Chapter 7
Seeds

Naruto stared up at the birds overhead, gliding on invisible currents of air. If only I had wings,we'd be back home in NO time. He sighed and listened to the whisper of his bare feet on the sandy road. They'd left the crater that was the Kazimo clans old home behind hours ago. The old man and children trudged on right behind Naruto, with Senjii taking up the rear.

Naruto really wished he had left something of the house, maybe then he could have gotten some shoes or something to wear. That last release of chakra he had released had completely destroyed his clothes. His tattered white clothes still hung on his back, his pants shredded below the knees, his shoes long gone.

Senjii scanned the forest they walked through carefully. He really doubted that any members of that guerilla army remained after Naruto decimated them, but it didn't hurt to be careful. He thought back to when Naruto went berserk. It sure was a sight to behold. He didn't think anyone could stand up to that onslaught. The demon within him had certainly given him amazing levels of chakra. Senjii had a question that was bothering him though.

"Hey Naruto!" He shouted to the front of their procession.

Naruto turned around and walked backwards on the road so he could look at Senjii with a quizzical eyebrow.

"That last chakra blast, that wasn't your…resident. It felt different." Senjii asked carefully. The new clan didn't know as yet that Naruto had the Kyubbi inside him, and Senjii thought it best for Naruto to explain that at a later time.

Naruto looked thoughtful. "Honestly, it's all a bit of a blur. But…" He looked up at the sky, "I think I changed his chakra into my own, channeled it to mix with mine trying to suppress it. But it was too much to hold inside."

Senjii shook his head. "Helluva thing to do by accident. That's a forbidden art if I ever saw one."

Naruto grinned and put his hand behind his head. "Yeah, I guess it was pretty aweso…" His words were cut short as he tripped over a rock in the road while walking backwards and landed on his ass.

A small giggle escaped from one of the older girls. Naruto smiled at them then looked inquisitively to the old man. "Hey, we don't know any of your names. I'm Naruto Uzumaki. That's my friend Senjii"

The patriarch stopped and pointed to everyone. "These are the twins Baku and Benika. " He motioned to the youngest children, the most recent orphans who had just seen their parents murdered.

He then pointed to the older boy and girl. "The boy is Junya, and the girl is Fuki. Also brother and sister. Twins are a clan trait." The old man smiled. "and I am Tora. Tora Kazimo"

Naruto dusted himself off and looked for what seemed an eternity at the orphans. A thousand thoughts went through Naruto's mind. Senjii could see intense sadness cross his face to be replaced by quiet determination. "Nice to meet you guys properly. We'll be home in a couple days. We will protect the Kazimo clan with our last breath."

Naruto's turned on his heel, and walked forward.

"You ready Lee?" Shikamaru asked him in a whisper. The night air was brisk as the soft wind nipped at them. Ino peered around the building to the Hokage tower.

"The guards are switching any second now. So we have a total of thirty seconds tops before the next shift settles in for duty." She said.

"More than enough." Lee said tensely. This was a mission and as such his usual bravado about flames of youth was tempered a bit. A solid month of harassing the hated Hokage Danzo had made them all somber.

The trick was to harass the enemy, but not to inflict anything on the villagers. Shikamaru had come up with plan after plan to make life a living hell for Danzo. All so far had been successful. He grinned a little bit as he remembered the shouts coming from the Hokage tower when Danzo discovered all the furniture in the entire tower had been turned to dust. Amazing what those bugs of Shino could do, eating that much wood in one night.

"Now!" Ino barked at them in a whisper. Lee looked up at the tower and disappeared in a blur, his ankle weights left in a heap by Shikamaru. Lee's speed was unmatched by any Genin or Chunnin in Konoha and Shikamaru estimated that no Jounins would be watching the little window of opportunity they had scouted out

5 seconds
Lee's feet carried him at an amazing speed up the side of the hokage tower in leaps and bounds. He didn't have the chakra needed to stick his feet to the wall, but the sheer momentum he was moving at negated the need for it.

10 seconds
Lee was in the window of the Hokage's Office window. A silent whoosh of air shifting the curtains was the only sign of his entry. He had studied the layout of the office before this mission, had even been in it a few times himself, so he knew exactly where to go.

15 seconds
He raced back out the window with the package in his hand. A leap from the window and he was a blur as he hit the ground running. One of the Chunnin sentries who was just settling in could have sworn he saw a green blur across the courtyard, but it was gone as he blinked.

