Gaara cleared his throat and then said "Naruto... Who is this?" Naruto only slowly swallowed.
"Shion Yamanaka... She's... My Ex girlfriend"
Pakura and Gaara raised their eyebrows in surprise. Temari, who knew Shion mainly because she was the older cousin to Ino was utterly shocked, jaw dropped and everything. "This, raggedy ass, rude uncouth kid got somebody like Shion? HOW in the hell-" her thoughts were cut off when Shion suddenly appeared in front of her and hugged her tightly. "Temari! What's going on?! Its been so long since we've seen eachother! How's my cousin?" Temari was only stuttering in amazement. "Y-you.. H-HIM... How? How? How?" Naruto scowled menacingly at Temari questioning his past relationship with Shion. "Shut the hell up Temari! You don't even know anything!" Temari just rolled his eyes at Naruto's disdain. Gaara and Pakura just lowered their heads in annoyance. Shion looked at Naruto and smiled the way a girl would smile at a puppy. "Awww, are you upset Naruto? Don't worry about anything!" She then proceeded to kissing Naruto on the cheek, which caused him to shiver nervously. He looked away, blushing and then he picked his head up remembering the altercation beforehand.
"Shion, there has to be another reason why you were following us. You're not the type to hide and follow somebody. What's the deal?" Gaara and the others all averted their attention to Shion, who now had a serious, almost deadly look on her face. "You don't remember? Those trash-bag assholes who we had to fight off back when we were with Sora, Muku, Ryuzetsu, and Temujin? The dustmen were the ones who slaughtered all of them! You didn't know that?! Take a good luck at your friends' tattoos!"Naruto then looked at Gaara's neck and Pakura's Bosom. In realization, he raised his eyes in contempt and hatred. He knew that Gaara and Temari weren't apart of them, but he was about to lunge at Pakura. Pakura quickly realized his intentions and she slowly, cooly raised her hands to ease Naruto. "Relax, the Dustmen were originally not about taking down other conduits. I assume that your friend was killed about 3 years ago at the most am I right?" Naruto nodded his head slowly. Pakura then sighed. "The one you're after then, is Tetsujin. He started running a campaign against conduits who wouldn't join much to the dismay of Gaara's dad" Naruto then slowly, menacingly said "Fine... I guess I can trust you... But look! Those who follow this Tetsujin? I'll not hesitate to kill them, regardless of who they are, you can take care of the leader himself Gaara"
Time pass as Naruto and the group have set their tracks to stop Tetsujin. They found him, and killed him along with his followers. Shion has realized that Naruto has moved on and does not wish to be with her like it was in the past. Pakura agrees to return to the city of Konoha with Gaara and Temari, but she wants Temari to stay with her in order to bid farewell to their broken city of Suna. The Dustmen has been disbanded, by order of Gaara who inherited the spot of leader from his father. Now Naruto, and Gaara have returned to Konoha city at midday, shocked with what's going on.
Naruto looked at the city in shock. "The Reapers... The Cursed... How the hell are they this strong? Over night?!" Konoha was being wrecked, the bustling streets of Konoha were now unrecognizable. Cars were being thrown all over and some small buildings were being destroyed. The Reapers and Cursed were both fighting conduits and the DUP, and killing random civilians while they were at it. Naruto was watching the mayhem in complete awe, terrified awe. "My city" he muttered "My city is under attack.. I-" Gaara cut him off "Naruto! The Mountains! Now! We gotta make sure The Saints are Ok!" Naruto glowered at the mountains in rage. "There is no way in hell these assholes are going to do anything to them. Lets go!"
Naruto and Gaara dashed jumping from building to building to their home. As they got their, they were relieved to see that their house wasn't damaged too much. However, the black cloud's house was destroyed and unrecognizable. Naruto and Gaara found their teammates fighting for their lives against some really strong conduits. They fled into the city, trying to escape from the attacks.
Gaara went ahead and dashed to join the fight. Naruto was about to go until he was hit really hard by something that looked like a dark red neon blast. The blond was propelled high into the air and landed somewhere inside a ransacked building. He was dazed and confused "What the hell?" he muttered painfully. When his vision came to focus he looked forward and saw a figure in the shadows of the beat up building. The figure seemed to be about 6 foot at least, that was just a guess. "Naruto, it's interesting that you've been gone for so long. You've been pounding around and doing stupid shit in that run down Suna city, now your people are going to die, along with this old city as well. Great work, kid" Enraged by the man's satirical taunting, Naruto blasted a 2 hand ember-bomb in hopes to kill him, but the man deflected it, with that same strange red energy field. Naruto lunged at the shadowed man but was only met with the same red blast that threw him out the building and into the streets, filled with fighting conduits. Naruto groaned in pain, clutching his aching chest. He was beyond pissed. Who the hell is this guy? With power like this he's got to be a prime conduits level. Judging from the fact that he picked him out, he was sent by Auntie Fuuka. Naruto slowly got up in pain. He was rushed by a random conduit who was amazed with him. "Whoa it's really you! Uzumaki Naruto! You're a fucking legend dude! Bro these Reapers and Cursed have been taking down your crew! You need to get to them at once!"
