A/N: Yay for new chapters! I'd like to say yay for new reviews... but I got like... 1... but it beats none I suppose. And hey, lots of views... so at the very least I know people read it. I'd just like to know if people like it... or if they don't, why they don't like it...

Disclaimer: Ehh... Don't own Naruto...

Chapter 7

Naruto swore as he dropped to the ground, a senbon filled pin cushion. Gaara just smirked; right up until a large ice dragon bitch smacked him into the ground. "GOD DAMNIT HAKU." The vessel of Shukaku managed to growl out before the dark haired girl laughed.

"And here you two were bragging that you had caught up with me."

"How in all the levels of hell were we supposed to know you had an ice dragon?"

Haku shrugged as she dismissed the creature in question, "Your Dad is the one who gave me the contract."

"WHAT?!?" came the shrill reply from the two fallen Genin.

In the 'audience' Kakashi and Kurenai gaped and looked at Jace. "2 things..." The masked nin started, "THAT was a friendly spar?"

Jace took a long slurp and eye shrugged, "Yeah. I must admit it's good to see Zabby kept up with her training. Tay should be happy her rival is still strong."

"O... k... Umm, second, where the hell did you get a summoning contract for Ice dragons?"

"Actually it's Ice creatures in general. I think there's wolves and shit in it to. As to where, meh, I kind of collect original and unique summoning contracts. I personally haven't signed any aside to just meet to the bosses and ask if I could pass them on if I found someone worthy. Though I do have several personal summons."

"Personal summons?" Kurenai said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, like I can summon one creature from the contract that I'm friends with, and one of the others. I only use a couple though." Jace said, watching as the kids got up and went for round 4.

Kakashi and Jurenai glanced at each other, then turned back to their lilac haired companion, "Out of curiosity, what specifically?"

"Eh, well I won't tell you all of them... But I can summon a giant hell dragon. I call him Kyte. A pack of shadow hounds..." He paused going over a mental checklist.

Kakashi gaped at the Hell Dragon part. "I'm shocked... No phoenix's or birds."

Jace scoffed, "How cliché is that? A demon vessel summoning the species of demon he has... At any rate, I've been trying to decide what full contracts I want to give the boys. I've got one I think Gaara will like but still not sure about Naruto."

Kakashi and Kurenai shrugged, leaving Jace to his silent musing. A clearing over, Sasuke, Kiba and Ino were being put through the training from hell as they ran up and down trees, dodging kunai, shurikens and every so often Zabuza's sword. The bandaged trainer cackled in delight as he whipped another 5 kunai at the screaming banshee who had been ranting about how dare he try to harm her precious Sasuke-kun.

-An hour later near Tazuna's house-

Jace sighed as he dragged his two sons behind him. Both were exhausted, beaten down with several fractures. After all, Haku didn't have the stamina to keep going after awhile leaving Jace to 'spar' with them like he used to. "Ah, fun fun."

Zabuza, who, along with Kurenai and Kakashi, had the other genin being dragged behind him, said, "Damn Jace. I didn't know an arm could bend like that."

Jace glanced back at Naruto whose arm was heavily bandaged, "I don't think it's supposed to, no. What a wonderful discovery of learning!" He and Zabuza laughed while Kakashi and Kurenai sweat dropped. "Besides, he had it coming. He should know by now never to mock my hair care."

They paused in their conversation as they came up to Tazuna's home. Not really caring to knock, both Zabuza and Jace burst through the door and unceremoniously dumped their whining cargo onto the floor. Tsunami poked her head out from the kitchen and glared at Jace, "You know you should at least try to be polite when entering someone's home."

Jace waved dismissively as he summoned a slurpee, "Bah, that'll be the day. Ya know Tsu... What happened to sweet little 12 year old that would stalk me and Dray?"

Tsunami blushed slightly before disappearing back into the kitchen. Jace grinned as Zabuza chuckled at her reaction. "So, whatya figure, how long until Gato makes a move on the bridge?" Jace half yawned out as he dropped onto a couch.

"Hmm, I give him a week before those other missing nins regain any courage they might have had. I heard they've got another guy named Aoi... Something or other. Has a fancy sword."

Kakashi looked up from his book at that, "Aoi Rokusho? Stole the Raijin sword and fled the Leaf."

