A/N: As appreciation for all the feedback last chapter, I made sure to get this uploaded as fast as possible. Make sure to review because that crap motivates me to write for you guys. :D

Thanks!

As Kurotsuchi lay shivering from the cold, she pondered their prisoner, Namikaze. She didn't know his first name, but she knew who he was.

The son of the Fourth Hokage–the man who had single-handedly turned the tide of the Third Shinobi World War from Iwa to Konoha.

She had heard stories about him all of her life, and none were flattering. Almost everyone in Iwa had been affected by his mass slaughter.

Akatsuchi–his uncle. Ishikoro–his cousin. But Kurotsuchi? No one.

She was not affected by Minato Namikaze, But and she was grateful for that. Both because it meant she didn't lose anyone close to her, but also because it allowed her to feel empathy for the Namikaze boy.

When their team had come back to check on the miners earlier that day and found Konoha-nin attacking their allies, she remembered her father being livid. He was just about to order them to retaliate before one of the jonin noticed a boy on top of the balcony.

Everyone in Iwa knew what Minato Namikaze looked like, and the boy was the spitting image of him. Instantly, their goals had changed.

Kurotsuchi's genin team was told to run to their hideout–an artificial cave situated deep in one of the many mountains surrounding the Land of Frost–and wait for them to be back.

Next thing she knew, they arrived with Namikaze bound with seals and every part of him bruised and bloody.

And then they argued.

For over an hour, that was their song and dance. Half were arguing for the kid to be killed immediately, and the other half was arguing he needed to be brought back as a prisoner. Her father was undecided, but she knew he held as much hatred for Namikaze as any of the jonin. He had lost many friends because of the Fourth Hokage.

Kurotsuchi sighed.

She did have to hand the kid one thing. He had a mean poker face. Despite the precarious situation he was in, he had a blank face on, but his body language betrayed him.

Whenever one of the jonin expressed their hatred for him, he would almost imperceptibly flinch. Despite him being bound by seals that restricted his movement and chakra–and made to sit against the wall–he clenched his hands slightly. As much as he tried to hide it, he was scared.

Kurotsuchi scowled. It was honestly hard to watch.

Eventually, despite her best judgment, Kurotsuchi decided to stand up. The jonin were on the other side of the spacious cave, off in their own world. They were so engrossed in their arguing, they wouldn't notice what she was doing. Both Akatsuchi and Ishikoro had decided to sleep a while ago, tired of hearing the others shout.

No one paid her any mind.

So she walked toward Namikaze, intent on sitting beside him. Distracted by the shouting match, he only noticed when she was right in front of him.

He stared up at her with confusion.

Kurotsuchi smiled and followed through with sitting beside him. She didn't get too close to him, however, not wanting to make him any more frightened than he already was.

"What do you want?" he asked, wary.

"Nothin' at all. I guess… I wanted to talk," she said.

He looked away from her. "You can do whatever you like, I guess. I'm your prisoner now," he bit, his voice tense.

"What's your name then? We already know your dad's Minato Namikaze. No point in hiding your identity, so what's your first name, Namikaze?"

He didn't say anything for a while, taking the time to think or deciding to ignore her, she wasn't sure which. Eventually, he shrugged. "Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki, not Namikaze. That's the name I've gone by my entire life. I'd rather keep it that way."

Kurotsuchi nodded. "I guess your mom was an Uzumaki?" At his slight nod, she continued. "Did she die, too?"

He stilled. She couldn't see his face on account of him still looking away, but she could see his hands were clenched tightly. "You know, I'm already beaten. You don't have to mock me, too," he growled.

Kurotsuchi winced. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. I really just came here to talk. I… I felt bad. I thought talking with you might help a little."

"It doesn't. In the slightest."

Kurotsuchi nodded. "Fair enough. So how about I talk and you listen?" He didn't respond to her, but that was fine. She knew very well she shouldn't be here, but she really pitied him.

To have to be made to sit there and listen as people argued your fate must have been horrible. Her teachers had always condemned empathy for the enemy. They were meant to be hated, feared, and killed lest they do the same to you. She even agreed slightly.

Anyone who knew Kurotsuchi would describe her as a hotheaded bitch of a person, and she was proud of that description.

But to see someone like her–the child of a Kage–have something like this occur to them was hard to watch. The very same thing could be done to her in the future if she was caught. Her grandfather had made many enemies in life, and they would cherish the prospect of getting to him through her.

And so, to distract him, she talked.