Naruto asked for the direction of his crew and started it making his way there with the conduit who went by the name of Ash close behind. He was stopped again by the same man and this time he saw the guy much better. The man was definitely over 6 feet tall. He wore all black clothes. He had a reaper trench coat that was black as well, and he was wearing a black mask that covered his mouth which really set Naruto off. He also wore his hood up so you could barely see anything except a glint of black hair, and that set Naruto off even more. This man pretty much conceals his identity whenever he's fighting? What a fucking pussy. The shady man fired a red blast at Naruto's feet to stop him from running. "Crimson Plasma... My power... A truly beautiful, yet deadly power, no? Many of the Reapers have this ability, even Fuuka." Ash looked at Naruto then screamed "Run! I got you!" Ash then ran straight towards the shady man to create a diversion. Naruto responded and ran around the shady man. Ash was killed instantly by the man, driving his right hand through his heart effortlessly. Before Naruto could even dash past him, he threw Ash's fresh dead body at him to stop him.
Naruto lunged in a smoky haze at the shady man but was knocked down countless times. 3 times, 4, times... 6 times... 10 times. Naruto just kept falling and getting back up. The man effortlessly blasted Naruto with another Crimson rocket and the blond crumpled to the ground for what seemed to be the umpteenth, and last time. The man shook his head and slowly walked up to the fatigued blond. "You're slow, I don't understand why Fuuka would want to deal with somebody as weak and stupid as you but anyway, quit it with the games. Come with me, Fuuka is the only family you have now right? Since even your brother is dead" Naruto, panting glared up at the man and then asked "W... Who... Who are you?" The man just flatly said "Call me... Fumei" Naruto spat blood on the ground at Fumei's feet. "You're taunting me, by giving me a bullshit name like that? Do you even know what that word means?" Fumei cackled "Of course, which is why I'm giving it to you brat. Now come with me and end this little game you're playing. If you don't, I promise you, you'll only see more people die like that kid just now. 'cept they will be your friends this time." (Fumei means unknown lol)
Naruto was sitting on his butt now, clearly fatigued from his one-sided fight with Fumei. He looked past him and he saw two familiar conduits in the shadows, smiling. Hinata and Sakura. Sakura nodded her head to Naruto, as if to tell him that they'll take care of him, while Hinata just smiled. Naruto smiled then chuckled. Slowly, he got up and grinned at Fumei. Fumei outstretched his hands. "That's the spirit kid, we'll take care of you nicely" Naruto raised his right hand slowly, then quickly grabbed Fumei's face and pulled him closely, burning him. "I don't have time for your bullshit" He then threw Fumei out of his way and started running as fast as he could past Hinata and Sakura. "Kick his ass" he exclaimed.
As the blond was running towards the Konoha park, where his crew seemed to be, he couldn't help but gawk at the mayhem he was forced to behold. Car's were abandoned and buildings were tumbling down. Conduits and Civilians were fighting and dying. The Reapers and Cursed were like an army, not a gang.
Naruto soon got to where his friends were and they were all fighting an amazing mob of Reapers and Cursed in a giant crater, replacing the park that was there before. Naruto searched desperately for Reyos and he soon found him, fighting off 9 major conduits on his own. "Reyos!" He screamed. The tattered Uzumaki looked up at his clansmen with his golden eyes and was filled with horror. "Naruto, duck! Now!" Confused, Naruto looked behind him and was met with the shock-wave of a Reaper Conduit. The blond sailed in the air and landed violently inside the crater, dazed and was moving in and out of consciousness. This has been increasingly annoying to the blond, getting his ass handed to him constantly and almost getting knocked out. He dragged himself to his feet and his vision focused, only to see a giant cursed conduit about to smash him in. Before he could react the conduit was taken down by none other than Reyos.
