Naruto: Black Baron of Suna

by Tremor230

AU, OOC, Genderbent Pairing(FemGaara, FemKankurou,Temari)Summary: When Minato was about to seal away the Kyuubi, a rude, vulgar Baron Samedi appeared to give to him and his wife a second chance as parents/guardian of the baby, the first Necromancer to appear after millenniums! how will the Elemental Nation fare against such ancient power? read and you'll know. Rated M for content

8. Final Chapter

I give up! This is the best I can do to close the story, I have re-written this whole chapter a dozen times and never liked the outcome, this is the final version before I admitted defeat, I hope at least some of you will find it acceptable, the closing chapters are the hardest to write.

Sorry if you think this sucks. I am happy if you think this is awesome.

Sorry the wait, but in Life shit happens sometimes BUT I AM NOT DEAD, I AM STILL WRITING! I HAVE NOT ABANDONED MY FANFICS.

Thank you for your patience, here for you the Final Chapter of "Black Baron of Suna", I am surprised to see that a lot of you liked this story and its approach to things, I hope this closing chapter too will be of your liking.

I hope you will continue following me and my old/new stories as well, and thank you again for supporting me.

Pairing: Naru/fem Gaara (Sahara)/ Temari/ Fem Kankurou (Kankuo). I dropped the Naruto/Tenten pairing this time, too many girls otherwise.

"You bastard" - demon talking / jutsu

"Let's finish this" - dialogue

" Can it get any worse? " - during flashback/Thoughts

Disclaimer: I don't own and NEVER will own the material I use/used/ will use and I will NEVER take money for this or anything else I write so leave me alone, lawyers!

Black Baron of Suna Chapter 8: Closure.

Suna – Shop Near the Underworld -

"No, Miss Kobayashi. Your husband's grand-father refuses to tell where he has put those money..." Naruto, in his body as Baron Shi, said sighing to the woman sitting in front of his desk.

"But why?" the woman asked indignant.

"Answer her yourself, I am not repeating that aloud." the Necromancer tiredly answered tapping on his crystal ball.

"I WON'T LET YOU PUT YOUR HARPY'S HANDS ON THE FRUIT OF SEVENTY YEARS OF SACRIFICES!" the spirit inside the thing yelled furious.

"How dare you say that?! That man loved me! It's just proof that you are a fraud!" the woman said huffing furious.

"Not exactly, dear..." the woman's husband muttered meekly.

"What do you mean, Takeshi? Your father never called me Harpy!" she said.

"He...he kind of did use that name sometimes..."

"WHAT?!"

"Actually, the correct name is 'That Bitchy harpy that should just do everyone a favour and shut the fuck up'. It's long, but I find it quite fitting." the Spirit answered amused.

"Just so you know, I have nothing to do with this." Baron Shi rapidly said raising both hands.

"No-no...that's him alright..." the man called Takeshi answered sighing in dismay.

"YOU DAMN OLD PRUNE! WHERE HAVE YOU PUT THOSE MONEY!? I NEED-I MEAN WE NEED THEM!"

"Prrrrrr!" the only answer was just a long raspberry coming from the deceased old man.

"THAT'S IT! I'LL TEAR THE HOUSE APART AND FIND THEM MYSELF!" she answered walking towards the door before Nemesis' hand grabbed her shoulder.

"S.T.A.R.S!" the monster growled.

"My payment, Miss Kobayashi...you seemed to have forgotten, luckily Nemesis was kind enough to remember you, it was a nice thing for him to do, right?" Naruto said freezing the woman cold with a chilling smile.

"Y-Y-Yes...Pay him whatever he wants, Takeshi." the woman answered.

"Mister Kobayashi?" the Necromancer said chuckling.

"I'll pay for her...how much?" the man said in defeat.

"Let her go, Nemesis. Me and Mister Takeshi will decide how much he will need to pay me." Naruto answered.

"S.T.A.R.S!" the undead answered nodding before shoving the woman outside.

"Now that we are alone, anything to say, old man Yama?" Naruto asked to the sphere.

"The money are hidden under the third tile on the right corner of the east-side basement wall, Takeshi. Take them and run away with Kimiko...and do not make that face, I Know you two are all shy looks like two horny teenagers, so take her and go away." the Spirit answered.

"And my wife?" Takeshi asked shocked.

"Fuck that bitch! She remembers me your mother, that's why I hate her. She never wanted to give you a son or daughter either and can only scream instead of talking. Waste of time to weep about abandoning her."

"I-I-I'll think about it, grand-pa..."

"Don't be a wimp like my son was, he got trapped under a bitch's heel and never escaped, whipped so much I am sure his balls simply fell-off after the honeymoon! Free yourself and get the fuck out of this place!"

"Eh! The voice of experience?" Naruto asked laughing.

"Grand-father never was one to sweetening the deal about what he wanted to say..."

"Great philosophy, I'll take fifty Ryous and your wife's ability to scream as my payment. It should make pretty much everyone happy." the Necromancer said.

"You can do that?" Takeshi asked in awe.

"She said you would take care of paying me, it means that you can give me permission to influence her like that. Just write down on a piece of paper what you'll give me and sign it with your full name." Naruto answered.

"Thank you for your generosity, Baron Shi-sama." the man said immediately writing down about money and his wife's ability to scream.

"And remember about Kimiko. Pound that nice piece of ass until she can't walk straight ever again and make lots of brats!" the old man said laughing.

"G-G-GRAND-PA!" Takeshi yelled blushing.

"What a nice grand-father...it is done." the Necromancer said as his hand hovered above the piece of paper until the word 'scream' detached from the paper to fly in his hand to then disappear in wisps of smoke.

"Thank you, Baron Shi-sama...and goodbye, Grand-father. I'll try to make you proud of me." Takeshi said shaking Baron Shi's hand and rapidly leaving the Shop.

"...I hope he won't fuck-up, he is still my son's son after all..." the Spirit said before leaving the crystal sphere to return to the Underworld.

Once the presence disappeared completely the Necromancer gave a tired signal with his hand making Samael and Nemesis nod and walk outside to mount guard on the door; another and a faint tinkling resounded in the main room making Veronica appear from the door to the basement.

"Do you need something, Master?" the human doll asked obediently.

"Some tea would be nice, Veronica. Oolong if you don't mind." Naruto answered cracking his back sighing.

"I'll bring some immediately, Master." she answered bowing.

"Tiring day, my son?" Kushina asked as she and Minato entered the room.

"Boring more likely, I had to deal with people's woes ever since I could understand how my power works, all that whining in the end turned into an infinite buzzing that goes on and on with a new voice joining-in everyday a new client enters here...I am afraid to say this, but I think I really need a vacation." Naruto answered sighing.

"Some calm time spent between us as a family and no work? Sounds lovely! I bet Veronica, Adorea, Tayuya and Anko too would love to relax for a little while without having to worry about the Shop." the woman answered sitting on the arm of his chair to hug him and lean her head on top of his.

"Eh! Baron Shi relaxing...I can't imagine it, I am sorry." Minato said snorting amused.

"I can relax too, thank you." the Necromancer answered.

"Still unable to visualize it, sorry." the Yellow Flash answered waving his son off.

"Master Baron Shi?" a small blue flame said as it entered the Shop.

"Yes, Rin?" Naruto answered.

"Everything is ready, the Neurax has completely took over Obito's body. Yahiko-kun too says that Nagato is moving to dismantle Akatsuki the instant you send the order." the ghost girl answered.

"Sorry if I did that to your friend, but he was beyond saving."

"I know, but part of me wished that we would not have reached this point...I still remember him being the smiling goof-ball that was in our Team." Rin answered sighing.

"...I am too damn good to be a proper Necromancer..." Naruto muttered with a sigh of dismay.

"Baron Shi-sama?"

"Sigh! Once everything is done and Obito is dead I will call him back as a spirit and offer him a second chance as a member of the Shop, hopefully the shock of being dead AND reuniting with you for real instead of an illusory copy of you should shock him enough for him to snap out of his mad dreams..." he said shaking his head.

In answer the flame moved forward with the speed of a bullet to slam on his chest.

"THANK YOU, BARON SHI-SAMA!" Rin cried-out in complete happiness.

"It will be his last chance, should he fail at returning into being a decent human being I will banish his soul to the Underworld never to return, got it?" Naruto pointed out with narrowed eyes.

"I will straight him up, Master! By force if necessary! He will return into being a Good Guy even if I will have to kick his spiritual ass to oblivion night and day without pause! I won't delude you!" Rin answered in determination.

"I'll hold you on that. Now please return to your mission and keep me informed in case of unexpected developments."

