Destiny is a Hazy Thing

by Calanor

The Yondaime had a plan, Madara had another. They were not the only ones who wanted their own vision to come to pass, but the future is never certain. When all plans of gods and men fail Naruto is suddenly free to choose his own destiny. Slow development

42. Chapter 41: Meeting a nightmare

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

Author's note: Massive chapter and violent battle incoming

Chapter 41: Meeting a nightmare

It was a clear and cold night. Naruto shivered and pulled his coat more closely around him. The icy wind howled fiercely, threatening to rip any not sufficiently secured object away. His eyes were watering and the wind seemed to go right through his clothes. The air was freezing at this altitude. It seemed colder weather was moving in from the north, too, making things worse. At least there were hardly any clouds. If they had to deal with being wet on top of the cold… well, they would probably have to interrupt the journey, at least until daybreak. Considering that the plot to kill the Fire Daimyo and his family was probably already underway the delay would have been bad, possibly fatally so.

All in all the journey was thoroughly uncomfortable. More than one hundred shinobi mounted on a dozen large swallow summons had left Konoha about an hour ago. They still had several hours to go until they arrived at their destination, the capital of the Land of Fire. By now all attempts at conversation had died down and been replaced by tense silence. The majority of the group probably tried to get some sleep while they could, not that the conditions made that easy. Despite being roused in the middle of the night by a messenger Naruto wasn't tired. He didn't need as much sleep as other people.

'Well, it isn't as if I was sleeping back home anyway.'

Last evening Naruto had felt… something. He didn't know exactly what it was and couldn't really describe the feeling. There were three things he could say with absolute certainty: It had been supernatural, distant and very, very big. It was probably something very important. He wished he could talk with his parents about it, but they remained silent. The last time he had spoken with his father had been immediately after the invasion and that conversation had been very short. Even a mental visit to the inside of the seal had been fruitless. It was frustrating. Well, and if he was honest with himself it frightened him. His parents wouldn't eschew contact without an important reason. Something powerful had awoken and he had no idea how to deal with that… or if there was anything he could do in the first place.

From earlier conversations with his parents Naruto knew that the overwhelming majority of supernatural beings in the world were either sleeping or otherwise bound. They didn't know the reason why things were that way, though. It was virtually certain the lack of freely accessible magic was related in some way. His father surmised that it made the world a rather hostile place for many lesser spirits and demons. Not immediately fatal, no, but they would be forced into hibernation until either conditions changed or they finally faded away. More powerful entities would be able to sustain intermittent activity, but they would be restricted in their activity to varying degrees. The examples of Jashin, the Reibi, the tailed beasts and his parents had certainly shown that sufficiently powerful gods and demons were not hampered significantly or at all. In fact, they might profit from this situation.

It remained an unanswered question what exactly had led to this state of things. Youko's earliest memories from when she had emerged as the Kyuubi a little more than a millennium ago already showed the same lack of magic. According to her she had not even been aware that something was amiss. She didn't encounter any traces of divine activity either during that millennium. In contrast, she was sure that when she had existed as the Juubi during the long-gone age of gods free magic had been abundant. The problem was that the memories of the Juubi had been badly fractured when it was split apart. Youko possessed only vague, vastly incomplete recollections. She remembered being created, but not by whom. She remembered being imprisoned in a tomb for eons at the end of the age of gods when most of those beings left this world, but not why. She remembered being freed, but not by whose hand. The time between the Juubi's release and split was mostly a gaping hole.

'Or at least that is what Mom told me.'

Naruto trusted his parents to tell him what he needed to know, but that didn't preclude the possibility of them keeping things to themselves. For example, he wondered if they had made some deal with the swallows. From what he had read and heard about summons the swallows were unusually accommodating to his wishes, especially considering the relatively short time since he had signed the contract. Each summon tribe was different, granted, but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was more going on aside from them being glad to have a summoner again after more than a century of inactivity. In the time before the chunin exam finals his parents had spoken directly with the swallows using his body and Hinata's. The swallows as well as his parents had been a bit vague about the precise contents of that conversation. Naruto had been too busy with other preparations to pay it much attention at the time, but in retrospect he probably should investigate further.

Anyway, the event of the last evening had him questioning every strange feeling of the last week. What else might have awakened without him noticing or him misinterpreting the signs? Jashin alone had been bad enough, but if even more such beings were running around… He just couldn't deal with threats on such a level.

Enemy shinobi Naruto could deal with. They were a threat he understood. They might be stronger than him or have strange and powerful techniques, but they were mostly in viewing distance. Jonin like Anko, Kurenai or Asuma could kick his ass under most circumstances, but with time and training he would catch up and in all likelihood surpass them thanks to his advantages. Heck, counting the two tails of demonic chakra he could safely control he could match a jonin from a purely physical point of view. Depending on a number of factors like the skill set of the jonin in question and who had surprise on his side the fight might go either way, but Naruto would probably hold the advantage. Unfortunately he lost access to his techniques and had to rely on the properties of the Kyuubi cloak to fight, making its use situation-dependent. The regeneration and damage resistence of the cloak were enormous advantages, but the loss of stealth and versatility were equally serious disadvantages.

Disregarding that factor he was solidly at chunin level with some notable positive exceptions, like his enormous chakra capacity and mastery of two elements. Judging from the tales prodigies like Kakashi or Itachi Uchiha had been stronger at his age, but they had not suffered under the same constraints on their training like a suboptimal academy education or the necessity to live on their own. Even the additional time in the realm of his parents could not make up for that, especially considering that he had needed the time for learning a completely different skill set. Still, he and his circle of friends were far more advanced than the vast majority of shinobi at their age.

Kage-level enemies were a slightly different matter. There were probably less than a hundred shinobi deserving that designation alive in the Elemental Nations and they were a very diverse lot. Some, like the late Hiruzen Sarutobi, were generalists whose skill in several fields was heads and shoulders above jonin level. They were the true kage-level combatants and the measuring stick for that level of power and skill. Others had one narrow, specific area of expertise that made them disproportionally powerful despite most of their skills being only jonin-level or less. Most experienced jinchuuriki fell into that category. Deidara of Iwa (whose defection and following string of freelance bombings had been the talk of the village about one and a half years ago) was another example. Of course, given the right circumstances the latter type could become the former, making for extremely dangerous people.

Oh, they were not invincible. Even kage-level shinobi were mortal in the end. For all the skills a shinobi learned, much of a basic human's squishiness remained. Even a measly kunai or D-rank jutsu could kill a kage under the right circumstances. More than three quarters of all kage-level shinobi to die in combat had fallen to relatively small groups of jonin (with the support of assorted chunin and genin, of course) despite all their power.

Naruto was confident he would reach kage-level one day. The problem was surviving long enough. Thanks to his actions during the invasion he was now well-known in shinobi circles (or would be as soon as the news spread enough). Enemies of Konoha would not miss the threat he represented and factor him into their plans. His association with Konoha meant that the village's enemies were his, unfortunately.

Something Shikaku Nara had told him was weighing heavily on his mind. Akatsuki was now targeting him. Thanks to the visions of his father he had known about the existence of the organization for years, but knowing that he was now actively hunted by several kage-level shinobi (and probably assorted less skilled forces) made for uneasy sleep. If not for his use of the swallows it was all too likely that Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha would have caught up with him on his trip to find Tsunade. In a confrontation with them without several squads of Konoha shinobi backing him up he could only hope for their overconfidence or massive luck on his side to allow him either to flee or land a crippling hit. Neither option looked especially likely to him, but there wasn't much he could do against people like them on his current skill level.

'Well, I suppose I could always try to summon more swallows, take the battle to the sky and simply throw as many jutsu as possible at them in the hope that something sticks. That relies on them giving me the time and not having any long-range jutsu. That's… rather unlikely.'

In the event of such a confrontation Naruto would probably have to call on the power of his parents to have any reasonable chance of coming out of it with his hide intact. Still, he could at least fight against kage-level shinobi even if his prospects of victory were rather negligible. Against beings like his parents… he didn't even know where to begin. Physically striking against their corporeal forms was pretty much futile. Even if he could hurt their avatar bodies it would do nothing against their true selves. Well, perhaps it would inconvenience them somewhat, but they could easily escalate to levels of force he simply couldn't match. That didn't even touch all the unconventional ways they could use to effortlessly swat him like a fly without him ever seeing it coming, like outright reality warping via magic. If a powerful god or demon really wanted a mortal dead there was precious little the mortal could do without supernatural allies of his own.

Naruto still remembered the times when the mental shielding between him and his father had been breached during a possession. The sheer insanity-inducing grandiose otherness was unforgettable. Both his parents were just so much greater than him. How did one hurt beings like that?

The Ichibi in sand storm form was a case in point. He didn't know how exactly it stacked up against his parents. Most likely it had been far weaker than them if they had been free. To him it had still been an incomprehensible, invincible behemoth. The sand storm had clearly only been the visible part of the demon. The magical weapon his parents had created for him had visibly struck at something not in this world. Despite its ultimate ineffectiveness it had at least hurt the Ichibi, indicating that the answer to fighting powerful supernatural opponents lay in the use of magic. His mother's chakra would probably be likewise effective, but he couldn't really use it to its full effect. The seal and his body limited the ways he could access it. It made him powerful, no question, but it was still something foreign grafted into his chakra system. A hypothetical demon with the same amount of power would be able to use it much more efficiently and to greater and more varied effects.

Unfortunately Naruto had no magical means of attack. His few spells were pretty much support skills not suited for combat. Heck, he couldn't even use them outside of Konoha's vicinity and even then not often. Despite all his studies of magic and years of first-hand experience with his parents he still had only the vaguest understanding of how they truly worked. Human biology – even including the very complicated chakra system – was a piece of cake against that. Stick a knife somewhere and you knew you were damaging something.

Naruto had always been somewhat prone to paranoia, not the least because he knew with absolute certainty that there were many people out to get him. Now that he had proof that the situation deteriorated he half expected several S-rank shinobi or hostile gods/demons/spirits/whatever to pop up any moment. The tension was like a spring that was tightly coiled inside of him. The fact that the visions of his alternative lives were quickly becoming useless only added to it. He had not completely worked through the emotional baggage from the invasion either, and it was beginning to affect his ability to rest and recover.

For now he could deal with the stress, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to do so. He was very good at mental compartmentalization and the swallows made him feel somewhat safer, but it would not be enough in the long term. Sooner or later he needed a completely safe place to rest. The only place that qualified was the world of his parents even though his body technically never entered that world.

The departure of Yakumo and Ino had made him truly realize the problematic consequences of his increased paranoia. Objectively their presence made no difference to his safety. Emotionally it made a big one. Not only was he deprived of their company, now he had to worry that something might happen to them. Yes, they were competent, but a campaign against Otogakure was still far more dangerous than normal missions. Then there was his continued worry about Hinata…

Naruto sighed. This brooding didn't do him any good, but there was nothing else to do. If he had things to distract himself like training he managed, but calm periods like this brought it to the forefront of his mind.

Once again he shivered. The cold wind was really unpleasant. They had to fly at this altitude because of several rather high mountain ridges on their way. Descending and ascending again would prolong their journey unacceptably as would taking a detour. As much as he liked flying under normal circumstances he began to really hate this journey.

Adjusting his seat on the swallow to use Asuma's back as cover, Naruto began to meditate and tried to get some rest. At least he hoped Akatsuki would look for easier targets now that their first capture attempt had failed.

---

The atmosphere in the large meeting hall in Amegakure was thick with tension. Akatsuki, the organization calling this place their headquarters, had experienced a severe setback to their plans. One of the people present, the blond shinobi named Deidara, had to suppress the urge to wipe the sweat of his brow. The stare of their leader had been beyond uncomfortable. Thankfully his report was already over and done with, but it seemed his own failure wasn't the only one. Not all of the primary members of Akatsuki were physically present at this meeting; some attended only via a projection technique.

