "Just like that, at the slightest thought. Or," she held up a finger and paused, looking into the eyes of all the men before her. The Inuzuka clan head, four months into the job after Tsume appointed him in her place, raised an eyebrow at her particularly strong frown directed at him. "Or using the very same amount of resources to put out this dumpster fire we call a village and rebuild our lives." she raised her eyebrows condescendingly and smiled sweetly. "Do you want me to give you time to think?"

"Why are you so against reinstating the council, Lady Tsunade?" Chouza pried with a raised eyebrow. He had wanted to cross his arms but couldn't, not with the seven month old burn sores on his bandaged right arm. "We've taken note of the past crimes of the old council…our parents…and we will see to it that history isn't repeated."

"…The very moment the council was dissolved, due to the crimes of your parents," Tsunade said brazenly, not caring that Fugaku was offended on behalf of his dead father-in-law. "You lot chose not to rebuild the Hokage's trust in your humanity and decided to order your clan mates to close their eyes to the suffering of the village you all had sworn to protect." The Slug Sannin closed her eyes and centred herself. "Like petulant children, you people whine and gripe. The problems of the village that could have been solved if you lot hadn't squeezed your hands would have been in the past. Seven months," the Godaime held up seven fingers. "Seven. Months…and we're still in the same place. Millions of ryu in debt, low on stock, low on manpower and winter is on its way."

"Lady Tsunade-"

"I've said it before and I'll say it again…if you're not here to help rebuild our home…leave." She looked down and murmured to herself. "I need to think of how I can beg the Fire Lady to not dissolve this village."

Uchiha Fugaku left the office, alone.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

08:00PM

Back fence of the Night Forest

Northern region

Dark country

There was a reason security around the Night Forest's section of Dark country's northern border wasn't as stringently patrolled or guarded as the rest of the country.

The Night Forest was the deterrent.

Standing on the other side and looking through the ten foot tall, electrified chain link fence and the roll of barbed wire spread out at the top, encompassing the whole back end of the Night Forest facing Fire country, Minato felt dread seep into his being.

On his and Kisame's side of the fence was moonlight; good, normal, natural moonlight.

On the other side was darkness; a pure, lightless, soulless darkness.

It was like staring into the void of eternal damnation.

There wind changed, a hint on the oncoming winter blizzard for Dark country, and the bearded blonde saw small snake-like tendrils of darkness coil out of the fence and seemingly wiggle before receding back into the forest.

They didn't hear any sounds but they knew very well the kind of monstrosities that laid in wait inside of the fence, silently waiting for them to enter.

Kisame and Minato were in their Akatsuki robes, far away from sight from the patrolling DC officers that night.

Security was partially relaxed that evening because that was their Leader's birthday. It was a quiet affair and Naruto was still in his office, outlining plans and arrangements that would span the period of tomorrow to the next five years, graciously accepting visitors and well-wishers into his office in the Leader's Tower and politely accepting their gifts.

Naruto didn't go all out with his birthday celebrations, each and every year the masked blonde went about his day normally, while those around him greeted him earnestly and gave him presents.

Kisame told this to Pein, that the Leader's birthday was 'Lax day' for the Defence Corp, a tiny window of opportunity for them to utilize.

Simply looking at the sightless night behind the fence dimmed Minato's already dour spirit, though his stoic mask never cracked to show the apprehension in his soul.

This was worse than the Forest of Death.

Kisame broke the silence with a low chuckle, saying. "This brings me back…I used to train in here two times a week. Needed permission before I could enter and they gave us these nifty little beacons in case we got lost or attacked and we needed help getting out." he fractionally turned his head to the unresponsive blonde. "They can't see you. Normal lights don't work in here and sensory abilities are…how do I put it…suppressed in here. The books I read said that the darkness of the Night Forest is so thick and palpable that it quenches all light other than light reflected from Obsidian steel, and that is almost impossible because Obsidian doesn't reflect light."

BLAK HQ was located inside the Night Forest, and the elite shinobi had adapted to the forest. The forest was a place other shinobi trained, to increase self- and team-awareness.

Kisame hummed with a deep frown when his partner still didn't speak.

"…I know my way around this part of the forest," Seeing as he had trained extensively inside the Night Forest, honing Samehada's sensory skills and truly finding a connection between his mind, his body and his soul. "I'm not going to hold your hand…don't stay too far away from me."

The Night Forest was a hopeless place to those not trained, finding your centre while surrounded by evil, demented animals as well as an unforgiving, unbiased darkness served to train Dark ninjas to keep their heads firmly in place during any situation and against any adversity.

"The creatures on the other side are not normal." Kisame warned. "If you sense one, don't look back. Look down, hands raised and don't panic…they can smell your fear. Or, if you want to try your hand at fighting them, by all means go ahead."

If the Zero Tailed Beast was the one giving this sort of instruction to a first timer, then the forest couldn't be taken lightly.

Kisame grinned savagely and chuckled in a deep voice. "Shall we?"

Minato whipped out a tri-pronged kunai from his pocket and threw it over the fence, grabbing Kisame's shoulder and-

They disappeared in a yellow flash.

Their feet touched down and Minato withdrew his hand, immediately placing his hands on the ground and searching for the Hirashin kunai, tucking the blade into the seal on his inner right wrist. His right hand stayed on the ground, digging his fingers into the earth and then it hit him.

Vertigo.

Up was down, down was up, left wasn't right and there was no right left.

Minato gnashed his teeth, keeping the hot bile from rushing out of his roiling stomach and fisting the ankle length grass his hands felt, warring with his brain, trying to convince it that the grass he was touching was beneath his feet and that his feet were firmly on the ground.

"Urck." He choked, spitting to his side and hissing a sharp curse under his breath. "Kami damn it."

Find Kisame! His confused mind bellowed and his closed his eyes, focusing his frazzled senses all around him.

The air stifled him, clogging his throat and placing a wall of darkness between him and the rest of the world.

"Fuck…shit…damn it…"

He heard a rustle to his right…or was it above him…?

Behind him…?

He pulled out a Hirashin kunai, keeping his other hand wrapped around the grass on what he hoped was the ground, and bared his teeth, completely forgetting Kisame's lesson to not attempt to engage the animals of the forest. His mind instinctively went to link up with a Hirashin tag in his cottage home, with his lovely, loving girlfriend Tsume Inuzuka, and his eyes bugged out when he couldn't get a good lock on it.

He started panicking, his emotionless face never cracked and his empty eyes never shifted, but his mind reeled.

He couldn't feel the seals on the kunai in his hand.

The feeling of his touch sensor abilities being damped and his inability to locate any of his Hirashin seals was akin to having a five hundred pound blanket, that had been soaked in ice cold water for days, dropped onto his head.

"Dude, I am not going to hold your hand." Kisame growled, grabbing Minato by the back of his head, yanking him upright. "Calm the fuck down and focus."