Reyos was looking terrible. He was battle torn and had scratches and cuts all over, it was amazing that he was still conscious since it seemed like he lost a lot of blood in the battle. The golden eyed man tossed Naruto his signature sword and looked at him intensely "You ready to take down these pricks? Every time one is defeated 10 more come out of nowhere to replace him. We're going to need the whole gang to end them. Naruto looked at him up and down. "This is one of the reasons why I said wearing a suit to battle is a bad idea. What type of fucking protection is that Mr. Mafia Holier Than Thou?" Reyos only laughed "Yeah about that, I think when we get out of here, we'll make a change to that rule. They're nice but I don't think it's really effective against pain"
Naruto and Reyos then went to work on the enemies around them, they soon met up with Kiraibi, then Yugito, then Roshi, Utakata, Gaara, then Yagura and Fuu. After a battle that lasted till sunset, all the conduits were defeated. The gang of 9 conduits sat in the crater and talked over what had happened. It seemed that at Sunrise the Reapers and the Cursed were hell bent on painting the town red, literally. As they went on a killing spree it brought out the Black Clouds and the Saints and they got most of their forces to attack them. Naruto only shook his head "These guys are crazy as hell, anyway We have to find Hinata and Sakura! They're fighting this crazy strong Prime Reaper Conduit who goes by this stupid ass name Fumei. By now his ass is probably beaten anyway. He was a prick"
Naruto was stopped by a familiar voice. "I believe the correct term is 'is' not 'was' Naruto. Since you know, I'm still here" Naruto looked up at the edge of the giant Crater only to see Fumei. Who's masked seem to be destroyed from the face burn Naruto gave him, but his face was still obscured by the shadow of his hoodie. All you could see was a wild grin.
Naruto was enraged at the situation. Fumei is here, with not even a scratch on him. If he's here then that only means... "Where are Hinata and Sakura?" Demanded Naruto. Fumei only cackled at Naruto's anger "Oh those two girls? They're around! Probably beaten up and barely in one piece but they're around" This was a dangerous situation. Hinata and Sakura they were both strong prime conduits... Naruto himself isn't even sure if he could beat them both at the same time, but this guy... this guy and his stupid cynical taunts and baleful laughs beat them without any effort.
Naruto roared in rage and charged at Fumei, with his gang close behind. Fumei only lunged right back and took them all down in a blur of motion. The Saints were sprawled on the ground beaten and battle-worn and Fumei was just standing there, stretching as if he went for a morning jog. "This is some fun, haven't had it for awhile" Naruto lunged with his sword drawn. As he tried a swing at Fumei's neck he just threw blast towards the blond, shattering his blade in pieces. Naruto collapsed to the ground in defeat. "Shit..." Fumei was about to deliver a finishing blow at Naruto's head but Reyos jumped in the way, taking the full blast head on. "Reyos no!" Naruto exclaimed. He ran towards his cousin and cradled his broken form trying to keep him awake.
"Yo man come on! You'll get through this! Pull through Pull through!" Reyos stared blankly at Naruto's face "This isn't a fairytale man... It's the end... I need you to do this one thing... Look... Make sure you take care of the team... Uzumaki Naruto... I remember what Menma said... He said that you're going to be the leader of The Saints one day... At first I thought it was bullshit cause we were smoking a bit of weed when he said it, but he was for real. Even I can tell. Naruto... Don't give in... Lead the team... You're going to be ready soon." With those words Reyo's eyes went grey and his body was limp with cold skin. Naruto looked at Reyos blankly, like he couldn't believe what had happened. His teammate, his member, his clansmen, his family, died in front of him. Like so many other people. He slowly rose from his friend's corpse and glared at Fumei who was only shaking his head.
"Tsk Tsk Tsk. I told you, if you don't give up and come with me, your friends would die. Now watch that's one down. I wonder how many more of your petty gang members will die today?" Fumei's taunts were getting at the 8 remaining conduits. Naruto responded with a roar "I'm not going anywhere with you! Fuck you!" He and the other 7 charged. Fumei mowed through each and every one of them. 8 remained, then 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1.. 0. All the conduits were defeated, the only one that wasn't knocked out was Naruto and he was struggling to get up. Fumei only shook his head and chuckled. "You're really stubborn. Face it. Your sloppy bullshit isn't going to handle anything. You know what? Fuck whatever Fuuka said. I'm going to kill you, right here. Right now" Naruto didn't give an answer. Instead he tripped and fell flat on his face. Struggling, he crawled towards Fumei, determined to beat him. Fumei walked calmly to Naruto's pitiful form and was about to blast him to bits. Only to be stopped by 4 other conduits.
