Naruto: Tenshikage Chapter 22 : Rogue Wave, a naruto fanfic

Chapter 22
Rogue Wave

Five hours after Iruka's rescue

"Give me a status report!" Danzo ordered. He had set up a temporary office in a building adjacent to the now defunct Hokage's tower. He glanced up at where it used to be angrily. Long had it been a symbol of Konoha's might. No matter. I will make it bigger and better than before, a testament to MY greatness.

"We have found the bodies of several ROOT leading into Training Ground #4. We've also found the body of one of your honor guard, code name 'Lizard'. One of our sensors detected the residue of Naruto and three others heading off to the East*. There are no tracks to follow, we are unsure of their method of travel."

Danzo swore angrily. Losing one of his four guardians was a bigger blow to him than the Hokage's tower. He'd invested a lot of time and effort into their selection, development and training.

"East? Why East? They would have had more places to run if they went West." Danzo thought for a moment. "Didn't the Jinchurriki once do a mission to the East? In Wave country?" Danzo had monitored every where they let their little weapon ran off to years ago.

"I don't know sir," the ROOT member responded. Danzo scowled at him, his mind working at a million miles a minute. He may have been many things, but Danzo had a keen mind for war and politics.

"They must be heading to Wave Country. I had sent a notice to them a few weeks ago along with all the other smaller countries bordering us to become one of my territories or perish. I've yet to get a response. " He looked hard at the ROOT member. "Perhaps an example needs to be set. Two birds with one stone. I want you to gather a force of three hundred and pursue the Jinchurikki and his friends. He must pay for his crimes against Konoha. If he is as I suspect sheltering in Wave Country, then they are harboring a fugitive from Fire and Earth Countries. We will invade and suppress them. That should send a clear message to the other border countries to not delay in joining with me."

Danzo glanced down at his papers. "I expect you to be ready to leave within two hours."

The ROOT member cleared his throat. "May I suggest sir that we use a primarily Iwagakure force? We are down to a few hundred loyal ROOT members, while there are many Iwa ninja about the city. It would be useful to send them into battle where casualties may be high."

Danzo smirked. "Good. See to it."

Three hours later

Neji jumped to the next branch, keeping an eye on Tenten as she kept pace with him. He noticed, not for the first time, how delicately and silently she moved. It was quite a contrast to her proficiency with weapons. He grimaced as he heard the whispering noise of the force Danzo had committed to this chase. Several hundred ninja, both ROOT and standard chunnin and Jounins from Iwa were all given one order and one only.

Kill Naruto and anyone he's with.

Neji knew that to argue with that command would not only be suicide, but the Danzo loyalists were undoubtedly keeping an eye on everyone in the force, any sign that he was not doing his best would give away his true loyalties. He scowled, jumping to the next branch. He wasn't sure yet how not to do his best to kill Naruto and make it appear that he was.

That didn't really seem to be a problem yet though.

He'd never seen anyone move as fast as Naruto was moving with his friends. Neji could pick up minor chakra bursts, but they were so far ahead that he was unsure. It seemed as if Naruto and his friends blinked into and out of existence, miles apart. They were in no way keeping up with them. Instead it was very basic deduction that kept them on this path. Naruto was obviously going to Wave country.

He glanced at Tenten and knew she was thinking the same thing. Why were they running there? It was essentially a dead end. Unless he had a boat waiting to escape, and even if he did, Danzo's forces would find them even easier. A person on a boat was a much easier target than one on land.

Tenten leapt to the ground, the types of trees in this area not allowing for branch traveling. They raced full speed ahead, to meet their friend in combat.

Senji sighed audibly. The Naruto clone carrying him grinned as they popped into existence again. Senjii looked around and all of the others were similarly being carried. Nagi didn't look much happier either. They would have been happier moving of their own volition. But they'd caught sight of the Konoha forces earlier in the day, and they needed the head start that reaching Wave Country would give them. Iruka was being handled very carefully by two Naruto clones, as was Anko.

Senjii hoped Lady Tsunade would reach there quickly. In his head he did some repeated math and made plans. Naruto says the wind stream to Wave takes three hours. We sent our message about two hours ago. At the rate Naruto is moving we'll be at Wave before her. Hopefully she did not come alone, we'll need all the help we can get against that Konoha army after us.

Naruto himself looked concerned. He was getting tired. He'd been pushing hard for the past couple of days, expending a huge amount of chakra in his Hiraishin jumps. Then that wind-chakra blast destroying the Hokage tower ate up a lot of his reserves. Truth was Naruto was ready to collapse, but his friends were counting on him, and Iruka-sensei, and Anko. He glanced at both of them. The scars of Danzo's reign made Naruto angry, and fueled him to jump again, and again.

Not far now, almost there.

Tsunade swore up and down, left and right. Using every word in every language she had picked up in her travels around the world. It was a sight to behold.

Shizune giggled a bit, although she too was nervous as hell. Riding the wind stream was not as fun an experience as she thought it would have been. In fact it was downright terrifying. She glanced behind her at Jiraiya flying through the air, eyes shut tight, worry beads in his fist. Behind him were a handful of academy students she hadn't had time to properly be introduced to. It had all happened so fast.

That toad had appeared alerting Tsunade to the problem. Anko from Konoha needed a doctor, urgently. Shizune remembered Anko, a very brash ninja. Tsunade had called the other 'village elders' together and they'd in a matter of minutes decided a plan of action. Jiraiya had suggested they bring Inari along as he knew Wave country and they'd save valuable time that they may have spent lost.

Inari had made some really good friends at the academy though and they insisted on tagging along. Why Tsunade and Jiraiya had agreed to that was beyond Shizune's comprehension. Maybe it had something to do with what Mabry had said to them in hushed tones. All she knew was that she would have to look out for the three academy students. Especially the blind one.

Shizune knew the full scale of the mess they were about to jump in to. Naruto and his friends would be on the run from Konoha's forces. It would be impossible to tell how many until they got there but if she had to guess, it wouldn't be small. So how were they supposed to escape with all these children and two wounded nin?

Inari glanced back at his friends and grinned at them. They all smiled back, including Gen. Inari shook his head. How did he do that? A blind kid who sent out chakra pulses to see, like a bat's sonar waves. Gen was an incredibly skilled fighter though, and constantly amazed people by seeming to 'see'.

The four of them had become practically inseparable during Inari's training at the academy. While initially cautious towards him, Inari had hit it off with Syren because they were both from the Eastern countries. Syren was initially from an island not far from Wave Country. His water shifting abilities were seemingly a family trait. Inari hadn't asked how he'd ended up on the streets in the badlands, he figured if Syren wanted to tell him he would someday.

Mirrun was quiet as usual, smiling but not saying much. Inari saw her eyes were closed too. He wondered if maybe she was scared of heights too, like Lady Tsunade and he grinned even wider. But then he heard a snore and realized she'd fallen asleep. Of course. Mirrun could sleep anywhere.

"What's that down there?" Syren said aloud. They all looked down. It was terrifying, the height they were traveling at. The ground was many miles below them. But they could see what Syren was pointing out, a steady stream of black dots highlighted against the landscape. It was a large movement of people through a thin patch of forest and they were all heading in the same direction.

"Shit. That has to be a force from Konoha chasing after Naruto." Jiraiya said. He turned to Inari. "How far are we from Wave Country?"

Inari looked for landmarks. "At this point, a half day's travel with no rest."

Jiraiya nodded. '"We're going to land right before a shit storm hits."

Tsunade clicked her tongue. "That boy." They flew in silence for the next thirty minutes, shooting at breakneck speed through the air.

"We're almost there!" Inari shouted into the wind. He recognized the terrain of his homeland instantly. Inari could barely contain his excitement. He would see home for the first time in more than a year. His mother would be thrilled to see him. He felt pride swell up in his chest. She'll see I'm becoming a ninja like Naruto!

"Get Yoshi's contraption ready!" Tsunade shouted at them all. As one they all reached for the large device in between them, the one they were all tied to by long cords for safety. Tsunade really hoped this worked. Yoshi's last words to them as they left were not the most encouraging.

...

(Flashback)

"You sure this will work Yoshi?" Jiraiya had asked skeptically.

Yoshi shrugged. "Fifty-fifty. I know two instances of something like this being used. A father and son team. Daedalus lived, his son died." Yoshi then grinned. "Of course that's just an inventor's fairy tale, but the science seems sound!"

...

Tsunade swore one last time as she saw a giant bridge coming towards them fast.

"We're here!" Inari shouted.

"Now!" Tsunade screamed as they pulled the cord on the 'Daedalus'. The device unraveled and a pair of giant wings sprung out from the side. Thousands of small metal feathers trembled in the wind. A series of rungs under the wings snapped down. The Tengoku warriors all grabbed for the bars as the wings started to glide out of the wind stream. The width of the 'Daedalus' was beyond the size of the wind stream, so it began to leave it.