"Meh, it'll be dealt with. It's been a while since my blades tasted blood..." Jace gave a feral grin at the slightly pale look of Kurenai and Kakashi.

The dinner that followed was nice, punctuated by extreme emoness on Inari's part which tensed both Gaara and Jace up. Naruto exploded on the kid before storming off outside, his adoptive family following closely after that. But otherwise an enjoyable evening, the fish was done quite nicely.

Gaara found himself sitting at the top of a particularly tall tree staring at the moon, thinking about the family he left behind wondering what they were doing. Naruto sat on a riverbank staring out thinking about what life without the demon fox would be like, and about the parents he never knew. Jace... well he was venting on the town scum in the most violent ways imaginable.

-A week or so later-

Jace, Kakashi, Kurenai and their two teams were standing watch on the bridge while Zabuza and Haku watched over Tsunami and Inari. Gaara and Naruto were dressed in a tank top over top of a long sleeve mesh shirt and cargo pants, the difference being Gaara's shirt was black with a dark red Shukaku on the back, while Naruto's was navy with an orange Kyuubi on the back of his shirt. Jace was dressed in his White Phoenix gear, and everyone else dressed the same as the always do. I mean, c'mon. Do they have like 50 pairs of the same frikkin' outfit in their closet or something? As expected the group of Rain nins and Aoi showed up, ironically enough at high noon, "Wow, good time for a showdown eh?" Jace said. Everyone just kinda stared at him. "C'mon, it's high noon... Showdown... Ah, fuck it. Good humour is lost on you people." The eldest leaf associated fighter (phew, trying saying that 20 times fast...) just sighed as the ninjas started to pair off. Kakashi and Kurenai fighting Aoi, the 8 Ame nins fighting the 6 genins. Jace started, "Wait a fucking second, who the fuck do I get to fight?"

"If you're so eager to die, I believe I can aid you..." A short portly old man said. The figure, recognized as Gato was in the middle of a good 150 bandits and ex-samurai.

Jace smiled like a kid in an all-you-can-eat candy store, well, right up until you inform the child it's diabetic, "WOOHOOO, THERE IS A GOD." He grinned as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

Naruto sighed as he ducked under a kunai and kicked out the leg of an Ame nin who Gaara's sand quickly consumed. The two brothers looked at other ignoring the sickening crunching sound from the sand covered body.. err.. make that corpse. "Shit, Dad's gonna go overboard."

Gaara half nodded as he withdrew his sand and threw several shurikans at the chunin level nin fighting off Sasuke and Kiba. "Indeed he is. However it is not currently our problem." He leaned back as his sand whacked an incoming Nin towards Naruto who expertly slit his throat with a drawn Kunai.

"Hmm, now it's 6 on 6. Even odds?" Naruto said with a grin.

Gaara gave a rare grin back. "Brother, with us around the odds were never even..." The two quickly ran towards Ino to give her a hand against the 2 shinobi she was attempting to hold off.

-With Kakashi and Co-

"Dammit!" Kakashi swore as he dodged to side, the lightning sword barely missing him. Kurenai was backing him up with various illusions which had been enough to throw the missing nin's aim off. But Kakashi, being the over confident bastard he is, still managing to fuck it up.

"Not doing so well, huh, Kakashi? Fool! With this blade only a god could hope to stand before me!" Aoi ranted as he considered his to futile attempts at bringing the copy nin down.

Kurenai wondered why the hell these two were thought so damn highly of.

-With Jace-

Jace grinned as he bit his thumb. "Kuchiyose no Jutso: Shadow Hound Pack Alpha." Ten glowing circles appeared to each side of a smirking Jace. As the red glow died down the 20 shadow hounds stepped out growling. They looked like a large wolf, only mist like in from, save for the white claws, teeth and glowing red eyes, "All right then, cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war, eh." Jace said drawing a blood red double edged katana. Instead of a normal grip, it was bound with a long black strip of cloth. (A/N: think the handle of Ichigo's Zangetsu) He giggled like a school girl as the swarm of shadow dogs ran into the crowd of mercenaries, rending flesh from bone before he followed them. Stabbing his katana into the top of one man's head, he twisted the blade, spinning himself in mid-air. As he started to fall he yanked it out, slashing another merc deep across the chest.

Gato was slightly panicked as the man before him gleefully and playfully slaughtered his men. The figure before him had yet to touch the ground after the initial jump, instead choosing to leap from body to body leaving a path of gory chaos behind him, drawing ever closer to the now sweating fat business man.

