A couple things before I start:

Don't expect much in the form of part of the nasuverse crossing over. Don't expect Shirou to pop up, or Rin, or Sakura, or angra mainyu, or even Zelretch. This is mainly in the narutoverse and will have hints of the crossover. Mainly in the form of the Uzumaki bloodline. There's no reincarnation or the actual characters. This is AU from the normal Naruto storyline, but it will take place in that storyline.

On the note of the bloodline, I'll leave that for speculation until I get around to explaining it, which shouldn't be too far off. 3-4 chapter at the most.

And "Guest" who wrote the two-part review, great minds think alike, but it's not quite what I had in mind. Mine is a different spin on things.

Remember, reviews are definitely appreciated and I will definitely read them and take them under consideration.

On with the story!

Chapter 2

Four years.

Four years she taught him how to use their bloodline. The boy soaked up her teachings like a sponge. His chakra levels were quite large; larger than hers, in fact, and he was only ten years old; not that she was complaining. He was still a little short for his age, but nothing time wouldn't fix.

He would be strong enough when the time came.

Today was the day she told him everything. He was ready for it. What he would do with the information, she didn't know. But she'd have to cross that bridge when she got to it.

Today was the day that they also had to leave Kiri. While in town she had heard whispers of "Bloodline Freaks" getting what was owed to them. She had heard rumors, but now it seemed that there was actually an open rebellion. Maybe she would take him south towards her ancestral home, give him something to anchor down to.

All in good time.

She smiled, humming to herself as she continued making breakfast for her son when she heard a loud thump come from his room followed by a groan. "Good morning Sleepy-head!" she called over her shoulder as he stumbled into the kitchen, wrapped in his large blanket.

"It's too early to be morning. Can you turn the Sun down please?" he moaned. She laughed and pointed at the table.

"Don't worry it will be ready soon." she ignored the angry snarl that was his stomach and cleared her throat, gaining his attention, "There are some things we need to talk about..." she trailed off, wondering how to continue. "First off, we're leaving today."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because there's now an open rebellion in Kiri. They've been hunting down people with bloodlines and killing them. Obviously we can't stay here because of that, but there was an attempt on the Mizukage's life yesterday and since we're on the border, we should probably leave before it gets locked down completely. Plus we'll finally start traveling" she put on a smile to cheer him up "we'll go somewhere warm...the beach maybe. And then we'll go to Wave, visit the old family home, and then who knows?"

"Okay..." he moped, "I hate the cold...WAH" he was interrupted by being picked up bodily and thrown out of the back door. And not a moment too soon, because after his mother dove out behind him the house exploded in a geyser of flame and wood.

Wiping the dirt from her hands onto her green apron, she got to one knee and looked back at her son, "Run, and don't look back." she whispered to him. When he didn't move immediately she grabbed his shoulder and shook it, "Go, now!" he nodded with wide eyes and took off into the forest the opposite direction.

She stood and turned around to face her attackers. How could she have missed it? She had always been able to sense hatred and negative feelings before. Was it because of what had happened that night? Did she also lose that ability when she lost almost all of her chakra capacity? She had grown lazy and dull. There will be time to fix that later.

There were two of them. One was short and fat, with large, angular eyes, and a mask covering the bottom of his face. Everything else was covered in that large black cloak with red clouds on it.

The other was very tall, much taller than her, in fact. He also had the black cloak with red clouds on it. He had a slashed Taki forehead protector and solid green eyes. The rest of his face and hair were covered by a mask. His only other discernible feature were his black fingernails and the ring that he wore on his left middle finger.

"I told you it was her." he spoke in his deep, baritone voice. "Konoha's Bloody Habanero will fetch a fine price on the black market. It's too bad, though. I would have liked to keep her heart for myself. But the money wouldn't even be close, eh Sasori?"

"Shut up and get on with it. We're supposed to be back by now. You know how I hate making people wait."

"So, should even I bother to ask who you two are? Would you actually answer me, or just attack me out of the blue?"

"I would, but there's no point in revealing our names to a dead person." the short one replied before tearing off his mask and sending a large hail of senbon at her from the gaping maw that once seemed to be a mouth.

Begin Synchronization.

Analyzing base core.

Reinforcing Composite Materials.

She reinforced her legs and clothes with chakra and dove to the side, circling around to the left of the pair. Can't dodge them all. In her head she felt the hammer strike the anvil and her body started to hum with power. Her body glowed yellow for a brief second before golden chains sprouted from her back and flew towards the two enemies. Each jumped opposite each other, while she focused her attacks on the short one, singling him out from his partner.

