Chapter 6

Naruto sat alone in his tent, his hand clenched around one of the few pictures of Tsunade that he had. After returning to camp, Naruto had decided to take a nap, only to wake up to chaos. Tobi had gone on a rampage after he found out that Naruto got away and the Gedo Mazo was destroyed – or mostly destroyed anyway.

From the scattered reports they had gotten from the survivors who had made it back, they had almost released the bijuu and destroyed the containment seals in the Gedo Mazo. They were going to finally make it crumble, but Tobi had appeared before them.

Without saying a word he had managed to decimate their forces that had remained behind to complete the destruction. They lost the majority of their forces, but the biggest loss was that of Tsunade, the Hokage. No one who survived and made it back could really say what happened. One second they were fighting, and the next second the Hokage had been thrown back against one of the walls of the nearby cavern. She never rose after that.

Ei, the Raikage, had attempted to check on her, but Tobi had teleported right in front of the Raikage and did the same thing. Ei went flying into the wall as well, but he proved to be more resilient than the Hokage as he remained conscious, if barely moving. Tobi moved to finish the man off, but as if on cue the Gedo Mazo began to groan and fall apart, distracting the immortal. He quickly lost interest in the two Kage's, and instead focused his efforts on keeping the statue together.

The remaining forces that were still alive managed to recover the wounded while Tobi was distracted, including the Raikage and Hokage. Upon their return, the dead had been laid to rest, including Tsunade. As for the Raikage, he had a crushed lower spine, and would likely never be able to walk again. Had Tsunade still been alive, Ei may have been able to at least walk again without assistance, but with her death he would likely remain a cripple for the rest of his life.

"Naruto."

Snapped from his musings, the blond slowly looked up to see who was addressing him. His eyes widened to see Nara Shikaku standing before him. He hadn't even heard the man come into the room.

"What do you need, Shikaku-san?"

The older man smiled grimly, "The Jonins all took a vote, and we've already talked to the daimyo through the shinobi we have stationed with him. I've got some people I need you to talk with, if you're feeling up to it."

Nodding slowly, Naruto slowly rose to his feet, and wiped at his eyes.

"There's no rush. Take your time and prepare yourself."

Naruto gave the man a curious look, but Shikaku's face betrayed no emotion. Shrugging, the young man wandered over towards his wash basin, quickly splashing some water on his face and then grabbing a towel to dry off. Taking a deep breath and steadying himself, Naruto nodded at Shikamaru's father, only for the man to nod in return and gesture towards the tent flap.

Steeling himself, Naruto stepped outside, only to stop halfway and stare wide-eyed at the assembly before him. It looked like every person from the camp was standing outside, be they from Konoha or elsewhere. The Kazekage Gaara, Tschukiage Onoki, Mizukage Mei, and even the now-crippled Raikaige Ei was sitting on a rock in the front of the group, staring at him expectantly.

He felt a gentle nudge from behind, and remembered that Shikaku was behind him. Taking a step forward, he promptly turned around to face the other man.

The question he was going to ask died on his lips as Shikaku spoke up first, a small grin on his face.

"It might be a little sudden, but... The United Shinobi Army awaits your commands, Rokudaime Hokage-sama."

Naruto traveled quickly through the willow trees of Water Country, heading back towards where his team should be waiting at the camp. He had just finished talking with the leading council of the Yuki clan – or what he kept thinking of as Haku's clan. He saw Haku's features in a few of the people there, men and women alike, but had no idea if the person who would become the boy's mother was there.

At first, it caused him no small amount of regret that his actions may keep Haku from even being born. There was a chance that his mother may have already fled the clan – they themselves had claimed that some people had already left to try to hide what they were, to escape the fighting. At least Naruto thought it was Haku's mother that was part of the clan. It had been so long that he didn't really remember.

Many of the clan seemed surprised that Naruto had even come to them, but not so much after the blond claimed he owed it to a member of the Yuki clan to try – that he had a debt that he may never be able to fully repay, but this was a small start. Haku was the one who made him as strong as he was, after all.