'How can he train in such a place?' Minato's fractured mind echoed. 'This…This is-'

"Keep your eyes closed if you're feeling dizzy." Kisame barked lowly, making sure not to attract the attention of any wild, untamed and untameable beasts. A mischievous glint entered his eyes. "You were born in Dark country, weren't you?"

Minato's eyes didn't widen at that knowledge; he knew it and it was likely that Naruto, the man that had first known this, informed his shinobi. Kisame must have known this before he betrayed his country.

"It's supposed to be easier if you have Assassination Techniques…oh wait, no…untrained adults find it harder in here that Dark born." He pulled Samehada off his back and gently tapped the tip of the bandage wrapped, sentient sword on the ground, like the cane a blind person would use to walk, sending out short pulses through the ground and dragging the blonde with him further into the pitch black forest. "I've got a trace on what we're looking for."

Minato's reaction to being immersed in the darkness of the Night Forest for the first time reminded Kisame of his own first time; he was fifteen years old and the moment he had gotten his chunin vest from Naruto's office, after a successful competing in the Chunin Exams hosted in Darkness, he rushed to the Night Forest and met requested entry from the Animal Conservationist Office, as he had now filled in the necessary criteria to gain access to the forest-over fourteen, chunin and a Dark ninja-. They gave him a handheld device, told him that if he needed help, then all he had to do was press the single button on the device and BLAK operatives, or a shinobi that had already mastered navigating and traversing the forest, would come in and get him.

The first ten times Kisame was in the forest, he hadn't made it twenty feet in before called for help. Overtime he found his own way of overcoming the vertigo of the forest and his communication with Samehada became better.

Kisame didn't regret his training in the forest.

Though trained or not, the Night Forest was not a place to relax or have fun, not unless you were in the comfort and safety of the BLAK HQ, of which they were not.

"This place is the stuff of nightmares, Blondie. Don't go soft on me now. You're our way out of this hellhole."

Minato didn't answer, and that was answer enough for Kisame.

Akatsuki having a Dark country missing ninja as a member had started to bear fruit.

An hour of searching, blindly tapping Samehada on the ground and sending short pulses of chakra into the ground to create a sort of mental image of their immediate surroundings in Kisame's head, the shark man bent down and picked up a dry, brittle bone.

Rubbing the fingers of his free hand on the small bone, and recalling past experiences, he recognized it as a human thumb bone, cleaned and licked of blood, though there was a faint, unnoticeable dab of chakra in the marrow, which was what led Kisame to it.

He didn't doubt if he looked further, they would find a human skull and the rest of the unfortunate victim's bones.

They had what they needed, no need to tempt the silently watching animals any more than they already had.

"We're lucky we weren't attacked." Kisame stated in a whisper. "Get us out of here, Blondie."

Minato had to take a crash course from Kisame then and there, when he was still unable to get a lock on any Hirashin seal tag; the shark man pointed Minato in the direction they had entered the forest, instructed the man to throw the kunai over the fence in such a way that the blade jammed into the ground, got close enough to the chain link back fence of the forest but not close enough to electrocute themselves and finally to use his touch sensor skills to find the kunai outside.

Minato didn't want to ask how much information Kisame had on him to know he was a touch sensor.

Six kunai and ten minutes of searching later and the two Akatsuki members left as quietly as they had arrived.

A pair of bright orange eyes shone through the darkness of the forest like headlamps, at a safe distance and out of range, safely nestled under a bush. Those vulpine eyes blinked twice, skittering out of the bush and nearing the fence, animatedly staring at the two fleeing S ranks.

The small animal had on a dark green vest with a large Dark country symbol printed on the back and two tails that swayed rhythmically, in the deathly silence of the Night Forest.

The fox silently allowed the figures to flash out from sight, before-

Yip-yip-yip!

-It turned around and bounded towards the BLAK HQ.

Roughly thirty other foxes, small little creatures that wore dark green vests and bore at least fluffy two tails, skipped out from their hiding places, their orange, vulpine eyes shining in the depressing darkness of the forest.

They were going to report their findings to BLAK Commander Bat, who would relay their message to Leader Naruto.

The flak jacket wearing descendants of the Nine Tailed Fox yipped excitedly as they found a black operative that could vaguely translate for them.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Parting ways with Minato and walking without pause into the wall of rain, into Amegakure, Kisame grunted with his lips screwed to the side as the chakra rain drenched into his hair and soaked his clothes.

For one bearing the Shark summoning contract, Kisame wasn't disturbed by wet clothes or the overbearing weight on each drop of water raining down from the sky.

The blood thirsty missing ninja took his time walking towards the Amekage's Tower, using that opportunity to think of his masters instructions.

"The masked man that wanted to recruit you in Kiri will meet with you soon," the Supreme Leader of Dark country said to his Kiri born, Dark shinobi subordinate, soon-to-be missing ninja. "The name of the organization you joined is Akatsuki, and Sueki and I were one of the four founders."

Kisame nodded grimly, serious faced and attentive to each and every word coming from his Leader's masked mouth.

"The nutjob that's leading them now will call himself 'Pein'. He is the Amekage and he calls himself a god. The goal of the Akatsuki used to be to strive to protect Ame and ensure Ame is united but Nagato, or 'Pein', has changed this goal to attaining world peace through the use of force." Naruto sighed heavily. "He was…used by someone into thinking that that is the right path to take."

"Plant man." Sueki filled in and Kisame nodded again, knowledgeable of how his Leader had killed and incinerated the body of the pest that almost jeopardized the rescue mission in Wave. The creature that tipped off Konoha on Kushina's presence.

"I fear that someone else has taken the Plant man's place in whispering nonsense into Nagato's ears."

"Likely the Masked man." Sueki helpfully chimed in again. "Though this is only a guess."

"Your mission is to infiltrate the Akatsuki, gain their trust, keep tabs on them and find out the person pouring poison into Nagato's ear."

"Lord Naruto, why not just destroy them right now?" the blue skinned man asked.

"…Think of it as…naïve hope…that my friend will see the madness of his goal before it's too late. With the deceiver dead, that mad idiot might come to his senses. If not…" he clenched his fists and his eyes narrowed, shadows washed over his face, making his glaring cerulean blue eyes beam menacingly. "I'll finish him myself."

Kisame bowed his head, smart enough to know not to speak when his master was vexed.

"Akatsuki is the last thing one of my friends left and Nagato is desecrating Yahiko's body and his dream." The blonde inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, closing his eyes and lessening the shadows gathered over his face to just under his eyes. "I will take responsibility…when the time comes."

