The Legacy of the Most Unpredictable Ninja

by RekkingPride

After checking up on a strange rift in space and time, Naruto ended up in a foreign land where new allies and enemies await. However, his wish to bring peace to his home still resonated...so he will do everything he can to return home, no matter what! 3 Crossovers mixed right, with a 4th on the way. A new narrative with believable characters! Strong!Naruto and mostly in-character!

30. Chapter 30

Light.

That was the first impression that Yuki got when she began to regain consciousness.

Yellow eyes fluttered open, squinting at the brightness of the morning sun. Before getting up and stretching her limbs, trying to work out her aching muscles.

"...Time to go." Yuki mumbled lightly, eyes turning to look at the sleeping succubus besides her who was snoring faintly in contentment.

The hero stared at her fellow female for a heartbeat, contemplating whether she should let her have a few more minutes of sleep. She looked quite content...

That idea was squashed quickly, they didn't have time to kill.

So Yuki nudged Maria, intent on waking her up so that they could get a move on.

All that managed to do was make the succubus giggle in her sleep, turning her body to instinctively get away from her nudging.

Change of plans then.

A green aura surrounded her hand as she materialized her katana, before swinging it unerringly at the half-devil's neck-

"AHHHHHH!" Maria screamed shrilly, rolling out of her comfortable spot on the floor to avoid the blade. "What the hell!? Yuki-san!?"

"Sorry." Yuki said as she de-materialized her blade. "It was the quickest way to get you up, besides...I stopped the blade before it reached you."

The succubus didn't look impressed. "...Cold comfort when you wake up to a sword swinging at you. What, you couldn't have thought up of a better solution?"

The hero leaned down and grabbed her bag, throwing her arm around it's strap. "The fastest way. Also...Naruto told me that he would be moving out early in the morning, which means that he will be vulnerable again."

Maria's eyes softened, realization lighting up her purple orbs. "...This is about Naruto-sama, huh? Worried about him?"

Yuki stopped, considering.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm worried. It's really only a matter of time before someone finds him, but most likely...it'll be at the head of a group at least. With the little kyuubi to take care of, it will be difficult to protect himself to the best of his ability as well. He can make a lot of stupid mistakes that he might not have if he didn't have to worry about her well-being. So the faster we clear this up, the better."

The half-devil nodded slowly, standing up and grabbing her bag as well. "Alright, fair enough then. Just...try not to swing your sword at me again anytime soon. Let's not make this a habit."

Yuki felt her lips twitch upwards for a split-second.

She could definitely agree to that.

---

It was a new day, as evidenced from the bright sunlight that peeked through the clouds and lit up all that was under it's observation.

To many, the dawn of a new day meant that the troubles of the day before was washed away, all to make a new and clean slate.

Well...it did for those who had a bad day anyways, like Mio.

Mio winced as she kept walking to her destination, still smarting from the 'training' that she was put under. Rias-sempai really did go too far...

Though her complaining didn't really mean much if she was literally going back to train so early in the morning. She sometimes wondered if she had some masochistic tendencies...

Ah well, no one could claim that she wasn't stubborn at the very least.

The young female finally snapped out of her musings when she reached the front of the old school building, her sempai's base of operations...

She resisted the urge to jeer at it, she was still pretty sore about how much fun the high-class devil had in 'training' with her.

So the half-devil knocked on the front door, waiting for someone to open it and let her continue where she left off yesterday.

...

...

No response, great.

"I'm coming in!" the red-head declared, opening the door and looking around to see whether anyone was inside.

After a quick check, she determined that she was alone in here.

Well...that left two options then; leave and come back later or go to the training center anyways.

The answer was obvious, damn Naruto for rubbing off his spontaneous nature to her.

Mio felt a pang in her heart at the thought that drifted through her head...Naruto...

How was he doing? Was he ok? Did he finish his objective?

Those thoughts and worries impacted her the second that she thought about the hyperactive blond, nearly causing her to trip over herself.

She missed him. She missed him a lot.

Mio sighed as she combed her hand through her bangs, why was it suddenly so quiet...? Almost oppressively so.

Where were the mischievous smirks that lit up her day? The constant hidden excitement of what crazy hijinks he would instigate that would spice up her school life? The constant security that he always gave just by being in close proximity?

The red-head quickly shook her head, he'd be back before she knew it, she just had to keep getting stronger. Stop thinking about it.

If she couldn't handle being alone in a silent house for a few days, then how could she look at him in the face and claim to be strong?

Though...that was just it, wasn't it?

Whether she liked it or not, she wasn't just doing this for herself, but also for him. She simply couldn't stay this weak...so weak that she could be the back door that his enemies used to get to him...!

No!

She wouldn't be that way, that was why she was going to keep coming back here.

She wouldn't watch another family get destroyed.

Not again. Never again.

With new-found determination in her eyes, she opened the door that led to the elevator and went inside, heading to her destination.

---

"Wakey wakey! Rise and shine, kid!"

Kunou grunted softly, pulling the blanket over her head in protest. Unwilling to get up.

"Come on kid...you do want to eat, don't you?"

She did. But not enough to get up.

"...Don't want to..." Kunou grumbled out, slurring her words faintly.

Naruto rolled his eyes in exasperation, look at her...she was a far cry from the distrustful and wary princess that he initially met. Now she was just another child...

The shinobi then grinned, there was a very simple and effective way to get a child out of bed.

