Chapter 4 : Inner Flame

Naruto and his father stood in front of each other, today he'll be learning Taijutsu and his father knows it purest form. Mukai Kohinata family split off from the Hyūga clan several generations before his birth. Many assumed this meant his bloodline was too diluted to possess the Byakugan, but Mukai did in fact have a Byakugan in his left eye; he just preferred to keep this a secret from anyone he wasn't close with.

Once he became a Konoha-nin, Mukai led an accomplished career, ultimately joining the Anbu at the same time that he was promoted to jōnin. Although his membership in the Anbu had to remain a secret from most, Mukai's performance was nevertheless stellar enough to earn the trust of the Third Hokage. Needless to say but he's more than qualified. His father leapt back in a flash, putting a few meters of distance between them and spread his legs apart, raising his arms up in a defensive stance. He beckoned the small boy forward with a finger and a impassive face.

"Let's see what you got my son .. come."

Naruto nodded lunged.

Few Minutes Later

The black hair boy glared up at the orange hues of the setting sky from where he lay sprawled out on the grass, heaving and coughing from heavy exertion. Mukai stood above him face calm not saying anything at his expense, not a single hair of his brown head were out of place. His father was not even sweating while Naruto's clothes clung to him like second skin from all the sweat and grim on his body.

"Dammit!" Naruto rasped in anger, groaning as he rolled onto his stomach.

Every single part of his body was in pure agony. His bruises had bruises. His clothes were rumpled and torn, mud and dirt caked his hair and covered most parts of his body. He was sure if he didn't have healing supplies , he would have to crawl home because his legs were on fire. His entire body felt like it was on fire. Every part of his body was burning from exhaustion and pain. His head was pounding and he was wheezing pathetically from fatigue and discomfort.

Mukai is a monster and he was utterly ruthless. He was incredibly fast, almost impossible to track. He moved fluidly and every single attack was precise and lethal. If he wanted to kill Naruto, the boy would be long dead. His father did not hold back. He did not handle him like a child even though he was a four year old physically. His father had pummelled him to the ground, ruthlessly correcting his form and mistakes through attacking him in his open, vulnerable spots.

you left your stomach open - Hard palm thrust.

Tsk tsk, there's an artery here - Harsh punch.

Your jugular is unguarded - Sharp jab.

Mukai just stared at his son, as Naruto glared up at him in anger. The boy tried to pull himself to his feet with a loud groan, his world spinning and frame shaking, but he couldn't. He looked up to see his father was just staring at him, he became insecure and believed he was looking down upon. He narrows his eyes and snarled "DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ME!"

Naruto didn't actually want to be treated like a delicate child who needed to be coddled. He wasn't a child. He needed to get strong and time was precious. But the pain...oh the pain... It was pure agony. It felt like father had rearranged his insides by beating him down brutally.

Mukai remained next to him until he was sure he wouldn't pass out. A few moments passed in silence where Naruto focused on catching his breath. Naruto's father finally replied

" Lesson 3 : Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling. There are a million voices both inside and outside of us telling us what to do, and often it's hard to determine what desires are sincerely our own. If you're not sure what to do, wait and become quiet. In stillness, silence speaks. You must control that anger and use it as a flame that gives you strength. Fire is a volatile element that is not easily controlled. It is the same with war; the environment or conditions of the battle you rarely get to choose, but with proper strategy you can change the tides of battle.

As one man can defeat ten men, so can one thousand men defeat ten thousand. However, you can become a master of your emotions and strategy, so that you can understand the enemy's stratagems, his strength and resources, and come to appreciate how to apply strategy to beat ten thousand enemies.

But these hings cannot be clearly explained in words. You must learn to forestall you enemy. In forestalling, you must judge the situation. This does not mean that you always attack first; but if the enemy attacks first you can lead him around. In strategy, you have effectively won when you forestall the enemy, so you must train well to attain this. These are things you must experience in battle.

"Now get up my son.."

Naruto tried his whole body shaking, Mukai narrowed his eyes , killing intent emitting from his body and yelled "I SAID GET UP YOU ARE A WARRIOR ARE YOU NOT?!"

