Title: New Future of the Legends
Author: Nakora-chan
Email: nakora(dot)chan(at)gmail(dot)com
Series: Naruto
Rating: T (may end up M later on)
Pairings: None (If I have time later on, I will create an alternate version with pairings)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Summary: Three years have passed since Naruto has left Konoha. It is about time that he returns, but when he does, he reveals things about himself and Konoha that has never been known to the public. Despite what he has become, he strives to break free from all bonds.
Warnings: AU, OC, OOC, blood, abuse, mutilation (last three will occur later on)

Chapter 7: Death Hailing Reunion

"Sasori and Deidara, deal with the ones alive. Capture the Daiitokumyouou. The rest of you, scatter."

He inwardly raised his eyebrows, though no one would see if he raised his eyebrows at all. Hiruko shrouded him from everyone's knowledge, though he did have an inkling that Uchiha Itachi saw past his wooden guise. Damn that Uchiha and his Sharingan; he hated that man. He doubted that he hated Uchiha Itachi as much as his goddamn partner did.

"Itachi, what kind of bastard is the Daiitokumyouou?" All of the Akatasuki knew about Itachi's famous run-ins with the Daiitokumyouou and how the Daiitokumyouou was the only person that knew the whereabouts of Uzumaki Naruto. By capturing the Daiitokumyouou, they would torture and extract the information about Uzumaki Naruto to retrieve the Kyuubi.

The Konoha missing-nin said not a word, and merely looked at him with a calculating gaze. That gaze and his Sharingan unnerved him, but damn how he hated this man. Not to his surprise was Uchiha Itachi's silhouette disappearing from view since ritual had already ended and the man was entitled to his chakra.

"Tell him now."

Uchiha Itachi remained silent, and he wondered just how long it would take before the Uchiha was obligated to say something. But the silence didn't last long. "He will be the smiling Buddha."

"Huh? What the hell do you mean?" he calmly snarled. This man infuriated him to no end; his encounters with the Daiitokumyouou must have addled his already addled brain.

Nearby, his partner grumbled loudly, "That's all? Nothing more specific?"

Eyeing his stoic colleague, he could garner no more since the connection started failing and the image of Uchiha Itachi shimmered into nonexistence. The bastard always chose the most inopportune moments to vanish.

The ground near the giant form of the King of Hell rumbled as the statue sank into the earth, leaving this dimension for some place unknown for the time being until the next bijuu-jinchuuriki extraction. The various dark shapes standing in for their respective individual of the organization that stood on the tips of the each finger of the King of Hell statue, one by one, vanished from their positions, leaving on the leader and them.

"I'll be waiting for contact."

POOF!

As soon as the large yet great work of art that forever immortalized the depiction of the King of Hell disappeared from sight, he and his partner landed near the dead body of the Ichibi jinchuuriki. He wondered just what was so special about the Ichibi jinchuuriki that made even the great Daiitokumyouou had to take action; he briefly mulled over the fact that the Daiitokumyouou knew the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, who in turn knew the Ichibi jinchuuriki, and thus felt obligated to help a friend of a friend. His ponderings would get him nowhere for now; only the Daiiktokumyouou could answer his questions, and answer them he undoubtedly would not.

Keeping in mind the apparent special relationship between the Daiitokymyouou and the Ichibi jinchuuriki, Sasori questioned the sanity of his younger partner as Deidara carelessly sat on top of the body of the dead jinchuuriki. Did the idiot not comprehend the strength of Uchiha Itachi's rival? He knew that his fellow artist strove to defeat Uchiha Itachi ever since their initial meeting and acquaintance, and the man probably thought in his mind that this battle with Uchiha Itachi's rival would give him a measure of his strength against the Uchiha's. But this idiot just did not get it.

He said nothing as Deidara took out a small bird figurine and enlarged it with application of chakra. From inside Hiruko, he sneered; his partner's interpretation of art would never come close to rival his own. After all, the idiot thought that "art is a bang!" He scoffed at that idea; art is immortal.