About herself, Iwa, and her friends. Stories of adventures her teammates and her had gone on, stories of misadventures she caused in her village, and even how she was feeling now–her hatred for the snow, her appreciation for Akatsuchi's occasional kindness, as much of an ass as he was, and of how much she missed her home. Not wanting to get into even more trouble later, she never revealed any sensitive information.

But, eventually, Namikaze–Naruto–began to relax. At first, it was imperceptible, but it grew more apparent as Kurotsuchi continued. He ignored the jonin's heavy discussion and focused fully on her.

Naruto never offered any information of his own, but she was fine with that. She never really opened up like this with anyone else. It was weird at first, but she grew more comfortable with it as time went on.

"And you would not believe what Ishikoro did!" Kurotsuchi giggled.

Naruto breathed out, in what could barely be described as a snort. "Did he get a nosebleed?"

Kurotsuchi was surprised he decided to speak for the first time, but she ignored it, for now, to continue with her story. Laughing, she said, "He did! I thought those only happened in those trashy smut books, but he proved me wrong!"

And now, with Naruto's involvement, it grew more fun to tell stories about herself. He'd sometimes give witty remarks or sarcastic quips that made Kurotsuchi laugh even harder. She was genuinely enjoying talking with him.

Until everything went wrong.

One of the jonin, Haru, suddenly appeared before them and grabbed Naruto by his neck. With that grip, he turned him around to face the others, a kunai pressed against Naruto's back.

"If you think for a second I'm going to let that monster's kid live any longer than today, then you're out of your mind! My fucking brother is dead because of his father!"

The other jonin slowly walked toward Haru. Her father looked confusedly at her but ignored her in favor of Haru. "I understand that. I've lost precious comrades of my own–Haru, we all have–but Minato Namikaze is dead. Iwa's won. Killing the boy doesn't achieve anything right now. Holding him ransom and milking as much out of Konoha as we can is what the Tsuchikage would want," he said, his voice soft.

"Screw what he wants! He wasn't there!" Haru shouted. "He wasn't there when that animal killed them all! A flash–your throat was slit! Another–everyone around you was dead! We couldn't fight him. How could you fight something that wasn't even there!" he growled, squeezing Naruto's throat harder with every sentence.

Kurotsuchi stared in horror at what was happening.

Naruto's face was filled with terror. He tried struggling, but the restraints barely allowed any movement. There was nothing he could do. He was slowly suffocating.

Akatsuchi and Ishikoro came out of the tents, woken up by the noise.

Her father grew angrier. "And do you think I haven't lost anyone either? Anyone close to–"

"I don't care!" Haru interrupted, now placing his kunai on Naruto's throat. "For my brother, I'm going to end this here. I'm going to finally get justice for his death, and none of you can stop me."

Every nerve in Kurotsuchi's body was screaming for her to help him, but she didn't know what to do. Haru would know immediately if she tried to attack him, and if she did, she could kiss her career goodbye.

That was when everything grew a hundred times worse.

Kurama opened his eyes, slowly waking from his slumber.

The tantalizing scent of fear permeated through the bond between him and his host. He reveled in it for a moment before investigating the source.

He looked through his host's eyes briefly but it was too confusing without any context, so he rifled through the boy's memories instead.

Captured. Girl talks with him, and he's enjoying it, but then he's attacked by one of the jonin. Oh god–he's going to kill me. I'm going to die–

Kurama stopped the influx of information before he immersed himself too much.

So, the brat was about to die. Kurama wanted nothing more than to let him. If the boy died, all Kurama would have to go through was a painful few years of his chakra combining back into one form.

But that was before the Fourth Hokage stole half of it. Half of his chakra was gone from this world–now trapped in the belly of the Shinigami.

What would happen if Kurama died? Would he revive? There was no way to determine it, and he wasn't willing to risk his life to find out.

He flooded the seal with his chakra. Most of it was rebuffed, but a slight trickle was allowed through.

Kurama slowly closed his eyes, chuckling to himself.

Live for now, human. Someday, I'll escape.

Kitsuchi stared at the boy crouched before him. A moment ago, Haru had a kunai pressed against his throat, ready to pierce him.

Kitsuchi turned his head to where Haru was crumpled on the floor, slowly rising. The boy had torn his bindings apart and flung him across the cave with a simple punch, showing strength that did not befit a genin.

And wielding a visage that did not befit the child he was before.

Eyes that were the color of the bright sky turned a crimson red. His strange whispers grew feral by the second. His teeth elongated into fangs. His nails turned to claws. He was a beast now. A monster.