Ketsueki cleared her throat nervously and quietly said. "Akatsuki is made up of powerful shinobi, and Nagato would surround himself and Konan with the best of the best. S ranks, if you will." The shark man nodded in understanding. "The person deceiving Nagato might be S rank as well, so if you discover him and you find your chance…" Sueki looked to her teacher and the man grunted darkly. "Kill him."

"Or else notify us and we'll…handle it." the last part of her order sounded ominous and threatening.

Blood, the Vampire Empress, Student of the Ghost and Commander of the Shadows of the Dark country Assassins, was certifiably a Legend class ninja.

She might have been friends with Nagato and Konan and she might have grown up with them alongside Naruto, but if her teacher so commanded it, she would slaughter them both.

Though she doubted she would go alone; if worst became worst; Naruto would take point.

"I…don't want to kill my friend." Naruto admitted. "But, when the time comes, I will do what I have to, to stop the end of the world."

Kokuo told him what would happen once all the tailed beasts were combined. This could have been seen as self-preservation for the Five Tailed Horse, but the tailed beast supported his lectures on the history of the world when the summoning seal on Naruto's palm didn't react.

There was a non-physical connection between Naruto and the powerful demon horse.

Nagato didn't know the hell he was going to bring.

Naruto held out his right hand and thick smoke swirled on his palm, forming a smooth, tiny seed hovering over his palm.

"Give this to Samehada."

The presence of the Gobi was still a Dark country inside secret. The four allies of the Silent Nation also knew, though strictly their Leader's and immediate subordinates, the news never went further than that.

All the rest of the world knew was that Kokuo, the Gobi, galloped into the ocean and was never seen again.

The fewer outside ears that knew, the better. Even if those ears were allied ears.

Akatsuki knew this by mere assumption.

Kisame was hoping to find out the person deceiving the Amekage.

He grabbed onto the doorknob of the Kage's tower and turned, he grit his teeth and cursed. "Kami in a bathing suit, Konan." The woman standing directly on the other side of the door cocked her head to the side, her paper pale face clear of emotions. "Don't just…stand there."

The Origami Angel felt a tingle of a frown come but unable to express it properly. "I was waiting for your return, Kisame."

The hulking shark man grumbled darkly and eased himself around the purple haired Kunoichi, who silently watched him slide around her and trying not to touch her. "I was going to meet you and Lord Pein anyway."

"Good." she bobbed her head affirmatively and, when the man finally got around her, she held out her hand to him. "Can I have it?"

He dropped the thumb bone in her hand, wondering aloud. "What do you want to use him for anyway?"

Konan shook her head. "We don't want to use him, we want what he has." She turned her head to the right and called in a low, soft voice. "Orochimaru."

Kisame's eyes slithered over to where the infamous Sannin crept out of, a dark open passageway. The former Shinobi of Darkness narrowed his eyes at the smell of putrid blood and death floating in the air after the mad Sannin. The black haired snake bowed to the Angel of Ame and held out his hand, his Akatsuki robes swished with each movement. "Thank you very much, Lady Konan."

The shark man grunted and slightly turned his head to Orochimaru, saying. "If you were the one getting this guy," he said, referring to the formerly alive owner of the finger bone. "Then why didn't you come with us?"

"Because, my dear friend, Naruto hates me more than he hates you and Minato. And, quite frankly," the man hissed pleasantly, a chilling chuckle coming from his lips. "I don't think I can hold myself back from attacking him and his dear home."

"We're not friends, snake." Kisame growled.

The Sannin held up his hands in surrender, his right hand closed so that the brittle finger bone didn't roll onto the ground. "I want us to get along, Kisame."

The Kiri born only scoffed. "I don't think so."

Konan cleared her throat and Orochimaru straightened up with a smile, suppressing the irritated twitch on his eyebrow. "You are certain you can get Kakuzu's Jiongu?"

The scientist nodded. "Yes, Lady Konan. The Jiongu will go a long way in finding the cure to this accursed affliction Naruto so graciously gave me." here, he painfully coughed into his fist and pointedly glared at Kisame, not caring to hold up his encompassing smile. The shark man felt his heckles raised and he growled lowly, facing his head to the man but crossing his powerful arms, making himself look and feel taller, an incredible feet for someone that was just as tall as his former Leader. The shark man clenched his serrated teeth and the Sannin's lips twitched down.

"Enough, you two." Konan ordered and both men reluctantly lowered their directed anger. The Origami Angel, the spokesperson for the Amekage and an S rank war veteran in her own right, spoke to Orochimaru. "Heal yourself so we can begin gathering tailed beasts. You have one month."

"More than enough time, Lady Konan." The snake sage didn't like referring to the former student of the late Toad sage so reverently, seeing as she was a constant reminder of the lung disease his former student had given him. Though he also couldn't deny that the woman had come a long way from the last time he saw her.

He was really just glad that Konan had recognized his worth and offered him safe sanctuary and a state-of-the-art laboratory in exchange for his loyalty and his services.

"I'll get to it." he swivelled around and went back into the passageway.

"Kisame."

The tall man rumbled in reply and looked back to the Paper Angel.

"Were…you able to see Naruto…?"

She asked the question timidly, reluctantly, and the man raised an eyebrow at the averted look in her dark brown eyes. "No."

Konan sighed quietly, almost unnoticeably even, and a frown showed on her expressionless face. "That's too bad…today is his birthday."

"I'm aware." Kisame mumbled with curiously furrowed eyebrows.

"Has he ever spoken about us…or…me…?"

"Its common knowledge that Naruto used to live here, if that's what you're saying." The purple haired angel exhaled mutely. "He hasn't."

"…We used to be best friends. Him, me, Sueki, Nagato and…Yahiko."

The former Dark ninja frowned. "Why are you telling me this, Konan?"

"You were close to him." she whispered dourly, looking down with furrowed eyebrows, questioning herself. "You were close to him, were you not? He went to prison for you. I…I had hoped we could relate-"

"He went to prison because it was on his 'bucket list'" Kisame bit angrily. "When we left Snow he wanted to seal away my chakra, take Samehada from me and throw me into a hole. He called me a psychopath, Konan-"

The woman bowed ever so slightly. "I apologize for disturbing you, Kisame."

She turned around and made her way upstairs to report to Nagato about Kisame and Minato's successful mission. Months of building up her courage to speak to Kisame about this subject was all for nought. She stopped at the firm hand on her shoulder, not looking at the owner. "We can talk, Konan." Kisame sighed, rubbing his forehead and wondering to himself why he was even bothering with her. "Some other time."

The woman looked down and exhaled, an invisible smile tickling her lips. "I would like that very much. Thank you, Kisame." She lifted her head and walked up the stairs and the man at the bottom watched her leave, her black with red cloud cloak rustling quieter and quieter the high she climbed.

The Origami Angel didn't knock on the door, pushing it open and allowing it to swing shut behind her.

The two occupants of the room briefly looked to her, then returned their attention to the pouring rain outside.