"As you wish, Baron Shi-sama...and thank you, for conceding Obito a second chance." Rin answered moving near his cheek in a kiss-like motion before zooming out of the Shop.

"Naru-chan has an heart! Naru-chan has an heart!" Kushina sing-sang while hugging her son tightly.

"Hardy har-har! Very funny, Mother!" Naruto answered grumbling.

"A thing I don't understand thought..." the Necromancer's father asked confused.

"Yes?"

"Can I know why you went through all the trouble to influence Obito like that then if you plan to have him return as an undead later?" Minato asked.

"I did this because while I want Obito to understand how wrong he was in listening to Madara and getting 'brainwashed' by that demented old fool into enacting the whole Biju Hunt Plan, I also need him to attract everyone's attention and to separate him from Nagato so to act undisturbed in the various Villages."

"And you did it. You had your worm use Obito's body to make the Akatsuki declare war on the Elemental Nations and scare Nagato into understanding how foolish he was acting." the former Fourth Hokage said nodding.

"Exactly. But in order to do that I needed Nagato to recognize that Obito was wrong, and possibly crazy, with the added bonus of having him willingly give me his Rinnegan eye for my experiments. So I used Nagato's wish to have Yahiko back to obtain his help against Obito, and in order to do so, I took away Obito's free will to have him appear like a monster and at the same time remove him from the equation without too much of a fuss while scaring Nagato enough to have him ask me for help. Two connected things that could not work without each other." Baron Shi answered chuckling.

"You didn't give him the 'satisfaction' of dying in a battle...That is the initial part of your 'shocking Therapy' to heal Obito from Madara's manipulations!" Kushina said in realization.

"Exactly, he will die not with a roar or a memorable last statement, but with a weak whimper no-one will hear. I find it quite fitting for an hypocrite that didn't plan to have people discovering he was behind everything and letting everybody think Obito Uchiha was still an hero that sacrificed himself to protect his friends. What I did was just force him to show his true colors, what he had become once corrupted by Madara and then shoved it all back to his own face." the blond Necromancer answered shaking his head.

"He will see what he has become ever since that day and simply refused to admit to himself." Minato said gravely.

"I hope so at least, if he is ready to kill everyone on his path in order to cover the world in an endless illusion with him as the only God, he also will have to accept he became a blood-thirsty monster, not a benefactor." Naruto answered

"So, what now?" Kushina asked.

"Dear mother, now I will personally deal with Kabuto, the last piece still on the chessboard. I originally planned to have Sasuke and Itachi fight him, but then I thought that in the end it would have been bad for me not to fight my own battles at least once, so I'll give to our little snake the satisfaction of facing me personally...I will be the one that will strangle the last bit of life out of him with my own two hands."

"Isn't the chess master supposed to stay behind the scenes simply positioning the pieces and watching the others dance to your tune to your heart's content?" Minato asked with a dry chuckle.

"After a while it gets boring, but I can't deny that I still like to nudge things the way I want, just sometimes I prefer to be the one dealing with things...it gives you a completely different sense of satisfaction."

"What about the Raikage?" Kushina asked.

"What about him?" the young man replied confused.

"What have you given him?"

"Oh! That...Just a little help to his poor health; soon his liver will give-in, then his kidneys and then his stomach before finally his life will reach its end...Killer Bee is already getting prepared to take the place of A while the current Raikage is bed-ridden convulsing in pain. I just hope that he will be ready to take the mantle, Huhuhu!" he answered with an amused snort.

"Should someone discover your involvement in this you know there will be troubles, right?" Minato said worried.

"That's why I created this body as a face for Baron Shi and a copy of everything I posses, should this happen the infamous Necromancer will meet his unfortunate demise...or that is what everybody will think, Naruto Namikaze is still an innocent blond young man without ninja training and citizen of Suna after all. I'll just wait for some years and then return as Baron Shi once more, the original trinkets will still be safe as I will just destroy the copies, Huhuhu! Even if I would like to not be forced to fake my death I am ready to do just that if they force my hand." Baron Shi answered chuckling.

"I hope it won't be necessary myself..." Minato said sighing.

"Instead of worrying about me get ready to travel, soon I'll need you two to talk with Tsunade; I need to know how she is holding up and if she needs help in dealing with Hiruzen and the rest of those fossils." Naruto asked.

"I an understand calling the others fossils, but my former sensei is still pretty sharp..." Minato muttered.

"Does he insist on keeping things as they are because convinced his way of doing things is best even if times are changing?" Baron Shi asked with crossed arms.

"...Touché." the Yellow Flash conceded pouting.

"Tayuya and Anko should be close to Rain and meeting Nagato and Konan by now, Master." Veronica said joining the room to stand near the Necromancer.

"Good, Nagato will need to be operated on as soon as he reaches us, his health is a mess and he will need time to recover." Naruto answered.

"I'll prepare the operating room and the guest room, I got it! I got it!" Minato said throwing his arms up in the air annoyed.

"I'll help you, don't worry." Kushina said smirking and accompanying her husband down in the basement of the Shop leaving the Necromancer alone in the wide room with Veronica.

"..." A deep silence reigned in the room after that soon broken by a low sigh coming from the Human Doll standing near the desk.

"Are you sure they won't resent you for your plans for Hiruzen-san, Master?" The human doll asked as soon as she was sure she and her Master were really alone.

"My mother may have less troubles accepting them compared to my father, that's true. But she too might show doubts should she know every detail, Veronica...That's why even they know less than a third of everything I am doing, and not only about Hiruzen and Konoha, can I at least trust you with this?" he answered.

She simply moved to hug him from behind while gently burying her face on his back.

"I am with you, Master. No matter what." she whispered tightening the hug even more.

"Good...And thank you for everything you do for me every day." Baron Shi answered turning around to hug her himself.

None of the two noticed that the door leading to the basement was still slightly open nor they saw the worried look Minato and Kushina exchanged at hearing his words before hurrying to prepare the underground operating room before either Necromancer or Doll could discover their eavesdropping.

Several Hours later – Rain Village -

The Village was still covered in the endless rain that had marked its sky, darkening its very air ever since Pein had took over once killed the former Kage Hanzo; and yet, that very same rain was slowly stopping as unseen by the villagers until the very last moment a solitary sphere of chakra exploded in a blinding light dispersing the clouds.

From the top of the Kage Tower Nagato gave a sad smile before watching his secondary bodies stand immobile while looking at the Village while his true self stood several steps back with Konan standing right besides him and his throne-like chair.

"Are you ready?" Konan asked moving an hand on his shoulder.

"I am. And you?" he replied.

"Everything is ready." the woman answered as with a movement of her hand paper covered one of the 'Six Paths of Pein' like a cocoon.

"At least Yahiko will have his original body instead of a copy. Good." Nagato whispered with a sad smile as the paper cocoon went deposited by the other Paths near Konan.

"You others instead...you are free to go, you can rest in peace." the woman said bowing to the other bodies that reciprocated the gesture before walking towards the border of the rooftop.

"Activate the seals, Konan." Nagato asked.

"Okay..." she answered sending a flash of chakra towards the Five Paths.

"Farewell." the five bodies answered in chorus with Nagato's voice giving a last bow and leaning back until all of them fell from the Tower just as the marking of 'Fire' lighted-up on their chest.

Five balls of fire ignited simultaneously soon turning the Paths to ashes before they could touch the ground but getting dispersed in the wind without traces left behind.

On the top of the Tower -

"Are you two ready?" Obito asked as he walked closer to the duo.

"Yes, what will happen to Rain Village?" Konan asked.

"Someone will need to help them find a new, proper Leader..." he answered.

"I can do that, while we wait for Nagato to recover I'll help the Village to find a new Kage." Konan answered nodding.

"You go with him instead, at least he will have a good incentive to get better. We will take care of helping the Villager to find a new Kage" Tayuya said as she joined the group on the rooftop accompanied by Anko.

"Need some help in taking the body to Suna?" the snake mistress asked bored.

"I'll take Yahiko's body myself, don't worry." Konan answered making the cocoon of paper float near her.

"Handle that cocoon with care, I don't want bruises on my pretty face!" the small flame representing Yahiko's spirit said in mock annoyance.

"Yes, yes..." Konan answered sighing.

"And then we'll talk about those piercings you added without asking permission, they suck." the spirit then said.

"...Toss the body down the Tower, Konan." Nagato said with a serious expression.

"With pleasure."

"HEY! HEY! Okay, I'll shut up!" Yahiko said immediately making the other two snort in amusement.

"So we failed in creating a world of Peace?" Nagato said sadly.

"At least we tried, but hope is not lost. We can still try again once this crisis is over and things calmed down." Konan said sighing.