As soon as the idea sprung into his mind, he began to enact it by moving stealthily closer to the resting kyuubi with his fingers moving around in a threatening manner.

Then he struck.

"Ah...! No...wait! Please!"

Naruto gave no quarter, he wouldn't let the kid go...no matter what!

Kunou's ringing laughter was echoing across the cave, showing no signs of stopping as the shinobi kept tickling her without mercy.

"Give up yet!?" the blond questioned with a grin, completely merciless.

The little yokai tried to wiggle out of the older boy's torture, refusing to admit defeat, but the teen was relentless and followed her as she kept trying to roll away from him.

The tickling began to be unbearable, as her face grew red and tears began to overflow from her eyes from the constant laughing.

Then she broke.

"Ok...! Ok! I give! I give up!" Kunou shouted at the top of her lungs.

Naruto was smug as he backed up from the little kyuubi, he knew that he'd break her with his tickling.

Kunou finally gave out a sigh of relief at the reprieve. "...That was mean, you jerk."

The shinobi shrugged as he walked back to the still crackling fire. "I know, but then again...it is time to eat dattebayo."

The yokai princess looked up at the older boy from her position on the floor and stood up, moving to join him by the fire with her miko outfit fluttering faintly behind her.

"So..." the older blond began, after passing a ramen cup to the little girl. "I suppose we better get a move on today, we will be heading towards Kyoto...and if we run into more yokai, then hopefully we can explain the situation to them. If we got some half-way decent luck, then maybe we won't run into your kidnappers either."

Kunou absentmindedly agreed as she blew onto the cup on the palm of her hands, taking the chopsticks that Naruto just offered her right afterwards. "Ok, got it. So when are we going?"

Naruto grinned. "The second that you finish. We are going to take another way out of here instead as well, best not use the entrance in case there are...unpleasant people lying in wait."

As the young teen slowly began to put his things back into his bag, he moved his head towards the cave that he wanted to go to, implicating it. "We're going that way. Where you found me talking on the phone. That still moves us to our destination, so we won't lose that much progress anyways."

All he heard in response to his statements was the constant slurping sound of noodles, with the kyuubi eating ravenously. Boy...she must have been hungry.

It was only after she stopped gorging herself and put the cup down, that she responded.

"K."

Naruto blinked.

"...Well...you seem to be more easy-going." the whiskered teen pointed out bluntly.

Kunou just beamed. "Yep! It's 'cause I know that I'm going to be ok now!"

The shinobi chuckled, the pleasant feeling that her words gave him felt nice. "Of course you will, it's me after all."

With that said, the shinobi stood up and stretched slightly, before offering a hand to the small blond. "You ready?"

The little kyuubi nodded, confident.

"Yes!"

---

"How much longer do we have to wait? I'm absolutely itching to fight...I've heard more than a few rumors about the man that we will be fighting." Heracles complained audibly, tapping his foot incessantly.

"Oh calm down Hera-kun~ We're gonna go as soon as possible~" Jeanne cooed easily, as she was laying down on the floor. "Besides, we still have to actually find him! He's going to be our new recruit I hear!"

The descendant of the great greek hero snorted, both at his comrade's assertion and his nickname. "I don't think our great leader entirely feels that way...about recruiting Uzumaki I mean. Also...don't call me that."

Jeanne shrugged, completely ignoring his words about his nickname, although to be serious...she had no idea what went through their leader's head sometimes.

Both heroes were currently stationed at the small outpost that their faction has created as a temporary base of operations, a forward base for their ambitions in Kyoto.

For now, two of the most powerful heroes in the Hero Faction were simply killing time, waiting for their time to deploy and defeat their erstwhile enemy.

"My...seems our meddler has some new fans, hm?"

Both heroes turned around to see Siegfried walk towards them, a rare playful smirk adorning his face.

"Oh~? You seem to be in an awfully good mood. Something good happen?" the female hero wondered aloud, curious.

The handsome descendant of the original Siegfried only smirked wider. "It turns out that I'll be joining you in your little expedition. I'm surprisingly anxious to get started...it's been a long while since I've faced a worthy opponent. It's a shame that he isn't a swordsman."

Heracles looked surprised at this admission, but his growing grin belayed any evidence of his disapproval with the idea. "I see! Then we shall all occupy the battle together! I pity Uzumaki then...unless he's as powerful as the rumors claim he is...there's no way he can get out of this alive!"

Siegfried grunted in affirmation, he agreed, there was no logical way for their adversary to get out of this one.

"Hey Sieg-kun...speaking of mysterious figures...do you know anything about the weird guy that hangs out with Cao Cao?" Jeanne whispered to the silver-haired hero, big blue eyes shining with excitement at some juicy info.

The swordsman twitched slightly at the nickname, but tanked through it regardless. "...Unfortunately, not much. The man's as much a mystery as he was when we first met...I just don't know what to think about him. Cao Cao won't say anything about him either, maybe he might be more willing to talk if we destroy the Japanese branch of the Hero Tribe..."

Heracles raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Why the hell would you say that?"

Siegfried eyed the burly hero. "Because the last time he was so forthright with information about his past was when we obliterated the Chinese Hero Tribe. Whether we admit it or not, that armored...person...is a part of Cao Cao's past."

"Ohh...makes sense." Jeanne wondered childishly. "Still, he kinda gives me the creeps."

Both men couldn't agree more.

As the trio of heroes continued their talks, another individual walked towards them with anticipation, intent on sharing the news...

