Naruto: The Final Hokage of Peace

by Valnaern

What if Kyuubi was not as evil as everyone says? What if Itachi Uchiha said completely different words to Sasuke when he killed the Uchiha clan? What if Sakura wasn't as useless as she usually is? What if Naruto awakens bloodline, which will change his life? Strong Naruto with different Rinnegan. Read the story as Naruto becomes the Hokage and leads the world to PEACE.

10. Chapter 9 MotSaP

The next chapter is here! It is shorter than the previous one but I hope it's good nonetheless. So what Orochi-teme summoned? Read and find out.

-I want to explain one thing though, in case someone was wondering - Orochimaru didn't use an ordinary Kuchiyose. He summoned the creature via the scroll. Basically the creature was sealed in the storage scroll which was designed and created using the summoning contract's idea - a realm was created within the scroll and the beast was tied to the Orochimaru, which means that the creature had to obey Orochimaru's commands once it's free from the scroll. Think of that scroll as prison of kinds. It will be further explained later in the story.

-Another important thing. I noticed in the few last chapter that I made team 7, especially Naruto, a bit too powerful. I did it unintentionally - it just happened. To make up for that and keep the balance, starting from next chapter I gonna make enemies much stronger as well - to match Naruto and his team and to make balance.

I didn't get much reviews for last chapter, which is kind of weird. It's weird because I get a lot of reviews for a small chapters yet for an extra long chapters with a hell lot of action in it I get only few ._. Well, the purpose of this story is to entertain you, my readers, so I'm not sad or anything about it. Just curious.

Other thing I wanted to mention - those who favorited and follow me as a writer, check out and follow my facebook page (further info in my profile + link). It's quite new so it's mostly empty now. I think no author have done it before so I figured I could try it for the reasons listed in my profile here. I can just say it's a great way to stay in touch with you, my few readers, and to keep you updated about my stories.

And another note - check out my brother's story - Naruto The Wielder of the Penta (name: Misteryo211). And the link for this story - s/9109969/1/Naruto-The-Wielder-of-The-Penta (put the link after the fanfic [dot) net) The story is new, but it starts interestingly and he might use some support.

Well, my ranting finished and on with the story!

---

Chapter 9

Manifestation of the Soul and Pain

Previously...

"Force of Unchanging Reality!" Sakura whispered and the air around them twisted a bit before returning to normal.

"How much time 'till the genjutsu wears off?" Sasuke asked.

"You have about 2 hours to safely get in and out." Sakura answered.

Naruto nodded and said, "Let's go, Wahoki-san."

---

"Who are you and what do you want from me?" Sakura hissed as she held her kunai close to the pursuer's throat.

"Fine, fine. You got me, Sakura." the pursuer answered. It was actually a girl. A young girl. "You can take your kunai off me."

Sakura wasn't so trusting though. "I repeat: who are you and what do you want?"

The girl in front of Sakura sighed. "I'm Alicia Tsukiko, just Alice to friends."

---

"This is good luck!" Wahoki quietly exclaimed and got out from the corner and went back to the doors.

"Yeah..." Naruto sighed as he followed Wahoki. He was all sweaty from the stress. "He even left the door open!"

"Here they come." Alicia said when she saw numerous figures appearing in the distance.

"Are you worried?" Naruto asked.

"A little bit. You?"

The blonde boy nodded "Only arrogant fools wouldn't be worried."

---

Kakashi whispered to his other two teammates. "On three, I will execute my part in the plan. Then you jump in and kill as many as you can while they are confused. Try to focus on the jounin first."

Sakura and Sasuke nodded their heads in silent agreement.

All of them heard numerous distant steps of enemy ninjas.

---

Naruto landed and let out sigh of relief. Finally it was done. He looked around and saw countless dead bodies and pools of blood around the field. Slowly he became a bit sick and guilt came over him.

"I killed so many people today..." Naruto thought.

"That's the result of war, kit, though in actual war it would be much more terrible." Kyuubi said sadly.

He started to make his way towards Alicia when suddenly a 'poof' was heard and a large cloud of smoke erupted in the center of the village. A loud roar shattered the air...

---

Now...

-Naruto and Alicia-

Another roar.

"What the hell?" Naruto shouted and ran towards the village.

"Be careful, kit, I sense some bijuu chakra!" Kyuubi shouted in Naruto's mind "It's faint but it's still there."

Naruto abruptly stopped "Demonic chakra? Is it even possible to summon a bijuu? What the hell is happening here?"

"As far as I know I'm the only bijuu who can be summoned because me and my kin are tied to the summoning contract. And it's not the bijuu who is currently in the village. It has some leftover bijuu chakra but it still is not a bijuu. From what I can tell, it has about one sixth or seventh of Ichibi's chakra. Weak but might cause trouble nonetheless."

Naruto nodded in understanding and ran towards village again. He finally saw Alicia standing not far from the wall and looking into the cloud of smoke with confused face.

"Alice!" Naruto shouted "What the hell happened?"

Alicia shook her head when she heard Naruto's question and when Naruto got closer, she answered "I-I don't know. Someone summoned that thing. I still can't see what's in there because of the cloud of smoke but I can tell you for sure that whatever creature was summoned, it's in great pain, sorrow and despair." Alicia let out a hard sigh and whispered as if only to herself "It's like the creature's soul is crying... If there is any soul in the first place... It's so... empty."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"Huh? Oh, it's another of my bloodline's ability. It allows me to sense sad emotions, like sorrow or despair, in the soul. The strange thing is that, whatever creature was summoned, it almost has no soul."

"Then we need to help the creature and save it from the pain. But we'll think about it later – we need to save the villagers first!" Naruto said urgently.

Alicia's eyes widened. How could she forget about the villagers? That creature, whatever it was, was huge enough to be able to destroy buildings just by stepping on them. "Come, Naruto, we have to help them before the summoned beast starts moving."

"I wonder why it still hasn't moved." Naruto mused, "Right, lets go!"

Alicia nodded and both of them ran on the wall. Well, Naruto had to run on the wall – Alicia just jumped over.

---

-Sakura and Sasuke-

Another roar.

Sakura looked over the wall and widened her eyes "W-What... Who?" she whispered to herself and then she realized "This must be what Orochimaru planned..."

"Sakura!" someone shouted behind her. The girl turned around and saw Sasuke quickly coming her way. She noticed Sasuke had some blood on his hands and clothes. It made her remember the recent events and the scene she saw afterward, it made her feel sick again.

Sasuke finally got to Sakura and he noticed Sakura was pale. "Sakura! Are you alright?"

Sakura shook the sick feeling off, now wasn't the time for that, and answered with a small smile as she stood up "Yes, more or less I'm fine. Just a bit exhausted – I used so many overpowered high level jutsu in rapid succession. You know that my chakra reserves are not as high as yours or Naruto's."

Sasuke nodded in understanding "Do you know what happened? I only heard a roar and now there is this cloud of smoke."

"I think it's Orochimaru's doing. He summoned something. I can't see what exactly though. For some reason, that cloud of smoke is not disappearing." Sakura answered honestly.

Sasuke nodded "Let's go, Sakura. We need to help the villagers before the beast starts to move. I think Naruto and Alicia are already there."

Sakura nodded. She took out a soldier pill from her supply pouch and threw it in her mouth. She immediately felt much more refreshed. "Let's go."

Both teens jumped over the wall and ran towards the village. Hopefully, the summoned creature won't move for a while. They will deal with it later – the villagers are more important now.

---

-Kakashi-

Another roar.

When Kakashi heard the second roar, he did some back flips and escaped the smoke. He still couldn't see the beast, but he was close enough to hear its' labored breathing. Whatever was summoned, it was in pain. Kakashi quickly scanned the area for Orochimaru but the man was already gone.

"He used the smoke and roar as distraction to escape. Damn," Kakashi cursed inwardly. He also felt the summoned creature's chakra – it was dark, filthy and, for some reason he thought, unstable. "Weird."

"Kakashi!"

Kakashi turned around to see who called. It was Naruto and Alicia.

"Naruto! Alicia!" Kakashi called over. He saw some blood and dirt on both teens' clothes but didn't comment on it. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, we are." Naruto answered for both himself and Alicia. "We need to get the civilians out before the summoned beast starts moving."

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi turned around and saw Sakura and Sasuke running in their direction. "Sakura, Sasuke." he nodded. He saw that Sasuke, just like Naruto, had some blood on his clothing and arms. Sakura, on other hand, looked a bit tired. "Is everything alright on your part?"

"Yes." Sasuke answered "But we don't have time for that. We need to get the villagers out of here before the beast moves."

Kakashi nodded "That's exactly what Naruto said."

Both Sakura and Sasuke were in such a hurry that they didn't notice Naruto and Alicia were there as well. Sasuke and Sakura nodded at the other two teens as a greeting and received two nods back.

Exactly at that time, the summoned beast let out another load roar and the smoke finally disappeared. Everyone looked up and were disgusted and shocked at what they saw.

