(A/N) And we are back. I really say that a lot, don't I. I don't have much to say today, other than go over a few reviews.

WingedHero540: Yes I have read Naruto of the Nine Tails, and it is on my list of favorites. Edelta certainly has a thing for humor, just like Lord Farsight. I just wish he would update it soon. I love how the characters are portrayed in his story, especially the Anko-esque Hinata. I would love to be able to use the personalities that he used in his story, but I don't think that my writing skills are up to par enough for me to successfully use them.

Shi-no-Ookami: AnkoxKakashi, eh? Interesting idea, but I've personally always liked AnkoxIruka a bit better. Kakashi and Kiba are really the only ones of Konoha's cast that I can't decide on a relationship that I like the most. My favorite pairings are Naruhina, Shikatemari, Shinofu, Leesaku, KurenaixAsuma, AnkoxIruka, Nejiten, Inocho, and KonohamaruxHanabi. Usually Sasuke doesn't get a relationship depending on the timeline of the fanfic, but Sasusaku is acceptable if it takes place earlier on.

Adngo714: Hina-chan and Ruto-kun are my favorite nicknames that I like Naruto and Hinata to use for each other. I've read through a lot of Naruhina fanfics, and those two are the ones that I like the most, disregarding Tenshi-chan and Hina-hime for Hinata, because both wouldn't be very valid with the events in my story, although I might work in Hina-hime later, since she is the princess of the Namikaze now. They started to use them after becoming Hanyou because of the forced aging that went along with it. They didn't see each other in a fully romantic way before the transformation, although Hinata had a crush on Naruto after the bully incedent.

AnotherFanfictionFailure: I agree with you that Naruto dropping a mask and kicking ass is very cliché in terms of fanfics, but I twist the cliché a little. First, it is both of them dropping the mask, where it is usually just Naruto. Second, the mask thing has a bit of a double meaning, as if you were paying close attention, the jutsu Kurama used on them was in fact called "Demonic Arts: Kitsune Mask". I came up with that summary on the fly, and I will probably go back and make it better eventually.

Shadowhaseo: Hmm, somebody finally started to wonder how Minato got access to all of these things. Took you guys long enough. But allow me to explain. We all know that the Hiraishin is a very powerful space-time ninjutsu, and that Minato was a complete genius. So it didn't take long for Minato to separate the space from the space-time. By editing the Hiraishin, Minato actually created a jutsu that allowed dimensional travel, thus giving him access to the many dimensions that we all know and love. Minato traveled to the various dimensions, and became quite a hero in a great many of them. While this would obviously take a lot of time, Minato still had the time part of the space-time to use. So he used it in a brilliant way. Any time he spent in an alternate dimension was not reflected onto the Narutoverse. So while he may have lived to become an old man in one dimension, he instantly was turned back to his younger self when he went back to the Narutoverse, and would become the old man if he ever went back to the other dimension. Also, no time passed in the Narutoverse whenever he left. To others, he would vanish in his trademarked yellow flash, only to reappear instantly, usually with a lot more stuff than he had when he left. Of course Kushina was the only one who knew his secret.

Chaos267: Glad you like it. I personally don't like needless Kakashi bashing, so there will be none in my story. The only time when I view it as acceptable is when Naruto is on team 7 and Kakashi hadn't trained him properly. I also admit that he and Jiraiya both didn't train Naruto very well in canon. In my opinion, after the three year training trip with Jiraiya, Naruto should have been well on his way to matching at least Kakashi in single combat.

Also, I had a wicked idea. I was thinking of how the training with the masters of youth and Kiba was going to go, and what he would learn from it. Then the idea of an eight gates Tsuga dawned on me. I think that attack would be scarily powerful. We will definitely see that in the future.

On the matters of youthful individuals, I was thinking of giving the banshee a chance to stop being a fangirl. She will still have a wince-inducing tone of voice, but I think that Lee will break her out of her fangirlism. Lee is honestly a really cool character, and I really do like Leesakura, so I think that by doing this, I can actually have a truly decent team 7 (Sasuke not included. I have decided on his future, and it does involve going to the snake)

Anyways, enough of that and on with the show!

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Chapter 19: Building Bridges

As they walked away from Tazuna's house, Tazuna said "Your father said something about clones helping us out. What did he mean?"

Naruto grinned and said "This is what he meant!" before making the familiar handsign and saying "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu". A clone popped into existence and poked Tazuna.