They didn't wait long before the large boulder that replaced the only entrance and exit of the cavern crumbled under the efforts of the "rescue team" accompanying the Daiitokumyouou. He wondered about how many shinobi did Suna send to rescue their Kazekage, and smirked at his own answer to his question.

After all the damage that his fellow member had caused to the hidden village, the shinobi there could not spare anyone to rescue their precious Kazekage; they focused too much on keeping themselves and the village intact to send anyone. He mocked their loyalty and their dedication to their leader.

No one stood in the entrance and he smirked slightly as they still used a button-hook entry. He praised them for their caution but it was unnecessary on their part; there was only one person on this rescue team that the two of them had to be wary of, and that person would hardly care for a button-hook entry.

The four man team flashed into view and he laughed inwardly at their responses. The surprise on their faces truly amused him, especially the expression on the face of his grandmother. The shock disappeared from her face as soon as she recognized the puppet that he resided in, and the look of ferocity excited him.

His grandmother had certainly aged since he had last seen her. He half expected her face to soften after seeing him as he was now, but in fact, there was a certain warmth about her that shouldn't have been there.

When he left her so many years ago, he wanted her to wallow in self-pity and self-deprecation of letting her "precious" grandson turn into a missing-nin; he wanted her to suffer. He wanted her to suffer like how he suffered. That was part of the reason he left, and he doubted that his grandmother could or would even begin to understand the immensity of his parting. After all, she still could not wrap her mind around the fact that he had left, her and her village.

Yet seeing her not suffering as much as he suffered angered him and intrigued him. There was something that pulled his grandmother out of her self-deprecating state, and she somehow managed to garner enough courage to confront him. Did she have enough courage to face what he had done to himself? Would she waver? Would she stand? Or would she fall?

"Well then… Which one of you is the Daiitokumyouou, I wonder?" asked his idiot partner.

Scanning the faces of the shinobi rescue team, he quickly eliminated his grandmother and the pink-haired woman. The other two… one he recognized as the son of Hatake Sakumo, the man who killed his parents, and he crossed out Hatake Kakashi as the Daiitokumyouou, which left the long-haired kimono-wearing shinobi to be the Daiitokumyouou.

The Daiitokumyouou smiled. The smile had not disappeared when he entered the cavern, and it did not disappear when his fellow artist asked who of them the Daiitokumyouou was. Instead, the young man kept his calm, his eerie calm that he forced him to agree with Uchiha Itachi. The Daiitokumyouou truly seemed to personify the smiling Buddha.

"That one… Well, seems like him…" mused Deidara to his right. He wondered what the explosion specialist thought of the infamous rival of Uchiha Itachi.

In his opinion, the Daiitokumyouou didn't look like much, but looks hardly told him anything.

Chiyo knew from the moment that they had entered the cavern that Tsurugi held back. The sight of the blonde Akatsuki member sitting inconsiderately on the body of the Kazekage shocked her and the others, and she hardly faulted Tsurugi if he were to instantly attack upon entering.

But Tsurugi did not make any sudden attacks or movements.

Her eyes firmly on her image of her grandson inside his puppet and his partner, she mused on all the possible actions that either side could take but decided to see what Tsurugi would do.

"Deidara-san and Sasori-san, return Gaara-sama's body."

Tsurugi truly surprised her, every time. There was no trace of anger or any other emotion laced in his voice as he calmly spoke. The level of control always surprised her; he usually never controlled himself in anything during his stay with her in Suna, always bouncing around, smiling, laughing, and the presence of the Kazekage always amplified his lack of control. But the discipline he displayed in the presence of the dead Gaara astounded her.

Both Kakashi and Sakura looked at Tsurugi with surprise at his control of his emotions. They never expected that the boy would just simply ask for the return of the Kazekage; the despondency in their stances, after they had seen the unseemly sight of the Kazekage's body, explained how much they had hoped that the Suna leader would be alive to rescue. They also had expected that Tsurugi would also show the same sort of emotions, but their lack of understanding of Tsurugi's character only confirmed Tsurugi's desire for secrecy and control.