"We'll need to wait for the various Kage to think the Akatsuki is no more, once enough time has passed we'll restart our work to spread our ideals of Peace...paying attention to not have megalomaniacs join us to twist everything into some sick plan of world domination again." Yahiko said 'looking' at Obito in a meaningful way.

"You know why he did all this, he was misguided." Nagato said.

"He was a blood-thirsty, mad monster."

"But still misguided all the same, maybe he can still be saved." Konan replied.

"I have still some doubts, and I will continue having doubts until I won't be certain he won't try something once our back is turned." Yahiko answered uncertain.

"Then let's hope my cousin is as good as he says to be when dealing with souls." Nagato answered shaking his head.

Back with Obito -

The man was standing immobile while something was clearly moving under his skin before settling back in his head making his face give-off a sudden shudder and an expression of disgust soon dissolving into complete lack of emotions.

"Do you still struggle to control him?" Rin asked as she surfaced from the shadows.

"The body parts he got from Madara to heal his wounds are making things a little harder, but I'll manage to keep him under control until the time is right for him to die as Master commands." the man answered.

"Then go and destroy that Gedo Mazou Statue Baron Shi-sama talked about and kill whatever remains of Madara, Master will take care of his soul, but the body MUST be intact, understood?" Rin ordered sharply.

"Yes, I will do as commanded." the worm-controlled Obito answered.

"Bring the corpse to the Shop once you have done, Baron Shi-sama wants to study it so see to bring enough of that man for him to study. DO NOT fail and absolutely DO NOT damage Obito's body if you can prevent it." the human soul added before disappearing back into the shadows and away from Rain Village.

"As you wish..." Obito answered as his eye generated a vortex to suck his body away from Rain Village.

Suna – Shop Near the Underworld – The next day -

In the complete silence of the Shop Baron Shi moved to clean his desk of everything so to settle the big crystal sphere in the middle of the table and then making every light from the candles die-down so to leave only the pale light from the sphere illuminate his face.

"What's the next step, Master?" Tayuya asked moving closer to him.

"See this crystal ball? Through this I am going to see if dear Hiruzen is where I need him to be, and at the right moment, the wooden arms will do their job." Naruto answered tapping the big sphere of crystal resting on his desk.

"The arms?" the flautist said confused.

"I personally blackmailed the man who created them into adding a very tiny, very special seal on them before shipping them to Konoha, once there Adorea here personally took the place of the ANBU that checked for manumissions, by eating the guy whole for a couple of minutes so to 'copy' his Chakra Signature, and have those prosthetics pass as acceptable and be used by the doctors."

"And what are those seals supposed to do?" Anko asked.

"They contain a very small amount of air...and that air soon will be injected in Hiruzen-kun's veins." he said smirking.

"NO!" Two voices yelled at the same time from behind the door leading to the bedrooms of the Shop.

"You want him to have an heart attack! WHY?!" Minato said with a shocked expression as both parents came running into the room.

"So you and Kushina were spying on me instead of moving towards Konoha as I asked...How very tragic and unexpected. Huhuhu!" Naruto said mockingly.

"Maybe you are going too far, my son..." Kushina said slowly.

"Before throwing around judgements, know that the quantity of air is barely enough to have any noticeable effect; your oh so precious Third Hokage will survive the ordeal as I know his medical history and Tsunade is also present and very close to him as they have been screaming at each other over the past fifteen minutes." the Necromancer answered unconcerned.

"In fact, this will merely be a small scare to finally drive home the fact that he is old and should retire, hopefully making him abandon every role as a shinobi...if not him, then his family should manage to force him to comply, stay put and never again try to have things in Konoha go his way." he then added with an uncaring wave of his hand towards the two undead.

"Oh!...W-we thought..." Minato stammered in surprise.

"You presumed that being a Necromancer and a manipulator meant I would just kill whoever stand in my way...and honestly, while true for certain people, there are few instances in which I am curious to see if I can resolve matters without killing the ones theoretically 'opposing' me."

"I see..."

"Huhuhu! Even if I would like to hear them, I know your excuses for your wrongly jumping to conclusion won't be as heartfelt as they should. But it's okay, even I know that what I am doing is not exactly ethical, but I can't turn back now, doing that would mean simply throwing away every result I got up until now." the young man said shrugging.

"How much do you still need to do?" Kushina asked with a sad tone as she sat on the arm of his seat to hug him.

"Ay is almost dead and Killer Bee has already refused to follow his brother's footsteps in governing Kumo; meanwhile in Iwa Onoki is dead with Kurotsuchi unable to take his place because of the loss of her arm, that and the total lack of faith the population has in her compared to the Tsukikage's successor I 'helped' being selected will make sure my candidate will take the mantle.

Now Kabuto will soon die as well and with him dead and Hiruzen gone I will have removed the worst ones...just two others and I will finally be free to rest a little and let things sort themselves out without my involvement...Just a last victim and a scared old man and I...I will be free." he answered as he tiredly leaned back passing an hand through his hair.

"...He will survive?" the Necromancer's mother asked with a low whisper after a long silence.

"Kushina!?" Minato said shocked.

"He will, I am not so heartless. This wouldn't have happened had Hiruzen stopped trying to force things to remain as they were." he answered moving his hand to rest on top of the crystal sphere and closing his eyes tight in concentration.

"No..." Kushina said gently while lightly grabbing his wrist to stop him.

"He will never understand, he will never stop." Naruto muttered with a low growl in the back of his tone.

"Please." she asked.

"..."

"...I beg you." the woman muttered with a gentle tone and tears falling from her eyes.

"He will destroy everything I worked for! Everything will collapse just because an old fool can't accept that things need to change!" the young man known as the feared Baron Shi yelled in anger.

"That is not true, you said it; you have set things in motion so that they will change by themselves...even if Kabuto needs to die, Hiruzen can still be saved, he can still be spared." the woman tried saying.

"You want to destroy everything I have worked for ever since I became Baron Shi!" He answered with a tired scream.

"If this happens I will accept every punishment you'll deem necessary while you'll fix every damage I have caused...even...even death."

"Kushina..." Anko muttered sadly while Minato simply looked away crying.

"...I hope you know what you are doing." The Necromancer said sighing as he moved his hand away from the crystal ball.

"Thank you!" she answered crushing him in her strongest hug ever while burying her face in his hair to quietly sob in elation.

"It seems that the seals won't be necessary, look." Minato said pointing at the sphere with a relieved expression.

- Konoha - Hokage Tower-

"GET OUT! OUT! I am tired of you, your plans, your trying to have me do things your way, I HAVE ENOUGH! Get out of my Tower and never again dark my doorstep as a member of the staff! You are now on retirement, and I will harshly punish whoever you will try to influence!" Tsunade yelled as she finally snapped.

"You can't! I am-SLAP!" Hiruzen tried saying before Tsunade's hand caught his cheek fully.

"...You slapped me." he said in disbelief.

"You still put Konoha above everything, you are still trying to have Naruto return here even by force and you still see Jinchuuriki as willing sacrifices, you even delude yourself about them being 'happy' of how they are treated...It's time to step down; you did a lot and you saw a lot, but you also made huge mistakes due to the times changing too fast for you to follow." she answered sadly.

"But...but I...I only want what's best for everyone..." Hiruzen muttered weakly.

"Sensei, your 'best' is no longer what this Village truly needs. I am sorry." the woman answered sighing.

"Sigh! Ever since I became Hokage, for all my life, every single waking moment I had I sacrificed it for Konoha. What am I supposed to do now? I can't do anything else, I don't know what else to do." the old man said looking at his wrinkled, trembling hands with a defeated expression.

"There is still Konohamaru..." Tsunade said hugging Hiruzen.

"Konohamaru?" he asked weakly.

"Ebisu is a very good sensei, but maybe having a fellow Sarutobi giving him and his friends some extra pointers will do him good, who knows...if you do a good job maybe joining the Academy as an instructor would do YOU good, we could never find a proper substitute for Mizuki; a traitor he may have been, but he was still one of the best we had." Tsunade offered with a gentle smile.

"You...you would trust me enough to teach the new generations?" Hiruzen asked shocked.

"I know you are a good man at heart, and I want to give you a last chance, I know you can still do some good for Konoha, you just need to remember that times are changing...speak with some of the current Jounin, with the Chunin and the Genin even, talk with the Academy staff. Have people 'teach you' what you missed in those years you have been trapped in this office, please." Tsunade said pleadingly.

"I-I don't know..." the Third Hokage of Konoha muttered uncertain.

"You really want to tell me that 'The Professor' has finally lost his genius mind? Are years catching-up to you perhaps?" the woman asked with a teasing grin.

"WHAT?! Now see here!" the old man hissed with a very red face.