-With the Genin-

Gaara split from Naruto to go aid team 7 with the three nins they were fighting, while Naruto helped Ino defend Tazuna. "Look after the blond tart." He said to the two.

Naruto frowned as he bashed a nin in the skull. "Wait, are you talking about me or her?"

"Yes." Gaara called out over his shoulder, engaging the nin who was currently standing over a bleeding Sakura. Gaara used a rather unique style of Taijutsu, with tendrils of sand acting as extra limbs. He was pretty fast with it to considering the giant gourd of sand on his back.

Ino sighed as she dodged a pair of thrown kunai, whipping back a few of her own catching the offending nin in the leg. "You know, your brothers kind of a pain."

Naruto grunted as he twisted and slammed a kunai into the face of one the nins he was fighting. "You don't know the half of it." He looked up and saw one of the 2 remaining nins close behind Ino. "Shit Ino, MOVE!" He yelled as took a running jump and landed just in the path of the kunai. It buried itself into the blonde's shoulder. Naruto grunted, grabbed the wrist of his attacker and headbutted him. He gritted his teeth and yanked the kunai out of his arm. He glared at the shinobi before tossing it straight into the man's throat. A short gurgle and the masked ninja fell as dead as his companions.

Ino had finally managed to take down her own opponent just in time to see Naruto take the hit for her. "Naruto! Are you all right?" She asked as he slumped to his knees.

"Of course! Can't be killed here can I? What kinda future Hokage would I be?" He gave her a foxy grin. "Besides... Can't let one of my precious people get hurt when I can do something about it." He grinned at her again with closed eyes.

She smiled at him softly, "Baka..."

Twin cries of, "Desert Funeral." and "Raikiri!" signalled the end of other fights to the two blondes.

Kakashi stood his arm, finally, impaled through Aoi's chest, after he had taken several hits. Gaara and team 7 had cornered their opponents and Gaara finally got an answer as to if using Desert Funeral on multiple people with just the sand in his gourd works well enough. Which apparently it does.

Everyone turned their attention to where Jace and the mercenaries were. Sakura and Kiba threw up, Sasuke paled, as did Ino. Despite having seen similar sites in the past Gaara and Naruto still had to turn their heads away. Jace was standing amidst piles of dead bodies. Some chewed on and torn apart by the shadow hounds, others with main arteries and heads sliced open by Jace's katana. He wore a rather gleeful expression on his face, in his blood drenched clothes, standing in front of a very, very, VERY scared Gato.

"And then there were two! Well, well... looks like money can't buy you everything, eh, piggy wiggles?" Jace grinned, re-sealing his blade into the seal on his right arm.

"Anything... Anything you w-want j-j-ju-just let me live!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that... Though I promise some flair to your death!" He brought up his two hands, one covered in swirling flames, the other in slicing winds. "Lessee what happens when we mix!" He laughed and clapped his hands together... On either side of Gato's head. The resulting explosion of blood, skull and brain matter left Jace wishing he had closed his mouth first. "Ugh! Oh god! Note to self never do that again!" He turned away and coughed up pieces of.. You know what? You're better off not knowing how Jace found out Gato's eye color. As he finished... expunging the impurities... he turned and looked at 3 shadow hounds standing off to the side. "How'd I do?" They all whipped out a score card. Two 9's and a 5. "5? Are you kidding me! Look at that splatter. Oh, oh, it's because I threw up the pieces of him afterwards. Well, c'mon! That wasn't part of the actual kill shot... bah, stingy judge." The dogs smirked, as well as a partly corporeal dog can, then disappeared.

Back with the unfortunate audience to this show... Kakashi came very close to vomiting in his mask, Kurenai... Vomited on the bridge. Naruto and Gaara had the sense not to watch, and Naruto had oh so caringly covered Ino's eyes. As for team 7... They silently vowed never to piss that man off, and then they threw up again.

-One week and a damn good body removal crew later-

Tazuna and his family waved at the departing leaf nins (and one leaf associate). Tazuna looked down at his grandson, "So, what should we name it?"

"Hmm, Bloody Phoenix Pass?"

"Err... no."

"The Bridge of Vomit?"

"Try again."

"Bridge Over Crimson Waters?"

"Inventive... But no."

