Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Naruto's head poked out of the wall, and after ensuring that he wouldn't fall a mile if he completely left it, he slipped out of the wall and dropped the five feet to the floor, before looking around. The first thing he noticed was that it was dark. And not closed-curtain-dark or night-dark, but absolutely pitch-black-dark. The only light came from a slit close to the floor, and while sliding-doors were more common, Naruto had seen solid doors that swung inwards or outwards before, so he realized that this was one of those doors.

He contemplated whether or not to open the door or just sink back into the floor, seeing that he was obviously in someone's home, when the door slammed open and a man rushed in and pressed him against the wall while holding a blade to his throat. "Who are you? How did you get in here?" The man hissed. The man had an eye-patch on his right eye, just like Naruto. However, the front of Naruto's hair didn't resemble a onion.

Naruto was caught completely off-guard, something that rarely happened these days. What was going on? Maybe he landed somewhere he was not supposed to go. He was about to apologize, when he looked through the door. The wall he saw was made of rock, and the only light came from torches. He involuntarily began to shiver and breathe faster as memories of a similar environment assaulted his mind. He felt his scales rise and forced them back before the man could notice them, as he didn't want to be called a monster the first minute in... wherever the hell this place was.

"Ao, let the boy down." A new voice rang out. Naruto peeked over Ao's shoulder... and once more felt the need to cover his face. It was a stunningly beautiful girl in her late teens to early twenties with long auburn hair that covered one of her emerald eyes, ironically also the right one. She wore a standard shinobi-uniform, although it wasn't black and green but instead in different shades of gray. Her bust was big, not overly large, but still clearly noticeable. The only oddity was that her sleeves and pants' legs were short, revealing more skin. Naruto again blushed and felt like a freak-show that had accidentally stumbled into a Miss-Universe-contest.

Ao made no move to let him down, instead giving him a suspicious look. "Terumii-sama, he entered your private chambers without your permission, without being seen by the guard and without triggering any security while entering. If he hadn't made a sound, we wouldn't even know he exists. He is clearly an assassin sent by the Mizukage or that damnable Kikikyoujin to kill you!"

The woman closed the door, turned on a few lights, activated a seal and slumped together on a chair. Suddenly she looked incredibly tired. "Why should they waste their time like that? They already have us beaten. Have you taken a look outside? They're almost here, and we can neither outrun them nor fight them off. There's little point in killing me now, I'll be dead in a few hours anyway. And Kikikyoujin won't have me assassinated, he already stated he wants my head as a decoration, remember?"

Ao bit his lip and slowly reduced the pressure on Naruto's chest, withdrawing the blade from his throat, but still keeping it in his hand, waiting for Naruto to make a single suspicious movement.

Naruto meanwhile glanced at the woman, keeping his face in the shadows. "I know this sounds stupid, but could you tell me where I am?"

Ao glared at him. "Are you trying to tell us you have no idea where you are after sneaking through all the security? Do we really look that stupid to you?"

Naruto shrugged. "The lady no, you I'm not quite sure yet. And I never sneaked past your security, I sorta bypassed it. Kinda hard to explain, but I don't even know what country I'm in."

Ao seemed ready to attack him again, but the woman tiredly waved him off. "It hardly matters now if the boy is lying or not, we'll all be dead soon anyways. You are in Mizu no Kuni, boy. To be precise, you are in the last fort of the pro-bloodline faction, which is about to be overrun by the Mizukage's army of bloodline-haters."

Naruto nodded, confused. Ao meanwhile seemed shocked. "Terumii-sama! You shouldn't speak with such defeatism in your voice! If the troops hear you, what little courage they still have will crumble!"

Terumii looked at him. "That's why I activated the silencing-seals. Nobody outside can hear us, even if they're pressing a stethoscope to the door or walls. The only ones that can hear me are you, who understands the hopelessness of the situation as well as I do, and the boy, who nobody is going to believe if we deny it anyways."

Naruto hesitantly raised a hand. "Sorry for butting in, but I thought the Bloodline Purges ended when the Yondaime Mizukage took office?"

Terumii nodded, her eyes wandering into the distance. "Your information is correct, but outdated. The fighting did indeed end when the Yondaime took office. Both sides had grown tired of the fighting, and welcomed the peace, we bloodline-users gave the Yondaime a guard composed of the best our clans had to offer for protection. At first everything was looking up, and we had hopes to return our country to its former glory." Her voice became bitter. "Then everything went wrong. One night there was a commotion in Kiri. When things had quieted down, the Kiri-shinobi found a heavily injured Mizukage, his dead guards, and signs of a fierce battle. The Mizukage claimed that the guards had suddenly turned and attacked him, and he had barely managed to come out on top of the fight. That reignited the hate on bloodline-users and the fighting started again, only this time, it was worse. People that had been neutral or even supportive in the last struggle now turned on us, thinking we had been deceiving them while aiming for the absolute rule of the Kekkei Genkai. Ao here is one of the few that was born without a Kekkei Genkai that still stands on our side."