"There is nothing to be ashamed of, sensei. It's normal that by getting old the mind is no longer sharp as it used to be." she said with a nonchalant shrug.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! That's it now, eh?! Let's kick the old monkey away before he makes us look bad by surpassing us! Let's put him in a retirement home because we are young and so hot stuff!" Hiruzen roared angrily with narrowed eyes.

"Now-now, sensei. Getting so angry is not good for your health! You should be careful." Tsunade answered with a barely-suppressed pleased tone.

"It's on! I'll show to you brats how things are done! Get ready to see the next batch of Academy students clean the floor with everyone in the next Chuunin Exams, I am going to beat every academic record ever seen in the Elemental Countries or my name is no longer Hiruzen Sarutobi!"

"As if! I bet you won't last a lesson! Those kids will eat you alive! Hahahaha!" the current Hokage said laughing uproariously.

"Challenge accepted! I bet I will be the best damn sensei ever seen! And if I win you will wear 'Hiruzen Rules!' written on your forehead for a week!" Hiruzen said jabbing a finger on Tsunade's face.

"And if you quit after a single week YOU will get the writing on your forehead and loudly proclaim my greatness to everyone you meet!"

"UGH!...Fine! So be it, I'll show you that old age doesn't mean a thing! I may not know how to be a politician anymore (apparently) but it will be a cold day in Hell before I'll let you all put me aside just like that!" the old man growled as he marched out of the office slamming the door behind himself.

"I can't do better than this, but I'll keep an eye on him all the same. I bet you have something planned for him just in case he steps out of line, but I promise you that he won't be a problem and that there is no need to kill him. Just have faith in me, sensei is just misguided; he can still give a lot, he just needs to learn that his ways aren't always the only good ones." Tsunade said looking up to the ceiling.

"...And yes, for some reason I know you are watching...You are always watching, you nosy Necromancer." she added with a wink and a long laugh.

- Back in Suna - Shop Near the Underworld -

"...Never liked smart-asses." the blond said sighing as he turned off the crystal sphere making the image of the smirking Hokage disappear from its smooth surface.

"But at least you can rest assured that there is someone keeping an eye open to keep Hiruzen under control." Kushina answered with a small smile.

"Yes, I sometimes forget that she is part Uzumaki herself, it's in her blood being stubborn enough to manage that." Naruto answered sighing, smiling as Nagato went moved inside the room thanks to Konan pushing the wheelchair he was stuck on.

"You are recovering well, your skin is even starting to regain some decent human colour." The Necromancer said pleased.

"The very knowledge that those bars are no longer stuck on my back is already good enough for me...thank you, cousin. Not everyone would have helped me after what I have done." Nagato answered with a small bow of his head.

"Family is still family, I may act coldly towards everyone around me, but with my precious people I happen to like being more gentle." the other answered waving him off.

"And we are happy to be considered that important, is there any way we can help you with to repay you?" Konan answered smiling.

"You can repay me by taking care of yourselves so to have Nagato here recover his lost health, that will be more than enough...along with me being the godfather of your first born, of course." Naruto answered, highly amused by the couple's mad blushing.

"I got a message from Itachi and Sasuke, they are nearing the target." Veronica said as she joined the room.

"Good! Have them follow the plan and be careful, he is not as defenceless as it seems."

"Who have you put them against?" Minato asked.

"A guy living far-away. I got a new vision that I am trying to 'kill' even before it starts so I asked around the Underworld and got some details, if everything goes according to plan I'll get a sparkling new specimen to work with, one that I won't feel bad about dissecting." he answered.

"A new specimen? So I can keep my eyes?" Nagato asked hopeful.

"What's with you Eye-related Bloodline Users and being scared of losing them?" the Necromancer asked curious.

"I think everyone would be nervous at the idea of losing one eye, Bloodline or not." Konan answered sweat-dropping.

"Can I at least pull it out, study it and THEN put it back in there?" Naruto asked annoyed.

"...Please no?" Nagato answered unsure while shrinking in his wheelchair like a chastised kid.

"Tch! Can I watch you use the Rinnegan and take notes? Last offer or I will drug you and take an eye myself."

"That I can do!" the other answered with a wide smirk.

"Cough! Cough! Show-off Cough!..." Konan muttered trying to cover it with fake coughs making the man blush in embarrassment.

"Now that everything is well and done, can you two PLEASE go seeing Tsunade? I really need to know how she is doing, no more hidden plans, promise!" Naruto asked annoyed.

"Aye-Aye!" both parents replied annoyed as they left the Shop.

"What now, Master?" Veronica asked.

"You others need to make sure they'll be in Konoha tomorrow, I'll fight with Kabuto and I don't want them to interfere; Veronica will come with me with a spare body just in case I need one to come back."

"Yes, Baron Shi-sama!" Tayuya, Anko and Veronica answered as one.

"Can we help?" Konan asked.

"You two just rest, especially Nagato, I'll take care of everything." Naruto answered smiling.

"Okay..." Nagato answered sighing and falling silent when Konan gave a rapid squeeze to his shoulder.

The next day – Konoha – Hokage Tower -

Tsunade was sitting behind her desk revising her ANBU and spies' reports when Jiraiya made his presence known by knocking at her window.

"Come inside, you fool." the woman answered sighing.

"That's what I always wanted to hear you say, hime...maybe not like this though," the Toad Sage answered grinning as he confidently strode inside the office to sit in front of her.

"The day you will finally grow-up I will throw a party worthy of legends..." Tsunade answered sighing tiredly.

"You know you love me."

"I know I need you as Spy Master. Nothing more."

"Meanie," he answered pouting childishly.

"What do you want, Jiraiya?" the current Hokage asked annoyed.

"Naruto." the other said simply.

"And I want a life-worth of free sake and eternal youth...oh, look! We can't always get everything we want." the woman replied with a mocking snarl.

"Listen, I am tired, I am hungry and honestly I want to take a warm bath more than I ever wanted anything in my life...I need to see Naruto and I know you can take me to him." Jiraiya answered dropping his smile.

"And what do you need him for, exactly?" Tsunade asked leaning forward to better glare at him.

"I want to save him from Baron Shi. I am almost certain that he is behind the changes happening all over the Elemental Countries. Daimyos are switching heirs, small Villages are doing one-eighties in their dealing with each other, even the very Akatsuki that has openly come out declaring war to us has been attacked immediately after with the remaining members getting slaughtered and their corpses burned on top of the Kage Tower in Rain that now is desperately looking for a new Leader! This is not normal! And I KNOW that there must be that Baron Shi behind everything...and I must protect Naruto from that man." the Spy Master answered with narrowed eyes.

"And you have proofs of this being true?" Tsunade asked smirking.

"The Raikage of Kumo Ay is bed-ridden, near death and is right now rambling foaming at the mouth with people unsure about him being sane or completely out of it because of the fever...and BAM! Here comes the younger brother Killer Bee, before now never interested in politics and such, come to the rescue and proposing himself as new Raikage and already determined in bringing changes in pretty much everything in Kumo...even sending back here Hizashi's body with a note asking for forgiveness and promising compensation in the form of the severed heads of the Elders that had the kidnapping plan move behind Ay's back without him knowing, or at least the latter is how we know Killer Bee is trying to play it to save the last remnant of his brother's image..." the Toad Sage said.

"...Okay...go on." Tsunade said uncertain.

"And guess who Killer Bee has meet before deciding right in front of my eyes as I spied on the meeting? Anko! One of the employees of Baron Shi! Another proof? Did you know that Iwa already has a new Tsukikage? And lo and behold, I personally saw that man in Suna asking for a meeting with Baron Shi...he must have talked both into taking those positions! He may also have manipulated the Daimyos! That man is dangerous, and I don't want Naruto near that monster until I will be sure he won't be using him to further his plans!" Jiraiya answered angrily and slamming his fist on the Hokage's desk.

"Why? For the prophesy?" She asked with an accusing tone and leaning back in her seat.

"Screw the prophesy! I am talking about Kushina's son! The descendant of the closest thing to a son I ever had! THE BOY I SHOULD HAVE RAISED BUT NEVER DID!" the man answered screaming.

"That's because you were afraid of the responsibilities of being the boy's surrogate father..."

"M-M-Minato?!" Jiraiya said shocked as he jumped away from the seat to look behind himself and at the smiling faces of the two parents.

"So the little boy finally grew-up, it was about time!" Kushina said with a gentle smile.

"M-Minato!" the Spy Master yelled, surprising the others by hugging the former Fourth Hokage with all his strength and then burst into tears.

"Ehm...I missed you too, ero-sensei?" Minato said patting awkwardly on the man's back.

"Don't call me like that, brat!" the other answered with an expression of pure fondness.