Akatsuki's leader Pain was flanked by a blue-haired woman named Konan. Deidara didn't know much about them. Konan had displayed some nifty paper techniques, but Pain was a complete unknown. They held Amegakure in their grasp while the world at large still thought the deceased Hanzo the Salamander in charge.

Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha only attended via projection as did the creepy plant-like man Zetsu and his equally creepy pale partner.

The famous bounty hunter Kakuzu stood alone. His partner had allegedly died in combat during their last mission (not related to the capture of a jinchuuriki), but Deidara suspected the man had simply been slain by Kakuzu in a fit of rage and his corpse turned in for a bounty. The ancient shinobi had a really nasty temper. In the relatively short time of Deidara's Akatsuki membership Kakuzu had already gone through three partners.

Deidara stood alone as well. His partner Sasori had perished only a few days ago in their futile attempt to capture the Yondaime Mizukage.

Several trusted associated members were present but keeping to the background.

Finally Pain spoke. "You mean to tell us that you missed the invasion of Konoha, the best opportunity to capture both the Ichibi and Kyuubi jinchuuriki ... because of a cold?"

For a few seconds silence reigned while the gathered members of Akatsuki waited for an answer. Then Itachi nodded. "Yes."

Deidara couldn't help but goggle at that. A pair of S-rank shinobi stopped by a common cold? It sounded completely ludicrous.

Seconds ticked by while Pain kept his gaze on the projections of Itachi and Kisame. Finally he seemed satisfied. "I see. And what did you do after this... unfortunate turn of events?"

"We judged it best to infiltrate Konoha to gather more information about our targets. Unfortunately the organization of the guards had been changed due to the invasion and we were spotted on our approach. I extracted information about the Kyuubi container from one of the attacking shinobi before we retreated and took up pursuit of the target."

Deidara couldn't help but grin inwardly while he listened to Itachi's and Kisame's account of their futile chase. He didn't have anything against Kisame, but an arrogant bastard like Itachi deserved all the discomfort that went his way.

The blond ex-Iwa shinobi had wondered what had gone wrong when Kisame and Itachi missed both meeting points with him on his way back from the Land of Water. The original plan had called for him and Sasori to capture the Yondaime Mizukage Yagura, the jinchuuriki of the Sanbi, while Kisame and Itachi took care of both the Ichibi and Kyuubi jinchuuriki at the same time. Since Deidara was able to create flying clay constructs he was frequently called for the purpose of transportation. If everything had gone to plan he and Sasori along with their captured target would have picked up Kisame and Itachi (complete with their two victims) and brought them to Akatsuki's headquarters in Amegakure. There they could take all the necessary time to extract the tailed beasts from their hosts.

Unfortunately the plan had gone to pieces. Yagura had been located on an isolated island with only minimal guard, making it an ideal time to strike. Under the combined assault of Sasori's puppets and Deidara's exploding clay constructs the Mizukage had soon faltered. In a last display of resistance the man had blown himself up instead of allowing himself to be captured. Deidara's partner Sasori had died then. It was a shame despite the beauty of the explosion. Deidara had genuinely liked and respected the man; he had been a fellow artist.

"I found traces of a big bird summon in a clearing near where the group had last been seen. We broke off the pursuit then. There's no way we can catch a target with such a mobility advantage. By then it was already too late for us to reach one of the meeting points." Kisame concluded the report.

A deep, rumbling voice spoke up. "The boy holds the swallow contract. Hundreds of them were summoned in defense of Konoha. Then he used the power of the Kyuubi to shoot down the flying fortress of Soragakure." Kakuzu said. "The news is spreading everywhere like wildfire."

All attention focused on the tall man, but he didn't say anything else. A few moments later Konan posed a question. "I never heard of the swallow summons before. Does anyone have details about their capabilities?"

Before anyone could answer someone from the back ranks spoke up. "I know! I know!" A black-clad man with a one-eyed orange mask jumped into the circle formed by Akatsuki's primary members. Then he cleared his throat and began speaking in a lecturing voice. "The swallow contract belonged to the Yamaguchi clan. They were a large clan during the era of the clan wars. No bloodline, but their summoning contract gave them a comparable edge. After their defeat about 120 years ago they simply disappeared. Everyone assumes they either disbanded because of too many losses, were wiped out by someone who kept it secret or died to the great plague."

"Anything else?"

The man put a finger to where his mouth would be behind his mask in a thinking pose. "I still wonder what exact sort of swallows they really are. There are reported sightings of coconuts and not every swallow can carry them. An Elemental swallow maybe, but not an Island swallow. But then coconuts don't grow here and the Elemental swallow is not migratory…"

Kisame chuckled, but Deidara felt annoyance at Tobi's antics. He barely knew anything about the man, one of Akatsuki's associated members. What he did know was that the man got on his nerves with his behavior. They were an organization bent on making a dangerous power play and undermining the power of the established shinobi villages. They should behave seriously, not capering around like fools. Kisame always found the man amusing, though.

Pain ignored the fool and turned back to Itachi and Kisame. "What about your second target?"

"The status and whereabouts of the Ichibi container are unknown. Konoha assumes the demon broke free before it and a demon fielded by Soragakure referred to as the Reibi annihilated each other. Judging from the destruction on the battlefield that opinion seems well-founded." Itachi answered.

That led to a discussion of their future strategy. Deidara mostly zoned out during it. He didn't care overly much about Akatsuki's plans. It wasn't as if he was here of his own free will. He had been on a wonderful spree of displaying his artistic talents by causing wanton destruction (paid for by various unscrupulous clients, of course) when Kisame, Sasori and Itachi tracked him down a little less than a year ago. When he refused joining them they had goaded him into a challenge: If he fought and won against Itachi they would leave him be.

The damnable Uchiha won that confrontation handily thanks to his sharingan. That thing amplified Itachi's already massive genjutsu capabilities to an unbelievable degree. Now, as a shinobi Deidara didn't believe in the concept of 'fairness' in a fight, but those damned eyes were as unfair as it could get. He still had no idea how to properly counter them. Modifying one of his eyes to negate genjutsu seemed like a promising idea (a procedure for that was among the stuff he had taken with him when deserting from Iwa), but he had yet to make any progress on that front. He would need a technique to quickly create a really big explosion, too, to make evasion impossible. Developing that would probably take years.

Anyway, after his loss he joined Akatsuki's inner circle and was partnered with the puppeteer Sasori. Surprisingly, he had grown to like and respect the older man. While a decidedly different direction from Deidara's Art of a Single Moment, Sasori did consider his human puppetry art as well and pursued it with great dedication. Deidara respected that. Despite Sasori never outright teaching him anything Deidara had learned much over the months simply by the power of observation. Sasori had been a missing nin for about twenty years and knew all the tricks. Not only had he successfully evaded or defeated all the people wanting to capture him, no, he had outright flourished. Sasori's spy network spanning the Elemental Nations was probably one of the best in existence.

'Come to think of it, our access to it is now gone.' Deidara mused while watching Pain, Kisame and Zetsu argue about something. Sasori had taken extreme care that his resources remained exclusively his. He had often disappeared for days on end. Akatsuki in general and Deidara in particular knew only a handful of contacts. They had used the results of his work, but they had never been allowed to learn the details. Each member who had brought resources of his own into the organization did pretty much the same. Akatsuki was less of a unified organization and more a collection of different, separate factions. As far as Deidara knew out of the primary members only him, Itachi and Zetsu had no followers to call their own.

'Sometimes I wonder why I stay at all. I could simply fly away. What is another broken word to me?'

Well, the fact that the rest of Akatsuki would mercilessly hunt him down was probably one of the two main reasons. He knew very well that he stood no chance against most of the other members, less alone all of them combined. Unlike Orochimaru (who had broken ties with Akatsuki around four years ago; Sasori had been very vocal about that) Deidara had no army of followers that made taking him down too costly. He could evade them for a while, but in the medium term they would catch up with him without a doubt.

Deidara suppressed a sigh. The other reason why he had stayed with Akatsuki was now gone. It would simply not be the same without Sasori. He gave the associated members a glance. Hopefully his new partner would be someone he could get along with. He shuddered at the thought of being paired with someone like Tobi.

Suddenly the projected images of the four absent shinobi winked out and most of the others made to leave. Deidara realized he had missed most of the meeting. Trying to recall the past minutes, he remembered that Pain had wanted words with him and Kakuzu.

Soon the hall emptied, leaving Deidara alone with Pain and the famous bounty hunter.

Pain held out a hand. "The ring."

Reluctantly Deidara approached Pain and handed over Sasori's Akatsuki ring he had recovered from the man's remains. There were ten rings in existence, one for each primary member. The projection technique used for these meetings was somehow tied to them and they probably had other powers Deidara was not privy to. Unfortunately Orchimaru had taken his ring with him when he defected, leaving Deidara without one. Well, there was another ring without bearer since Kakuzu tended to kill his partners too quickly for them to considered trustworthy enough. Originally Deidara had been supposed to receive the free ring after successfully capturing the Mizukage, but after the failure of that mission his hopes had been dashed. It still stung. Which was funny considering there was very little tying him to Akatsuki in the first place.

'That's dangerous. I'm becoming far too attached to goals that aren't really mine. I was too comfortable in Master Sasori's company.' Deidara suddenly realized. He needed time to think about this.

Meanwhile, Kakuzu had stepped up. Pain addressed them both with his next sentence. "I expect you to work together for the time being. Fulfill your tasks as discussed. We will reorganize as soon as this phase of our operation is over."

'Wait, what?'

Pain wouldn't pair him with Kakuzu, would he? How could he have missed that? Kakuzu was the bogeyman. Every shinobi knew about the merciless bounty hunter. Mothers frightened their children with tales of him. Even among experienced shinobi there was the saying that you might as well slit your own throat and save you the trouble of trying to escape when Kakuzu targeted you. No one knew how Kakuzu had managed to live this long (he had to be in his late eighties or early nineties), but by all accounts he was as deadly as ever.

Deidara gulped when he looked into the cold green eyes of the man towering above him. There was no way this would end well.

---

Short dark blue hair fluttered in the wind… a gentle smile... pale lavender eyes full of joy… laughter in the air when the two chased each other in a field of flowers… the smell of lemon trees…

The sun set over the village, the blue of the sky giving way to stars… a head lying on his shoulder, hands entwined… light brown eyes twinkling mischievously… whispered words of love in the darkness...

Suddenly the swallow rocked slightly and Naruto jerked awake. He was disoriented for a few moments before he remembered his current circumstances.

'I guess I did fall asleep after all.'

Judging from the position of the moon he couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour at most. Still, that meant that they had already traveled a good part of their journey. A look at the moonlit landscape far below showed Naruto that the swallows were now following a river. Occasional pinpricks of light marked the lone wanderer or house awake at this late hour while clusters of lights heralded richer settlements that could sustain some sort of nightlife. Lighting like candles wasn't cheap.

Naruto tried to get back to rest, but this time sleep eluded him. He simply busied himself with observing the landscape. The wind wasn't as cutting as before and the moonlight in combination with his night vision meant that it might well be daylight as far as he was concerned. Time passed by. Slowly a dull orange glow became visible at the horizon.

A sinking feeling spread through Naruto's stomach. The capital was one of the biggest cities in the country, but the stray light shouldn't be visible this soon if he guessed their position correctly. Turning his head left and right, he tried to ascertain his suspicion. He had never been near the capital, but he had made a point to study all the available maps. Anko always emphasized the importance of knowing the terrain. Recognizing all the features from the air was a bit difficult, but after the search for Tsunade Naruto had enough practice to make do.

'There's the Lake of Fire Lilies with the coronation site of the rulers of the Land of Fire. The form is unmistakable. We just passed Nomiga town with its large river port. Over there are the foothills of the Green Mountains and these should be the cities of… Uh-Oh.'

