Chapter 3

The Wrought Iron Hero

Trace On.

I calmly structurally analyzed and stored the blades in my mind starting with the massive broadsword shaped like a butcher knife.

Its name was Kubikiribōchō. The blade was first forged over two centuries ago, the blacksmith's name unknown, but it most certainly came from the Land of Mist region. There were a total of six wielders since its conception including one Momochi Zabuza. The blade had an incredibly bloodied history with its total body count of being 522. The blade was mostly forged out of 1045 spring steel along with 7075 aluminum alloy that had trace amounts of zinc in it. (1)

I frowned in distaste of the style of the sword itself. It was brutish, glaringly ugly, and a hint of savagery. There were no notable abilities except that it was able to convert the iron from a person's blood to reform the blade if it became damaged. For a supposedly legendary blade its ability was absolutely lackluster. I had several other blades that shared the same attributes as this blade and then some.

Shifting my eyes I focused my attention on the twin swords Raiga held.

Kiba. Dual swords, each with a slim and straight double-edged blades. They also had these weird out of place upward-curved bladed prongs on either side of the blade near the point and base of the sword. Apparently the blacksmith had in mind to both thrust, tear, and slice. These were a little bit older compared to the executioner's blade. They were first forged approximately over 400 years ago in the same region. They had a total of nine wielders since its forgery. The blade was composed of traditional tamahagane infused with lightning chakra when it was being hammered into shape. (1)

In my opinion if they lost the spikes on the blades they would be more appealing to the eyes. Though they would lose the meaning of fangs if they did I admitted. This was a more interesting sword compared to the one his partner was wielding. Its main ability was to enhance cutting power in a manner similar to the high-frequency vibrations of lightning-based chakra flow. Because of it, the twin swords gained the moniker of "thunder swords" and being claimed as the sharpest swords in existence.

I scoffed in indignation in my head. Sharpest sword in existence my ass. Durandal came into mind, along with several others such as Caliburn, Dyrnwyn, Crocea Mors, Gram, and also yours truly with the sword in my hand. I may be a little bias in terms of grading swords, but the swords I was comparing it to have a far longer history and legend to their names, accomplishing feats that ascended their wielders into the Throne.

Though I will admit being able to manipulate and transform lightning freely was pretty bad ass. Along with channeling it into themselves to boost their performance and if there were a natural lightning storm they were able to direct concentrated lightning strikes onto the area they desired.

So we had one based on sheer power and strength while the other focused on speed and agility. As long as I maintain constant aggression and kept close I can deny them their ability to use most of their stronger element techniques and interrupt the hand seals to perform them. The water element was notorious for its rather long winded seals to enact their technique and lightning, true to its nature, was rather short and fast. But that was all moot as long as I kept at them.

I took a second to take in my surroundings. There were equipment and construction vehicles strewn about in the area close by meaning there weren't going to be much room for them to maneuver and get spacing to perform their techniques. Unless they went out into the waters below, but that would be suicidal for them as I would just overwhelm them with arrows and more.

The day was perfectly clear and sunny, so Raiga was already at a disadvantage of not being at his strongest and Zabuza was slightly wounded from his bout with Kakashi. All in all I held the advantage in all aspects for this engage.

I smirked at them causing the two swordsmen to be on edge and take a step back. My body felt comfortably warm from chakra coursing through my circuits. The goal here was to incapacitate them, avoid too much damage to the bridge and equipment, and draw out Gato.

Tensing my legs I leaned forward and blasted off towards them with such force it caused the bridge to rumble and shake. Landing in between them I struck out the concealed blade with my left hand towards Raiga forcing him to block. It was with such strength that it caused him to take a knee. Zabuza to my right swung with all his might with his obscenely large broadsword. Hopping up I planted my feet onto the flat of his blade and used it like a springboard to flip over Raiga's head.

The wielder of Kiba flowed lightning chakra enhancing his body to give him an edge in his performance as expected. As soon as my feet touched the ground we immediately exchanged blows. Sparks shot out as our blades met blow for blow.

In the span of a heartbeat we exchanged over 50 strikes. Over a handful of strikes I managed to nick him with small cuts here and there all over his body. I had to hand it to my opponent that he was decently experienced with his swordsmanship, but it showed through that he wasn't able to fully measure the length and width of my blade. That was the difference between me and him in our skill level.

For comparison Assassin was at such a skill level that he was able to discern the full measurements of the blade with less than a handful of blows and was even able to counter it. He was truly a foe that stood above head and shoulders compared to other swordsmen.

We exchanged one final strike before I shot towards him shoulder charging him. I caught him in his chest sending him tumbling onto the ground. In his place Zabuza came hurtling through at me forcing me to block his massive swing. From the sheer weight of the blade it caused me to ground my feet onto the concrete and pushed me back several meters before I stopped the blow.

He pushed on further trying to drive me towards the railings to no avail. Using his own force against him I redirected the strength and forced the blade down, ramming it into the ground tip first. I jumped back onto the railing and leapt over him before trying to smash my hilt onto the back of his head. My sixth sense screamed at me with the sound of two lightning infused blades thrusting towards my back.

I didn't bother stopping my momentum, with a change in stance I redirected the path of my blade and spun on the heels of my foot to parry away the two swords. I settled for kicking the masked rogue shinobi into his side before engaging Raiga. I was fairly certain I felt a rib or two snapped from the force of my kick.

Raiga came around and leapt to the skies, he channeled more chakra into the swords as he descended intent on skewering me into the ground like a kebab.

Want to know the bad thing about having dumb protrusions coming out of your sword that resembled fangs or hooks? Is that it was absolutely amazing for me to simply slide my sword against his up to the blades that jutted out near the tip and catching it with the edge of the blade, locking it, and with a great roar I smashed the green haired swordsman down onto the ground like a sledge hammer sending debris everywhere around us.