"They were successful, Nagato." Konan said and stood to one side of the room.

"As expected." Nagato replied deeply, his head perched in his hands and his purple ringed eyes raptly looking out of the wall-large window before him, at the rain and at the people slowly milling about on the ground, going about their business. "Kisame is reliable." It must be because he's from Darkness; he filled in in his head, seeing as mission success rate for Dark country was ninety nine percent, from jounin to genin. He then frowned to himself. "I do not trust that other one. Namikaze Minato."

Madara Uchiha, or Obito Uchiha, didn't speak once the doubt in his former teacher was voiced.

He didn't recognize the new, full-bearded Namikaze Minato.

The post-mental breakdown Namikaze Minato.

The part-time lumberjack Namikaze Minato.

So as not to draw attention to himself and take apart his 'Madara Uchiha' image, he didn't speak, because he truly didn't know whether or not to trust this version of his former teacher.

"He is not as efficient as when he was mentally unstable." Nagato murmured aloud, and Konan felt bile pool in her gut at her friend's statement. "His loyalties are divided; his woman, his lifestyle and Akatsuki. To be here, one must devote their life to the Akatsuki." Konan straightened up as the bad feeling became worse. "I doubt his commitment to our cause-"

"Minato is going to be a father, Nagato." The Angel of Ame interjected. "He is loyal to whoever respects him and his family. Is him replacing Zetsu not enough for you?"

The red haired man's head snapped to her and his rinnegan eyes narrowed dangerously. "Do not speak to me like that, Konan."

"He has performed outstandingly," Konan said strongly, standing her ground, even as she felt power gather towards the rinnegan holder. "We can now set our plan in motion with his support, faster than Zetsu ever could-"

"His woman knows about our existence." The crippled Kage spat. "What stops her from selling this information?"

"She is seven months pregnant!" she exclaimed. "She and him are going to have a child!"

"Do not raise your voice at me, Konan." The man warned and 'Madara Uchiha' hid his amused smirk. "If he is so loyal to our cause, then why does he refuse to accept the ring and sign a blood contract?"

"He is a seal master. A level ten seal master." The purple haired woman emphasized. "Taking the ring means death, when he now has so much to live for. The blood contract too."

"…Enough."

"Listen to reason-"

An invisible force lifted her off her feet and slammed her into the wall behind her, hard. The wall dented behind her and she felt a worrying throb at the back of her head. She whimpered, mortified at what her childhood friend had done to her. "Na-Na-…Nagato…"

The man ignored her and turned to 'Madara Uchiha'. "Tip the Uchiha off on Namikaze Minato's location. This should be enough to make him unstable." The woman fell off the wall and staggered onto her feet. She was already making her way out of the room as her friend finished his order. "When it is done, have Sasori and Deidera convince him to take the ring and blood contract."

"Roger."

There was a line one shouldn't cross.

Everyone had a line.

The Akatsuki had a line, the first Leader, Yahiko, had drawn that line; no involving mothers or children, especially not expectant mothers. Akatsuki went out of its way to skirt around mothers, whether they encountered them in Konoha or Iwa.

That was the line.

Konan was a prisoner not Nagato's will.

She wondered though…did she still have an opinion in the Akatsuki?

Was there anything of the original plan for the Akatsuki left?

It seemed like…the moment Naruto left Ame, taking Sueki with him, the thing they called Akatsuki became a puppet organization for the will of Zetsu and 'Madara Uchiha'.

Her biggest regret was not following Naruto when she had the chance.

Konan found her way higher up the tower and onto the roof, allowing the torrential rain to wash over her soul. She closed her eyes, uncaring of the cold and the blood seeping down her neck from the open wound at the back of her head.

"Happy birthday, Naruto." She whispered solemnly, sombrely, to the man that wouldn't hear her many miles away. She placed her palms together and prayed. "I…I hope you're doing well."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

At that same moment

Leader's Tower

Dark capital

Dark country

Naruto's hands went up to his masked mouth.

"Achooo!"

His two Office Assistants looked to their Leader with worriedly furrowed eyebrows. They said in unison. "Bless you."

"Ah," the blonde man grabbed an offered napkin to the female of the pair in his office and dabbed at the top side of his mask, where his nose was. "Thank you."

The male assistant stood from his small corner desk. "Are you feeling unwell, Lord Naruto?"

"No, no, don't worry about me." he waved flippantly for them to relax. "Let's get back to work."

"Hai, Lord Naruto." They responded and went back to their jobs.

Naruto's office was very large, with a wall-sized window to the right of his desk, a massive collection of scrolls, books and items on desks and shelves to his left and a Dark country flag hung on the wall behind him, where paintings of former Dark Leader's would soon be hung underneath the flag in later years. His desk was situated near the back of the office, to the centre of the room, and his assistants had smaller, though manageable versions of their Leader's desks pushed to the walls on the left and right sides of the room, though facing inwards. The two assistants handled minor issues, relieving most of the workload from Naruto's shoulders, while Naruto took care of the heavy, highly important work.

To the left of Naruto's desk was a coat rack that held his neatly arranged Leader's robe and wide brim hat and on the lower part of the rack was where Naruto kept his kunai and shuriken pouches.

It was now three months before the end of the year and the annual blizzard was gathering strength far-east of the world, and the weather forecast predicted that it would be worst blizzard in the history of Dark country.

Naruto had a lot to do, and now that the centre of administration for all of Darkness had long since been completed, his office was open to the country and his tower was staffed with the best employees, the masked Leader didn't have to move about the country to meet people and inquire about their efforts in preparing for winter.

They all brought their reports to him.

It was convenient.

Though it was still work.

Naruto rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Oh yes, before I forget…" he picked up the landline sitting on the left side of his desk and pressed in three digits. He placed the receiver near his ear and hummed at the line rang.

"Good evening, my lord Naruto. This is Equinox Communication, how may I be of service to you?"

"Evening, connect me to my house."

"Right away, sir." The transponder answered and promptly connected Naruto's office line with the landline at his home. The phone rang twice before Sueki picked it up. "Hi, sensei~"

"Hey, Su~" he sweetly sang back to the chirping tone of his normally stoic vampire wife. "How are you? How's Kushina?"

"We're fine." The woman on the other line replied, tucking a strand of her blazing white hair over her ear and faintly blushing at her husband's warm voice. "I hope office work isn't too much, sensei."

"Nah, I'm managing it ok." He replaced the receiver on his other ear and picked up a pen, tapping it on a thick document from the National Electrical Distribution Company. "It's going to be a late night, Su. You two don't mind, right?"

"Do your best, sensei." Was Sueki's faintly smiling response, one that made Naruto smile lightly. "I love you."

"I love you too."

There was a yell in the background. "Tell him, I love him too!" Sueki laughed softly at Kushina's exclamation and Naruto snorted in amusement. "Kushina says that she loves you too."