Naruto blinked. That was a lot to take in. "I don't mean any insult, but how can you be sure that Mizukage wasn't attacked by those you sent to guard him?"

Terumii gave him a cold look, before her eyes softened slightly. "Ah yes, you don't know." Naruto couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic. "One of the guards was my older brother, and I can guarantee you that should there have been a struggle, he would have protected the Mizukage with his life. He would have gut himself before turning on the man who brought peace, yet the Mizukage claims that every single one attacked him."

Naruto bowed his head. "I'm sorry."

Terumii waved him off. "Doesn't matter now."

Naruto shivered at the sound of her voice and the dead look in her eyes. "Why do you look so sad?" He asked.

She looked at him disbelievingly, but then apparently decided that it didn't matter. "This fort is the last line of defense. When it falls, the war is over, and all remaining bloodline-users will be hunted down like rats. This is our final stand, and an army with the goal to destroy us is marching towards us as we speak. They'll be here in maybe twenty minutes, and then we all die. Our odds were never good, but with the second purge, many were caught off-guard and slaughtered. Make no mistake, our forces can and have tackled armies three times their numbers and came out of it on top, but in this war, we're outnumbered ten to one, and the bulk of that is at our gates. We have maybe a thousand soldiers altogether, six hundred in this fort, of which two-hundred are too wounded to fight. We have 400 men here and 7000 are marching towards us. Once those 400 are dead, the women and children in the lower floors will be next. They won't leave a single one alive, after they had their fun with them, of course." With that, she became quiet, and even Ao seemed unable to say anything. Naruto saw tears run down her face.

He looked at her. "Mind if I have a look around?"

She waved her hand. "Be my guest."

Naruto nodded and turned to the door, Ao following him.

Naruto looked around, and his heart ached. All around him women and children huddled together, in light so weak it could hardly illuminate anything, but the fear, the crying and the despair were still hitting Naruto like a wave, reminding him of days in a dimly-lit room with bars, the wails of fellow prisoners the only lullaby, day and night becoming impossible to tell apart.

Ao noticed how uncomfortable he was. "What's wrong? Guilty conscience for helping the wrong side?"

Naruto sent him a glare. "I don't work for the Mizukage, I already told you that." He looked at a child, crying at his mother's chest, while the mother, despite her own hopelessness, tried to encourage the child. "Children should be laughing. They should be playing, they should be running, they should simply be children. They should not fear for their life, they should not have to hide and cover in light-less holes like worms because they can't survive otherwise."

Ao raised a brow. "A philosopher? Who would have thought?"

Naruto didn't react to the taunt. "I merely find such places depressing. I don't like it when I can't see the sky."

Ao snorted and pointed towards a staircase. "Help yourself. It leads up to a watch-tower. Nobody's up there because we decided that we'd fight our enemies in these hallway where they can't simply overrun us with their numbers."

Naruto nodded and climbed up the stairs, Ao still tailing him.

The sight was impressive, and for the first time Naruto understood why Terumii had been so down. The army was in a square-formation, tightly packed together to take less space, with the side-effect that they didn't look like people marching but more like a giant carpet crawling towards them. Even though it was covered, Naruto's Rinnegan saw their chakra, and it illuminated the sky. The shinobi formed the first lines, while those untrained were stationed further behind. With their sheer numbers they left a deep trench in the soft earth they marched through.

The fort Naruto was in was more like a half-orb dug into the dirt, with a few towers poking out of different locations to give better view.

Ao looked at him, and most of his coldness melted away after he made sure it wasn't merely paint. "Oh. Sorry, I never noticed in the dim lighting. I apologize for my earlier rudeness, there is no way the bloodline-haters would hire someone with your looks, they hate odd things too much."

Naruto nodded absentmindedly, his attention focused on a buzzing in his head that had suddenly come when he looked at the army. He wasn't sure, but he thought he had heard words in the buzzing. He focused.

"...em"

It was so quiet Naruto could hardly understand it, like a very light breeze.

"...ill them"

It wasn't getting louder, but the words became clearer as the buzzing toned down.