She noticed both Akatsuki members' response to Tsurugi's demand, but neither responded verbally.

"Return Gaara-sama's body."

Her heart ached. Just how much was Tsurugi hurting? How much did it hurt Tsurugi not to lose control and not to just attack? The Tsurugi demanding for his best friend's body calmly wasn't the Tsurugi who smiled brilliantly and laughed whole-heartedly alongside the Kazekage. This Tsurugi did not scream out painfully. This Tsurugi stabbed wounds into her heart every moment he did not cry.

The other two members of their rescue team merely watched the seal master with wondering eyes. Their eyes asked questions but their lips did not move.

They didn't understand. They didn't know. They weren't there when this boy had first come to her after his master dropped him off with her. They didn't see the way that his face lit up with happiness, sky blue eyes glowing, when his best friend came by. They didn't ever experience the warm feeling that flooded her heart whenever he smiled or laughed. Their hearts did not ache.

For the time that he had stayed with her in Suna, the rascal had wormed his way into her worn and troubled heart, not to replace her precious grandchild, but just to warm and heal a heart abused and broken by the hardships of shinobi life. She knew even back then that the brat had also endured the more painful experiences of being a shinobi, but he remained unbroken. She admired him, and soon within the duration of his stay, she could say that Tsurugi Tenkou had become something like a second grandchild to her.

He warmed her heart, and his iciness now brought tears to her eyes. She dared not let the tears fall; old women should not feel bad for the young. She had already experienced this pain, and Tsurugi needed to face it… but it hurt.

It hurt so much.

Kakashi's careful glance in her direction directed his suspicion on her true knowledge of the situation, but she would not reveal what she held in confidence.

Her aching heart remembered the bounce in his step and the quirk of a brilliant smile. His self-control scared her, and only the presence of her dear grandson could make her aching heart cry more.

"Return Gaara-sama's body."

Tsurugi kept repeating those words, not deviating at all, and that really worried Kakashi. He had no idea what kind of relationship existed between the two but Tsurugi's control was unnatural. Tension oozed out of the seal master's body, and his heart weighed down in his chest. Without anyone's notice, Tsurugi had wormed his way into their hearts, and the absolute control belied the boy's sadness.

Chiyo must have already known about Tsurugi and his past; her aura said everything. For a while, he thought her sadness was only for her grandson but her troubled glances in Tsurugi's direction spoke otherwise. Just how much Chiyo knew about Tsurugi went up with speculation, and he had a feeling that he would never know how much she knew about the mysterious boy.

The mysteries that surrounded Tsurugi would have to be addressed as soon as the mission ended, but he believed, despite orders, not all secrets would be revealed or could be revealed.

Yet one mystery had to be addressed right away: Tsurugi's status as Daiitokumyouou. The blonde Akatsuki member had asked just which one of them was the Daiitokumyouou, and to his knowledge, no one had every addressed neither Chiyo, Sakura, nor himself as Daiitokumyouou, leaving only Tsurugi.

Both of them focused their attentions on Tsurugi, and he grew increasingly frustrated with Tsurugi's mysteries. The more mysteries about the boy, the more danger the boy drew towards them.

Chiyo knew though. She knew the boy's secrets, maybe not all of them nevertheless some of them, but hadn't said anything. He wondered if her silence meant that the boy meant no harm, or that the boy would eventually reveal all secrets to be revealed.

Mentally, he hated his hesitation. His hesitation meant life or death in their current situation, and here he was having a crisis over the identity of an unknown boy on his team.

"A leap of faith will take you far."

Words came unbidden into his train of thought from a past long ago. He hid a smile; his sensei had always given the best advice.

"I'll look after this one."