Tsunade felt when they'd left the stream, the wings above her heading for the earth below. She breathed a sigh of relief though as they seemed to catch a gust and they glided forward swiftly.

Anyone in the area who looked up would have seen what looked like a giant metallic bird, gliding down from the sky, with seven people holding on to its wings.

"Ha! Yoshi has come through!" Jiraiya shouted in glee. He did NOT like heights, but avoiding plummeting to his death definitely made his day today.

No sooner had he said that than a single metallic feather broke free of the wing above him. He glanced up in horror to see that the feathers were all rattling. Another came free, then another. Jiraiya saw that the wings were wet, he glanced around and realized the sea breeze was condensing on the wings, and the glue Yoshi had used to stick the feathers was dissolving.

It took all of five seconds for enough feathers to break free and for the Daedalus to plummet into the ocean next to the bridge, taking seven screaming warriors with it.

They all emerged from the cold waters spluttering.

"Yoshi!" Tsunade shouted angrily. "I'm going to kill him."

They were close to the shore, so they just swam for it. Tsunade and Shizune held onto the box of medical supplies they'd brought, thanking the heavens that they hadn't lost it.

One last pop and they arrived, Naruto collapsing into a panting heap, his clones taking care to set down the stretcher with Anko carefully before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Senjii and Nagi looked at Naruto, feeling bad about letting him carry them. It was necessary of course; no way they would have gotten here as fast as they did otherwise. But now Naruto was exhausted and needed to rest, and they had an army from Konoha a few hours behind them.

Nagi held onto Iruka who was still weak from the torture he had been put through. Iruka looked at him gratefully and glanced around. Villagers had started to walk over to see what the fuss was about. It took a full minute before someone recognized Naruto.

"It's Naruto!" a vendor shouted. He had been on the unfinished bridge that day years ago and remembered the small boy with the yellow hair. Naruto was older now, and wearing white not orange, but his face was unmistakable.

The crowd gathered closer now, murmuring in excitement. Not only did they remember Naruto, but the bridge builder himself had been regaling them with stories of Naruto and his Heavenly City since he'd gotten back in town weeks ago.

Tazuna himself pushed his way through the crowd. "Naruto!" he gasped in disbelief. He saw Sanjii and Nagi and was about to ask why they were there when he spied Anko on the ground and Iruka being propped up by Nagi. One quick glance at their headbands and he understood the situation.

"This way, hurry!" He spoke with urgency in his voice, leading the way to his daughter's house.

The trio from Tengoku followed without question. Naruto and Senjii picked up Anko's stretcher, walking quickly to keep up with the bridge builder. The crowd opened up to let them pass, excited faces all around them.

As they got to Tsunami's house, Tazuna's daughter, they saw Inari and a very wet group of Tengoku warriors coming from the direction of the bridge. Inari saw them and waved, running fast to meet them.

Both groups got to the house at the same time. It was a flurry of activity as voices overlapped and looks of concern were shared. Tsunade immediately directed Naruto and Senjii to put Anko in the house, riffling through her medical supplies as she followed.

Shizune was examining Iruka outside in the sunlight. He was weak and battered, but not much worse for the wear. His tongue though, that was a different story.

Jiraiya pulled Nagi and Senjii aside, looking to the west. "After what you did, Danzo must really want your heads. We saw what looked like a full regiment sent after you. We should get out of town quickly." He moved inside to discuss this with Tsunade who was examining Anko.

"Outside everyone!" she barked the command. No one brokered any argument, instead heading for the door. Jiraiya glanced at Anko's still form and swore, leaving the confines of the room.

Tazuna was over with Tsunami and Inari, talking in quick soft tones that Jiraiya couldn't hear. The three insufferable academy brats were not far from Inari. Jiraiya scratched his chin. Mabry had said these three were the best fighters in the academy. He hoped the magician was right.

"Senjii. Scout the area as quick as you can. I need to know points of attack against this town. Now!"

Senjii nodded and disappeared. Nagi, Iruka and Shizune looked startled at Jiraiya.

"What's going on?" Shizune asked.

"There's no way we're getting out of here before Danzo's dogs find us. Unless Tsunade says otherwise, and I don't think she will, we can't move Anko any further. It's a miracle she got this far alive." Jiraiya looked off to the West and cursed his own judgment. He should have eliminated Danzo a long time ago for the good of Konoha. He'd let this happen, even if only indirectly. The war-monger was known to the Third for a very long time, and Jiraiya had wanted to eliminate him. The Third had talked him out of it though, said it wasn't politically expedient.

"But it's an army coming here! What can we do against that many ninja?" Shizune asked incredulously.

"We can make them work for it."

Senjii reappeared, out of breath. "The only way to this island is the bridge. Other than that there's one mile of ocean between the island and the shore. There are no more islands nearby."

Jiraiya nodded. "That's what I thought. All ninja can water walk, so that's a minor problem. I have a seal that I can put in the water surrounding the island preventing water walking. It'll cause very choppy and turbulent surface water. That will make it hard for any but the best to focus chakra well enough to water walk. I'm going to place it on some rocks and scatter them in the water."

Nagi nodded. "There will be some who will manage it anyway you know? The elite?"

"Yes, Jounin would be able to, but I'm gambling that not too many Jounin are with this group. It should be mostly Chunnin level ninja."

"OK, that means the majority of the force has to come across the bridge." Senjii said. Tazuna and Inari had walked over, the academy students in tow.

"Yes, a single point of attack. We will have to defend that as best we can." Jiraiya replied. "But not yet. I can buy us some time setting up a trap zone a half mile leading up to the bridge." He smiled evilly. "I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve, I should be able to bog them down for a while. A day maybe."

Just then Tsunade emerged. "Shizune, I need you in here." She looked bleakly at Jiraiya.

"Any chance we can move her?" Jiraiya asked.

"No. I will do what I can to save her, but… even if she lives…she might never…" Angrily Tsunade brushed the angry tears from her eyes and went back inside, Shizune hurrying after her.

Jiraiya turned back, determinedly. "We will stand and repulse this force from Konoha."

"Yes sensei!" The academy students, Inari, Senjii and Nagi all echoed.

"We will not run!" A man shouted amongst the crowd, his sentiment being repeated around the square. Tazuna had called everyone in the town together to warn them of Danzo's approach.

"There is a chance they just want Naruto and his team, and will leave us unharmed. Why should we get involved?" A fat merchant shouted out. He was booed and disappeared amongst the anger of his fellow citizens.

"We knew this was a possibility. Ever since news of Konohagakure's conquest of Iwagakure, we knew the Fire Country would eventually set its eyes on us. That day has come," the mayor of the city spoke eloquently and bravely. Tazuna knew the man well, had seen him grow into a fine young man. He was also one who had stood that day on the bridge and faced down Gato's mercenary army.

"If we stand up to the Fire Country, who will we trade with? Our main trade lanes are through their lands!"

"Our pride as a country is worth more than money! Years ago it took the courage of a handful of children to show us the way and to give us back our pride! I say to you, we will not relinquish it now!" the mayor shouted back.

Tazuna was impressed despite himself. In the few short years for this level of pride to develop in his previously defeated countrymen. It warmed his heart. Kaiza would be proud.

"What can we do to help?" the mayor turned and asked Tazuna and the Tengoku warriors behind him.

Jiraiya frowned. "We don't want civilians getting hurt. Anyone who can fight is welcome to, but we urge everyone else to leave this town, head to the other side of the island, to the capital. You will be safe there."

"Fight you say?" a voice drifted out of the crowd. "But for which side? Should Takada throw his lot in with the likely winners of this conflict? Should he side with the underdogs, defending a wretched island from a wicked despot? How do the patterns of Takada's path unfold? Only time will tell."

Jiraiya looked startled at the man who spoke. Six feet tall, with spiky black hair, and a long ponytail that reached his waist. He carried what could only be described as a giant meat cleaver strapped to his back. His clothes were hidden beneath a large gray duster that reminded Jiraiya of styles he had seen in the northern lands.

"There he goes again. Talking in third person. I HATE it when he does that. Acting all self important." A smaller guy, who had to be less than five feet tall poked the tall one. "Nobody cares! Shut the hell up! You think these people need to hear your inner monologue?"

The smaller man's upper arms were adorned with tattoo's, that led into two brass and copper gauntlets on his forearms. His bald head was also covered in tattooed symbols that led down his neck under his shirt. Jiraiya would have bet even money that the symbols were a form of seals that connected from his head to his arms. A large copper buckle on his belt showed the symbol for Kumo, but had a line scratched through it. Two small daggers were shoved into his waist band.

"Takada will one day kill Masahiro. That is assured. One day he will go too far…" The tall one murmured indignantly.

"Oh dry up," the bald one said. "Oy. Looks like a good fight about to go down. We normally get paid for this sort of thing."

The mayor looked at them in disbelief. "Who are you?"