Reaching forward, Naruto gave Asuma's shoulder a pat. The jonin immediately turned around, a questioning expression on his face. Naruto pointed towards the orange glow. By now it should be visible even to people without special night vision. "There's something wrong in the capital. Looks like a really big fire to me. It could be a coincidence."

Asuma cursed. "Not likely. Good work spotting it."

Then he turned to his neighbor and started a hurried conversation. Before long the woman took Asuma's head in both hands, both shinobi wearing a look of concentration. Naruto vaguely recognized the woman as one of Ino's more distant relatives named Masuya, but he had no further knowledge of the middle-aged Yamanaka. There were just too many shinobi in Konoha to have detailed information on all of them and the hurried departure had left no time for more detailed introductions.

It took them far too long to reach the city. The swallows were fast, but at night even small fires could be seen from a large distance. When they finally got close enough to make out details Naruto's bad feeling proved completely justified. In fact, the situation reminded Naruto of the burning Konoha. Fortunately there were at least no invading armies in sight.

Circling over the city while steadily reducing altitude, the shinobi got a good look at what had to be the result of enemy action. There were several large fires in different districts, but by the looks of it the larger part of the city was still untouched. Frantic but organized firefighting efforts were ongoing. Soldiers were busy creating firebreaks. Several bucket chains had formed. All in all the fires would probably be brought under control in the next few hours, although some were rather close to the daimyo's palace. As bad as the fire was, it wasn't the worst thing for their mission. The dome of yellow light on the palace grounds was far more ominous. The trails of smoke covering the area made it difficult to see, but the palace seemed to be damaged, too.

Suddenly a voice echoed in Naruto's head. "This is Asuma Sarutobi. It seems our worries were well-founded. I know the situation looks bad, but keep calm. Squad Two will land first. Our sensors have detected Councilor Utatane's chakra signature outside the dome and will use her as a beacon. As soon as the landing zone is secured Squad One and Three will follow. Squads Four and Six, you are to assist the firefighting efforts. Keep the flames away from the palace at any cost. Squad Five, follow your leader; he already has his orders. Squads Seven to Twelve will remain in the air until we have a better grip on the situation."

'He's addressing us by Yamanaka telepathy.' Naruto realized. That answered the question why the woman was here. It was Naruto first encounter with that specific part of a Yamanaka's skill spectrum, but of course he knew about it in the abstract. Even aside from it being part of general knowledge Ino had given them a reasonable amount of details on any Yamanaka clan techniques they were likely to encounter. Telepathic battlefield communication was a useful utility skill, but Ino had not expected to really need it anytime soon. It was mainly used for coordination when several teams worked together or on outright military expeditions, not when there were only three or four people like on the usual elite genin teams. A useful skill to have even then, sure, but not critical. Ino had concentrated on learning other fields that she considered to be of greater immediate usefulness.

Naruto watched in silence while the formation broke up. The swallows had agreed to follow the orders of the individual squad leaders for the time being, but they were purely for transport anyway. Most of the combat-capable swallows had not yet recovered from the injuries sustained during the invasion of Konoha. Some of them might even be out of action for several months. There had been a not inconsiderable number of deaths, too.

The leading swallow spiraled downwards towards the palace until it was obscured by a cloud of smoke. It didn't take long before the Yamanaka woman nodded towards Asuma.

"Set us down, please. After that return to the air. We will call you if we need you again." Asuma commanded the swallow. He gave more detailed directions the lower they got.

Naruto closed his eyes when they entered the cloud of smoke and tried to breathe shallowly. It still stung in his lungs. Fortunately they soon left it behind. The air smelled of smoke, but it wasn't a dense cloud. Naruto could now spot their likely destination. It looked to be a small corner of a far larger park belonging to the palace, but most of it was cut off by the opaque yellow barrier. The thing seemed to cut right through buildings.

Some members of Squad Two had formed a perimeter around their swallow. Others were out of sight, apparently inside the surrounding buildings.

The first shinobi began jumping off as soon as the distance to the ground became manageable. Naruto waited until they had landed before he left his seat. Aside from keeping to Asuma's side he had no specific orders. The moment all of the shinobi had dismounted the swallow took off again, followed by the second one. They probably didn't want to stay in this vulnerable position any longer than strictly necessary.

Koharu Utatane was waiting under a roof nearby. The councilor looked worse for wear, but no obvious injuries were apparent. She seemed very worried but somewhat relieved at their arrival. Asuma immediately approached her. Shino and another shinobi went to examine the barrier and began discussing something in hushed tones. Several small groups left towards other areas of the palace. The third squad arrived a moment later.

Naruto listened in on Asuma and Koharu while keeping to the background, Masuya Yamanaka at his side. The woman seemed intent on ignoring him, occasionally closing her eyes and forming hand seals. She probably contacted the other squads during these moments. He wondered idly why there didn't seem to be more of a sense of urgency. Then again, Asuma had probably already spoken telepathically with Koharu and given orders to the other members of their group.

"… received information about an impending attack by remnants of the Village hidden in the Woods supported by Kumo. We came here as quickly as possible."

Koharu nodded wearily. "I'm glad you are here. The information was correct, but it might be too late already. The Prajna Group took us head on and they were only one of the splinter groups that formed after their village's destruction. If my delegation had not been here they would have overwhelmed the normal shinobi guard. We killed most of them and drove the rest off, but it was a very close thing. There might be survivors around. I'm sure they were only part of the attacking forces. The daimyo and his family tried to escape through the garden while we stalled the attackers. Then this barrier cut them off. I don't think they had enough time to escape."

"I know about the secret exit and sent a squad to the other end. Can we break through with pure force or circumvent the barrier?"

Koharu shook her head. "We tried that. The barrier extends underground and took an A-rank jutsu from me without problems. Most of the forces with me are low on chakra and aren't frontline fighters anyway."

"The barrier's resilience isn't surprising." the shinobi who had examined the barrier cut in. "That thing is an advanced space-time barrier. It holds more chakra than what should be possible. It would take more chakra than our entire group has to match it. Even then it would kill everyone inside if we tried to breach it with brute force. There is some trick involved. Fascinating, really. I can bring it down safely on my own, but that will take up to half an hour."

Asuma frowned. "That is too late."

"We can try to make a hole. Young Shino is already setting things up."

"Do it."

Naruto watched while they got ready. It didn't take more than half a minute of hurried preparations until Shino and the unknown barrier specialist began making hand seals. Naruto could actually feel the spike of chakra they drove into the barrier when they finished. That was saying something considering that Naruto wasn't especially good at sensing chakra, especially with the barrier outshining everything else.

'Shino must have almost emptied his reserves.' he mused.

For a second nothing seemed to happen, but then the formerly sharply defined surface of the barrier rippled. A moment later a roughly man-sized section caved inwards, revealing a roiling mass of shapeless chakra. It was yellow, too.

The man sagged to the ground, immediately exhausted. Shino looked to be in the same condition. "This is all we can do. We can't bring the barrier down immediately, but the hole will stay open. It should be safe to enter, but I have no idea if it is enough to break through."

After a short exchange of glances one of the kunoichi entered. Three seconds later the barrier spat her back out, unharmed. She seemed disoriented for a moment but gathered her wits quickly. "There is no getting through, Sarutobi-sama. The barrier's chakra pushed me out. It's like walking against the current of a river. I tried setting my own chakra against it, but it wasn't enough."

"Damnation." Asuma cursed. "Is there anything more we can do?"

The barrier specialist made a helpless gesture. "I am sorry, Sarutobi-sama. There is nothing more I can do aside from bringing the barrier down the slow way. I really hoped this would work."

"What about the Kyuubi's power?" Koharu suddenly asked, her eyes on Naruto.

The idea had obviously not occurred to the barrier specialist. "That might work." he said after a moment of thought and a sidelong glance at Naruto. "A tailed beast has nearly limitless and very potent chakra. It might counteract the barrier's pressure. I don't know enough about jinchuuriki and the barrier to say for sure."

Shino adjusted his glasses. "Naruto should be able to simply walk through the barrier. The corrosive effect of the Kyuubi's chakra should be enough to overwhelm anything else and enable him to break through to the other side. I have read reports of such interactions between jinchuuriki and barriers in the archives of my clan. Beware, my kikaichu report the barrier is bigger on the inside than on the outside."

"He will be on his own in there, probably going against several teams of enemy shinobi." Masuya remarked without looking at him.

Asuma was silent for a few seconds, exchanging a long look with Koharu. Then he turned to Naruto, his face a mask of utter seriousness. "We have to keep the daimyo alive at any cost or the Land of Fire will descend into chaos. We simply cannot let that happen, not with Konoha's situation as it is. This seems to be our best bet. Naruto, do everything in your power to keep the daimyo and his family safe. If worst comes to worst, prioritize the daimyo and his heir over everything else." Including your own survival went unsaid, but the meaning was clear.

'Crap.'

This had all the markings of a suicide mission. Considering the importance of the daimyo for keeping the Land of Fire stable, the tacit approval of one of the village's councilors and Asuma's position of authority a loyal shinobi of Konoha wouldn't even think of refusing… which unfortunately meant that Naruto had to act the same. Under the circumstances he saw no way out of this.

"Of course, Asuma-sensei. Please, give me some space."

Concentrating hard, Naruto called up the Kyuubi's chakra. As always it felt as if liquid fire was burning his body from the inside when the usual trickle swelled to a flood. Rage at everyone and everything filled him while a red haze partially obscured his vision. A moment later a cloak of malevolent red chakra formed around him. Soon the feeling of incredible power shoved the pain into the background, ever present but no longer really hampering him. The ground beneath him sizzled slightly as the grass withered under the demonic aura. His body transformed, growing more feral as two tails rose behind him.

Naruto took a moment to make sure of his control. From the corner of his eyes he noticed that Masuya was looking away, her trembling hands balled into fists. Some of the other shinobi showed similar reactions.

'Probably bad memories from the Kyuubi attack. This is the first time I used the Kyuubi's power with shinobi other than my teammates around.'

Naruto nodded towards Asuma. "I'm ready." It came out more like an oddly rumbling growl. The fangs his teeth had turned into made speech somewhat difficult.

Asuma returned the nod. "Then go. Good luck."

Taking one last breath, Naruto entered the hole. In the next moment yellow energy engulfed him, surging against his demonic chakra cloak. After a few moments of interaction it disintegrated into nothing, but there was more than enough to fill any gaps created in that way. Movement was difficult. It was like wading through a swamp that surrounded him on all sides. A glance back showed him the entry, but it was soon obscured by swirls of yellow chakra. The interior of the barrier seemed to stretch on and on. Slowly the light shifted away from yellow, but that wasn't especially helpful. All Naruto could see were swirling colors in all shades of the rainbow. Even the ground wasn't solid.

'This is just strange. I only hope Shino and that other guy knew what they were talking about.'

Naruto thought he was still moving in his original direction, but he had no way to be sure. There were just no points of reference anywhere. Even his sense of time felt somehow screwed up.

It gave him the time to consider his next steps, although the rage clouding his mind made that difficult. He was going to fight against a force of a dozen shinobi, possibly more. The attack on the daimyo seemed well planned. It was virtually certain that there were several jonin-level combatants awaiting him. Even channeling the power of the Kyuubi he was probably fucked. Things weren't made easier by his task of protecting four civilians.

'At least I know their faces from when Shikamaru's dad used a henge during the briefing.'

Naruto seriously considered simply sittings things out inside the barrier. Nobody would be the wiser. He could always say he didn't find a way through the barrier. His reputation would probably take a hit and the repercussions for Konoha might be nearly catastrophic in the long term, but it wasn't as if his personal survival, his parents or any of his friends was at stake. He was perfectly willing to risk his life for Konoha in the normal line of duty (an inevitability considering the dangers of being a shinobi), but outright suicide like this was not something he would normally consider. Heck, the daimyo might be dead by now.