20 seconds
Lee rounded the corner back into the alley and stopped abruptly. Three Large figures stood there in the Alleyway behind Shikamaru and Ino. Shikamaru looked immobilized, his eyes wide. Ino seemed fearful as well. They had been caught. Lee stiffened, preparing to fight to free his friends, when a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

"No." A familiar voice to lee spoke firmly yet in barely a whisper. "You will follow us right now before the guards hear us." Lee gulped and a trickle of sweat rolled down his temple. His grip tightened on the Hokage hat he had just stolen.

"Yes Gai-sensei." He whispered back as they all disappeared into the shadows.

"Outta the way! " Jiraiya shouted as he came up the river of wind. Truthfully this was a very smart piece of advice he was giving as a very large group of very large toads was behind him, each weighed down by packages of equipment and raw materials. Riding two of the toads were Tazuna and Inari. The builder and his grandson that Jiraiya had hired.

They emerged into the cloud bank and Jiraiya directed each toad that landed to move quickly to the side so that the one behind didn't land on him. It became a very fast paced game of leapfrog as the previous toad landed, hopped forward, then the other toad landed behind him, and hopped over him and so on.

Within minutes they were all settled and grouped around on the sand of the island itself. Inari and Tazuna stood next to the group and looked around. Their employer had not said much about where they were going, but that was to be expected if they were helping a hidden village. They just hadn't realized HOW hidden this one was.

"This is amazing." Tazuna said. "In all my years, I would never think a place like this could exist."

Jiraiya smiled. "Well the person who discovered it called it Tengoku (Heaven), so Naruto decided to keep the name."

Tazuna's and Inari's heads whipped around at the same time, the same word on both their lips. "Naruto?"

As if on cue, a loud 'woo hoo' broke the calm and the white clad Ninja in question came bursting through the clouds, up the river of wind. He landed much better this time, in a crouched position, one hand touching the ground in front of him. Yes he thought smugly, that was a perfect entrance. One second later however the two younger twins Baku and Benika fell on him.

The rest of the Kazimo clan soon followed, everyone landing on top of Naruto, whose hands was all that showed.

Within seconds they had untangled and were staring around at wonder at the island in the sky while Naruto grinned madly. But then Naruto and Senjii saw the toads, Jiraiya and a dumbstruck Tazuna and Inari staring at them. Naruto's mouth dropped open.
"Inari?"

A wide grin split Inari's face and he laughed and ran over to greet his friend.

Later around a campfire, they all took stock of where things stood.

"So Tazuna and Inari here will help build the water plants. When Guerrera gets back we'll start on the main tower. The Kazimo clan is more than welcome to pitch in where you can, as you can see we are starting from scratch."

Old man Tora smiled. "Thank you for inviting us here. I can see the potential in this village as a permanent home for my clan. In truth we had nowhere else to go besides Konoha, and we've heard bad things lately about the new Hokage there."

"New Hokage?" Naruto's attention now fully on Tora.

"Yes, an old war-monger named Danzo. A very long time ago when the Tora clan fought in battles, we had heard of him. Some say he thought of his ninja as nothing more than pawns to win at all costs. A brutal reputation he had. I would not have willingly taken my family to Konoha now."

Naruto's eyes grew dark and he put his head down. His old home in the hands of someone who stood completely against the old man, the only person Naruto thought of as Hokage, had once stood for.

"I've also heard of you Naruto" Tora said with a weird tinge to his voice. "Just a few weeks ago we heard of a town far from here that had been wiped out. Invading pirates had swarmed the city and one man in his anger at the raid waved his hand and destroyed the city and the pirates within. One slash, one city. They said his name was Naruto, a white clad destroyer of cities, a Shinigami, an Angel of death."

They all grew quiet and the sound of the crackling embers was all the noise they heard.

Jiraiya sensed his mood and decided a diversion was in order. "So tomorrow we'll start the work of building this place. Tonight though, why don't you, "he gestured to Inari, "tell me how you know Naruto."

Inari grinned and launched into a tale of how a trio of young Ninja had saved their village and their lives. He embellished certain points to make it more grand, but he had everyone laughing and cheering as he reenacted the scenes of battle -most of which he had not seen- well into the night.

"You were reckless and stupid, and of course you would get caught eventually. Did you think you wouldn't?" Shikamaru's dad tore into him verbally, lashing out with anger.

Shikamara, Ino, Lee, Chouji, Hinata, Ten Ten, Nejji, Kiba and Shino all stood there as their parents - with one exception - individually berated them in the room they had come to. Shikamaru hadn't been surprised at that point that the others had been rounded up at the same time. They had been discovered completely.

