Grim Reaper of Iwa

Chapter 24

Remnants

Well, here you all go, another chapter. I am a bit tired because in addition to this, I have been typing up a few chapters for other stories that I might release. One including NPU4 since a lot of people have been connecting me about it, so it will happen.

Anyway, enjoy.

XXX

Kiba stared at the crackling fire with dead eyes. His home, one of the strongest hidden villages had been destroyed and he wasn't even sure how. First Root showed up and started attacking everyone. Then a couple of orange haired people came killed the Root Leader, Danzo, and their own Hokage. The n other men in connection to the orange haired men appeared and completely obliterated everything! They even smashed the village with the giant boulder in the air. He didn't even think that was possible!

Hana looked at her brother with sadness, understanding it as her own. It was just ridiculous! So she brought her brother into a one armed hug and the fact that he didn't fight back showed how messed up he was right now. He even hugged her back

Hinata smiled at the scene of her teammate and his sibling. She often wished that she and her own sister were like that, but their family was a bit…off. However, now that their home was destroyed, Hanabi had slowly been breaking out of her shell to show emotion. Mostly sadness, but still they were getting somewhere. She guessed seeing their mother reanimation broke her somewhat.

She tried not to think about it. She loved her mother with all her heart, but seeing her then…it really was too much. So in order to keep her mind busy, she and Kurenai were healing up Shino, who was still unconscious.

Whatever that plant man had done to him, it was long term. With what little medical training she had, he found that it was some type of spore infecting him. So she got to work in extracting them so that her teammate wouldn't die.

As Kurenai observed, she was amazed at how good her student was with the medical arts. Still, she need work, but she was pretty good. Then her own thoughts drifted to Konoha. "Where do you all thin we should head to?" She asked.

"Feh, I doubt if we returned to Konoha's ruins, that that freak will let us just rebuild." Kiba said angrily.

"True…but even if he wasn't there anymore, there would be enough people to help us do that. I am betting most were killed in the Root Uprising and then the rest when Konoha was smashed like it was." Hana stated.

"Naruto." Hinata said.

"What was that?" Kiba asked.

"I said Naruto. If he could survive this long in Iwa, a place that should have wanted to kill him due to his heritage, then we might have a chance." Hinata bravely replied.

"Yeah, he did become a badass." Kiba replied, a bit thoughtful, although he was a little annoyed that she was still going after the blond.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind going to Iwa." Kurenai replied. "I hear Tsunade is there, so she might be able to save Shino."

"Then we will head there in the morning. For now, let's rest for the night." Hana stated as they all did as told, unknowing to the fact that the others that escaped the destruction of Konoha had the same idea.

XXX

"So I am not the last Uzumaki?" Naruto asked, not at all put off by Tayuya's bad attitude.

"What the fuck?" Tayuya replied, a bit shocked as well. "You're an Uzuamki, then where is you red hair dumbass?"

"That can because explained very simply." Another voice rang out, this one female as well. "Uzumaki genes are very strong, but there are genes out there that can overpower an Uzumaki's genes and be more dominate." Coming into the light, another red haired girl walked up next to Tayuya. She had crimson eyes and one side of her hair was spiky…like it was frizzed out. The girl wore brown glasses, which have a serrated blade hidden in them, and her outfit consists of a lavender uniform that exposes her navel, short black shorts, and long black thigh high stockings with black sandals. When she got a good look at Naruto, her eyes widened. "HOLY CRAP! He looks just like the Fourth Hokage!"

"I am his kid." Naruto deadpanned, not seeing how most did not see the connection, but they saw how he looked like him. Iwa figured that out quickly.

"Well then. What are you doing in this place? Don't you know that Orochimaru collects stray Uzumaki?!" Karin whispered harshly. "That's his vengeance at his old boss in the Akatsuki.

Naruto blinked at the. An Uzumaki was in charge of the group Itachi was in. He'd have to file that bit of info away for later. "You do know that Orochimaru is dead, right?"

"WHAT?!" both women raged in anger. Tayuya then glared at the darkness of her cage. "Oi, assholes, is that why we are locked up in here?"

"Most likely." A male voice rang out that sounded tired. "Ukon thinks that we were left in here to rot while the lowers ran amok and decided the fate of Oto.