The beast was at least 5.5 meters tall, taller than village's wall and two floor buildings. But it wasn't the height that terrified them, it was its' looks. The creature had a furry mixture of black and deep brown and it had two heads. Yes, two heads. Two thin, hound like heads which were really intimidating. Two pairs of blood red eyes, full of rage and pain, set on five ninjas on the ground. The heads were connected to the main body with what seemed like threads made of red chakra, which were constantly moving. It had four long, thin but strong legs.

The creature looked like a really, really overgrown two headed hell hound. The five ninjas then heard some hissing. They looked behind the two heads and widened their eyes. There was a black snake in a place where the tail should be, attached to the body with the same chakra like threads. The snake's slitted, bloodshot eyes also held unrestrained fury and pain. In some random intervals something red, which very much looked like chakra, leaked out from the hound's ears.

Sakura gasped in horror. "W-what i-is that t-t-thing?"

No one answered because no one had an answer. But just by looking at the creature, it was clear as day – someone had performed some very nasty experiments on it.

"It shouldn't be possible," Kakashi said, still shocked "This creature is made from different parts which were taken from different animals. Two hound heads, a snake and Kami only knows where the body came from. It shouldn't be possible. The creature should be dead."

Then Naruto understood. Bijuu chakra. That's exactly what Kyuubi was talking about. Naruto could even see it – chakra leaking from its' ears and those threads which held the body together...

"Kakashi," Naruto called "I don't know how this is possible, but the creature is more or less alive because of the demonic chakra in it."

"What?!" Kakashi exclaimed and narrowed his eyes "How do you know?"

Naruto rolled his eyes "Look at those red, moving threads which are holding each part together. Look at what is sometimes leaking out of the creature's ears. You must have sensed something, right?"

"So that's why I felt dark and filthy chakra." Kakashi thought. Naruto was right and in this case there was nothing they could do – the beast was huge and had bijuu chakra, and since it had bijuu chakra, which was so freely leaking out of it's body, then it meant that the creature's body was covered in bijuu chakra as well and no jutsu would be able to harm it. Just like that time with Kyuubi.

Luckily, the beast still didn't attack or move. It was inspecting the small figures beneath it. But Kakashi knew, that at any small movement, creature will attack.

"Seems that the creature hasn't any intellect left. It will act on pure instinct," Kakashi thought and said, "Listen. First, there's nothing we can do – most probably its' body is covered in demonic chakra and no jutsu will harm it, only anger it. Secondly, it is too big and we don't know anything about it's fighting capabilities. Thirdly, we don't have any summons to counter it's size. My nin-hounds are too small for this."

"W-What?" Alicia asked, her eyes still on the creature in front of her "And leave all civilians behind?"

"It's the only way for us to survive."

No one protested, but Kakashi saw that Sakura and Sasuke glanced at each other and then looked at Naruto with hopeful eyes. There was something they knew and Kakashi didn't. Naruto, on the other hand, had a determined look on his face. And Alicia was lost. She wanted to stay and fight, but she knew what Kakashi said was true.

Meanwhile, Naruto asked Kyuubi "Kyuubi. I didn't want to reveal it just now, but it looks like I have no other choice. I will need the foxes' help."

Kyuubi nodded, though Naruto couldn't see it, "Yes, kit. And you don't have to ask me – everything is up to you – you make the choices, not me."

"Thanks."

"Before you go, listen. Don't forget that your chakra is completely different from normal chakra and each of your jutsu is filled with your unique chakra. It's true that others won't be able to harm the beast, but you and your foxes can harm it. It will be completely your fight, Naruto." Kyuubi said seriously. "I think this is your first serious challenge in your long road as savior."

"You too believe what Alice said?" Naruto asked. Yes, he did believe what Alicia said that day, but the doubt still was there.

"Yes. I knew all along that you were special. Rinnegan, the gift from Kami, eyes of the savior or destroyer. Father had the same eyes and he did a great number of good things and I believe you are destined to do the same," Kyuubi said "Now go and save the creature from its' pain."

"Pain?"

"Yes. You can tell as well how much pain it's in. A creature made from different animal body parts, experimented with wild bijuu chakra... It has to be in great pain. Help it, Naruto. Save the creature from its' misery."

Naruto nodded.

"Kakashi, take everyone and lead as much people as you can to safety." Naruto said seriously, his eyes never leaving the beast's.

Kakashi widened his one visible eye "Are you going to fight it?"

Naruto nodded.

"Are you mad? Did you hear what I said?"

Naruto answered, still looking into the beast's eyes "Because of Kyuubi and my Rinnegan, I have a different chakra. I can hurt it and I can kill it. This creature was subject to experiments and I want to put an end to its' pain and misery. Plus, I have a way of fighting summons."

Before Kakashi could say something, Alicia asked, "Different chakra? You mean those who have different chakra can fight it?"

"I don't know about that, but I know for sure that my chakra can hurt it."

"How can you know that?" Kakashi asked, but didn't get an answer.

"I'll fight with you!" Alicia said.

"No, Alicia-" Naruto objected but Alice interrupted him.

"No, I will. You can't imagine how much pain its' in. I want to help it!"

After a brief silence, Naruto said "Argh, fine. You'll provide long range support then."

"What are you planning to do?" Alicia asked.

"You'll see."

Kakashi didn't agree, though. "I think you didn't hear me. We can't fight it! We don't have any summons to fight something of this size."

"You don't, Kakashi, but I do." Naruto answered with a smirk.

"What?" Kakashi asked.

"Just believe in him, Kakashi," Sasuke said "It's easier that way."

It seemed that beast got tired of watching and waiting, so it acted. With a load roar, it raised its' paw and smashed it in the place where the five ninjas stood a moment ago.

The ninjas were fast, and before the paw could connect with them, they jumped away. A lot of debris and smoke rose into the air.

"We'll lead the beast out of the village! You lead the villagers in the opposite direction!" Naruto shouted.

Kakashi couldn't object because they had to dodge another paw. So he, Sasuke and Sakura ran towards the houses which held the scared civilians. It looked like they saw and heard everything.

The beast turned its attention to the three retreating figures and wanted to chase them.

Alicia saw it and shot two arrows at it in rapid succession. They hit creature's fur and fell to the ground.

"Damn!" she thought and with one hand seal shouted "Holy Release: Peace!"

Naruto raised his eyebrow at the unknown release but ignored it for now.

Bright, thin arrows shot towards the beast and pierced its flesh. Half of the arrowswere now in the beast. The creature let out a load roar and turned its attention to the two teens. With another roar and a loud hiss, the snake tail shot towards Naruto and Alicia, its mouth wide open and its fangs ready to pierce. Alicia materialized her wing and jumped in the air, while Naruto evaded the snake by jumping to the side.

The snake hit the ground and raised another cloud of smoke and debris. It hissed in pain. Before the snake could retreat, Alicia landed on the snake's back and with a bow in her hand and one wing on her back, ran towards the beast's main body while shooting small fire and lightning arrows.

"That girl is mad!" Naruto exclaimed when he saw what Alicia was doing.

But it didn't matter, the two headed beast's attention was already on the two aggressive teens. Naruto saw that the rest of the team, Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi, were slowly evacuating the villagers in the opposite direction. Naruto saw worry and confusion in Kakashi's face, determination and trust in his two teammates', fear and hope in villagers'.

Naruto did some handseals and shouted "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" and shot some blue fireballs at the beast. Naruto didn't stop there, though, and performed his next jutsu "Fuuton: Kaze no Yaiba!" and let go some invisible wind blades from his fingertips in one sweeping hand motion.

The speed at which he performed the two jutsu were impossible for genin, thus – the jutsu were shot almost simultaneously. Wind blades were faster than small fireballs, thus some of the invisible blades mixed up with the fire on its way to beast's body, creating blue blades made from fire – they cut like steel and burnt like fire.

Meanwhile, Alicia had already reached the beast's main body and shot as many arrow jutsu as she could while at the same time dodging the snake. It was proving difficult because the snake was pretty fast and the beast's body was very chakra resistant. She found it difficult to remain on the body because her tree walking technique was not working very well. A few times, she was too close to falling or being bitten by the snake.

"I think I shouldn't have jumped here," she thought "Oh well."

The two heads didn't do anything, though. They were observing the girl on its back. Alicia was thankful for that.

The sharp fire blades, some wind blades and small fireballs which didn't mix up, finally reached its target – the left side of beast's body. The beast roared in pain, and for a moment, Naruto noticed that the beast's eyes changed: from the red, bloodshot eyes of rage, to glittering, white eyes full of tears and despair. It was for just a moment, but it was everything Naruto needed to understand two things – the beast was controlled and the only way to free it was to kill it.

With hardened resolve in his heart to ease the pain of the poor creature and to save another village, Naruto performed a large Katon: Ao no Gōkakyū no Jutsu which exploded right in the creature's left head. The two headed hound, once again, roared in pain and changed its attention from Alicia to Naruto.

Both heads inhaled a large breath and Naruto widened his eyes. Thanks to the Rinnegan, he saw and felt the chakra spike in beast's body. With no time to think it over, Naruto quickly summoned a large Doton: Doryūheki which spread for an entire street.

