Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bleach.

This story was adopted and beta by Kolarthecool

"Hello" - Speaking

"Hello" - Thoughts


Chapter Four: Shinobi

"Dear kami I'm so bored!" A voice huffed in annoyance.

The owner of said voice, a blonde haired teen with mismatched eyes, lay spread eagle on top of a large sand dune. It had been three years since the fall of god-king Barragan's empire and Uzumaki Naruto had changed much over those three years.

Roughly two and a half years after his battle with god-king Barragan, Naruto had found that his power had grown so high that he could no longer suppress it all, he had become so powerful that weaker hollows, shinigami and plus souls simply toppled over and died in his presence.

Life had become quite boring and lonely at that point.

It was after a few weeks of this that the Fox hollow had come upon an idea, if he couldn't suppress his power then he would have to seal it away. Most demons, the powerful ones at least, tended to seal some of their power away until it was needed, like the Biju and their tails. Unfortunately for Naruto, he found this to be near impossible for him, even with nine tails of his power sealed away, he was still exerting a considerable pressure on weaker beings; not to mention the fact that his power would still continue to grow over time.

It was his hollow half that had come up with a solution, he could remove his mask and become an Arrancar, effectively sealing most of his Reiryoku away. Using the natural way of ripping off his mask and hoping for the best would have been far too risky, so he chose to go with another method.

He had heard of another Vasto Lorde that had also suffered the same problem but the other had managed to solve it in a unique fashion, he'd managed to split his soul in half and create a true Zanpakuto, one with a sword spirit rather than the simple blades wielded by other Arrancar.

It took hm three weeks of constant meditation and trial and error but Naruto was able to replicate the feat, manifesting his two powers into a physical form before sealing it away. With his soul and power split, Naruto found himself undergoing a change, he became an Demon-Hollow Arrancar rather than the traditional Shinigami-Hollow hybrid but his powers were still sealed into a Zanpakuto.

His new form was quite similar to his old human form except for a few key differences, for one thing he was much taller now and stood at just over six feet tall, he was no longer the short, malnourished teen he had been before his death. Age wise, he appeared to be about sixteen years old but he could probably pass for seventeen or eighteen if he tried, he had also lost all of the baby fat he once had, his body was now lithe and muscular while his face was thin and angular. Despite being dead, his hair had grown long over the years and now fell down to his mid back, it was still spiky at the top but most of his hair was now straight.

All in all, he looked like a normal, if handsome, teen except for four small details.

The first was his eyes, they were still the same mismatched jewels of yellow and red that spoke of great power but instead of the pools of black that they once swam in, his sclera had returned to being white in next thing one would notice was the bone fragment attached to his face, his mask fragment took the form of a Fox's jaw, one that was loosely attached to his own jaw.

Next were his fingernails, rather than the long animal claws he used to have, he now had regular human nails except they were pitch black in color and could still claw through solid metal and stone. Lastly was the hole going completely through the center of his chest, his hollow hole had moved from his stomach to the center of his chest, leaving clear, muscular, skin behind.

When he had woken from the change, Naruto had found himself clothed in a version of the familiar garb all Arrancar wore, woven from his own solidified power. He now wore a pure white shinobi bodysuit with a golden sash around the waist, over top of that he wore a long white cloak which was buttoned up to his nose, allowing the bottom potion of his face to be hidden within its large, over-sized collar.

The cloak had long, wide sleeves that allowed him to easily keep his hands hidden within them, both sleeves had gold trimming along the edges and embroidered onto the cloak in golden thread were the markings that had been present on his last two forms. Lastly he wore a of gold and white shinobi sandals on his feet, which added a slight increase to his already intimidating height.

Since the clothing was created from his own Reiryoku, it would be able to both clean and repair itself each time he channeled his energy through it, quite useful considering his penchant for getting into battle.

Latched onto his back through simple Reiryoku manipulation was the blade that now held his powers, his Zanpakuto. The sword was a standard katana except the blade was pure white in color while the grip was wrapped in golden cloth, the hand guard was in the shape of a golden flame with white edges. Lastly, the blade was held in a white sheath with a golden, nine tailed fox embroidered onto its front.


Sitting up, Naruto swept his gaze over the endless desert, looking for something interesting to do. Of course, there was nothing to be seen and he could sense absolutely no one nearby, most hollows chose to avoid his chosen part of the desert. He spent most of his time here, conversing with his blade and honing his abilities, only venturing out to look for a meal or some form of entertainment.