His intrinsic loyalty to Konoha was effectively zero. There was no positive emotional connection to the village. He didn't outright hate Konoha, but his less than stellar treatment during his childhood had left him with a pretty thorough dislike. Acting loyal and ensuring the village's continued existence was a matter of practicalities, nothing more. Well, there was some indirect loyalty due to his friends and a few other people, but that was all. Failing here wouldn't immediately hurt them. There would be ways to deal with the consequences.

On the other hand, Naruto didn't know what the collapse of the barrier would do to him if he remained inside. He had only a very basic theoretic understanding of barrier jutsu. Saving the Fire Daimyo would be enormously useful, too. If the man became beholden to him it would open all sorts of interesting possibilities for the future. Besides, if the daimyo died the Land of Fire would descend into a new succession war or break apart. Naruto didn't consider himself especially moral, but preventing such an event would save many innocent lives.

'What to do, what to do?'

An indeterminate amount of time passed by until Naruto came to a decision. It was best to see this as an opportunity, not a suicide mission. The danger was immense, but so was the possible reward.

That left the question of how to go about things. The tactical situation Naruto faced was pretty much as bad as it could get. He was going up solo against superior forces without backup. At least he didn't think many of the daimyo's guards would be left by now. Much depended on the composition of the enemy forces. Unfortunately he had no way of learning that before he faced them. The Kyuubi cloak made him a beacon of chakra, ensuring that he would be noticed immediately. Another problem was that while he used the Kyuubi's power he lost access to his normal jutsu. Such a high amount of demonic chakra simply didn't mix with normal human techniques; it was far too potent and alien. That meant he could pretty much only fight head-on. He could drop the cloak and proceed stealthily, but the enemy would be aware of his presence once he left the barrier.

Naruto was still mulling over tactics when the swirling colors changed again to yellow light. A short time later the yellow in front of him slowly faded and gave way to an image of the palace grounds inside the barrier: A large park surrounded by various buildings. The dense vegetation and multiple buildings made spotting details rather problematic, but several fires and other signs of destruction indicated a hard-fought battle. Another problem was that his viewpoint seemed to be over a dozen meters in the air and far from the point where he should have entered the park normally.

Before Naruto could consider the implications a battle taking place drew his attention. Several people were fighting a lone woman. Her formerly rich clothing was in tatters and she frantically dodged while giving ground, the multiple attacks leaving her no opportunity to fight back. For now the attackers mainly limited themselves to thrown weapons.

'Perhaps she's one of the disguised kunoichi of the daimyo's guard?'

Redoubling his efforts, Naruto tried to break through the barrier, but he didn't seem to make any progress. He might not be moving at all for the park remained as distant as before. The battle moved towards his position, though.

Suddenly the woman's head was thrown back when one projectile found its target in her forehead and Naruto got a good look at her face for the first time. It was the daimyo's second wife, Kikuko.

'Damn it!'

Just when the woman hit the ground Naruto encountered some form of resistance. It felt like some sort of flexible membrane. Apparently he had finally reached the end of the barrier. He immediately began clawing at it.

One of the attackers approached the still body of the woman. Then there was a blur of movement. A moment later the figure disintegrated into pieces, revealing it to be an earth clone. The daimyo's wife had sprung to her feet and ran at the nearest enemy.

'Wait, what?'

That didn't make sense. The daimyo was known as a minor chakra user, but to Naruto's knowledge neither of his wives had any sort of chakra-related abilities. The speed she was now showing was at least lower jonin-level, considerably faster than what Naruto could manage in his natural state.

The woman's charge was cut short when an earthen fist emerged from the ground and hit her with bone-crushing force. He could hear no sounds, but he could easily imagine the wet snapping noise that would accompany it.

What Naruto didn't expect was the woman suddenly righting herself, performing a somersault in mid-air and landing on her feet… only for two slabs of ground to rise and crush her between them. Then they exploded in a cloud of dust and debris, partially obscuring Naruto's vision.

When he could see again one of the attackers was on the ground in a puddle of blood, puncture wounds riddling his body. A second man was fighting Kikuko at close range.

'How is she still alive after that?'

Naruto squinted. Something about Kikuko's hands was wrong. Then she performed a swipe. The attacker raised both his metal-clad arms for a block. He lost them along with his head.

'Is she using wind chakra flow?'

The effect certainly resembled what Naruto could achieve with his knives, but it didn't make sense. These displayed skilled were rare. They should know if one of the daimyo's wives was such a powerful chakra user.

Meanwhile, the combat had moved on. This time Naruto had a clear view. Kikuko's fingers transformed into blades. Then they elongated rapidly. They were about to skewer another attacker when a fiery inferno engulfed the woman.

When the fire went out Kikuko was still standing. Most of her body was a charred ruin, blackened bone clearly visible. Then red lightning crept along her limbs and her flesh regrew. Before she was fully healed another column of fire ignited around her.

'What the hell is going on here? This level of regeneration is simply unreal. Some medic-nin can manage battle-regeneration, but this is ridiculous. Did she replace the real Kikuko?'

Most of the attackers were now directly beneath him with their backs turned. Fortunately none of them looked up. He had no idea if they could spot him in the current situation, but he was glad it wasn't put to the test. The distance was low enough to make out more details.

Naruto couldn't identify most of them, but he was pretty sure an old man with a peg leg and a drooping mustache was the rather infamous Tadashi 'Silver Blade', a kenjutsu master who kept a multitude of blades sealed in tattoos all over his body. A black-haired man was steadily making hand seals to create the unending stream of fire jutsu. His appearance and apparent skill made his identity clear. He had been nicknamed the 'Flame Horse' in the stories, although his birth name was Shinichiro. Both were famous jonin originating from the destroyed Village hidden in the Woods. The others (a short blond man, a man in heavy armor, a blond kunoichi with many scrolls, kunai and other instruments of ranged battle, two other people he couldn't see clearly) he had no idea about, but it was a sure bet they shared the same origin. Naruto had never paid special attention to that destroyed minor village; he just kept up on the general gossip and bounties of famous shinobi.

'They probably want to go out with a bang by killing the daimyo and his family. They Land of Fire did annex their country a few years ago after the shinobi village was conveniently destroyed by 'natural causes'. The survivors either joined other villages or were hounded by bounty hunters.'

Continuing his struggles to break through, Naruto wondered how Kikuko could stand against this unrelenting assault. Each time the fire abated he could see her still standing and regenerating. Even his Kyuubi-boosted regeneration wouldn't be able to keep up with something like that. Or where the man found so much chakra to keep going; those fire jutsu looked rather chakra-intensive. Then the fire cut off, revealing a blackened Kikuko kneeling on the ground.

Unexpectedly Naruto's head pierced the barrier and he could hear things, just in time to hear Shinichiro speaking. "Looks likes I can get you on your knees after all. You told me I couldn't kill you, but I like to try and prove you wrong!" Once again fire engulfed the woman. "So let's see. How many times is it going to take?"

Once again the woman was enveloped in flames. This time Naruto heard the agonized screaming. He redoubled his efforts to free his entire body, but it seemed to make hardly any difference.

When the fires went out Kikuko fell backwards against a chunk of debris. This time there was none of the red lightning that apparently signified major regeneration taking place. Her only partially healed body was visibly disintegrating into dust. "You killed me. I hate losing, but there are worse ways to die than at the hands of a man like you. I love how cold and focused your eyes are. I look forward to the day when those eyes will be wide with agony. It's coming… it's coming…"

Naruto realized Kikuko was looking directly at him. Then her eyes, skin and flesh dissolved. Hair thinned and disappeared into nothingness, leaving only a skull and bones lying on the ground.

'Damn it. I'm too late.'

One of his charges was already dead. He had to hurry if he wanted to salvage anything. Thankfully none of the attackers had spotted him yet and he could feel the barrier yielding slowly. A frontal assault from surprise with his full powers should bring the numbers down enough for him to deal with the rest of the group without undue danger. Suddenly his arms came free, followed by his legs a moment later. In the next second he was falling towards the ignorant shinobi, chakra arms emerging from his cloak to shred them limb from limb.

Then things went wrong. Shinichiro turned towards him, hands already making seals. Naruto immediately reevaluated the timing and changed tactics.

In the end it came down to a split-second. Naruto had a chakra arm emerge sideways and clamp onto a nearby building, pulling him away while the shinobi below successfully dodged his attacking arms. At the same moment a dragon-shaped inferno leaped from Shinichiro's hands towards him.

Strangely Naruto barely felt any pain when half of his field of vision went dark and he lost control over his left arm. Then he collided with the building, bringing it down on top of him. It took him a moment to realize that he was actually on fire.

'If that jutsu had hit fully I would have been reduced to ash. The cloak protected me.' Naruto absentmindedly thought while chakra arms began to dig him out of the rubble.

Then the searing pain hit his consciousness and he gritted his teeth. For a moment his control over the Kyuubi's power threatened to slip, but he managed to hold on. The pain increased his rage, making it difficult not to draw more chakra. He would quickly lose control if he accidentally drew three tails' worth. Considering that he would inadvertently draw more chakra and trying to use five tails would knock him out of Kyuubi mode that was bad, worse than letting the cloak dissipate.

A quick glance showed Naruto that the chakra cloak had extinguished the fire. His left arm had been reduced to a charred husk with most of the flesh burned away, the shuriken he kept in an arm holster and three kunai only deformed hot chunks of metal sticking in the blackened flesh. Most of the clothing on his left side was severely singed and the left side of his face consisted only of pain.

Bubbling, chakra-filled blood raced down his arm, regenerating what he had lost and pushing the red-hot pieces of metal out of his flesh. The feeling was just weird, not considering the pain. Not ten heartbeats later the vision in his left eye returned, even if it was still blurry.

Instead of emerging from the ruins of the building Naruto wrapped as many chakra arms as he could create around himself in a tight spiral. Then he threw them outwards, adding a chakra-infused roar to increase the damage. The ruined building came apart in a storm of debris, hopefully forcing the enemies to dodge and giving him a precious moment to act unimpeded.

Naruto immediately jumped into a random direction, just in time to avoid being crushed by a wave of earth that must have been building up while he was trapped inside. With the walls gone he could see his enemies again, but they could see him too.

Picking the nearest target, Naruto wasted no time in attacking. The short blond man's eyes widened, but he still managed to perform a jutsu. The earth wall that sprung up from the ground proved insufficient to stop Naruto, but it slowed him down enough for Tadashi to close the distance.

The old man moved with a speed belying his age, his silvery blades cutting apart the chakra arms threatening the blond man. In the next moment a hail of missiles from the blond kunoichi hit Naruto. Some were deflected by his cloak and chakra arms, but more than half slipped through his defenses. Naruto felt his body pierced in multiple locations… all of them vital under normal circumstances. He immediately changed his trajectory, trying to escape the bombardment. Unfortunately the kunoichi kept her missiles on target without apparent effort, unsealing new weapons as she went.

'Crap, she is what Tenten might be with a decade of experience.'

Naruto was about to reposition himself when he noticed something red approaching from the corner of his eyes. He had barely time to close his eyes before an explosion threw him away and hungry flames licked at his face.

Just when Naruto hit the ground a hail of sharp stone projectiles originating from the armored man peppered his body, making him scream in pain. The enemies immediately capitalized on the opening and Naruto was hit with another fireball. A kunai scraped across his face, gouging his good eye out. With an effort of will he used his chakra arms to catapult himself backwards into another building, giving him a moment of reprieve.

'Fire user, two earth users, mid-range specialist, close combat fighter, two unknowns working flawlessly together. I'm losing here. Badly.'

Naruto broke through another wall, putting more distance between him and his enemies. The weapons in his flesh were pushed out while he healed and his vision returned. Never before had he needed to rely on his boosted regeneration to this degree. The undead Jashinists several months ago had been nearly helpless against his power. During the invasion he had only performed a long-range attack with the Kyuubi's chakra, not fought in the thick of things. All other threats he had been able to handle with his own power.