"The name is Masahiro, this tall gentleman with the sense of importance is Takada. Our other friend is around here somewhere, probably sleeping off last night. We were waiting on our client, to guard him on his journey to Sunagakure. It's a long dangerous trip you know."

"You're hired bodyguards."

"Oy, we prefer the term executive escort and protection agents." The small one grinned. "So who's gonna pay our fee for joining in this little fracas?"

Jiraiya smirked. "You're welcome to sit it out. Maybe Danzo's men will spare your life if we're defeated. Then again, maybe not."

The tall one shifted to the left, holding his chin in serious thought. "Takada sees the truth in what the Toad Sannin is saying. Takada has so many roads to walk down, forty two to be exact. The love of his life awaits him at this very moment with bated breath, her heaving bosoms glistening in the noon day sun as she stares off into the distance. Thoughts of Takada filling her mind."

Masahari smacked Takada behind his head. "What did I just say? You don't even HAVE a girlfriend you lunatic!"

Takada murmured softly "…Takada could though…one day…depending on the path…"

"Fine, we'll pitch in. Just tell us what spot you want protected and it's done." Masahari said frustratingly.

Jiraiya nodded, pleased with that.

"Right! Everyone else, please start the evacuation. This isn't a battle that can be won with pitchforks and crossbows. This is an all out ninja fight. So please stay low until it's over."

He turned and walked hurriedly back towards the bridge, mentally mapping out the seals he'd use on the water disruption plan, plus many, many little nasties to slow down the advancing forces.

Inari and his friends were all tossing rocks into the waters as far as they could throw. Each rock had a tiny seal inscribed on it. Wherever they tossed a rock, a circle of a hundred yards glowed on the water's surface then disappeared. They were just trying to make sure there wasn't any space for a ninja to pass safely.

Jiraiya had quickly raced as far as a half a mile away from the bridge. The force from Konoha couldn't be too far now. Jiraiya starting scratching seals into rocks, trees, anything he could see. Then he focused his chakra and the engravings disappeared, invisible. He called on two dozen small toad summons and sent them off in two directions, to end up back in a large arc at the shoreline. They were to then move in fifty feet and meet back in the center. They'd repeat this as many times as it took to plaster the area with the pack of handwritten seals Jiraiya gave them. When he told the toads what he was intending to do, they cheered. This would be great fun. As fast as he could write he handed out seal papers and instructions. As soon as the first set was away, he moved inwards fifty feet, laying more nasty surprises as he went. Not just seals, but physical traps as well.

The Konoha forces won't know what hit them.

Day 1

It was a scant two hours later that the leading scouts of the Konoha forces, a team of three Iwa ninja, crossed the half mile line to the bridge to Wave. They'd been in hot pursuit mode, determined to catch their prey before they left the area. As such they were not looking out for any traps.

They triggered the first seal trap. All three hit what appeared to them to be a solid glass which appeared out of nowhere. In their minds the glass drew them in and they were trapped within it, all three screaming as it flew rotating end over end into the sky.

In reality they lay on the ground, comatose, their minds temporarily trapped in a seal triggered illusion.

A few more forward teams arrived mere seconds later to see the scouts petrified on the ground. They immediately halted.

"Trap," said the one in charge. "Bring a Hyuuga up here."

Neji soon appeared at the front of the forces. The full three hundred – minus the three unconscious men – stood in wait behind him. He scanned the forest as best he could.

"I…it looks like the entire forest is filled with chakra. There are traps everywhere, but I can't tell exactly where each one is. Something is….making them fuzzy. " Neji said.

The force commander nodded. This would be slow going. With even the Hyuuga's eyes not being able to pinpoint the traps, they'd have to spring them or avoid them by being extremely careful. If their prey was skilled enough to lace the forest ahead with this many traps, then they could assume the traps would be fairly effective.

"Five teams. Spread out. Find a path through."

The first team of Iwa soldiers had a sensor type with them. He could feel the chakra levels directly to his left and right. It felt low, like they were ground traps.

"We'll go over here," he said, motioning for them to jump into the trees. They leapt into the tree only to find the branch under them melt, allowing their feet to sink in. One took out his sword to cut the branch, but too late as a large log came swinging down. It slammed into them, breaking them free but also cracking several ribs and sending them flying back the way they came.

The second team was comprised of one ROOT member and two Iwa ninja. All were Chunnin level, but had lots of combat experience. They drew their weapons and walked slowly forward, in a spearhead formation. The tiniest piece of paper on a bush ahead caught one's eye.

"There!" he said, pointing at it. They approached cautiously. One of them performed his earth wall jutsu, sealing the bush inside a square mud room. They breathed a sigh of relief, only to realize the earth that the Iwa-nin had used for the jutsu had explosive tags mixed in with it. They had been buried in the ground, and the chakra he had used in the jutsu had activated them. The ROOT member leapt backwards, the Iwa ninja a hairsbreadth behind, but the blast radius was ridiculous. They lay in a singed heap not far from the main Konoha forces.

The other teams did not fare any better. Not making any headway and ending up injured or comatose.

The ROOT commander was angry. He knew the younger ROOT had this emotion trained out of them, but he'd been around a lot longer than most. He did not let it show though, biting down on it. This would slow them down considerably.

"Large scale jutsu's. Fire team at front!" he called out. A trio who were capable of fire blasts stepped forward. With a nod to each other they began to throw fireballs straight ahead. The forest before them erupted in flame.

Two carefully concealed but very large explosive tags ignited under the blaze. Jiraiya was in a particularly nasty mood laying the traps however, as these two had bags of iron pellets wrapped around them. The explosion rocked the front line of the force from Konoha. Nearly twenty died on the spot. Another fifty injured. The ROOT commander himself had taken two pellets in his left arm. They needed medical ninja, but had come with none. For the first time he allowed his anger and frustration to boil to the surface.

"Shit!" He ignored the stream of blood dripping down his arm, the stabbing pains.

"You. Send word back to Konoha that we need a team of Medical Ninja up here immediately. Inform Lord Danzo that we have met with stiff resistance and are working through it now."

The messenger remained expressionless, but he was from Iwa. Bad news was generally never well received. He'd be better off sending a clone to take the brunt of the anger from Danzo.

The commander turned back to his troops. "Find me a god damned way through this mess!"

Day 2

Tsunade emerged, exhausted. She stared up at the mid morning sun. A full twenty hours of operating, healing jutsu and monitoring. Shizune was fast asleep on a couch next to the bed they had Anko in. Tsunade shook her head to clear the fogginess. The depravity of what was done to Anko astounded her. She knew that many in Konoha feared Anko, detested her still, because of her affiliation with Orochimaru. But this went beyond that. This was systematic torture that would have rendered her nothing more than a pile of bruised and bleeding dead flesh if they had left them in Danzo's care for even one more day.

She was angry. Angrier than she had been in a very long time. An explosion rocked the forest to the west. Across the mile wide ocean barrier between the Wave Country and the Land of Fire, and across a large expanse of forest, she could make out a tree falling, smoke rising. She smirked.

If there was one thing that Jiraiya had always excelled in, it was traps. He was creative, he was nasty, and he was strategic.

She felt no sympathy though for anyone in the attacking force.

For the first time, she considered Konoha her enemy. Before it had been Danzo alone. But one man could not hold onto power without help, but only either by the cowards who did nothing or the ones who sought their own power by proxy.

No sympathy at all.

Jiraiya smiled grimly. His traps were working perfectly, but the Konoha forces had still advanced a hundred yards. It would still take them a few days to get here though. He looked over and saw Tsunade walking towards him.

"Anko?" he asked quietly.

"She'll live. How she'll be after what she went through is another question." She looked West. "We still can't move her for at least another week."

Jiraiya nodded, looking back at his map. Wave was a fairly large island, but the one way in or out helped them in this case. His seal stones in the water around the coast facing side of the island really limited access. The traps he'd laid in the forest should delay Konoha, maybe two or three more days?

Then Danzo's forces would push through and they were still outnumbered.

"We need to whittle down the enemy. They can't arrive here at full strength." Jiraiya said. He glanced up and saw the Mayor of the city walking over, followed by a larger, older man.

"Master Jiraiya, this is Lord Gama of Wave Country," the Mayor introduced the older man, who bowed his head respectfully to Jiraiya, who then returned the bow.

"Lord Gama, I apologize for bringing this to your Island..." Jiraiya began.

The noble waved it away. "Nonsense. Not two weeks ago that wretched Danzo sent a formal letter demanding our surrender and absorption into his Empire. We were already drafting our negative response, and expected to face such a threat from him sooner rather than later." He smirked. "At least now we have two legendary Sannin and a host of warriors here to protect us as well. The fates have smiled upon us."

Jiraiya furrowed his brow. Danzo had been looking to expand East, hoping to avoid actual battle and devour other smaller countries by fear. That may be useful information later on.