"Tell her that I love her too."

"He loves you too!" the vampire called and Kushina hooted. "Yas!"

"I'll see you tonight." Naruto chuckled and dropped the receiver back on the phone, cutting the call. He breathed out and a crinkling smile appeared at the corner of his eyes when he noticed that his Office Assistants were focusing much too hard at the papers before them, pretending as if they hadn't just listened to his conversation.

One of the many companies that had sprung up in Darkness, established by citizens of Darkness, Equinox Communication was a relatively old one, being roughly sixteen years old. They were the primary phone company used in Dark country and they had branches in Uzushio and Kiri, setting up a joint branch with River and Suna's telephone companies. They connected all the landlines of the country together into a central hub in the western region, employing many men and women so as to work as transponders from one caller to another. The company was making active research and investments into inventing a handheld, more portable mobile device that was more versatile and more multi-purpose than walkie-talkies. Equinox, being a Dark country created company, was one of the parts of the Inventors Department that Naruto supported.

There was plenty of potential and Equinox weren't afraid to dream big.

Rolling his shoulders and preparing to get back to work, Naruto's serene blue eyes saw one of the few picture frames on his desk.

One was of him and Kushina on a date in Suna's travelling carnival; at that time, she was one month pregnant.

Now, she was slipping into her seventh month.

Looking at Kushina now only brought a soft smile to Naruto's face; the Uzumaki was absolutely glowing.

Radiant.

Though hampered by her large belly and the aches in her joints, the redhead never failed to smile and laugh; it gave Naruto a warm feeling in his heart. Sueki could attest to it that, holding Naruto's child made Kushina the happiest woman in the whole world.

Naruto couldn't be more pleased.

Sueki was on temporary leave of absence from BLAK so that she could use all her time to cater for and take care of Kushina. The vampire devoted her time to making sure the redhead was well-fed, exercised moderately, stayed active though not debilitating-ly busy and that she conversed with other expectant mothers as much as possible. Sueki loved Kushina with all her heart and she was positive, whether or not she ended up having kids of her own, that she would also pour a world of love on Kushina's child, or children.

There wasn't a parenting book that Naruto hadn't read, he was fairly sure. Any spare time he got, any break he could find, he would tuck his head into parenting manuals.

He spent as much time he could with the two women in his life.

He didn't want to mess this up.

His eyes steeled over and he bent down to the document before him; to make a better, safer Darkness for his soon-to-be-arriving child, he would need to work harder.

Winter was one month away and the end of the year was three months from now, the Academies were rounding up classes and preparing for exams, the trading year was coming to a close and traders were summarizing their profits/loss, more and more mission requests were flooding in from all over the continent as the cold became worse and reliability on the high performance of Dark shinobi increased, the Director of the National Bank was preparing the yearly statement and would send it to him once she received word from traders outside the country and every single department in the country, and now until midnight, Naruto's more nocturnal-slash, insomniac-ninjas were coming to his tower to collect missions. Though to limit the risk of endangering themselves on a mission due to lack of rest, the people distributing the missions downstairs performed quick tests.

Naruto was pushing through these late nights so that his next three weeks would be free, so he could spend time with Sueki and Kushina.

The snow storm wasn't going to wait for Darkness to prepare.

First, Naruto looked at the document the National Electrical Company delivered to him that morning.

Dark country used a country-wide hydroelectric dam to power houses, offices and other appliances. The document detailed that all houses that were connected to the dam were firmly secured and would hold against the violent winds that were to come, though the problem lay with the fact that the blizzard would free the water that powered electricity in the company. Each region-North, South, East and West-had regional generators, though those would need an hour of cool down and refilling after twenty hours of functioning. The head engineer proposed either temporarily moving the electrical grid from hydroelectric to solar, like those in Uzushio; it was easier to maintain during the blizzard and if they installed the panels and seals on each house now, allowing them to recharge for a month before the oncoming blizzard, then the light would hold throughout the two months, after which the waterfall that powered the hydroelectric dam would thaw out and business as usual would continue. The other alternative was sending out a country-wide declaration for households to stock up on gas to power their backup generators.

Naruto easily recognized the risk of the backup generators freezing and that the two month lifespan for the solar energy wasn't set in stone; houses could use more energy than others, and whatnot. So Naruto proposed something other than what the engineer suggested; there being two regional generators for each region. This was so that when a generator was to be switched off and refilled, the other would be turned on and connected. People would barely notice the switch and this way there wouldn't be much noise pollution, like when all backup generators are on at the same time. Hospitals that needed constant electricity wouldn't suffer in the least.

He stamped his decision with the Leader of Darkness Seal and dropped it onto the 'Out' pile.

Next was a summarized report from the Uzushiogakure Fuinjutsu Research Facility in Uzushiogakure no Sato.

Naruto's country had its fingers dipped in many things, whether they were from allied nations or unallied nations. It was one of the reasons Darkness was the Fourth Wealth Nation. The UFRF were one of many places Darkness had put interest into.

The report from the island of Uzumakis said that they had been able to craft a new, vastly useful seal simply called Preservation seal. Reading into the report, Naruto's eyebrows climbed up his forehead.

'This is…brilliant.' He thought.

The Preservation seal was essentially a somewhat large seal that could preserve the freshness and nutrition of fruits, vegetables and grains, though since the seal was still in its earlier phases, and as such it was massive, it could only be used at a large scale, for now. Another limit was that only crops that had been harvested could be preserved with the seal. It had already gone through the five stages of testing before it was given the Seal of Approval from the Uzukage, Tamaki, and as such it was certified to work. It was still a level seven seal that could be made by level eight fuinjutsu masters. Anyone not well-versed in seals couldn't hope to replicate it, and not many people outside of the Uzumaki clan and the Chui-Inku clan were so close to fuinjutsu as to give the widely complex, massive Preservation seal a second glance.

Naruto could already feel the ideas churn in his head; they could slap those seals on grain silos, storerooms and storehouses. Daichiharu Pansa-Senshi, clan head of the people that populated most of Dark country's farms, would have a field day with this seal. As one of their investors, the Head of the research facility in Uzushio was cutting down the price of the seal by fifty percent.

The Leader of Dark country stamped the document, scribbling a letter that would be expanded by one of his Office Assistants later that night. He wanted the seal research facility to mass produce a thousand of those seals, with the probability of making more in the near future, and ship them to Darkness by next week. He also thanked their hardwork and encouraged them to shrink the seal, so that it could slapped onto fridges and coolers.

He stuck the yellow sticky note with the short letter onto the report and passed it onto the 'Out' pile.

"Sir," the female Office Assistant called and Naruto looked up. "Lord Mizukage has just entered the country and he would wish to know if he could meet with you tomorrow to discuss a serious problem."