Alicia too felt the chakra spike, so she decided to get off the body, besides, the idea to jump on it was stupid to begin with, anyway. She sensed that the snake was getting closer to her right side. Getting annoyed at the tail-turned-snake, she performed a very quick Holy Release: Storm Arrow. It was the same lightning arrow, though it was much weaker than Force of the Skies which she used against Goro. But it also required less handseals and less chakra, thus it was perfect for the current situation. Just before the snake's open mouth could reach Alicia, a bright, but not so bright, lightning arrow shot through the midsection of the snake's body. The snake abruptly stopped and retreated, hissing in pain. Thanks to the arrow being made from lightning, it also paralyzed the snake for a few seconds. It was enough for Alicia to flap her wing and get off the body.

The beast finally exhaled towards Naruto. But it wasn't air that came out, no. Two huge torrents of fire shot from the beast's two heads and combined into one powerful fire storm which flew towards Naruto's earth wall. The fire breath finally collided with the earth wall in a loud BOOM! Because of the obstacle, the fire was repelled onto the nearby ground, trees and buildings. Everything was scorched and destroyed – trees were reduced to ash, buildings were set aflame and creating a lot of smoke, and the ground beneath the earth wall was melting. The fire was so strong because of how much bijuu chakra was used to make this fire.

Naruto felt the heat and his eyes were still widened "It can actually breath fire?!" He was shocked. He didn't think that the creature, which was literally created, could use and meld chakra. Summon animals were the only ones capable of that! In mere seconds, Naruto's mud wall gave cracks.

"No way!" the boy though "It actually destroyed my earth wall?"

The wall finally shattered and Naruto had only a split second to react. He was stupid enough to stay where he was when he created the wall, so now he had to deal with it.

"I can't absorb it all so there's only one way." his mind managed to think before he shouted each word as loudly and powerfully as he could, while extending both his hands in front.

"SHINRA!"

"TENSEI!" Naruto finished and pushed as much chakra as he could into the jutsu.

The air around him heavily twisted and created a large and strong gravity field. The strongest he could create. The fire collided with gravity barrier full force and the earth shook. Naruto continued to push as much chakra as he could muster and continued to push his jutsu. His gravity sphere kept growing and the only thing Naruto could see was fire, deep red fire all around him. Naruto actually felt heat coming from it despite his barrier.

"Power of bijuu chakra, even in small amounts, is truly terrifying." Naruto thought "I need to hold for a while longer. If I let go now, the fire will consume me."

Alicia landed on a safe building, not far from Kakashi and the civilians. She stared at the fire and couldn't help but to be worried – she had just met the one she was destined to help, and now this beast was going to take him away. She will have to help the world alone. Alicia shook her head "What am I thinking? If he really is the one I have to help, he can't die here."

Even Kakashi and all the civilians stopped to look at the fire which was clearly visible from their current position. Well, they didn't get very far anyway, everything was happening too fast. All of them felt the heat and all of them knew who the fire was aimed at. They actually saw how the fire was destroying everything in its path – wooden buildings, trees, ground.

"It's a shame I can't use your chakra cloak." Naruto said.

"Indeed. For some reason, which is unknown to me, this ability is locked for you. You can still use my chakra for jutsu though," Kyuubi answered.

Just when Naruto began to have difficulties holding off the fire any longer, he felt a familiar feeling – power – surge through him; It was warm, comforting and welcome. It was Kyuubi's chakra. Naruto used all of Kyuubi's chakra he could at the moment and pushed it into his Shinra Tensei. Some orange ripples appeared on the gravity sphere and Naruto felt less pressure from the fire.

With a final shout of "Ethereal Shinra Tensei!" the sphere increased in size and power. The earth beneath him trembled and crumbled, nearby buildings collapsed from the sheer pressure from the gravity (they were half-destroyed by the fire anyway) and Naruto found himself floating in the middle of the gravity sphere, which was easily pushing the fire back. He didn't know why he shouted 'ethereal', but it just came into his mind. But he was sure of one thing – the power which was going through him was unreal. It's the first time he experienced such a feeling. He indeed was powerful, all thanks to Kyuubi's purified chakra, and his Rinnegan.

As quickly as it came, the fire disappeared. Looks like the little two headed beast ran out of breath. It was panting slightly.

When the fire died down, everyone saw Naruto. Their eyes widened because they could actually feel the power coming from him. Naruto was still there, in midair, surrounded by the gravity sphere. Orange chakra-like aura was radiating from him. It wasn't a chakra cloak, but it was similar. The aura slowly receded back to Naruto's body, and the boy himself landed softly on the ground. He looked around and was awed at the power he just displayed. It still drained him and he was slightly panting.

The beast finally caught its breath and it looked at Naruto with fear in its eyes. Primal instinct kicked in, and in a quick motion, it turned around and leaped in to the air, looking for its new prey – Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke and the civilians. The beast hoped that maybe Naruto will leave it alone if it killed and devoured everyone else.

Naruto widened his eyes. There's nothing he could do to save the civilians – simple earth style wall will be easily destroyed by the sheer size and weight of the beast, besides, there wasn't enough time because the beast was already in peak of its jump.

Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi understood that as well. They could escape because they were shinobi, but their morals and teachings won't allow them to abandon the people. So they decided to act.

But before any of them could start to do any hand seals, they heard a loud feminine shout "NO!" and saw a large white wing and long, elegant feather dress flash in front of them.

It was Alicia. Using her one wing and chakra she rushed towards the crowd of people as fast as she could, leaving a trail of floating white feathers, which fell from her wing, behind her.

"I won't allow that to happen again!" she shouted, anger and fear evident in her crystal clear eyes. Whatever happened in her past, made her act on pure instinct for protecting people; Whatever happened in her past, saved many innocent lives today.

The beast started to fall down, its sharp claws aimed at the crowd and its snake-tail's mouth wide open, ready to eat someone alive.

Alicia raised both of her hands, which were now bow-free, in the air and extended her one wing to it's full size. With a final shout of "STAY AWAY!" a large, blue, transparent dome appeared above the heads of civilians and ninjas, which seemed to be made from shells of tortoise. The dome was approximately 1 meter above Kakashi's head.

Even a second hadn't passed when the two headed beast crashed into the dome, heads first.

Large cracks appeared on the dome and Alicia let out a scream of pain and collapsed to her knees, but remained strong and held her hands in the air. The beast fell to the ground, a bit confused and distracted. The snake-tail had a mind of its own though. It lashed forward with all its might and speed and collided with the cracked dome.

The snake didn't get through and was repelled so hard, that it crashed into a nearby building, making a big hole in there. The snake-tail was successful in one thing though – it managed to destroy the dome.

Even larger cracks appeared on the dome and after a second, the shells started to fall from the dome and disappear in mid-air, making a big hole in the blue dome.

"Run," Alicia simply said, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear. As on cue, all the civilians started to run away further from the beast who was already regaining its composure. Alicia, on the other hand, fell unconscious to the ground, her wing disappearing and battle attire changing in a white flash.

"Alice!" shouted Sakura and ran to the girl.

"Katon: Ao no Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

"Fuuton: Daitoppa!"

Sakura stopped in her track and looked into the sky, where the voice, or rather voices, came from. She saw at least 15 Naruto's in the air. In the next second, all the sky was colored blue and the evening became hotter. Everyone stopped running again, and looked in to the sky.

Half the Naruto's let out a stream of fire from their mouths, while the other half created a gust of strong wind. Both fire and wind mixed, creating large, deep blue, focused stream of blazing fire which was quickly approaching the two headed beast.

"It is weakened and exhausted and this attack should weaken – if not kill – it even more," Naruto thought.

The fire stream finally reached it's target and the beast roared in pain as everything in 2 meter radius exploded in blue fires, picking up debris and dust. The entire North part of the village was destroyed as a result of the beast's fire breath, Naruto's shinra tensei and mixed fuuton and katon elements.

When the fire finally died down, Naruto's kage bunshins started to pop away from existence and the original Naruto landed near the collapsed Alicia.

"Alice!" he shouted. He saw that Sakura was the closest, so he asked her "What happened? I didn't really see what happened here when this creature jumped."

"She created some kind of shield, a dome, around us which protected us from the beast. Then she fell unconscious. I don't know what happened."

"Chakra exhaustion," Kakashi explained when he came closer, glaring suspiciously at the beast. "That shield she created... It's like nothing I've seen before. From the looks of it, the shield was pretty strong because it resisted two tremendously strong attacks, but it also looks like it drained a lot, if not most, of Alicia's chakra." he explained.

"I see," Naruto said "I hope she is alright, she risked a lot back there."

The civilians, seeing that everything calmed down, approached the ninja team with awe filled eyes. Well, they should be surprised – even if they lived in a ninja world, they had never have seen a battle of ninja, let alone a battle on this scale.

Then, everyone heard a slight whimper, a whimper of a beaten dog. The civilians shuddered in fear, whereas the ninjas looked at the source of the whimper.

It was the two headed hound. Its snake-tail was nothing but a lump of burnt flesh, the main body of the beast was covered in dark red blood and deep burn marks. Strangely it didn't smell, not even a bit.