A blast from an exploding tag cut his introspection short. Taking a shortcut through a wooden shed gave him another breather, the building erupting in flames behind him. A way to the side was cut off by an earth construct.

'I'm being herded towards the barrier.' Naruto realized when he was hit by several missiles before he could dive behind another building.

That didn't leave him many options. Once backed up against the barrier he wouldn't be able to dodge the attacks any longer. Despite his boosted regeneration he would die if he took enough damage at once. Or perhaps damage to his brain would be enough. It wasn't something he wanted to test. Despite his efforts at dodging he already received damage faster than he could heal it, making a direct confrontation without concentrating on dodging a losing proposition. Outlasting the enemies' chakra seemed impossible, especially considering that he couldn't maintain Kyuubi mode indefinitely. At some point the corrosive effect would increasingly outweigh the regeneration. Then he would either die from overuse or be forced to drop the cloak and die to the enemy attacks. The Kyuubi's power was the only thing that had allowed him to survive this long. He didn't know how long he had left, but he felt the end drawing closer.

'I have to finish this quickly.' he thought while formulating a plan. If this didn't work he would have to call for direct assistance by his parents, something he was hesitant to do for a variety of reasons, his ignorance about their status not the least among them. He wasn't sure if they could help him currently. Another reason was that he wasn't sure he could manage it while being under attack and holding up the Kyuubi cloak.

Naruto opened the floodgates a little wider. Immediately the regeneration increased, the rage intensified and the chakra cloak grew more solid, the demonic energy bubbling like a liquid. Then he felt the beginnings of a third tail emerging and clamped down hard, keeping it from fully forming. This was a dance on the razor's edge. One mistake and he would lose control.

Wasting no time, Naruto emptied his weapon pouches. Only a part of his supplies had survived to this point, but it was still enough for his purpose. Any knife, kunai and shuriken he could find were suspended in his chakra cloak. Unfortunately his hands had already transformed too far into claws and lost the ability to handle tools and weapons with the necessary precision.

Coming to a sudden stop, Naruto used his chakra claws to destroy as much of his surroundings as possible. It made him into a sitting target as several projectiles proved, but it also removed most of the available cover. As soon as he spotted the two shinobi with unknown skills he launched all his weapons with a swipe of a chakra claw. Then he ran towards the fire user while sending chakra claws at the armored earth user. A gurgling scream of pain indicated that his hail of weapons had drawn blood.

As expected Naruto's attack run was intercepted by a fireball. His skin cracked and blistered under the heat, but this time the flames didn't penetrate the reinforced cloak. The second earth user erected a spiky barrier between Naruto and the fire user, but that was fine, too. From the corner of his eye he saw that the swordsman had moved to prevent his chakra claws from reaching the earth user.

'Just as planned.'

Instead of continuing the assault Naruto dug the chakra claws into the ground and used them to reel himself in, abruptly changing his trajectory. Using this much demonic power markedly loosened the hold the normal rules of the world had on him. Things like conservation of momentum affected him less than they should.

The swordsman Tadashi was caught flatfooted by the development, but he still raised his blades in defense. Naruto gasped in pain as cold steel penetrated his cloak, flesh and heart, but his purpose had been achieved. He was close enough that Tadashi couldn't dodge properly. Then a new series of chakra claws closed around his victim.

To his credit Tadashi managed to dodge most of them. Unfortunately for him it was not enough. Three claws found their target, digging deep into the swordsman's body. The flesh in contact with the demonic chakra immediately mortified. Tadashi screamed in agony as his body was burned by the demonic blight.

Then the thing happened that was the reason why tattooing storage seals onto a living body was usually considered a suicidally stupid idea: The combination of physical damage and foreign chakra caused the seals to malfunction and release their deformed contents in a completely uncontrolled fashion. Tadashi instantly transformed from a living albeit severely injured human being into dead flesh fused with twisted metal.

'Heh, I guess his body is now made of blades. One jonin down.'

The joy was short-lived. Before Naruto could disengage properly a veritable storm of white-hot fire erupted around him. He had been staying still for too long. This time the chakra cloak proved barely any protection. His vision cut out almost immediately. His hair caught fire and he felt his flesh sloughing off, body fat liquefying under the intense heat.

'The pain the pain the pain the pain…'

Naruto did the only thing he could: He screamed in agony.

The firestorm ceased abruptly as his pain and rage manifested themselves as a wave of blood-red winds, blowing everything away as the third tail emerged fully. The sword still lodged in his heart simply shattered, the pieces launched outwards with the force of arrows. Naruto couldn't see, but he felt the enemies' emotions. Six sources, one of them dying.

KILL! MAIM! DESTROY!

Unfathomable rage held Naruto in its grip. They had hurt him. They would suffer.

His tails speared out at unbelievable speed. The second unknown shinobi had only a brief instant to scream before he was ripped apart. Chakra arms attacked the other five. The dying one was immediately crushed, but the others managed to dodge.

The sudden, unexpected return of his vision shook Naruto out of his pain-induced rage for a moment.

'Have to regain control… Have to regain control… Have to regain control…'

He couldn't afford to lose control. It might save him for the moment, but there would be more enemies than this group. Forcing back the mindless rage with an effort of will, Naruto managed to restrain the flow of demonic chakra. The chakra arms stopped and dispersed. A moment later the third tail receded.

Unfortunately Naruto's inward focus gave his enemies time to recover. A suddenly emerging giant earthen fist caved in his chest and sent him flying. Trying to suck in air and not being able to breathe felt terrible. In a way it was worse than the pierced heart. With a sudden jerk Naruto's bones righted themselves as his regeneration did its work.

Still in the air, Naruto took note of the position of the enemy. The fire user and the kunoichi were out of sight. The short earth user had attacked him, but the armored one was just pulling himself together, his armor sporting deep gouges. Naruto extended a chakra arm, latching on the foundations of a nearby ruined building. Swinging around, he set himself on a collision course with the armored earth user.

Apparently the man (or was it a woman?) was still dazed from the earlier eruption of power and made no effort to get out of the way. Whatever reason Naruto's enemy had for wearing such uncharacteristically heavy armor, the metal proved to be of absolutely no hindrance to his chakra-wreathed fingers-turned-claws.

"Oh." The man said in a surprised, very young-sounding voice, looking down at the arms sticking in his body. Then Naruto pulled with all his strength and the figure came apart in shreds of metal, flesh and blood.

"BROTHER!"

Naruto turned towards the voice. He barely managed to dodge a sharp stone blade that would have taken his head off.

"You killed him!" the short blond shinobi yelled, pressing his heedless attack. Somehow he had created a stone sleeve with a blade around his right arm. "You killed my brother, Konoha scum!"

"I certainly hope so. I generally don't stick my claws in other people's bodies to improve their health." Naruto growled in answer, hoping to provoke the man further.

The taunt had the intended effect: The man attacked with an incoherent scream of rage. It was almost painfully easy to make him one head shorter with a swipe of his chakra-covered claws.

'Two left.'

Naruto had barely finished the thought before a series of small fireballs impacted on him, perforating his body in several places. Coughing wetly, he managed to dive out of the way to avoid a second barrage. Then he was set on fire. Again.

Still burning, Naruto used a chakra arm to throw some debris in the probable direction of his enemy. He didn't know if he hit anything, but for a few seconds no other jutsu hit him. It was enough for his cloak to extinguish the fire and for him to find cover behind a tree trunk some distance from his original position. He needed to heal up before he attacked again.

Suddenly a bout of weakness hit. Then the demonic rage-fuelled feeling of strength kicked back in. Naruto was confused for a moment before he realized what was happening. The regeneration was slowing down and the demonic chakra was beginning to do semi-permanent damage to his body. He was hitting his limit.

'I have to change tactics. I can no longer rely on the boosted regeneration to see me through. At least most enemies are dead.'

Naruto was still severely wounded, but there was no time to spare. He reduced his draw on the Kyuubi's chakra to the bare minimum, just a little bit above the normal trickle, dispelling the cloak in the process. It would keep him going despite his injuries, but hopefully not interfere with his ability to use jutsu.

'Earth Release: Underground Move'

The technique was far less stable than what Naruto would have wished for. Fortunately it still fulfilled its purpose and Naruto sank into the ground, moving away from his position before emerging again in the cover of a half-destroyed wall.

When Naruto leant against it for support he had to suppress a gasp of pain. Most of his skin was still badly burned and the deep holes in his body weren't making things easier. In fact, he was in steady danger of losing consciousness due to shock, blood loss or pain. He would have to use more of the Kyuubi's power again to heal up as soon as possible, but that would make stealth impossible.

'Okay, first things first. Summoning Technique'

Naruto felt the technique form correctly, but then it simply collapsed without a swallow appearing. Apparently the surrounding barrier interfered with summoning techniques. He had feared the possibility, but it had been worth the try.

'Calling help would have made this much easier. I'm really on my own.'

Ever so carefully Naruto peered through a gap in the broken masonry, searching the flame-lit surroundings for the remaining enemies. The stump he had originally been hiding behind had been incinerated. The fire user was standing in full view, his left side drenched in blood. Apparently his earlier roar or the chakra claws had done more damage than he had thought and scored a lucky hit. The blond kunoichi was still nowhere in sight.

It was an obvious trap. No shinobi of the fire user's skill would remain in the open under these circumstances. Since Naruto felt no genjutsu affecting him that was in all likelihood a clone or illusionary technique.

Scanning the area with even more care, Naruto discovered Shinichiro hiding behind a low wall. It was actually rather close to his position. He wasn't quite in the man's back, but the angle was advantageous enough that he wouldn't see an attack coming in time. Something still felt wrong, although Naruto couldn't tell what exactly it was at first.

Then realization hit. At this range he should hear the man's breathing. His hearing was good enough for that. Closing his eyes, Naruto concentrated on what his ears told him. All the crackling fires and occasional noisy settling of debris made the task very difficult. There were too many possible hiding places, too.

'Something is over there, a sound that doesn't belong.'

It was very faint and he couldn't make out details, but it was a hint. Once again Naruto used the Underground Move technique to change his position to one with a better view. His hunch proved correct and he spotted the real Shinichiro. The fire user was indeed injured, but far less severely than the bunshin had led him to believe. The blond kunoichi was there, too, at a distance where she could easily come to the man's support, but far enough away that an attack to hit them simultaneously would be impossible. They were exchanging signals in a sign language. Judging from the body language the man was ordering the woman to leave, but she objected.

'I can't allow her to get away and summon reinforcements or warn others. The fire user has to die first, though. He is the most dangerous.'

The problem was how to go about it. Getting the drop on them was impossible due to their positioning. One of them would see him coming and warn the other. Even Kyuubi-cloaked Naruto couldn't take the fire-user head-on and the ramp-up would be noticed anyway. Sneaking up underground was risky at best; he was pretty sure they would feel the chakra expenditure before he got close enough. All his equipment had been destroyed; the fire had left him nothing, not even clothing. Lastly, he doubted he could hit the broad side of a barn with one of his mid-range techniques at the moment. The heightened level of Kyuubi-chakra in his system made his techniques very unstable and the injuries reduced his natural aim to practically nothing. Every little movement hurt. No, he would have to get close and personal. Two little used techniques of his arsenal would give him a shot at victory.

Concentrating, he readied himself for a desperate dash. The timing would be critical. Then he formed the single hand seal necessary for the technique and began molding chakra.

Naruto had not used this technique for years despite its unquestionable usefulness. He wasn't even supposed to know of its existence due to its banned nature. The circumstances made it an ideal choice, although his concentration was too frayed to risk targeting more than one enemy. It wasn't as if he planned to leave any survivors who could go tattling; trying to take one of the enemies prisoner was far too dangerous under the circumstances.

'Bringer of Darkness'

The reaction was immediate. "My eyes! I can't see! Fumiko, cover me!"