The masked Leader's forehead creased.

Yagura was a good friend of his, he didn't need to set up an appointment to come and see him, especially when he had a problem. It wasn't the first time Naruto was meeting with Yagura, in Kiri or in Darkness, and the man wasn't roundabout in how he spoke.

"I'm fine with that. My office is always open to him. Tell him to rest well." Yagura was still living in the house he had bought fifteen years ago, maintaining it well even when he wasn't in the country. As the Mizukage, Yagura didn't have much time to go back and forth from Kiri to Dark country, but when he came by, his house in the eastern region was ready for him. There was already an installed landline, stable electricity and clean water. From what Naruto had learnt, Yagura was paying one of his neighbours kids to mow his lawn every week.

The female assistant relayed his message and bid the Mizukage a good night.

Naruto wondered if the problem concerned their Bi-Annual Chunin Exams. The next exams would take place on February, next year, and requests to attend from Dark country jounin-sensei hadn't come yet, seeing as there were three more months before the year could even end.

It could be about the unrest among the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist after Kisame's defection. Zabuza Momochi, the person Kushina had battled in the Chunin Exams finals during her time, holder of the Kubikiribochou, Head cleaver sword, and also the newest induction onto their ranks, was making bold threats and the holder of Nuibari, the Needle sword, was decidedly uninvolved in the arguments. The holder of the Twin Lightning fangs was trying to smooth things over between the Swordsmen and the Mizukage.

The problem stemmed from Suna ranking higher than Kiri in the Great Shinobi Village listing, being third and Suna second.

Yagura didn't care much about the ranking, but the Swordsmen were outraged that they hadn't been ranked highest.

Wisely not neglecting the training, advancement and motivation of his shinobi after the passing of the former Mizukage, Yagura was capitalizing on the boost in their economy once Kiri reached an agreement and adopted the use of Dark ryu. This agreement was signed by Naruto and Yagura's predecessor, Gengetsu Hozuki, but once Yagura took over control of Kiri he was blown away by how latent potential in using Dark ryu Gengetsu had failed to recognize. The man had first began construction of Kiri's branch of the National Bank of Dark country, so that printing money and distributing it in Kiri would be faster and easier, then the man went about flowing the currency into small business inside of Kiri, renovating buildings and maintaining clan compounds.

Giving credit to Gengetsu, the man had raised the standard of living in Kiri over the past fifteen years, so much so that there was almost no such thing as homelessness, but Yagura shot past this and fed the precious currency into the economy, creating jobs, more living quarters and more channels connecting Kiri to Darkness to give and receive goods. The present Mizukage used money to set up more targeted, more elaborate and more effective training grounds, regimen and equipment for his shinobi.

Chunin Exams success wavered from Kiri to Darkness and back again, though at the moment, Naruto's country was two wins in the lead.

Naruto was jolted out of his thoughts when his phone rang. He picked up the receiver and placed it on his ear.

"Lord Naruto, you are receiving a call from Lady Sueki."

"Put her through." The man muttered as he tapped his pen on a thin report from the National Water Board Company. "Sup, Su~"

"Hey, sensei," Ketsueki began, using her shoulder to hold the phone up to her ear as she pulled on a pair of warm, woollen gloves. "I just wanted to call to tell you that I'm taking Kushina to the hospital to see Dr Nakamura; she says she's feeling winded and a bit sick." The black operative switched the phone into her other hand and helped Kushina put on a winter coat. She spoke softly. "I might just be panicking but we can't be too careful."

Naruto was about to stand up. "Ok, I'm on my way-"

"No, no, don't worry, sensei. It's not that serious." She sensed that Naruto wasn't convinced, so the blondes other wife collected the phone, whispering in an unusually quiet, tired voice. "Don't worry about me, Naruto. Work hard for us, ok?"

The corners of the man's eyes turned down and he sat back with a sigh. "…Ok. Let me know if you need anything." Naruto didn't deserve to have these understanding women, and the regret grew in his gut. "Give the phone to Sueki, please."

The other end shortly rustled, before, "You wanted me?"

"You're sure this isn't serious?"

"Positive."

The man sighed again, then he smiled cheekily. "Alright. Kiss Kushina for me."

"Idiot." The vampire giggled blushingly and cut the call.

The man hummed pleasantly, glad he was able to lighten the mood, even just a little, and he went back to work.

"Sir," the male Office Assistant called, holding the receiver of his phone in one hand, keeping the person on the other line on hold until he delivered the message. "Lady Kamina Suitokku, Hyokage of Hidden Chill, is wishing you a happy birthday. She also sent a gift basket and a coupon for a free massage at the Suna Beach Resort. It has been checked for traps and poison."

"I could use a treat." The man mumbled to himself as he tapped his chin. "Send in the gift basket and tell her thank you."

The door opened for one of Naruto's chunin bringing with him the gift basket, as the Office Assistant finished talking to one of Kamina's ninjas. The Hyokage was staying in the Beach Resort at that very moment, easing the stress out of her pores.

There was already a large pile of gifts and treats near the male assistants desk; hand sown clothes, homemade delights, Shinobi collectors cards from some of the students of either Academies, gift cards from business owners, and the Head Matron of the country's orphanage had compiled a book of pictures the orphans had drawn for him, laughingly saying that it had been their idea and they had begged her to go along with it; a small group from the orphanage came to his office that afternoon and sang for him.

It was adorable.

Naruto promised himself that he would cherish each gift.

He idly munched on the Hyokage's gift to him, sifting through the Water Board Company's report; nothing was amiss, water was being properly filtered and waste was adequately disposed of. The blizzard wouldn't affect the distribution of water, as each pipe to each house was cold resistant, preventing the water from freezing over, and the sewers and drainage systems of Dark country were just as reinforced.

Naruto applauded their efficiency, increased the salaries of the workers from the Water Board Company for being reliable and unflinchingly trustworthy for all these years, and he stamped his Seal onto the document before sliding it onto the 'Out' pile.

Makoto Gado and Nanako Hogo, Directors of the Northern and Southern Defence Corp respectively, set up appointments that night to discuss with their Leader about the recent infiltration of their border through the Night Forest by Kisame and Minato.

The plan Naruto, Makoto and Nanako had crafted was to lure the Akatsuki into a false sense of superiority, entice the mastermind brainwashing Nagato to walk into a trap, escorted in by none other than Kisame.

Look weak before the enemy, make them cocky and underestimate you.

The problem being that, with the strength of their ninjas and the sturdiness of their border, no country on the planet underestimated the Country Hidden in the Darkness.

Nagato was never the strategist of the group. He was the power.

Yahiko was the brains, Konan was the glue, Nagato was the strength and Naruto was their shadow.

Naruto was meant to be the next Leader of Akatsuki after Yahiko had passed, as accepted by all of the organization at that time, though he was content with his position as a background character.