"It is our pleasure then to be at your service." Jiraiya smiled.

The noble pointed at Jiraiya's arm band. "What is that a symbol of? I notice that the others, including our sleeping Naruto all wear it, though his is gold."

"This is the symbol for our new village of Tengoku. Naruto, is the village leader actually."

Lord Gama laughed. "I see his power to inspire hasn't faded with time." He waved his hand and fifteen men came over. They wore an odd assortment of old Samurai armor and a hodgepodge of ninja gear. "We were beginning to prepare a defense against Danzo's imminent invasion ourselves. These are my personal guard. They're fresh volunteers, but they all will do whatever it takes to protect our island."

Jiraiya looked at them skeptically, but saw the fervent earnestness in the young men's faces. "They will train up well, but I'd rather not sacrifice them in this battle. You couldn't have hoped to stand up to Danzo with fifteen new recruits though?"

The Lord of Wave shook his head. "I'm afraid even though Wave has prospered in trade; much of our money went into helping the people. There isn't a whole lot for hiring an army to fight for us. Even so the nearest sympathetic Hidden Village is Sunagakure, and they are on the other side of Fire Country. This is all we have, and this Island is our home. We'd ALL have fought, but these are our strongest."

Jiraiya nodded. "Do any of them have any abilities I can actually use?"

Lord Gama grinned. "Yume over there can dream walk. Invade people's dreams and change them. Manipulate them." He said pointing to a shy young man with eyes like coal.

"Kisaragi Saemon can assume the face of anyone he touches, and imitate their voice and mannerisms perfectly." Jiraiya nodded. He could use both those skills. One more so if they made it through this.

"OK, send those two to me. The others will head over there," he pointed to a small area where Senji, Nagi and the others were practicing. Senjii was trying very hard to learn the Kawarami technique to switch places with a piece of wood. "And they will train. Learn as much as they can in a short time. I expect the big attack to be in a day. Two at most."

Lord Gama shouted the orders to his men. He nodded to Jiraiya and walked off to see about the evacuation of the city.

Jiraiya looked at the two Wave soldiers. "Yume is it? Tell me more about what you can do."

The ROOT commander scowled. Their progress was steady but slow. The Hyuuga and other sensors did their best to detect the traps. Then they'd send in a single person to check it. Sometimes they lost the person, sometimes he found the trap. Most times the trap would spring. It worked, it was just slow.

He'd commanded that they sleep in shifts. This campaign would take days, and he needed soldiers who were rested. The first of the sleeping soldiers awoke with a cry. The others awoke one by one, all jumping awake, some with a loud yell, others silently but just as shaken.

"What is going on?" He demanded.

"Just a nightmare sir," one said. "Me too." Another claimed. Soon he realized they all had a 'nightmare'.

"What are you children? If you won't sleep I'll find something for you to do!" He ordered a shift change and the next batch of soldiers to sleep lay down, watching their predecessors oddly.

The commander turned back angrily to his duties. Iwa ninja were never much of a threat, surely Lord Danzo had overestimated them. A nightmare for godsake.

It took fifteen minutes for the first one to wake up screaming.

Yume sat in his trance like state at the top of the hill overlooking the island, with Tsunade watching over him making sure he didn't push himself too hard. She smiled silently, having given him the idea for the nightmares he was now inflicting on the sleeping soldiers down below across the water. It was far for him to reach, but the height meant he could reach further, if not for too long.

Tsunade looked West, wondering how they'd fare when the Konoha forces finally broke through.

Day 4

Naruto was anxious.

He'd slept for a full two days and awoke to find Wave under siege. His friends were preparing for the upcoming battle. Planning out streets and hiding places for when the fight entered the town itself. Ero-sennin was coordinating with his summons and laying thicker and thicker levels of seals and physical traps the closer the invaders got to the big bridge.

Anko had survived the trip and the surgeries, so Tsunade had said she'd live. Naruto was grateful for that. He couldn't shake the guilt though of having brought this impending destruction upon Wave.

He needed to do something. Something to help.

Thankfully Jiraiya had a job for him to do.

Naruto was the only one who could make it to the enemy's line and bypass the thick layer of traps Jiraiya had set. His Hiraishin would put him right in the enemy camp. Or more specifically his clones.

The Konoha forces were ragged. It had been two days with no sleep. The nightmares were obviously a strategy of their prey. The ROOT commander admitted begrudgingly that it was working. Lack of rest dulled their senses. His forces were mostly chunnin, and many lacked the battle experience the older jounin had. The medical team had arrived, along with another hundred Iwa soldiers to beef up his forces. A stern message from Danzo as well. Succeed or pay the price for failure.

They had gotten more than halfway to the edge of the forest, but it had cost them twenty men. More were injured or incapacitated. Soon they'd be through, and then they'd make their prey pay.

"Hey guys." A pop and the Jinchurikki they were pursuing appeared in their midst.

He was holding a handful of exploding notes in his hands and ignited them with a grin. A barrage of kunai embedded themselves in him, only for the clone to explode in a cloud.

Kage Bunshin! The ROOT commander thought as he dove for cover. The explosion rocked the clearing, sending five men screaming and flying in a blast of smoke and rubble. The commander ordered his men into general hidden positions. They had gotten complacent. A single camp was a single target. He tiredly wiped his eyes. Soon, he thought. Soon they'd break through and make them pay.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura broke Kakashi's train of thought. He sheepishly looked over his Icha Icha Paradise book at her.

"Yes Sakura?"

Their trip had been very uneventful thus far, which was just fine with all of them. They had left the ideal paradise of the Crescent Moon Kingdom yesterday on the Prince's fastest ship. The Prince said he now knew what Ichiru's mother meant, and was going to win her back. So he'd need to stop off at her home island to speak with her, but other than that he'd gladly sail them to whichever port they chose.

The girls had taken to training just as hard as Lee was. OK maybe not as hard as Lee, but pretty hard nonetheless.

Lee was using the ship itself as his workout machine. Climbing masts, and ropes and even the sails. Running on the railings of the ship, around and around in laps. Sakura was working on her Taijutsu as well. Calamity was learning some basic chakra control skills and Hiruka sat weaving together a new scarf. Her ninjutsu required the finest spider silk, infused with chakra during the weaving process. It allowed it to be incredibly strong, and resistant to fire attacks. But she learned that resistant was not impervious. The last scarf had been damaged badly in their adventures in the Crescent Moon kingdom. This one was barely started. It would take days to finish, but she vowed this one would be stronger than the last.

Kakashi himself was still not a hundred percent back to normal. Using the Sharingen always did that to him. A few more days rest – with his favorite book series – and he'd be fine.

"Can you give me some taijutsu tips?" she asked.

"Sure. We've got three days till we get to Wave country and the Prince claims his wife back. Let's see what we can improve on."

Day 5

"Do you have anyone you can call for help?" Lord Gama said aghast, seeing the map before Jiraiya. Konoha had expanded the size of their forces, apparently determined to take this island. Jiraiya's summons toads had confirmed over four hundred men approaching the far side of the bridge. They'd break through sometime soon and storm across it.

"Yes, I sent the request three hours ago. They should be here shortly."

Naruto stood staring West, he was sure he saw movement in the tree line. "I think they're through."

Senjii and Nagi joined him, flanking either side. The defenders of Wave stood in silence, watching the explosions as the last of the forest traps fell. Wordlessly they all went to their positions. The plan had been finessed for days now. There was nothing for it now but to do their best to carry it out.

Naruto, Senjii and Nagi ran to the bridge. Naruto stepped slightly further ahead, watching as the Konoha forces like dark shadow emerged from the forest. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. His right leg behind him, his left leg pointing forward. His right arm extended behind, palm open. His left arm in the same position, but extended in front. His eyes were closed, breathing slowly.

The front lines saw him and paused briefly. Here was one of their prey but he was just standing there. One of the team leaders who had been burned in Naruto's kage bunshin blast trick snarled, infuriated. "Kill him!" He led the charge of four teams, several hundred feet towards Naruto across the bridge, getting within throwing distance of their kunai and jutsus.

Naruto opened his eyes and breathed in deep again. He started to draw in the natural chakra, feeling it swelling up inside him. The winds around him began to swirl at his feet. The ROOT teams saw Naruto was going to try something, but figured he couldn't take all of them out at once.

Naruto brought both hands to his chest, palms facing each other and rocked back onto his back leg. He paused there for a minute. The wind died down completely and the world went silent. Naruto felt the strain in the pit of his stomach and the back of his mind. No! I took in too much!

The ninja in front stopped in his tracks. No. No it couldn't be. He felt the silence like an iron cloak on him. He felt the cold shiver down his spine. He knew he was facing it. Death. He would be dead in seconds. He was staring at Naruto, his white suit looking impossibly pristine, and knew that he would not make it off the bridge. He opened his mouth to say something, but never got the chance to finish it.