Naruto sighed as he lay back down again, was it too much to ask for something interesting to happen?

"So bored..." He huffed yet again.

"Why don't you go find something to do then?" The annoyed voice of his sword rang out within his mind.

Naruto huffed once more as he thought over the idea and pushed it away.

'What's the point? I've seen everything there is to see in this desert.' He replied with a slight whine in his tone.

"Find someone to fight then." His blade countered.

Naruto perked up slightly before sighing again.

'No can do, all of the weaklings run away when they see me and Starrk is too lazy to be any fun.' He replied with a pout. 'Not to mention that after the ass kicking I gave them last time, the 'almighty' Espada are to chicken to fight me.'

"Then go visit the human world again, maybe something interesting will happen!" The blade snapped back, sounding really annoyed.

Naruto frowned slightly at the suggestion, he had been to the human world a few times over the years but that usually ended with shinigami tracking him down and attempting to purify him, he was never able to set foot near any human settlements before the shinigami showed up en mass. Heck, they had even sent four captains the last time he had tried visiting Konoha.

Of course, he had yet to visit since he became an Arrancar.

'Hmm, maybe I should.' Naruto mused, a small grin spreading across his face. 'Since I can actually keep my Reiryoku suppressed now, I might be able to have some fun before the shinigami show up to investigate.'


Exited the black void of his Garganta (Black Cavity), Naruto found himself lazily floating a few miles above a desert but instead of the white sands of Hueco Mundo, the desert below him was golden in color.

"Hmm, I must be in Wind Country." He muttered to himself, head swinging from side to side. "Wonder how Gaara's doing."

After floating around for a few minutes, he easily spotted the large canyon that housed the hidden sand village.

'Hmm, I've been here for four minutes now and no shinigami have shown up, awesome.' Naruto cheered in his mind.

The last time he had been to the human world, he had barely just exited the Garganta before he found himself being swarmed by shinigami, the fact that none had shown up yet was a pretty good sign.

Gliding towards the village, Naruto frowned when he sensed a large spike of energy followed by several loud explosions, it felt so odd to sense chakra after so long. As he slowly approached the village, his enhanced managed to pick out two small figures battling above the village. One was clearly Gaara, older but easily recognizable, floating on a mass of sand while the other was a blond man dressed in red and black cloak of the Akatsuki.

'Hmm, even with the Kyuubi gone, the Akatsuki is still active?'

Naruto was about to glide closer to the fight when he sensed a large chakra source nearby, looking around he easily spotted a second figure cloaked in the red and black Akatsuki garb.

'Ah, that must be the blond ones partner, wonder who they are, they don't look all that tough for S-class nin.'

As he was thinking, Naruto slowly floated over towards the second Akatsuki member. Said man, Akasuna no Sasori, was currently gazing up at the floating boy in surprise, shock and curiosity.

"Who are you?" Sasori asked in a grating tone.

'Is he from Suna? He must be a master of wind manipulation to fly like that but why haven't we heard of someone that powerful.' Sasori pondered as he watched the teen look around in confusion.

Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts by the voice and looked down to see the Akatsuki member staring at him, he quickly looked behind and around him but saw no one else around.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" The Akatsuki member asked once more as a spiked, wooden tail seemed to slither out from beneath his cloak.

Naruto stared back at the man with shock evident on his face.

"You can see me?" He asked in a surprised tone.

Sasori simply stared back 'How could I not, what kind of shinobi wears white and gold?'

"Of course I can see you, you stick out like a sore thumb with those clothes, brat." He spat out in an annoyed tone.

Naruto simply stared back dumbly.

Had he not turned himself into a living puppet, Sasori was sure his eyebrows would have been twitching right about now.

Naruto took a thinking pose as he tried to figure out what was going on, from what he had heard, it was supposed to be impossible for the living to see the dead unless they were spiritually aware, was this man spiritually aware?

'Unless..' Naruto pondered as another idea came to him 'Chakra is partially composed of Reiatsu, which would make most, if not all, ninja spiritually aware. If so, then why is it no one has ever seen a hollow before?'

He was sure that if ninja could see the dead, they would be able to see spirits and hollows, so why was it that no one had ever reported such a thing before? After all, hollows have been making trips to the human world for centuries.