It was starting.

---

"It should almost be here by now...looks like we will finally have an easier time of getting to Kyoto. It's about damn time!" Maria complained, relieved that they wouldn't walk anymore.

Yuki couldn't help but agree, the taxi that they called up in Kyoto should be moving to them now, cutting down the time they would have taken significantly.

All while making sure that they didn't use any supernatural methods to get there, they didn't want to needlessly antagonize the yokai after all.

So hopefully they will be able to explain the situation to the yokai leader, giving Naruto some leeway and ending this little crisis before it could further get out of hand.

She was actually a little hopeful, maybe she wouldn't have to deal with that hero-trained warrior again...

But as she kept moving forward in the hopes of catching their taxi, her hopes were quickly beginning to fade.

"...It's here." Maria whispered besides her, glancing around nervously.

Fog.

"Maria." the hero spoke out with authority. "How far away is the taxi?"

The succubus quickly scrambled her own phone out, scanning the time to better find out where-

"It should be right here..." she mumbled out, eyes scanning the dense fog to see if there was a motorized vehicle in their somewhere.

Both females tried to look through the fog to see if they could find their ride, hoping that it would reach them before their enemies did.

After a moment of silence, the duo saw twin lights break through the mist, catching their attention.

"That's it! It has to be!" the succubus cried, charging forward towards the lights.

Yuki followed shortly after, a bad feeling crawling up the back of her spine.

She had this feeling before, when the last time that this fog appeared, except if anything...it was worse this time.

With that worrying thought present in her mind, the hero kept moving, eventually moving close enough to see the form of the car. As well as the taxi driver, who was glancing around, thoroughly confused.

"Hey-!"

As the succubus tried to call out the driver's attention, the fog surrounded the motorized vehicle from view, thickening to the point that the lights seemingly couldn't pierce through it.

Nevertheless, Maria kept moving forward, remembering where the general direction of the car should be.

She then reached it, causing her to stop in her tracks as she stared at the empty ground.

Gone. It was gone.

"...Where did it go...?" Yuki asked quietly, eyes scanning around as she caught up with the loli.

The car disappeared right in front of their eyes, vanishing into thin air as if it was never really there.

Yuki had no doubt now; the fog definitely had something to do with this.

The fog conveniently appeared when that armored being first attacked them, then it disappeared along with the fog...and now this.

They were interconnected somehow, maybe some sort of teleportation...?

She couldn't ponder the issue further, as a new sound entered her ears, one that immediately made her bad feeling get worse.

The scrape of metal against concrete...

The duo quickly closed the distance between each other, with Maria bringing her fists up and Yuki materializing her katana. Ready for whoever was coming from the fog.

As if alive, the mist slowly rolled back and revealed the dark figure that attacked them the other day, standing stoically still as if it was nothing more than a statue.

"Look Yuki-san." the succubus drawled. "Our stalker is back, maybe he hasn't had enough of us, hm?"

The hero didn't say anything, she only raised her blade higher so that it would point at the mysterious being, refusing to be cowed or to lose focus like last time.

"Who are you? What is your objective? How did you find us?" the human female demanded, voice firm.

The armored warrior was silent, standing stoically in place as if it really was just a statue.

Yuki grit her teeth, lowering her center of gravity in order to pounce-

Clapping.

Random, but consistent clapping echoed around them.

Both females quickly looked around, slightly unnerved by the unreserved clapping, trying to discern where the sound was coming from, as it almost seemed to echo around them.

The hero in particular glanced around, the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach getting worse and worse as the clapping continued to echo.

Nevertheless, she stayed firm externally, her yellow eyes unyielding, as they searched for their potential enemy.

Those eyes would eventually zero in on a spot behind the mysterious warrior, as a form began to coalesce while the mist began to lighten up.

Yuki raised Sakuya higher, making sure her defense was up to prevent any kind of-

The hero froze, the grip on her katana loosened to the point that it almost slipped through her fingers, shock replaced the steel in her eyes.

She could make him out now...it was him.

"No..." Yuki whispered, taking a step back at the visage that appeared in front of her.

Maria chanced a look at her partner for a moment, before looking at the young man that emerged from the fog, walking towards them in a self-assured manner. Still clapping.

The mysterious man eventually walked up right next to the armored warrior, patting it on the shoulder as if it was a pet. Before turning his pitch-black eyes to the two females.

"...It's been a while...Yuki-chan."

The succubus' eyes snapped to the hero besides her, uncertainty dancing in those orbs.

Yuki merely continued to stare at the older man, jaw clenched and eyes stormy, with several emotions flitting through her eyes so fast that Maria couldn't see them.

"...It has...sensei..."

---

Naruto peered into the darkness of the cave, trying to make sure that he didn't crash into a wall and embarrass himself for such a stupid reason.

Meanwhile, Kunou was holding his hand tightly, gripping it to make sure that she didn't lose track of him in this dark cave. She definitely didn't want to get lost in here...

"No worries, kid." the shinobi stated assuredly. "We just have to go a little further."

The smaller blond looked up at the person who helped her so far, gratitude in her eyes. "...Thank you for helping me so far, I honestly don't know what I would have done without you..."

Blue eyes turned to look at her, mirth in those orbs apparent. "I'm sure you would have thought of something, you've got quite the backbone when you need it."

Kunou beamed at that, pride swelling in her chest at the compliment. "Thanks! Kaa-chan always tried to teach me to be strong, for the sake of our faction. So I try."