"kill them"

Naruto's eye widened. The words hadn't been spoken, they just resonated in his head, but Naruto was certain he hadn't misheard them. 'Kyuubi, not funny.' He noted.

"What are you talking about?"

'You know what I'm talking about, the buzzing and the little voice.' Naruto answered.

"Did you eat something you weren't supposed to?" Kyuubi asked "There is no buzzing and there definitely aren't any voices. I should know, I'm in your head. I would even notice if you get schizophrenia, and you're not. There are no voices."

"kill them"

'Then what's that?' Naruto asked.

"That would be you making fun of me, there's nothing." Kyuubi seemed annoyed, before asking "What are the voices saying?"

'Kill them.' Naruto replied.

Kyubbi chuckled. "At least they give good advice. When dealing with human-problems, killing them is never wrong."

'When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it.' Naruto mentally hissed.

"Careful with your words, boy. My intolerance to disrespect has not changed." Kyuubi's voice was cold and sharp, before regaining its mirth. "Then again, it's not easy giving proper respect to someone you can't see. Maybe we should talk face to face? Now where is my clothing? Ah, who needs it. Anyways, how about it?"

Naruto gained a deep blush, much to Ao's confusion. 'No thanks, maybe next time.' Kyuubi's laughter rang in his ears.

"Kill them" Now the voice was louder, and easier to understand. Naruto had not misheard the message

'And you're telling me you really can't hear that?'

"I'm not getting anything. Maybe you should listen to the advice to make it go away" came the answer. "Who is it telling you to kill? The army or the people in the fort? It'd be a shame to waste that girl, I could name twenty better things to do with her than killing off the top of my head."

'No details, please. And it started when I looked at the army, so I guess them.'

Naruto heard clapping. "Oh good, crushing armies is so much more fun. Go get them!"

"Kill them."

Naruto sighed. 'Looks like I'm outvoted here. Good thing this isn't a democracy, huh?'

"Kill them!" Now the voice was getting louder and started to hurt.

'Okay, now it starts to hurt.'

"KILL THEM!"

Naruto grabbed his head in pain. 'Okay okay, I give. Give me a second.' Then he noticed something. "Isn't there a guy on horse in front of the army?"

Ao gave him a look. "Yes, that's Kikikyoujin. He's the general leading this army, and one of the worst people they have. He doesn't really care about sides or why we fight, all he wants is slaughter. You may notice that the enemies in the front are carrying long poles with orbs on them. Those are heads." His voice was filled with disgust as Naruto stared in shock. There had to be hundreds of poles! And if there was a head on each one... "For that man nothing is sacred. He defiles our comrades, even after death. That bastard decorates his horse with heads, but only of those he killed himself. Women, children, the elderly, even infants. Nothing is safe from that scum, and the Mizukage backs everything."

Naruto felt anger rise in him. How dare he? Infants? If there was one thing Naruto couldn't forgive, it was the abuse of those who couldn't defend themselves, experiencing too much of that his entire life.

"KILL THEM!"

This time Naruto didn't feel pain. 'I hear ya.' He looked at Ao. "And this is how I landed here."

With that, he sank into the ground, shocking Ao.

Kikikyoujin was giddy. Soon he'd be in glorious slaughter again. He just loved it. The adrenaline-surges when fighting, that gleam in the enemies' eyes when they desperately defend whatever they cherished, and that final moment of dread when they died, realizing that their precious was lost. He loved the sound of a blade slicing flesh, the wails of the wounded and dying were music to his ears. The sound of snapping bones and the feeling of hot blood on his hands, feeling it run down his face, the smell when you gutted them, it was ecstasy to him. Nothing could compare, although taking girls by force and releasing while you slit their throats was a close second. Still, for Kikikyoujin, slaughter was what he truly craved, and all he really needed. That was also why he fought as many as he could, and killed anyone who dared interrupt his fight with an enemy, unless he was another enemy. The more of those, the merrier.

When a figure suddenly appeared out of the ground, he raised a hand and horns rang, signaling that the army should halt. He rode forwards, looking at this strange creature, wondering if it bled red.

It looked like a human, two arms, two legs, a head, and hair that was pulled back into a pony-tail. But there were odd things. The most obvious was the skin, that was pale on the left side and tanned on the right one. Kikikyoujin decided he'd cut along that line, and see if he managed to cut it into a tanned half and a pale half. The hair had odd shifts in colors, but all that he cared about was that it was long enough to use to tie the head to his horse. What put him slightly on edge was the eye-patch. He had fought Ao before, and carried a nasty scar from when he had assumed the man's right side was his blind-spot and tried to attack him from there without knowing he had a Byakugan. "Who are you?" He asked.