Naruto was already running, trying to keep the man between him and the now identified Fumiko while he formed the hand seals for his second jutsu.

"He's coming at you! To your right! Sixty degrees!"

Despite his blindness Shinichiro was still dangerous. He turned in Naruto's direction and let loose another of these massive fire jutsu. This one seemed to be an area technique that burned everything in a cone. Fortunately for Naruto the aim was slightly off, enabling him to dive under it. He felt new burn wounds erupting on his back, dangerous and painful, but not immediately incapacitating. Lurching to his feet, Naruto continued his charge.

"He's still there! Get out of the way!"

The fire user threw himself to the side. Naruto raised his arm to cover his head. Two throwing knives, a kunai and at least five senbon hit him. New pain shot through his body. The only reason he didn't collapse was the demonic chakra still coursing through his body. It kept him going despite all injuries. Fortunately the kunoichi couldn't hit his legs; there were too many obstacles obscuring his lower body.

The pain was still enough to strain his concentration and the Bringer of Darkness technique broke, but it had fulfilled its purpose in allowing him to get close without being incinerated.

Then he was upon his enemy. The man raised his arms in a deflecting motion, already setting up a counter attack. Another knife penetrated Naruto's shoulder and scraped across the bone just when he made contact and completed his second technique.

'Lightning Release: Shocking Grasp'

Under normal circumstances the technique was used to incapacitate people. With enough chakra it could even kill. Naruto's chakra control was not the best under the circumstances, meaning he simply used as much as the technique would take.

Shinichiro's mouth opened in a silent scream, bright actinic light shining from it while the jutsu wreaked destruction within. Arcs of lightning broke through the man's skin, changing to a bloody red when Naruto drew again upon the Kyuubi's chakra.

Once again the Kyuubi cloak flared to life around him and the human technique fizzled out. A tail rose, soon joined by the second. After a second he rose from the ground, the corpse of Shinichiro in one hand. A short swipe with a chakra claw made absolutely sure of the man's death by disemboweling him. Then Naruto turned to his sole remaining enemy.

Fumiko simply stood there wide-eyed, tears running down her cheeks. When Naruto took the first step towards her she woke from her stupor. "YOU BASTARD!"

A hail of weapons followed, but the attacks lacked finesse. Naruto simply interposed several chakra arms between himself and the woman. Exploding tags detonated and chakra-charged projectiles ripped into his cloak, but now that he could concentrate on a single enemy the injuries he suffered were not enough to stop him. For all her skill the woman had the wrong skill set to defeat him on her own while he drew on the Kyuubi's power.

"Die! Die! Die! Why won't you die, monster?" she shouted while she jumped backwards, trying to put distance between herself and the approaching Naruto. She was fast, but as he was now Naruto was faster.

Finally Naruto closed the distance enough to land a solid hit with a chakra arm. Fumiko didn't even try to dodge. She simply stopped moving when she realized what was happening, still crying. The unnatural limb easily pierced the woman's chest, closing around her heart. A yank and it was over.

Naruto panted heavily. A glance to his surroundings showed him that he had ended up where everything had begun: the site of the daimyo's wife's death. There were no other enemies in sight, but he could hear fighting in the distance.

He reduced the chakra draw to one tail, making it easier for him to control while still keeping the regeneration going. It was now markedly slower than at the beginning of the battle. His burns still had not healed completely and there were still pits in his flesh where the small fireballs had pierced him.

Then Naruto collapsed, curled into a ball and started whimpering. Too much. It was simply too much. Too much pain. Too much everything.

After a few seconds Naruto got himself under control. Employing a mental exercise he locked everything away, clearing his mind. He would deal with it later. There was still a battle to fight and people to rescue.

'I need to get clothing and equipment. Time to loot the bodies, I suppose.' he thought when he stood up. He really needed new pants. Regeneration was well and good, but it didn't do anything for his wardrobe or the lack thereof.

The feeling of being watched sent a spike of adrenaline through his body. Looking around wildly, Naruto tried to pinpoint the origin of the feeling. A pair of luminescent green eyes was watching from the darkness of a building.

Naruto was about to send a chakra arm at the eyes when the creature emerged. It was grey and rather large.

'A cat? Still, better to make sure it isn't some kind of disguised threat.'

As if reading his mind the cat immediately turned around and ran away, disappearing beneath the rubble. Naruto sighed. He didn't have the time to track it down. He could only hope it was what it appeared to be.

Suddenly he frowned and turned towards Kikuko's remains. There was something still there. Naruto was reminded of the Ichibi or of his mother's demonic power, but it was weak, so very, very weak, a presence barely distinguishable from the background.

When Naruto approached he noticed that the bones were still in the process of decomposing. There was just a glint of red on the collarbone, barely visible in the darkness and against the red light of his chakra cloak.

'Is something left of her?'

One thing was clear; the woman had not been human. Even the best regeneration technique couldn't keep up with that amount of raw damage. Heck, she had displayed better regeneration than two tails of Kyuubi chakra granted him. From how her leftover presence felt she was probably some sort of demon. The most important question was if she had replaced the daimyo's wife at some point or if she was the wife. Or if the other members of the Land of Fire's ruling family had been replaced, too. Naruto needed that answer. If they had been replaced recently he might as well not bother with getting into more fights for their sake.

'Now, how can I get these answers? Demons and spirits are only safely dead when no trace of their presence remains. It should be able to regenerate even from this in light of its displayed capability. If the demon lacks energy for regeneration I have to give it that energy.'

Demons usually fed on some combination of souls, chakra, blood or emotion. Naruto had no way to feed the demon souls nor did he want to. His chakra would probably do more harm than good considering how saturated with the Kyuubi's power it was. It was unlikely for the two different brands of demonic energy to be easily compatible. The same was true of his blood. Naruto doubted the demon was in a position to devour any emotions.

Then he thought of something. One of his chakra hands was still holding the ripped out heart of the kunoichi. The demonic corrosion had damaged it somewhat, but it was still largely intact.

'I might as well try.' he thought, shrugging mentally. It wasn't as if the dead kunoichi had any further use for the organ. Moving it over the disintegrating bones, he let the chakra hand slowly crush the heart.

Blood splattered onto the bones. Aside from that nothing happened.

'Oh well… wait.'

It was barely visible, but drops of blood were slowly sucked into the red glow. The more drops disappeared the stronger the glow and the suction effect became.

Naruto took several steps back. There was no sense in being caught off guard. The bones stopped disintegrating as tiny arcs of red lightning began creeping over the remains. Flesh grew from nothingness, covering the bones. Muscle and fat appeared. It looked disgusting, but Naruto's attention was on something different. The glow had coalesced into a blazing red symbol: A snake eating its own tail, encircling a series of concentric rings. The latter was clearly a stylized Rinnegan, the fabled eyes of the Sage of the Six Paths. The world at large had lost the knowledge how exactly it looked, but Youko remembered its appearance well.

'What is the symbol doing on a demon more than a thousand years after the Sage's death?'

He was still looking at the mark when the regeneration finished, leaving a completely healthy looking Kikuko-lookalike standing on the burned ground. Then the mark slowly faded away into invisibility. To his senses the creature before him appeared as a completely human civilian with no trace of demonic energy or chakra usage.

"Quit staring. It is not very polite." she said after a few seconds of silence, her breasts bouncing slightly as she crossed her arms. Only then did Naruto realize that his stare could be misinterpreted due to the location of the mark. The demon didn't wear a stitch of clothing and displayed the shape of one of the most beautiful woman Naruto had ever seen, almost unsurpassable in its perfection. In some way this perfection reminded him of the human shape his mother liked to wear.

Still, Naruto refused to become flustered. The woman virtually oozed carnality, but his mental discipline was better than that. It was more prudent to ignore their nakedness. Instead he shifted his gaze to the slitted, blood-red eyes of the woman.

"You are a demon."

"Indeed. How very astute of you. And you are Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi." She looked around. "It seems I owe you a debt of gratitude for my continued existence."

"I was the only one able to get through the barrier. Just two questions. Firstly, did you replace the daimyo's wife or were you together with him since the succession war?"

If the woman was surprised at the question she didn't show it. "There has never been another Kikuko. It was always me."

"What about the rest of the family?"

"Yoshino, my… sister is similar to me. Prince Yuko is a child of her body and human as far as we can tell. Lord Hidekatsu was born a human. Since he agreed to a certain offer when he met us the matter is not as clear-cut anymore. You are taking this rather well."

Naruto closely watched Kikuko's expression. The woman told the truth, at least as far as he was able to tell. Of course, she could be more skilled at lying than he was at reading people. If what she said was true he could proceed as if they were completely mundane humans. Naruto didn't really care who ruled the Land of Fire. By all accounts Hidekatsu was a better daimyo than his four predecessors taken together. So what if his wives were demons? As long as they didn't get up to crap like trying to sacrifice/devour entire provinces or the country as a whole it wasn't really a problem for anyone. Most people would freak out if they learned the truth and start a rebellion, of course, but Naruto wasn't among them. Considering what his parents were he had little hesitation to treat with non-humans if the situation called for it.

"Good enough for me. My orders are to protect the royal family. I don't care if you are a demon, spirit, human or something else. What is the situation?"

"That is a rather unusual mindset, but very well." She sighed. "Our guards were completely wiped out. My husband and sister wife should be able to hold their own for the time being and protect the prince. Like me they are very hard to kill. I drew the most dangerous group of attackers away. They thought I had the prince with me."

Naruto nodded. "Okay. I have to get some new gear from one of the corpses. Then we can go and help them. You should find some clothing, too."

"Agreed." Kikuko approached the body of the blond kunoichi to examine it. Then she lifted it with one hand. "I suppose it will have to do. You will have to protect me. I will not be able to regenerate a major wound again anytime soon."

"Can't you drink more blood?" Naruto asked curiously while making his way to the place of the earlier battle.

"Unfortunately it has to be very fresh to be of any use to me. I do not gain much power from it, either, but under the circumstances I will take what I can get. Please try to incapacitate any enemies we might encounter if the situation allows for it."

Naruto suppressed a shudder and nodded. By the time they came upon the bodies Naruto had healed enough to dispel the Kyuubi cloak. He was now again in top physical condition and his own immense chakra reserves had barely been touched, but there was a sort of lingering weariness that reminded him that he had taken damage on a level not easily healed. It would be better if he could avoid using the Kyuubi's chakra again for the near future.

A short time later Naruto was provisionally reequipped. The short blonde shinobi proved to be the closest fit clothing-wise even if the blood stains were rather extensive. Additionally he managed to scrounge up an assortment of shuriken, kunai and a few senbon. The sealing scrolls, other containers and sealing tags he found he left alone. There was no telling what was inside and he had no time for tests or checking for booby traps.

Kikuko was barely decent. The blond kunoichi had possessed a smaller frame. The large hole Naruto's chakra claw attack had left in the front of the garment wasn't helping matters. Neither was the fact that everything was liberally drenched in blood. Naruto chose not to mention it.

"Okay, before we proceed, can you tell what you can do in combat?"

The woman looked at him silently for a second. "Very well. You saw me fighting before, but I will summarize. I believe I am about as fast as one of your special jonin, maybe a little faster. I am several times stronger than a human and somewhat more durable. My main weapons are my hands and fingers. I can turn them into spears or blades that slice through practically everything."

"Jutsu or fighting skills?" Naruto asked.

She shook her head. "Unfortunately I am unable to use human chakra techniques and posses none of my own. I believe you are familiar with the incompatibility. In hand-to-hand combat I can leverage my superior physical skills, but I have no real formal training."

"Thank you. That makes planning easier." Naruto said. Then they departed towards the center of the park. Most of the trees were still intact, but occasionally they came upon the scars of battle. Then there were the corpses. Some belonged to the Wood shinobi. Others had probably been the guards tasked with protecting the royal family.