Naruto on shaky legs stood up, Mukai clapped him on the shoulder, grounding him before he tripped over his own feet. Naruto hissed in anger and pain but he was secretly grateful his father was tough on him when correcting all his mistakes.

His father smiled once again "I'm proud of you, you have shown great strength." He jump away again and continued "Now try again.."

They both lunged forward.

Present Time

Border of Land of Wind and Land of Rivers

The blood covered boy walked in the cave to see his father there cooking fish for the both of them. Mukai didn't look up at his son he just simply asked a question "Did you complete your mission"

Naruto nodded solemnly "Yes father, I completed the mission, but we have a more pressing matter," he stated.

"What is it my child? " replied the Mukai

"We've lied too" answered the boy. "By who?" asked his father.

"The people who hired us, They are slave traders, one of the men , if you can call him that used to be a slave of their lands" remarked Naruto as he got angry at the thought of being played to do someone else's dirty work. His father closed his eyes hiding his anger "That can't be. They said they were victims of the camp and now senseless blood has been shed."

"So, what do we want to do about this?" asked Naruto, enraged because of the situation unfolding.

The temperature in the cave decreased, the veins in Mukai's hand bulged as he gripped his infamous sword harder. His ki become felt malicious. Mukai kept his eyes closed containing his rage , while his sword egged him on in his mind.

"Let go..

'No not yet'

"Let go of everything " said the disembodied voice

'I said Not..Yet...'

Suddenly Mukai's ki calmed, he took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes "We do what we always do.. until we kill killed all of our enemies we keep moving forward. Let's go pay a visit to Kaiji Tang leader of Land of Rivers."

Naruto nods in agreement, his father continued.

"But before we do that for the love of the gods, go take a bath. I could bearly see your face with all that blood that you're soaked in," his father remarked, annoyed with his son state. Naruto sweat drops and remarks that he saw a stream about an hour away in a nearby forest he passed earlier and that he would go clean himself up there.

An hour later, Naruto arrives at the stream.

He removes his clothes and washes the blood off his skin, causing the water to turn a crimson red as the blood flows down the stream. With the blood, remove and his haroi is off Naruto's appearance could be seen in full effect. The young warrior was of Japanese descent with long black hair. His eyes were a sliver of grey that shined in the sunlight.

His face was smooth with no facial hair and his body riddled with scars but none was on his back indicating that he never ran from a fight. Scars on the back is a swordsman shame.

As he finishes his bath, a white and black hawk lands next to him with a bag of fresh clothes and other supplies. Naruto quickly puts on his new clothes, which are the same as the ones before, just not soaked in blood. He puts the bag tied on the Hawk and gives it a lizard. The hawk eats the lizard, nods its head, and flies off with the dirty clothes.

Later that night, Naruto resigns himself to the cave. As he organizes himself for bed, his father walks towards him and smiles at him. "Tomorrow will be a big day so make sure you get as much rest as you can"

Naruto nodded

Mukai ruffled his hair "Sweet dreams kiddo, good job out there" and walked away. As Naruto sleeps, he dreams of him standing on a pile of dead corpses. He widened his eyes in fear when they all looked up at him with hatred in their eyes. He recognized these faces how could he not, these are all the faces of the people he cut down.

'Monster'

'Murderous Bastard'

'Demon'

'Homicidal Maniac'

Naruto covered his ears and screamed as all the corpses grabbed him and started sinking into the ground.

Naruto cries out for them to stop, but they continue. Suddenly Naruto's mark glows and spreads across his body, his eyes turn red and the sky darkens. But before the dream can continue, Naruto awakes to find his father next to him. As Naruto tries to catch his breath, Mukai asked him if he was ok and if he had that dream again. Naruto nodded, confirming that it was indeed the same dream. Resting one hand on Naruto's shoulder Mukai sighed "Accept it son, you won't feel better but over time it'll hurt less"

The problem was Naruto couldn't accept that he cut down and killed people didn't deserve it. But he didn't voice that just nodding instead. Mukai looked at son for a second then spoke again "Come on we have to go" He remarked before vanishing.

Naruto composed himself and got himself ready and headed into the town of Katabami Kinzan.