"Because ninja can't see the dead, the physical portion of chakra dilutes it far too much for them to be spiritually aware."

Naruto was left confused once more by his blades comment.

'Then how come he can see me?' He asked in a curious tone.

"You forget that you are part demon, your body contains equal quantities of Reiryoku and Yoki, the Yoki is what allows the living to see you."

Naruto nodded in reply to his swords statement, there were such little differences between him and regular hollows that he sometimes forgot that he was truly different.

Sasori at this point had gotten quite annoyed at the blonds blatant disrespect, the boy had yet to answer his questions and was clearly ignoring him now. Deciding to take the blond out before he proved to be a threat to their mission, Sasori slashed at him with his poisoned tail.

Naruto was drawn from his thoughts by the sound of metal grinding against metal, he looked down to see the metal blade of Sasori's tail sliding off his Hierro (Iron Body) while the nin just stared with shock evident in his wooden eyes.

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly as he glanced down at the human below him, he released a light chuckle as he landed on the desert ground a few feet away from Sasori.

"Sorry about ignoring you like that, I haven't been around others in quite a while so my manners are lacking." Naruto replied with another light chuckle.

He had spent so much time alone in Hueco Mundo that the few times he had met others that could survive under his Reiatsu he would get easily distracted by stray thoughts.

"Who are you boy? I will not ask again." Sasori ground out, he was still a bit surprised from the fact that his blade had simply slid off the boys skin.

'Was that the Domu (Iron Skin) no jutsu?' Sasori wondered, eying the teen suspiciously. 'No, his skin color remained the same and he seemed to be caught off guard by my attack, perhaps he has armor on his torso but I can't tell with that jacket on.'

"Ah, you can just call me El Zorra (The Fox)" Naruto replied, using one of the names he had been given in Hueco Mundo.

"Well then El-san." Sasori began in a distasteful tone "Are you a shinobi of Suna?"

"Nope, just a friend of Gaara's." Naruto replied, smiling beneath his coat.

"The Kazekage?" Sasori asked, preparing for a fight.

Naruto cocked his head to the side at this.

"Gaara became Kazekage? Good for him, I suppose." He replied with a small smile for his friend.

His smile immediately dropped as he remembered who he was speaking to.

"Unfortunately for you, I can't let the Akatsuki have him." Naruto stated in a much darker tone, surprising the other with his rapid change of attitude. "At first I was just going to observe you and your partner but if you can see and touch me... then you can fight back, perhaps even provide me with some entertainment."

'See him? Touch him? What is that supposed to mean, does he have some sort of jutsu that makes him intangible and invisible? Or perhaps a bloodline...' Sasori pondered, every part of his being prepared to act. 'Hmm.. this boy might make an interesting puppet, if he proves strong enough that is.'

"I am Akasuna no Sasori, S-rank missing nin of Sunagakure." Sasori spoke, his tail whipping about behind him. "Do you truly believe you can defeat me?"

Naruto grinned brightly as he stared back at the missing-nin, then he vanished with a buzz and appeared behind Sasori.

"Easily." He whispered, smirking as the puppet body fell apart in pieces and the real Sasori leapt away from the wreckage.

'So fast, I didn't even see him move.' Sasori thought, eyes wide in shock. 'He destroyed Hiruko with such ease, who is he?'

Sasori immediately decided that this was not an opponent he could take easily, his hand went for the scroll on his back and he unsealed his most powerful puppet, the Sandaime Kazekage.

Naruto simply rose an eyebrow at the puppet before shrugging and charging Sasori at a much more sedate pace, causing the puppeteer to frown.

'He's underestimating me.'

Twitching a finger, Sasori brought the Sandaime Kazekage into position in front of him and attacked, a stream of black sand shooting out of the puppets mouth and striking out at Naruto.

The Arrancar's eyes widened in shock when the spear of black sand actually managed to pierce through his Hierro, he leapt away before Sasori could follow up the attack but the sand had managed to cut a deep gash into his right bicep and the wound was slowly bleeding out.

"Interesting, the sand was infused with so much chakra that it actually managed to pierce my Hierro." Naruto mused, eyes locked on the shinobi standing across from him. 'I guess that's what you meant when you said that physical energy dilutes spiritual energy.'

'Indeed.'