"Great, thanks for that fucking info Sakon. You couldn't have fucking told me that sooner you assfuck!

"Oh calm down Tayuya." Another male voice stated as he came into view. He had brown eyes and crimson hair that was tied into a ponytail. The front of his hair was parted into a high rising widow's peak, showing off intricate tribal like tattooes. They also seemed to wrap around his head and disappeared in his clothes. He also sort of had them covered by a white bandana like cloth. His clothes consisted of a dirty white button down t shirt, a pair of black pants and back ninja sandals. He also had a sword on his hip. "So blondie, what's going on up top and are you going to let up out?" He asked in a laid back manner.

"Ugh…you are too laid back you fucker." Tayuya replied. "At least your sister is the quiet one."

"Uh…" Naruto said, not really know how to deal with these guys. They didn't seem like hardened prisoners. "Well, there is a big arena full of spectators fighting for control of Oto. Kimimaru helped us get in and we beat two of the main contenders while the oldest of our group is fighting someone named Knarl. I killed Kabuto and Haku beat Kairi, but let her live as she ranted about being cold."

"FUCK YA!" Tayuya shouted. "That creepy ass motherfucking medic is dead!"

"That is a relief. I was always worried he would come into experiment on us." Karin replied, a little rattled.

"Yeah, my little sister didn't like him either." Renji replied, "I just thought the guy was an asshole."

"Alright then, well I am actually hear to free you guys and see if anyone wants to join my group in Iwa."

Kimimaru decided to speak at this point. "Naruto is also known as the Grim Reaper of Iwa."

"HOLD THE PHONE!" Another voice spoke up. "THE Grim Reaper? Well, this could be fun." The owner of this voice walked up to be seen as a white haired teen. He was lain built and he was of average heigh. He had purple eyes and sharp teeth, signifying he was from Kiri. He wore a purple, sleeveless shirt with blue pants, sandals, and a belt around his waist with water bottles attached to it. "Count me in."

"Sure, I'll come along and I am sure my sister will join as well." Renji replied with a lazy smirk.

"If it gets me out of this fucking jail cell, I come along." Tayuya muttered.

"I might as well come along." Karin replied, anxious at getting out of Oto.

"Hmph, Ukon and I will stay here in Oto, I am sure us two, along with Kidomaru and Jirobo, can rebuild Oto into a better village that what that fool Orochimaru, created. Open the cell door and leave us."

"Oh…alright then. Is there anyone else?" Naruto asked, hoping there is one more.

Renji put on a thoughtful look and then said. "There is Juugo, but is a bit…off. If you're will to be able to find a cure for his…condition, he might be willing to join you, especially if Kimimaru is with you."

"This turning out quite good." Kurotsuchi replied as she watched Naruto converse and then release his family members. She saw Tayuya exit with a sneer, Karin happy to be out of the cell, Renji exit with a bored expression, but when he looked at the last member exiting the cell, he gain a sad but caring look. The last member was a 9 year old girl compared to the others who were in their early teens.

The nine year old girl had an eye patch over her right eye, which obviously meant she somehow lost it. The girl was like the other Uzumaki with the red hair. She wore a pair of red sandals, ripped up black pants, a white shirt that was very dirty, but the odd thing was, she had pieces of metal attached to her outfit with no discernable link. It confused the Iwa Kuniochi to no end.

"Heh, getting Juugo next, this should be a good show." Suigetsu said with a dark smirk as he too walked out soon after and followed them, intent on joining them for the fun of it. Behind him, three blurs raced out of the cell and disappeared.

"Feh, fucking assholes." Tayuya muttered when she saw her old team leave them. Team…right. What they were was not a team. They hated her and they made that hate known, but never truly did anything because of their fear for Orochimaru. Now they were leaving her in the dust.

"Don't reflect on it too much Tayuya." Kimimaru replied kindly. He didn't like the others that much himself and was closer to Tayuya for it. Tayuya and Jugo.

"I won't. They're gone now." Tayuya growled

Suddenly, they had to stop because the ground shook violently. But it didn't stop it just got worse. Karin widened her eyes and shouted. "Crap, we need to get Jugo and leave!"

"Why, what is going on?" Kurotsuchi asked, slightly panicked by the tremors.