Kakashi stood to the side and let the parents deal with their children for a few minutes. He stood 'guard' over Hinata and Neji as they dared not inform the Hyuga clan of this. When he thought they'd gone far enough he stepped forward.

"It is clear to us that you were seeking to harass the Hokage." Kakashi said loud enough to get everyone's attention. "But then what?"

Shikamaru understood the question. "The intention was to build up support against Danzo. To undermine his base."

His father shook his head. "The intentions are good, but all you've managed to do is make it seem like harmless pranks are being pulled on him. It is not enough."

Shikamary glanced quickly at his father at that last statement. That was more than beratement, that was disappointment in execution, not in their intention.

"What you are doing now, did you think that none of us in this room agreed with you? That Danzo is not to be trusted?" Kakashi went on.

"The village is not at peace with the decision to make him Hokage. We cannot publicly agree with your actions, but privately, we will encourage and assist."

Gai smiled at his student. "Yosh! The fires of youth burn brightly! Overthrowing a leader is a task best suited for this generation indeed. But come to me next time for advice Lee!"

"Gai sensei!" lee hugged his mentor.

The parents hugged their children. Kakashi turned to Hinata and Neji. "Unfortunately, the Hyuga's seem to be in full support of Danzo, so we cannot have your families involved. In fact now would be a good time to back out for you two."

"No." Neji and Hinata said at the same time. Neji continued, "Our village is under threat. We must defend it."

Kakashi nodded. "Good. Now Danzo is the head of an underground organization called Root. And do you remember your D –Class mission days? How do we remove an old root?"

Kiba snorted. "We had to dig all around it then light it on fire before we could pull it out."

Gai grinned. "Exactly"

Guerrera had arrived in the middle of the night with all his materials strapped to the back of a giant blue ox he had borrowed from a friend who could conjure such things. He had greeted the Tora clan warmly, and the Tora girls Benika and Fuki had immediately taken to fawning over his daughter.

Naruto and Senjii stood at the place the future tower of their city would stand. They had cleared out the area and readied it for construction before their little adventure. Naruto had gotten a new pair of white trousers and sandals. Jiraiya had explained to him that if he wanted to start a new village, his reputation was tantamount. So wearing orange was out. Naruto had pouted at that, but glady put on the trousers and sandals that were thrown at his face by Jiraiya. The shirt lay cast aside for now, as they were about to do some serious manual labour.

"Ok!" Naruto shouted and formed the signals. Fifty shadow clones appeared, all ready to begin laying stones.

Senjii grinned. Naruto's almost unlimited clone making abilities would help them build this tower in no time.

Guerrera approached them with the blueprints he had drawn up. For the first time, Naruto got a good look at the design. It was a solid, smooth round white tower extending one hundred and fifty feet into the air. From what Naruto could tell in the notes, the windows would be frosted glass with intricate seals and markings to prevent cracking or breaking. The roof of the tower would house what Guerrera only marked as 'beacon light'. Naruto didn't know what that was so didn't think about it much for the moment.

Senjii whistled as he too looked at the plans. "Wow. That's beautiful. Really going with the whole heavenly theme huh?" He smiled. "Ok Guerrera, what do we do first?"

Tazuna and Inari began unpacking the pipes that Jiraiya had brought. The toads long gone, the packs lay around the lake that was to be the main water source.

"You know grandpa," Inari said as he hefted some nuts and bolts, "I was thinking maybe when we finish this job, we can stick around here for a while." He glanced over at Tazuna cautiously. "Maybe I could learn to be a fighter like Naruto even."

Tazuna didn't look over at Inari. "Why would you want to fight?"

Inari looked out over the lake in the sky. "To protect people who can't protect themselves, like Naruto does."

Tazuna grunted and passed a rope to Inari. "Do what you wish grandson. After we finish this job."

Naruto and Senjii had begun by creating a pulley system to put the large metal beams that would be the frame of the structure into the ground. Guerrera supervised it all such that by the end of the first day, they had the first of the beams in and the holes for the others already dug.

An exhausted Naruto sank to the ground around the campfire. Even with shadow clones, it was a lot of work. This tower wouldn't just appear overnight. He had underestimated how much work it would be. But at the same time, he lay back with a satisfied grin on his face, he was building his own home with his own hands.

Jiraiya noticed the smile on Naruto's face and recognized it for what it was. He smiled too, proud of his student.

"OK" He called everyone's attention. "We have a few things to talk about."