Suddenly, a shadow descended upon her new friend, as his eyes darkened faintly, and a frown began to taint his usually positive face.

The yokai princess was taken aback. "Uh...I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?"

Naruto blinked and shook his head, trying to get certain thoughts out of his head, before shooting the kyuubi with a wistful smile. "Nothing...it's just that I'm proud that your mother got to taught you some things. Not everyone can say that, you know?"

Kunou tilted her head cutely, unsure what the whiskered teen meant, but accepting it nonetheless.

The two fell silent afterwards, with the older blond focusing on where they should go next as his priority.

"Do you want a kaa-chan!?" Kunou suddenly shouted.

Naruto jumped, caught off guard. "...What?"

The younger blond shifted uncomfortably. "Well...you seemed sad when I talked about my kaa-chan...so...I thought that maybe..."

The shinobi scratched the back of his head, slightly nervous. "Uhh...it isn't quite that simple dattebayo..."

Kunou leaned in, eyes shining brightly. "No! It's fine! You can just spend time with me and kaa-chan! That way you won't be sad anymore!"

Blue eyes widened slightly at that statement, so that's what this was about...

"...Hey kid...honestly, thanks for the suggestion. That was very kind of you." the older blond began gently, patting her head. "But I'm sorry to say that I can't spend too much time in Kyoto, I just came here to talk to your mother about something personal. After that, I gotta head back home and make sure everyone is safe."

Naruto moved his eyes forward again while he was talking, assured that the little girl that he was escorting was still following him since he was still holding her hand.

But, inexplicably, her smaller hand slipped through his fingers.

In response, he quickly turned around, worried that something was wrong.

"...You're...you're just gonna leave? Just like that? So quickly...?"

The shinobi stared at the yokai princess, wary at her shift in demeanor. "What? You expected me to stay here?"

Kunou looked towards the floor, biting her lips in the process. "I just...hoped that you would...you know? Stay with us for a little bit? Maybe a week?"

Even while the little girl was making her plea, the teen started shaking his head. "I can't, I'd like to...if only to dodge more classes. But I have a responsibility to my friends back at Kuoh Town."

As he was speaking, the shinobi went to take the younger blond's hand, grasping it and tugging so that they could continue. He wanted to make sure that they would cover as much ground as possible.

The little kyuubi was silent as she was now hurried along the cavern, watching as the darkness of the cave grow more apparent as they moved further away from the warmth of their campfire...

"...I thought that you were going to protect me..." she whispered, practically silent.

Naruto didn't say anything at first, he kept moving forward, searching for the right words.

"...I am." was all that could come out of his mouth.

Then all of a sudden, he felt Kunou pull at his arm.

"Then why!?" she demanded. "What happened yesterday...I can still feel it...you're the only one that made that feeling go away! So please...!"

She glanced down again with glassy eyes, tiny fists balling up.

"Help me get away from this fear...make me feel normal again..."

The shinobi went stock still, eyes widening at her words.

Of course. Even after getting rid of the accumulated stress of her day yesterday, there was still a...scar. One that wouldn't heal so quickly.

But despite this revelation, there was something else that he focused on. A word that triggered a memory of a time that seems so...long ago.

A vision of long red hair and hopeful pink eyes, that begged to attend school with him...

All to feel normal.

Was this not the same thing? A reprieve for a stressful time in order to live again?

He did it for her...should he not do it for Kunou...?

"Please!" Kunou wailed, hugging his leg desperately.

The little girl kept holding him, refusing to let go, clenching her eyes as she waited for his response.

After a few more moments of silence, she finally got it.

"...Kunou-chan."

Golden eyes snapped open, glancing up at the towering teen with shocked eyes. Did he just...?

"It's kind of funny..." Naruto began, a wistful look in his eye. "Someone had actually asked me to do something similar for them, ya know? It almost seems like a lifetime ago, but the request is practically the same."

The older blond then tilted his head down, looking back at the still-shocked yokai.

"I accepted her request then."

Kunou gasped audibly, lips spreading into a smile, then that means...!

"That being said...I'm sorry, I still can't stay."

Almost as quickly as it came, the smaller blond's smile cracked and fell apart, eyes looking entirely betrayed at the seemingly cruel decision.

She was so taken aback by the young man's words, that she didn't protest the fact that he was pulling her again towards their destination.

Naruto quickly moved forward, they wasted too much time as it was, but it didn't change the fact that he hoped that the kid would understand why he made his decision.

In time, but now wasn't the moment to deal with it.

So the two kept moving forward, deeper into the cave, until they hit a snag.

A big one.

"...Damn it..." the shinobi grumbled, glaring at the route that they were taking, which was suddenly ending in form of a stone wall.

He thought that this was a way out...damn, maybe he should have actually checked.

The shinobi moved to check if there was another way, maybe a hidden entrance like how he got in the first place?

But someone held firm, refusing to budge.

Naruto sighed, looks like he really couldn't leave this for later, huh?

With that, the blond turned around and knelt on one knee, facing the yokai princess. Intent on ending this discussion once and for all.

"Kunou-chan..." Naruto started. "I know that my declination of your wish has upset you, especially since I've accepted something similar from someone else...but there's a reason for this."

The little girl refused to respond, she only surly turned away.

Undaunted, the shinobi continued. "Despite the similarities of the request, the situation surrounding that request was...quite a lot different than yours. So different...that if I helped you actively on this, that I'd be violating one of my principles."