The beast was laying on it's side, all four eyes settled on Naruto's. A single tear, which will never be shed, appeared in beast's left head's left eye's corner. Naruto noticed it. He also noticed that those eyes were crystal clear – all insanity and rage vanished, replaced by sorrow and, strangely, loyalty. The chakra stopped leaking out from beast's ears and stitches.

Everyone, except Naruto, readied themselves – took battle stances and prepared to use any jutsu. Naruto raised his hand and signaled his teammates to calm down. Reluctantly they calmed down, though they didn't let their guard down.

"Th-thank you..." quiet voice whispered throughout the entire village "For freeing me f-from those m-madmen. M-My chakra and s-soul w-was extracted and tortured, ridiculed and manipulated. T-Thank you." Each passing word became quieter and quieter until only those nearby the beast could hear them.

Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke widened their eyes and only Naruto remained calm and collected. Although it was the beast who spoke, the beast's mouth – or mouths – weren't moving. It looked like everyone could hear the beast's thoughts.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked the beast, though he already knew what the answer was.

"S-Sanbi." the beast answered, its eyelids half closed "The three tails... What is your name, chosen one?"

Naruto knew that the beast was one of the bijuu.

"Chosen one?" Naruto asked.

"Bearer of the sacred eyes, Rinnegan. Just like Father had." the beast took a deep breath "The savior or destroyer... Though you look more like the former."

Naruto didn't comment on that, he knew the beast – no, the Sanbi – had few seconds left. "Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze."

Sanbi didn't say anything for a moment, but then answered "N-Naruto... Thank you! And thank that bird-girl for me as well." the bijuu, in the two headed beast's body, closed its eyes and stopped breathing. Naruto, and everyone else present, will remember the next few seconds forever.

The two headed hound started to glow with a deep red aura, or chakra, or whatever, which intensified with each passing second. Naruto wanted to shout for everyone to run, tell that the beast is gonna explode, he felt the charka rising. But he couldn't – something prevented him from doing so. Naruto knew that the body was going to explode, but he also somehow knew it's harmless.

Deep red changed to pure white in mere moments and exploded. But it didn't explode in fire, gore and blood. No.

The light and body of the beast exploded like a firework, but instead of a colorful fire, thousands of shining, rainbow colored-like substances emerged from the body, flying and circling in the air. It had a shining head, or sphere, and a long, rainbow colored tail behind. They were making a weird, faint sound, but there were so much of those pyreflies, that the sound sounded like a song; Like a cry. It was truly beautiful.

Naruto noticed that all that was left of two headed body were these pyreflies*1*.

"Pyreflies? Where did that come from?" Naruto asked himself. "Oh well."

No one could avert their gazes from these pyreflies. They were the spiritual and physical manifestation of lifeforce, born from a bijuu's soul, wild and pure chakra and mixed up with another, innocent, soul. They were the manifestation of pain and suffering, sorrow and despair, purity and impurity of two souls. Naruto didn't know how he knew these things, he just knew. Watching these pyreflies were both sad and beautiful. Slowly, the amazing manifestation of souls started to dissipate in the air and the only thing what reminded everyone of the recent battle were the dozens of bodies outside of the village, and the destroyed north wall and side of the village.

Every one stood there in silence for one more minute, until one random civilian said, "That was... amazing."

Another woman replied "Y-Yeah. But, for some reason, it was also sad. What were those things? Where did they came from and where's the beast's body now?"

Naruto turned around with tired eyes, the new Shinra Tensei drained him a lot. He answered "They are called pyreflies. They are the manifestation of two merged souls, manifestation of pain and sorrow, anger and rage. When we killed the beast, the soul was set free. All the pyreflies you saw were a small piece of one soul."

"How do you know that?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto shook his head "I-I don't know. It like... I've always knew it. Listen, can we go to bed please? I'm tired."

"Are you alright?" Sakura quickly asked. She also was feeling tired, more than Sasuke or Naruto. It was strange that her blonde teammate wanted to go to bed – it was very rare when Naruto felt tired. Sasuke had the same thought.

After a brief silence, Naruto answered, "I'm fine. I just... have to think about some things. I'll go back to the inn, luckily it wasn't destroyed. If you need me for night watch or something, you know where to find me. Good night." and with that, Naruto left.

Sakura wanted to go after him, Naruto was acting really strange, but Sasuke stopped her from following by placing a hand on her shoulder. Some years ago, Sakura would've screamed in joy that Sasuke touched her, but now, she just sadly looked into his onyx eyes.

"Just let him be, Sakura. He went through a lot today."

"Indeed." Kakashi agreed with Sasuke. "First, that divine interference, or whatever, then the battle, and then the two headed beast. There's a lot of pressure on him. Let him sort all these thoughts." he finished and then thought "If we were to believe what the beast said, then it was Sanbi. I thought all bijuu are ruthless, emotionless and has a great bloodlust. I wonder if that's true. And what did it mean by 'father'?"

Sakura sighed. It's not the first time she admired Naruto – after that event with Alicia at noon and he still was being strong and cheerful for the entire day. If it was Sakura, it would have been too much for her. She wanted to be with Naruto now, to tell him that he had friends and that he is not alone through all this ordeal. Well, she might as well say it later.

"It's still too early to go to sleep though. Let's clean up a bit and help the villagers." Sasuke said. He was also tired from the recent battle, but they still had to help the villagers. Naruto was not the only one with heavy thoughts on his mind, Sasuke was thinking why he didn't feel anything when he killed those men. He waited for that moment so long, yet it's not what he expected. "Does it mean that my mind is damaged?" he bitterly thought, but shook those thoughts away. Now was not the time for that.

"Before we help the villagers we should carry Alicia to somewhere more comfortable. She is unconscious after all." Kakashi deadpanned and pointed at the girl laying unconscious on the ground near Sakura.

Sakura sheepishly smiled and nodded.

"Sasuke, check the fields around the village, maybe there are some survivors or more ninjas coming. When you're done, return and help us." Kakashi finished.

Sasuke nodded and jumped on the nearby rooftop and then on the wall.

---

-Unknown location-

Orochimaru entered the deserted building, his black cloak with red clouds swaying behind him in the strong breeze from the outside. He closed the door and the wind died down in an instant. The man took a few steps into the poorly lit room and sensed that someone was there as well. Orochimaru wasn't even a bit worried.

"How was it?" someone asked from the other side of the room. A tall man, with the same black cloak with red clouds, stepped out from the shadow. He had an orange mask.

"I had some trouble." Orochimaru answered in his ever so present hiss-like voice.

Tobi, the masked man, narrowed his one visible eye. "Trouble?"

"Kakashi of the Sharingan and his team. I didn't even know they were in the village." Orochimaru answered "They dealt with all those weaklings I managed to gather."

"Who were his teammates?" Tobi asked.

"I don't know." Orochimaru said. He didn't like to answer to anyone, but the man in front of him was powerful, he felt it. Besides, he had his own reason to obey and work with the man. "I waited for a distraction and then silently went into the town and summoned the beast. Kakashi saw me though, but couldn't stop me."

"I see. Whether Kakashi lives or dies is not a problem for us and for Akatsuki. He doesn't know anything anyway. What about the beast? Was it all for naught or did the plan go well?"

"It depends on what you think as 'well'." Orochimaru smiled in that sick way of his, "In my opinion, it went rather went. When I summoned the beast through the scroll, it still lived, but the demonic chakra was gradually leaking out from the body. It wouldn't last long anyway. From what I saw from the distance, some jutsu didn't work on it, while others did. The hound heads worked in unison whereas the snake retained its own consciousness, though all of them worked together."

"I see." Tobi said "What about the Katon element?"

Orochimaru grinned "Oh, it was perfect. Even from a safe distance, I could feel the power of that flame. It obliterated trees and destroyed wooden homes in an instant." Then the man frowned. "There was a moment when I felt a huge spike of really powerful chakra, more powerful than my own, but it died down quickly. I guess that fire destroyed the poor human. After some more moments, there was another chakra spike though it wasn't as powerful as the first one. Then I felt the beast die, so I left."

Tobi nodded. "Can you think of any improvements?"

Orochimaru grinned again "Oh yes. First, I want to stress that the beast would've died even without any resistance because the chakra, which kept it alive, would've leaked out and disappeared. I've thought of some ways to improve it. Secondly, I think there's a way to control the beasts."

"How so?"

"This experiment is very similar to that of a curse seal. I can take notes from both projects and do something about it, stabilize the beasts, maybe."

Tobi nodded "I see. Well, we will continue then. There's still plenty of Sanbi's chakra left, so it should be enough. I want a full report on what you saw and think, and on the ways you can improve it. Maybe I could think of something as well." After a brief pause, Tobi continued "It's a pity I didn't see it dying. I've heard stories that souls cry in joy when they are freed..."

Orochimaru frowned "What do you mean?"

Tobi shook his head "Never mind. Let's go, there's an Akatsuki meeting soon and a new mission."

"Very well, Tobi-san."

---

-Next morning, Glass Village-

Naruto opened his eyes and yawned. He looked out of the window and saw the sun was already high, which meant it was near noon. He heard some birds joyfully chirping outside, singing about peace and life. It's so good to sleep in once in a while.