Tora stirred the pot of stew he was making for everyone to eat, but he gave Jiraiya his attention. The Kazumi children were playing with Gabriel, Senjii was sharpening his blades. Guerrera just sat with a content face and looked on.

"Our village name is Tengoku, and Naruto here would like for it to be a powerful village capable of taking in people and protecting them. Do I have that right Naruto?"

Naruto nodded so Jiraiya continued.

"Well then we need to organize a few things. The village itself is being built, but noone knows about us. The very first thing we need is a symbol. Something to represent the ideals of our village. Suggestions?"

Naruto sat up, he hadn't thought of that. What would they put on their headbands. He scowled, he didn't particularly want to wear another headband, it had been months since he lost his Konoha one, and even though he had his own village now, he didn't feel right putting on another one. But the band could wait, for now…

"Well what would represent Heaven?" Naruto asked.

Tora walked over and sat down. "We are currently in the land with no name, a hundred miles west of the last great country. Hmm…Our village is hidden in the heavens, the Heavenly City."

Senjii chimed in "…we could use the pearly gates, but that just seems…wrong."

A voice came in from the shadows, "I say we put wings on our crest. As we are the warriors of Heaven. I think Archangels is a good imagery to put out there." Tenchi stepped into the light of the campfire smiling.

They all welcomed him back. Jiraiya laughing at his entry. "Damn samurai, do you have to be so mysterious?" he cocked his head to the side. "I like the idea though. The warriors of Heaven. Naruto?"

Naruto grinned madly. "Well if I'm already getting to be known as an Angel of death, it makes sense. So we're…ark..angels?" He asked Tenchi.

"Archangels," he corrected Naruto. "The warriors of Heaven."

Naruto felt a chill. "I love it!"

Jiraiya nodded and made a note in his little book. "Ok that settles that. So we have a name for our warriors, and a symbol. I'll design something and show you when I'm done."

"Now the next step. We already have one clan adopted to our village, the Kazumi Clan. What do we do about training?"

Old man Tora shook his head. "I will not force my grandchildren to a life of being warriors. They can make the decision on their own. I myself fought in wars and its not a pleasant thing."

The Kazumi kids grew quiet. The oldest boy, Junya looked down. "I'd like to learn to fight. Our parents were killed, and Baku and Benika's as well. And the way those men were torturing and playing with my sister… I need to get stronger to protect them."

Inari had tears in his eyes, hearing familiar words. "I too would like to learn how to fight," after glancing to his grandfather though he added, "…after we finish our job of course. I'd like to stay here."

Naruto stood up, tears in eyes too. "I'd be happy if you stayed Inari. You too Tazuna. Junya, I'll make sure you can protect your sister and your family."

Tora sighed. "Since I'm not much other use, I'll begin instruction on the children who want to learn. If Junya is doing it, then so is Fuki." Fuki nodded shyly. "I will set aside an area tomorrow for a warrior academy. Since we have people from all over the known world, I think I'd like to suggest we don't only study Ninja arts. We already have Samurai, Ninja, and a Luchador."

Naruto nodded. "I think that makes sense." But then he looked puzzled. "What's a Luchador?"

Guerrera, Jiraiya and Tenchi laughed. "Naruto, you really should learn about your opponents before you fight them. Guerrera is a Luchador. A masked wrestler or grappler. It's a strong one on one fighting style." Tenchi said.

"Ohhh" Naruto laughed. "That's ok then. So we aren't training Ninja's, we're training warriors. Warrior Angels!"

They laughed and settled in to more casual talk for the rest of the evening.

Gaara entered the village of Konoha followed by his entourage of thirty visible ninja. The hokage had requested this meeting months ago, but Gaara was new in his post as Kazekage and couldn't leave so early in his tenure. In truth he didn't even want to come here, the village that had scorned his one friend Naruto, but in his official capacity he had to put aside those issues. He just hoped he could maintain his calm around Danzo.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, his visit coincided with another diplomat. The Daimyo himself. The fire lord and his train of courtesans and bodyguards easily took up the entire street. Guaara scowled as he fell in line behind the Daimyo as tradition dictated he did.

Danzo stared down at them from his Balcony, his eyes wide. He had no prior knowledge of the arrival of either party. The usual courtesies hadn't been prepared. He called on his trusted aides, remnants of his Root organization.

"Whats the meaning of this? Did you know?" He demanded of his first officer.

"No sir, no message was received informing us." Danzo swore vehemently. He raced down the stairs to greet the arriving diplomats and Gaara the Kazekage he had wanted to meet alone. His carefully crafted assassination plot to kill Gaara was out the door now; he couldn't do anything with the Daimyo here.