Kunou's eyes snapped back to the teen's, surprised despite the silent treatment that she was giving out.

Before she could ask however, he answered.

"...To put it bluntly, I can't fight this battle for you. I definitely can't fight every battle for you, this is actually for your sake."

...

"Wh-What?" the yokai princes blurted out, breaking her silence. "What the heck does that even mean!?"

Naruto sighed, looking somewhat tired of the question-and-answer session. "It means that if I go ahead and stay to help you get over your fears...I'll be depriving you of some valuable experience. I know this isn't the nicest thing to do, but I'd like to help you only to the point where you can't help yourself. Especially since I believe that you can face this fear that you're carrying."

The shinobi turned his head towards the ceiling, eyes unseeing. "You see...life can be cruel, can throw curve balls, can rip your life out from under you in a single day. That is a fact, no matter how old you are, what gender you are, what race you are. So if someone would help someone else with everything that may hurt them...then how are they supposed to deal with greater pain in the future? How can they become stronger? How can they take life's challenges?"

Kunou stared at the older blond with intensity, watching as he turned around and walked towards the end of the cave.

"...If I can, I want to prepare everyone I care about...prepare them for the harshness of reality, for their own sakes. As for the person that I did help? Well, her circumstances were far more extreme, she was on the run for a long time and was reaching her stress limit. Although she framed it as a question...she needed that reprieve back then."

After a few more seconds of walking, he reached the end of the cave, right in front of the wall.

"The point of all of this, is that stronger people won't always be around to help you solve your problems."

He stared at the wall for a moment, before moving to turn around.

"There are going to be times where you have to face your demons..."

---

"What's wrong, Yuki-chan? Aren't you happy to see your old teacher?" Cao Cao mocked lightly, grinning uncharacteristically.

Yuki didn't respond, she only raised her blade back into a defensive position. Trying to regain some semblance of serenity to fight properly.

Even if it was...him...

She had to...Naruto was counting on her.

She wouldn't fail him. She wouldn't fail someone so precious to her ever again.

---

Naruto turned back to the little kyuubi, with his blue eyes reinforcing how passionate he was about this.

"...And rise above them. Despite the pain that those demons gave you, despite the scars that you still held. Despite it all. Sometimes...you just have to push through."

Kunou couldn't help but hang onto every word, in awe at what was coming out of his mouth. Was this really Naruto...?

This time, the shinobi turned around again, facing the wall and holding his left hand out, bringing his right hand close to it.

"The fact is Kunou-chan...I want you to be able to stand without my support. I want everyone to be able to stand without my support, and I won't be able to do that while everyone is leaning on me all of the time. I want them to grow stronger!"

---

Mio reached the training center again, noticing that, like last time, she wasn't alone.

Almost everyone in the Occult Research club was here, using their free time to train...

The red-head grinned, she couldn't let them get too far ahead now...!

She walked forward, waving as several of her friends happily greeted her when they saw her.

They would all get stronger, in preparation for the future, she had no doubt about that.

---

The yokai princess' eyes focused on the little ball that the older boy had formed in his left hand.

Watched as it brought light to the oppressive darkness that surrounded them.

"...More than anything else...Kunou-chan." Naruto declared, voice confident and stance implacable. "I believe that it isn't my duty to solve everyone's problems, even if I could. No...I'm not going to solve your problem..."

The shinobi brought his left hand back, bringing the small maelstrom of power in his hand to bear.

"...But here's what I'm going to do...!" Naruto roared, swinging his left arm forward and into the wall in front of him.

Kunou quickly crossed her arms over her face, protecting herself from the debris that came flying when the blond smashed the orb into the wall.

She then fell over backwards when a shockwave pushed her back, dust flying everywhere and clouding up the cave.

The little kyuubi coughed thanks to the large amount of dust, only opening her eyes once everything has settled down...

Her golden eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, this was...!

Light.

Naruto's outstretched arm led to a rather large opening in the wall, with the sounds of wildlife becoming more apparent with the hole that was created.

With that hole, came the light of the day, bringing forth illumination into the formerly dank cavern.

The shinobi turned around to look at the little girl, the light embracing him as if he was made from the piercing rays. Especially as Kunou watched in slight awe as the sunlight framed his golden hair like a halo and brought his bright blue eyes to life.

"...I'm going to show you the way forward." was all he said.

All the yokai princess could do was nod.

She believed him.

With that statement made, Naruto held out a hand, an offering.

"But at the very least, I can help you with the problem that you are in no way ready to face. Let's get you back to your mother, shall we?"

Kunou could only grin.

She got up and took the hand.

---

"...Oh my."

Immediately after the traitorous hero made that statement, he opened a single eye and smirked in satisfaction.

It was a split-second, barely noticeable, but it was also unmistakable.

It was Uzumaki, he recognized that energy signal anywhere.

But...now that he was searching for energy signals after all this time, he couldn't help but make an interesting observation...

Didn't this power feel similar to a yokai's chakra?

Not so similar that they would seem like sibling powers...but they did seem to have a passing similarity. He honestly would not have been able to notice if it wasn't for the fact that he was used to sensing yokai, thanks to all of the time he has used up here.

It didn't change the fact that they were still different, just similar. An interesting thing to ponder about.

Nevertheless, he should probably inform Cao Cao and the rest of the faction.