"Knarl is being an idiot!" Karin cried as they ran to Jugo cell door. "He is using a jutsu that uses his insane strength to bring down the place. He is literally creating a freaking underground earthquake!"

"Well." Suigetsu replied with a smirk. "He must be losing then if he is doing that."

"He is insane, what did you expect!?" Karin replied as Kimimaru ripped out Jugo's door.

"W-who is there?" A scared voice asked within the darkness.

"Me, my friend. Kimimaru." The white haired bone user said kindly, knowing his bi-polar friend needed to hear his voice.

"Who are the others? I don't want to hurt them!"

"Listen my friend, Naruto Uzumaki is taking us out here to Iwa to join his group. I would prefer you come along."

"You know I can't leave this place. The urge slaughter grows when I am in a highly populated area." The voice replied sadly.

"You know I won't allow that." Kimimaru replied kindly.

At this, Naruto decided to speak up. "What is causing this urges?"

"The transformation. Something forces me to transform into a monster and I can't handle it. That is what I kill. My other self loves to kill." The voice said sadly.

"Well, I doubt being with Orochimaru actually helped that." Naruto deadpanned. I assume he would have used your condition to his advantage and did not bother to cure you."

"No, he just infected others with my curse in the form of a curse mark." Jugo replied.

"Well, I want to help. Maybe there is a true medical solution or a seal solution. Whatever is it, I wish to help." Naruto replied.

"Kimimaru, do you trust him?"

"For the moment."

"Then I will go with, even if dying under the collapse of this base is preferable." Jugo said as the sound of metal shattering and clanging all over the floor rang out through the room before an orange haired, red eyed man in rags appeared out of the darkness of the room.

With that, the group nodded and high tailed it out of there.

XXX

Jiriaya sighed as he saw Onoki and Tsunade giving looks to explain what the hell happened to him. "Konoha…is gone."

Onoki gained an annoyed look as he thought to his earlier comment about Konoha. "Well shit, how the hell did that happen?"

Jiriaya looked sadly at his old teammate and said, "Nagato."

"WHAT!? I thought you said that he and your other students from Rain were dead!" Tsuande shouted, angry at the fact that the place her grandfather had created was gone. It may have been a place that was filled to the brim with bad memories for her, but still!

"I did too, that is what we were told." Jiriaya sighed. "Whatever happened to him, he changed for the worse. He said that Konan was there, but I didn't see her. However, the worst thing for me was….he was using Yahiko body to do the deed."

"Uh, Kage out of the loop here." Onoki replied, annoyed at being left out of the conversation.

"Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato. My first students that I raise for a year when I was in Rain. I trained them to survive but I should have taken them with me to Konoha because I heard that they had died. They were great kids, but Nagato was special. He was an Uzumaki with the Rinnegan."

"That's news to me." Onoki said with wide eyes.

"Yeah, but I am guessing that only Yahiko died as he was able to control his body. Long story short, Nagato leveled the village with the jutsu that was used to create the moon."

Both Tsunade and Onoki had wide eyes at that.

"So what are we going to do?" Tsunade asked, a bit fearful.

"I'll tell you want we are going to do." Onoki stated with a serious face. "I took in Naruto, so if any of the remnants come here and are not prejudice against the boy, will grant them asylum here. If they want to leave after that or join up, that is their choice." With that, Onoki summoned an ANBU and told them to prepare for company and to beef up security within the village. What happened to Konoha was not going to happened to Iwa. "Now Jiriaya, tell me everything you know that happened."

XXX

Naruto's new group raced out the old Oto base just in time to see it all just sink into the ground like a land based whirlpool. Off to the side, they saw Haku, Kitsuchi, and Kairi looking a little winded, but still ok.

"DAD!" Kitsuchi shouted in glee at seeing her father alive and well. She raced up to him and hugged him. When the hug broke, she smacked the back of his head. "What the hell! What kind of fight did you have to make the damn place cave in!?"

Kitsuchi blushed in embarrassment as the new people in the group chuckled. It was like the roles were reversed and he was the kid being scolded by the parent. This sometimes happened ever since Kurotsuchi's mom died, and it was comical to who ever saw it….unfortunately for Kitsuchi, this was most of the village.

"Sorry, we went a little over board." Kitsuchi replied.

"Understatement of the year." Karin muttered, getting a chuckle from Tayuya.