Returning his full attention to the two Akatsuki members confronting them, he eyed the larger of the two. Akasuna no Sasori, an S-rank missing-nin, grandson to Chiyo, was certainly a formidable character, and he wondered how far any of his team would have to go just to defeat one member. This man, known for his incredible skills with puppets and genius poisons, probably had several, if not more, back up plans designed for the sole purpose of taking down opponents with the intents of mass destruction, even if original attack plans did not have the same range of destruction.

"It seems like the Daiitokumyouou wants to take this one back," said Sasori. Sasori's voice came out deep yet muffled through the cloth mask, and at that moment, Kakashi decided that he would not choose the one he fought. He would leave the decision to Tsurugi; he would take that leap of faith and let the boy choose their opponent of the two.

"Sasori-danna," the blonde— Deidara?—interrupted. "This'll probably make you angry, but I'll handle the Daiitokumyouou, hnn?"

For a second, Kakashi sensed something different from the blonde-haired missing-nin. The man said "Daiitokumyouou" with a harsh undercurrent, and he briefly wondered if there existed a relationship between Deidara and Tsurugi. Back in Suna, Tsurugi had spoken about the duo that had captured Gaara, but the boy hadn't given his information in a way that implied that he personally knew the missing-nin, not like the way that he spoke of and to Uchiha Itachi. So what was this man's relationship with Tsurugi?

"Don't push it, Deidara."

Deidara glanced towards his partner, tilting his head with an air of arrogance. "If an artist doesn't get high levels of inspiration, his sentiments are dulled, Sasori-danna. That god-damnable man has already proved the Daiitokumyouou's strength, hnn?"

God-damnable man?

"What? You call those explosions fine art? Fine art is something wonderful that's left long into the future, eternal beauty."

"They involve the same skilled labor, I respect you, but fine art is the beauty of that single fleeting moment of explosion."

Kakashi almost rolled his eyes in exasperation. Dear Kami-sama, were these two honestly arguing about art at a time like this? Their conversation only validated insanity. Either that or an abundance of confidence, and he voted for the latter.

His eyes shifting towards his team, he noted that Tsurugi had fallen silent. The boy hadn't demanded the return of the Kazekage's body for a while, and he wondered what got the boy silent. He got the feeling that the boy wouldn't stay silent for long, and that he would not stay still for any much longer. The boy had already started planning, his brains already running through scenarios and options available. Kakashi wondered what options Tsurugi had open and which ones were closed, but this wasn't the time or the place to waste unnecessary words. He hoped that his leap of faith was enough.

Sakura, on the other hand… a look of incredulity passed her face as she stared at the duo. "What… What kind of people are these?"

Over the course of the past three years, she hadn't gone on any major missions other than the ones required to keep up her rank as chuunin. The reason belonged to her status as a medic-nin; Sakura was on constant call at the hospital, similar to the Hokage and Shizune. She helped out in the hospital, nearly constantly, or she trained. She did not have to face the insanity within every shinobi everyday. She did not understand.

Despite her inexperience against major or dangerous opponents, the young kunoichi was skilled. She rivaled the Hokage in strength, and she could handle herself, no matter how much more powerful the opponent was compared to her. Sakura could manage.

"Return Gaara-sama's body," Tsurugi finally repeated, only this time, his hand reached into the vast enormity of his kimono sleeves and revealed a scroll. Just how many scrolls did Tsurugi conceal within his sleeves, and just how much equipment did the boy bring on this mission?

Calmly untying the knot closing off the scroll, Tsurugi let the purple string binding the scroll fall to the ground.

From his vantage point, Kakashi could only see the small portion that Tsurugi revealed covered with unintelligible scrawl that almost seemed like chicken scratch, but there was one area where the large kanji character for 'Heaven' seemed to be encircled. The boy bit his thumb, his teeth cutting past his skin, and blood started welling out of the small wound. Quickly, he swiped his bloody finger across the kanji character and the rest of the scroll.

POOF!

The scroll suddenly gone from sight, the one-eyed jounin eyed the weapon that Tsurugi summoned.