I smirked with satisfaction when I saw his eyes widened when he still hadn't measured the length of my blade and when I smashed his body onto the ground. Blood and spittle came flying out of his mouth when he impacted the ground cratering his body.

Just an observation, but when your body impacts the ground it most certainly does not create a body shaped hole.

Raiga found out the hard way.

In the meantime Zabuza finally managed to free his blade from being jammed into the ground. I pressed the attack onto him causing him to feebly block and counter as best he could against an invisible blade. He swung multiple times forcing me to block his massive broadsword before jumping back a few ways from me.

The thrill of the chase flowed through me as I pursued him. It was a never ending series of slashes and thrusts from me. His broadsword Kubikiribocho was starting to show signs of serious damage with dents on the flat of the blade and large chips on the edge. To be fair, his sword acted more of like a bludgeoner than something you would use to cut. With the weight and how it was designed, it seemed like it was more for blunt force trauma with a decently sharpened edge that used the massive weight to do its work.

Zabuza's breathing was ragged and he tasted blood in his mouth. 'Who the fuck is this guy?!' This was absolutely absurd that some unknown was manhandling both him and Raiga in sheer swordplay alone.

He gave one massive swing accompanied by a guttural roar forcing me to jump away to dodge. It gave him time to retreat further back to the uncompleted end of the bridge.

"What's the matter, Zabuza? If you're just going stand there, you'll give all swordsmen a bad name!" I taunted him. "If you won't come to me, then I will go to you!"

The rogue ex-shinobi from the Hidden Mist growled and glared at me. "Damn you… damn you! Who are you to call me a coward when you're concealing your weapon! What is it a sword or a lance?"

I smiled at him as he took the bait. I remembered all too well the night she spoke these words and to be honest I've always wanted to mess with someone's head like how she did. "Maybe. Maybe not." I squeezed the handle of the blade and settled into a basic stance that belied what it was. "Maybe it's just a battle axe! Or maybe you're right and it is a lance!" I paused to take in the sight of him grinding his teeth beneath his mask. "Orr-rrr, you might have been trading blows with a mere bow Zabuza!"

"I'll have your fuckin' head you god damn clown!"

I merely returned a derisive smile towards his way.

"RAIKYU!"

Raiga had gathered chakra between the tips of his swords and shot a sphere of electrical energy at me that sped at the speed of lightning. If I remembered my science classes correctly, a bolt of lightning travels at an average speed of 100 kilometers per second. Meaning it went really, really, really mind bogglingly fast. In around one-one thousandth of second it could travel from kilometers in the sky and straight into the ground. And it was also super-hot, as in something around 30,000 degrees Celsius.

Yeah… I wasn't really too keen on being turned into vaporized Naruto-dust.

Like a voice in my head it directed my movements and the path of my blade. Comparable to a floodgate, a surge of a monstrous amount of chakra coursed through my circuits alighting them with such vibrancy that my body felt like it was on fire. Having this much coursing through my circuits was dangerous as I ran the risk of burning them out if I kept it going for too long, but I only pulsed the obscene amount of chakra through my body once. It was only for this small moment to counter an imminent death.

I twisted my body and swung my sword with herculean strength at the lightning ball batting it away from me into the clouds above. It erupted in a splendid display of fireworks with colossal lightning bolts arcing through the clear blue sky.

Not once did I blink in reaction at his technique.

Not once did I breathe out an air relief at the close call.

I looked at him in the eyes with an impassive face, the only thing giving away any type of acknowledgement was my single raised eyebrow as if silently questioning him.

Was That It?

Raiga took a step back in sheer disbelief and bewilderment. His jaw slightly loose from the shock at the sight of me batting away his most powerful attack.

"W-what the f-fuck…"

My feet blasted me towards where he was, crossing the distance between me and him in the blink of an eye. I swung overhead, he hastily rose his swords to block. It would've worked if I had only used one hand. As soon as our swords touched, a force akin to a bullet train crashed into him sending him rolling and tumbling into the construction equipment behind him.

I followed in pursuit doggedly vanishing and reappearing in front of him before he could recover. I flipped my sword around holding it by its blade and swinging it like a bat. The cross guard savagely bashed into the side of his head knocking him unconscious. His skull banged against the metal of the construction crane before his body slumped like a doll with its strings cut.

One down. One more to go.

I calmly walked away from his body and turned towards Zabuza.

He gripped his executioner's blade and rose the massive blade over his head before slamming it to the side of him, the blade biting into the ground sticking up. One of my eyebrows rose at the action.

What was he doing?

"Fuck this bridge! Fuck this job! I'm just going to sweep the whole fucking slate clean and bring this bridge to the bottom of the straits!"

I tilted my head to the left slightly with my one eyebrow still raised. Was he going to try and sink the bridge? I'd laugh at the absurdity if it weren't for the fact that he was kneading and gathering as much chakra as he could when he went into a series of hand seals. It looks like he was going to put all of his chakra into this one singular attack. I couldn't help but watch in earnest as to what he was going to do, my curiosity was getting the best of me.

It wasn't long before he finished his hand seals that the water surged up around him, it rose several dozen meters high up into the air. It looked like a vortex water that was beginning to block out a good part of the sky.

Millions upon millions of gallons of water was swirling ferociously in that vortex of his. It was bearing down on us like a vengeful god looking to smite us away with a tidal wave.

Incredible.

But even this wasn't going to be enough.

"Naruto," Kakashi called for me in concern. It seemed like even he was giving a cause for concern about how powerful this attack was going to be.

My hand jutted out to stop him.

No. I would show him something even more powerful than what stood before us.