It was Hinata and Sakura from before and 2 older conduits. One of them had snow white hair and was tall as hell he had to be at least 6'2. He seemed to be in his early 50s and he had wore some standard grey shirt with a red jacket over it. He had grey pants and white shoes. The lady with him looked really young, but the way she carried herself spoke other wise. She had blonde hair, reddish eyes and had an extremely voluptuous body. She wore a low cut white blouse and a grey feminine blazer with black skinny pants and heels. Fumei jumped back from the 4 conduits and then shook his head. "I'm surprised that you two decided to show up in town again" The blond girl rushed to Naruto and healed him and almost immediately Naruto was able bodied and was standing up again. "Tsunade, Jiraiya? Long time no see... My team... I need you to help my team.. They're not looking so well" Tsunade smiled warmly at Naruto. "I've got it covered alright? Don't worry" Naruto then glared at Fumei. "I'm not finished with you, I'm going to kill you!" Fumei spat on the ground in front of him and sighed with boredom. "You see? Jiraiya and Tsunade actually can beat me if I'm not careful. You win Naruto, but next time. It wont be so lu-"
Fumei was stopped by a loud explosion. Everyone looked at the direction and it was somewhere near the mountains. "What the fuck was that?" Naruto exclaimed. Fumei laughed sardonically "That's probably Anko.. Oh I can just imagine the pain and suffering your black cloud friends are going through with her. Unlike her, she doesn't show mercy. Anyway... Naruto... I'll see you some other time. Remember what Fuuka told you. You're fighting for the wrong side." Fumei then left in a flash of red light.
Naruto got up and started making his way towards the mountains. Hinata grabbed his hand. "Where do you think you're going Naruto?!" Naruto turned around and glowered at Hinata, who stepped back a bit. "I need to find Sasuke! What the hell do you think? Who knows what type of shit he's in!" Sakura looked at Naruto then said stubbornly "If you're going there, you're not about to go alone, I'm sure your... How are you guys related?" She looked at Jiraiya and Tsunade. Naruto looked down at his necklace. "They're.. my Godparents" Sakura looked back at Naruto and nodded "Right. Your godparents will be alright taking care of your team am I right Tsunade?" Tsunade looked at the 8 unconscious maybe even dead bodies and nodded, but she refused to meet Naruto's eyes. Sakura continued "We're coming with you!"
Naruto didn't miss a beat he started making his way quickly to the mountains, dodging the remaining conduits that were still putting up a fight, with Hinata and Sakura behind them.
Night fell and rain had started to fall by the time the 3 teens reached the mountains. When they reached the crater that the Saints and the Black Clouds used as a battle ground, they found Sasuke struggling to get up with his fallen gang and a blue haired woman. She was walking over to Sasuke casually like she put in little effort to beat him and his gang. Naruto quickly got in front her and Hinata and Sakura surrounded her as well. The woman looked around at the 3 conduits and rolled her eyes. "Now you 3 suddenly walk in, acting like you guys are big shots now huh? Let me warn you, I'll kill the three of you easily"
Sasuke screamed out desperately "Anko! These people aren't of any business between you and me! Don't hurt them! You... You've already killed my gang... There isn't any reason for you to kill any one else! Leave them alone... Please..." Anko looked at Sasuke up and down, seemingly bored. Her phone started ringing and she immediately picked up. "Yeah? ... I see... Seriously? They're here? ... The DUP reinforcements? Can't we just kill them too? Oh your old friends are here too? That's good for you. Fine I'll come back" Anko hung up the phone. She looked at the the Naruto and the others. "It's your lucky day. Too much heat is out now... I'll see you later. Sasuke, don't forget what I told you. Plus, don't give me that look. You can only blame yourself for the death of your gang. You should have listened to me" Sasuke struggled up to his feet and lunged at Anko, only to be stopped by Sakura. The raven haired boy kept struggling "Anko! Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! I'll fucking kill you! You, that damned boss of yours, and everyone of your bitch ass minions will fucking pay! I swear it!" Anko just smiled saucily at Sasuke. Then she spoke with a flat cheeky tone. "I can't wait" Anko then left before anyone could react.
Naruto looked at the fallen Black Cloud members and turned to Sasuke with concern "Don't worry man! They'll survive! Tsunade and Jiraiya are here they'll help them we'll just get them into the Saints house and-" Sasuke turned and punched Naruto square in the jaw. "Shut the fuck up Naruto! You know for a fact that they're gone! Every last one of them... Look with your own Seishogan! Do you see anything surging through them? Anything at all? HUH?" Naruto, rubbing his jaw searched for any trace of life for the 8 motionless bodies on the ground. None... not even one small kinetic pulse... It was all gone. He turned to Sasuke grimly. "Hey man... I know how you feel... I lost my family... my brother just like you... I lost a whole gang once... only one that's survived was Shion and even her I'm not-" Sasuke cut in again "Yeah I know you did but it doesn't change shit for me! It still hurts... It still hurts... Still..." Sasuke muttered.