The blond began to slow down as he felt more presences than he should have at his camp. That didn't bode well. Immediately making a clone, he had it stop and concentrate to prepare sage mode as he continued onwards. Hopefully it wouldn't be needed, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Using the purified Kyuubi's chakra would be a last resort, of course, mostly because he didn't know how long it would last, nor how quickly the chakra would regenerate without the Kyuubi's actual consciousness being in him.

As he watched the clone sit down and begin to meditate, he pumped up his own chakra, letting it shine like a beacon so his team would know that he was coming.

Minato's keen eyes noticed as both Mikoto and one of the Mist shinobi in front of them suddenly went rigid. Kakashi must have felt something too, since he had turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder, behind them all. Focusing his own senses in the direction Kakashi was looking, it took him a moment longer to feel what they felt. Someone or something really, really strong was headed directly for them at quick speeds. Judging from the looks on the Mist shinobi's faces, they weren't expecting anyone.

"I will ask again. What are you doing in Water Country?"

"I can only give you the same answer," Minato sighed. "We're here on a diplomatic mission. That's all I've been allowed to say."

"I bet they are trying to poach the ones with cursed blood, Yagura-sama. If we let them do that, they may use Konoha to regroup and attack us later."

"What?" Minato stared incredulously at the Mist shinobi who had spoken. "We wouldn't do something like that!"

"You mean poach, or attacking us?" the other shinobi sneered at him.

Minato was about to retort, but a look from Mikoto made him bite his tongue. She shot a pointed look towards the apparent leader of their forces, who was looking back into the trees behind them in the same general direction that Kakashi had been. The strangest thing was that the very young boy seemed to have the respect of the other Kiri shinobi, yet he had a look on his face that resembled something close to... fear?

"I'm surprised to see you here, Yagura."

Minato's head snapped around quickly upon hearing Naruto's voice, and at the same time wondered if that chakra presence he felt before was the other blond. Not only that, but how did he know this Yagura? Was there something-

"Who are you? How do you know my name?"

Since it was the boy who spoke, that confirmed Yagura was his name. But now the exact same question was bouncing around in his head. How did Naruto know such a young boy?

"I know a lot about you, Yagura." Naruto hopped down from the branch he had been resting on, landing in front of the team, facing the Mist group. "Are you already acting under compulsion? How long has it been already since you last were truly yourself?"

Minato watched as the boy's face went through several strange facial contortions, his eyes seeming to light up and fade at various intervals.

"Y-you! What are you saying to Yagura-sama! Take that back this instant! Yagura-sama is incredibly powerful and would crush you like a bug! Once we squash the bloodline rebels, he will be the next Mizukage!"

Naruto barely spared a glance at the shinobi who spoke, instead choosing to keep his focus on who he knew to be the one time future Mizukage.

"Come on, Yagura, I know you're there. You don't want to fight, or even kill – you're very young and you've seen enough of that already to last a lifetime, because of both who and what you are." That comment caused the Mist shinobi to fall into ready stances, and even Yagura looked rather shocked. Minato and the rest of the Leaf team, however, settled for looking on in apparent confusion.

"H-how do you know things about Yagura-sama?" One of the shinobi, likely the senior one after Yagura himself, took a step forward, weapons ready.

Naruto tossed him a casual glance. "I know a lot of things. I know he doesn't want to fight, but has been compelled to do a lot of things that he doesn't want to. I'm asking him to be strong, and try to break through it."

Yagura promptly lurched forward groaning as he clutched at his head. A few of the shinobi moved to help him, but he waved it off, slowly lifting his head to stare at Naruto. He looked about ready to say something, but the shinobi who had been yelling before likely couldn't stand the impasse any more, and launched himself at Naruto.

Minato barely had time to react himself, and he heard Mikoto and Taichi shout out Naruto's name. No action was needed on their part, however, as Naruto merely moved his arm in a slashing motion. The Mist shinobi appeared to trip and fall over nothing, then began screaming as his leg fell off just below his knee.

Two of the shinobi nearest him moved to staunch the blood-flow, while the others were looking unsure about it being a good idea to attack Naruto like their comrade.

"If you get him to a healer soon, he can probably have his lower leg reattached and still use it. It's a clean cut. I'm not here to fight you or your shinobi, Yagura."