I sheathed the sword back inside me, sealing it away protectively before tracing my large black bow.

Trace On.

I traced a black bladed sword that had a cross guard forged out of gold with a black handle and a white crystal jewel on its pommel. It was a traditional western longsword that had a simple elegance. It was a Noble Phantasm that once belonged to a king named Rhydderch Hael. Inscribed at the base of the black blade were fairy markings that I couldn't even begin to comprehend nor understand. It was a sword that was not made by human hands, but rather of esoteric beings that I had little to no knowledge of.

On the ranking scale it was only a B-Rank Noble Phantasm. It received a B-Rank for the fact that it could change; depending on how worthy or "well-born" a person was, it determined how strong the blade would blaze with fire. If one had a rather weak soul and constitution, the flame would either be so weak akin to a match light or not even spark a flame at all.

But for me?

My soul shined the brightest compared to everyone

My soul burned the greatest amongst anyone.

If given a physical form my soul would illuminate brighter than any star in the night and through this sword it would represent it.

My hands gripped the sword before gravity could take effect on the object. As soon as my hands touched the handle, the black blade of the sword lit into a burning inferno. The heated radiated out so much that Kakashi and his team took a step back from it. But I didn't mind it at all. It didn't affect me one bit.

After all, I survived that hell all those years ago being in the middle of that fire.

This?

It couldn't even compare to what I survived fourteen years ago, it was child's play.

I glanced at the massive vortex of water that had been building up. It grew even larger then when I first saw it. I'll admit, Zabuza was an impressive warrior to be able to manipulate such an outrageous amount of water. Did I say it looked like millions upon millions of gallons? I meant hundreds of millions.

Zabuza was going for broke. He was going all in and banking on this attack that it would win him the fight. The monolithic water construct swirling above us had completely blotted out the sun. The only thing that illuminated the area was the fire blazing from the sword. The winds were howling and raging all around us with water pelting everyone from all sides.

I smoothly nocked the blade, pulled back on the string causing the blade to change into a more aerodynamic form and aimed at the center of the swirling vortex. I began forcing as much chakra into my traced weapon causing the bright red flames to turn into an intensely hot white-blue flame. I fed enough to break the Noble Phantasm, but stopped short before it reached critical mass. Bright blue energy lanced and arced around me as I readied my shot.

"DIE YOU BASTARD! DIE AND BE SWEPT AWAY INTO THE WATER BELOW WITH THIS BRIDGE!" roared Zabuza at the end of the bridge.

"SUITON: DAIBAKUFU!"

The colossal vortex of water swirled furiously before surging forward towards the bridge.

In the midst of the chaos I serenely breathed in and out before my voice projected outwards for everyone to hear.

My Soul Blazes In The Dark Night

The blazingly hot sword in my hands began shaking as if eagerly wanting to be released. To show its might against the dark vortex of water bearing down us. It was ready to be released! This was it!

Dyrnwyn

The broken phantasm streaked out of my bow like a shooting star in the night sky. It travelled so fast and with such force that it made my eyes squint ever so slightly when I released it.

In under a second, it flew and met the colossal vortex of water head on in its center.

I lowered my bow in my hands coolly as I watched the sword tackle the water construct.

A blink later and Zabuza's attack had disappeared into an enormous cloud of steam.

Dyrnwyn, the White-Hilt of Rhydderch Hael, tore through my enemy's technique with almost utter ease. The concussive force from the blade speeding through was enough to disrupt the technique and blow it back up several kilometers high into the sky. The white-blue flames that coated the blade evaporated all of the water by merely passing through as it continued along its path travelling into the sky uninterrupted.

The back blast was so strong that it pushed all of the equipment and supplies back to the middle of the bridge. Team Seven had fallen on their butts while Kakashi had stood his ground but looked pressed trying to do so.

I took a moment to appreciate my sword as it continued upwards blasting away all the clouds above ensuring a clear blue sky.

Beautiful.

Absolutely beautiful.

I closed my eyes and breathed in deep. Throughout my body and my circuits, they felt extremely hot as if a hot rod had been inserted everywhere. With my built up tolerance over the years I've learnt that there were far more painful things to endure. This was only a small hurdle compared to the fire fourteen years ago and when I was in that cavern last year.

Twice this body of mine has failed me when I needed it most. The fire was more first true experience of being in pain to where I was knocking on death's doorsteps, but the second time it failed me was when I truly experienced agony.

That day when my body failed it had cost me the ultimate price. I lost a part of myself and then some. The burdens were too great to bare and I would never forgive myself for what happened. I lost so much because I wasn't strong enough that someone else had to take my place. They made the ultimate sacrifice while I could only look on in my pathetic broken form.

Never would I allow that to happen again. Any suffering I would experience would be incomparable to that night in the caves.

Opening my eyes I gazed upon Zabuza's sunken form as he stared in disbelief and exhaustion on his knees. His fingers twitched his he tried comprehending what just happened. One moment he was on the verge of being victorious. The next?

Gone.

Slipped right through his fingers like an eel.

I brought my bow up and aimed at his stunned form. I traced several normal arrows, pulled back on the strings, and shot them in non-lethal spots towards Zabuza.

Two arrows struck him on both sides near his shoulder.

Two more flew onto either of his thighs disabling any form of movement.

The last arrow shot barely above his right lung just under the other arrow.

I ensured that all of my shots would only temporarily disable him and not kill. I didn't want them dead. If I did I would've killed them straight off the bat instead of carousing around with them for so long.

The bow in my hands released and dispersed into bright blue particles of light before they disappeared. The fight was over against Zabuza and Raiga. I released a tired breath before walking sedately over to the swordsman's defeated form. My face contorted and I gritted my teeth as I winced at the spasm shooting throughout my right arm.