Closing the distance, two more chains sprouted from her back, totaling six. Two wrapped around her arms forming makeshift gauntlets, while the other four attacked Sasori directly. One of her chains was swept low, forcing Sasori to leap over it while another came down vertically, to bisect him down the middle.

What she didn't account for was the five meter long tail that sprouted from under his cloak and stabbed into the ground, throwing him to her right side. With a quick snap-roll to her left she barely dodged another hail of senbon while simultaneously throwing her right arm out, spearing him through the mouth with her chain. She took grim satisfaction in watching his body crumple to the ground as she pulled the chain back through his head and spun in around her arm until it was back in its place.

Something is wrong here. There wasn't any resistance when Why didn't he attack me while my back was turned? She thought idly as she turned her attention back towards the man standing off to the side. "Wondering why I didn't attack you?" the man asked. What the– "If you had taken her seriously the first time Sasori, you wouldn't be in this position." He wasn't even talking to her. He was talking to the freshly made corpse off to her left. Or was he? Not deciding to take any chances she lashed out with the four chains from her back and smashed the body once again. This time, it seemed for good, as the body exploded into small chunks of red and white wood. She didn't miss the fact that there was no blood, or organs, or other things of the gory nature usually associated with an exploding body. Nor did she miss the dark shape that threw itself out of the "body" an instant before her attack hit. Sasori. Hes a puppeteer. No, he is a puppet. She finally realized it after she had gotten a good look at the real Sasori. Red hair, red eyes, the glazed-over look in them. And the fact that she could only sense his chakra coming from a singular point in his chest. She stilled her slightly ragged breathing. She would need her energy for what was about to come

"To destroy Hiruko is no small achievement, even if I was underestimating you. It wont happen again." the redhead monotonously spoke as he open up a scroll that said "Three" on it.

And there it was. The ludicrous act of what seemed to be Standard Shinobi Ceremony. Not like it used to be back in the days of her grandfather, where every moment of every day was a combat experience. It seems that the two opposing shinobi would face off in a clearing, much like this one, and would each introduce themselves, lauding their own personal skill and village while degrading their opponent's. Then would come round two, where they would exchange minor jutsu after minor jutsu, each one taking it up a notch until one was forced to retreat or would reveal his so-called "trump card." It seems every single fighter has his "trump card," and this liner fighting had been what she had come up against day after day in her stint as a ninja. Round three was the inevitable rematch where their opponent was smarter, and stronger, and more prepared to counter your arsenal. That was the problem with the ninja of today, the reason she was feared back when she was a Konoha ninja was because she was willing to take the fight to the enemy and had the willingness to cause the most harm, and was the faster of the two to put that course into action. Oh, and she never let the enemy escape. The one time she did was when she earned the nickname, "the Bloody Habanero."

So she braced herself mentally for the inevitable commencement of banter while she started formulating a plan.

"Wait, Sasori. We need her alive and in one piece. I can't get the money if you carve her up into one of your puppets."

"The money doesn't matter anymore, My collection is one puppet short, and she will be my next piece of art." he turned his attention back to her. "I can't wait to unravel your mysteries, to clean out all your organs, and preserve your body. I am very interested in seeing how I can manipulate your Blood Limit. You will be a very special puppet to me."

"You want to see my powers, then? Here, have them." She struck the anvil again, feeling her body heat up even more so, darkening her skin a little. "Trace On."Reinforcing her body to its limit, she disappeared from the clearing, reappearing a millisecond later to the large man's side. She threw out her left leg in a roundhouse and slammed the man in his unprepared ribcage sending him tumbling into the forest. She needed to end this, quickly. Her chakra wouldn't last. "I am Steel, Forged in Blood." An oversized Yumi appeared in her left hand.

It was as unnamed bow, however that did not make it any less powerful. Other than being the standard Feudal-era Yumi, it was about five inches longer, allowing for a more powerful draw. It was the bow that belonged to Minamoto Tametomo. He was a man said to have sunk a ship by shooting below the waterline. The Yumi was larger than her own body; it needed to be, for what she was about to shoot from it. She drew the empty bow and her voice rang with power once again, "The weight of bowstring; Balance and Beauty within; an instrument, tool." Then there was an arrow where there wasn't a second before, impossibly large: three feet long and two inches in diameter with a Watakusi head easily four inches wide and thrice that long. It was a monstrous arrow meant for cutting and tearing of flesh.

Sending her chakra into the arrow she reinforced it to dangerous levels. She had to, she didn't know what kind of defenses this puppet of Sasori's had. She had to destroy this puppet before she moved onto the real Sasori and that thing in the center of his chest seemed like as good as a start as any. She breathed out, still slightly miffed that Sasori had just stood there waiting for her to finish her Aria, "One arrow, One life." and she loosed.