He laid in the bed for some more minutes, remembering last night.

"I guess I'm that kind of a person who accepts heavy burdens like it's a walk in the park. It's all connected – the legend about the Rinnegan, me having the Rinnegan, me having Kyuubi, that dream and now this destiny. As much as I hate destiny and fate, I can't disagree that I was born to do great things. Or I just came into the world at the wrong place and time." Naruto sighed heavily and sat on his bed. "The question remains – how did I know about those pyreflies yesterday? I've never heard of them and I've never seen them. Kyuubi thinks it has something to do with the Rinnegan because knowledge just can't pop into your head. Or can it?..."

Naruto finally stepped out from his bed and headed for the showers "Yesterday... was my toughest battle. I killed so many, but I know that I had to. And I didn't receive almost any injuries. Even Sakura or Sasuke didn't have serious injuries, just some bruises and small cuts. Are we really that strong or the enemy was too weak? Then again, we had the element of surprise and most of them were chunins. But... I can't shake off the feeling that I become stronger when I'm in actual battle. Adrenalin? Don't think so. Is it another perk of the Rinnegan?"

"Oh well," he said out loudly when he switched the hot water on "If I have the Rinnegan, might as well become a legend and help the people I can. After all, that's exactly what I'd like to do, though Konoha's civilians are not very accepting. I wonder how they will react when they see my Rinnegan?"

After some more seconds he continued his inner debate "After yesterday, I feel like an important piece in a chess game where the players are Kami and someone else, but at the same time I know it's not true. Yet I'm still worried about how the people will react to my Rinnegan... The legend... Will they see me as the savior or as the destroyer?"

After 20, relaxing, but with heavy thoughts, minutes in the shower, Naruto finally stepped out with a towel around his waist.

"Chunin exams will tell either I'm savior or destroyer. Knowing me, I'm the former, but who knows what might happen?" he muttered as he dressed up and left the inn.

The sun was shining bright and warm, caressing Naruto's skin. Naruto looked around and noticed that the village was quite busy, most men were carrying some logs and stone.

"I think they're rebuilding the homesthat were destroyed," Naruto thought.

"Naruto," someone called from the left.

Naruto turned around to face the person who called him. It was Sasuke, who was slowly approaching Naruto.

"Hey, Sasuke." Naruto greeted "How are you?"

"I'm fine. Was a bit tired yesterday, but I'm fine now." Sasuke answered.

"I see. What about the others?" Naruto said when Sasuke finally approached him. Now both boys went to the place everyone was going – to the north side of the village.

"Sakura was very tired as well, she used some massive jutsu yesterday and then helped clean up a bit. Alicia woke up just an hour ago and now she is helping us rebuild the buildings and the wall. Kakashi..." Sasuke sighed. "For once, is being useful by helping the villagers as well. You will get a big surprise once we arrive at the north wall."

Naruto chuckled, he thought nothing could surprise him now.

After some minutes of walking and small chatting, they finally arrived at the north side of the village. It was quite busy – men and women alike were carrying various instruments, logs and stone, glass, etc. All of them were working hard to rebuild what was destroyed. Burnt buildings needed to be destroyed and rebuilt, some needed to be repaired. He also saw that something was being built in the villager's square, in the place where the beast was summoned and killed.

Suddenly the earth shook a little and a massive stone and mud wall rose from the ground some meters in front of Naruto.

"Let's take a break," Kakashi shouted to his genin and Alicia. All of them nodded and walked towards Naruto and Sasuke. They have seen him.

"Hey Naruto!" Sakura greeted.

"Hi everyone," Naruto said "How are things going?"

All of them sighed and Kakashi answered "Good. We offered some help in rebuilding the village and the people were more than happy to accept. We also received a letter from Hokage-sama."

"A letter?" Naruto raised an eyebrow as he sat on nearby bench "Oh right, yesterday morning we sent a message and informed ojii-san of our situation," he sighed. "What did it say?"

"Read it yourself," Kakashi said and handed him the letter he retrieved from his supply pouch.

Naruto opened the scroll and read,

'Kakashi,

ARE YOU MAD? No, I think that's the wrong thing to say. 'ARE YOUR GENINS MAD?!' would be the right question. What were young Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura thinking when they offered their help? I know it was the right thing to do and I don't blame you or them. I hope you're well and alive when I send this letter. Please, reply as soon as you can.

Defending the village was not really your mission, but I will upgrade this mission to an A or S-rank, depending on what happens during the fight. And don't ask why I decided that because it's quite obvious – you had to infiltrate Orochimaru's base when the man was inside it, then you fought 36 ninjas who are chuunin and jounin and Kami knows what Orochimaru is planning. It's beyond what a B-ranked mission should have been. You and your team will be paid accordingly. I didn't send any reinforcements because I felt by the time they arrive you would either be already dead or victorious. Tomorrow night, Wahoki-san should be back in Konoha and give me his report and the things you obtained in the base.

If you're victorious then, knowing Naruto, you would like to stay another week in the village helping to rebuild it. Feel free to do so and return when you can. I expect a letter on your current situation very soon.

Stay safe.

Sandaime Hokage'

Naruto sighed, closed the scroll and handed it back to Kakashi.

"Well, at least the mission was upgraded to the S-rank," Naruto said "When will you write an answer, Kakashi?"

"Probably this evening after we discuss everything."

"Umm, guys," Alicia said "It's probably not exactly the right time to say this, but can I come with you to Konoha?"

"Why?" Sasuke frowned.

Before Alicia could answer, Sakura said "I think it's because of what happened yesterday."

Alice nodded "Yeah. I think I said it many times, but each Valkyrie in my clan must find a person they will accompany for a certain mission. The Valkyrie will know who that person is from their dreams. I found the person I have to help, and besides, there's also the prophecy I told you. That's why I want to stick with Naruto."

Kakashi nodded "It makes sense, more or less anyway. I'm not sure whether to believe that prophecy, but I think Naruto will be happy with another friend," Kakashi said then remembered something "Do you have allegiance to any ninja village?"

"No," Alicia answered "Why?"

"Because you can't stay in Konoha just like that. You're clearly a ninja and Hokage-sama will sense it. He will not allow a ninja without village to stay in the village. If you want to stay in the village, you will need to become Konoha's ninja."

Alicia frowned "Is there any other way?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. Those are the rules and it's common sense. If I was Hokage, I wouldn't allow you to stay."

Alicia sighed "I don't have much choice, do I? I can't wander the Elemental Nation forever though, might as well join a ninja village. At least I will join with purpose and will have a chance to learn something."

Kakashi nodded.

Sasuke then decided to ask something "You know, Alicia, I noticed yesterday that you didn't use any normal jutsu. All the jutsu you used were with that bow of yours. Do you know anything else other than the bow techniques?"

Sakura was curious as well and she quickly added "And where did you get such a bow anyway?"

And Naruto "And where do those arrows come from?"

Alice chuckled "I guess if I'm joining Konoha then I should tell you something about my abilities. First, you should know that in the Tsukiko clan there are no other Valkyrie with similar techniques and jutsu. Everything depends on the person and his or her soul. When a Valkyrie gets her first wing, he or she also gets a weapon which, lets say, is creation of the Valkyrie's soul. No weapon is similar and the type of weapon, as I said, varies from a person's personality and soul. Swords, tanto, staffs, poles, halberds, spears, great swords, sword and shield, long or short bows, crossbows, even guns, and don't ask me what guns are because I'm not really sure myself."

Kakashi nodded in understanding. "And your, let's say, soul weapon is a long bow?"

Alicia nodded "Yes. As for the arrows – there is a unique storage seal on the handle of the bow and when I pull back the bow string, if it's not a jutsu, an arrow will automatically appear from the storage seal. I don't even know how much arrows there are – it has never run out. As for jutsu. Because each Valkyrie is unique, there were no scrolls with techniques and jutsu ever written. The only scrolls I had were on basic weapon use, chakra control, elemental chakra control and a detailed explanation on how to create your own techniques and style. I never had any scrolls on normal jutsu so I don't know any. I know only the jutsu I created."

"Impressive," Sasuke admitted "Creating your own jutsu and style is no easy job. You said that every, er, Valkyrie in your clan were unique, right?" After getting a nod, he continued, "What makes you unique from others?"

"A good question." Alicia said "I wield a long bow which is great for long ranged attacks and jutsu. Long bows are quite deadly, but I don't like to use force and to kill. That's why I started to develop my own style using long bows – I'm more of a long ranged support. If needed, I can shoot some devastating arrows and buy some time, if not, I can heal and protect others."

Sakura raised an eyebrow "Heal? Protect?"

"Yeah. I started to learn the healing arts. I've got some scrolls from the villages I visited and, to be honest, it's hard. I can quickly heal some minor cuts, but it takes so much concentration. As for the protection. Remember that huge dome like shield I created yesterday, Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi nodded "That was some impressive defensive technique. What was that?"