The young boy appeared conflicted for several seconds before his eyes cleared and he began barking out orders. "I need some people to carry him. We're returning to the village." With a glance at Naruto, he inquired, "I trust you will be out of Water Country by nightfall?"

"You have my word."

"Very well. It was... interesting to meet you. I still don't know your name."

"Naruto."

Yagura nodded slowly. "You know more about me than most others, it seems. Strange, because I don't remember you at all. Perhaps you can answer my questions some other time, once I'm..."

Whatever Yagura was going to say was cut off as he clutched at his forehead again. The next time he opened his eyes, they were dull and unfocused again. Without a word, he turned around and left the area, the Mist shinobi following him and carrying their wounded and moaning comrade with them.

Once they could no longer hear the movement of the shinobi through the trees, Naruto turned around and offered his team a small smile. "Everyone okay? Sorry I was gone for so long."

They all looked among each other and shrugged before Taichi spoke, "I think we were more ready to die of boredom before anything else. Though that was a tricky situation with that... Yagura. Thanks for showing up when you did."

"No problem. What was he doing here anyway?"

Minato shook his head, "I have no idea. He didn't believe me either when I said we were here for diplomatic reasons, and that we didn't want to fight. He had just asked us for the third time right before you showed up."

"I see. I guess it's good I showed up when I did, then. I would have been back sooner, but talking with the Yuki clan took longer than I expected."

"Did you manage to talk to everyone you planned on?"

Naruto nodded at Minato. "Six bloodline clans."

Mikoto looked shocked at this revelation, as did Taichi. Kakashi seemed nonplussed, but was staring at Naruto with rapt attention. Minato was surprised as well – not just at the fact that Naruto had talked to six clans about coming to Konoha, but that he had made it back alive after talking to them.

"We have until tonight, right? Did you want us to come with you to visit the Kaguya?"

"Hm? Oh, I talked to them first."

Now Minato was speechless. Everyone knew how bloodthirsty that clan's reputation was, and the fact that Naruto went there and talked to them alone – Minato didn't know if Naruto was brilliant, brave, strong, or incredibly stupid. Or some strange mix of all four. The fact that the other blond was here with them now and seemed to be very nonchalant about the entire thing spoke volumes in his favor, however. Strangely though, things seemed to be going almost too well.

Naruto took all of their incredulous stares in stride, and gave Minato a tight smile. "We should probably get out of here tonight, I don't want to test Yagura. We'll be heading back a couple days early, but our objectives have been met for the most part. There were a few clans I didn't get to talk to yet, but maybe we'll get lucky and word will travel between them all. I only got confirmation from the Kaguya that they would come, but the others are going to wait and see."

"You managed to get the Kaguya clan? Are they really not as bloodthirsty as I've heard?" Mikoto was shaking her head, obviously not believing what Naruto was saying.

"No, they are. I just promised them something they really wanted to hear."

"What?"

Naruto shook his head, offering Mikoto a smile along with an apology, "I can't say. Hokage-sama's orders. He may tell you if you ask."

Mikoto crossed her arms over her chest and frowned, only for Taichi to chuckle and give her a gentle pat on the shoulder. Before anyone could say anything else about the matter, Naruto turned away from the group and went still for a moment.

"Naruto?"

"Hm?"

Minato stared curiously at Naruto's back. "Is something wrong?"

The other blond slowly shook his head. "No. I just made a clone and used it to store up natural energy in case I needed to use it. I didn't, so I'm just dispelling that energy now."

"Natural energy?"

Those were the first words that Kakashi had spoken this entire time, which surprised everyone. One thing that was generally known about Kakashi – he wasn't the type who usually took an active interest in the abilities of others. Something about Naruto must have made the silver haired boy curious.

"Yeah." Naruto turned around, and Minato noticed that there was an orange-colored pigmentation around his eyes that was slowly fading away. "I can use the energy of nature to augment my own abilities. It comes in handy sometimes."

Now Minato was curious too, "Can anyone do it?"

"No. You need to have a certain amount of chakra. Ask Ero-sennin, I'm sure he could tell you."