A naginata? Out of all the different types of weapons that Tsurugi could have pulled out, the boy pulled out a pole arm? Shinobi nowadays rarely ever used polearms; the only person alive that he knew that used a pole arm was Akimichi Chouza. The other man wielded the Kongou-Nyo form of the summon Monkey King Enma, the late Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi.

This naginata extended well past Tsurugi's head, the (approximately) two-meter-long shaft itself larger than Tsurugi. With the shaft longer than Tsurugi was tall, the one meter-long blade made the pole arm look very unwieldy in the seal master's hands. The steel of the blade, topping the weapon, gleamed with divine silvery blue sheen, its edge smooth and sharp. Strangely, where the steel met the shaft, the area seemed to be decorated with an array of multi-faceted jewels, only adding the magnificence of the pole arm. At the end of the shaft, there were several more jewels before coming upon a metal spiked cap.

Kakashi couldn't help but stare in awe at the magnificent weapon. Though the naginata awed him, he couldn't help but wonder if it could withstand the first hit. He honestly had enough experiences with a beautifully-made weapon that ended up sliced like butter.

"Ame-no-nuboko…"

Permitting himself a cursory glance in Chiyo's direction, he almost blinked in surprise at her astonished expression. He had expected the old woman to know about Tsurugi's abilities and his possessions since she was the only one to actually know Tsurugi personally, but this only proved that Tsurugi didn't trust anyone enough.

Ame-no-nuboko… he certainly heard of this legendary weapon though he had never seen it, its legend only matched by the legend of Kusanagi, the same Kusanagi the Sennin Orochimaru wielded. The gods above supposedly used Ame-no-nuboko to raise the land from the seas, after they churned the sea from the bridge between Heaven and Earth, Ame-no-ukihashi, with the same naginata.

Kakashi never expected in his entire life to see the divine weapon once wielded by gods, and he definitely did not expect the legend to be in the hands of a boy that he had only known for several days. As a shinobi, he should have been living by the old adage, "Expect the unexpected", but the mysteries and revelations that came with Tsurugi just pushed the limit of "the unexpected".

"Return Gaara's body," Tsurugi demanded, his stance confident. He held Ame-no-nuboko with both hands, its magnificent blue blade pointing at the ground, yet still ready to strike at any chance.

"Deidara, you little shit, are you trying to piss me off?"

"Well, then… I was right when I said it'd probably make you angry, hnn?"

The two blatantly ignored Tsurugi and kept up their argument about art.

Tsurugi snapped.

Deidara, the entire time, had been covertly watching the Daiitokumyouou, hearing his demands, watching his actions. He knew that the moment that he took out the legendary Ame-no-nuhoko that Tsurugi was serious, though how serious was to be seen. From all the information that he got from his contacts, he knew that Tsurugi had never revealed that he had Ame-no-nuboko to that bastard Uchiha Itachi. Heck, he doubted anyone knew that the Daiitokumyouou had it.

He briefly wondered what abilities and skills the once god-wielded weapon granted its user; he knew only second-hand information about Kusanagi from Sasori, who partnered with the Snake Sannin during his brief stint with Akatsuki.

According to Sasori, Kusanagi enabled the user to control wind currents and direct them in the direction of the swing, but Orochimaru apparently couldn't wield the sword to its fullest capacity, or so said Sasori. From what Sasori had seen, Orochimaru didn't have wind-elemental chakra as his primary element so the sword didn't or couldn't respond properly. Still… with the extent of damage the legendary and godly Kusanagi could inflict with an incompatible wielder, just simply having it made being incompatible bearable. He shivered at the thought of just how much damage a wind-type shinobi got his hands on the weapon.

Ame-no-nuhoko seemed to be a weapon that would act in a similar fashion, though guesses of granted abilities eluded him. The one question that seemed to scratch at his curious mind was how the Daiitokumyouou had gotten a hold of a weapon once wielded by a god, and how Orochimaru did the same.