"I don't really have a name for it because it' still in development, but right now I can attach a small chakra like shield to any person which will protect from 2 small attacks and 1 medium attack. By small, I mean some kunai or shurikens, and by medium I mean a strong punch. It will not protect from any jutsu or chakra infused weapons, though. What you saw yesterday was a very strong shield and I managed to create it on pure instinct – I remember I created it, but I can't remember how."

"By the way, yesterday, before creating the shield, you shouted something about 'I won't let it happen again'," Kakashi said "I don't want to push you or anything, but did you fight beasts like from yesterday before?"

Alicia looked down and quietly said "No, I've never seen such beasts. A-And... I don't want to talk about it."

"So you're training to become a medic-nin then?" Sakura asked, trying to change subject from, what seemed, painful memories.

"Kind of. I don't want to be the one who sits behind the scenes and heals the injured, I want to be the one who is active in the battle, who can attack the enemy and protect the allies. I've even got some ideas on healing jutsus." Alicia said.

"Wow. I think you will find what you want in Konoha, because Konoha has produced one of the greatest medic-nin in history." Naruto commented.

"I wanted to ask you this but I didn't have any chance to, so I will ask now," Sakura said "Where is your clan from? I've never heard about Tsukiko clan in books."

"And you probably never will. For some reasons Tsukiko clan was very secretive and our history is long since lost. We come from over seas, from North-East and came to Elemental Nations centuries ago. For what reason we moved, I don't know."

"I see." Kakashi said "Well, that's everything we wanted to know. Lets get back to work. Oh, Naruto, I forgot to tell you something," after a brief silence, he said "No, I'll let someone else tell you the good news," he said with an eye-smile and went away.

"The good news?"

"Oh, right..." Sakura sighed "It's the villagers."

"What? What happened?" Naruto wondered.

"They are building a statue for you and Alicia."

"WHAT?" Alicia and Naruto shouted.

Sakura rubbed her temples "Oh. You didn't know as well, Alice." she sighed "Apparently they were awed by your performance yesterday. Especially Naruto. And don't forget what happened earlier that day, with that message and stuff. Everyone heard it."

Sasuke continued "There will be a large statue of Naruto slaying the beast and Alicia protecting the people, and smaller versions of us fighting the missing-nin. They are also gonna write something on them."

"Kami... Who even allowed it? Why did no one ask me? They are building me after all." Alicia cried.

"People suggested it, Gaiko approved and Kakashi-sensei allowed them to use you – us – as a models." Sakura said.

"So that's why Kakashi didn't want to tell this 'good' news himself." Naruto said as he frowned. He then grinned evilly. "Hey, we're going to stay here for about a week anyway to help people, so maybe we should take revenge or something?"

After a minute, all the teens were grinning like mad.

---

-Week and a half later-

Week and a half has passed and the Glass Village was almost like new – the northern wall was rebuilt and most buildings were repaired. Now the village was wasting its resources in building a statue for Naruto, Alicia, Sakura and Sasuke. Team 7 and Alicia were working hard every day to help rebuild the village – they used Doton to build walls, Suiton and Fuuton to clean the fields outside the village. It looked almost like new and the only thing that will remind everyone of the grand battle will be those statues.

Naruto also discovered another ability of his Nature path – he could channel his unique chakra into the earth and after some moments grass and various flowers starts to grow. Five minutes of constantly channeling chakra and Naruto was surrounded by ankle length fresh grass and various flowers – ranging from simple tulips to exotic lilies and beautiful roses. Just in some days time the village was full of beautiful gardens.

Naruto didn't know how he knew that it was his Nature path's ability, he just knew it. Kakashi and Sakura were very excited by this ability. Why? No one knows.

Kakashi also wrote a message to Hokage, briefly explaining what happened that night when the missing-nin attacked, including the two headed beast. Kakashi also wrote about Alicia, that she wanted to join Konoha and her connection with Naruto.

Now our heroes found themselves standing in Gaiko's office.

Gaiko stood up from his chair and cleared his throat with a glass of water. He then looked at the present ninjas and said "Thank you very, very much for what you did. If it weren't for you, our village would lay in ruins now. You showed great courage, strength and wished to help people. I've also heard that Alicia and Naruto-san here are not simple ninjas as I believed they are," Gaiko chuckled. "I would like to present some gifts from our village."

"No, you don't have to. We just did what was right," Naruto said. It felt wrong accepting gifts when you did what was right.

"You did what was right and I will do what I think is right. You didn't need to defend the village, it wasn't your mission, so think of them as a payment. Besides, these gifts, or rather payment, will be better in your hands than ours," Gaiko kindly replied and opened a shelf in his desk.

"You see, I'm a ninja as well. Because of an injury I received in my youth, I had to retire. My chakra level is now that of a civilian, and my skills are forgotten," Gaiko continued, surprising everyone. He took out a green scroll from his drawer "Kakashi-san," Gaiko called and the one eyed man stepped forward. Gaiko took out three scrolls from his drawer – one black, one green and the last one pale blue with kanji for 'Cougar' "Take these scrolls and do with them as you see fit – either give it to your team or the Hokage."

Kakashi proudly accepted them. "Thank you, Gaiko-san. What are in these scrolls?"

"The black scroll contains a pair of katar weapons, the green one contains advanced Suiton and Raiton chakra manipulation exercises and some jutsu, whereas the last one is actually a summoning contract."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow "A summoning contract? I don't want to be rude, but who in their right state of mind would give away a summoning contract?"

Gaiko laughed "Oh, don't worry. The contract was mine and, as sad as it sounds, the boss summon didn't accept me as their summoner. She is quite a proud kitty. There's something else I would like you to have," Gaiko said and took a large, purple, transparent stone from his drawer. He held it with his two hands and handed it to Kakashi, who hid the three scrolls in his pocket.

"Don't tell me this is what I think it is," Kakashi said.

Gaiko chuckled "Well, I don't know what you think so I can't say what you think. Anyway, it's a glass ore. Found it some weeks ago, the last of of it's kind," Gaiko explained "This village has no means to process it so it's useless for us. I would like you to have it."

"So the rumors were true," Alicia said.

Gaiko merely nodded "I can't thank you enough. Thanks to your effort, no lives were lost."

"It was a pleasure to help you," Kakashi said and everyone smiled.

---

-After 2 hours-

It was almost 6pm and team 7, with Alicia, were now deep in the forest, a distance away from the Glass Village. They were traveling in comfortable silence, a slight breeze caressing their skin. The glass stone, which was generously given to them by Gaiko, rested in the storage scroll created by Naruto.

Kakashi looked at all the present ninjas and said "Let's make a camp and rest fro a bit. I'm starving."

"Me too," Naruto and Sasuke said in unison as their bellies growled.

After 5 minutes they found a nice, small clearing near a stream of water. They made a small campfire and ate some bento. After another moment of silence, Kakashi addressed his team.

"I think you deserve some rewards," he said "Sasuke you're a close range fighter, so I think those Katars would be good for you. I think they suit you very well," he finished and tossed Sasuke the black scroll.

"Thanks," Sasuke eagerly replied. "I wanted to ask you for them anyway. I will check them later."

Kakashi nodded "Sakura. You're a Suiton user so I want you to have the advanced exercise and jutsu scroll. Alicia what elemental affinities you have?"

"Umm, I've got Katon and Raiton. Why do you ask?" Alicia answered.

"Just like Sasuke," Kakashi replied "Sakura, you can share that scroll with Alicia."

"Thanks!" Alicia replied.

"Naruto-" Kakashi started but Naruto interrupted him.

"Give the summoning contract to someone else. To Sasuke maybe."

Kakashi frowned "Why?"

"Because I already have a signed summoning contract," Naruto replied.

Kakashi slightly widened his one visible eye. He wasn't that surprised though, he suspected it since the fight with the beast. He asked anyway "Really? What animal?"

Naruto smirked "Wait 'till the chuunin exams."

"Right. Well, I'll give it to Sakura then," Kakashi said and tossed the pale blue scroll to Sakura.

"M-Me?" Sakura squeaked. She didn't expect to have a summoning contract for some more months and was a bit surprised when Kakashi offered her the summoning contract. She won't miss out this opportunity though so she caught the scroll and opened it. Surprisingly there were no other names on it. "Strange," she thought.

She didn't think very long about it and bit her thumb to draw some blood. It didn't hurt at all because she was already accustomed to it, thanks to her bloodline. She wrote her name and surname on the scroll, just like she read in the books.

For a moment nothing happened and Sakura wanted to perform the Kuchiyose no Jutsu, she knew the handseals because she have seen Naruto perform the jutsu many times. But before she could do anything, she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What happened?" Naruto exclaimed.

Kakashi waved his hand "Nothing to worry about. I think she will be alright."

"What do you mean 'you think'?" Alicia asked.

"Well," Kakashi started "When a new user signs the summoning contract, the summon boss will feel it. Sometimes the summon boss might reverse-summon the new summoner to test him – then the boss summon will decide either to allow the new user to remain their summoner, or to reject him or her. It happens rarely though."

"Oh, I see," Naruto said.

Right then and there a 'pop' sound was heard along with some smoke. Sakura appeared in the place where she disappeared with a sad smile on her face.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked.