Shiba's face broke out into a grin, he was sure that the hero leader was having a wonderful reunion right now.

---

Maria's eyes were snapping from her human ally to the the mysterious man that appeared from the fog, which began to recede. Uncertain about what was going on, but sure that the man was bad news at the very least.

After the initial round of questions were bandied about, everyone stood perfectly still. Caught in something of a standoff.

Especially between teacher and student.

Cao Cao was grinning, as confident and self-assured as ever. But also interested, curious to see what his erstwhile student would do in this situation.

More importantly, how she would do it.

Yuki for her part, was now giving the older man a look that alternated between anger, fear, wariness, and outright confusion.

After a few more moments of silence, the female hero finally opened her mouth.

"Why are you here..."

The hero suddenly stopped mid-sentence, her mouth opening and closing as if trying to speak but unable to.

"...sensei?" Yuki eventually spat, eyes harsh.

Cao Cao merely smirked. "Why indeed? But let's leave those...'heavy' questions for later, this is a reunion after all. So tell me...how did you get involved with Uzumaki?"

The young female frowned, eyes narrowed into slits. "...Answer my questions first, then I'll consider yours."

"...Hm? It seems that you've become more defiant after all of this time." the hero leader muttered, interested. "Is that confidence? Or simply enmity? More than that...your eyes have changed since the last time I've spoken to you..."

"I'm not the same person as that little girl that you took under your wing." the female hero ground out. "Nor am I the same as the girl that you selfishly left behind. I've changed for the better."

The hero leader tilted his head, increasingly interested, fishing for answers. "...You are different, aren't you? You're not the well-adjusted little girl that I met or the bitter little girl that I left behind. I even heard that you increasingly became extremely distant over time...but you're not like that right now. If anything, you're more like what you were when we first met."

Cao Cao's dark eyes locked with his former student's yellow ones.

"...The question is then, why did you change?"

Yuki kept her eyes locked with her former sensei, refusing to show weakness, refusing to show how much he was getting to her.

So she stayed silent.

A brief moment of quiet descended upon them again, with the two willful individuals challenging one another through their increasingly darker glares.

Until Cao Cao finally broke it.

"...Did it have anything to do with Uzumaki?"

Yuki's facial features flinched imperceptibly, completely unnoticeable to almost anyone else.

But the former member of the Hero Tribe did.

Ah...he understood.

"Well then, this is a very interesting turn of events. I'll make sure to get all of the details once I speak to him."

The moment he made that claim, yellow eyes flared, lips revealed bared teeth, and Yuki's face twisted into anger.

"Don't you touch him!"

Maria bit her lip as she continued to watch the events unfold in front of her. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to intervene in such a charged and personal conversation. But it was becoming obvious that her partner was quickly losing her cool.

Meanwhile, Cao Cao began feigning ignorance for a moment, giving her an easy-going grin.

"Oh come now, don't be upset. Your friend is already falling into a trap that my comrades set up, so it's not like I'll be doing anything to him."

The young hero's form went rigid, a trap!?

Her hand twitched as they sought to move to her pocket, where her phone was, if she could just inch her hand slowly to it and contact her friend...

The succubus heard her partner gasp, forcing her to twist her head to see what happened-

She froze, eyes wide as she saw the older man bent close to the female hero, arm securing hers as they aimed for her pocket. When did he...?

Cao Cao smirked at the thoroughly shocked look of his former student, before leaning closer to her and placing his face near her ear.

"There'll be none of that." was all he whispered.

Yellow eyes widened in fury, as the owner snarled and brought her katana towards the man who dared-!

The hero leader immediately backed up from her, retreating back to his ever-loyal servant that stayed still for the entire conversation. "My, quite jumpy are we?"

Yuki only glowered at the black-haired man in response. "...Don't. Touch. Me."

Cao Cao shrugged, raising his hands in the air as if guilty, humoring her. "Very well. But I still can't allow you to alert our blond friend, now can I? But don't worry, I have a solution to our dilemma."

The young man then spread his arms apart, as if inviting someone to hug him. "I am very curious to see how well you've grown you see. So I'm willing to compromise on the issue by giving you the chance to contact him...if you defeat my apprentice."

Yuki's eyes traveled to the dark warrior, who was staying completely silent, even now.

Maria, finally finding a way to jump in, leapt at the opportunity. "We accept! If we work together, then we can totally-!"

"No." the hero leader interjected calmly. "Not the both of you...just Yuki-chan. If you do try to intervene their fight however...then I'm afraid that you'll have to deal with me."

The succubus took a step back, alarmed. "T-That's..."

"Maria-san."

Maria glanced at her partner carefully, reading the grim determination that laced her features.

"...You're going to take his offer? Is that a smart idea?" the half-devil questioned, frowning.

"It isn't." Yuki admitted. "But the alternative is worse. We simply cannot afford to take on my old teacher...we would be crushed. Especially if he has that weapon with him..."

The succubus' face scrunched up, annoyed.

"...That's not all however." the young hero said after a few moments of contemplation.

Yuki straightened her back, eyes still tumultuous when facing the self-assured hero leader. Fists clenching around the hilt of her trusty blade, the katana that would get her through this...

"I want to beat him in his own game. I want him to see that I've moved past him, that I've become a hero beyond his expectations!" the female hero declared, taking a step forward and allowing a green aura to envelope her form.

She emerged from the fierce energy donned with a hero's armor, cross-hairs in her yellow pupils, Sakuya ready to fight.