Both hands on the pole arm, his stance speaking of his experience and time using the unwieldy thing, Tsurugi brought the naginata with a fast forward slash, and the chakra build up exploded from the tip of the blade.

CRASH!

Quickly having his clay bird masterpiece gobble up the dead body of the former Ichibi jinchuuriki, he hopped onto his magnificent artwork and moved aside, just in the nick of time. A great gush of chakra rushed past him, destroying the ground where he just stood on; he mused for a moment, 'Did Sasori-danna get caught up in that?'

The sound of someone landing caught his attention, and Deidara smirked. So his fellow artist hadn't decided to die yet?

His clay bird gulping down the corpse, he knew that the infamous Daiitokumyouou would follow him, just from the catlike way the cerulean eyes followed his every movement. He inwardly crowed at his chance to see how far he measured against the man that rivaled Uchiha Itachi.

The entire area where he had stood just a while ago was completely destroyed; just looking at it, he could understand the awe in the legend. Tsurugi's weapon truly belonged to the gods at one point; there was no denying that fact. Seeing a ten meter wide trench from the skies terrified and excited him at the same time, especially since Tsurugi had only used a small portion of his chakra.

Watching from his vantage point above the entire scene, he grinned and directed his bird to fly out of the opening that the rescue team had created just to get inside. From the white-haired jounin's expression, he clearly surprised someone on the team.

Tsurugi, on the other hand… Deidara wanted to snarl and beat the crap out of that guy. That guy just had to keep on smiling; even while he demanded for the jinchuuriki's body, he smiled. He knew that the smile didn't reach the eyes… but hell… he would worship the deity that would let him beat the living crap out of this smiling bastard.

This emotion didn't surprise him at all; he wanted to do the same thing to that bastard Uchiha Itachi. Two bastards… one smiling, one emotionless…

Up in the air, he watched Tsurugi walked slowly out of the cave, his footsteps rippling on the water.

He wanted the guy to lose face just for once, and he wondered just how far he would have to push before Tsurugi really snapped. Even when he ignored the guy and talked to Sasori, Tsurugi only got angry enough to unleash his full powers for the smallest moment before restraining himself. He prided himself for getting Tsurugi to do that; even that bastard Uchiha Itachi hadn't gotten his "rival" that far.

He didn't care that he was being the bigger bastard and scoundrel for using a corpse; after all, dead humans were just that, corpses.

Not soon after the Daiitokumyouou appeared in the entrance of the cave, the white-haired one joined him on the top of the torii just outside the ritual area. Hatake Kakashi, also known as Copy Ninja Kakashi… a ninja with the Sharingan; he doubted he could hate someone as much as that bastard Uchiha, but he knew from the instant he laid eyes on that jounin that this man ranked high on his "must-die-because-of-Sharingan" list.

Hatake's hand went to the radio situated on the side of his head, and behind the large collar of his Akatsuki cloak, he hid the smirk that threatened to spill out and mock these Konoha shinobi. The bastard probably tried to contact the others that travelled with them, the rest of the rescue team, and from the frown that he could make out even from his distance, the bastard hadn't gotten a good response for them. The ones that had helped in breaking the barrier to the ritual grounds probably had their own problems to deal with, and they wouldn't be coming any time soon.

Despite this, he knew he had a tricky battle ahead. Tsurugi Tenkou was still an unknown factor.

Shifting on the white-haired bastard's part drew his attention away, and he nearly snarled when the bastard pushed up his hitae-ate to reveal that thrice-cursed Sharingan.

Every time he saw those cursed eyes, he remembered that time, the last time, the only time he had ever been so humiliated, the time that Uchiha Itachi had shown him up. He hated those eyes, and he hated the man behind those eyes.

Because the Daiitokumyouou wasn't particularly known for his genjutsu, Deidara briefly wondered if he needed to use his left eye against this duo. The bastard Hatake specialized in ninjutsu and genjutsu, but doubtless, that bastard had probably developed some special technique that defied all knowledge. Those Konoha bastards were wont to do so

How should he go about this? Keep it long-range? Go on the offensive on the get-go? Decisions… decisions… there were so many options open to him, and so little precious time he could use. Just how would he go about measuring his strength against the Daiitokumyouou? How to keep that bastard Hatake off his back?