"I must commend you, even though it is in a weakened state right now, my Hierro is nothing to scoff at." Naruto spoke to Sasori, he didn't want to give out too much to the other man but he made a note to be more cautious of chakra intensive attacks n the future. "I guess that's why you're an S-rank shinobi."

Sasori simply smirked.

'Just keep talking fool, the black sand contains my deadliest poisons, you'll be dead in seconds.'

Sasori was shocked however when instead of dropping to his knees, the blonds wound simply sealed shut, the dripping blood clear of poison.

"A healing factor." Sasori muttered with wide eyes.

Naruto gave him a wide grin before continuing his charge.

Sasori was quick to move the Sandaime Kazekage puppet in front of him as a shield, it's black sand spiraling around it, but he was once more take by surprise when a ball of golden energy sparked to life in the blonds hand.

'Haha, here's a blast from the past.' Naruto chuckled as he slammed the spiraling orb into the black sand, shredding through it and impacting with the puppet.

"Rasengan!" he shouted, using a name Sasori would easily recognize and fear, the technique may have been formed of pure Reiryoku but the theory was the same, a swirling sphere of energy to completely shred and decimate the target.

Sasori could only look on in shock as his puppet was reduced to dust, impossible thoughts filling his mind and he finally identified his opponent.

'Blond hair, a healing factor, the Rasengan... could it be?'

"The Kyuubi Jinchuriki." Sasori whispered in shock realization. "But... you're dead."

Naruto's eyes sparkled with amusement as he cracked his knuckles.

"I got better." He replied in a cheery tone.

Naruto was about to charge forward once again when he felt a chakra spike from above, his head snapped up just in time to see a cluster of small white spiders falling around him, webs shooting from their ends and latching onto his clothing as they scampered up his form. His gaze remained upwards and he grinned when he saw the familiar form of Gaara hovering above him, the redhead had a stoic expression on his face but his eyes were slightly wide with shock.

"Naruto?" Gaara whispered, taking in the form of his first true friend.

"Hey Gaara, how are things?" Naruto asked with a wide grin, completely ignoring the small creatures crawling all over his form.

Before Gaara could reply a new voice cut in.

"This brat was giving you trouble Sasori no Danna?" An obnoxious voice asked. "You must be losing your touch, don't worry I'll handle him yeah."

Turning his head to the side, Naruto noticed that the blond that had been fighting Gaara was hovering above him on the back of a large white bird, his hands were held in the ram seal and a sadistic grin was stretched across his face.

Both Gaara and Sasori's eyes widened when the spiders on Naruto's body began to glow.

"Naruto look ou-" Gaara began.

"No Deidara, he's the-" Sasori said at the same time.

"Art is a Blast!" Deidara shouted cutting off both redheads. "Katsu!"

Naruto's grin never left his face as the spiders surrounding him exploded with an intense pressure, a pillar of flames rising from his position and causing the others to step back due to its intensity.

"Naruto!" Gaara shouted as a look of horror replaced his stoic expression.

"Gyahahahaha!" Deidara laughed at his work of art.

"You fool!" Sasori shouted, stopping the blonds laughter "That was the Kyuubi Jinchuriki!"

Deidara shot him a surprised look. "The Kyuubi brat? I thought he was dead yeah."

"I was." A voice said from behind the missing-nin "But I got better."

All three shinobi turned towards the voice and were taken by surprise when they saw Naruto standing behind Deidara's clay bird with a cheerful expression on his face, there was no sign he had just suffered through an explosion at point blank, even his clothes were in perfect condition.

'A clone?' All three shinobi wondered.

Gaara's expression returned to its stoic nature but his lips were slightly upturned.

Deidara frowned before his grin returned.

"Hm, so the Kyuubi brat has some tricks after all." He mocked. "Good thing I didn't kill you then, Leader-sama would have been displeased yeah."

Naruto chuckled but didn't reply, he simply placed a hand on his blade.

"Oooh, the kid wants to play eh? You even know how to use that blade?" Deidara asked in his annoyingly mocking tone.

'None of us even sensed him make that clone or switch with it, even now I can't sense any chakra from him.' Sasori thought, a deep scowl crossing his face. 'The boy definitely has some skill, he destroyed both Hiruko and the Sandaime with almost no effort on his part.'

He took in the confident look on the blonds face, well the half that he could see at least. 'Who knows how strong he's gotten over the last three years, he's been able to train with no one aware of his progress.'