"How many attackers were there originally?" Naruto asked.

"Quite a lot. We were accompanied by twenty guards, more than half of them shinobi. I think there were about two or three dozen enemies left by the time all of them were dead. The group I led away consisted of ten people."

Naruto fell silent again as he tried to guess the overall strength of the enemy force. The fires in the city could have been prepared days in advance. They could easily be triggered by traps, different kinds of time fuses or civilians brainwashed with genjutsu. Around fifty shinobi here, at least as many for the other attack Koharu had spoken about. More groups with different tasks would be running around, too. All in all the final number was probably around two hundred.

That was a rather large group. In fact, that seemed to be almost all surviving shinobi from the Village hidden in the Woods who didn't join one of the other villages. They had been a mid-sized minor village with a shinobi population of one or two thousand if he remembered the gossip right. Since the village had been deliberately founded by the daimyo of the Land of Woods forty years ago they had gone with that rather unimaginative name. More than half of the shinobi and practically all civilians had died when the village was destroyed, but the shinobi in the field had survived.

It wasn't clear who was responsible (no one really believed the official story of 'natural causes'), but the Land of Fire had used the opportunity to annex the Land of Woods. There was a history there, but Naruto had not paid it much attention at the time and couldn't remember the details.

What was clear was that a hard core of survivors blamed the Land of Fire for the destruction of their village. This attack was an act of revenge. Kumo was using them as a probably unknowing proxy to fissure the Land of Fire, indirectly attacking Konoha.

Suddenly a noise caught Naruto's attention and he held up a hand. Carefully sneaking forward, he spotted two injured shinobi treating their wounds. One of them seemed to nurse a broken arm. The other had a stomach wound judging from the bandages.

'Lightning Release: Thunder Disc'

The slight hum accompanying the jutsu alerted the two to Naruto's presence, but by that time the disc was already streaking towards them.

'Wind Release: Gale Palm'

Both shinobi jumped to the side in time to evade the Thunder Disc, but that brought both of them directly into the path of the pressure wave of Naruto's second technique. The tree they had been leaning against exploded in a hail of splinters from the lightning technique while the two shinobi were thrown to the ground.

'Earth Release: Sticky Mud Trap'

… the very ground that now consisted of rather sticky mud. Another Thunder Disc reduced one man to a shredded corpse.

Naruto was about to create another Thunder Disc to kill the second man when Kikuko interrupted him. "I would prefer if you left him to me."

He nodded after a moment of hesitation. Kikuko had asked him to catch enemies alive. "Be careful." he cautioned while keeping an eye on the trapped man. The mud was only created by a D-rank version of the technique and might not hold stronger opponents.

Kikuko simply pointed her hands at her victim. A moment later her fingers elongated rapidly, easily piercing the struggling man in multiple locations, effectively crippling him. Then she repeated the procedure, ignoring the screams. "That should suffice."

Naruto looked away when she began draining the man of blood. He knew that any attack on the royal family was punishable by death. Heck, he had been about to kill the man himself. Seeing him used as food (you couldn't really call it cannibalism considering that Kikuko wasn't human) still unsettled him greatly. Unfortunately letting the demon woman do as she liked was the most rational decision under the circumstances.

It took Kikuko less than half a minute to finish. Then she tossed the body at the other corpse, a swipe of her claws reducing it to pieces. "Delicious." She licked her lips. "I rarely get the opportunity to indulge."

Naruto refrained from commenting. It felt wrong, but if they had taken the man prisoner he would have suffered quite a bit of torture until he would have been allowed to die. As twisted as it sounded, this was probably a more merciful end despite everything.

The sounds of battle soon grew louder when they continued on their way. Part of Naruto wanted to hurry forward to make sure the daimyo and his heir were safe, but it was just too risky. If they stumbled upon another group of enemies and were caught flat-footed he might die. Currently he was as vulnerable as any human shinobi. Everything would have been for nothing.

Carefully edging forward, they encountered no further enemies until they came upon the battlefield. The beautiful park had been completely ruined. Holes cratered the ground and there were hardly any intact trees left. Some sort of storage building was still standing if somewhat damaged. Hiding between the splintered trunk of a tree and a decorative stone ornament, Naruto and his companion tried to get a good look at the fighting parties.

A man Naruto recognized as the Fire Daimyo Hidekatsu Shibata was fighting multiple enemies. Several large tears in his clothing indicated earlier hits, but Naruto couldn't see any blood. He was moving really fast, at least low jonin-level fast. His swords were flashes of silvery grey as he skillfully deflected projectiles while simultaneously engaging three people in close combat. A wizened old man throwing knives and exploding tags and two younger men were the most remarkable of his enemies, although Naruto could identify none of them. One had a large scar marring his face and lightning playing around his tattooed arms while the other seemed to have changed much of his skin into a dark substance that produced sparks whenever the daimyo's swords scored a hit.

An extremely large blond man with bulging muscles was trapped inside a water sprout, futilely trying to escape. The naked upper body of a woman with dark auburn hair protruded from a point near the top, her arms whips of water. She bore the same mark as Kikuko, but it was located above her left breast. Her face was that of the daimyo's other wife, Yoshino. If Naruto didn't know better he would have guessed she belonged to the Hozuki clan from the Land of Water. They possessed a bloodline that allowed them to turn their bodies into water. She was engaging half a dozen shinobi, moving rapidly across the battlefield. Whenever something hit her seemingly human body it went right through.

The two were supporting each other, trying to whittle the enemy down and preventing them from pinning one of them down. The battlefield was littered with corpses or parts thereof. A group of about a dozen shinobi kept their distance from the battle, but after a few seconds one blond kunoichi headed over to the group fighting the daimyo to relieve a wounded shinobi. Another blond woman seemed to be in command. There were quite a lot of blondes among them, Naruto mused.

"Prince Yuko is hidden in the building. One servant is with him." Kikuko whispered into Naruto's ear. "Don't draw any attention to it."

Naruto considered his options on how to best help his charges. A good wide-area technique would be best to take out the reserves. Unfortunately he didn't really know any. Normally he would use exploding tags for that purpose, but he didn't have any on him, not anymore. Using the Kyuubi's power again might overstrain his body. Collapsing in mid-battle would be fatal.

Suddenly the man inside the water sprout began glowing. Not even a second later he vanished in an explosion, scattering the water in a great cloud. Even if Yoshino could regenerate from that her loss would shift the battle dynamic too greatly for the daimyo to survive. They had just run out of time.

"I will draw some of them away. Hide in the trees and ambush them when they follow me." he shouted when he jumped up, already making hand seals to create a Thunder Disc.

The first he charged up to maximum power and threw it at the reserve forces. At this range he didn't bother aiming for a specific person. Another one was hurled at the group that had fought Yoshino. Some of the enemies started shouting commands. A third, normal powered one he threw at the shinobi with the changed skin. The man had his back turned towards him, making it seem a good opportunity.

Not waiting to see the effects of his attack, Naruto turned around and sprinted back towards the intact trees. His ears told him that he was being pursued by at least three people. A shuriken clipped his leg and a kunai whooshed past his head; then he had reached the trees. As soon as he was out of direct sight he used the Underground Move Technique to disappear below the ground, moving perpendicular to his earlier direction before emerging again behind the cover of an artfully styled hedgerow.

Four shinobi ran past his hiding place. One got a thrown kunai to his back for his trouble, causing the other three to stop and turn around. Then Kikuko dropped from the tree overhead, slicing one kunoichi apart and puncturing another shinobi with the elongating spear-like fingers of her other hand.

Caught between two threats, the fourth shinobi hesitated for a moment before he began making hand seals. A senbon pierced his eye before he could finish, breaking his concentration. A claw swipe from the approaching Kikuko did the rest. A Thunder Disc took care of the downed shinobi.

"I don't hear anyone else. Back to the battle." Naruto said after a moment of listening for suspicious noises.

By the time they got back the situation had shifted. The old shinobi with the many exploding tags lay dead on the ground with his torso cut open. A black-haired kunoichi was kneeling nearby, staring at her severed right arm lying on the ground in front of her while blood spurted from the stump.

Yoshino had reformed and was fighting against the large blond woman Naruto had tentatively identified as the leader of the attackers. Other Wood shinobi were participating in the battle, but the situation was too chaotic to make out details at a glance.

The daimyo was still fighting against Scarface and Iron Skin, but both seemed wounded. Then Hidekatsu performed a maneuver at impossible speed, weaving through several attacks that by all rights should have hit him in order to impale the shinobi with the blackish iron-like skin through a vulnerable spot. In a fluid motion he flung him around, right into one of the lightning-based attacks of Scarface. Both went down in a tangle of limbs, lightning visibly coursing through both of them.

Unfortunately Hidekatsu couldn't capitalize on the opening as several other shinobi pressed their attacks. For just a split second he looked directly towards Naruto. His heart missed a beat. He only relaxed again when he realized that the man's eye wasn't a rinnegan but only the same mark the women bore.

Then he understood the message. A well-aimed Thunder Disc ensured that the two downed shinobi would never get up again.

Almost immediately three enemies turned towards Naruto, approaching more cautiously than the last group. He considered leading them into the trees again, but it was unlikely the trick would work a second time. From the corner of his eye he saw that Kikuko had been engaged by a large man with an armored arm that was apparently resistant to her claws.

Naruto's head whipped around when he heard the pained cry of a woman from the direction of the prince's hiding place. A man was just entering, two more waiting on the outside. Naruto had not seen those specific people before.

'Damn, they had reserves and figured out that we didn't want them to look there. Or they got curious.'

Neither Naruto nor any of the others was in position to reach the building in time. The prince was as good as dead.

"Yuko, no!" Yoshino shouted, moving into the direction of the building at high speed, abandoning her battle.

There was the faint cry of a young boy. Then everything exploded in darkness.

Naruto felt himself being brutally picked up. Something painfully ripped through his body, penetrating one of his lungs. He immediately started calling on the Kyuubi's power. Darkness obscured his vision while he tried not to choke on his own blood. It seemed like an eternity until a one-tailed Kyuubi cloak formed around him and got his regeneration going again.

The malevolent red glow dissolved the spike of shadows that had impaled him and he fell to the ground, coughing blood. As soon as the pain receded somewhat he forced himself to look up.

The storage building had been at the center of the explosion. Now it was a ruin of cracked stone and splintered wood. Writhing shadows flowed in every direction, strangely alive. Distorted monstrous eyes and teeth were everywhere. All the enemies he could see had been penetrated by spikes of darkness, ripped apart or otherwise slain by the strangely flat shadows. The shadows were forming an entire bizarre rolling landscape around them, tendrils and hand-like constructs waving in a non-existent breeze.

Then the shadows spoke.

"MOMMY! WHAT IS HAPPENING? I'M SCARED. THE BAD MAN HURT ME."

'Wait, what? This is Prince Yuko? I thought he was human?'

A look to the side revealed a stunned expression on the daimyo's and his wives' faces. They had incidentally not been hurt by the shadows. Apparently they had not foreseen this development, either, and were ignorant of Naruto's latest injury.

'Great, I almost got done in by an accidental hit from someone nominally on my side.'

Yoshino was the first to shake herself out of her stupor. "Everything is alright, darling. I am coming to you. Do not do anything, just try to stay calm." Then she walked into the tangle of shadows and disappeared from sight.

For almost a minute nothing happened. Naruto kept the Kyuubi cloak active, but reduced the draw to the bare minimum after he was healed, dispelling the one tail. His weariness had increased once again to a pervading feeling of weak- and sickness.

Finally the shadows began to move. Shadow after shadow was pulled back until Naruto could see the source. Yoshino was holding the prince in her arms, whispering encouragements. The boy looked to be around four or five. A familiar snake-and-rinnegan mark was glowing in the center of his forehead. The shadows seemed to originate from a pool of darkness around his feet and to a lesser degree the rest of his body, but it was difficult to make out in the flickering light. A short distance away the still, carved-up body of a civilian woman and the shredded forms of a trio of Wood shinobi lay on the ground.