'Shit come on, not now of all times.' I refrained from drawing attention to my arm and did my best to try and not grab onto it. The sounds of metal grinding against each other and the feeling of my circuits being on fire was excruciating but I held fast so far. I couldn't let any know or draw suspicion to my right arm. Steeling my face, I hid my discomfort and continued on.

I considered myself lucky when it finally stopped before I got near Zabuza.

As I got closer he coughed up globs of blood staining his pristine white bandaged mask. I unsealed the journal, flipping through to the last entry before taking a knee down to his level and laying the book gently onto the ground for him to read.

"W-where did you get this?" he asked as he read the journal's entry.

"I was out looking for where you guys were based on this island when I came across Gato's building. To my surprise it was completely empty and I looked around for anything useful. It was also the same time that I realized that you and your team were at the bridge," I replied as I willed the arrows to disperse. I flipped the page over to allow him to read the last pages.

He looked confused and bewildered as he finished reading. "Why?" he coughed up some more blood. "Why didn't you kill us all? What's your reasoning for… for sparing us?"

I looked away from him to appreciate the view of the sky and water below before replying. "Because I don't believe in killing for the sake of killing. I know your story Momochi Zabuza. Your motives for defecting your nation. Your reason for gathering funds and power. I don't know all of it, but I know a good bit and can fill in the blanks from simple deduction."

"But… we're enemies. I worked for Gato and you for Hatake," he said it as if it were that simple. "We are Shinobi. We're supposed to kill each other."

"Correction. You," I pointed at him. "Are Shinobi." I pointed back at myself. "I'm not. I haven't considered myself one in over four years and even then I never really wanted to be a Shinobi. That's just not me. I'm not out here to kill people on someone else's orders, I'm not a killer for hire like you. I'm here to help and save people even if it means if I have to knock some sense into people."

"Then you're a god damn fool," he tried laughing at me, but began coughing up some more blood. "How do you expect to save people without killing? It's impossible to not kill in this world that we live in."

"I never said that I didn't kill, that's just your assumption. I made it my mission to save innocent lives from others who would try and take advantage of them. Don't presume that just because you've lived longer in this world that you know more than me Zabuza." I began walking around him. "I'll gladly dip my hands and drench them in blood so that others don't have to. I'll hold the weight of the world by myself if I had to. The only reason why I spared you and your team was because you are simply misguided and out of the loop about the situation in your village."

He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, "Misguided? Out of the loop?"

I stopped my pacing right in front of him. "The Yondaime Mizukage has been dead for a while you idiot. You were so zealous in your endeavor to gather power and funds to overthrow him you forgot to pay attention to the news. The despot was removed from power less than a year ago by a good friend of yours and since then has been recalling all those branded as traitors of the state to come home."

"I- I… what?"

You've got to be shitting me.

I closed my eyes to and resisted the urge to smack my face with my hand.

"You seriously didn't know?"

No way. Absolutely no way in hell, did this numbskull not know about the open recall for all former Hidden Mist shinobi.

He seemed to be at an absolute loss for words.

He really didn't know. Lord Almighty. By all that is holy and sacred of the Root and Akasha. This idiot here was so engrossed in getting support and funding for his second coup d'état that he missed the recall.

"You're an absolute idiot did you know that? There's nothing that comes to my mind right now to describe how utterly stupid you are. In fact it would be insulting for all stupid people to call you stupid, stupid."

Seriously the only reason why this guy was considered a rogue shinobi along with Raiga were the fact that they attempted to assassinate the former Mizukage but failed and fled before they were killed. The recall was heard from the farthest corners of the world parading around with the dead body of former leader for all to see to let everyone know that it wasn't a trick or a trap. What was worse is that this guy probably operated in and around the area.

I would've said that he was a paranoid bastard, but by how confused he sounded and his face contorted gave it away that he really didn't know about the recall.

"Remember when I said "even if it means I have to knock some sense into people"? I have half a mind to knock some sense into your head right now into the pavement." I stared blandly at him as he was slipping into a catatonic state that everything he was doing was all for naught. "Go home you idiot. Take your team and go home."

Akasha almighty, I was definitely ranking this up there in the Strangest and/or Dumbest Things to have Occurred list.

Team Seven stood stock still or rather Kakashi stood there while his team and Tazuna were on the ground staring on ahead trying to make sense of what just happened.

"What the fuck?"

Kakashi turned to Daisuke and chastised him. "Language Daisuke, you're still in the presence of our client."

The client in question coughed and repeated the same thing.

"W-what the fuck?!"

The white haired shinobi rolled his eyes as before processing what happened so far. It was fairly enlightening to see Naruto in action and studying his new skills and abilities.

His swordplay was, simply put, beyond his now at this point with how he took on both of his enemies with nothing but a single sword. 'Though that invisible cloak he has around his weapon is interesting,' he noted. It certainly wasn't an illusion as his left eye would've been able to see through it completely. 'From an observation stand point on the small distortions around the blade and how it moved similar to wind. It's most likely a high-level wind technique coating the blade to hide it from view.' He narrowed his eyes as he wracked his brain of wind techniques that allowed a person to do that. The closest thing he could come up with was the blade of wind technique, but even then it came up short compared to the thing that Naruto was wielding.

'Then there's that sword he used as a make shift arrow. That was definitely intriguing, especially that incantation that he used. That was definitely the Far West language that he spoke in… I know he travelled around a lot, but to that extent? What business did he have over there?'

No one from the Main Continent ever travelled to the Far West for a multitude of reasons. The simplest being the rather exorbitant cost to travel from here to the other side of the planet. There weren't many ships that made the trip to cross the ocean and even then sailing was a perilous journey as it was constantly fraught with hurricanes and freak storms that could capsize a ship.