The boy, because now that he looked up he didn't look a day older than twelve, gave him a disgusted look. "You don't need to know."

Naruto looked at the man before him, and his skin crawled. The man was wearing a necklace made from cut-off fingers on his bare chest that was colored in blood, if the stench was any indication. His hair was a mixture of brown and black, also coming from dried blood. Didn't this guy even wash? Still, the most disgusting part was his horse. Pitch-black, and indeed decorated with countless heads. Those heads with long hair, belonging mainly to women, had been tied to ropes going around the horse by that hair, those with shorter hair were brutally hung by vicious hooks. One of the hooks was stabbed through a baby's eye, making his blood boil.

The man grinned. "Ah, admiring my collection?"

Naruto sneered. "You are sick. Those are humans!"

Laughter boomed from the army's throats. One man in the first row, fifteen feet away from the leader. "Humans? Don't make me laugh. Those are monsters! War-seekers who won't stop until either us or them are dead!"

Naruto gave the man the same look he would give a cockroach approaching his ramen. "I'd say that you are fitting that description very well. If those are monsters, then you must be scum, with a sick psychopath leading you."

Said psychopath snorted. "Well, at least we have strength. You on the other hand are a pathetic worm, you proved that by crawling out of the dirt."

Naruto's eye narrowed. "Careful there bloodfreak, there's more to me than meets the eye."

The man laughed. "Yes, and it's even more pathetic than a maggot. It's worthless junk that a housefly could squash!" With that, he spat Naruto in the face. Laughter roared from the troops, not knowing that their leader had just stepped on a landmine.

"That insect, how dare he! That miserable maggot dares insult ME?!" Kyuubi roared in rage. "That hairless monkey has the nerve to give such in insult to ME, and calls the one who is honored to house me WEAK?! I lend you my youki, crush him and his army, stamp them into the dirt, GRIND THEM TO POWDER!!!"

"Kill them, leave the man for later."

The mysterious voice was back, even though it wasn't screaming this time, the fact that it said something else made Naruto hesitant to disobey. He somehow felt that disobedience would have a detrimental effect on his health. He removed the eye-patch and let all of Kyuubi's youki flood into that eye. His right eye suddenly moved up to focus on a point just above the center of the army, and Naruto knew from Hanzo's memories what that rippled eye could do.

He spoke "Shinra Tensei"

…

And the earth trembled.

Mei had just been informed by Ao that the strange boy had sunken into the ground and vanished without a trace, to which she dryly replied that that might explain how he landed in her room without triggering any alarms, but didn't really care. She was walking around making sure that all hallways leading to the lowest levels where the women and children were had been properly secured, when the earth suddenly shook, nearly knocking her off her feet and slamming her into the wall.

"What the hell was that?" Ao asked when the trembling ceased and he managed to pick himself off the floor.

"I don't know." Mei replied. "We don't normally get any earthquakes here, the ground's too soft."

"Maybe it's a new Doton they developed against us." Ao suggested.

Mei shook her head. "Possible, but not likely. First, they don't have any Doton-masters of such a degree, and more importantly, Kikikyoujin loves slaughter too much to let us die peacefully in an earthquake." She looked towards the direction where the nearest staircase was. "I'm going up to take a look." With that, she sprinted, Ao right behind her.

Kikikyoujin's horse had almost fallen when a sudden gust of wind picked up behind him. He laughed. "So you have a jutsu that allows you to call a draft? Wow, I might hire you for a windmill." When the expected laughter behind him failed to appear, he turned around... and his jaw dropped.

The army was gone. Not a single man remained standing, or identifiable for that matter. In their stead was a giant crater. If he dropped from the edge, he would have easily fallen thirty feet before hitting the ground, and that was at the edge, the most shallow part. The crater was perfectly round in shape, and the ground was covered in a reddish goo with the odd object sticking out, such as a broken pole, a bent weapon or a piece of bone. That was all that was left of a army counting in thousands. He couldn't help but shiver as he turned back to the boy, who was panting.

"You did that?"

Instead of answering, Naruto, who was still breathing harder from the strain of what he had just done, raised his arm and made a motion as if flicking something off a table while muttering "Teshi Sendan"

The lone bone-projectile hit the horse between the eyes, pierced the brain and killed it instantly. Kikikyoujin managed to jump off just in time to avoid being buried beneath the fallen steed. "Now that wasn't nice. What did my poor horse ever do to you?" He asked, fighting down giddy chuckles.

Naruto shrugged. "I didn't like its decorations."