"Does anybody know about your discoveries on Baron Shi's dealings with those people, sensei?"

"No-one yet as I preferred to be the one doing all the digging just in case he had infiltrated my Spy Network somehow, that man has tentacles reaching everywhere it seems..." the Sannin answered shaking his head.

"Can we trust him?" Kushina asked whispering.

"About him desiring the best for Naruto? Yes." Tsunade answered.

"And about Baron Shi?"

"...No. We can't let him know, not for now at least."

"Someday we will tell him." Kushina said nodding.

"When he will be ready to know." Tsunade said sighing.

"How come you two are alive? I thought...I thought you were dead!" Jiraiya said shocked.

"Did they find a body? Traces?" Minato answered.

"No but...What about the Kyuubi?" Jiraiya asked confused.

"Does it really matters? I just woke-up one day near Kushina and found my injuries healed...I know nothing else, but you know where Naruto is hidden? Where is he?" Minato answered grabbing the man's shoulders.

"He must be somewhere in Suna, a man named Baron Shi has took him in his Shop and I can't find a way to contact him without the man interfering..." the Toad Sage answered sadly.

"Tell me everything, sensei." the blond man said with a gentle smile and sending a wink to Tsunade.

"I will, I am sure together we will save hiiiiiiiiimmm..." Jiraiya started saying before collapsing forward and in Kushina's waiting arms.

"Ugh! He weights a ton!" the red-haired woman said with a groan before driving the snoring man on the couch.

"He won't wake up before a couple of hours, this stuff will also give him a deadly headache and hopefully confuse him enough to erase his memories of us talking with him, if not...well, other than you no-one knows we are here, you'll come up with something." Minato answered shrugging and pocketing the empty syringe.

"Yes, leave all the troubles to me, it's not like I will have problems dealing with him, thank you! Can you at least tell me where is Naruto now?" Tsunade asked grumbling.

"Back in Suna, don't worry, he is safe." Kushina answered smiling gently.

Somewhere definitely not even CLOSE to Suna – Cave -

While both Yellow Flash and wife were oblivious of the Necromancer actual position, said young man was walking silently through the long tunnels of a wide, damp cave; his face was not betraying emotions as Naruto (wearing his 'Baron Shi' body) kept scanning the walls for his target.

"So...The great man came personally do meet dear old me?" a disembodied voice asked mockingly.

"You are the very last on my current list of names, and I wanted to be the one crossing you out of it..." the young man replied honestly.

"Huhuhu! So much boldness. And what makes you think you alone will be able?" Kabuto asked as he walked out from a near passage to meet the Necromancer.

"You got what you wanted then, snake man? Orochimaru's rests pilfered from Konoha...Karin's blood...the Sound Four's blood took directly out of storage and Kimimaro's own powers...even those Jugo and Suigetsu you killed after the Invasion for your experiments are somewhere inside your veins...is there ANYTHING inside you belonging to the old Kabuto? Or you are just so pathetically grasping to straws to get an identity for yourself to be ready to Steal other's?" Baron Shi asked chuckling darkly, greatly amused to see Kabuto's eye twitching momentarily to show his barely-suppressed shock.

"...How?"

"How I know all this? My dear boy...I know EVERYTHING!" the Necromancer said with a crazed smile as he opened his arms wide and showing an huge smile of pure fangs and malice.

"Everything?" the other answered snarling and throwing back the hood of his robe to show a snake-like face and scaled skin.

"Ufufufu..." the laugh he got in answer was literally chilling, surprising Kabuto at seeing his breath become actually visible for an instant.

"Poor boy...found as a child by dear Nonō Yakushi on the outskirts of a city recently destroyed in a battle with no memory of your name or past; brought to the Konoha Orphanage where another orphan placed a helmet on your head so you wouldn't be injured again and prompting Nonō to name you "Kabuto" (helmet)...the name of the kid was Urushi, am I right?" Baron Shi asked with an exaggerated unsure tone before laughing again.

"Shut up..." Kabuto hissed clenching his fists so hard to draw blood.

"And those glasses you are wearing and treasure almost more than your won life...Nonō herself gave them to you, she discovered that you couldn't read a clock due to your poor eyesight...soo much sweet for her to do it..." the Necromancer kept saying mockingly, mimicking the act of taking away a tear from his eye while smirking.

"Shut up." Kabuto replied with a growl.

"And then once forced to make Danzo happy and join Root, you got trained in espionage and over the years gained intel for them by posing as a ninja of Kumo, Kiri, Suna, and Iwa...But then a tragedy...While in Iwa,you got discovered and when you managed to injury your attacker...oh! Surprise! You discovered it was the very same Nonō that saved you when you were still an homeless orphan, in truth she too was working for Root...when she failed to recognize you your world came crushing down, right?"

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Kabuto screamed in rage making the other laugh uproariously once again.

"It hurts, doesn't it? To see someone know about you more than you yourself do...what if I tell you that I know WHO you are? That I know your true name? Your origins...Who in the nine circles of Hell your true identity is?! What. Will. You. Do?! BWAHAHAHAHA!" the Necromancer asked opening the front of his cloak to show the chained claws in his hands burning in purple fire-like energy.

"You know nothing! NOTHING!"

"You sure? I know for example that Danzo was the one using altered photos to have Nono fail in recognizing you and Orochimaru himself told you. And yet, even knowing that, to latched to the Snake Sannin promise for an identity and became his loyal right-hand...it's pathetic, I am starting to think I am wasting my time dealing with you myself."

"You really like to rile people, don't you?" Kabuto spat angrily.

"Huhuhu! It's not fun when someone else is the cruel one preying on sensitive topics in order to rile the others up and punctuating his comments with sarcasm, eh? How's being on the other side?" Baron Shi asked amused and not even wincing when a kunai flew towards him hitting his stomach.

"...Dummy organs, I should have remembered. Poison will be useless." Kabuto said chuckling.

"Bingo."

"Then I'll have to be close and personal to get whatever answer you think you have out of you..." the transformed shinobi said bursting forward towards the Necromancer.

"Huhuhu! So here we start then!" Baron Shi said ecstatic crossing his claws to parry the bite Kabuto tried to deliver with his inhumanly-wide mouth.

Sensing a subtle hiss the man instinctively moved his knee up with all his strength nailing the chin of a second mouth sprouting from Kabuto's chest in the form of a giant white snake before pushing his enemy away to take distance.

"Do you like? I am a step close at being perfect! Close at surpassing even the great Sage of Six Paths!" Kabuto said grinning maniacally and tearing away the rest of his robes to show how his whole body was covered by snake-like skin with a long snake coming out from his chest.

"...Change of plans, I am so going to take your whole body back and study it instead of destroy it, you are worthy to be experimented on!" Naruto commented amused.

"Feel free to try!" the other answered grabbing his mouth to literally tore it open and puke a new body, this one with markings around his eyes, the four horns on the back of his head, and brille on his eyes.

"...That's Sage Mode, how did you manage exactly?" Baron Shi asked.

"Huhuhu! Thanks to Orochimaru-sama's blood I could access this training, and with Jugo's Bloodline Ability able to passively absorb Natural Energy I can use this indefinitely! I ascended! I am a snake that had become a dragon!" Kabuto answered proudly.

"No, you are a lizard that pretends to be a Dragon, it's different." the Necromancer said shaking his head in sadness.

"YOU FOOL! If you are so great, THEN DEFEAT THIS!" the man replied moving through hand-seals and blowing-out a massive dragon of red energy.

"SAGE ART: WHITE EXTREME ATTACK!" Kabuto said as the dragon started spinning on itselfand around the black sphere it held in its hands until it got compressed into a small ball.

"Uh..." the Necromancer had the time to utter in mild surprise before a deafening explosion followed by a blinding white light engulfed everything.

"It's a jutsu that uses light and sound to impair vision and hearing, that causes air to oscillate! It paralyzes the senses, freezing movement...unless you are a snake with the ability to turn its body to water, like me." the Snake Sage thought smugly as he ran towards the immobile Necromancer with his hands covered in the chakra scalpel technique.

"Dance of the Shikigami!" Konan yelled as a spear of paper launched towards him forced Kabuto to jump away from Naruto.

"I can turn my body into paper...sound and vibrations can't hurt me in this state." the woman said sweeping near Baron Shi with her wings of paper opened fully.

"And your eyes and ears?" Kabuto asked sneering.

"Made of paper, Kabuto, irises and timpani are transformed as well so I use chakra-sensing techniques to 'see' the world around me; I memorized your position the moment you initiated the jutsu and figured the shortest route you would have taken to attack Baron Shi before the jutsu could expire. I convinced him to let me help in removing you from this world and it's finally time for me to join the fight." the woman answered returning to normal as soon as the jutsu died-down.