Another way you could possibly travel was through land, but travelling eastward you would only find yourself with a seemingly never ending desert and wasteland. There was a very good reason why the Land of Air and Rock were nothing but desert and rocks respectively. It just wasn't feasible nor worth it.

'But there's also an unspoken ban too…' He had only heard of it in passing when he was in Black Ops and the few conversations he had with Kiritsugu. One of the major things blocking trade and travel was due to the conflicting interests of the ruling caste of this continent and the two organizations that made up the ruling body of the Far West.

One was a widespread religious organization called the Holy Church.

The other was the apparent international, self-preservative and self-defense organization composed of three main branches.

Kakashi had definitely came across the Holy Church in the past during his Black Ops days. He had met travelling priests in passing that had somehow made it onto the Main Continent. 'In all honesty I never really got the whole mumbo jumbo about religion, but maybe in hindsight I should've now that Naruto's speaking their language.' How they made it all the way over here was a mystery to him.

Then there was the other ruling body. It was quite possibly one of the most clandestine organizations that he had ever heard about. Kiritsugu had mention them now and then in passing conversation, but never truly delved deep into it unless it was with Naruto in private.

He sighed before rubbing his eyebrows. 'The more I think, the more questions are popping up.' He casted a look on Naruto as he circled Zabuza's form chastising him and calling said rogue shinobi an idiot. 'What have you gotten yourself caught up in in that year you went missing Naruto.' Kakashi vowed to find out when they got back home. All of this was starting to give him a headache as he delved deeper in thought.

There was going to be a lot of explaining to do, 'and maybe a stiff drink to help digest it all' he thought tiredly.

Kakashi took a glance at his team to see if they were alright.

His team had finally gotten off the ground and Sakura was making her rounds with her teammates and the client. It was comforting for him in a way to see a diligent student of his that was well on her way to becoming one of the finest medical personnel in the country. In a way it tugged at his heart as he was reminded of a former deceased teammate that also had the same aspirations as Sakura.

Maybe that was why he tended to expect the most out of her compared to the rest of his team. The comparisons between her and Sakura were uncanny and quite frankly frightening if he admitted to anyone.

He scratched his head and sighed softly. A quote came bubbling up from the back of his head 'History tends to repeat itself' wrung true. How cruel to see similar parallels of people he used to know and the ones who were living among his students.

Moving his attention to Sasuke and Daisuke, their reactions were one of shock and awe while the other full of incredulousness respectively. It were almost as if they were catatonic with how they just kept staring at Naruto. In Sasuke's case her eyes were flitting back and forth from Naruto and to where the massive water vortex used to be in the sky and Daisuke's jaw kept opening and closing slightly having trouble comprehending the power he witnessed.

For one Uchiha Sasuke her head was currently wracked with questions and internal argument. Her pretty face being marred by her scowl and furrowed brows. Throughout the entire fight after Naruto had inadvertently saved both her and Daisuke by simply crashing through the doom, into the shinobi and shattering all the mirrors by speed alone.

The speed he showed was pure insanity, 'One moment he had his back exposed and was about to be hit by that lightning technique… then… then he just turned and swatted it away like it was a fly. My Sharingan couldn't even keep up, it's supposed to be able to predict and see everything with the utmost clarity and yet… everything was just a blur.'

In fact, the more she tried concentrating during the fight; her eyes began to bleed and a sharp pain began prickling the back of her head before she stopped the flow of chakra to her eyes.

Then came the sword fight which left her in complete awe, in fact her jaw dropped at the intensity of the fight and the sheer amount of sparks flying when the blades met each other. Not to mention the power of his summoned weapons. She couldn't make heads or tails of what he said, 'It looked like a summoning technique… I think. Maybe just a different language?' At first when she saw it, she stared at it and him skeptically and thought he was insane. What was a simple sword going to do against a swirling mass of death?

Her opinion immediately changed as soon as he took hold of the sword and then it suddenly combusted with the hottest flames she had ever felt. 'I was a good ways from him and it still felt like I was getting cooked.' Then as if he felt to surprise them even more he actually nocked the blade onto his bow before, to what she guessed, gathered chakra and causing the flaming blade to leap to another level of power. When he pulled back the string the sword had actually changed to an arrow-like form before he said something in another language again and shooting it.

In one second there was utter darkness encroaching upon them. The next? Gone in a cloud of steam.

For one Uchiha Sasuke, this was the level of skill and power she needed to attain. This was the level that she aspired to be at. They were essentially the same age yet he was light years ahead of her.

'I-I have to,' she resolutely thought, 'I have to ask him to teach me… even if it's just a few pointers with my swordplay it'll still go a long ways for me…'

He won't like tha-at~.

The voice in her head whispered softly in an almost sing-song like tone.

At the resurgence at hearing her "second" voice she tightened her grip on her chokuto causing the knuckles on her hand to go white. She squeezed her eyes shut to block it out, breathing in and out methodically. 'I think… I think I need help.'

From the back of her mind it sounded like it giggled before disappearing.

If someone were to ask her how life was going on right now she could sum it up in four words, like a sinking ship.

She gave a depressed sigh. Daisuke turned to her about to ask what was wrong before they all heard a boisterous laugh and loud clapping resounding throughout the relatively quiet bridge.

Everyone turned around and directed their attention to the person that was laughing like a pig while clapping like a cymbal monkey. What greeted their eyes made Kakashi's students step back and Tazuna scrambling away to get behind them for protection.

Kakashi simply narrowed his eyes to the new additions to the fighting.

'Right on time you fat bastard,' thought Naruto. With Gato's hired shinobi all incapacitated and Team Seven looking generally worse for wear the business tycoon took the bait and brought out his forces to finish them off.