The man shrugged. "Doesn't matter. More importantly, you made that crater. It was your eye, I saw how you took off the patch just before you did this." He started to cackle in mad glee "Such destructive power. I want it! GIVE IT TO ME!" With that, he lunged at Naruto, who sidestepped, only to get a kick in the gut.

Naruto was considering different ways to kill the bastard, when the voice rang out again.

"Offer him as a sacrifice."

'How?' Naruto asked. And to his surprise, he received an answer.

"Drink his blood."

Naruto's eye widened in understanding. He jumped over a sweeping kick and took a punch to the face, knowing he'd won at that point.

Kikikyoujin hissed as he looked at his fist. The glove was shredded, and flesh had been stripped from his last two fingers and knuckles, almost to the bone. On the boy's face, there was a bloody smear. "What the fuck?"

Naruto grinned as he licked the blood from his cheek. "I have rough skin. And now you lose." His feet moved on their own, drawing the triangle inside of the circle on the floor as his skin changed.

Kikikyoujin tilted his head. This newest skin-change confused him, but he paid it little mind. Apparently the boy had a Kekkai Genkai that allowed him to alter his skin, making it rougher or smoother, and changing its color. He had heard of the Kaguya who had something similar only with bones, so it was entirely possible. Still, that brat's skin was worse than sandpaper, so direct contact was something he'd better avoid. He could use a jutsu, but he hated those things. They stole his kills. Well, there was one he liked. It had been invented in Taki, but who cared about the details. "Mizu no Yaiba"

Naruto looked unconcerned as not one, but two blades of water formed out of the moisture and and the mist that gave the local shinobi's village its name. He noticed that the man seemed to have good control of his chakra, as the blades looked very different from each other. The one in his right hand was sleek with a sharp edge for cutting, while the other one was more round, with sharp spikes pointing in random directions.

Kikikyoujin raised that weapon and hurled it at the boy like a spear, cackling as it pierced right through the heart, although it missed the spine.

Naruto calmly looked at the object protruding out of his chest while noting that his scales had not risen up to deflect the blow and suck the chakra out of the water in the blade. Apparently his automatic defense deactivated himself when he did this. Now that he thought about it, it made perfect sense, as taking damage was kinda the whole point of doing this whole ceremony or whatever it was.

Kikikyoujin's grin had frozen when he felt warm blood soak his torso and looked down on himself to see a large hole in his chest.

Naruto gave him a cold look. "You know, I am grateful to you. Thanks to you, I finally understood. I am a human, and no matter how monstrous my appearance becomes, I will be a human. You are a monster that simply looks like a human, so am I not a human that looks like a monster?"

Kikikyoujin knew that he was finished, but with his last strength, he charged the boy and decapitated him with a single swipe. As he felt his head separate from his shoulders, he shouted as loud as he could, which was barely above a whisper "A glorious death!" Then his vision faded to black.

Threads shot out of Naruto's neck, grabbed the head and pulled it back to where it belonged, the paper again removing all evidence that he'd ever been injured, save for the two large holes in the front and the back of his shirt. Fortunately, it had been an old shirt that he had put on just in case it got ripped, so no loss there.

Kyuubi seemed shocked. "That circle... Hang on, I'm just going to check something."

Kyuubi looked at Naruto's DNA. Back then, she had stopped checking it out after the second injection after the mutation-shot that allowed her to merge the different abilities in harmony. Now she gave a critical eye to all her adjustments, until she spotted what she had feared.

'Aw, crap. I knew I should have looked at what I placed in the brat's DNA. This is going to be a pain, especially since I can't remove it anymore. Well, now I know what the voice Naruto was hearing was. If a being of higher power communicates with my host and doesn't want me to hear it, then I won't hear it. Great, this situation is going to be a bitch!' she cursed, not wanting to tell Naruto about this little problem just yet.

Naruto stared at the severed head at his feat. He hesitated for a moment, but then grabbed the man's head, focusing his power to not absorb the entire knowledge of the man but merely the parts pertaining to layouts, attack-plans and jutsu. And some data about the Mizukage. He was surprised to learn that the leader of Kiri was the jinchuuriki of the Sanbi. Still, something seemed off about the man, but Naruto couldn't put his finger on it. Not surprising, since all the data he had on the man came from the mind of a lunatic who cared for nothing that wasn't bleeding or about to.

The circle, now no longer needed, had been absorbed by the soggy ground, its lines blurred beyond recognition.