"You okay?"

"My ears are still ringing, but it will pass soon, thank you." the Necromancer answered grateful.

"Huhuhu! Put against two people able to read their enemies' souls at first glance and use what they learn against them, woe's me!" Kabuto answered resuming his attack.

"Annoying," Konan muttered in disdain as a wave of her arm launched an hail of paper cranes cutting everything on their path to shreds.

"Everybody's Grudge!" Baron Shi followed immediately grabbing the lantern hanging from his side and swinging it to summon a wall of moaning spirits to join the paper projectiles.

"You think a makeshift team of two can outwit my perception skills? FOOLS!" the snake-man answered mockingly as he moved to run on the cave's ceiling without breaking his stride to dodge the incoming attack.

"Got him!" Konan said as parts of the ceiling 'peeled off' revealing several dozens explosive notes masquerading as part of the cave.

"NNNNNGH-RAAAAAH!" the Necromancer added sending the chained claws in his hands deep underground where they sank like in water at the same time the various bombs detonated covering everything in smoke.

As the smoke cloud slowly settled an upside-down Kabuto could be seen dangling from the ceiling covered almost completely in a cocoon of chains leaving only his bleeding head out with blood slowly dripping from a deep cut on his forehead.

"Dead?" the woman asked.

"No, he is still alive and playing some kind of unfunny joke on us." Baron Shi replied constricting the chains.

"...You really are no fun, Baron Shi-kun..." Kabuto answered amused as his body 'melt' like water to pool on the floor where it re-compacted into his already-healing body.

"I am actually glad you stole all those abilities, it will make capturing you alive easier," Naruto said chuckling himself.

"If only someone like you two had any chance against me, I would almost believe you..."

"It's a pain listening to him." Konan said annoyed as her wings reappeared behind her back.

"Bad Guys always love to hear themselves talk, it's part of their charm." the Necromancer answered recalling the claws in his hands and taking a fighting stance.

"RAAAAH!" Kabuto screamed thrusting his chakra-covered hand forward and meeting the chains around the claws half-way to their owner's throat.

"I cannot be killed, how do you plan to stop me?" he asked flicking out his snake-like tongue before attacking with his free hand.

In answer the Necromancer's free hand grabbed the Kabuto's at the wrist making the chakra-scalpel in there die-down rapidly.

"I plan to absorb you Life-Force until you drop down in a coma, lizard-boy, that's how!" the other answered in glee.

"Argh!" Kabuto growled in surprise and using the snake on his chest to attack Baron Shi forcing him to let go of his arm.

"I admit I underestimated that particular ability of yours." Kabuto spat-out bitterly.

"You all do, you people seem to focus only on chakra and forget that Life Force is not exactly the same thing," Naruto answered jumping away from the man.

"Then let's see how your powers work on this! Senpou: Muki Tensei! (Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation)" The Snake Sage said clasping his hands together and sending an intense pulse of chakra through the whole cave making it tremble violently.

"Turn to paper, this will get messy really soon!" Baron Shi yelled as every stalactite and stalagmite, every rock and every centimeter of both floor and ceiling of the cave moved as if alive mimicking a giant mouth to converge on the two.

"I am a Sage! And this Jutsu brings the Lifeless to Life and allows me to control them!" Kabuto said smugly.

"Ufufufufu..." an amused laugh was not what he expected from his target in answer to that statement.

"And I am a Necromancer...My realm is the one of Death! And contrary to amateurs like you and Orochi-kun that can show minor control over its realm, people Born with this Gift like me can do even more, with a mere touch..." Baron Shi answered.

"What?"

"I never thought I would have been forced to use the power of 'The Hand'..." the Necromancer said sadly as he grabbed the wrist of his right hand with his left one making it rot down to the bone.

"Sigh!...Akuma No Migite. (Right Hand of the Devil)." he said touching the ground in front of himself with his skeletal hand and launching a short 'pulse' of black energy that covered everything but somehow 'missed' Kabuto and Konan.

In an instant every form of 'Life' that was in the cave shriveled down to nothing making the moving rocks animated by the Sage Jutsu crumble to dust and return dormant like they were before.

"What have you done..." Kabuto asked whispering at seeing bugs, rats and other small critters briefly convulse before rotting instantly until reduced to ashes.

"As I said, I am a Necromancer...if I want, everything I touch dies in an instant without excuses unless I am dealing with deities. Your Sage Arts may instill Life in things, but my Dark Arts can take that life away and make everything rot instantly, even jutsu, even Chakra! Of all people you could meet, I am your worst enemy, your utter reflection." Baron Shi answered while somehow moving around the skeletal hand like it was still 'Alive'.

"Huhuhu! Nature Energy of the Sage...Against the Death Energy of the Necromancer, it's almost poetic! But I am the embodiment of perfection! The sum of Lord Orochimaru's research brought to it's extreme and refinem-URGH!" what the other was about to say went cut short when several needles of paper pierced his throat and lungs along a chain sinking in his stomach.

"You talk too much." Konan said briefly and launching other paper-made senbon in the man's hands blocking his next jutsu.

"For your information, my Right Hand of the Devil briefly 'Killed' your senses enough for my chains to sneak-up on you. How? Simple, the feeling of Death is an all-powerful sensation that occludes even the sharpest mind, once the technique started your instincts were all focused on somehow dodging the pulse without knowing that I could just stop it from harming you, and even if in Sage Mode Nature Energy becomes an extension of the User's senses, if for a brief instant that Energy too is killed the Sage turns blind." Baron Shi explained sighing.

"You...killed the Nature Energy inside the cave?!" Kabuto wheezed out.

"For an instant, I more exactly created a moment of 'vacuum' the size of this place with my attack, the whole planet's reserves just rejuvenated the area as soon as I stopped; if you didn't de-transform was just because you still had reserves of your own inside you that had not been touched directly by my technique and that 'blindness' paired with your sensed being overwhelmed by the feeling of Death got you caught." he answered.

"But...but I..."

"But you are perfect? Perfection does not exist, and never will. Believing otherwise it's just wishful thinking worthy of a small kid still ignorant of how the world really works." Konan answered shaking her head.

"Then...who am I?...What am I? If I can not be perfect what does it leaves me with?!" he asked.

"You are nothing, and if you keep this up you WILL be nothing for the rest of your life. You won't have a thing, you won't feel a thing and you won't achieve a thing unless for once in your life you look into your own very soul. But let me tell you this as someone that can actually already see inside your Soul...it's not a pretty spectacle, especially after all you did to yourself." Naruto answered grimacing with a sad expression.

Said this the snake on Kabuto's belly seemed to inflate until the upper-half of an human body emerged from it to glare at the duo.

"That must be the embodiment of Jirobo's abilities you took from him..." the Necromancer said using the skeletal hand to grab the copy's neck making it shrivel.

"Tayuya..." Baron Shi said sighing as the body tried to shift into a copy of his own Staff Member.

"...And you?" he asked amused as a new face emerged trying to pierce his chest with spears of bone made from human ribs forcing him to jump away.

"Kimimaro..." Kabuto said weakly before that copy too died down.

"Curious fact, my Hades Claw is acting as 'bridge' between you and me, I can either absorb your Life Energy or just dissipate it, and since your Unlimited Sage Mode can help you stay alive, I can stay here for days slowly sapping away your very spirit until you finally drop down and admit defeat, and I am a patient man." Naruto said chuckling darkly.

"You are a monster..."

"No, Kabuto-kun. I am the Devil." the other answered whispering coldly.

"Orochimaru...sama..." Kabuto tried saying making a copy of Orochimaru's face surface and twist in a grotesque human-faced snake.

"You copied your mentor, nothing wrong in that; but trying to turn into a copy of him is sick, boy." Baron Shi commented sighing as he moved closer to the other.

"He is...inside me...finally..." the mutated ninja said weakly.

"There is nothing wrong in being like that, but word it differently, otherwise I will think your interest in Orochi-kun was more physical than what I thought." the Necromancer answered chuckling and moving an hand on the man's forehead.

"I just want to be who...and what I am..." Kabuto whispered as the horns on the top of his head slowly sank back inside his head and the marking around his eyes slowly faded away.

"Then acknowledge yourself instead of wearing someone else's face as a mask." the other replied making Kabuto slump forward in his waiting arms now back into his 'normal' form before he entered Sage Mode.

"You are absorbing his Sage Chakra?" Konan asked.

"No, he can replenish his reserves passively thanks to Jugo's Bloodline. I am 'sealing' it by weakening his Life Force to make his body unstable enough for me to temporarily seal away its connection with Nature Energy." the Necromancer answered.

"What about your Bloodline Killer Virus?" the woman replied.