"So these are solid clones, eh? You and your ninja tricks never cease to amaze me. Currently we have 20 willing workers working on the bridge. However, the optimum number would be 100 workers. How many clones could each of you make?"

At this, Hinata giggled and said "We actually don't know what are limit of clones is. Usually 1000 clones each is more than enough to get whatever job we are doing done, so we have never tried to exceed that number. So we have a question for you. How many people could work on your bridge at one time?"

Tazuna sweat dropped and said "1000 clones? That's a bit ridiculous. However my bridge is big enough that we could have 500 people working on it and still have extra room."

"Then Hina-chan and I will have 240 clones each working on the bridge, while we each have a hundred clones on standby as replacements." Said Naruto as he punched out his clone before continuing "As you can see, they are sort of fragile, but whenever one pops, all of the others get that one's experiences, making them better at the job that they were doing. While this is nothing like training, it doesn't hurt to have standbys, as accidents do happen. How long have you been working on this bridge old man? With twenty people it must have taken forever to get it as far done as you currently are."

"We've been working for five years straight. Originally, we had the full one hundred, but now we are down to only twenty. I was fully expecting to complete the bridge in two weeks, but with as many clones as you have, we should be done within three days. It would be done today if you were as experienced as my workers." Answered Tanzuna.

"Five years! Your dedicated old man, I'll give you that. After we get there and make the clones, Hina-chan and I will go nearby and train. Ignore the sounds that our training makes. If you are attacked by something that our clones can't handle, we will know and we will come and save you. I think that for the first few attempts that it will only be bandits, but when we near completion, Gato will probably send ninja. We should only need to come if those ninja are high level jonin, anything else and our clones won't have a problem."

They continued walking to the bridge in silence.

(Timeskip no Jutsu)

The next three days past fairly quickly. True to Naruto's prediction, Gato initially sent bandits, but when none of them came back, he grew suspicious. So on the second day, he sent some rouge chunin, none of which came back either. Zabuza came back that day and reported that he had learned of Gato's location. They decided that they would attack after the bridge was finished though. So on the third day, they arrived to find several jonin waiting in ambush. Zabuza and Haku had gone with them just in case, so they protected Tazuna and the other workers while Naruto and Hinata cleaned up. They may have been jonin, but they were by no means elite, so it didn't take too long. Hinata left one alive and sent him scurrying back to Gato with the cryptic message "We are coming." She also left him in a state where several of his tenketsu had been obliterated, meaning that he would never be a ninja again (Now how did she do that? Here is a hint: it involves a jutsu that I named in an A/N).

(Timeskip no Jutsu KAI!)

It was right after the civilianized jonin got sent packing that Zabuza spoke up, saying "Are you sure it was a good idea to let him live and tell Gato that we are coming for him? That surely means that he will bolster his defences and hire more rouge ninja to protect himself."

Hinata giggled and said "That's the point, Zabuza-san. We want him to hire as many rouge ninja as he can, just so we can take them out for their bounties. Ruto-kun and I have no need for money, but this land does, so we will just give the bounty money to them, after Konoha takes a small cut. While I'm sure that Gato himself will have plenty of money that we can take off his hands, a little extra won't hurt."

Tazuna was moved to tears by what she said and he said "You truly are too generous for us. You are willing to risk life and limb just to make sure that our land will be properly insured. You have saved my life multiple times and made my grandson see the light after being in darkness. How can I ever repay you?"

Naruto grinned and said "No recompense is needed old man. Just seeing you and your village happy will be enough. I hate people who think that they have the right to rule over others with arrogance, so Gato will just be getting what he deserves. Now let's go and finish this bridge once and for all!"

Instantly 280 clones of Naruto and Hinata poofed into existence with a large "YEAAAAAAH!"

The day went on without any other interruptions, and now there was only one cement block to be laid down before the bridge was finally complete. The entirety of Tazuna's village was there for the momentous occasion, as was Team 7.

Tazuna's men slowly lowered the block into the bridge and cemented it in. The entire village cheered with joy. The bridge was finally complete after five years! They were cheering loudly when they were abruptly stopped by Naruto shouting "WAIT! WE ARE NOT DONE YET!"

The crowd quieted down and Tazuna asked "Why, we just put in the last block?"

Hinata giggled and said "Because of two things. One is that you haven't seen the special editions that Ruto-kun and I have put in. Whether you keep them or not is up to you. And second, you haven't named the bridge yet."

Tazuna looked at the pair quizzically, and said "What do you mean by special editions?"