Minato's head tilted slightly to the side. "Ero... sennin?"

Naruto's eyes went wide for a second before he groaned and slapped his forehead. "Oh, right. He'll probably kill me for saying that to someone else. I'm talking about Jiraiya."

"You know Jiraiya-sensei?" Minato wanted to laugh about the Ero-sennin name, but Jiraiya wasn't really a hermit. He just traveled a lot. The other observation about him being perverted was spot on, though pretty much everyone knew about his habits.

"Yes, I know all of the Densetsu no Sannin."

Minato opened his mouth to ask more, but Naruto silenced him with a wave of his hand. "You can ask me all the questions you want when we get back to Fire County. I'll answer what I can. But for now, we should probably pack up and get moving. I don't feel like fighting one of the Mist's Jinchuuriki if I can help it."

There were some shocked squawks from the group, unbelieving that they had come close to fighting a jinchuuriki. Fortunately, though, it didn't take much more prodding for everyone to agree to begin packing, though that didn't stop Mikoto and Minato from glancing at Naruto from time to time. There was definitely more to him than met the eye, that was for certain.

When they were about an hour from the nearest port village, Naruto stopped in his tracks and cursed, causing the rest of the group to stop and stare at him curiously.

"Have any of you ever fought a bijuu before?"

The group all looked at each other, shaking their heads. All of their thoughts immediately went back to the comment Naruto made before they began leaving.

"Well, there's a first time for everything I guess. Yagura is the Jinchuuriki of the Sanbi. I hope you're ready, because he's hauling ass to get here. I guess he changed his mind about us leaving, or someone changed his mind for him."

It was likely Tobi. He probably somehow found out that Naruto knew a little too much about Yagura, and was going to send his pet jinchuuriki to kill the blond. It was still too soon for Naruto to show any of his abilities, especially when the Madara clone could be watching. He'd just have to do his best to work with his team to subdue the Sanbi in any way possible.

"This is probably going to be a ninjutsu fight. Genjutsu won't work because I'm pretty sure there is one already active on him, and that is why he's attacking us now. Taijutsu is out of the question, you'll just get burnt." Naruto stared at Minato, who was giving him his rapt attention, "Do you know any chakra suppression seals?"

Minato shook his head negatively. "Not one that can suppress a bijuu's chakra."

"Okay. I know one, but it's not that good and I need to concentrate. That means you guys need to keep him off balance using whatever you can."

Before any of them could agree or disagree, Yagura came bursting through the trees, tearing across the ground directly at Naruto. The young boy had the deep red bijuu cloak surrounding his body, like all jinchuuriki could do, and the three tails were streaming along behind him.

Yagura took a swing at Naruto, and the blond called up a little bit of the Kyuubi's chakra to coat his hand. Naruto caught the fist, and watched as Yagura's eyes opened in surprise. The blond faked a wince to make it look like it hurt, then promptly backed off and formed a mud wall between them.

As a shadow fell over Naruto, he looked up to see that Taichi had expanded as was typical of an Akimichi, and brought his fist down hard on the ground. It was on the other side of the wall so Naruto couldn't see what, if anything had happened to Yagura; he seriously doubted Taichi would even give Yagura a scratch, but all he needed was a distraction.

He got that distraction too, as he noticed Mikoto start up one of the renowned Uchiha techniques – the Phoenix Flower. A multitude of small, bird-shaped fiery projectiles were launched toward Yagura. As he mentally prepared himself to create the seal, he absently noticed his father was moving around near Mikoto too, starting up a technique of his own, but he didn't bother watching to see what it was.

Taichi pulled back his hand right before there were several loud noises from the techniques impacting, but still held his hand with a wince. Bijuu chakra was not nice to exposed skin. He heard Kakashi's voice as the young teen prepped an attack as well, but tried to ignore it as he pulled out a blank sheet of chakra paper that he kept with himself for drawing seals.

Naruto bit his finger, using his own blood as the ink, charging the symbols with his chakra as he drew. The only problem with using his own blood is that he often had to re-bite his fingertip several times, as it would heal right in the middle of drawing. For the most part he was able to keep his attention focused on drawing the seal, only having to dodge once as a rather large piece of debris headed his way.