"Deidara! We need to retreat, we can't handle both Jinchuriki at the same time." Sasori shouted, already preparing to leap away, the Kazekage was strong enough on his own but the Kyuubi Jinchuriki was an unknown variable, they would need to retreat and contact Pein for further orders.

Deidara turned with a look of bewilderment on his face, his eyes widened however when he came eye to shirt with Naruto's back.

"It is unwise to take your attention off of your opponent in the middle of a fight." Naruto stated in a cheerful tone as he slowly sheathed his blade.

Deidara simply heard a buzz and a click before his world exploded in pain and everything went dark.

Both Sasori and Gaara gaped as Deidara, an S-rank missing nin, was reduced to bloody chunks in the blink of an eye; even the clay bird the man had stood upon was sliced into small chunks. Naruto simply stood, several feet above the ground, with an amused look on his face before his gaze shifted to Sasori and he vanished.

'Well shit.' Sasori thought before his mind shut down and the top half of his body was reduced to dust and bloody mist, standing a few feet behind the corpse was Naruto, his hands surrounded by a golden aura.

There was a moment of silence between the two teens before a ball of golden power was launched from Narutos hand into a nearby rock wall, causing it to explode and leaving a sizable crater behind.

"Bala." The blond haired teen whispered before a frown marred his face "Dammit, he got away."

His eyes narrowed as he sensed the energy signature that was now fleeing from his location, someone had been clearly spying on the battle. With a sigh, the blond placed a grin back on his face and turned towards Gaara who was watching him with a wary expression.

"Hey buddy, how's it going?" Naruto asked, cheerfully waving at the other teen.

Gaara simply sweat dropped as he returned the wave.

'Same old Naruto.' He thought with a chuckle before his eyes sharpened and he floated down to the blond.

"Naruto." The Kazekage began, eyes narrowed perceptibly. "I was informed that you were dead."

Naruto's cheerful expression remained as he replied.

"I am."

A look of confusion crossed Gaara's face.

"What?" The redhead asked.

"I am dead."" Naruto explained as he shifted his jacket to reveal his hollow hole.

Gaara's eyes widened in shock as he saw the hole, his expression turning to one of pain a moment later. The redhead grit his teeth in pain and grabbed his head as the sand around him swirled erratically.

"Arg.. Shukaku... calm down... I don't understand... what's a hollow?" The redhead grit out between pain filled gasps.

With his amused expression still in place, Naruto lifted a hand with two fingers extended, their tips glowing golden.

"Here, let me help with that." He chirped, jabbing his fingers into the center of Gaara's forehead, causing the redhead to immediately topple over, revealing another redhead standing in his place.

Gaara looked around in shock as his headache vanished, his mind clearing as Shukaku's shouts faded away, bringing him blessed silence for the first time in a decade. He looked up at Naruto's grinning visage before following the other boys sight and looking down at himself. His body was semitransparent with a long metal chain sticking out of its chest, following the chain he found that it led to a body laying on the ground, his body.

"I'm dead?" Gaara muttered in shock.

"Nah, just think of this as an out of body experience." Naruto replied, drawing the redheads attention.

"If you were dead then your chain would be broken, like those two." The blond finished with one finger extended.

Gaara turned to look and found himself blinking in confusion as he saw the forms of Deidara and Sasori standing a few meters away, both with broken chains attached to the center of their chests and arguing with each other.

"H-how?" Gaara asked, turning back to his blond friend.

Naruto simply gave him a smile and shrugged. "Perks of being dead."

Gaara stared back at his friend as his mind tried to wrap around what was going on.

Naruto was dead... okay.

He was also something called a hollow, something that even Shukaku was afraid of... okay.

He had killed two S-rank missing-nin with no effort at all... okay.

He had somehow ejected him from his body... not okay!

"Why?" He decided to ask after a moment.

"So I could get to him." Naruto replied pointing at Gaara's gut.

As if Naruto's acknowledgment of its presence had made it appear, Gaara now noticed a big, yellow, fleshy mass attached to his stomach. The mass was about the size of a small melon and seemed to pulse every few seconds like a heartbeat.

With a look of revulsion on his face, Gaara realized what the mass was.

"Shukaku." He murmured in disgust.

Naruto nodded as he grabbed hold of the mass and pulled, a scream erupted from Gaara's mouth but the blond continued to pull on the mass.