Cao Cao could only grin, bringing his hand up, aimed towards the sky. "Interesting~! Now...show me how much of a hero you've become! Show me whether your definition of 'hero' is greater than my own! Show me your resolve!"

With that said, the hero leader swung his hand down, pointing at his former student.

"Go."

The black figure immediately obeyed, charging forward and bringing forth it's large sword.

Yuki brought her katana forward, charging forward to meet the anonymous being in a contest of steel.

Their clash of blades echoed across the forested field.

---

Naruto was piggybacking his little friend, glancing around momentarily to make sure that they weren't in the middle of an ambush. Damn, he hasn't been this cautious in a while.

Kunou for her part was also looking around worriedly, that attack that he blatantly used to get them out of the cave...she felt it's latent power. The energy.

It was like chakra...but more, so much more.

The energy that was flowing through her body, it felt like something similar to his...but his felt more...alive.

Vibrant, not just in quantity, but in quality.

It was weird!

There wasn't a power that was like chakra, right? Not that she knew of...

The little yokai huffed, annoyed that the blond that was carrying her was more confusing than she initially thought. More than that, he had a penchant for saying really good things out of nowhere...

He was weird.

"...Why do I suddenly want to throw you off my back?" Naruto grouched, glaring at the kyuubi through the side of his eye.

Kunou immediately looked away, sweating lightly. How did he know?

The shinobi kept glaring at the yokai princess for a little longer, before turning back to what was in front of him.

"Kunou-chan, how long do you think it will take for your people to find us?" he eventually asked, eyes scanning their surroundings.

The little kyuubi plopped her head on top of his golden spiky hair, thinking. "Hmm...not sure, but I think that they would have found us soon after you broke us out of the cave. By the way, why did you do that? I thought you wanted to stay hidden?"

Maybe he had some kind of elaborate plan in the works? Some way to make sure that the yokai that her mother sent would listen?

Naruto twitched, moving his head to flash the younger girl a shaky smile.

"I sort of acted without thinking...I was caught in the moment, ya know? I actually didn't even know that breaking through the wall would break us out."

Kunou deadpanned. Seriously?

He was so confusing...

Naruto's eyes snapped away from Kunou, turning to the sky as a mysterious form flew overhead.

Now that looked familiar.

"Looks like they found us." the shinobi pointed out blandly.

The yokai princess looked up as well, before shifting her head to the forestry around them. If that karasu-tengu was there, then...

A roar reverberated across the forest, gaining both of their attention spectacularly.

"Not that thing again..." Naruto couldn't help but groan, remembering that creature and it's ridiculous tail.

The duo stayed at their current position and waited for the yokai to reach them, both entirely sure that they'd be alright.

Well...Naruto was, Kunou was just trusting that he would have a good idea to keep them safe.

To be honest, he really didn't.

Soon afterwards, several yokai emerged from the general surroundings, moving towards them threateningly and with ill intent.

The whiskered teen regarded them cautiously, making sure that the yokai princess was in full view over his head, hoping that they would notice.

Eventually they did.

"Ah...! It's Kunou-sama! She's awake!" the crow-like yokai from above shrieked, moving closer to the two as it made that observation.

Immediately, the hostile atmosphere dissipated, shifting to confusion at the knowledge that their kidnapped princess wasn't trying to escape her supposed 'kidnapper'.

Kunou quickly utilized the lull in hostility. "Everyone! Please listen to me before you do anything!"

As expected, everyone attention focused thoroughly on the yokai princess, latching onto her words after several days of absence. To many, she was very much like their daughter or younger sister.

The kyuubi kept going, trying to keep the momentum up. "I'm sorry for worrying all of you, but there has been a huge misunderstanding! You see...this young man was the one who actually saved me from my kidnappers! Not the one that actually attacked me!"

Several gasps came from the yokai group, audibly expressing their disbelief at the situation. It was almost fantastical.

Yet here their princess was, telling them to stand down...

Meanwhile, Naruto decided to stay quiet during this little bit, allowing for the young girl to make her case without his input. She could convince them better than he ever could.

However, it was while he was letting her speak that a new phenomenon emerged, something that subtly put him on edge.

Fog.

There was a slightly dense fog that was rolling in, getting thicker as it began to surround them.

Kunou continued as the weather condition got more serious, ignoring it for now. "I understand that some of you have concerns over my present state of mind as well, but don't worry. My resistance as a kyuubi is strong, so unless I begin acting strange...that should be enough of a reason to figure out that I'm still me."

As she spoke, mutters began to rise out of the group of yokai, the karasu-tengu watching from above to continued to observe the situation in uncertainty.

But as the yokai continued to watch, a heavy weight smashed into it's side, throwing it into the forest and hiding it from view.

The mist had become so thick that no one noticed, but the shinobi did get a growing feeling of unease as time progressed.

"So please...believe me, help me get back to Kyoto, and clear my savior's name!" Kunou declared more than asked, bowing her head infinitesimally to her rescue party.

Now the muttering ended, giving the little yokai time to actually try and gauge her people's reaction.

She didn't have to.

Among the group, a single yokai moved forward, moving towards the twin blondes with intent, it's eyes sharp and it's canines vicious.

Naruto's eyes took in the large creature, it had to be the one with the snake tail, didn't it? Couldn't just be a nice and friendly little one?

The creature, the nue if the shinobi remembered right, walked up to them, before inclining it's head and moving one it's large tiger-like paws in front of the other. Bending it's knees and closing it's eyes.