Time passed and Sasuke stubbornly cremated each one of his gang member's bodies, he didn't want anyone using the black clouds conduits as puppets. Tsunade and Jiraiya showed up with Shikamaru, Chouji, and all the other local conduit friends of Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto ran towards his god mother. "Well? What's the news? My gang... My team are they OK?" The frantic blond looked past all his friends and looked at his crew that was lurking behind. 4 of them were carrying another 4. Naruto was baffled he then looked at Gaara for an explanation. Gaara always had a seemingly a little sad look on his face, but this time he was devastated and... crying... You could barely see because of the rain but he was crying a bit. Naruto swallowed again and then asked. "Gaara... What's up man? What's going on? Everyone's OK! No need to feel sad! Right?"
Gaara looked to his left at Fuu, then looked towards his right at Utakata and Kiraibi. He then looked up at the eyes of his teammate. "We... We've lost four of us... Naruto..." The blond gave him a blank stare, he then laughed a bit. "Ha, never knew you were into jokes like that Gaara, funny guy.." Hinata grabbed Naruto's hand and Jiraiya put his arm around him. Gaara sighed then spoke again.
"Naruto... We've lost four.. Yugito... Yagura... Roshi... Your... Your cousin Reyos... We've lost them... They're dead"
Naruto looked at Gaara with shock. He looked like as if he just saw a bomb blow up the entire city. "No..." Gaara shook his head then said "I'm sorry.. Naruto... They're dead" Naruto frantically looked at the corpses his teammates were carrying with the Seishogan. He recognized each and every one of them. He searched desperately for a pulse... any surge of life in them... Nothing... Nothing at all...
The blonde was shattered... He slowly started to go wild... His despair got the better of him and his powers were running out of control. Golden flames and smoke were erupting around him. He hurled an ember rocket towards the sky blindly, causing an fearsome explosion that lit up the sky like lightning. He was grabbed by his teammates to calm him down. Naruto struggled "Let me go! Let me go! Now!" He shoved everyone off him but was stopped by Jiraiya. "Naruto... Relax... I know... I know how you feel. It's OK... we're here for you" He then hugged his distraught godson, who was whaling in agony. "Jiraiya... Man... They're dead... They're dead... Sasuke's group... everyone of them is dead... half of my own crew is dead... Why?"
Sasuke himself was on his own. He was alone... in the cold rain looking on into the crater where his gang was slain. Soon enough Naruto quietly came and sat right by him. No words... for 10 minutes they just sat in silence. Naruto then spoke up "This isn't going to happen again... This hopelessness..." Sasuke looked at his friend, his rival. "Naruto... I've lost everything once... Itachi... My parents... And now I've lost everything again... My gang... My very own identity. The black clouds don't exist anymore... I don't know what to do... I'm just stuck here... Alone."
"It doesn't have to be like that... You know?" An unknown voice said. Naruto and Sasuke turned and saw Gaara walking towards them. He then spoke. "It is true.. We lost four members... The oldest we had was 40. Now that drastically has gone down to Kiraibi being the oldest... and He's only 21... Fuu is 18... Utakata is 19... I'm 17 and you Naruto are 16... Roshi told me that soon enough The Saints will be replaced by a younger generation... Seems like that time has come a bit early. I've already talked to Hinata and Sakura... They're agreeing to join the gang" Naruto's eyes flared at that statement "What the fuck? We can't just throw our dead teammates away like that! What are you doing?! We'll stay as 5!" Sasuke shook his head at Naruto's exclamation. "It's OK Naruto. Look, before I was in my gang they already had 5 members die and one member defect. You guys need to start new, with a new set of mates. It's hard but you got to" Sasuke got up then started walking away. Naruto watched him, then he quickly got up and yelled after him "Then get your ass back here! We only have 7 now, we need 2 more!" Sasuke stopped and turned his head at his old friend. He slowly smirked at Naruto's offer "Deal" Then he began walking again. Naruto and Gaara slowly started walking after him back to the others. Naruto then spoke up "This is going to be hard man... I don't know what's going to happen... I feel uneasy" Gaara nodded "I do too... Do you have anyone in mind? For our last spot?" Naruto thought of Shion, but then he threw that thought away, she's not going to be interested in a gang. Naruto looked up at the sky... The rain stopped and the sun began to rise again. He then spoke.
"Something tells me, that our next guy isn't in the city... He's somewhere else... Lets make our way to old man Roshi's city."