Gato had brought with him a decently sized private army composed of thugs, disgraced or lord-less samurai, and shinobi rejects that didn't make it out of the general academy from wherever they came from.

'All in all they probably add up to around a hundred at least.' It was a rough estimate, but from the fact that Gato's compound was completely empty save for the two guards, he took a gander that this was him going all in to make sure the shinobi on the bridge were deader than dead.

An assistant came up to Gato with a megaphone to help project his voice.

"WELL WELL ZABUZA! YOU AND YOUR TEAM HAS DONE A SPLENDID JOB! BUT I'M AFRAID WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO TERMINATE OUR CONTRACT EARLY! THE DEALS OFF! HAHAHA!"

Naruto began making his way back over to where Team Seven were and gave Gato and his private army a blank bored stare.

"YOU SEE, YOU SHINOBI ARE QUITE EXPENSIVE AND SEEING AS HOW YOU'VE TECHNICALLY FAILED AT ELIMINATING GATO AND THOSE SHINOBI FROM KONOHA! I TOOK IT UPON MYSELF TO GET THE JOB DONE! LIKE MY FATHER ALWAYS SAID! "IF YOU WANT IT DONE RIGHT YOU HAVE TO DO IT YOURSELF!" AND HERE I AM! WITH ME AND SOME FRIENDS TO FINISH THE JOB!"

The blonde haired hero rolled his eyes, 'Here we go with the monologue, then he's going to explain his grand plan, what he's going to do, something about betrayal, was never going to actually pay, something something I'm so great, something something now you all die.'

And Gato did just that to the tee by raucously shouting and sending spittle into the megaphone about how it was all a set up and how he in the end he was going to be the one on top.

'I deserve a pat on the back for that,' mused Naruto. 'Now, was it the twentieth or twenty-first time someone gave me a monologue? I think I lost count at…. Shit I can't remember…' He'd had to consult with his record keepings later as Gato finished boasting.

Naruto took a few steps toward Gato still leaving a relatively sizeable distance for the enemy to cross. He pointed a finger lazily at the suit wearing man out in the front. "You are the one who's been driving this island into poverty correct?"

"WHAT'S IT TO YOU IF I AM HMM?"

"I'll ask of you this once: surrender and repent."

At that Gato laughed obnoxiously along with his army.

"ARE YOU FUCKIN' DUMB? I AM GATO. ONE OF THE RICHEST MEN IN THE WORLD! I COULDN'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE ON THIS ISLAND! I'LL RAPE AND PILLAGE THIS TOWN AND NO ONE IN THE OUTSIDE WORLD WILL EVER KNOW BETTER!"

Naruto withered through the taunts and jeering, being calm as ever. "Then this will make it easier for me."

The corporate leader lowered his megaphone, "Kill them all, but don't hurt the three girls too much. They'll fetch a nice price out on the slave markets." That was their signal. Gato's army roared and yelled before charging altogether. They all raised the weapons high into the sky believing it to be an easy fight for them. That with sheer numbers they could overwhelm the small group of shinobi.

Oh how they were so foolish and wrong to believe that.

Kakashi and his team got into ready positions with him starting a chain of seals before they were stopped by Naruto holding his hands out to stop them for doing anything.

"What are you doing Naruto?!" They all looked at him as if he were insane as a veritable wall of men were charging at them.

He didn't respond except raising his right hand in the air just above his head.

Trace On.

A massive amount of chakra spiked from Naruto as his form was surrounded by blue-green light energy swirling around him. 'Begin projection.' He intoned to himself. Gato's army was fifty meters out he had plenty of time before they reached them. Against this enemy, Uzumaki Naruto would not have to use any of his Noble Phantasms.

No.

Against this rabble, simple swords would suffice. It would be insulting and degrading for his collection of high-tiered crystallized mysteries to be stained with the blood of filth and trash.

En masse his projections began appearing above him filling the sky with blade weaponry. Swords of all classifications materialized in white-blue light particles.

Broadswords. Long swords. Short swords. Bastard swords. Great swords. Full-bladed swords. Side-swords. Dual-bladed swords. Two-handed swords. One-handed swords.

For anyone witnessing this for the first time, it was mesmerizing and amazing all at once, yet equally terrifying as the particles took shape into weapons.

Gato had brought an army.

Uzumaki Naruto would match that with his swords and then some.

Roll Out. Bullet, Clear.

The sky was filled with swords as he finished projecting them all out into the real world.

The mercenary army was now thirty meters out.

Team Seven and Kakashi could only look on in pure wonder above them. The enemy encroaching upon them already forgotten as they stared up.

As one they all turned and aimed at the army that was charging at them blindly. It would be too late for them to retreat. They were too far gone at this point. There would be no regrets in this. This was the only path.

Freeze Out.

'Processes completed. All projections stand by… ceasing decompression.'

They were now only twenty meters out. Naruto casted his gaze upon them all. A feeling of pensive sadness welled upon inside him. All these men. All one hundred of them were charging to their deaths.

He would make it swift.

He would make it painless.

Only a monster would indulge in delight upon seeing their foes wither in pain and suffering before being released unto death's grasps.

He was not a monster.

Just before Naruto released the swords, for the briefest of moments he hesitated. In his heart, he could feel it clench at what he was about to do. His eyes narrowed and he steeled his face and his heart. These were people who would rape and pillage the town if they weren't stop. Gato would simply continue to commit more atrocities after this. He had done this many times, but after what occurred to him the last year he couldn't help but think for a fleeting moment: Was he any different from Him?

No. He closed his eyes before opening them staring straight on at the army.

He swore to himself and others that he would never be like him.

SWORD BARREL FULL OPEN

He brought his hand down swiftly.

'All projections successive fire.'