A jinchuriki.

His comrades stood side-by-side with him, each staring at the perplexing sight of a jinchuriki out in the wild. Why did Konoha allow it to leave at such a young age? Iwa would never stand for something like this. Jinchuriki were to be trained until they could handle any threat. Only then would they be allowed outside the village.

Only then would they allow their deterrent to be at risk of kidnapping.

But Konoha's jinchuriki, despite being just a lowly genin, and despite being the son of their hero–the Fourth Hokage–was seemingly treated as a normal shinobi.

The beast growled at them, standing upright.

Kitsuchi gave his jonin the command to attack.

The jinchuriki belonged to Iwa now.

Sasuke stared at Ranmaru. He'd been doing it for an hour now. Well, more like the past few hours, but he'd always take breaks to stare at the floor instead.

It was all Sasuke could do. After Kakashi had left to finish off the bandits, he did as he was asked, protecting Sakura from any threats. All the while, he brooded about Naruto's fate. If he was here, he'd joke Sasuke would turn into an old man soon if he continued like this.

There were a lot of things Naruto would do if he was here…

Sasuke sighed.

"You know, Sasuke-san, staring at me and sighing isn't going to bring him back," Ranmaru said without looking at him. He was still staring off into space, searching for Naruto.

That was the system they had going ever since the bandits were taken out. Kakashi, Sakura, and Raiga were placing seals on the bandits that immobilized them for a few hours. Sasuke wanted to help at first, but he was ordered to watch over Ranmaru in case the jonin attacked again.

Sasuke didn't answer Ranmaru, both because he didn't want to distract him and because he didn't have an answer. Sasuke knew very well staring at him wasn't going to help, but what else was he going to do? He didn't have a way to find Naruto.

Sasuke was useless right now, so he tortured himself with the thought of his friend's fate. They had to have been torturing him right now. The son of their greatest enemy was in their grasp. They'd get any information about Konoha out of him while enjoying Naruto's suffering.

Naruto–with his crazy pain tolerance–would try to hold out for as long as possible before he eventually broke. He was just a kid facing off against experienced jonin. There wasn't a chance he could outlast them.

They'd make him–

"I found him!" Ranmaru said suddenly.

Sasuke stared at him in disbelief for a moment before hurriedly standing up. "Where?" he asked hopefully.

"A few miles north. Deep inside one of the mountains. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but a large chakra signature inexplicably brightened up just now. Go get the others," Ranmaru ordered.

Sasuke gladly obeyed.

Kitsuchi couldn't help but be fascinated. While his comrades attacked the jinchuriki, he stayed back and admired the battle under the guise of protecting his genin team.

He didn't have any interest in participating in the carnage that was occurring.

The beast had the unbelievable ability to regenerate from any damage that was caused–far more than any of the jinchuriki back in Iwa could manage.

Any damage he took, he fought through. Any cuts, he healed. Haru, ever so brutal, had thrown a kunai that pierced one of the beast's eyes.

He had casually pulled it out and it regrew a moment later. He was weathering so many cuts, he no longer had a jacket. It was in a thousand pieces on the floor. His shirt would soon follow.

As much strength and regeneration as the boy–Kitsuchi couldn't even refer to him as a beast anymore after watching the brutality he valiantly endured–held, he was facing off against five jonin. They were far faster, far stronger, and far more intelligent than he was.

They weren't even taking him seriously. Instead, Kitsuchi's comrades made the battle last as long as possible. Most of them wanted him to die right there and then. The others only wanted him alive so they could antagonize Konoha. If they captured him and kept him prisoner in Iwa, the whole world would realize they were the dominant power in the continent.

All of them–even Kitsuchi–wanted nothing more than for the boy to suffer. So they reveled in the freedom to inflict that suffering. They broke the boy's arms, his legs, and his very will.

Haru once again took it that one step further and conducted lightning chakra through his kunai. Kitsuchi's eyes widened when he realized his intention.

"Haru, that's enough!" Kitsuchi shouted, but he was ignored.

Haru swung his kunai, almost a blur, and slashed off one of the boy's arms. With a squelch, it flopped to the ground.

The boy gave an ear piercing scream before falling unconscious. Even still, his arm was regrowing. It was a miraculous sight, but Kitsuchi couldn't admire it

Instead, everyone stared at Haru in disbelief.