His friends should be the ones to shine, not him.

Someone must be doing most of the thinking for Nagato, and seeing as Naruto had foiled more than his own fair share of plots against him and his allies, it was safe to say that the strategist wasn't doing a good job.

The Plant man, Zetsu, was dead.

Danzo was dead.

The Sandaime was dead.

Konoha was a burning trash pit.

Iwa was docile and subdued.

Kumo, though being First Greatest Hidden Village, was wise enough to stay respectful and neutral with Naruto's country, even after the Raikage had changed from Cee to Ay.

The doubt they wanted to create among his shinobi had been crushed.

Minato respected Naruto enough to give him and his country space, and the older blonde reciprocated in kind.

His allies were with him and his country one hundred and one percent.

The first three Wealth Nations, though skittish around Darkness, smartly didn't prod the patience of the Silent Nation, which just so happened to be the Fourth Wealth Nation.

Whether those challenges were caused wholly or partly by the Akatsuki, they had fallen apart once Dark country took active measures to squash them.

It would take some time for Kisame to build proper trust with the Akatsuki and for the Red Cloud Organization to begin to feel superior to Darkness. They hadn't received word from Kisame since he had joined, but seeing as he had broken into the country through the Night Forest, Naruto could assume the shark man was doing fine.

Thinking about Minato, Naruto breathed out mournfully and ghosted his hand over his masked lower face. The male assistant looked to him and asked.

"Are you ok, my lord?"

"It's that…" Naruto sighed heavily. "I've…I've always wanted to grow a beard…"

The two assistants sweat dropped and chuckled at the sincerity of their Leader's words.

His uncle had a full beard when he was alive and his father shaved his own beard every day, hiding the smooth chin under a bandanna, which was what inspired Naruto to start wearing a mask when he was young. So it was likely that if Naruto had a lower jaw to speak of, he would have had a grizzly beard as well.

Going past his sorrow, Naruto hadn't been keeping much tabs on Minato, not all the time anyway, and from what his ninjas were saying, the Namikaze was living a peaceful life in Hidden Mountain with his pregnant girlfriend, coincidentally expecting at the same time as Kushina. Minato worked mostly as a lumberjack while doing Akatsuki missions on the side, says the report from Sueki's Team Eleven. The missions were research and strictly stayed away from Naruto's business as possible, only recently did the mission involve entering the Night Forest.

Naruto was honestly glad that Minato had found his peace.

The Namikaze was still very unstable, though Tsume was the glue keeping his fractured mind together.

Naruto hoped nothing would shatter Minato's mental harmony.

Going back to his work, Naruto read through the report from the Directors of his Shinobi and Civilians Academies, who said that the arrangement of squads and assigning of jounin-sensei was going to change, now that the Kurama were back in Dark country. The clan of illusionists were known to work well with the clan of fuinjutsu masters, though they didn't want to build teams to only this limit, diversifying teams' among the other five clans, the clanless and transfer students from the four allied nations. In the case of the Civilian Academy, a whole new class was opened for Creative Arts in all classes; from class one to the advanced classes, for students that wished to become artists and musicians. This class was similar to the Dance classes held by teachers from the Chui-Inku clan.

The Kurama clan was settling in nicely and were gradually getting into the flow of things.

BLAK, DC and the Police had recruited dozens of them and the jounin and chunin that wanted to be 'normal' ninjas were presently out running missions for the country, while the genin familiarized themselves with the landscape and people of their country, as they were too young or not even born at all to remember when their parents were forced out of Darkness and into Konoha.

By far, Darkness was preferred over the Hidden Leaf.

There was a sense of belonging that they felt nowhere else.

The problem was that Naruto made a slight miscalculation in their size, and so their clan compound was too small for them. It was an easy fix; there was plenty of land around and they weren't necessarily limited to living only in their main compound in the eastern region, though a sizeable portion would have to live there with the Mania holder. The walls of the small clan compound were knocked down, after collecting permission from Naruto, and they expanded by building houses to accommodate most of their clan that wished to stay there. Others that strived out on their own found housings and accommodations in the other regions.

Dark country might have been small compared to other shinobi settlements like Konoha and Iwa, but there was still vast, untouched land all around in each region, including the capital.

His landline rang and he picked it up.

"Hello, my lord Naruto. You are receiving a call from Doctor Yuma Nakamura of the Dark country General Hospital."

Naruto swallowed thickly. "Put him through."

There was a faint buzz before the other end of the line clicked. Yuma's calm, polite voice sailed through the phone. "Good evening, Lord Naruto, I hope I'm not disturbing your work."

"It's fine. What's the problem?"

"Sir, will you please come to the hospital now." His next words made Naruto's heart thud. "It is important."

"Of course, I'll be there." he dropped the phone and rose off his chair, not bother with his ceremonial cloak and hat and dusted down his jounin flak jacket as he walked to the wall-large window of his office. He threw the window open, allowing in a slight breeze, and said to his curiously watching assistants. "Hold down the fort for me, guys."

"Hai, Lord Naruto." They saluted and Naruto jumped out of the window, and-

Pomf!

-He disappeared in a burst of smoke.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Two seconds later

Dark country General Hospital,

Dark capital,

Dark country

Pomf!

Naruto's feet seamlessly touched down on the ground before the doors of the hospital and he rushed inside without missing a beat.

Only a few people milled about that night in the hospital waiting room, reading magazines and waiting for their turn. The doctors and nurses on duty worked around the clock to ensure that the waiting room wasn't clustered with seriously ailing people. He passed the receptionist, idly nodding to her called greeting, and ran up the stairs, vanishing and appearing in random explosions of smoke here and there until he got to his family doctor's office door, where the man came out, jerking back when he saw that the man he had called not five seconds ago was standing before him.

Naruto didn't allow Yuma to wrap his arms around how much distance Naruto had cut to get from the Leader's Tower to the General Hospital. "What's wrong? Is it Kushina? Sueki?"

"Sir, please calm down." Yuma said calmly and Naruto took a step back, closed his eyes and exhaled. He didn't comment on how the family doctor was wearing the light green surgical wear of doctors in the country, except he had not rubber gloves on and the medical mask was over his chin. "It's about Kushina." He began slowly, holding up his hands for Naruto to relax. "The Kyuubi is reacting to Kushina's hormones. She has high blood pressure and her lungs are being pushed into her ribs." He then quickly stated. "It is not because of the child. The Kyuubi is using the weakened state of the seal," seeing as Kushina was heavily pregnant. "To swell the size of her chakra coils more than normal."

Naruto nodded hastily, looking around Yuma to see if either of his wives were in his office. They weren't. He felt the panic rising again. "Alright, what should we do about it?"

The man gave his Leader a slight, hesitant look, before he said. "We have to induce."