"I have not some with me, but once back home I'll use it, it should return him into an human by killing the modifications he made to himself by erasing those artificial Bloodlines he made for himself."

"Let's go home then, we still have a lot of things to do." Konan said covering the fainted Kabuto in Chakra-suppressing seals.

Sometime later – Suna – Shop Near the Underworld - Epilogue -

Time had passed, months in which every Village big and small kept looking their backs in distrust waiting for an eventual return of Akatsuki after their apparent disappearance, but once almost an year had finally passed since the last sighting of any cloud-decorated cloak things finally started setting down.

Kumo had finally elected Killer Bee as Raikage as soon as Ay's conditions had pummeled to near-death levels making even that strong-willed man pass-over his title, the man's death happening the very next day after the Hachibi Jinchuuriki's 'coronation' as Raikage dampened fiercely the joy for a new Leader, but the parting words of pride Killer Bee heard his brother say gave him the strength to continue with his plans of innovation; along a surprising offer of alliance with Konoha to forget their past issues and start anew.

Iwa had been in turmoil for months as internal fight between the supporters of Kurotsuchi (Onoki's niece) and the ones supporting a young man called Morinosuke (one of Baron Shi's past costumers the Necromancer himself convinced to propose as Onoki's successor) as their possible new Tsukikagethat ended in a three-months-long complete lock-down of the Village lasting until the latter was chosen out of desperation once Kurotsuchi's falling ill left them with no other proper candidate.

If Naruto really hated something, that was waiting uselessly for something simple to happen, may it be instant Ramen getting ready or people choosing a new Village Leader between a power-hungry spoiled brat and a man with actual Political training that wasn't "Attack everything that we don't like or isn't from Iwa", so he saw necessary help things along his way. The girl survived her illness by the way.

Mist had long since decided to a more "Pacifist" outlook of things since their continue and long bloodline purges, high number of missing-nin produced, lost of Jinchuuriki and violent history had left them crippled enough to be a step close at losing the title as 'Major Shinobi Village' helped by the new Daimyos finally sitting on the thrones of their fathers and pushing for having their territories to flourish instead of simply trying to enlarge their borders.

All that mattered little to Baron Shi now, he had his Shop to manage and he had already lost enough time in stopping what Visions and Spirits had warned him being the 'wrong people' from being in charge for him to continue keeping everything under watch; it was now those peoples' job to make sure a form of something similar to Peace could be achieved in the next several years in their society.

"Thank you again, Baron Shi-sama!" the man in front of the Necromancer said with a grateful bow.

"Think nothing of it, now go and make my prediction come true, have that baby boy soon!" Naruto said smiling deviously with his black-haired body.

"We will, Baron Shi-sama!" the man's wife answered as both exited the Shop smiling wide.

"Busy as always?" Kankuo asked as she and Temari entered barely few minutes after the couple left.

"My job never ends, but at least for now I am sleeping well as no visions have popped-up yet." he answered cracking his back with a groan.

"I am happy to hear that." Temari said moving to sit on his lap.

"Make room!" the girl's sister said grinning as she sat on the arm of his chair at his other side.

"You are using Sahara's being indisposed to its fullest potential, eh?" the Necromancer asked amused.

"She is about to give birth and Shukaku and Karura will literally tear to shreds whoever comes too close, only Minato and Kushina can stand by her just because both can check on the Seal holding both inside our sister." Temari answered.

"My offer is still valid, I can easily create a body for your mother's soul to transfer on." Naruto offered.

"Wait once the baby is born, then once Sahara recovered we can do that." Kankou answered.

"No news from Konoha?" Temari asked.

"I have to meet Jiraiya and Tsunade in ten minutes, the man insist in meeting me at all cost, both me and Tsunade are tired of saying no to him so I'll have to." the Necromancer answered sighing.

"Need some help?" Kankuo asked worried.

"I can deal with this myself, don't worry. Just warn Sahara-chan that I'll be there shortly once I have done with them to greet our daughter." he answered chuckling.

"We will be going then, Bye!" the puppet user said kissing his cheek before hopping down from his chair.

"Take care and don't let those people from Konoha mess with you." Temari added giving her own kiss to him.

"I will." the Necromancer answered while waving at the two retreating girls.

"We are ready to intercept them should they try something, Master." Veronica said walking up to stand at the young man's side.

"Yep! Going to kick their ass if we need to!" Tayuya added taking her flute out and moving in a corner.

"Ditto!" Anko said winking and taking the other corner of the room.

"S.T.A.R.S!"

"Grrrr!" both Sammael and Nemesis added standing at the sides of the entrance.

As on cue a light knocking was heard coming from outside making the various guards tense.

"Come in!" the Necromancer said sighing and welcoming with a nod both Toad Sannin and Hokage of Konoha.

"Good evening!" the Slug Princess said with a gentle smile and a small bow of her head.

"Good evening, you two requested a meeting with me, can I ask why?" Baron Shi said curious.

"I needed to talk with you, Naruto." Jiraiya said smirking.

"...Come again?"

"I don't know how you did it, but I know you must be Baron Shi. There is no other explanation." the Toad Sage answered smugly.

"Uh...Let's say that you are right, how did you come to the conclusion that I am Naruto?" Baron Shi asked.

"You told me. The first and only time I got here, when we talked in that 'Inner Universe' of yours." the old man answered while he and Tsunade moved to sit in front of him at his desk.

"Oh, really? Do tell!" the other asked greatly amused.

"Taking everything separately you just killed a bunch of criminals, talked this or that Daimyos into choosing a son/daughter over another as their successor and so on so forth...But in truth you just switched threats in the cloth!" Jiraiya said ecstatic.

"Eh?" Tsunade said confused.

"The Prophesy of the Toads, they said that a shinobi would have destroyed or saved the Shinobi world. When you came to Konoha for the Chuunin Exams you said it to me: By weaving we cross a thread with another joining the weft to the warp and obtaining what we call cloth. If we then pull the threads out of the weft we will undo what we have interwoven without obtaining anything different, the cloth was undone without being cut or burned...and like this, without destroying and without re-creating, the destroyer of the World can become the Great King of Creation..."

"And what would that mean?" The Hokage of Konoha asked crossing her arms.

"I thought that the way our world was was the only way possible for things to work, instead he moved from the shadows to remove the 'Bad Threads' (wrong people in charge) from the 'Weft' (Elemental Countries) making everything seemingly crumble, but now things are slowly getting back together with a new version of the 'Cloth' (Peace) already appearing at the horizon...Naruto destroyed the Old Shinobi World so that a New One could be created. As he said years ago, to create something sometimes one needs to destroy what was there before!" Jiraiya answered laughing.

"I am glad my predictions showed-up as being true once again." the Necromancer said sighing.

"Yes, I am actually enjoying having a Daimyo actually spending some time helping me with Konoha and surrounding territories...but how do we go from that to Baron Shi-san here being Naruto?" Tsunade asked with narrowed eyes.

"He must be Naruto for a simple reason, in order to do all this Baron Shi MUST be the child of Prophecy the Toad Elder pointed me towards," Jiraiya answered.

"Nothing else?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"...Sigh! And Tsunade told me last week during one of her drunk ramblings while we had a private celebration for her birthday..." the Toad Sage added with a low grumble.

"...Oh..." the Necromancer could only sag a little at hearing that.

"Sorry..." Tsunade muttered while looking down with a furious blush of shame on her face.

"Almost twenty years of cover operations, tons of fake leads to cover any possible trace, hundreds of fake traces purposely left behind to create a believable backstory and dozens of people killed to keep my identity as Baron Shi hidden...and you blow it for a shot of sake too many?" Naruto asked with a defeated sigh while massaging his temples.

"I am ashamed of myself." the woman replied shrinking further in her seat.

"HEY! I never said I was going to splatter your secret everywhere! I am actually here to congratulate with you and say that I am proud of you for escaping even my spy network and fool me personally for all those years! I'll keep the secret!" Jiraiya said immediately at seeing Tsunade ready to burst to tears.

"And what do you want in exchange?" Naruto asked between clenched teeth.

"...Can I be the baby's godfather? I never had the chance to be yours so I would like to have another shot at it..." the Toad Sage asked blushing.

"...That's it?" he asked genuinely shocked.

"Yes." the old man replied shrugging.

"What about Konoha?" the Necromancer asked.

"The Village is still standing, its people is happy and safe, we have an alliance with Suna and Kumo with Mist seriously considering signing one with us along Spring Village, Hiruzen-sensei himself never was as Happy as I last saw him when working as Academy instructor and Tsunade finally accepted to go on a date with me...Really, other than that and finally reconnecting with Nagato, Konan and Yahiko I don't really need anything else to be happy." Jiraiya answered honestly.