A few hours later

He and his father had arrived in town. The people were busy with their daily lives and paid no attention to them as they walked by. As he and his father walked by they saw that the houses that were once destroyed by Maxwell and his men raids were already repaired and life moved on as nothing happened. With his destination in sight, Naruto saw a group of men standing in the center of town with young girls on the floor.

They were slave traders.

Naruto enraged, grabbed onto his sword but his wrist was by his father, Naruto narrowed his eyes but his father told him now is not the time as they had already reached their destination, which was an old little shop. Inside the shop was a young man cleaning. When Naruto and Mukai entered his line of sight, he got scared and dropped the broom he had on the floor."Good morning blood samurai, Kuroi Kenshi, we were not expecting you for two more days, Lord Tang is not here" stated the shopkeeper nervously.

"So where is Kaiji Tang?" Asked Mukai respectfully.

"I can't tell you that, replied the shopkeeper as he got trouble forming his words.

Naruto killing intent was felt in the store.

"If you don't tell me, I will kill right here!"shouted Naruto as he puts his sword to the shopkeeper's neck. "Do as you must. I can't tell you where he is" replied the shopkeeper, scared and choking on his words.

Mukai became suspicious "What kind of man is so scary that even a threat from the Kuroi Kenshi isn't enough? " He asked.

"I am not sure but we're going to find out" replied Naruto

Mukai ki rose slightly the boy started to sweat. " Listen here young man if you don't tell me where Kaiji Tang is I will kill everyone in this town, I will reek havoc on this town and trust me it will be worse than anything Kaiji Tang can do to you" stated Naruto's father demanding to know where Kaiji Tang is.

For a moment the shopkeeper looked puzzle-like he was deciding which fate was worse. After a while, with fearful tears running down his face, the shopkeeper presents Naruto with a map to Kaiji Tang home.

"Thank you" replied Mukai politely as they left the shop with the shopkeeper in a corner, crying.

As they walked through the forest on the way to Kaiji Tang home, it angered him that had to use such extreme measures to get an answer, that shouldn't have do that far. He looked absolutely terrified, Naruto thought to himself as he approached the leader's home. When they arrived, they realized it was no ordinary home that Kaiji Tang lived in but a massive castle-like mansion. A medieval castle-like design with purple and gold walls was the design of the mansion, which was at least two hundred feet in height. The mansion was so wide that looking directly at it you could see the full thing.

The walls surrounding the mansion were black and stood at least thirty feet tall, with a huge double gate in the middle. 'This must be it no mere shop owner can own a place as this' Naruto thought to himself as he took a deep breath which caused his grey eyes to darken as he and his father jumped over the massive wall. On the other side of the wall, two armed guards greeted Naruto and Mukai with spears and ordered them to stand down. Naruto, already annoyed, walked past the guards, cutting off the tip of their spears with such speed that the guards hadn't noticed, causing them to be frozen in fear as they enters the mansion. Inside the mansion, armed guards surrounded them with spears and swords, and at the center of the mansion on the top floor is a chubby man which a blue well-made suit.

The man was middle age of Asian descent, he had blue eyes and a poorly grown mustache and bread as he sat on a throne-like chair.

"What brought you two here so early? I wasn't expecting the two of you for two more days," asked the chubby man. annoyed Naruto stated the man lied to him and that he used him to do his dirty work.

"And" replied the man, "You of all people want to call me evil, so what if we are slave traders? That how my family ate for hundreds of years and you kill people for a living, so we are the same" remarked the chubby man.

"We are nothing alike you bastard" shouted Naruto in anger. Mukai closed his eyes in acceptance "But what's done is done , we just wanted to confirm the truth," He remarked stoically. "You are, and thanks to you, there is an entire camp of slaves waiting to be captured," remarked the leader joyfully.

"You want to run that by me again?" Naruto said coldly

"You killed all the men in the camp, right?, well now the women and children are mines for the taken, the Uzumaki are a rare commodity these days" said the leader as he laughed loudly.

"Don't you fucking touch them, you bastard! " shouted Naruto with his blood lust overflowing.

"So what if I do?" Said the leader and in instant Naruto flew across the mansion and pulled his sword around his neck.