"What kind of jutsu caused this?" Naruto asked as he stared at the sinkhole of a village.

"I think Knarl called it 'Herculean Style: Magnitude of Destruction.'" Haku toned in.

"Yeah." Kitsuchi replied a bit distantly, thinking back to Knarl's last moments.

Flashback!

Knarl's gasps of pain were clear heard throughout the destroyed room. Somehow, their battle had taken itself to the stands, killing off of the audience. Haku and Kairi thought themselves lucky not to be caught in the crossfire. However, the reason for Knarl's pain was the large hole in his stomach created from a punch of Kitsuchi's stone fist.

"Heh heh….good job old friend." Knarl replied weakly with a sad smile. "I'll make sure to tell my sister hi for you."

Kitsuchi was showing some rare emotion for an enemy. "No, I am sorry, maybe Tsunade can save you."

"Don't be a fool, I will bleed out before we even get to her." Knarl stated. "However, I will not make your escape here easy and if you do….do me a favor."

"What are you talking about?" Kitsuchi asked, he had beaten Knarl, he could do anything else, right?

"Take care of my daughter for me." Knarl replied with sad smile as he gave a last look to Kairi with eyes only a father could have. He then went through a set of seal and slammed his fist to the ground as his muscles bulged as they fulled with chakra before that injected itself into the ground. "Herculean Style: Magnitude of Destruction."

As the place shook and the ceiling start to fall, Kitsuchi saw Knarl fall to the floor, dead , but with a smile on his face. The man also heard Kairi speak in a normal tone of voice. "Bye…daddy."

End Flashback!

Kairi did seem to be her normal insane self as well. Haku figured she had been affected by her father's death more than he thought she would be. So he put a comforting hand on her shoulder and smile.

Kairi's mood seemed to pick up a little after that as she clung to Haku's arm. Naruto saw this and smirked. "So Haku, I see you have new girlfriend."

As Haku sputtered and Kurotsuchi laughed, Kairi had a confused look on her face. "Girlfriend? So Haku is a lesbian?"

At Haku's pale face, Naruto, Kurotsuchi, and Kitsuchi all fell on their asses and laughed so hard that their sides started to hurt. Soon, Haku had enough of their fun and said, "No, I am a boy."

The escapee group all with deathly quiet at that. "Seriously?" Suigetsu asked.

Haku nodded.

"NO WAY!" they all shouted in clear disbelief.

Naruto chuckled and said, "Well come on, we have ground to cover. You can all poke fun on the way."

"You are such a good friend." Haku grumbled sarcastically.

"So Haku is a boy….and the blondie that killed Kabuto said they I was his girlfriend…" Kairi said to herself aloud before smiling. "I like it!"

"Guren is so going to kill me." Haku cried while the others laughed.

XXX

It was a weak later that Naruto and his new group made it to the outskirts of Iwa. However, as soon as they got to a clearing, they were immediately surrounded by a familiar group of people.

Kakashi saw that it was Naruto, some Iwa ninja and few other people he never met, but still. Naruto was in the group, so he relaxed his guard and eye smiled at Naruto, making the others of Kakashi's group relax.

"Yo!"

"Kakashi? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked a little miffed at seeing a lot of Konoha ninja. At least they didn't have a look of disgusted at seeing him. Of course he didn't expect it from his old friends from the academy, having seen them at the chunin exams in Iron Country, but the other ninja there, it was a coin toss.

"We need your help." Kakashi replied seriously.

"Huh? Why?"

"Konoha is no more." Kakashi said sadly

"WHAT!?" The group shouted.

XXXX

Ok, I am ending it here. I am tired of waiting to able to put this out. I hate work…but I need money. Next chapter, we see the reactions of everyone about Konoha's destructution, the remnants of Konoha and Oto joining Naruto Core in Iwa, and an invitation to a certain tournament funded by an enemy of Naruto's.

Also, what do you all think of me adding in Renji and the mystery little girl. Bet you can't tell who it is. If you can, I will say that I plan to use seals to give her some of her other's powers and maybe her rivals powers…maybe

I have one more Uzumaki I want to bring in, but it will be difficult if you didn't like Renji and his little sister. The other Uzumaki is Yoko.

Next chapter: Expansion of the Core

Review!