As he watched his friend scream and writhe in pain, Naruto couldn't help but frown at his own actions, he had known how much pain the process would have on Gaara yet he had done it anyways; heck, he hadn't even bothered to warn the other teen.

Yet he felt no quilt or regret.

It was with this that the blond finally realized just how much he had changed in the last three years, his bonds to the past had been truly severed, the old Naruto was dead and someone else had taken his place. After all, if he felt no regret causing pain to the one person that had been just like him, the one person that could truly understand his pain, then what was stopping him from hurting his other so called friends?

Nothing that's what.

As a demon/hollow hybrid he felt no love, kindness or compassion, he still remembered what those emotions entailed but he found himself unable to feel them. When he thought about those he had once cared for, he only felt a slight amount of amusement, lust or demonic possessiveness, he felt no love or compassion for them. When he thought back to those he had once disliked however, he felt himself fill with anger and rage, his bloodlust would rise and he would find himself in need of something to destroy.

He really had changed.

Then again it's not like he had much choice in the matter, the old him was a weak and pathetic little thing, he would have been torn apart in Hueco Mundo if he hadn't adapted.


Gaara continued to scream and scream as unimaginable pain racked his form, it felt like his entire being was being stretched apart, he wasn't sure how much longer he could handle this.

After what felt like an eternity to the young kage, the pain faded and his screams tapered off, only to be replaced by those of another.

"No, no!" the voice shouted in a deep gravely tone. "Put me down you filthy creature."

Gaara's eyes snapped open to see a miniature Shukaku being held by the tail in Naruto's hand, the small demon screaming it's head off as it tried to escape from the blonds grip, Naruto simply unzipped his jacket to reveal his bone covered jaw and the wide grin on his face before his mouth opened to reveal a perfect row of sharpened teeth.

"Bye bye, little Shukaku." The blond chuckled, slowly lowering the raccoon-dog into his maw.

"No! No! Gaara stop him," Shukaku screamed, eyes a mix of pleading and anger. "Stop him you insolent whelp! Nooooooo-gurk"

Crunch!

With a loud crunch, Naruto tore the demons head from its shoulders and devoured it, causing Gaara to gag and turn away. Luckily for the redhead, the two Akatsuki members chose this time to speak up, drowning out the sound of crunching bones from behind.

"That was gross yeah."

"I concur."

Gaara looked over to see Deidara and Sasori standing nearby, their argument put on hold for the time being.

"Yuck, taste like sand." Naruto muttered from behind him, causing Gaara to turn around and notice that the blond was done devouring Shukaku.

The Kazekage was about to speak when something drew their attention.

Narutos' sheath was glowing with a bright white light.

All eyes turned to the sheath as the white glow faded away and the blond smirked victoriously when he noticed that the Fox inscribed on his sheath had just gained a tenth, brown colored tail.

"Okay... ignoring that, what the hell just happened?" Sasori stated in a slightly annoyed tone.

Naruto grinned widely as he replied. "Not much, I just devoured the Ichibi's (One Tails) soul and power, causing my own power to rise."

"Uh huh... well then, what now?" Sasori asked, choosing to speak for the two of them as Deidara was simply glaring at his fellow blonde with hate filled eyes. "Not sure how you managed to kill us so easily brat but this seems far too boring to be the afterlife."

Naruto zipped up his jacket, his head cocked to the side in thought.

"Well... I'm going to return Gaara here to his body, I'm not quite sure what to do with the two of you." The blond replied, tapping his chin before his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Hmm, maybe I'll just devour the two of you as well."

Both Sasori and Deidara paled, Naruto continued on without a pause.

"That is unless, you tell me a few things I want to know."

Sasori and Deidara shared a look.

"What do you want to know yeah?" Deidara asked.

Naruto grinned at the two plus souls.

"Tell me everything you know about the Akatsuki and the Jinchuriki."


Naruto sighed to himself as he reviewed the information he had learned from Sasori and Deidara, he was seated on a large boulder while Gaara's body lay off to the side, his soul had been put back into his body but the days events had drained the kage and he was now unconscious. He had learned much from Deidara and Sasori in the few minutes, they had shared almost everything they knew in an attempt to protect their souls, not that he planned on eating them; plus soul's weren't very filling for a Vasto Lorde.