"Repeat yourself, you bastard! " shouted Naruto. The guards quickly surround them, demanding that he let their leader go right now. Everyone froze when they felt Mukai's killing intent, it felt like death itself was next to them. "My son.. move" he said quietly as he walked slowly towards the fat leader, slowly he pulled out his blade. Enma the king of Hell , the judge of dead souls. A black sword with a red hilt but oddly the hilt has 9 kanji , numbers 1-9.

He looked at the man impassive but intensely "You talk a lot, you don't understand the beauty in life, the importance of freedom, the purpose of being a warrior nor a man.. you're just a thug that got lost in the tides of life and ended up here. You don't even know where you're going.. Am I wrong?" He stated

The leader snarled at him "arrogance! I'm supreme ruler! I'm practically a God!"

Slowly black putrid flames leaked out Mukai's sword "No one who dares strip the freedoms of others die a good death.."

He began walking slowly , the pressure of his Ki caused everyone even his son to stand stock still. Everyone seeing their life flash before their eyes except the leader. No he saw something else's , he didn't see a man.. No he saw the reaper, he saw his demise.

Mukai slowly rose his blade above his head and muttered "No matter who you are, you don't know what kind of man you are until the very end.. One realizes their true nature at the face of death, I wonder.. the turmoil in your head.. oh well. Enton : Jigoku no honō { Inferno Style : Hell's Flame} " Black fire, hotter than the sun erupted from his blade with a feral smile he roared slashing downwards "BURN IN ENTERAL DALMATIAN, ENMA!!"

A large black dragon took form and charged with it's mouth open ready to consume everything in its pathway. The last thing the leader saw after being consumed was a infinite void is darkness as he skin slowly melted off.

BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!

The dragon consumed not only the back of the mansion but the entire south division of the village. The entire town quake at the amount of power that was discharged. When the smoke cleared Naruto and the rest of the guards eyes widened , once was the south of the village now just a 40 ft trench in the ground.

Mukai closed his eyes, sheath his sword and put his palms together in a prayer motion. He prayed for the life's he took. He slowly looked at his son and spoke "Like I said for lesson 3, when you control your inner flame… then there's no limits to your power."

Naruto eyes still widened at the power displayed nodded in acceptance. As they walked away the head of security looked at the other guards still shaking in fear.

"Ca-Call the Thunder of the Hidden Mist, Raiga Kurosuki and his men , The Grave Diggers, tell him we got a problem ," He instructed.

Tsuchi no Kuni : Iwagakure no Sato

In the tallest building in the capital of Land of Earth, there was a short older man with a bumpy nose looking disgruntled about the news he just received. Onoki the Third Tsuchikage was looking at the notice he just received he look towards the window and called out to his Anbu.

"ANBU" he shouts with a serious tone of voice

One appeared kneeling "Yes Lord Tsuchikage"

"Tell Akatsuchi, the head Jonin and the Kamizuru Ichizoku clan head here" He demanded

"Hai" Muttered the Anbu

30 Minutes Later

Suzumebachi , Natsu and Akatsuchi stood before their Kage.

Natsu has dark spiky brown hair, and he sports the standard Iwagakure flak jacket along with the maroon-coloured forehead protector. Natsu is seemingly a proud person, being very concerned with proving his abilities and not being humiliated by faring poorly in the war. In extension to this he also have a tendency to argue over whom deserves the credit for killing an opponent.

Suzumebachi has shoulder-length brown hair with a single lock falling onto the right side of her face and going over her right eye just a little bit. She has steel-grey eyes with orange markings in the corner. She wore what appeared to be an altered, purple kimono dress with red trimmings. She wore a yellow sash around her waist and thigh-length stockings that merged into her sandals. She also had very small eyebrows.

She's a very strong and knowledgeable kunoichi, which was the reason she became the leader of her small group while searching for the bikōchū. She is shown to be very deceptive, cleverly using clones made out of honey and explosive tags to trap and kill her clueless opponents. She could also use the Hiding with Camouflage Technique

Akatsuchi is a large and imposing man, with dark eyes and black hair that spikes out at the back from underneath his bandanna-styled forehead protector. He also has large cheeks, and a plump nose which give him an overall look of constant joviality. He wears the red Iwagakure uniform which has both its sleeves, underneath his flak jacket, and accentuates it with a yellow scarf which he wraps around his neck.