He would have to thank Taichi later for the heads up.

When he finally finished the seal, he was pleased with himself for barely a moment before recognizing the telltale humming noise of the Tailed Beast Ball being charged.

"Shit! Get out of the way! There is no way to stop that attack!"

Taichi was already behind Yagura, and looked to be ready to attack, only stopping when Naruto told them to get away. Not paying any further attention to the Akimichi, Naruto focused on who was in the path of the attack, only to see Kakashi and Mikoto there. They were too far to hear him, but Minato must have heard the original shout, as he was already moving towards them. Being closer to the raven-haired woman he simply grabbed Mikoto and shouted towards Kakashi, then bodily hauled his old teammate away.

That just left Kakashi who was already turning to leave the blast area, but Naruto knew the area of effect for the Menacing Ball. The silver-haired kid wouldn't make it out of the blast radius in time. He didn't even know if Minato would make it in time either, but as he couldn't split his attention to watch, he could only hope so.

Knowing what was needed to get Kakashi out of the way in time, Naruto felt for the Kyuubi's chakra still within him and pulled upon it, filtering it through his own will courtesy of the seal that was still present. His body lit up with a bright flash of yellow, and he immediately shot off faster than any watching eye could follow, becoming nothing more than a yellow blur.

He was upon Kakashi in a second, scooping the young boy up in his arms and moving away in another, slightly slower flash. Naruto immediately dropped the technique as soon as they settled down behind a tree.

Kakashi was staring at him in shock, only to let out a yelp as the little bit of forest near them suddenly erupted. The blond braced himself and shielded Kakashi as best he could from all of the debris that the blast kicked up, pummeling his back and arms as he hovered over the other shinobi.

When it all ended, he let out a grunt as he started climbing to his feet. Kakashi looked to still be in shock from what had just happened, so he grabbed the boy's shoulders and shook him slightly to try and gain his attention. He did focus on the blond, if barely.

"I need to go place the seal on Yagura. I'll either be right back or send one of the others after you. Do you understand?"

Kakashi nodded his head somewhat absently, Naruto just hoped he was coherent enough to understand him. Not wasting anymore time, the blond moved swiftly through what remained of the nearby trees, maneuvering around them so that he could hopefully come up behind Yagura.

The Jinchuuriki was still sending out a ton of chakra, so it was impossible not to know his location. Once he got close enough, he spotted Yagura in what Killer Bee had called 'version two', in which the bijuu's chakra became closer to a second skin and not just a cloak. Yagura was currently sitting in the middle of the clearing, as if inspecting his handiwork, and looking around absently while growling.

Realizing it was now or never, Naruto shot out from the nearest tree, running up behind the jinchuuriki. It didn't notice his footsteps until he was almost upon him, and tried to bring its tails around to swipe at him. Naruto managed to dodge the first two, but the third one clipped his leg and nearly sent him tumbling. The pain was immense, but it wasn't anything he wasn't already used to.

Clearing his mind and trying to focus, Yagura roared right in his face, pulling his arm back to likely take a swipe at him, which helped to wake him up a bit more. His body felt like it was on autopilot, and he quickly sprung forward with his good leg, then reached up with his hand just fast enough to slap the seal he had made onto Yagura's forehead.

The effects were nearly instantaneous, the jinchuuriki began to groan as his arm dropped back to his side and then the chakra gradually began to recede. In moments the vile chakra had completely disappeared, and a very much aware Yagura was left sitting there, wide-eyed and panting.

"W-What did you do to me? My mind... it's clear again!"

Naruto grunted, pulling a length of gauze out of one of his pouches and lifted up his pant leg, wincing at what he saw. The tail that hit him pierced him clean through, leaving a clean hole through his calf that was easily several centimeters in diameter. He could literally see the muscles and skin in his leg slowly knitting itself back together, both thanks to his heritage and the Kyuubi's chakra.

He wrapped the gauze around his calf as he responded, "I know a thing or three about seals. I placed one on you that suppressed your bijuu. Apparently your bijuu controls you, and someone else is controlling your bijuu."

"I see... I feel tired."