Naruto was taken aback. "Induce? Isn't she due for another two months?" he ran a shaky hand through his yellow hair when he realized he was shouting. "I'm sorry. Where are they?"

"Kushina is preparing for the operation and Lady Ketsueki is having her people seal off the operating room in case the Kyuubi tries to escape." Naruto rubbed his forehead and Yuma placed a gentle hand on Naruto's shoulder, saying. "If the child is not born soon, then Kushina's life will be in danger." Naruto rubbed circles into the side of his head and his blue eyes flicked to a piece of paper on a clipboard and a blue pen. "We need the permission of the father of the child before we can perform the procedure, and Lady Ketsueki and Kushina insisted we wait for your arrival, seeing as you are present and the father of the child. This is strictly routine, my lord; my comrades have performed this procedure hundreds of times. Nothing will go wrong."

"What if it does?" Naruto asked quietly, looking up with sad eyes to his family doctor. "What if everything goes wrong?"

Yuma shook his head. "I assure you, it won't."

Naruto grabbed the doctor's upper left arm and glared at the man. "I'm trusting you, Yuma."

"I will make sure nothing goes wrong. You have my word." Yuma wasn't an expert in childbirth but he had supervised his own fair share of inducing childbirth. He knew the best doctors and nurses that had done commendable work each and every time. The success rate was such that there was a ninety percent chance Kushina would bear children again, and those times would be less complicated with or without the Kyuubi sealed in her. Naruto scribbled down his signature onto the pad, providing his permission, and Yuma walked him down the stairs into a room in the Maternity ward, where Panda and Polar Bear of BLAK Teams Eleven and Twelve were sealing off the room from the rest of the world.

"Naruto…" Kushina whispered, her sleep heavy purple eyes unfocused and bleary. "Heyyy…"

The man grabbed onto her hand and bent down, kissing her forehead. He looked to Sueki, who was holding Kushina's other hand, and the vampire smiled tearfully, barely containing herself. The man looked to both of them and said. "Yuma knows what he's doing."

Polar Bear came and requested permission to draw a small seal on Kushina's bed and Naruto nodded without looking.

Naruto felt dread as a hand was placed onto his shoulder. "My Lord, please wait outside."

"No, I'm supposed to be in here."

"Naruto…" the tired redhead whispered, out of breath. "Listen to what the doctor says…please…"

Naruto bowed his head, placing his forehead onto Kushina's and he grumbled mutely, uncertain. He rubbed Kushina's frail hand in his own, soaking in the redheads loving warmth. He then straightened up and said. "Sueki stays."

Yuma bowed. "Yes, of course."

A team of three nurses and one other doctor entered the room and the black operatives exited with their Leader.

The door silently clicked shut.

Thirty minutes later

Naruto paced back and forth in front of the room his red haired wife was delivering in, tapping his fingers together and doing breathing exercises to calm himself down. He stopped and pressed his ear against the door of the room.

No sound.

Understandably so, there was a silencing seal and a suppression seal, in case of the Kyuubi escaping.

Naruto's black operatives watched their Leader march around, their eyes dimmed with worry.

One hour later

Naruto was now seated on an offered chair, rubbing his face and tapping his feet on the clean, white tiled floor.

Two hours later

The blonde Leader asked one of his ninjas, Komodo Dragon, for a deck of cards. He distracted himself by playing with the cards, giving up ten minutes later when the fear and paranoia became too much for him.

Another two hours later

The man jumped out of his seat as the door opened.

Yuma came out, rubbing his hands with a small towel.

Naruto's eyes widened and waited in expectation. "Well?"

"…Congratulations, my lord. It's a boy." The doctor smiled widely and laughed when Naruto dragged him into a bone crushing hug, shoving him aside and speeding into the room.

Kushina was barely awake, smiled sleepily as her husband entered the room. Sueki was almost as tired, using her bloodline to force her kidneys to produce adrenaline so as to keep her awake, a tiny amount to snap her eyes back open.

The vampire placed a gently hand on Kushina's now nearly flat stomach, tiredly indicating that the Kyuubi seal was still intact and that there wasn't any threat of the tailed beast escaping. Panda and Polar Bear confirmed this.

Naruto's grin was enough to light up the room.

Words couldn't come to him.

The doctor that had come to induce Kushina smiled modestly as Naruto kissed Kushina's lips, doing so over his mask and, strangely enough, the black mask shifted to form vague lips. Kushina used the last of her strength to lift Naruto's hand and hold it out towards the incubator on the other side of her bed, beside the half wake vampire.

The man went to the incubator, his smile dimming and replaced with apprehension.

He looked down at the tiny infant inside and his blue eyes softened.

He wasn't aware of the tears falling from his eyes, placing a delicate hand on the top of the incubator, afraid that even that light touch would destroy the transparent incubator. There were wires and tubes connected to his son's body.

Born one hour after his father's birthday.

Naruto touched his face, shocked at the tears and rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, refusing to lift the hand on the incubator.

"He's so…small…" he intoned quietly, fearing that his voice would wake the child. "I…I…" he stuttered, and the occupants of the room silently watched their Leader look at his first child. His son. The black operatives mutely ushered the nurses out and Yuma guided his fellow doctor out as well, quietly closing the door and giving the man and the two women their privacy. "W-What if I mess up…?"

He couldn't look away from the boy peacefully sleeping inside the incubator.

No parenting book could describe the whirlpool of emotions he felt then and there.

The man didn't realize that Kushina had fallen asleep and Sueki was seated next to her, leaning on the bed with her hand still holding Kushina's and quietly nodding off.

The man smiled to himself as the little child twitched a little in his sleep.

"I wonder what you're dreaming of so soon." He breathed out and went down on one knee, so that he was level with the child, and he said in his lowest, softest voice. "Your name will be…Benimaru."

Naruto didn't know it, but years from now, his children, his grandchildren, his great grandchildren, and his descendants to come, whether they were from Kushina or Sueki, would continue his great legacy and write their own names in the stars.

Naruto's story wouldn't end with him, but went on through his descendants.

What Naruto was sure of was this, whispering to his first child and declaring to the entire world.

"You're going to do great things, Benny."

Authors note

So ends another chapter. I apologize for the length.

Unfortunately, I need to inform you all, my wonderful readers, that this story is gradually coming to a close. We have no more than five-maybe six-chapters left before the epilogue. Remember in the first chapter I said that we won't be following canon?

We still aren't.

Most of the events in this story have drastically changed the direction of history. Some people from canon won't even be born or spoken about.

I want to say thank you to all those that have stayed with this story this far, I appreciate the love and the support very, very much. I've had a lot of fun (maybe too much fun) writing each chapter and all of your reviews have been nothing but amazing. So again, thank you so much. I say there are five-six chapters remaining but there is still plenty of the story left.

Who wants to read to the end of this story?

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

Foy.