He is a very jovial individual who always seems to have a cheerful disposition. He is also somewhat childish and laid-back.

Onoki stared at them all and sat his paper down , "The mission I'm about to give you is of the upmost importance as it affects us both nationally and internally. There has been a invasion of the Land of Tea.."

All three of the shinobi eyes widened , who is dumb enough to inflict the wrath of Iwa? Those was the thoughts running through their head.

Akatsuchi became serious, "What happened? Who'd be bold enough to take out a small village under our jurisdiction?"

Onoki closed his eyes , nodding and continued "I heard it from Intel. A large army consisting of ninjas from an unknown country invaded the Land of Tea. Because they lacked the military force, the entire country was taken over in just a few weeks. The Daimyo's family…was completely wiped out."

Natsu snarled "The fools, once we find out who's committed this treachery they will pay!"

Suzumebachi nodded and chirped in "Indeed but we must stay level headed and not make any rash decisions, do you think we should inform other nations about this?"

Onoki nodded in the positive and clasped his hands together "Which brings us back to the current situation. Due to the conflicts between Takigakure and Konoha, the Daimyos of our respected countries are meeting in a neutral area to create a more permanent alliance.

I dispatched a squad to escort the Earth Daimyo to the rendezvous point, but we lost contact with them a day ago and have heard nothing from the Waterfall Village. I'm sending you three and the choice of teams to find out the situation at hand."

He looked at Suzumebachi "Because your clan is more adapt to tracking I'm putting you in command of this mission. Use your insects and get it done. If you find trouble use your judgement whether to retreat or not but by any means our Daimyo must stay alive."

"Understood" they all proclaimed. Onoki nodded and dismissed them.

Onoki sitting in silence noticed an unopened scroll under all his paperwork. He unraveled it and read it contents, he narrowed his eyes at the information and called for Roshi to come to his office.

He walked into his office and stood there, Rōshi had red hair, moustache and beard which tapered off to a point. He is wearing a large headpiece consisting of a three pointed crown-like ridge, bearing both his Iwagakure forehead protector, a ring, and a prominent black piece of armour running across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. He wore a long-sleeved magenta kimono shirt and pants, with mesh-armour shirt and fitted black suit underneath, along with calf-length sandals. Around his waist he wore a brown sash that held a brown armour-like breast plate with a pouch in the front, a brown back plate on the back that is connected to the front with mesh armour, and armoured lapels falling to the sides. Interestingly, his headpiece, hair and beard seemed to model his tailed beast's.

Onoki looked at his weapon of the 4 Tails and sighed , he knows how hard headed the man can be but nevertheless he needed to serve his Village. He finally broke the silence "Roshi we have heard some trouble coming from a village near our boarders in the Land of Rivers. I need you to go down there and investigate we don't need more issues regarding villages"

Roshi nodded and disappeared.

With Suzumebachi's team

They along with the others had already set off towards the last known destination of the Daimyo's convoy. While Team Suzumebachi had their insects, Akatsuchi summoned his rock golem to traverse ahead of them and divided them up amongst the rest of the teams. The journey was a somewhat quiet one due to the intensity of the situation.

A few minutes later the insects began to pick up the scent. "Alright good work" Suzumebachi said as she let the bug go back in position. When they arrived to the area, which was a few miles of the main road…it wasn't a pretty sight. The entire field was littered with bodies of ninjas who still had kunai and shuriken imbedded into their bodies and blank looks on their faces. Everyone looked in horror then Akatsuchi suddenly felt fear in his stomach. The killing intent was heavy and was being emitted from far away, everyone tense up at the feeling.

Natsu walked over to one of the ninjas and closed his eyes in respect. "I'll send a message to Onoki-sama to have someone retrieve the bodies. But I don't see the Daimyo or his personal guards anywhere."

Everyone turned to look at Suzumebachi. It was good that she was the chosen leader of this mission, it was clear that she was a better strategist out of all of them. Suzumebachi eyes hardened and spoke, "It's clear that the Daimyo isn't here, so that must mean he is alive. Of course we have no idea where he is."

She started to release her bugs from her body "My insects can pick up his scent easily." She added. Then the bugs began to fly around the area for the scent. But when they found it, it was pointing in multiple directions. Everyone was baffled except for Suzumebachi who just sighed. "I feared as much. It seems like they're trying to confuse us or just buying time to get the Daimyo."