"Copy Ninja Kakashi, are you sure you wanna fight me, hnn?" he asked loudly and clearly.

The decisions could screw themselves. Art was a bang!

"I dunno if I should be saying this, but Sasori-danna is strong than I am, hnn?"

Hatake didn't say anything, and that pissed him off more than if Hatake did say something. Silent bastards always pissed him off, especially when he was actually trying to piss the guy off.

From beside the bastard, Tsurugi declared, "Hatake-san, you should go help Haruno-san. I'll get back Gaara."

So the Daiitokumyouou didn't add a suffix to the Ichibi jinchuuriki's name; that was interesting. He knew that a close relationship existed between the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and the Ichibi one, and there was a similar relationship between the former and the Daiitokumyouou. With the degree of separation, Tsurugi Tenkou, known for his extreme formality, would never use anyone's name without a suffix.

He smirked; he was wearing down the great Daiitokumyouou; how he would love to smear that bastard Uchiha's face with this, hnn?

But what worried and angered him was the fact that this… boy thought that they could fight equally and that he could undoubtedly pull a victory. That bastard!

SWISH! FLAP! BOOM!

Only the sound of the Ame-no-nuhoko cutting the air had prevented him from becoming sliced into pieces. Moving away from deep crevice made onto the walls of the canyon, he quickly formed another clay bird and swung it in their direction.

CHING! THUNK! BOOM!

He tested their awareness by throwing a small shuriken through the large cloud of debris.

POOF! CHING!

Standing deftly on the water, Tsurugi continued to stare him down while Hatake looked less challenging in terms of emotional need for vengeance. The duo together proved to be a formidable pair, watching out for the other's back, mused Deidara. Playing around with Tsurugi provided him much fun, since this was the man that not even Uchiha Itachi could faze, though it might have been the fact that the Uchiha bastard refused to play around with his opponents.

Tsurugi glared up at him with defiant eyes, even though a smile still lingered on the guy's lips. The smile did not reach his eyes, but he doubted that the smile ever meant anything. Tsurugi's emotions and mental frameset wasn't expressed through the lips or the way the facial muscles moved. Tsurugi's sky blue eyes told him the entire story, and they told him that the seal master's true intentions. Tsurugi was serious; from what the Uchiha bastard had told him, the Daiitokumyouou had never been serious in all their encounters. Another point for him.

"Return Gaara's body."

"You're an odd one," he responded. Smoothing out the expression on his face, he adopted a cold haughty face just to piss the black-haired shinobi off ever more. Using his higher standpoint to the best of advantages, he held himself similarly to the Uchiha bastard's usual stance, partially to mock the missing-nin and to annoy the Daiitokumyouou even further. "You're the only one that has stood up for a jinchuuriki, hnn?"

Deidara paused. "But this Gaara was odd too… So far, there haven't been any jinchuuriki who care about others."

The expression on Tsurugi's face didn't change, not that he expected it to do so though he did hope for it.

"Besides him, two jinchuuriki up until now were defeated by my colleagues. Their friends and those of their villages, not a single one came to save them, hnn?" He persisting in keeping the attention of Smiling Buddha; the longer he kept the duo away from taking actions, the longer he had to garner and conserve his chakra and to devise an effective plan of attack to take out the one person who held the key to finding the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.

As he spoke, he inwardly grinned at the anger beginning to stir in the one-eyed jounin. Hatake's eyebrows began to furrow, and his body tensed with hostility.

"Instead, it appeared that they were more on our side, hnn?" he continued to deride them, gleeful at making a man with Sharingan lose his cool.

From the data from that Uchiha bastard, Hatake had been the sensei of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and Tsurugi had once been suspected of being the Kyuubi jinchuuriki himself. Hatake gave no impression of Tsurugi being the Kyuubi jinchuuriki but he could not deny the fact that Tsurugi may have been keeping secrets from everyone.