The swords in the air briefly glowed blue before shooting towards the charging men. Each and every one of them shot out faster than a bullet. The force of the swords accelerating faster than the speed of sound obliterated the charging enemy.

A great many of them were skewered into the concrete of the bridge.

They didn't even have time to scream or register the pain for very long before they were silenced by more swords.

Like a scythe reaping through a field of crops they all fell. The easy battle that the enemy had sought was actually a massacre in disguise.

No.

One could not be able to constitute this a battle. It was far from it. A battle meant that each side had a modicum of chance at winning. This was the complete opposite of a battle.

It was like watching lambs charging headstrong into the slaughter.

When the last man fell, all that stood was Gato unharmed and untouched in a catatonic state. Naruto had purposely made sure to not let any of his swords near him. He wanted the people of this island to get their justice.

From behind Naruto stood Team Seven and their client. For Daisuke, Sakura and Tazuna they had never seen such carnage and bloodbath on a large scale before like this. They were at a loss for words at how to piece together what happened in front of them.

One moment there was an army charging at them. The next they were all dead impaled into the ground by hundreds of swords.

Sasuke was looking a little worse for wear as memories that she buried long ago began crawling back up to the forefront of her mind. The night that she discovered her clan slaughtered in the streets and strewn about, was one of the most horrific things that she had ever experienced as an eight year old. When she walked through those bloodied streets it was like stepping further and further into hell itself.

As she stared at the carnage before her, her fractured mind began to subtly superimpose her deceased clan's faces unto the dead army in front. The whole clan was her family and being slowly transported back into her own hell began to show its effects on Sasuke. Her breathing became heavier and her hands began to clam up and began to involuntarily shake.

It was starting to become hard to breathe for her. Her vision began to swim and her legs shook as they had trouble supporting her weakening resolve. And then like a house of cards she dropped to her knees and upchucked the contents in her stomach onto the bridge.

"Sasuke!"

Sakura dropped next to Sasuke checking up on her. She felt her teammate's body convulse again, "Its ok… its ok." She brushed her back to calm her down. Sasuke began to involuntarily cry due to past trauma resurfacing and not being properly healed and counseled. "Shhh Sasuke it's alright… shhh I'm right here for you." The medic-nin was trying her best, but she hadn't delved too far in to the realm of psychology as she would've liked too. She turned her attention towards Daisuke and saw that he was just standing there staring at them. Her eyes narrowed at him in disdain, 'Some kind of boyfriend you are Tsubasa.'

It would be some time before Sasuke fully composed herself.

Naruto sighed loudly enough that everyone heard him redirected their focus to him. His red holy shroud billowed in the sea wind softly before he walked sedately towards Gato. The field of swords impaled into the corpses were oddly angled towards him as if begging for their master to wield them. He waded through the field of bodies, along the way he pulled out a sword from one of the corpses and flicked the blade to his right shaking off any blood on the sword.

By this point Gato was proverbially shitting his pants as the visage of Naruto encroached upon him closer and closer. The man back pedal before tripping on himself and feebly tried crawling away.

"I-I'll pay you! H-How much do you want? Name your price!"

His response was merely an eyebrow ever so slightly rising in question.

"Fifty million?! How about a hundred million yen! Or! Or! How about a quarter billion yen!"

Naruto cracked a smirk. It was always interesting how people with an exorbitant amount of wealth would always throw money at a problem. That any and every thing could be solved with money and money alone. The tyrant before him started begging and sobbing for his life but he ignored it all. Twirling the sword in his hand he gripped it in reverse and brought it down onto Gato's knee impaling him into the bridge.

"GAAHHHHCCCKKK! YOU SON OF A BITCH. I HAVE POWERFUL CONNECTIONS. POWERFUL FRIENDS ACROSS THE WORLD. Y-YOU DON'T KNOW WHO YOU'RE FUCKING WITH!"

And when you denied their pitiful pleas for mercy they showed their true colors.

"THEY'LL COME AFTER YOU. YOUR HEAD WILL BE ON A PIKE HAHAHAHAHA! YOU'RE FUCKED KID! EVEN IF I DIE I'LL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH!"

Naruto simply stared at him impassively as he ranted and raved. It was starting to get annoying so he pulled the sword free, the shipping magnate screamed as he did so, and brandished it towards him. Gato flinched back and silenced immediately albeit his whimpering could be heard.

"Oi – Tazuna!"

"Y-Yes?"

"You're the de facto leader of this island correct?"

Tazuna wracked his brain before answering, "Y-yeah! I'm the only one left that's able to manage this town."

"Good… good. Then as the leader you now have two choices," he brought up one finger in the air. "The first one is I execute him right here, right now. We get it done and over with." He brought up another finger. "Or the second one… he stands trial and then he hangs."

The first choice was purely for Naruto. A selfish choice as he would gain the satisfaction of the blow and sating his conscience for the atrocities done by the man to the island. It wasn't the most glorious path and neither the most heroic, but many times you weren't able to avoid bloodshed for the greater good. It just wasn't worth the risk to allow a criminal to run amuck again.

The second choice would be the most heroic and noble. It would allow the villagers to hold the reigns to Gato's life and allow them retribution for the aggressions made by their oppressor. It would be justice in its purest form. Justice that these people have longed for many years. Justice that these people craved.

Tazuna looked visibly shocked, it was the first time he held someone else's life in his hands. The power to save or kill. He looked conflicted with himself before his shoulders sagged. "Trial… as much as I want that bastard to die right here. The people need to speak their grievances and see him on trial then executed. The people of this village need their closure. Please, spare him so that he may go to trial and then hanged as you said."

Naruto turned and gave Gato a smug grin. "You can consider your days numbered."

He gritted his teeth, "Who… who the fuck are you?!"