He flung open the doors to the Hokage tower just as the Daimyo stopped short of it.

"Greetings your Eminence. I wasn't aware you were coming." He gritted out behind the widest smile he could muster. Gaara watched him curiously from next to the Daimyo.

"I see the usual manners of your predecessor have been forgotten." The Daimyo said irritably. "My feet haven't touched dirt floor in some time. I shall be sure to remember this experience 'Hokage'. Where is your hat?"

Danzo cursed mentally, the red carpet hadn't been rolled out. He didn't notice as the Guard next to him eyes glazed over for the briefest of seconds, but enough to stumble forward and push Danzo from behind. Danzo wasn't expecting it and fell helplessly into the Daimyo. The both of them tumbled down the stairs of the Hokage tower. Gaara looked on in shock while his advisor and sensei Baki looked across the courtyard to the rooftop of a nearby shop where Ina and her father stood looking down on the proceedings . Truthfully all the rooftops had families watching the great fire lords' entrance.

So his tumble with Danzo brought an audible gasp from the crowd.

Inoichi Yamanaka very subtly winked at his daughter, having just re-entered his body. Ino smiled at her dad and looked back at the flailing arms and dust spectacle before them.

It was going to be an interesting visit by the Daimyo.

By the third day, Naruto was working alongside one hundred and fifty clones of himself. They were evenly divided building the tower, the water plant and the wind turbines. He had also thrown a few into training. As he realized he remembered every thing they learnt, it just felt wrong to forget about training just because he was busy with his village.

Jiraiya had come up with a symbol for their village. A pair of sharp angular wings cut out of the metal background of the headband. Naruto loved it.

Naruto was thinking though about something Senjii had said the night before. "He Senjii," He asked as he handed him another large brick. "Do you remember last night, where you said I should be careful I don't fall off the island again and float away to the sea or something?"

Senjii scowled, the sun was blazing them today. "Yes I remember. Why?"

Naruto grinned. He made the familiar hand signs and pumped out another fifty clones. "Ok lets do this!" he shouted at them. The clones all ran off in different directions.

"What are you doing?" Senjii asked.

"Simple" Naruto smiled as he went back to work. "I remember everything when my clones dissipate. So I'll send each one to find another path of wind off and back on the island. And I'll keep doing it till we have it all mapped out!"

Senjii laughed. "Good idea Naruto. Maybe next trip we take, we don't have to walk back."

One particular Naruto clone was flying faster than he thought possible as an extremely fast stream of wind had him hurtling fast through the atmosphere eastwards. For what felt like a little more than an hour he zoomed past clouds high above the ground. He felt the excitement and rush of flying and really wished he could learn to do this without streams.

He felt the stream start to weaken. And he thought it would be a slow descent like before. But this time, he suddenly was let go, the stream too weak to carry him anymore. He screamed as he fell to earth. As he broke the cloud bank he saw a village directly beneath him, a village that looked all too familiar.

The village Elders looked in disgust at Danzo as he apologized to the Daimyo profusely, helping him back up. The Daimyo was incensed.

"I do not think I will stay here any further, I've suffered enough embarrassment at the hands of your hospitality." He turned to go when they heard a growing scream.

They looked up just in time to see a half naked boy, (the clone was just wearing white pants) with yellow hair hit both of them at full force from a height of hundreds of feet.

The clone was instantly dissipated in a puff of smoke. Danzo and the Daimyo lay unconscious in the street.

Kakashi whistled low from a nearby rooftop. "Ok, that I did not expect."

Authors Note:

Hey readers. The response to this story has been great! I love some of the ideas I see in the reviews. If I use it, don't hate me . I'll try to give credit for any idea I'm given, though some were already planned and great minds DO tend to think alike. Lol. This story is not going to have a timeskip sorry. I don't want to 'suddenly' see how powerful Naruto can be, or how great his village is. I actually enjoy thinking about the details of how it got there.

Its not the destination it's the journey.

Authors Addition to the Note:

Joshua The Evil Guy: Much thanks for the uber-long review, and the ideas. As you see I've used one .The other's we'd have to wait and see. If you wanna Beta for me still send me a PM!

Everyone thanks for the help with lil mistakes I've made. :)

Authors Appended PS to the Addition to the Note :

Check my profile for LINKS to artwork relevant to this story. I've done a MAP and A headband... not fantastic, but enough to keep me inspired to write a bit...lol