Naruto focused his chakra, and found himself having a hard time concentrating the massive pool of chakra into wind. He strained, sweat forming on his brow. He grunted then screamed and pushed his palms towards the oncoming forces.

A blinding white light erupted from him. An unstoppable force of chakra in the form of a wave of light. Senjii thought it resembled the chakra explosion when he'd almost lost control of the Kyuubi back when they'd found old man Tora and his family. The results were similar.

The four teams of ninja disintegrated before they had a chance to scream. The wave pushed on, past them, damaging the bridge. It tore at the concrete like it was paper, ripping up steel and cables, bending it all like a twisted dance. And almost like the bridge had funneled the attack, it actually lasted longer than it should have, shooting out and destroying everything a half mile straight out from the bridge.

Neji screamed and closed his eyes. He thanked the Kami he wasn't looking directly at the burst. For eyes trained to see chakra, that burst would blind most. As it was he was seeing spots and felt his cornea's burning. That must be Naruto. He thought. A different attack to what destroyed the Hokage's tower, but a similar one. When did Naruto become so strong!

Tenten surveyed the damages. The four teams were gone. Not a shred of clothing nor even blood remained. The road along the bridge was impassible now to anything but agile soldiers. The fact that it was even still standing after that was a testament to how well it had been built, and that it had only taken a glancing blow from Naruto's jutsu. If it had taken the full force it would have crumpled like the Hokages tower. And then there was the road leading up to the bridge, for a half mile out, it looked like a category five tornado had hit, and while those standing in the way hadn't been vaporized like those on the bridge, most were still dead and the rest too injured to fight.

The ROOT commander took this all in coldly and with a hand signal ordered four more teams across the bridge.

Naruto collapsed to one knee, feeling exhausted. Through weary eyes he surveyed the damage he'd done. The plan called for him to do some damage, and he'd thought he could handle it, but he'd pushed too hard. The stress of the situation getting to him. He'd absorbed Natural Energy when he really didn't need to and could not control it. Naruto hung his head and felt the waves of exhaustion running through his mind. The pounding in his body.

Nagi grabbed Naruto and leapt backwards with him, away from the fight, leaving just Senjii standing there at the base of the bridge.

There was no way around the swordsman. The four teams didn't even hesitate, unleashing a barrage of jutsu and projectiles at the swordsman.

Senjii knocked every projectile away with his twin kodachi, and took a deep breath. The teams were almost within striking distance now. He sheathed his swords quickly and made a fast hand sign, swapping out for a large block of wood.

Too late the attackers saw that the wood was covered in exploding tags and more of those iron pellets. It exploded and shredded them into chunks of flesh and bloody mist.

Senjii appeared next to Nagi and helped hold up Naruto, the three of them racing off into the town and their secondary positions.

The next wave of attackers made it over the bridge in seconds, flashing quickly to the open area between the bridge and the town. Jiraiya and Tsunade both made their hand signals and called on their biggest summons. Toad Boss Gamabunta and Slug Queen Katsuyu both appeared in a giant cloud of smoke, stopping the Konoha nin in their tracks.

The rest of the Konoha force crossed the bridge in seconds, pouring out of it like ants when their hill is disturbed.

So Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade are with Naruto. That explains his surge in strength. Neji thought. He didn't want to go any further, but if he didn't at least appear to want to follow orders, Danzo would have him killed on his return, and Tenten as well. He could however…

"Tenten, Sai," he whispered again. "Head back to the shoreline. We'll circle around."

The Konoha ninja were no brainless mercenaries or fighters. The sight of the giant toad and slug rattled them but did not slow them down. Teams of three jumped forward, leaping to incapacitate the giants.

"Katsuyu!" shouted Tsunade from atop the giant slug.

"Yes Tsunade-sama!" Katsuyu replied. The slug swelled for a second then fired off her special attack, Tongue Tooth Sticky Acid. The acid was known to be able to melt even stone down to nothing.

The ROOT nin in the front bore the full brunt of the attack; seven out of the twelve attacking ninja screamed in agony as the acid hit them. They fell to the ground writhing for a few seconds before remaining perfectly still, their bodies melting into the ground.

The remaining five ninja in the attack on Katsuyu had pulled a kawarami and allowed five blocks of wood to be dissolved. They reappeared in the air above Katsuyu, aiming for Tsunade. Even though the slug mistress was well known and feared, the ROOT members followed their orders no matter what. Even a former Hokage was not off limits.

Tsunade turned on them angrily. Her mood for the day not getting any better. As she soon demonstrated by grabbing the two closest enemies, her immense strength crushing their necks the moment they were in her grasp and then almost casually threw them in a rising arch back towards Konoha. They actually hit ground on the continent a mile and a half away. Their compatriots impacted moments after them, actually gaining greater distance.

Four more teams lunged at Gamabunta. One team was skilled in fire attacks and were sending fireball after fireball at him. Gamabunta grunted and swung his large tanto. The ninja dodged it, but just barely. Gamabunta moved very quickly for a toad of his size. He leapt into the air and spewed a water attack, washing the offending ninja back into the ocean.

The rest of the Konoha force headed straight into the town, bypassing the fight of the behemoths. The ROOT commander noticed immediately that the town was deserted. He signaled for the force to split into teams and hunt. Find Naruto and his friends. Find the escaped prisoners. Kill everyone.

Center of Town, By the Market

Inari was fidgety. He knew this town better than anyone, so he was point person for his team. Gen and Mirrun were calm next to him. They all wore the training uniforms of Tengoku's academy. White gi's with the Tengoku symbol embroidered into it in gold, a solid iron belt buckle also with the symbol of Tengoku tied it all together. They had all modified them slightly though. Inari had added some leg and arm bracers to his. Gennosuke had added a white hood to his, the white strip of cloth covering his sightless eyes had also been embroidered with the Tengoku symbol. Mirrun had added an inner red top to her gi, and kept that red ribbon in her hair. The necklace she never took off remained visible. Syren's shocking head of blue spiky hair was the first thing anyone saw when they looked at him, but he'd added a few embellishments himself to his clothes. He'd torn the sleeves off his gi and wore iron spiked gloves with leg bracers.

Syran was bursting with energy. "I wish they'd hurry up and get here!"

"They'll be here soon enough," Gen said calmly. "In fact, I see some ninja on the rooftops a hundred yards to our left and closing. Moving very slowly."

Inari glanced at Gen. His chakra senses were unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Gen could read chakra and use it to see, and see further and clearer than any normal person could. "You didn't release any chakra waves, how can you be sure?"

"Are you kidding? That burst that Naruto-sama did a little while ago has the entire island lit up like its broad daylight. I haven't 'seen' like this in a really long time. I won't need to use my chakra bursts for a while yet," Gen replied, with something akin to awe in his voice.

"Is Naruto alright?" Inari asked worriedly. He viewed Naruto as his de-facto big brother, and was worried about him, he'd looked so tired earlier.

Gen nodded. "He's still leaking some chakra, but he's in the secondary position. No one's anywhere near him.

"Let's go get those guys on the roof. How many?" Syren asked.

"Three. Coming towards us, the others broke off towards those mercenaries." Gen replied.

Inari nodded. "Right. Mirrun with Syren on this one. Gen and I will watch your back."

The four of them leapt onto the rooftop. Straight ahead in the dusk were three silhouettes. Charging straight in was not something that most ninja were trained to do, better to attack from hiding places. But Mirrun and Syren were better at direct attacks.

The two academy students sprinted towards the three Iwa soldiers soundlessly. The adult ninja prepared to cut down the children who were charging straight at them. Things however, did not go as the attackers thought they would.

Syren became a ball of solid water, hitting the first man in the chest. The ninja's sword cutting through the water harmlessly. As the man fell back Syren solidified holding onto the man's shirt, his legs brought up to his chest. Syren pushed backwards and kicked forward, sending the ninja flying straight down through the concrete roof.

The Iwa-nin who was going to cut Mirrun in half saw a glimpse of her golden eyes and froze. Where did she go? He felt something below him and looked down in time to see her fist connect with his groin. Mirrun, Gen and Syren grew up on the streets. Dirty street fighting was something they learned in order to survive as best they could. The soldier doubled over but Mirrun wasn't finished. She grabbed his collar and jumped straight up, ending in a handstand over the ninja's head. He looked up in horror as she twisted his neck, and came down behind him, bringing her knees into his back, folding him like a rag doll.

Inari smiled. Mirrun had a doujutsu that allowed anyone catching her eyesight to lose a few seconds of time. That guy had never stood a chance.

The third man however was bringing his sword to bear on Mirrun. Both Gen and Inari fired off their weapons at the same time. Gen carried a brace of throwing knives. Tiny things, but with his deadly accuracy they were lethal. Inari opted for a pair of mini crossbows like Calamity on Sakura's team used. He'd always had an affinity for the crossbow as a weapon. His bolt and Gen's knife hit at the same time. The ninja died with a gurgle, the two weapons glinting silver and red in his throat.