Ever so slowly the shadows retracted into the form of the boy. Finally no shadows were left and the mark on his forehead faded. Then the boy buried his head in his mother's crook of the neck.

Naruto looked around, scanning for threats. "There doesn't seem to be anyone else left alive around here."

"I agree." Hidekatsu sheathed his swords. "You have my gratitude, young man. We will never be able to repay that debt. I ask you to stand guard for the time being. My family needs me now. We need a change in wardrobe, too."

Naruto nodded in understanding. The daimyo's clothes sported far too many large tears to be explainable, Kikuko wore the bloodstained remains of shinobi clothing and Yoshino was completely naked. Remaining that way would cause questions.

Feeling safe enough, Naruto dispelled his cloak. Immediately the weariness increased. He was well into overuse of the Kyuubi's chakra. That was one of the drawbacks to using such demonic power. A human body just couldn't bear the strain for long. Otherwise jinchuuriki would have been unstoppable on the battlefield. As it was they were extremely dangerous opponents even for entire squads of shinobi, but they had still weaknesses and could be beaten.

This was the first time Naruto had actually used the Kyuubi's chakra in a prolonged battle against other shinobi. The Jashinist situation had been cleared up relatively quickly. During the invasion the backlash from the loss of control had nearly incapacitated him. He would have to consider carefully what he had learned today and draw lessons for the future from it.

They had won. It was only a matter of time until the forces of Konoha brought down the barrier. There could be stray enemies around, of course, so staying on guard was mandatory.

A few uneventful minutes later the daimyo and Kikuko left the ruins of the building. The now fully clothed Yoshino stayed behind with the prince. After a nod to him the two kept a vigilant eye on the surroundings.

Suddenly Naruto sensed danger. Something in the atmosphere had changed in the last seconds. An unobtrusive survey of the surroundings made him aware that the daimyo and Kikuko were evaluating him with inscrutable expressions. Naruto detected just hints of hostility… and regret. It was subtle but unmistakable.

'Why would they… Oh damn.'

By all appearances the ruling family of the Land of Fire consisted of demons. Of course they would try to keep their secret by any means necessary. They had only begun fighting when all their guards were dead and left no other survivors. Naruto's demise would be easily explainable under the circumstances. The only reason why they had not yet attacked was probably because they were unsure about the Kyuubi and what the loss of a jinchuuriki would mean for the Land of Fire's stability in the current situation. Maybe there was even gratitude in play.

The situation didn't look good. Both the daimyo and his wives were physically superior to him while he didn't use the Kyuubi's chakra. They didn't have shinobi training, but in their own ways they were effective enough. One-on-one he would probably lose, let alone against three-to-one odds. Taking his mother's chakra into account he would be able to kill one of them with some effort, but not all three working together… or four, if he counted the daimyo's son. Additionally, even if he somehow managed to kill them (and subdue was pretty much impossible considering the power level) it would make all his efforts to save them useless and plunge the Land of Fire into chaos. That would be very bad.

Naruto cleared his throat. "I feel I should mention that I made a deal with the Kyuubi. It will go after whoever killed me."

Kikuo quirked an eyebrow. "Oh, is that so? A human actually managed to befriend one of the fragments of the Shattered Destroyer? I find that hard to believe. Would you care to explain?"

Naruto was about to answer when a strange sensation swept over him. Part of it felt similar to what he had felt last evening. Another part was new. The strange thing was that it felt right, as if something precious had returned to the world.

"What was that?" the daimyo asked, a hand over his marked eye.

Kikuko shook her head as if to clear it. "The Horned Lord has reunited with the Lady of the Tree. I expected that. We felt him freeing himself a few hours ago, after all. It is the logical thing for him to seek her out as soon as possible."

Naruto couldn't stop himself. "You know which gods just woke up?"

The demon woman turned towards him, her eyes narrowing. "You felt that and know what it was. Most normal humans would not. You being a jinchuuriki would explain the first fact, but not the second. This is interesting. Dangerous, but definitely interesting. I wonder; would you be able to shed some light on what exactly went on during the invasion of your village? Time twisted, a menace like the Reibi destroyed, something happening to the Ichibi, two powerful gods I am unfamiliar with appearing out of nowhere only to disappear immediately; all mashed together in a single moment." Apparently something in Naruto's body language gave him away. "You know about the two gods."

That was far more than Naruto had intended to reveal. This had the potential to go extremely, no, catastrophically wrong. "Perhaps. You will have to let me live and trust me to keep your secret. Just know that I do have powerful protection."

The sudden fall of the yellow barrier interrupted the conversation. Naruto felt immense relief. Konoha reinforcements would arrive at any second. Now the demons couldn't try to murder him without giving the game away.

Hidekatsu seemed to come to the same conclusion. The mark faded from his eye until it was pure white. Then he covered it up with an eyepatch. "It seems we are out of time. We will talk about this later, young man."

Naruto was content to leave it at that. This had been a very strange and trying day and the sun had yet to rise. All he wanted to do was curl up somewhere safe and try not to think about the pain and how often he would have died today without the Kyuubi's power.

---

Almost half a world away, on a continent unknown to the inhabitants of the Elemental Nations, a storm suddenly gathered in the evening sky. Lightning flashed into the dense, endless jungle below, igniting a blazing wildfire, fanned by the raging winds. The earth shook under a sudden quake. Torrents of rain lashed against the land. Finally an immense tornado descended from the clouds. When it touched the burning ground the flames caught. For a moment it seemed as if the entire world was on fire.

Then it ended as suddenly as it began. The lightning stopped, the earth grew quiet, the wind stilled, the fire guttered out and the rain ceased. Plants grew quickly, covering the wounds the raging elements had struck until no trace remained… but something had arrived and now headed into a specific direction.

No human had ever set foot into these woods unaided, but if an observer had been present he would only have been able to catch glimpses of the entity as the jungle seemed to make way for its passing. It was changing its form as if searching for an appropriate one. Now it was a hulking red bull trailing flames, then it was something almost looking like a giant walking, bearded tree. An enormous ram with lightning playing between its horns was replaced by a massive boar made out of earth and metal, each of its steps shaking the ground. Other forms came and went, each a display of raw elemental and masculine power. Night fell, the darkness not hindering the entity in the slightest.

Finally, just before it reached its destination, the figure settled on a shape. When it left the dense jungle behind to enter a clearing larger than many villages it wore the form of a human-looking, muscular man with long blond hair. His clothing wouldn't have been out of a place for a prince in a court of the continent to the south of the Elemental Nations. Tight black trousers and shirt under a crimson tunic were rounded off by a blood-red cloak with traces of black and gold. Adornments of gold, bronze and iron embellished his arms and legs.

After a few steps the entity stopped its advance and surveyed the clearing. An immense tree had once stood there, larger than all other trees on this world. Now only the overgrown, rotten remains of a stump were left. Strangely plants larger than bushes seemed to avoid filling the resulting void in the canopy.

The man sighed in a mix of worry and exasperation. He mumbled "How many times does that make now?" before he continued on his way. After a short walk he reached what had been the center of the enormous tree stump. Kneeling down, he dug a small hole before he placed a slightly glowing seed in it and covered it with earth. Then he took a few steps back and focused his power both on the seed and the strange influence that seemed to cover the entire world and prevented the free flow of magic.

"The oak recalls the acorn, the acorn dreams the oak, the stump lives in them both. The weak perish so that the strong might prosper. The old dies to make place for the new and the cycle continues, but the tree remembers. Awaken and rise again, my love."

For a few moments nothing happened. Then a fresh sapling broke the surface and grew rapidly bigger. The earth trembled as writhing roots dug into the ground. Branches stretched towards the sky as if to grasp the stars, sprouting leaves as they grew. The man took to hovering in the air and increased the distance to avoid the growing trunk. Minutes passed by as the tree grew larger and larger. Supported by the man's own power the tree dug deep into the world. With a great rush magic began to flow, driving the smothering influence away from the surrounding area and sending echoes through the entire world. Finally the tree stopped growing, towering over the jungle like a normal tree towered over grass. Aside from its size it did not look like any tree normally found in the world and was oddly different from the tropic vegetation of the surrounding jungle.

The man took a moment to orient himself before heading towards the tree crown. His feet had barely touched the wood when a second being manifested in front of him. He had only time to take in the familiar green robes and purple hair adorned by a golden circlet before he was engulfed in a hug of surprising strength.

"You came, you finally came. I missed you so much, beloved."

The man chuckled, putting his arms around the woman. "I always do, don't I?" For a few minutes the pair just enjoyed the feel of each other's presence and their powers mingling. "Do you know what happened? I was making plans to deal with the ten-tailed menace that that cursed fool freed when I suddenly fell asleep. That shouldn't have happe-"

His counterpart put a finger on his lips, silencing him. "Yes, I saw much of what took place. I think I was one of the last to remain awake before my tree withered. There will be time for that tale later, though."

Looking up, the man saw that countless blossoms had sprouted all over the tree, filling the air with an exhilarating scent. A bed was already forming in the wood behind them. When his gaze returned to his partner of untold eons a blush had spread across her features. Their powers were already entwining on a fundamental level, affecting the humanoid avatars as well.

The Lord of the Wild Forces of Nature offered only a token resistance before giving in. He supposed talking about the state of the world and what exactly had happened that had caused him to suddenly and unexpectedly go to sleep could wait for a while. It had been more than a thousand years, after all.

---

In a world at the edge of dreams, Daiki sighed. "And that makes another big one. Any idea who that was?"

Youko shrugged uncomfortably. "It felt vaguely familiar and was definitely connected to the other big one a few hours ago, but that is all I can tell."

In retrospect it was surprising that Youko had been able to identify Jashin. Her memories of the age of gods were shattered almost beyond recognition. Thanks to their victory over the Ichibi they had a second set of fractured memories available, but it wasn't helping much. Some memories even seemed to be contradicting each other. The Ichibi had known considerably more about the cursed Sage of Six Paths' actions, but there was still so much they didn't know. With time they would be able to piece more together, but other matters were more urgent.

They had spent most of the time since the battle against the Ichibi and Reibi with healing their wounds. While not overly serious the damage from the battle had to be repaired sooner rather than later. The backlash through the connections to the children had been considerable. It had prevented them from contacting Naruto again. They didn't want to risk calling him to their world while they were metaphysically bleeding. Exposure to that could have rather detrimental consequences. It was one reason they had sent Hinata to the real world with all haste without speaking with her. Naruto had to be sick with worry by now. Well, he was worrying them, too.

"It seems the battle has ended. Naruto doesn't draw on my chakra any longer. He was already overusing it." Youko remarked in a worried voice while she reformed part of the meadows surrounding the cottage that served as the children's and their human avatars' home. They had not bothered maintaining the details of the landscape while they healed. "I wonder what happened. He sustained grievous injuries."

"Akatsuki, maybe. In my earliest visions this was the most likely time for them to become active in hunting the jinchuuriki. Naruto did leave the vicinity of Konoha several hours ago. It is very possible they intercepted him somehow."

Youko sighed. "I wish we knew more."

"I will pull him here the next time he sleeps. Then we can tell him the good news about Hinata."

Suddenly a deep rumble shook everything, causing large parts of the landscape to dissolve into nothingness, undoing their work. From one moment to the next they were standing in formless unreality instead of a carefully crafted facsimile of the real world.

"What now?" Youko growled.

"That came from the inside. Something is wrong."

---

Author's notes: Well, I finally managed to finish the chapter after four months. That took a lot longer than I thought it would. I completely rewrote it five times from the ground up and it still isn't exactly how I want it to be. Some major reshuffling of scenes for planned chapters took place, too.

No Hinata this time; her scene has been relegated to the next chapter. It should be somewhat less violent.

So long.