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "You think they're planning a trap?" He asked.

Narrowing her eyes she continued. "Yes it could very well be a trap. I think they're trying to split us up and take us out separately as I originally said. Or they could be trying to buy time. But I already know which way the Daimyo went."

"How did you figure it out?" Akatsuchi asked shocked on how fast she thought everything out.

Suzumebachi pointed the ground littered with bodies. "You can tell that these guys were trying to draw the attackers away from the main road. That means the Daimyo was most likely in a carriage so it could never have gone in any of the other directions. However if we all go in one group, I'm pretty sure the enemy will be able to regroup faster and we may have some difficulties." Then she turned towards the group. "I suggest that each team takes a different route that follows the main road. That way we can easily get to the Daimyo without alerting the enemy to our actual presence."

Everyone nodded and headed off. However what they didn't know was that they were being watched.

Crouching on a tree branch was a ninja wearing a black and white jumpsuit. Strapped to it were arm pads, leg pads and shoulder pads. He had short spiky black hair and a helmet that covered his eyes. Strapped to his back were dual swords and around his waist was a headband that had the symbol of a small dots resembling snowflakes. Once the Iwa shinobi were gone he spoke through his radio. "They have begun to move Nadare-sama."

"Understood, keep an eye on them. Attack when only necessary Mizore." The man on the other side of the radio said.

The man nodded and then disappeared into the shadows.

With Team Suzumebachi

The group had still found no signs of the Daimyo. Suzumebachi began to worry that he might have actually been killed. But still they kept up their search. If they failed then this would greatly disgrace their village to the other Great Countries and the successor might even bankrupt them too for the loss of the current Daimyo. Her thoughts stop when she felt something.

"My bugs have found him." She said firmly

"Which way?" Akatsuchi asked.

Suzumebachi listened to her bugs for a moment before replying, "Straight ahead of us."

Sure enough at least two miles after, the team along with the others finally reached the Daimyo's escort, which consisted of a regiment of his army. At first they were suspicious of them, the soldiers finally grant them access to see the Daimyo after seeing their headbands. The Daimyo was pleased to see some Iwa Ninja, especially when he recognized Akatsuchi , Iwa's Stone Bull. After offering his deepest apologies about the loss of the other ninjas the now larger group began escorting the Daimyo to the meeting point. But soon there was a loud rustling in one of the bushes, causing the ninjas to bring their guard up. Instead of an attack however, it was another ninja, seriously wounded, and judging by his headband he was from Takigakure.

A medic immediately ran to his side and started to check his wounds along with Ino. "These are wounds from a large weapon, a curve one nonetheless." She said as she examined a large slash on the man's chest. Suddenly the ninja's eyes open and then he tried to speak. "D-danger. Must hurry, Daimyo's life is in j-jeopardy."

Before anyone could say anything, a kunai flew out of nowhere and struck the shinobi in the heart. It got worse when they realized that there was an exploding tag attached to it. Moving as fast as they could, Everyone managed to get out of the way before the tag blew up and consumed the body in flames.

BOOM!!

"Who threw that?" Natsu demanded. Suddenly there was a sound of blades clashing. Everyone turn around to see Said blocking a mysterious ninja, who was Mizore, who was trying to attack the Daimyo. Soon more ninjas, who were wearing a similar version that Iwa wears, except blue, appeared all armed and ready for a fight.

Akatsuchi attacked the man, thus freeing Natsu from his burden. Mizore pulled out his other sword and attack Akatsuchi , the both locked in combat. Speaking quickly Suzumebachi shouted to Natsu. "Natsu and my team will go and assist the Waterfall's Daimyo. The others will stay here and hold off these attackers."

Natsu nodded and after sharing the message to his squad, all of them headed off. Several of the enemy ninjas tried to stop them but were immediately smacked to the side by Iwa nin, allowing their friends to head off without interference.