"OK position two, follow me." Inari said, leading them off that roof to another.

"Ready?" Senjii asked.

"Want to make it interesting?" Nagi asked. They emerged from their hiding place at the very start of the town. The main Konoha force had passed them, so it was time for the second stage of Jiraiya's plan to go into effect. Naruto had split off from them; his part in the plan was coming later.

"How much?" Senjii grinned.

"Loser cooks on the journey home. Every day!" Nagi cracked his neck.

"Deal! You're going to be sorry you brought this on yourself!" Senjii laughed. He hated cooking. "Highest body count wins."

Senjii pulled an exploding tag out of his shirt and threw it high into the air. It exploded in a shower of sparks. They raced into town, behind the Konoha forces.

At the same time, on the other side of town, the three mercenaries Takada, Masahiro and Mizurai saw the signal and leapt forward. Jiraiya's plan was simple. Lure the main forces into the town. The defenders would pick off who they could, but when they saw the signal, get to the north and south edges of the town to prevent anyone from escaping. The two teams on either side would then move in and attack both in front and behind. If the Konoha ninja were able to withstand that, they'd then face the attacks from both north and south as those teams move in.

It turned the entire city into an ambush site.

Senjii drew his twin Kodaichi and lunged forward. Two teams of Konoha attackers were right in front of them. The dimming evening light was perfect for an ambush as a person's eyes had to adjust. He slashed through the three closest to him. Flipping in midair and landing on top of another, driving him into the ground, cracking his spine.

"Four," he counted out loud. "Five, six... ten..." he continued as he cut down two more and then tore through another four with a single stroke.

Nagi swung his arms left then right, turning his whole body into a classic capoeira kick. His foot finding a ninja's face. He spun again and this time the ninja went flying, spinning until he landed in a heap. Another ninja rushed him but Nagi spun his lower leg forward around, swiping at the attackers legs. The attacker stopped and raised his forward leg, avoiding the swipe. Nagi then stopped the same leg that was swiping in mid kick and went up on his arms in a crescent kick to the man's head. The ninja had some skill and blocked it, but Nagi bent the leg, allowing it to pass by the man, both legs touched down and he back-flipped, clipping the ninja in the face.

"Seven, eight, nine," he counted out loud in time with the rhythm of his movements.

Nagi grinned and melted into the long shadows on the ground. It was dark now, and everywhere was in shadow. His next spinning kick came from out of the ground, impossible to predict. The ROOT nin's head snapped back and he crumpled in a heap. Another ninja jumped in but Nagi jumped at him and they both went falling back into the shadows. Only Nagi appeared, attacking another ninja.

Senjii saw that and shivered despite himself. Nagi's ability to carry people into the shadows and leave them there was downright unsettling. Nagi explained that once he let go of someone in the shadow-world they became a shadow themselves. It was instant death.

"Thirteen!" Nagi called out after he reappeared.

Senjii surged forward, determined not to lose.

The three mercenaries lunged straight ahead. Not many Konoha forces had made it this far ahead, but some had. At least five teams of three rushed to meet them.

"Takada?" Masahuri asked a silent question as he started to focus chakra.

"High likelihood that if you break left you'll survive. Avoid the third one from the right's reach. The way he wears his suit implies a touch based skill. Mizurai if you can use your jutsu in exactly two minutes and twelve seconds you'll save our lives. I'll recalculate after they split up."

Masahiro nodded. Takada had a skill that was most useful in a fight. He could see probabilities. All outcomes based on moves. So what lines or moves a person or group would do based on movements. They had worked together for many years now and it never ceased to amaze Masahuri how accurate he was.

Masahiro let the chakra flow from his mind into his arms, extending the long blades from his arm braces. The blades were chakra infused and could cut through anything. The diminutive man lurched forward and cut a swath through the oncoming forces.

Takada drew his weapon, the gigantic meat cleaver that Jiraiya had seen earlier. It was a fearsome weapon that looked far too heavy for him to wield. But even at a thin six feet tall, Takada was sinewy muscle and with ease turned the blade outwards. The rushing ninja tried to dodge it but Takada stopped the cleaver in mid swing and rotated the handle in his palm, slicing the man's back open.

"Takada saw that dodge coming. Your friends will jump and come in low. Takada will slice the one in the air and cue-ball will distract the ground attack."

"Did you call me cue-ball again baka?" Masahiro shouted at him while slicing through a ninja's sword like it was butter. The fallen ninja fell into the path of the ground attacker. Takada met the air attack and parried his blade, knocking the ninja aside with his fist.

He turned to see how Mizurai was doing and saw him forming water balls and firing them at the oncoming ninja. Each one hit like a rock, guided to their target by chakra. Mizurai's short red hair was standing out starkly in the dusk light.

The mercenaries were holding their own against the attackers, but there were too many of them. More and more poured into the street where they were fighting. Takada showed an uncanny ability to dodge and predict attacks, and Masahiro's blades were nigh on unstoppable. But sheer numbers threatened to weigh them down.

Mizurai finished the count in his mind. Exactly two minutes and twelve seconds. He quickly went through a complicated series of hand seals, finishing with a shout.

"Water Octopus Carousel!"

The moisture in the air was plentiful enough to respond to his jutsu, forming a giant water octopus. Each tentacle rushing out, away from the center. Masahiro and Takada found themselves right next to Mizurai just as the Octopus began to spin. With immense force the water beast's tentacles lashed out in a violent spinning motion. Everybody in a fifty yard radius was slammed away by the impact.

"Takada?" Masahuri shouted above the din.

"We must leave now, a hundred percent probability we will not survive the next attack. Wait…" He turned and lunged for Mizurai, pushing him out of the way as a battle axe tore through the spot he was just standing. The soldier who had thrown it scowled in frustration at having missed.

Masahiro, sweating profusely, managed to detract one of his blades and threw a shuriken attached to an exploding note high into the air. "OK, time to move. Secondaries." The three of them vanished into a side alley and disappeared.

"There it is." Mabry pointed as the wind stream carried them towards the town by the bridge in Wave Country. The battle seemed to be raging relentlessly. It had been a long time since Mabry had seen something like this. Not since his youth.

"Let's do it." Tenchi said. He held aloft his naginata, and pushed against the wind stream with a small chi attack. It was enough to break the stream temporarily and drop them all a mile above the battle.

Guererra did a few hand seals and doubled in size, hardening until his skin resembled rock more than flesh. He fell like a cannonball into the middle of a street, exploding in a cloud of dust. He clambered out of the hole looking for his first battle in almost a year.

Tenchi aimed for a slanted rooftop. He plummeted towards it, but hit it at a roll. He rolled twice, three times, then came up in a run. He ran off the building and jumped to another roof slightly lower. He was immediately accosted by seven Iwa soldiers, all of whom fell to his blade.

Mabry was not known as the greatest magician in the world for nothing. Even if that title was self bestowed. He threw a small senbon attached to nearly invisible steel wire into the wall of a bell tower. He attached the wire to his belt and swung in a circular motion to break his descent. He landed attached to the wall and grinned, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Old man Tora held onto a large piece of Heavenstone he'd gotten from Yoshi. With a few handseals he performed his bloodlines trademark jutsu, transforming an inanimate object into a living creature. The fifty pound block became a fifty pound eagle, just large enough to carry the diminutive old man on its back, flying him safely to the ground.

Yoshi fell with an umbrella attached to his back. It was not just any umbrella, it was a giant red umbrella. As he floated to earth, he saw the remains of his Daedelus machine in the water by the bridge. "My Daedelus! What have they done to you?" He was completely oblivious to the soldiers waiting for him to land, the giant red umbrella attracting a lot of attention.

Guerrera had landed close by though and the masked giant wrestler collided into the group sending them clattering into the dust. Yoshi landed and didn't even look at the soldiers, instead running across to the water's edge. Looking longingly at his ruined winged device. An Iwa-nin rushed him from the side, he glanced at him and dodged the swing of the soldiers blade. With a quick swivel he pushed the blade into the ground with one foot, and kicked the man in his face with the other. Yoshi's eyes blazed. He saw another Iwa-nin and jumped at him, he landed on one leg, and turned a hundred and eighty degrees, smashing his free foot into the soldier's temple.

Inari and Gen took on two tough looking soldiers. Inari used a combination of taijutsu and some underhanded tricks he had picked up from his street fighting friends. He ran right at the ninja, but dropped to his knees at the last minute, skidding underneath his legs. He slashed at the man's ankle as he passed, felling him. He turned, but before he could do more the man smashed his fist into Inari's temple, sending him careening across the rooftop.

Gen used a pair of escrima sticks as his melee weapons. He swiveled at the waist in a complete circle, dodging the ninja's attack, then lashed out with one of his sticks with a quick flick. The ninja blocked with a single butterfly sword, slashing with the other. Gen ducked under the attack, flipping completely, coming at the ninja's head with a crescent kick.