"Because the bijuu's chakra is being suppressed in your system, when it normally travels through it freely. The closest example is that it's a mild form of chakra exhaustion. The seal's power will drain eventually, and you will return to normal."

Yagura nodded, his eyes obviously drooping as he tried to stay awake. "Thank you... even if this moment is fleeting."

"You're welcome. Do what you can to fight the impulses. I have a feeling that if you don't, I'll probably never see you again. Not alive, at least."

"How do you... know so... " Naruto knew what he was going to ask, but apparently the young boy could not keep himself awake any longer, and promptly fell over on his back, snoring. It was right at that moment that his team came running over.

"Naruto!"

He looked to his side, to see Kakashi and Taichi running up to him, while Minato was moving at a slower pace, holding Mikoto's arm and trying to keep her steady. The two of them looked a little worse for wear, so they might not have made it completely out of the blast radius in time.

"Hey guys. Is everyone okay?"

They all murmured their affirmatives – even Kakashi. Most of them were staring at his gauze-wrapped leg, as if wondering just how bad that wound was.

"Are you going to be able to travel? I saw that tail punch a hole in your leg." Minato winced as he nodded his head towards Naruto's leg, but the other blond shrugged it off.

"I'll be good to go in about an hour or so. Uzumaki have slightly advanced healing factors, as you may know."

Minato's eyebrows raised up. "Really? I didn't know it was a clan trait, I just thought it was something random for Kushina."

Naruto gave the other man a 'do you really think that?' look, to which Minato pressed his lips into a straight line and shook his head. Hopefully the other blond knew a thing or two about Kyuubi being quite the boost to the natural Uzumaki toughness. Heck, hopefully he just knew about the Kyuubi in general, by now. Judging by Naruto's comment and Minato's response, he probably did.

With a grunt, Naruto pushed himself to his feet, "We should get moving as fast as we can. We'll leave Yagura here, he'll wake up in fifteen minutes or so. I don't know what state of mind he'll be in either, but I'd rather not be around to find out."

"Are you sure? Could we take him with us to-" Taichi began to ask what Naruto felt would be something obvious, but Minato cut him off before Naruto could say anything.

"No, not a good idea. He's a jinchuuriki, and Kiri will go to war with us for killing or capturing him. We don't want to start the war early. We're not ready. Besides that, I don't know how strong the genjutsu on him is... it might be too risky to break." He did know that it was strong enough to be held by Tobi for years, and if he could break it, he didn't want to come under even more scrutiny. Trying to lure away bloodline clans was enough.

Naruto nodded in agreement, and that seemed to seal the deal for the rest of the team as no one commented further. Taichi and Kakashi both moved over to Naruto, each one moving one of the blond's arms across their shoulders. The weight distribution was slightly awkward since the Akimichi was taller than he was, while Kakashi was a bit shorter, though he appreciated the gesture all the same. It wasn't really necessary, but he didn't want to turn away what was likely a symbol of trust and goodwill from his 'team'.

Now... he just had to think about how to explain his abilities to them and to the Hokage when he reported in. Hopefully Kakashi was the only one who saw his golden form, otherwise he'd probably be answering a lot more questions than he felt like. Maybe he'd get lucky and convince the kid that he was hallucinating because of the bijuu's chakra.

Yeah, right.

A/N: Not too many flashback chapter starters for those of you that don't seem to like them. I thought people would be interested in what happened during the war to make Naruto want to go back in time, but I guess not everyone feels that way.

Remember that this was the mission that Sakumo would have failed. He and his team came upon Yagura, like Naruto and his team did. It goes to show Sakumo's caliber that he managed to get himself and his team away alive, even if the mission itself was a failure. Unfortunately his teammates and many others didn't see it that way. Naruto, however, had a few tricks up his sleeve without having to give himself away with one, maybe two exceptions.

Sorry that this wasn't much of a 'fight' scene, but it was intented to be rather quick, since drawn-out fights against jinchuuriki aren't a staple, even in canon. It's mainly meant to show that Naruto wants to somehow find a way to keep (a currently very young) Yagura alive. It also explains why this fic isn't in the 'Action' category.