Naruto grinned and said "This!" before making a special hand sign and saying "Kitsune Illusion: KAI!"

There was a great shimmering of light as the illusion on the bridge dissolved to show a huge stone nine tailed fox that was standing protectively over the bridge with a growl on its face, looking over to the Land of Fire with a look that said "If anyone wants to mess with the land across this bridge, then you will feel the wrath of the Kyuubi!" (For anyone who has played Okami, the fox is in the defensive pose that Ammy takes when she is about to battle a boss)

Carved onto the front paw of the Kyuubi statue that was right by the entrance to the bridge was a plaque that read:

"The land of waves is under the protection of the great Kyuubi no Kitsune. For those who wish ill will upon the land, you shall feel the wrath of the fox.

Signed:

Naruto U-N and Hinata U-N, resident hosts of the Kyuubi.

Tazuna read the plaque and said in shock "What do you mean that this land is under the protection of the Kyuubi?"

Naruto grinned and said "I mean this!" before flying through some handsigns and saying "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

He slammed his palm upon the ground and there was a great eruption of swirling flames. The flames died down to reveal Kurama.

Kurama grinned and said "My kit means that this land is under my protection!"

Kakashi's gape was visible through his mask and he was instantly on guard and said "You are the Kyuubi? What are you doing here?!"

Kurama's grin widened and he said "Yes, I am the great Kyuubi no Kitsune. You mortals should be bowing before me, and in awe of my tails, but I have to say that having the kit be around you has certainly dulled the reaction of seeing someone with tails. And as to what I am doing here, my kit made a deal with me that I could come out and use a special clone so that the wave would stay safe. All I'm getting in return is…YOUR SOULS!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"WHAT!?" shouted everybody in unison.

Kurama started laughing hysterically and said "I'm only kidding! You should have seen the looks on your faces. I'm a kitsune, remember? I play pranks. Where do you think the kit and his vixen got it from? No, the only thing I'm getting is the feeling of having my clone around in the real world. While I do not control it, I can feel what it does. It's sort of an advanced version of you ninja's Kage Bushin. It will satiate my need for stretching my legs outside of the kit's mind. So without further ado…KITSUNE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!"

Kurama made the hand sign that Naruto had made before, and in a puff of flames, standing there was an exact clone of Kurama, except it only had two tails.

Kurama then continued speaking, saying "This clone is unique. As you can see, it has two tails of my power, which is more than enough to take on practically any Jonin. It could even give a Kage level opponent a run for its money. This clone will stay here and deal with any threats to the land of waves. Assuming a Kage doesn't come here and fight, it will last for around fifty of your human years. But by then, your land should have become quite advanced, and hopefully, you will think of starting a ninja academy. My clone could help with that."

Naruto turned to Kurama and said "Well Kurama-sensei, you certainly have been working on your entrances. Using flames instead of smoke is an awesome idea. Do you think you could teach me how to do that with my shadow clones?"

Hinata added a "Me too" and Kurama said "I don't see why not. If your clones appear in a puff of fire, then your opponents might not think that they are shadow clones. By the way, how close are you to getting the fire and wind clones, Naruto? Your vixen already completed her water and fire clones, and has moved on to working with a foxfire clone."

Depressed, Naruto said "I've got the wind clone down fine, it's just my fire clones have the problem of spontaneously combusting, and Hina-chan won't tell me how to get over that problem." He looked at Hinata with his best puppy dog eyes.

Hinata rolled her eyes and said "You know that your Puppy Eyes no Jutsu is nowhere near the level that it would take to affect me, Ruto-kun. I won't tell you. While I may love you, you have to figure this one out yourself."

Kiba then interrupted, saying "Wait, the Kyuubi is your sensei? No wonder why you are so strong."

Hinata rolled her eyes again and said "Of course the Kyuubi is our sensei. If it were anyone else, we wouldn't be anywhere near the level that we are currently at."

Naruto cleared his throat and said to Tazuna "Anyways, do you except the additions we made to the bridge or not old man? We also included several strengthening seals to protect the bridge from blunt attacks and explosions, as well as chakra absorption seals to stop any jutsu from harming the bridge. Both are of the highest level that I can currently do. The only way that I see this bridge being destroyed is if Kurama-sensei used a tailed beast bomb on it."

"I would be a fool as to not accept your additions. My only question is how you possibly got enough stone to make that giant fox statue?"

Hinata giggled and said "Clones are an amazing thing. As are wind jutsus. On a side note, there is now a huge hole in the ground somewhere in the Land of Fire."