"Sigh! Contact Rain Village. Yahiko as just become their Kage with Konan and Nagato acting as his counsellors, they'll be happy to hear about you once again, just contact Yahiko first as the other two are at the moment hell-bent in having their second kid so they may be too busy to answer your letters." Naruto answered sighing.

"Oh! Thank you!" the Toad Sage said smirking happily.

"Am I still in trouble?" Tsunade asked whispering.

"Yes." was the bitter answer.

"I thought so...I'll promise I'll keep my mouth shut regarding you from now on." the woman offered.

"I'll use a secrecy Seal just to be sure." the Necromancer answered making her shoulders drop in defeat.

"Okay..."

"What happened to the Akatsuki?" Jiraiya asked changing topic.

"Well, since you are part of my conspiracy...here is Madara." Naruto said moving towards an hidden cabinet to take a giant jar and move it on his desk to show a severed head floating in a green liquid.

"Ugh!" both Sannin moaned in disgust.

"Then we have Kabuto." the Necromancer kept saying positioning another jar with a severed head near Madara's.

"And then we have Obito, whose body is in hibernation while we wait for Rin to finish rehabilitating him."

"Rin? Obito? Kakashi's dead Teammates?" Jiraiya asked shocked.

"Exactly them, the girl is helping me teaching Obito he was wrong in joining Akatsuki after faking his death."

"And where are those two now?"

"Both spirits are in my basement." Naruto answered.

Basement – in the meantime -

Two translucent human-shaped spirits could be seen standing in front of a giant blackboard.

"AGAIN!" Rin barked slamming down the wooden sword in her hands.

"Sniff! Please no! My hand will fall off!" Obito answered whining.

"I said again! You still need to write it other five million times!" the ghost of the girl replied swatting the back of his head.

"Okay...I will never listen to a megalomaniac and take part to a plan for world domination... I will never listen to a megalomaniac and take part to a plan for world domination..." Obito repeated while writing said words on the blackboard.

"And after this, other three hours kneeling on frozen peas while I read aloud 'Yaoi-Yaoi Paradise'!" Rin added.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" the dead Uchiha man screamed in horror as fat tears of sorrow and agony escaped him.

"Then next time you'll think twice before getting brainwashed by a weird old man, now shut up or I'll once again force you to write on the blackboard while listening me telling you in how many ways Baron Shi-sama pleasured me that time he got poisoned by his fiancées' aphrodisiacs overdose!"

"AAAAAAAAAH!"

Back with the Necromancer and the Sannin -

"She will straight him up, even if it will take her thousand of years." Naruto said.

"If you say so. A last thing before we join Sahara-san at the hospital...what happened to Sasuke and Itachi? When they finally returned to Konoha both were found near the gate a step close at dying and showing clear signs of fatigue." Tsunade asked.

"Oh, that! In exchange of my permission to return to Konoha..."

"Your permission?" Tsunade said with narrowed eyes.

"I had their mother's soul as an hostage, in that moment for those two 'Mama Boys' I was the most influential man in the Universe." the other answered.

"Yeah, we all got an heart attack at seeing Mikoto Uchiha run through the streets of the Village asking for medics for her injured sons...what had those two do?" Jiraiya said.

"Nothing much, I got a vision about a man trying to slam the moon on our planet as a form of revenge...I had the two Uchiha brothers sneak in his palace on the moon with the excuse of them being emissaries of our world submitting to him." Naruto answered shrugging.

"And?" Tsunade asked worried.

"The drug I made specifically for him took a little longer than anticipated to have effect so they had to fight with him long enough for it to finally kick-in and make him drop down unconscious. I guess Toneri-san was just a little stronger than what the three of us thought. But At least now I have him strapped in my laboratory in a perpetual state of sleep for me to dissect all I want." the Necromancer answered unconcerned.

"Both brothers had been in a coma for three months...their heart stopped several times the first week alone and I had to reattach Itachi right leg and submit Sasuke to liver transplant after he got his tore off..." Tsunade said in a deadpan tone.

"But both are alive and well now, I can't see where is the problem."

"...Forget it, let's just go see your future daughter before I say something I will regret." Jiraiya said with a growl standing up from his seat.

"Okay. But remember that I will still seal away your knowledge about me being Baron Shi so to stop you from unknowingly blow my cover."

"Aye-aye! Just move your ass!" Tsunade answered uncaring as she and the Toad Sage moved towards the door.

"I am coming, let me put those jars away!" Naruto answered chuckling as he returned the two glass containers inside the cabinet.

"There! Near that strange woman with three eyes I found sleeping inside the Gedou Mazou...a pity she never woke-up, I wonder what it would have took, but her body sure is interesting." the Necromancer muttered to himself looking a last time the long-haired head floating in the green liquid before closing everything to join everyone at the hospital to finally see his daughter join the world as he had predicted.

A short pause from being Baron Shi was his right, the world will have to stay without him for a day as he had to be a father, after all, he had all eternity to help things from afar in having Peace finally come and stay, being a Master of the Arts of Death certainly helped ignoring such pesky things as "Death" and "Old Age" so to keep doing his job as the owner of 'The Shop Near the Underworld'.

And he had no intentions to die and let his work go to waste, same going for his three fiancées, his parents and his guards, dying was just not their family's style.

Omake – Why Baron Shi's children will NEVER be kidnapped -

"So you are not afraid of leaving your children with Sahara, Temari and Kankuo in the Kazekage Tower?" Tsunade asked curious during her monthly visit to the Shop.

"Nope! Not since I have found a new Wet Nurse to help them dealing with the kids." Naruto answered smirking.

"Huhuhu! A girl from Sahara, a boy from Temari and twin girls from Kankuo...a lot of mouths!" the woman said laughing.

"Luckily the four of us work and earn enough, the new nanny helps a lot as well in protecting the kids and keeping them in check whenever no-one of us can actually stay with them." Naruto answered.

"And where did you find such phenomenal wet nurse?" Tsunade asked.

"In the Underworld of course! I had to strengthen her a little and make her immortal just because I am paranoid, but she had already demonstrated to be ready to die in order to protect her charge, so I know she will do a good job. Especially since she owes me for bringing her back to life." the Necromancer answered.

"And what's her name?" Tsunade asked curious.

"She never told me, so I just call her with the name of the kid she used to guard before dying." Naruto answered shrugging helplessly.

"Which is?"

"I call her 'Mergo's Wet Nurse'..." the Necromancer answered shrugging.

Meanwhile – Kazekage Tower – 'Nursery room' near Sahara's Office -

Three Missing-nin had finally managed to sneak inside the small room that had been created near the Kazekage office holding the playpen with the four kids of the three sisters that were at the moment sleeping soundly without a care in the world.

"Here they are..." the boss of the small group said whispering in delight.

"Now grab them and ask for our ransom." one of the other answered rubbing his hands together.

It was in that moment that the room plunged in complete darkness and a barrier appeared around the kids protecting them thanks to apply created seals.

"What the..." the boss of the Missing-Nin had the time to say before a long blade pierced his stomach cutting his body in two vertically.

"Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa..." the other men muttered in absolute horror as a terrifying creature appeared between them and the still sleeping kids (unaware of anything happening thanks to the Sound-proof barrier around them.)

The Creature Baron Shi had chosen to guard his precious children was a strange towering creature with six skeletal arms and two black tattered wings garbed with a long dress and various jewels resembling that of a noblewoman with the dress hood stretched over an apparently invisible elongated proboscis-like head giving the impression of the head-piece moving by itself.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the men present could only scream in complete horror as the monster showed the wicked six curved swords it was holding in its hands while its appearances alone was tearing their minds to shreds because unable to even comprehend her existence.

"KYAAAAAAAAAH!" the Wet Nurse replied to their scream by launching an ear-piercing shriek as her battle-cry before pouncing on the intruders with inhuman ferociousness.

Not before tugging the sheet around the kids a tiny bit more, that damn window had such a nasty draft passing through it, she'll have to remember to tell her Master about it once done dealing with the intruders and the diapers of the babies...

This is it, another story completed, I am shocked to see another one reach its end, but I can't pretend to leave all of them on-going just to not see them end, am I right? XD.

About the Kabuto fight, I used the Anime version of his fight against Itachi and Sasuke, in that too there was very little action between the LONG moments of exposition about plans, lies, Sharingan abilities and Kabuto's own experiments on itself; I pretty much used the same "Amount of action" as the original, so I don't feel guilty.

You wanted NAruto to show-off how strong he was as a Necromancer? here it is XD.

As usual I thank you all for reading my works no matter their flaws and sub-par grammar, I'll see you all around the net.

Have a nice day.

Tr230.