Across from where the uncompleted side of the bridge. Zabuza's voice echoed through the area with realization, "You're… you're the Wrought Iron Hero!"

After witnessing Naruto's signature style of what essentially was a mass sword spam, it was fairly easy to connect two and two together. The wandering hero whose sole power was swords and his archery skills were known far and wide. A feared individual whose stories spoke of being able to blot out the sun with his swords.

From there his tale was spread.

A legend had been born.

It was not a name he had given to himself, but by foes whom he had conquered and lived to tell the tale and those whom he had saved by the blade. They all had a part in fueling his story. The tales of how he saved villages, towns, and even countries were renowned by people all over.

The governments of the hidden villages and their respective ruling lords had their curiosity piqued and covertly sent in black op agents to investigate. It was all done secretly as they didn't want to bring any more attention to the individual that was upsetting the status quo of the minor nations and villages. Each and every team that was sent, came back fruitless in their endeavors to find Naruto. All they had were reports and hearsay of his deeds by the local populace that he had saved.

After months of sending in teams and coming back empty handed. One nation ordered their own groups to spread the word of how a town had been under oppression from a ruling local lord to draw him out. They laid in the bait, but somewhere down the line it had gone all horribly wrong and the orders had become jumbled up in the mix. Instead of masquerading the town of crying wolf, the group of individuals had down the complete opposite.

The black ops team had slaughtered the entire populace to garner his attention and told any fleeing survivors to spread the word of the incident. They were quite successful in doing so, but also drew his ire and contempt.

They had killed every single person: man, woman, child, and elderly. It did not matter who, they had killed the people living in the town indiscriminately all for the sake of trying to find Naruto's identity. The absurdity of the lengths that the shinobi team had gone to catch his attention angered him beyond all questioning.

Suffice to say, they did not acquire a name nor a face to the individual going around the continent playing hero for the people.

So in-return he had slaughtered them when he questioned if they were the ones that committed such barbarism. In the end he had spared one and when that individual retreated back to his village, all he could mutter to his superiors about his traumatic experience was one word on repeat.

Swords.

Those who had met him would always ask why he was doing this, he would reply that all he wanted to do was to save people and make them happy. That that was his only wish in its purist form. He wanted to do it not for fame or glory, but for the sake of making others happy.

It was from there with his association with swords and wanting to save others that his name was born.

The Wrought Iron Hero

He had never given his real name to anyone. He didn't sought the praise and glory for his name. It wasn't what he was there for. For the nameless hero who no one could identify, the shinobi and the people ordained the name for him. Those who knew his signature power and style would immediately recognize who he was.

Naruto paid no attention to Zabuza blurting out his given moniker. Flipping the sword in his hand he used the hilt to knock Gato out. It felt a little anticlimactic for now, but he was going to enjoy watching Gato squirm in the trial against the people of the island.

The blonde magus winced as a sharp pain shot throughout his arm, this time he wasn't able to hold off the urge to grab it and breathed in sharply hissing at the feeling of hot rod being shoved down his arm. He was going to have to look into it after he got home and into his workshop. This was going to be a problem later on down the road if he didn't look into it in time.

For Kakashi it only heightened his suspicion about the red clothe that was wrapped around Naruto's hand he had seen almost a week ago. He narrowed his eyes at Naruto grabbing his arm. There would be indeed many questions that needed to be answered once they all got back to Konoha.

Across from the bridge, hidden away in the thick foliage on the island a small snow white rat, with red eyes, a tiny golden crown sat upon its head, with a checkered brown/light brown cape and a red ruby gem held in its arms, watched on from its secluded spot. (2)

It had the perfect view to record the events on the bridge. From start to finish it watched it all. As soon as its target had finished knocking out the man known as Gato it scurried off, retreating from the general vicinity.

The rat had achieved its assigned objective, there was no need to be in the area until its target was on the move again.

'Emiya-kun has been found.'

(1) Hope I did justice with structural analysis through gradation air.

(2) A dead giveaway to who it is and what's going to come.

Author's Note: I'm a bit nervous about this chapter for the fact that I re-wrote this a total of three times. I even got to the point where I completed the chapter then after reading through it I deleted everything and started over. The first iteration was a standard brawl, there was nothing flashy or spectacular about it so I deleted it. The second version was Naruto struggling then having Kakashi jumped in but after a while I needed him to provide exposition and thoughts about Naruto's new abilities and language. So this is the third iteration with him viewing it all to try and understand his powers and then to hint to the reader about the expanded world.

The goal for this chapter was to present to the readers and characters Naruto's abilities, strength, and power. This also shows how broken Sasuke is, Kakashi's suspicions about Naruto and his involvement with the far west, a small introduction to two very important factions, and the presence of someone very important watching from a far keeping tabs on Naruto.

One reader asked is this going to be a "Naruto in our world but hidden away?" So this is going to be for everyone else that's wondering. Nope. The Naruto-verse takes precedence among all else, but shares a similar timeline with our Earth elements thrown into the mix to explain other things. To try and imagine what it's going to be like, search up "Strangereal" and you'll understand. The world will be very similar and yet very different. This becomes important later down on the plotline and which I'm excited to expand on.

Another reader asked regarding to Naruto's strength/power. He'll be fairly strong that he can handle himself against a lot of opponents though he won't be cruising through the story if that's what you're asking. There'll be drawbacks to him using his magecraft and I got something in store about his shinobi abilities.

Also if you're wondering I do update the status of the story on my profile, feel free to PM me if you have any questions/concerns about the story!

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I had some great difficulty in typing this one out and I did my best! Please leave a review on what your thoughts/critiques are so I can improve as an author! And wow thank you all for the responses last chapter! You guys blew me away with such a warm response! Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my story! Also sorry for the rather long A/N.

Word count before A/N: 9764