Naruto looked at the head, before he got an evil idea. He started a jutsu he had learned from Hanzo, and as his left index-and middle-fingers glowed with chakra, he gently put it on the open eyes of Kikikyoujin's head. "Houshimetsu no Jutsu"

There was a short flash, and Naruto knew that nobody would be able to get any information out of that head except for the next picture it would see. Naruto pointed it to the corpse-filled crater and waited a few seconds. When he looked into the head's eyes, he could clearly see the crater reflected in them even if it was no longer facing it. The brain and the retinas were destroyed, that image was all anybody would ever get from the man's head. Not even Naruto himself would be able to draw information out of this head, as there simply was no information left, everything was destroyed. Then he opened his right hand, the left one still holding the corpse, and muttered "Banshou Ten'in"

A few of the banners the army had carried, now soaked in a mixture of blood, brain, intestines and other undefinable things flew into his hand. Just as he was about to leave Ao and the pretty girl appeared before him. Both stared at the crater and the headless corpse, then at Naruto.

"How...?" Terumii muttered.

Naruto smiled at her, still hesitant to show his face. "What's your name?" He asked.

The girl seemed completely out of it. "Me?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes, you."

"Mei Terumii." Mei said.

Naruto gave her a shy smile. "Well then Mei-chan, you said you beat armies three times your size. With them outnumbering you ten to one, you having 1000 men and 7000 enemies now perished, you can show if you were bragging or speaking the truth. Goodbye, maybe we'll meet again." With that, he sank into the ground. Coincidentally, Naruto's Shinra Tensei had forced a hole into the clouds, and due to the position of the sun, Naruto happened to be standing in the sole spot of sunlight for miles, and as soon as he had vanished, the circle of light narrowed together until it was gone.

Mei looked at the spot, then at the crater. She couldn't believe what had just happened. More and more of her fellow rebels flowed out of the fort, to stare in disbelief at the crater.

Ao gulped. "I don't believe it. 7000 men, simply squashed like ants."

Mei chuckled, in shock, yet strangely giddy. "At least now we know why the earth shook. Just imagine the force necessary to do this. How heavy would something have to be to make such a crater?"

Ao shrugged, his mind only slowly starting to work again. "Thousands of tons. No, millions! This is impossible, nobody could do something like that!"

Another man stared at the crater. "It's perfectly round, and compared to the diameter of the crater, the depth is shallow. When I was a kid my family had one of those rounded hammers, like the ones judges use. I hammered soft ground with it before, and those craters looked similar, only much smaller. This... it's like kami slammed his hammer down on our enemies."

Silent nods came from those who heard, it was incomprehensible for one person to do this, especially instantly.

Mei shuddered, before bursting into giddy laughter. Something had happened she never would have thought possible. A realization that something that hadn't been possible since the early days of the first purges was here.

They had a chance to win.

Naruto appeared on the outer wall surrounding Kiri, not leaning more than his torso out of it to be able to make an immediate retreat. He was close to the ground, which suited his needs perfectly. With the stunt he had just pulled, it was kind of pointless to play neutral now, so Naruto decided to play a dark prank on Kiri. Hanzo's memories had shown that psychological warfare won more wars than numbers, and how to hit where it hurt. Naruto spread the bloodied banners on the wall, the mixture of fluids gluing them in place, and used the head as a brush to leave a message before he placed it on the ground before his work. He took one last look at his work.

Just above the banners there was a pretty scary message, painted in blood.

I RETURN TO YOU ALL THAT IS LEFT OF YOUR ARMY

Then he sank into the wall, and towards his beloved ramen. After all, it was time for lunch.

In the realm of deities, Jashin was leaning back, very happy with the newest turn of events. Somehow there had been a second one with the power of his avatar. A short look over this new host's statistics had made Jashin decide not to instantaneously pulverize him, and so far, he wasn't regretting his decision. He had gained the soul of General Kikikyoujin, someone he had wanted for a long time, his soul was on his list of most desired souls, and pretty high up there too. He grinned, wondering what awards and duties he'd bestow on the boy's soul once he died, as the souls of Jashinists were his by default.

Suddenly a black fire grew from the floor, and a figure rose out of it. Jashin raised a brow. "Yama. I had not expected a visit, what brings you to my realm?"

The judge of the underworld looked at him. "I thought I'd warn you."

Jashin looked at him. "About what?"

Yama gave him a serious look. "The soul of Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze."

Jashin shrugged. "What of it? The boy is alive, his soul is of no concern to you, and after death he will be mine."

Yama sighed. "And there lies the problem."

Jashin's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

Yama gave him a tired look. "The ownership of that soul will soon be the most vicious debate in the realm of the gods."