Akatsuchi backed away from Mizore, who began to form some hand signs. "Hyōton: Hyōryūdan no Jutsu" (Ice Release: Ice Dragon Bullet Technique) and suddenly a dragon made from ice flew up and shot ice billets from the sky, heading towards Akatsuchi. The jonnin managed to dodge them but then Mizore used another jutsu. "Doton: Shi no heya!" (Death Room). Then three walls appeared around Akatsuchi, cutting off his escape route, and allowing Mizore to make a straight beeline towards him with his sword out. But before he could deal the blow a large rock fist nearly crushed him, forcing him to jump out of the way. Akatsuchi smirked as his Earth Golem roared by his side.

Back with the other group, Suzumebachi and Natsu's team discovered blood along the ground, soon followed by bodies, which they identified as Takigakure's shinobis. Natsu began to wonder who could've taken out so many of these elite warriors so easily. His thoughts were cut off when Suzumebachi told them to stop. When they did they found themselves in front of the building that was to be used for the peace signing, except now it was in ruins. Bodies littered the ground around the building and the walls were smeared with blood and weapons were everywhere. Suzumebachi began to pale a little.

"Suzumebachi, what's wrong?" Natsu asked.

She began rubbing her temple reassuringly. "My bugs is feeling a huge amount of chakra and a massive killer intent nearby. It has them completely freaked out."

A dark chuckle caught their attention and all of them looked up at the building to see a man standing on the roof the building. He wore a purple chest plate and a sleeveless shirt underneath it. He also had black pants too and long blue hair. His eyes were a light blue and in his hand was a scythe. His face showed a sick smile and he was letting out a large killer intent, but not the one that Suzumebachi was sensing.

Then something caught a Iwa nin attention and she started to back away in fear. "L-look, i-i-in his hand."

Everyone looked and gasped. In the man's left hand was the head of the Daimyo, blood still dripping out of it. The Daimyo's face was one of pure fear and terror. The man smirked and threw the head down below, causing a loud smack as it hit the ground right in front of the Iwa ninjas. Natsu noticed that there was a box, sealed also tied to the head. "Please give that to Onoki-chan, a gift from my lord to him." The man said arrogantly and disappeared.

Natsu carefully picked up the head and the box before turning to the others. "We should notify Onoki-sama at once about this and check on the others too."

The mission was a success/failure. They had managed to save the Earth Daimyo's life at the cost of the Waterfall's Daimyo, along with the large loss of life to add as well. Takigakure are going to be in an uproar about what happened, but there was nothing Onoki could do about the situation except take the blame and give half of the ryo that the Earth Lord gave to the other village as a way of saying sorry.

However what caused for real alarm was the box that Natsu brought back with him. Onoki ordered for him, once the seal was removed. When it was they discovered I've thing and that was a headband, with a symbol that he recognized.

"That's the symbol of the Snow Country." Onoki said in absolute shock.

Yuki no Kuni

Elsewhere in Snow Country, a man, the same one from before entered the throne room of the Snow Country King, who was currently sitting on his throne drinking some green tea. He appeared to be middle age, perhaps in his 30's, and he had long brown hair and grey eyes. He wore a high collar long sleeve white coat, with high tech ninja armor underneath it, that was colored black. To the left was a bottle of Sake and on the right was a golden Katana. He had a bored look on his face as well.

The long haired man walked up to the Daimyo and bowed. "Your majesty, I have completed the mission to which you have given me. The Daimyo of the country that hosted Takigakure is dead."

The man nodded, a smile on his face. "And what of the Earth Daimyo, Nadare?"

Nadare shook his head. "I'm afraid neither myself nor Mizore were able to kill him. A shame really, it would have been a good feast."

His Daimyo rubbed his chin and then asked, "We shall wait until we make a move on one of the Five Great Countries. Has Soza led the army towards Takigakure?"

"Yes your majesty by now they must have crossed the border and are heading there with all speed." Nadare said then he added, "And I deliver the message as well, Doto-sama."

He smiled. "Good work, you may retire to your quarters. You've earned it."

Nadare bowed his head. "You honor me." He said as he left. Then he paused and turned around to face Doto. "Also be careful when releasing your killer intent Doto-sama. I could sense it from across the sea."

Doto smirked as Nadare walked away.

Here's chapter 4 , thank you for the readers who's sticking with the story. Doto has started his conquest , soon there will be a time skip but for now I'm building up the world.