"I was, I think, reverse-summoned to the summoning realm. After one minute of talking with the boss summon, it rejected me." Sakura explained.

"Rejected?" Alicia asked. When Sakura nodded, she asked "Why? And who was the boss summon?"

"I don't really know. I didn't ask," Sakura explained "Sasuke, you try."

Sasuke looked at Kakashi, who nodded in response, and took the scroll. He opened the scroll and noticed that it was blank. Shrugging, he bit the thumb, just like Sakura, and wrote his name on it. Just like Sakura, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

After some moments, he reappeared and shook his head "I wasn't accepted as well."

"Did you ask why?" Sakura asked. "I forgot to ask my self."

"Yes, I asked," Sasuke answered "The boss summon, a massive white cougar, said that they are waiting for someone special. The cougar clan is an ancient clan and they will only accept someone special. I don't know what they meant by that. She explained that in all her life they had only two summoners, and even that was in time of Rikudou Sennin. The boss summon said that she doesn't know what she is waiting for, but she will know once the right person comes."

"Right," Kakashi said "Someone wants to try? Alicia?"

Alicia shook her head "No, I will not. I have my own summoning contract which I will get once I materialize my second wing."

"I see," Kakashi said "Well, then I have no other choice. I will have to hand it to Hokage-sama."

"Kit, try signing the contract," Kyuubi said in Naruto's mind "Feline, the boss summon of cougars, is too proud to accept someone. She is not waiting for 'someone special', she just wants to meet a really powerful person."

"How do you know?" Naruto asked.

"Actually Kitsune and Cougar clans are very friendly. In the past, when I was still sane, I met Feline who was then only a teen in her late 360ies. Even then she was the strongest from her age group and was next in line to become the boss summon. She was the one who helped me to create a summoning contract and bind me and my kin to it. She wasn't afraid of me like the rest were and she explained a lot of things to me," Kyuubi explained.

"What a strange twist of fate," Naruto muttered loudly. Unfortunately everyone heard him.

"What? What twist?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto looked at Kakashi and everyone else who was looking at him, and shook his head "Never mind, I was just thinking about out loud." Everyone accepted the excuse and returned to their meals.

"Well, even if there's a chance I would be accepted, I'm already bound to your contract. A person can't sign and be summoner of more than one clan." Naruto said in his mind.

Kyuubi grinned in its cage "Just try it, Naruto."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. It's not like it will work anyway, but if Kyuubi asks, then it knows something what Naruto doesn't.

"Actually Kakashi," Naruto called. "Pass me that contract scroll please."

Sasuke and Kakashi frowned and Sakura asked, "But Naruto, you already have signed a summoning contract."

Naruto smiled "Let's just see what happens. No one has ever done that before, right?"

"Yeah," Kakashi answered "But I don't think it is a good idea. You might even lose your current summoning contract."

Sasuke smirked. "I don't think Naruto will ever lose his current summoning contract."

"You'll see why in the chuunin exams, Kakashi. C'mon, just pass me the scroll please." Naruto pleaded.

Kakashi shrugged and tossed the scroll to Naruto "Suit yourself."

Naruto opened the scroll, and just like his other two teammates, he noticed that it was blank. He bit his thumb and wrote his name on the scroll. Just like he expected, he disappeared in a puff of smoke and appeared elsewhere.

---

-Unknown location-

He looked around and saw that it wasn't either a day or a night. It was twilight, a sunset. Surrounding flowers, grass and trees cast a slight shadow on the ground, creating an eerie, but comfortable atmosphere. Naruto looked some more and saw that he actually was in a forest. Various large trees surrounded Naruto, along with flowers, plants and bushes unknown to him. Naruto could even hear some small animals around – birds, rabbits and such. A beautiful forest indeed.

Naruto also noticed that numerous eyes were watching him, he couldn't see them, but he undoubtedly could feel it. He felt with his ninja senses that someone was walking and jumping through the shadows around him, casting a curious and cautious gazes at him. Then, he suddenly felt someone behind him.

His ninja reflexes sharp as ever, Naruto quickly spun around and summoned his sword and fell into his Kitsune kenjutsu state.

There was a massive white cougar standing on all fours in front of him. It was pure white – no stripes, no spots, nothing. The cougar had a pair of long ears which were very similar to rabbit's with pointy end. Naruto also noticed that the cougar had very sharp claws and two long fangs sticking from the corners of its mouth. The cougar had unique eyes - deep purple sclera and iris with a black pupil in the middle - which were emotionlessly staring at Naruto's eyes. A long, longer than it should've been, white tail swayed behind the cougar.

Naruto, remembering what his teammates - especially Sasuke and Kyuubi - said to him, quickly sheathed his sword and did a small, curt bow.

"Feline-sama," Naruto greeted and the creature's deep purple eyes slightly widened before returning to what they were – emotionless.

Naruto finally stood back to his tall height and looked into the cougar's eyes. Naruto didn't even flinch at the power the boss summon radiated, he didn't even feel scared or awed by the creature's size or power – he had a bigger furball in his gut.

Kyuubi scoffed and rolled it's eyes "Next time you come here, I'll find a way to torture you. Oh what a sweet revenge it will be for all the times you called me 'furball'."

Naruto simply answered "You're welcome."

Naruto was also quite surprised that he was summoned here. He didn't expect to be summoned and tested, he was sure the boss summon would reject him the moment his blood touched the contract. It seems that wasn't the case and he didn't know why.

"Welcome, mortal, to the Forest of Cogaró-Twili," Feline, the boss summon greeted. If you listen very closely you could clear some kind of curiosity in her voice. Naruto was also quite sure that it was a female. Feline had a voice quite resembling a queen, someone who has both elegance, grace and power. "I see you don't fear me. May I ask why? You're alone here, with both me and my kin."

"You're right, I don't fear you, Feline-sama. Nor do I fear your kin," Naruto simply stated. "Fear means weakness and I am by no means weak. Fear gives strength and confidence to your enemy. Besides, I don't want to be rude, but I've seen bigger and more fearsome creatures than you."

Feline nodded, the creature started to feel some respect towards Naruto, though she ignored the last comment about bigger and more fearsome creatures. She didn't think such a young ninja had a chance to see something more terrifying and fearsome. "Indeed. Then I ask you this – how do you know my name? I didn't tell my name to anyone in past centuries."

Naruto smiled. "A friend told me."

"A friend?" Feline asked as she narrowed her purple eyes. "Be as it may, I ask you – why do you think you're worthy of the Cougar clan's support? Why should we allow you to be our summoner?"

Naruto chuckled "Actually I didn't expect to be summoned here in the first place."

Feline narrowed her eyes even further "What do you mean?"

The forest became dead silent. It didn't scare Naruto one bit, for which Feline respected him even more "Well, to tell you the truth I've already have signed a summoning contract with another clan. This friend I told you about earlier, told me to try to sign the contract. I didn't think I will be summoned here because I thought you will feel that I'm tied to another clan. I thought that my name will be removed from the scroll one I write it there."

Feline tiled her head sideways in a cute way which clearly showed her confusion "If you're telling me the truth then I should have felt your connection with other clan. I would've never summoned you here. Can you prove it?"

Naruto frowned "Is it possible to summon someone in another summon's homeworld?"

"Originally no, but if the boss summon allows it then yes, it is possible. But I warn you, if the creature you will summon will show any aggression then I will use force," Feline explained.

Naruto nodded and Kyuubi said in his mind "She is going to be in for a big surprise."

Naruto bit his thumb, again, and performed the Kuchiyose jutsu. Feline visibly tensed.

In a cloud of smoke, brown two-tailed fox appeared which was in a size medium dog, it's back reaching Naruto's knees.

"You called, Naruto-sama?" the fox yipped.

"Yes, Sairo." Naruto greeted "Don't show any aggression, please. We're in another summon's homeland."

Feline widened her eyes. "It's not possible," she muttered "I'm going crazy."

"Feline-sama!" Sairo, the brown two-tailed assist fox exclaimed. Surprisingly, Feline understood her. Sairo bowed in a fox way and said "I've heard stories on how you helped Kyuubi-sama and it's an honor to meet you in person."

Feline nodded dumbfoundedly. She regained her composure and noticed that the fox in front of her had the same headband around the neck as Naruto. Feline asked "Sairo, that was you name, right? Is it true that the ninja before me is a summoner of your kin? I fear my sanity should be questioned at this point."

"Do not fear, Feline-sama, Naruto-sama is indeed our summoner. Bearer of the Rinnegan, holder of the Kyuubi-sama," the fox answered.

Feline's eyes widened "Rinnegan?" as on cue, Naruto activated his dojutsu "Impossible. So you're the child from the legend. Wait, does that mean?..."

Suddenly Feline's eyes changed from deep purple to purest black. Feline looked with these eyes at Naruto. She growled, which sounded more like a gasp, and shut her eyes close. When she opened her eyes they were back to her normal.

"Your chakra is so bright, so pure and you have a power source in your gut which strongly resembles Kyuubi-sama. What the fox said is true and it's an honor to meet you, Senn'o'sanah. We, the cougars, have been waiting for you for a long time," Feline said as she bowed "I'm still confused on why I didn't, and still don't, feel your connection with the foxes."