Jashin glared at him. "The boy is mine, he is a Jashinist, and holds the power of my avatar."

Yama shook his head. "You are correct, and these things would normally grant you his soul, however..."

Jashin's eyes were slits. "However what?"

Yama gave a serious look. "He has never participated in your religion, he has never sworn his allegiance to you, and the ceremonies were done without knowledge of what they entail."

Jashin waved him off. "Details, details. He still has my marks, so he is mine."

Yama nodded. "That is true, he bears your marks. The problem is, he also bears the marks of others."

Jashin's eyes widened. "Explain."

Yama shrugged. "As you know, the boy's powers are numerous, and the number of deities who have laid claim to his soul is almost as numerous."

Jashin growled. "Who dares challenge my claim?"

A new voice rang out. "I, for one."

Jashin looked at the newcomer. "Susanoo? What claim do you have on my avatar?"

Susanoo gave him a dark look. "Ironically, the same one you do. He has the gift I granted mankind, the Sharingan. And with the youki of the Kyuubi sealed inside of him, he has awakened its true power, including the creation of an avatar for me. You know that this grants me his soul, just like the souls of Itachi Uchiha and Madara Uchiha will be mine once released."

Yama sighed. "Even I could lay claim to the boy's soul, as he possesses the Rinnegan and knows that he can call upon me for aid, although he does not know the full potential of this yet. The knowledge was gained through the gift I imparted the Rinnegan, taken from the head of a departed who had witnessed its power. Also, I have granted you some of the souls killed by the boy, even though they fell by my power, not yours."

Jashin gave a respectful nod, knowing that Yama had little use for souls and that being the judge of the dead, not even Jashin could afford to make enemies with him as all souls pass by him and while he cannot stop those who by ancient law belong to Jashin, Yama has the power to stall them for millennia. Then he turned to Susanoo. "Your claim is shaky."

Susanoo snorted. "Not shakier than your own."

Jashin sighed. "Anyone else who lays claim on what is rightfully mine?"

Yama looked at him. "There are others who lay claim on the boy's soul. The Shinigami believes that the boy is his, as he has marked the boy first."

"Don't forget about me." A new voice, this one clearly female, called out.

Yama glanced at her. "How could I? The Lady states that he has had her eye on the boy long before he was born. "

Jashin snorted. "A lot of good that did him."

The Lady growled. "You know full well that Kami has limited my power in the mortal world. His capture and operations were beyond me to stop, any other path would have resulted in the boy's death. Had Kabuto not found him, he would have died, and nobody else who would have helped him was close enough for me to lead their steps in time to save him, as I am not allowed to alter reality. What Kabuto did was beyond my control, all I could do was grant them the right idea to save his life before their experiments decomposed him. Also, I kept all guards away when he escaped, and made sure nobody caught him when he experimented with is powers. I am the one who did most for him, which gives me equal claim on him as anyone else."

Yama sighed deeply. "If this goes on, Kami herself will intervene to end this dispute, and it is possible that she will claim the boy's soul, as is her right."

The Lady grimaced. "Now that wouldn't be nice. Can't we solve this with janken (rock-paper-scissors), or coin-flips, or dice?"

Susanoo snorted humorlessly. "If you want to gamble, go play with the twins."

The Lady frowned. "Fate and Destiny? Why would I want to play with them?"

Jashin rolled his eyes. "Because, Lady Luck, aside from Kami they are the only ones who have a chance to beat you in a game invoplving chance. And now I would appreciate if you all returned to your own realms."

Yama nodded and vanished, while Susanoo and Luck exchanged looks. "This isn't over, you know that, right?" They spoke in unison.

A vein throbbed on Jashin's forehead. "Out."

The deities obeyed. After all, in one's own realm, only Kami herself has the right to stay when asked to leave.

Naruto, blissfully unaware of the turmoil his existence caused in the highest realms, was gulping down ramen with his mother at an inhumanly pace. They had just finished their last bowls and had started a mock-duel with chopsticks, which his mother was winning, when a knocking alerted them to a new presence.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, was standing at the door. "I apologize for interrupting, however, the council of Konoha wishes to speak with Naruto. I've kept them out as long as I could, but it is unavoidable now. Kushina, you have my permission to accompany him."

Kushina nodded, grabbed her trusted sword and stepped out of the house with her son, a determined look on her face. The council wouldn't know what hit it.

Chapter 7 is done.