Though he didn't question the extents of Tsurugi's skill, he expected some sort of clue from Tsurugi through the rest of the team that accompanied the guy. The stereotype that Konoha shinobi usually gave off included an open and unreserved relationship with fellow shinobi, and Tsurugi hailed from that weak village. Yet the guy defied its stereotype, though how long he did so was up to chance.

Tsurugi unexpectedly took a step forward, seeming to prepare himself to fall into the next stance of his style using the legendary Ame-no-nuhoko.

The naginata was an artistic masterpiece, a sight to behold for years, maybe centuries, to come, though he was reluctant to admit it. He could not deny the beauty of the killing intent etched into the pole and forged into the blade. The skill that Tsurugi used to wield the weapon only amplified its greatness, only exceeded by its deeds from the legends. This weapon far outstripped that ugly Orochimaru's Kusanagi.

Hiding away his awe and desire for the naginata, he refocused in on scorning jinchuuriki in general, especially the Kyuubi and Ichibi jinchuuriki, to further rile the already pissed off shinobi, though said individual still smiled in the face of adversity. "Both so pitiful and detested… You couldn't ignore either of them, hnn?" A smirk found its way onto his lips. "Because Gaara's Ichibi was extracted, the guy died, and the Kyuubi jinchuuriki will share the same fate. Got it?"

The smile dropped.

The instance the smile fell away from the Smiling Buddha's face, Deidara knew that he had incurred the wrath of a Buddha.

To Be Continued

Author's Note: I tried! I really tried! I tried to write as much as I could for this chapter, but I just couldn't seem to find appropriate places to put more ideas into the chapter. It really frustrated me, especially since I'm on a roll. I'm already fifty percent done with chapter 1 of Metamorphosis, since I'm doing Metamorphosis during the breaks when I can't find the words for this one. It got really hard to go back to writing third person limited point of view since Metamorphosis uses a more third person objective.

So this chapter's POV: Sasori (my first and last Sasori POV), Chiyo, Kakashi, and Deidara. It's difficult to get into the character's mind during these POV so a lot of research was involved before I could start writing. I think I made Sasori a bit OOC, but I can only hope for the best. Next chapter's POV are Deidara (my last one for a while), Kakashi, Sakura, Tenten, and finally my last Chiyo POV. I haven't written the outline for chapter 8, but I'm thinking of making it a third person objective since it's the end of the Gaara arc… still, don't take my word for it.

I wanted to put this out before I leave for school and will be busy for a long while. I will still work on New Future but depend on it being inconsistent, just like it has for the past year. Since it's the end of the summer, I want to reflect on the fact that last year summer, I was so consistent on putting out chapters, one every two weeks, now look at where I am now: one chapter for the entire summer.

Anyway, notes for this chapter:

Ame-no-nuboko really is a weapon from Japanese mythology, and I already explained its significance in the chapter, though it was used to raise the major landmass (Japan) from the sea and I didn't say that because this place isn't Japan.

Kusanagi came from the stomach of the Yamata-no-Orochi after slain by Susanoo, the god of the sea, and given to Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun. Legend has it that the Emperor gave the sword to Yamato Takeru, who discovered that the sword enabled him to control the wind and cause it to move in the direction of his swing, so he used it to enlarge a fire set against him but towards his enemies. I incorporated its wind-controlling abilities but applied it to only wind-type chakra users.

Daiitokumyouou means Conqueror of Death in Japanese, but only in terms of Yamantaka Vidya-raja, the wrathful part/reflex of the celestial Buddha Amitabha. Buddhism won't play a large part in this story, but you can be sure there will be elements of Shintoism and Buddhism thrown in since this is a fanfiction based on a Japanese anime and manga. I will most likely only use the name of Daiitokumyou in the context of "Conqueror of Death" later on in the story, though if I do something else, I will let you know through a note.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to the next one!

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