He didn't even seem to care. He just gazed at the boy with a dangerous glint in his eyes. He raised his kunai, but one of the other jonin–Daisuke–grabbed his arm before he could follow through with the swing.

Haru growled. "Why are you stopping me? We can end this here!"

"The kid's unconscious. There's no point in killing him now," Daisuke urged.

Haru shook his head in bewilderment. "No point? You were on my side just a minute ago! You wanted to kill him just as much as I did!"

"That was before it was revealed the kid's a jinchuriki. We can't let him–"

Their spat was interrupted when part of the wall was destroyed. Smoke billowed everywhere throughout the cave. When Kitsuchi heard the sound of a thousand birds screeching, terror filled him.

Any self-respecting shinobi knew the meaning behind that sound. Kakashi Hatake's signature killing technique. When you heard it, it was said someone always died.

When Kitsuchi saw Hatake's hand grasping a heart, he knew the adage to be true. Daisuke's corpse fell to the ground.

Pandemonium occurred. Kitsuchi's eyes pierced through the dust clouds and examined the situation. He focused on the opposition first.

Raiga Kurosuki was engaging two of Kitsuchi's jonin. Two genin–one an Uchiha, and the other wielding glowing red eyes–engaged his own genin team. A pink haired girl was rushing towards the jinchuriki.

And Hatake…

Well, Kakashi Hatake had another adage–when you looked into his sharingan, you became his puppet.

Kitsuchi was forced to fight his own ally, Haru, as well as Hatake, without glancing at the latter's face.

Kitsuchi blurred through a set of hand signs and slammed his palms on the ground. Earthen spikes flashed out of the ground and ensnared his ally. He'd break out soon, but Kitsuchi's focus was on Hatake. The man was in front of him, aiming a kick at his head.

Kitsuchi leaned out of the way, focused on the movement of his opponent's feet. He was trained during the Third Shinobi World War on how to fight an Uchiha. Hatake wasn't one, but the man was as proficient in his stolen doujutsu as any of them.

Kitsuchi made a jab at Hatake's head. When the man prepared to block it, Kitsuchi dropped the feint and kicked the man's right knee. Unfortunately, Hatake brought up his shin to take the brunt of the damage.

Before Kitsuchi could continue his onslaught, he was bombarded by two opponents again. He was forced to dodge, block, or withstand several blows, never having the opportunity to weave hand signs or break away. It frustrated him to no end.

He stilled when he heard the screech of a thousand birds.

Kitsuchi dove in a random direction. It didn't matter which way, it didn't matter how disadvantageous a position he would be in after, and it didn't matter if he was leaping into a trap.

He had to survive at all costs, and getting out of dodge was the first order of business.

When he landed, he rolled and jumped to the top of the ceiling, then body flickered to the far edge of the room.

When he landed on the floor again, he quickly went through two hand signs and slammed his palms onto the ground. A replica of himself formed out of the earth, while Kitsuchi himself molded into the earth, hoping to escape.

He only felt this comfortable because the chirping had ended when he landed on the ceiling. When he glanced behind him to confirm he wasn't being pursued, he saw one of the jonin Raiga was fighting slump, only held up by Hatake's hand in his chest.

This was a losing battle, and Kitsuchi needed to get his daughter out of there. His clone would distract–

The sound of a thousand birds screeching sounded again, and information about his clone's death flooded him. The Earth Clone jutsu wasn't as useful for information gathering as the Shadow Clone jutsu Konoha had, but Iwa's at least let the user know when it died.

Kitsuchi blurred through the ground towards where he sensed the genin to be. He flew out of the ground and surveyed the scene quickly.

Kurotsuchi–not a scratch on her.

Akatsuchi–roughed up.

Ishikoro–badly injured.

Kitsuchi went through the hand signs for his earth clones. Five formed out of the earth, with two grabbing his genin and him grabbing his daughter. The other three would hold off Hatake so they could make their escape.

"Father, what are you–"

He ignored his daughter's cries and molded into the ground with her in tow. His clones following closely behind him, he traveled through the earth to escape.

Kitsuchi growled.

He really wasn't looking forward to telling his father about this. Four elite jonin dying to Konoha-nin was horrible news for their reputation. The fact that they weren't even supposed to be in the Land of Frost and their actions being tantamount to invading was worse.

His father–

The screeching of a thousand birds could be heard.

NO!

Kitsuchi grabbed onto his daughter tightly and focused the sensing he gained from his jutsu behind him.

Three Hatake's were pursuing him. Two of Kitsuchi's own clones were forming back into mud, having been destroyed.