I stopped on a tree branch roughly a mile out from where I had originally started. Not physically tired, but beating myself over abandoning my mother like that. Why am I running? I know she told me to, but I should be strong enough to hold my own. She's weak, much weaker than she used to be. Alone, she'll die; there's no way I can allow that to happen. I can't just run away while she gets turned in for some stupid bounty. I took a deep breath to steady my heart as I turned around, hearing a large explosion in the distance from where my mother was currently fighting those two. As I started making my way back towards what was once my home for the past five years one thought sang true in my head.

I will save you.

"Trace on."

Eighth step complete. She thought to herself as she lowered her arm and dismissed her bow, her right hand gripping a sword that wasn't there. Sasori wasn't dead, but there's no way she had missed him. Then the dust cleared and she knew the reason why.

Kakuzu had finally decided to make his return to the battlefield. His hands were still in the position of the Snake and he had summoned a large section of earth to rise in front of Sasori to protect him in the last second. Sasori did not, however, come out of the exchange unscathed. He was missing his right arm entirely; blown off at the shoulder. Through sheer mass of the wall had been enough to slow the projectile enough to allow Sasori to move enough to where the shot wasn't fatal.

"That's enough Sasori, I'll take it from here."

"Do not destroy her body. She will become my next masterpiece."

"Stow it. You were the one being too careless with her. You know what I always say, If you're prepared, there won't be any sorrow. And I know how to beat her." the green-eyed man spoke without breaking eye contact with her.

"Tempered through strife, and honed through war." She felt her insides start to burn and spun her right arm around until it unraveled the chain around it. Except this time the chains were no longer ethereal. This time there was steel. This time, there was a dagger attached to one end, golden and inlaid with darkened steel. Small golden tears in the fabric of reality sprung all around her enemy. "Enkidu" she spoke as chains erupted from the tears, trapping the man by wrapping around his limbs, neck, shoulders, and his abdomen.

"What the-?"

"Die." Her left arm joined with her right as the chain shout out and speared the man through his chest. His struggling ceased as he slumped in his restraints. She drew a ragged breath as she tried vainly to steady her breathing and released the chain back into their tears. She studied Sasori's reaction as her victim's corpse hit the ground; or lack thereof, it seemed. "You seem to have taken it rather well that I just killed your partner."

"It would take much more than that to put him down." he replied. He shifted his position back to his partner's side "Get up Kakuzu, We need to finish this."

"You're right." Her eyes widened in surprise as the voice came from the supposed 'dead man' lying face down on the ground next to his partner. The man's body wiggled and rippled and out from his back bursting through his cloak were two heads. Both had white masks; one had a red-trimmed and grinning mouth, while the other a beak-like protrusion with blue edges. "Katon: Zukokku, Futon: Atsugai." the masks mouth opened and a swirling vortex of fire and wind coalesced before shooting her direction and combining to create a massive firestorm.

She crouched down and she brought her left hand to her right side and in her drawn hand appeared a sword, a sword of godly magnitude. There was a brass handle, inlaid with brown leather for a grip, however, there was no blade. When she drew the sword handle across her body a great crescent of sea-foam rose to meet the oncoming wave of fire. Savaragī talavāra, the Heavenly Sword; used by Indra to defeat Vritra, a massive snake Asura who held captive all the water in the world. After losing the battle and brokering a truce not to attack Vritra with anything made of metal, wood, or stone, nor anything that was dry or wet, or during the day or the night. Indra used the foam from the waves of the ocean to kill him at twilight.

They clashed together with a great hiss and while the fire in front of her was stopped, it washed through the forest on either side of her starting what would soon be known to the people of Kiri as the Nishi no Hinoarashi: the Firestorm of the West. She leapt forward, ignoring her singed air, a testament as to how hot the flames actually were, and the shooting pain permeating her spine and attacked Kakuzu savagely with her chains narrowly missing him with each slash.

A hiss in the air was her only warning as she was struck in her left arm with five senbon from Sasori, who had decided to rejoin the fight.

Severe pain radiated from the wound, but she couldn't quit now. She couldn't die yet, not with her son out there, all alone. She had to get up, Steel never died, it was only repurpossed. Her son had enough training to go on without her. She could afford to become Steel. The pain in her left arm was replaced by numbness, but that was fine, Steel did not become numb. Steel felt no pain. She felt her mind start to shift as she started to complete her Aria inside of her head. So barely noticed the numerous black threads pierce her body and tear into her chest cavity. All that mattered was completing herself so she could destroy that which threatened her.

She did feel the massive pulse of energy above her as a black spinning shadow severed the threads from their source. Her fading vision barely caught the flash of brown as a shape landed in front of her.

Then there was black.