They walked back to their home, the conversation essentially continuing like that. They eventually settled on The Bride of Heroes, how sweet.

-A few days later in Konoha-

"Hey, fucking brats, how was the mission?" The loud red head asked her two brothers.

Naruto shrugged, "It was all right. Got Uncle Zabuza and Haku to come join the leaf, got some action. Got closer to Ino, and Dad killed a shit load of people."

Tayuya shrugged, "Usual, eh?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Gaara answered. He was a little miffed that he didn't manage to get any closer to Kurenai. But he was nothing if not patient.

Across town, in the Forest of Death, Jace sat talking to Anko. "...So then the little brat goes all boohooohooo, my Daddy died, and blah blah blah. Like he's had the worst life in the world."

"Ouch, whatya do to him?" Anko said as she chewed on a dango skewer.

"Nothing. Naruto blew up on the kid though. Then me, him, and Gaara stormed outta the house. Dunno where they went but I went to relieve stress the best way I know how."

"Oh?"

"Killed every murdering and rapist scum I could find. Considering how bad of shape that place was... I found a lot." The lilac haired fighter replied as he took a sip of his slurpee. He sighed as he stretched out on the tree branch they were on looking up into the foliage. "Got me thinking though. Remembering about my friends... You ever fall in love?"

Anko looked at him through the corner of her eye, "Kinda... Once... Why?"

"So did I.. Kinda... Once..." He half smiled at that, "Never let myself fall fully though. She was my best friends fiancé... But at the time we all first met I had no interest in that kinda thing. Until about... Oh, a month before she died, I was like, 'Hmm, I could love her.' But I had no intentions of acting on it... Then she died and it became a moot point on me."

"Ouch. Your friend, the one you always talk about?"

"Yeah... Dray. It killed him when she died. He was walking dead, waiting to finish what we had started. I'm fairly certain he could have survived the fight he died in. But he chose to die... I'm certain... It's why I can't blame him for leaving me alone. But outside of the kids, it kept me from forming any kind of relationship like that."

Anko nodded, ignoring the lone tear running down her companions face. "I had a thing for my sensei."

"The snake fucker?"

She laughed, "Yeah him. He abandoned me. Treated me like trash..." She paused at that unable to go on further.

"This seems callous... But good."

"Good?"

"Yeah... I mean without that, you'd be hung up on the prick... And I... Well..." He paused unsure of how to word the feelings he'd never felt before. "Anko..."

She turned and looked at him, "Yeah?"

"Don't die on me, eh?" He smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Jace... Don't die on me either then."

"You drive a hard bargain. But it's worth it..." They looked at each other and laughed before shifting the topic onto other things. All in all, a pleasant evening indeed.

A/N: And thus ends chapter 7! Hope it wasn't to sickeningly mushy at the end. Romance isn't my general style (humour with occasional sinister twist is my norm) but I hope it worked. And that it wasn't rushed or anything.. I mean they've known each other for a few months now.

BUT in more exciting news... Up next the Chunin exams! Whhheeeeee...

Of which I'll probably skim through most of... or not... who knows?

Hmm, I have an idea for a slight crossover fic (to this one) with Bleach. And by slight I mean a few main characters mentioned that came from here... die... and that's essentially it. No, noone you really no... yet... MWAHAHA. (Cough) Oh, and would anyone read a prequel to this? Like Jace and Dray's early days right up to the beginning of this fic? Just curious...

Fun Facts: Jace's swords

Name: Funsai (Pulverization if this translator is to be believed)

Type: Zanbato

Color: Pure ivory white.

Dimensions: About a 5 foot long blade, a foot and half long handle, and a foot and half wide.

Seal Location: Jace's left shoulder.

Abilities: The blade can shatter into a couple hundred pieces that can be controlled by chakra. The 'shattering' leaves a single white katana blade. (Idea is from NWN and Bleach)

Maker: Jace made this blade himself as a teenager.

Name: Mugen Tsurugi (Infinity's Sword)

Type: Douple Edged katana

Color: Pure blood red, with black cloth.

Dimensions: 3 foot blade, foot long handle.

Seal Location: Jace's right shoulder.

Abilities: The sword is perfectly balanced for Jace as it was made for him. One of the best conduits of elemental chakra (more on that in the actual fic). Quality can stand up to the legendary blades like Kusanagi.

Maker: Kaberial Furion (Deceased)