"I think it's the Rinnegan," Kyuubi explained within his mind "Father's main ability was to summon various creatures which, as far as I remember, he used quite frequently. I think your Rinnegan evolved and allows you to sign multiple summoning contracts. If I'm correct, it is the Nature path. I'm surprised that your Nature path suddenly decided to develop so much."

"Sairo, you can go." Naruto said.

"As you wish, Naruto-sama." the fox replied and after another bow to Feline, disappeared back to its own realm in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto then spent the next 15 minutes explaining how he got the Kyuubi, about his Rinnegan and what Kyuubi said about his Nature path. He also briefly said things about his childhood and the recent battle and how he got the contract scroll. Feline was awed and shocked by Naruto's bravery, spirit strength and his still ongoing loyalty to the village.

After everything was told, Feline said. "I knew from the moment you appeared here that you're no normal ninja, that's why you've been here far longer than the last two. I sensed some kind of strength in you and I was not mistaken. It would be an honor to fight alongside you, Senn'o'sanah, and the Kitsune clan. I accept you as my summoner."

The moment those words were spoken, Naruto felt burning on his right hand. The storage seal where he held his sword was on his upper wrist, but the burning was just a little above his under wrist. He looked at the burning place and saw that two symbols started appear on his wrist. They didn't appear just like that, no. They were burned into his wrist.

Naruto hissed in pain. As fast as it started, it disappeared though for Naruto, it felt like hours. He looked at the symbols under his wrist and saw that they were small kanji for 'Cougar' and 'Kitsune'.

"Nice," Naruto muttered "Now everyone will know what summoning contracts I have. On the other hand, no one will guess that I have multiple summoning contracts. I will have to practice summoning different animals. Handseals are one and the same, after all."

"It should be easy. Remember that originally, Animal path, now Nature path, required only a wish and a thought to summon an animal," Kyuubi said "It should have the same concept."

Naruto nodded, it made sense. He then remembered where he was "Oh, sorry, dazed off there for a sec. Anyway, what is a Senn'o'sanah anyway?"

"It's a man, a ninja, from the prophecy." Feline explained.

"Great, another prophecy," Naruto muttered "What prophecy?"

"You have the right to know it. But maybe some other time? I will just say that this prophecy is shared by many ancient animal clans. Don't be surprised when other summons call you like that. It's an honor, really. I will tell you what the prophecy is next time we meet. That is a promise, and we, cougars, keep our promises," Feline answered.

"Just like me," Naruto though and said "Right. How long have I've been here, anyway?"

"43 minutes, Senn'o'sanah," Feline answered.

"43 MINUTES?" Naruto exclaimed "Jeez, time flows quickly here. I should return back to my realm. I bet my teammates are worried by now."

"I think that will be wise," Feline said. "Until we meet again, Senn'o'sanah."

Another cougar, a black one, stepped out from the shadows and bowed to Naruto, "'Till the next time you summon us, Senn'o'sanah. It will be an honor to tear into the flesh of your enemies alongside you."

"Sure. I think that time will come soon enough. And don't be surprised if I summon you for no reason – I have to learn how to summon you after all," Naruto said "And please, call me just Naruto. It's creepy when you call me that Senno thing."

"As you wish," Feline said and with a final bow, Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke back to where he was.

"-haha. You can't imagine his face. Hey, it's Naruto!" Naruto heard someone exclaiming. Sounded like Alicia.

The cloud of smoke finally dissipated and Naruto saw the worried faces of his teammates.

"Uh, hey guys," Naruto sheepishly said.

"Where have you been?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, just chatting with Feline," Naruto replied.

"The boss summon?" Sasuke asked "For so long?"

"Well, long story short – now I can summon cougars as well."

"You've become cougars' summoner?" Alicia asked suspiciously. "Is it possible to have two different animal summons at the same time?"

"As far as I know, no," Kakashi said and looked questioningly at Naruto.

"Oh don't look at me like that," Naruto said and waved his hand dismissively. "It's the Rinnegan. Remember I told you that the original ability of the Nature path was to summon various animals? Apparently the ability 'evolved' and I can have multiple summoning contracts. And don't ask how many I can have because I don't know."

Rinnegan. Always the Rinnegan. The excuse for everything unnatural and impossible happening with Naruto. Lately Naruto used this excuse way too much.

Naruto imagined in his head excited chibi Sakura shouting 'Hey! Naruto is glowing like a Christmas tree. Oh and his skin is glittering in the sun! Wow, he can breath under water! It's impossible! I wonder why it's happening.' and then chibi Sasuke answering in his usual uninterested tone 'It's the Rinnegan. Don't be surprised.'

The blonde boy wondered who he would be if he didn't had the Rinnegan.

"The Rinnegan has a lot of mysteries," Sakura said. "I bet you don't even know all of your abilities."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "I wouldn't be surprised anymore if I suddenly grew a pair of wings or extra arms, or something like that."

Everyone chuckled.

"Well," Kakashi started "Let's go to bed early today. Maybe, if we're lucky, we might return to Konoha by tomorrow evening."

"Ok. I'll go and start putting up my tent," Naruto said, and stood up.

"Naruto, look around," Sasuke said "The tents are already set up. We had to do something while you were chatting with a cougar boss."

Naruto looked around and, indeed, the tents were already set up. Naruto laughed sheepishly and thanked his teammates.

After 'goodnight' from everyone, team 7 and Alicia departed to the land of dreams.

---

-Next morning, 6am-

"Wake up, sleepy heads!" Kakashi shouted and loudly yawned.

Naruto opened his eyes and croaked. Even if it was in a tent, he slept pretty well last night. He quickly put on his ninja outfit and stepped out from his tent.

Naruto yawned and greeted Kakashi "Morning, Kakashi."

Kakashi turned around and saw Naruto in his usual outfit, ready to go. "Good morning, Naruto. I'm surprised you're the first one who got up. For some reason I thought you will be the last."

Naruto chuckled "It seems I'm surprising you too much lately."

"Yeah," Kakashi said with an eye smile "I wonder when is going to be the next time."

"Morning," someone, who sounded pretty much like Sasuke, said from the left.

"Morning, Sasuke," Naruto and Kakashi greeted in unison.

"Are you ready for the morning warm-up?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke sighed and mumbled "Can it wait a bit? I just got up."

Naruto grinned "Nope!"

"Ugh, fine. Lead the way."

"We'll be back in 30 minutes, Kakashi. We will do some morning exercising," Naruto said and Kakashi nodded.

"More like a torture," Sasuke muttered and jogged alongside Naruto off deeper into the woods.

After about half an hour the duo returned and everyone were already up. The small ninja camp was smelling like warm breakfast, made by the two girls.

"Morning, boys," both girls said in unison.

"Morning."

"What's for breakfast?" Naruto asked, as his tummy growled.

After another 15 minutes, everyone was full and fed. Kakashi now said, "Now that we're finished, I think we should discuss our second mission as a team."

"What mission?" Sakura asked. "We have to return to the village if we want to accept another mission, no?"

"Not always. I received a message from Hokage-sama before you woke up," Kakashi explained "He offered us another mission, B-ranked. If we accept, we go straight to the mission place and don't need to return to the village. If we decline, well, we return to Konoha."

"Why us?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, why us? We just had a hard mission. Isn't there other teams available?" Sakura asked.

"There are, but he said, and I quote: I would've had send other chuunin to this mission, but I need chuunin for other, more important missions. Your team, Kakashi, are quite capable genins and would be as good as any chuunin. But they are only genin nonetheless, and would benefit from some high ranking missions under their belt."

"Okay," Naruto said "And what's the mission?"

Kakashi glanced at Alicia and said "Because of Alicia here I can't tell you all the details."

"Hey!" Alicia exclaimed "I'm going to be a Konoha ninja anyway."

"Sorry, those are the rules. I will just tell you that this mission is in the Wave Country."

"Wave country?" Sakura asked "But if we accept, then Konoha is on our way. We could stop by."

Kakashi shook his head "No, it will take time. If we arrive in the village it will take almost half day, if not more, to leave – you would want to meet your family, friends, and Kami knows what else might happen. If we accept, we take a shortcut and go straight to Nami no Kuni."

"I say we do it," Sasuke said.

Sakura agreed "Yeah, it's not like this S-ranked mission was very long anyway. Yes, it was eventful, but honestly I'm not that tired."

"It's settled then!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Okay then. I'll write to the Hokage-sama now and tell him that we accept. I'll also tell him that Alicia will come alone," Kakashi said. Seeing Alicia's sad look, he said "Don't worry, we will give you some directions. And you will see us before you know it."

Alicia nodded and smiled a bit "Thanks. I actually, didn't want to go to any mission for a while anyway."

Kakashi pulled out ink and a blank scroll from his pocket and started to write "We will leave once I finish the letter. Prepare."

Everyone nodded and started to pack their things.

---

END!

I hope you liked the chapter!

*1* I don't know if I explained how those pyreflies looks good enough, but if you're curious, visit my profile, there will be two links. Those who played FFX might know what I was talking about.