Once they had finished speaking, he had allowed them to run off into the desert. With their broken chains, they would either be devoured by a low level hollow or sent ahead by a shinigami, he really didn't care what happened to them. The information they had given was quite useful though, they had told him everything they knew about Akatsuki and its members, everything from the Zombie Brothers, Hidan and Kakuzu, to the spy, Zetsu, who was most likely the one he had sensed earlier.

They had also informed him of how many Jinchuriki still remained, two, both belonging to Kumo.

The rest of the Akatsuki believed him, Naruto, to be dead and planned to simply wait for the Kyuubi to reform before continuing with their plans, that would probably change now that Zetsu had identified him.

The blond sighed in annoyance once more, most of his fellow Jinchuriki had been killed off by this organization and he was pretty sure he would wipe out the Akatsuki in order to avenge them, the Jinchuriki were the few humans he would ever hold any inkling of respect for simply because they had each suffered a life just as horrible as his had been. Besides, the rest of the Biju (Tailed Beasts) would make an excellent reward for eliminating the organization. When he had devoured Shukaku, he had only done so to assist his one time friend, he'd had no idea what absorbing another demon would do to him.

Unlike devouring another hollow, devouring a demon was a completely different process. For one thing, despite what he had told the three shinobi, he hadn't actually gained an increase in power from devouring Shukaku; what he had gained was a tenth tail as well as a new ability.

While the three tail techniques, Kawarimi, Henge and Bunshin, were the only ones he would ever gain through his own power, he now knew he could gain more by devouring other demons; he had gained one of Shukaku's own demonic techniques by devouring him. If he were to devour each and every one of the remaining Biju he would gain seven new demonic techniques, one from each demon as well as seven tails which would increase the number of times he could use his own tailed techniques, that seemed to be well worth the little effort it would take to hunt down the remaining Akatsuki members and the last two Jinchuriki.

With his mind made up, Naruto stood and adjusted his blade, he had planned to only drop into the human world to relieve his boredom but he now had a goal; to completely annihilate the Akatsuki as well as devour the last seven Biju.

How fun.

With a final glance at Gaara's unconscious form, he turned to leave, he could sense one of Gaara's siblings approaching so there was no need to continue watching over the redhead. As he prepared to leave, something sparkled in the corner of his eye, drawing his attention.

It was a ring, an Akatsuki ring.

'Hmm, to the victor go the spoils.' The blond grinned, vanishing in a buzz and taking both rings with him.


Less than a minute after the blonds departure, a frantic and worried Kankuro landed beside his brother's body and immediately knelt in order to check on his younger brother. The young puppeteer released a sigh of relief when he noticed that Gaara still breathing, n fact the redhead was completely uninjured, which was surprising considering who his opponent was.

Remembering the Akatsuki member, Kankuro leapt to his feet and took a better look around the area, only to gasp at what he saw.

'Two of the Akatsuki are dead?' He wondered, taking n the two corpses with a critical and suspicious eye. 'The blond one and the puppet were sliced apart and the other puppet looks like it was ground to dust, that's not how Gaara fights.'

His gaze dropped to his younger brother for a moment before he looked back up.

'Someone must have helped him, there's no way Gaara did all this by himself.' Kankuro decided, trying to sense for another chakra source. 'Why would they leave though? Gaara's asleep so I cant event ask him.'

Kankuro sighed once again before his eyes widened fearfully, his gaze darting to his younger brother once again as he took a hesitant step back.

'Gaara's sleeping!?'


Gathered together in one of their many bases, the remaining members of the Akatsuki stared at one of their own in shock, their minds trying to comprehend the information they had just been provided.

"Sasori and Deidara are what?" Pein growled, his rippled eyes glaring at the hazy figure of Zetsu.

When he had been summoned by the ring worn on his finger, he had been prepared for the sealing of the one tailed demon, not to hear that two members of his organization were dead.

"Dead Leader-sama." The white half of Zetsu replied.

"And you'll never believe who took them out." The black half added.

"Who was powerful enough to defeat the two of them?" Kakuzu asked, his voice rumbling through the cavern. "Only the Jinchuriki should have proved to be a challenge."

"The idiots probably tried to take on the entire city." Hidan chuckled, his eyes glittering with amusement. "Serves them right."

Black Zetsu snorted at that.

"It was the Kyuubi Jinchuriki." white Zetsu replied.

Eyes widened all around as the information sunk in.