Everyone sweat dropped, and Tazuna said "It's getting pretty late, so why don't us all head back across the bridge and get on home? We will have a proper celebration once the ninja come back from a side mission of theirs with a few things."

With that, everyone turned and headed home, leaving Kurama's clone to guard the bridge.

(Tazuna's house)

When everybody got back to Tazuna's house, Kakashi asked Zabuza "When do you plan on going after Gato?"

Zabuza replied by saying "Tonight. We will head out under the cover of darkness. Gato is currently holed up in an underwater base that is located pretty close to here. The passageway that leads to it starts from an "abandoned" shack down in the village. None of the civilians ever go near it because they think that it is haunted. I don't think that that is the case, and I think we should expect our first resistance there. From there, we will follow the passageway to Gato's base, and deal with any resistance there. I expect Gato to be holed up behind his strongest guards."

"Okay, we will wait until the night" replied Naruto.

(1:00 A.M. at the abandoned shack)

Naruto, Hinata, Zabuza, and Haku had just arrived at the shack. They entered it warily, and looked around. It truly looked like it was an abandoned place, with the exception of a trapdoor that looked like it would lead into a cellar. Suddenly, steam began pouring from the trapdoor, filling the room.

Sensing immeadiate danger, Haku shouted "Hyoton: Shouheki-hie!" and formed a dome of ice around the group. The ice dome completed just in time, as all the steam in the room suddenly expanded and exploded, annihilating the shack.

Haku's ice barrier took the explosion, but the explosion had caused the dome to crack heavily, and it was completely melted in some areas. Haku let what was left of the dome turn into water with a splash, and the group looked around warily.

Suddenly a voice rang out as a person walked out of what was left of the trapdoor, saying "Well what do we have here? An ex-member of the seven swordsman, a hyoton user, and two of what Kokuo calls "Hanyou", with one of them being an unsealed Hyuuga, and interestingly enough, the other appears to be the son of my old rival, that bastard of a Namikaze, Minato."

()()()()()()()()

And that's a wrap. So far, I think that that is my favorite cliffhanger that I have done in this story. I am truly evil, leaving you guys off like that. But next chapter will be interesting indeed, with the confrontation with the unknown man not going in a way that you guys might not expect, if you guys can guess who he is. It's pretty obvious, as I gave two huge hints. There will be fighting next chapter, but who fights who is another matter. I honestly can't wait to get the next chapter done, and it has the potential to be my longest chapter yet. I may have to split it into two parts, as there will be four intense fights. We will see Naruto and Hinata using the full power of Soshi Kiba and Nijitanken, as well as Zabuza being a badass, and Haku showing off some very unique Hyoton moves. By the way, Hyoton: Shouheki-hie means Ice style: Barrier-Ice.

Anyways, we still have an omake, so on with that!

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The Wheel of Torture Chapter 11

The root were at their nasty hijinks once again.

So of course their nasty hijinks was treated with a nasty result, courtesy of our favorite wheel of seals.

Today the door read "Crows N' Pits"

Suddenly, the land around the root squad dropped away, leaving them standing on a small island of land, surrounded by a bottomless pit. There was a single poof in the air, and a single black crow started flying at the squad.

Seeing a member of the feathered kind, they immediately panicked. The less experienced root members chose the easy way out, and jumped in the pit, leaving only the team captain remaining.

He braced himself for the worst, took out a kunai, and let it fly at the crow. To his surprise, the crow dropped into the pit after being mortally wounded by the kunai. To his subsequent horror, there was another poof of smoke, and another crow started flying at him. He repeated what he did before, knocking the new crow out of the air.

But of course, there was another poof of smoke, and yet another crow flew at him.

The process repeated again 148 times.

The one hundred fifty first crow started flying at him, and the root captain reached into his pouch for another shuriken, only to find that he had completely used all 50 of his kunai, and all 100 of his shuriken.

So the captain prayed to the log for a quick end as the crow got closer and closer.

The crow slammed into him with a soft "Thump", somehow sending him flying a good 15 feet back, into the abyss.

His screams echoed out of the abyss as the crow poofed away and the pits vanished.

()()()()()()()()

And that's the omake! Special thanks to Rio Vena for suggesting the infinitely respawning crows of Ninja Gaiden. Why the hell does a crow send you flying a good 15 feet back when it touches you anyways? Video game physics, I guess. Infinite respawning enemies are also a bit unfair, especially if they just respawn right in front of your face.

But whatever, until next time,

Slice N Dicer