I'm not dead! But I had my Abitur, not sure how to explain it in English, but they're really important exams, and I had to prepare. I'm still not out of the woods, but I have a little time before I have to get back to memorizing facts and data. Also, a few ideas didn't leave me alone, so I wrote them down. I'm swamped! Four stories to update, four stories to which I have the first chapters on my computer, and four more in orbit! What is it with the fours haunting me? Still, I'm not sure whether to post them yet, as that would make the time it takes me to update even longer. Anyways, enough of my little non-topic ranting, and enjoy the double-update.

Well, how did you like it? I sent Naruto to Kiri for two reasons. One, because I like Mei, and two... well, maybe I'll tell you later. All I'll say now is that it has plot-importance. For those that didn't get their wish granted, there is still plenty of time for other journeys, and I have a few more planned.

And thanks to the focus of both doujutsu, Naruto can now put the starting-point wherever he wants to, as long as he can see it, as if he was activating a Kamui, instead of merely where he is. Of course, that means he could damage himself if he isn't careful.

And yes, the voice commanding Naruto was Jashin.

Houshimetsu no Jutsu (Information Destruction Technique)
Rank: B
Range: Short (0m)
Type: Support
This jutsu was designed by Salamander Hanzo to prevent information gathering from residue-information of corpses. It works by touching both eyes with chakra-charged fingers, destroying brain and eyes once used, rendering all attempts to salvage information useless. As a side-effect of the internal eye-destruction, the eyes will react like photo paper and record the first picture they see after the chakra-flow has stopped.

For the next chapter, I have a council meeting shot to hell, and the revelation of a weakness Naruto has yet to completely overcome.

Well, it's 5 AM, and I really don't feel like explaining myself, so I'll skip to the replies.

To Darkwill0w: He had training to get him into shape and give a certain muscle-memory for battle, as Orochimaru didn't want to work himself up from scratch. As for the ability, it belongs to the Human-path of the Rinnegan. I figured that if Inoichi could get memories out of a corpse, than so can the guy who knows how to bring them back to life. And he 'downloads' everything, but it doesn't impact him all the time. In his mindscape, there is a library, where all memories are ordered into categories, such as PERSONAL MEMORIES, STRATEGY, EXERCISES, JUTSU and my personal favorite: DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 16. And no, he doesn't get the combat-reflexes, those are physical and have to be gained the old-fashioned way.

To dracohalo117: Sorry for the wait, real life was murderous. And Naruto didn't hit Sarutobi because he was simply happy to be reunited with his mother. As for the other people, they'll get theirs next chapter.

To Anime507: That's just it. Naruto doesn't know what he can do yet, and he won't learn everything for a while. And as I indicated above, he has a weakness he doesn't want to reveal before he has overcome it.

To Sbaglio: Look at Narutopedia, I'm going with canon. And they're all still alive.

To ToothAndClaw: Yes, he has it. And to prove that, you just have to read the top-, in some cases bottom lines of most his stories. He openly admits it.

To gazz uzumaki: He could, but there would be little use. The transformation is complex and has too little use to be worth the effort, with Konan's paper-wings being easier to make and just as effective.

To AZant: He could use White-Zetsu's ability to take his old appearance, but he doesn't know that.

To kart87: First of all, I had no plans for any dragon-taijutsu, that's overdone. And IF he gets a highest tier contract, it definitely won't be dragons. And while insanely skilled, Naruto is unaware of just what he can do. Secondly, not all of Naruto's enemies will be human, and I do have a few challenges planned. Third, thanks for the compliments.

To FOUL MOUTH SOB WILL KUEHLER: 1: Naruto, no contest. One to three mid-class normal puppets against ten supreme human-puppets, plus three kage-level ones? 2: Deidara's micro-mines. 3: Probably. 4: Secret. 5: Again, secret. 6: Because the Juubi-eye is hard to miss and I want Naruto to have some semblance of normality. And it makes people less worried to see a normal eye and a patch than unknown eyes that scream I HAVE AWESOME POWERS SO BE CARFUL! 7: Probably. 8: In some ways, he'd live. 9: He'd get in, but he could break out.

To snogwomp: He has been injected with both their DNA. He basically has Juugo's mutating flesh by default, and that can turn into threads or paper, whatever is needed. And he currently has only one heart.

To Elleon: Yes, there was little planning in Orochimaru's harvest, simply because it was supposed to be the prologue to explain where the samples came from. For that purpose, I skipped the planning. And yes, the exit was kinda rushed, sue me. Sorry, lack of sleep makes me aggressive.

To evilfrog1: Not sure if I PMed you, but if I didn't you can use it. Just mention it was my idea.

To Narusaku4everfan: Yes, both powers are focused on that eye.

Thats all for now, so

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