"That's impossible." Itachi spoke, his Sharingan eyes glowing ominously in the darkness of the cave. "Kisame and I examined the boys corpse, he was dead."

Pein had found it hard to believe that the Kyuubi vessel could be killed off by someone as weak as Uchiha Sasuke, so he had sent the two Akatsuki members to Konoha for some grave digging, just in case it was a trick.

"Its true, he had blond hair, a powerful healing factor and he could use the Rasengan." black Zetsu began.

"Even the Kazekage recognized him and the Kyuubi vessel confirmed it." white Zetsu finished.

"Perhaps the body in the grave was a fake, Tsunade and Jiraiya are both experienced enough and have to skill required to pull off such a feat." Kakuzu stated, already reviewing the many techniques that could be used o face a death.

"Perhaps," Pein agreed, his eyes still locked on Zetsu's form. "What can you tell us of the boys skills?"

Zetsu paused for a moment before replying.

"Not much, he didn't use too many of his skills in the fight." white Zetsu began, the short battle playing through his mind.

"All we can say is that he's fast, extremely so, he killed both Sasori and Deidara in the blink of an eye." black Zetsu added, shuddering perceptibly.

"He also carries a katana with him so expect some form of Kenjutsu" white Zetsu continued after a moments pause. "He might also have some sort of armor concealed beneath his cloak, whatever it is, it was able to deflect Sasori's tail."

"Oh and he might be a master of wind manipulation since he was able to float and fly unassisted." black Zetsu added.

"His healing factor is also greater than was recorded." white Zetsu added, recalling the one wound the jinchuriki had gained. "He was able to heal a wound from Sasori's black sand in seconds and the poison didn't even seem to phase him."

"Lastly he used some type of seal-less jutsu when he detected me, it was simply a ball of energy but he was able to throw it and keep it under control until it exploded on impact with the cliff wall." blackZetsu finished.

"He was able to sense you?" Kisame asked with a raised brow "Not even trained sensor-nin can sense you."

Both Zetsu's nodded hesitantly.

"His control over his chakra is unbelievable." white Zetsu began.

"I couldn't sense him at all yet he was able to easily find me." black Zetsu finished.

Having recieved a full report on the jinchuriki's skills, Pein spent a few seconds in thought before he spoke.

"Itachi and Kisame, you are to go after the Kyuubi as soon as possible." he ordered, rippled eyes locking on the two named shinobi. "The two of you should be able to handle him easily."

Itachi nodded while Kisame grinned.

"Why do they get to go? The fucker would probably take those two weaklings out easily." Hidan shouted, his tone a mix of anger and annoyance. "You should send our team instead."

Pein sent the silver haired man a burst of killer intent to shut him up before he replied.

"Kisame is a Kenjutsu master so he can probably defeat the boy if it comes to a sword fight, Samehada will also come in handy should the boy resort to his demons chakra." Pein explained, more for the benefit of the entire group than for Hidan. "Itachi, with his Sharingan and fire nature, can also negate both the boys speed and any wind techniques he may use, the Mangekyou will also prove formidable against the demon."

That shut Hidan up, he couldn't argue against that logic but he still continued to glare at Itachi and Hidan.

"What about the Ichibi vessel?" Kakuzu asked, doing his best to avoid trying to kill his annoying partner.

"We'll leave him for now since the village will be prepared for another assault, focus on the Kyuubi and the Nibi." Pein ordered.

All members of the group nodded before their forms wavered and vanished

Pain then waited for a minute and called out " Zetsu. "

" Yes my lord? "

" I want you to keep an eye on The nine-tails and see what he is doing, also if you think he senses you then run away and report your findings."

" Yes my lord. " And with that Zetsu disappeared.

Pain looked in the ceiling and said " Come out coward and face god."

A giant white crab fell from the ceiling and looked at him.

" Who are you? " Pain asked

" Well I am a hollow and I heard that you needed some members right? "

Pain gave a slow nod.

" Well instead of a few members why don't youhave an whole army!" The crab creature said as portals fell open and hundreds among hundreds hollows walked out then bowed at Pain.

Pain looked around and said " There must be something you want "

" All we want is human's souls as they are our food. " One hollow replied.

Pain then looked around once more and started to laugh, not the humor and happy one but a laugh only a manic could do.

But what they didn't see was a little girl in rags ran out from the portal towards the town looking for someone to help.