Two Hatake's grabbed Kitsuchu's genin–who were not fighting back; curse that blasted sharingan–with the third still hot on his trail.

Kitsuchi needed to get back to the surface. He was never going to lose Hatake like this. He jumped out of the ground and placed Kurotsuchi on his back, with her arms across his neck and her legs crossing over his chest.

Kitsuchi ran as fast as he could, praying to the Shinigami for leniency. He didn't want to die before he got to see his daughter have a family. He wanted to be the one who walked her across the–

A thousand birds screeched.

Terror filled Kitsuchi, willing his legs to run faster. He even abused the body flicker despite the strain it was putting him, blurring through the snowy landscape that he hoped with all his heart wasn't where he died.

But the adage proved correct once more.

Despite all of Kitsuchi's speed–

Despite all of his efforts–

Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan appeared in front of him in all of his panic-inducing glory.

Kitsuchi's chest was pierced, and he learned the true meaning of pain.

His daughter fell and slid through the ice.

Hatake stared at him with his glowing demonic eye, locking Kitsuchi in place. It was only his hand on Kitsuchi's chest keeping him alive at this point, temporarily stemming the blood loss.

Hatake prepared to pull out his arm and finally end hi–

"Father!" his daughter screamed.

Kitsuchi looked at her now. She was laying on her stomach on the ice, unable to move. She must have looked at Hatake's eyes, but she fell in a way that allowed her full sight of her father's murder occurring before her.

Hatake paused.

He looked at Kurotsuchi.

Then he gazed at Kitsuchi, seeing the utter defeat in his eyes. Kitsuchi wanted nothing more than for this to end.

He just wanted the pain–both physical and mental–to end.

Hatake's arm glowed green. He slowly pulled it out.

Kitsuchi expected to be dead the moment the arm was fully removed, but that didn't occur. Instead, Hatake kept him upright and carefully extracted the limb. When he did–with Kitsuchi still living on to his immense surprise–he placed his hand on the hole in Kitsuchi's chest, patching it.

He was healing him?

A second later, Hatake dropped him. Kitsuchi fell face-first onto the ice. But why did–

A thousand birds screeched.

Pain enveloped him. So much pain.

Kitsuchi tearfully looked behind him. He was welcomed to the sight of one of his legs gone. He stared at Hatake in horror.

That demonic sharingan of his slowly spun.

He left with a puff of smoke.

Kakashi met up with his shadow clones on the way back. On account of being him, he only needed to give them a look for them to understand the situation. They lugged the two genin onto their shoulders to give back to the Tsuchikage's son.

Kakashi wanted to kill him. Whenever he was in the Hunt, it–the dogged mindset; the bloodlust ANBU created and honed–was hard to get out of.

What mattered in that state was the mission, and removing any threats that impeded his objective.

Kitsuchi needed to die.

Until Kakashi heard the cry of Kitsuchi's daughter.

Kakashi realized what he was doing. He was about to traumatize a little girl, forcing her to watch her father be killed right in front of her.

It reminded Kakashi of his father, of the time he walked in on him mid-suicide. It was something that still haunted his dreams to this day.

The ANBU in him wanted to finish the deed–to remove one of Konoha's enemies.

The human in him didn't want to force the girl to watch him kill her father.

So Kakashi compromised. He cut off Kitsuchi's leg. It was still horrifying, but she would eventually move on.

A shinobi could replace their eyes and parts of their organs with anothers'. They could even replace a whole hand if need be, but it would never be the same. One thing that could never be replaced, under any circumstance, was your leg. Not even a prosthetic limb would work. Those would allow you the use of your legs, but your career as a shinobi was finished.

Cutting off one of Kitsuchi's legs removed him from the playing field. He was no longer a threat to Konoha.

Iwa would be infuriated, but not as much as they would be if Kakashi had killed him instead. With this, there was less of a chance they would declare war.

Kakashi sighed.

Life never got easy, though.

It'd find a way to screw him over, he just knew it.

A/N: I have spent more time than I would like on this fight. I had immense amount of joy while writing it, of course, so tell me what you of it.

Kakashi is regarded as the strongest jonin in canon. What if he lived up to that title? Please tell me if I succeeded in making him seem like a total badass.

Next chapter we're wrapping up the Land of Frost Arc. This place will have relevance later on, so don't worry - this wasn't an arc that doesn't achieve anything in the grand scheme of things. It has genuine consequences.

Please review! They motivate me to write more!

- DoctorNiklaus