The ninja blocked it with his upper arm, then stabbed forward, but Gen had already landed and sidestepped. He swept for the ninja's feet but the ninja somersaulted over his swipe. Gen hit the ground with both his escrima sticks then looked at the ninja disconcertingly through his cloth covered eyes.

With a flurry of attacks he lunged at the man, forcing him into defense, backing him up. The ninja misstepped suddenly and cursing fell off the roof. Syren and Mirrun were rushing in to help Inari but would never get there in time.

A sudden sense of something moving and Master Tenchi was standing there, his naginata sticking through the Iwa-nin attacking Inari. He turned to his pupils. "Good job so far."

Gen turned towards the others. "Something is going on. All the chakra in the area is being sucked up." Tenchi nodded and motioned for them to follow him, starting to run towards the next rooftop.

The others followed, Inari asking Gen, "What? What do you mean?"

"I mean all the residue, all the chakra that Naruto-sama had released and was leaking, is going back the way it came. It's all being sucked back into Naruto-sama!" Gen said with concern in his voice.

"So what?" Syren asked. "He's supposed to be executing his part of the plan about now."

"If you could see what I see…it looks like a storm. A storm and Naruto-sama is the center of it."

On the other side of town, Senjii and Nagi were making their way through the attackers. They had gotten bogged down in the battle as well. Sheer numbers threatening to overwhelm them.

"Dammit!" Senjii exclaimed. A lucky kunai had nicked his face, sending blood trickling down his forehead.

Nagi as well was having difficulties. Every ninja he attacked was instantly defended by many more. He had resorted to mostly shadow attacks and he couldn't keep that up for very long, his chakra reserves were already low. He could feel the exhaustion coming on.

"I think this is the best we can do!" Senjii said, blocking a furious attack from two Iwa soldiers, the sound of the blades clanging in the now rising moonlight.

"Agreed!" Nagi said, disappearing into the shadows. He reappeared a second later in a flying cartwheel kick that broke a man's collarbone. "Time to move!" He threw a shuriken with an attached exploding note high into the air. Then dove for Senjii.

Senjii grunted and closed his eyes tightly. God Nagi just don't let me go in there!

Nagi grabbed him about the waist and they fell backwards into the shadows, disappearing.

Naruto, you know you're tired. The voice said.

"No," Naruto replied weakly. He'd pushed himself too far, he thought. He could barely stand. All the chakra he had expended over the past week. Those Hiraishin jumps, the wind push against the Hokage's tower. The blast on the bridge. Naruto felt…empty.

I can help. I can lend you some power. Just let some seep through. Loosen this seal just enough. Your friends are out there. Dying for you. Can't you feel it? The hopelessness?

"I…I can't feel them." Naruto had started to be able to feel people while in Tengoku. The chakra laced wind had helped him hone in on that skill. Since then he'd felt...something. A small tug at the back of his mind. A knowledge of his friends existence maybe. He couldn't explain it. But right now, all he felt was…

"So tired."

Yes Naruto. I know. But my strength will be your strength. How long has it been since you felt my power. The power that you shun. Let me show you what I could do for you.

"NO!" he shouted, snapping his eyes fully open. "I don't need your power!"

Naruto started pulling in chakra from his surroundings. Drawing in the natural energy like Pa and Ma toad had taught him.

Fool! Not now! You are too weak to handle Gaia's force! You will kill us both!

Naruto ignored the voice, pushing on, drawing in all he could, to strengthen himself. "I can do this. I can protect my friends!"

The clouds above the town began to swirl. Slowly at first, but then rapidly. Pulling in moisture and filling the night sky. The unnatural movement causing the air to mix and spin, forming massive lightning storms above, illuminating the city.

The battles began to slow down and ninja and defenders alike looked to the sky as it swirled.

"Jiraiya." Gamabunta said, looking up at the sky. "This is not good. That's Natural energy. That could only mean one thing."

"It's Naruto. He's drawing in too much power. He'll level the city at this rate."

"Katsuyu, take me to Naruto!" Tsunade shouted, at the same time that Jiraiya asked Gamabunta to do the same.

"Hai Tsunade-sama!"

Gamabunta leapt high into the air, his dark shadow eclipsing the battles between the forces of Tengoku and Konoha. Katsuyu moved with a rapid speed that belied her size, zooming down the main street of the town. Jiriaya and his toad arrived first, landing safely on the other side, while Katsuyu was still making her way. She ran over and slimed many soldiers who did not get out of the way fast enough.

Jiraiya dismounted, running for the small grove they'd told Naruto to rest and wait until he was needed again. Tsunade was not far behind him, having leapt off Katsuyu as soon as she broke past the edge of town.

As they broke into the clearing, they saw Naruto kneeling, eyes illuminated by light, absorbing what looked like a tornado of chakra.

"Naruto! Stop!" Tsunade shouted over the gale force winds around the teenager.

Jiraiya grimly raced in and clocked Naruto on the side of his head, knocking him down. Naruto lay there as the gale force winds died down. The sky began to clear again.

"Ow!" Naruto said, sitting up. "That hurt!"

"It was supposed to baka!" Jiraiya said, clouting him behind his head. "What the hell were you doing?"

Naruto yawned. "I was tired. Chakra levels were low so I figured I'd top up with Natural energy. Better than the alternative I figured."

"Alternative?" Jiraiya asked. Naruto pointed sheepishly at his stomach where Jiraiya knew the cursed seal lay.

"You cannot handle that much Natural Energy. Don't ever try that again. You could have burst, become an explosion of energy. Your body itself converted into chakra!" Jiraiya shouted at him. Naruto sat their wide eyed.

"Ohhh. I didn't know that." He rubbed the back of his head. "I feel great now though. How's the battle coming?"

Jiraiya and Tsunade looked towards the town and saw the remains of the two flares still drifting back down to earth.

"Not good I'd say." Tsunade said. "But reinforcements have arrived from Tengoku."

"Well, let's even the odds just a little bit more!" Naruto jumped to his feet and used his favorite technique. "Taju Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"

Masahiro fell backwards. He'd met another chakra weapon user and they'd so far been an even match. But the ninja's were not playing fair, and it was not a one on one match. Two other chakra weapon users had joined the fight. He'd so far managed to avoid a fatal wound, but he was bleeding a good bit.

Takada had cut large swathes out of the forces, but they were being overwhelmed. He had a hard time predicting moves with this many factors in the battle, plus fighting at the same time. Even he had been hard pressed, and suffered at least one very bad gash on his leg.

Mizurai lay in a pool of blood, neither one if his friends daring to look too closely. They'd have to check on him after the battle was over.

"If the tide doesn't turn, I'm afraid Takada's love interest waits for a warrior that will never return home," he whispered to himself.

Suddenly a sea of white appeared down the street. It looked like a wave of water, but after a second they all realized it was a thousand Naruto clones, all in white, running full speed.

The main reason Danzo had sent so many soldiers after Naruto was this ability. He had demonstrated when he destroyed the Hokage's tower that he could create great numbers of shadow clones. But the Konoha forces were now spread all over the city, and been cut down immensely in numbers by the spirited defense they had met.

The soldiers were not dumb; they realized very quickly that the tide had turned. Those that were able too, disappeared, fleeing the city to regroup. The Naruto clones stormed over every part of the town like a solid blanket. Some ninja choose to fight, and were quickly taken care of by the sheer volume of Naruto clones.

It took a few minutes, but Naruto's clones covered every inch of the city looking for more ninja. He was cheered on by the weary defenders, Senjii, Nagi, Mizurai, Masahiro, Takada, Tenchi, Mabry, Old Man Tora, Inari, Gennosuke, Mirrun, Syran, and even Yoshi.

When every last remaining Konoha ninja had left the city, the clones stood at the end of the bridge, on the side of the city, daring them to come back.

Neji and Tenten emerged from their hiding space inside an empty store. Neji saw what was going on, and couldn't believe how many clones Naruto had managed to create. Good solid ones too. He quickly formulated a plan in his head.

"Sai, check the windows." As the ROOT nin turned to look out the window, Neji hit a pressure point behind his head, sending the boy into unconsciousness.

Tenten nodded in approval. She flung the door open and shouted at a group of clones nearby. "Hey Naruto!"

The clones looked over in shock. "Tenten?"

"We need a way to stop them from coming back over the bridge." Tsunade lamented. "This is a stalemate."

She tended to the wounds of the defenders. Most everyone had been damaged in some way or another. Shizune and the building that Anko was resting in had remained unscathed. It was on the outskirts of town, and as such the attackers had not taken much interest in it, deserted as it looked.

"Hey what ship is that?" Inari asked no one in particular. There was a very large, very fast ship approaching from around the side of the island, but it didn't seem to be heading for the dock. As they watched, the ship turned and its cannons fired a volley.

"Are they firing on the Konoha forces?" Calamity asked.

The first few shots missed, and Jiraiya saw what they were planning. "No. They're not."

The next volley hit. The Great Naruto Bridge crumbled like dust under the heavy cannon fire. They fired volley after volley, to the cheers of the people on the ship.

"What the hell are they thinking?" Tsunade asked dumbfounded. "Wave Country needs that bridge in one piece! That bridge is their livelihood!"

Jiraiya nodded but noticed it was successful. Naruto voiced what they were all thinking.

"With the bridge gone, they can't attack can they?"

"Well, no. Not until they get some boats." Jiraiya admitted. The large ship turned and was coming back to dock. Within minutes it had tied off to the dock, and a giant plank extended.

They all gathered by the docks to find Kakashi, Sakura, Calamity, Hiruka and Lee standing there grinning. Accompanying them was a very fat man who looked like royalty and Lord Gama.

"Sorry we're late for the party." Kakashi said with a smile hidden beneath his mask.

It was hours later that they all understood what had happened.

"So I signed the agreement immediately with the Lord Gama and we have an accord. The Wave Country is now partnered with the Crescent Moon Kingdom. As such new trade lanes will be established. Konoha may own the land on this side of the continent, but for all intents and purposes we own the seas. We will send a notice of the partnership to Danzo and cut off the ocean to him if he doesn't respect our territory. Fire country depends on much from the sea." Prince Michiru said proudly.

"What if Danzo attacks you?" Naruto blurted out, incredulous. This Prince was a great man! He thought to himself. Lord Gama as well! They'd worked out a way to no longer need the bridge access to the mainland.

Prince Michiru shrugged. "I doubt he would. This campaign must have cost him too much already. Politically my Kingdom is aligned with all the countries to the north and island states. He cannot afford to make enemies of all of us. A few months embargo would drive that point home."

Lord Gama winked at Naruto. "Also, the criminal Naruto he was chasing would no longer be in our territory, but we will inform him that we are keeping a very sharp eye out for his return. He is wanted for property damage and endangering the life of our citizens."

Jiraiya smiled. He glanced at the far bank and saw that a few Konoha soldiers still stood there. Probably posted as guards until they get further orders from Danzo. This would effectively block off this part of the world from Danzo's ambitions. For now. Guerrera, Tenchi and Mabry were making a sweep of the town, looking for any stragglers that Naruto's clones may have missed. Yoshi was working on something or the other on the edge of the group. Old man Tora had created a few small eagles from stones and sent them to spy on the Konoha forces. Amazingly the eagle he'd made from Heavenstone on his initial descent was still around and not looking like it was going to fade any time soon. He'd just blamed it on the material and sent it to scout the perimeter of the island.

Of the fifteen guards Lord Gama had provided, only four remained alive. The dreamwalker had been ordered to stay out of the battle, and the others had fared badly against the massive attack. The one who could take on the appearance of anyone had been sequestered away by Jiraiya. The spy master had a very interesting plan forming and he wanted someone with that skill. A skill greater than a simple henge.

"You realize all of this is a temporary measure. Eventually he will have the forces he needs to take what he wants without caring about the politics of it all." Jiraiya said.

The mayor nodded. "We are with immediate effect creating a protection force for our trade route. With funding from the Crescent Moon Kingdom we will hire the best fighters we can find to train some of us. Many in the city were upset that they could not help today. We will learn how to defend ourselves."

Takada grinned and raised his hand from the stretcher he was laid out on. "Takada sees a way to become wealthy without traveling too far."

Masahiro's head snapped up. He opened his mouth to argue but just shook his head. "Fine, we'll stay here. But only as long as we're paid up."

Mizurai, the last of the mercenary trio smiled widely. His wounds had proven to be less than fatal. Tsunade had earned her reputation as a medic. "Perfect! I would not mind settling down here for a while. That cute barmaid might favor a man who defended her hometown."

Naruto looked from one to the other and smiled widely. The Prince looked at Naruto. He had heard about him, the founder of Tengoku from the girls. He'd also heard all the stories from his retainers. He looked like an impressive young man.

"Naruto. The Crescent Moon Kingdom is officially aligned with the Hidden Village of Tengoku. As such we defer to you in areas of defense."

Naruto stood in shock. "Well… the plan seems OK. Maybe we can send Tenchi over as well from time to time to check on progress." Tenchi nodded his acceptance of that idea.

Neji cleared his throat. "If I may interject." A few Naruto clones as well as Mabry, were escorting him and Tenten. A few others had an unconscious Sai being carried over their heads.

Eyes narrowed and weapons drew as they saw the Konoha headbands. Neji raised his hands as did Tenten.

Naruto and Sakura were surprised to see them, but not as surprised as Lee was.

"Teammates! Neji! Tenten!" He raced over and squeezed them tightly.

The defenders relaxed slightly.

"Oof. Lee?" Tenten said. "What the hell are you doing in the middle of this? You're supposed to be training off in Sunagakure with Gai-sensei!"

"Sensei ordered me to train while on this mission with Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan." Calamity and Hiroka were a little indignant to be left out of Lee's explanation, but stayed quiet nonetheless.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked, happy to see a familiar face, but a little apprehensive given the circumstances.

"I don't know if Naruto clued you in, but there's an underground movement against Danzo in Konoha."

Naruto shook his head. "I didn't have a chance. Shikamaru is leading it," he said turning to Sakura.

"Yes, and Danzo has some idea of its existence. He also suspects the Hyuuga house of plotting against him. I surmise he sent me on this mission as a test of our allegiance." Neji said plainly.

"What are you proposing?" Jiriya chimed in. Clearly this boy had though things out a bit.

"I will ask that you wound us, not severely please. And bind us along with Sai. He is a ROOT member, but…an odd one. Allow us to escape when he awakens and we will flee, perhaps after Sai witnesses Tenten stab a Naruto clone? Something that will give Danzo some reason to stop the attack for now?"

Jiraiya nodded. "Not a bad plan, but I can improve on it."

Sai opened his eyes groggily. Within seconds he took stock of his situation. Tied to a chair. His face felt sore. He'd been beaten. He looked left. Neji as well. He saw blood trickling down his teammate's unconscious face. His left arm had a kunai embedded in it still. He looked right.

Tenten was also tied, but she was awake. Her face too was bloody. One eye was sealed shut. Sai thought back. They must have ambushed us, the Naruto clones.

He realized they had no guards, but he could hear voices in the other room. He took a deep breath, and with a quiet grunt dislocated his shoulder. He slipped out of the ropes. He pulled the kunai out of Neji's arm. Neji's eyes snapped open but Sai covered his mouth with his hand.

"Shh. I will cut you free," Sai whispered.

He sliced through Neji's ropes, and then Tenten's. Tenten almost fell into Sai's arms. "She is hurt badly," he said matter-of-factly to Neji.

Neji nodded. "You are the most able. Carry her, I will lead." Neji grabbed another kunai that was on a table next to the door. He eased it open and Sai could see Naruto talking to Iruka who was being bandaged by a young girl.

Neji took a breath and leapt into the room. He sliced Iruka's throat, a spurt of blood gushing everywhere. Naruto rushed in, about to make the seal for a shadow clone when Neji kicked him in the face. He slid across the floor. Sai propped up Tenten, he wanted to join the fight but Tenten was holding on to him tightly.

Naruto got back to his feet and Neji threw his kunai. It flew straight and true, it hit Naruto in the stomach. He doubled over. The girl in the room screamed helplessly. Neji turned to Sai.

"Let's go! Quick! Help will be coming!"

The trio leapt out the back door. They realized they were near to the water. They could hear curses as people found Naruto and Iruka. With a glance they all jumped into the icy night water. It was maybe a mile swim to the other side, but hopefully they could make it in their condition.

Tsunade watched them go before releasing the genjutsu. Years of practice had made her rather skilled at illusions. Most people couldn't even see through the one she kept on herself to make her seem young.

Naruto held up the stick Neji had thrown at him. "Boy he doesn't play around. That kick in the face was real enough."

"Let's hope Neji's plan works to ingratiate himself with Danzo." Jiraiya said.

"It's a bold plan. Let's pray first that they can swim to the far shore. It's freezing!" Mabry said wryly.

"Right!" Naruto said. "Now how do we go home?"

Authors note:

An amazing job done by my beta this month! So much so that I'm reluctant to limit calling him my beta as much as a co-author on this chapter. Thanks Evil Joshua!

This chapter was enormous, more than 15,000 words and it took forever to get right, including some major re-writes. That's my excuse for it taking so long and I'm sticking with it!

To answer some questions:

1. Yes Akatsuki will be in this story. Just not yet. It all ties in, trust me.

2. Again, not a romance story, so don't expect any huge relationships

Characters submitted and used:

Masahiro by Decmitor1
Mizurai by Waterblade
Takada Shoubushi by Cross writer453