It bowed to them, acquiescing.

As if a signal had been made, the other yokai also made to bow, deferring to their precious princess.

Both blondes let loose a sigh of relief, they managed to convince them-

"Guh...!"

Naruto's heart sank, suspicions confirmed as he heard a wet gasp, as well as the sick sound of metal impaling flesh.

They weren't alone.

All eyes moved back to the back of the yokai group, several creatures falling down with weapons sticking out of them, their wielders right behind them.

It took all of a second for Naruto to bellow what everyone was thinking.

"Ambush!" he shouted.

Chaos immediately erupted after that declaration.

The whiskered teen didn't do anything immediately after his shout, opting to debate the pros and cons of staying to fight and risk Kunou or to leave.

Though the fact that he didn't notice them until they were right there disturbed him a little...it was like that freak from the forest a while ago.

The nue that bowed to them turned around to assess the situation, watching as it's comrades rallied and charged the humans. Obviously intent on crushing their new enemies.

Then it saw the blond human place their princess down, obviously intent on joining the battle after making his decision.

"No!" the creature roared out, turning it's fierce eyes towards the young man in protest.

Naruto stopped for a moment, eyes uncertain. "...Why? Don't you want my help?"

The nue shook it's large head, turning it's eyes to the little kyuubi. "Our duty is to protect the princess...and you wish to exonerate yourself, right? Well then do me a favor; go. Take the princess to Kyoto where she will be safe. She's the objective for our enemies, we must not allow her to fall to their hands. Especially since..."

The creature lowered it's head for a moment, cutting itself off, despite the sounds of conflict around them due to the battle at hand.

"...Especially since her mother has left Kyoto to rescue her."

The shinobi's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "What!? What do you mean!?"

The nue turned to regard the human, eyes cool for the first time that Naruto saw them.

"We sensed you due to your strange power, human. Do you truly think, especially when we're so close to Kyoto, that Yasaka-sama wouldn't come to retrieve her daughter herself?"

Blue eyes blinked, understanding the situation quickly. Silently acquiescing to the yokai's point.

They both had their duties in this case.

However...

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

Several eruptions of smoke later, and suddenly a small army of clones surrounded the blond, shocking the nue and anyone else that was watching.

"...A parting gift." was all the teenaged boy said, as he turned around and picked up the young yokai, making a break for it towards Kyoto.

Several clones followed, intent on backing up the boss in case there were anymore tricks up these assholes' sleeves. With one breaking off silently to go and hide.

The rest?

"Reinforce the yokai! Save as many as you can!" one clone ordered out, charging to help their new allies as the rest followed in with roars of approval.

The nue could only let loose a sharp grin, the kid wasn't so bad after all!

It joined the battle soon afterwards.

Meanwhile, Naruto held Kunou tightly behind him, jumping away the second he made his parting gift. Flanked by several clones, knowing full damn well that the kid he was holding was the real target.

The question was, was this really it? The ambush? These strange human's attempt at getting Kunou-chan?

It felt too easy...unfortunately.

Though the screams and sick sounds of flesh getting cut open helped belay that notion, especially since they only grew in frequency and volume despite the fact that he was making some space between the two groups.

Kunou, with all of the hectic decisions that was made in such short notice, was entirely silent, watching the devastation behind them as they moved away, eyes wide in horror.

"Naruto!" she cried out, trying to wiggle out of his grip after a second of hesitation. "What are you doing!? We have to go help!"

The shinobi could only shake his head, eyes flitting around the thick fog. "We can't! The nue was right, it's my job to keep you safe! I won't put you in danger by staying to fight, let them do their jobs so that we can help later! No worries, I left some clones to help out. They will be alright!"

The yokai princess could only stop moving, golden eyes clenched shut at the sounds of fighting that was finally beginning to recede.

Just when she thought that she made a difference...

"Boss! Move!" a clone screamed.

Kunou yelped as both blondes were bodily pushed away from an incoming barrage of ice, impaling the blond copy that pushed them away from the attack.

Naruto grit his teeth, eyes wide.

He didn't even sense that until it was too late to move...

He had no idea why he couldn't sense them before, but he at least had a rough idea on who was attacking him and how to counter.

Humans again, thanks to their subtle lack of energy signals.

As for how he knew where they were? Well...

"Heya! Sieg-kun! We found him~! This onee-san wants to kill him already~!" cried a female voice, suspiciously chipper in tone.

"Tell him to hurry up, or I'll just have to kill him before any of you even get to fight him!" roared another voice, this one just filled to the brim with confidence.

...Their killing intent was palpable.

Blue eyes scanned the area around himself, noting that the fog was still thick.

Good, he'd use it to his advantage to keep the little kyuubi safe.

"Boss." a clone muttered beside him, giving the original blond a look.

Yeah, he knew.

The yokai princess looked at the identical teens nervously, unsure of what they were about to-

She let out a way-too-loud yelp as the group of humans surged forward as a group, using their greater numbers as an advantage, moving at similar speeds as their original.

---

Maria watched in faint trepidation as the two warriors clashed their weapons together, red visor against yellow with cross-hairs.

The moment that they clashed together, Yuki made to sidestep the new apprentice of Cao Cao before it could really utilize the full strength of it's legs to push her back.

The movement allowed for her to take advantage of the momentum that her katana had when forced backwards to twirl around and force her blade to the warrior's unprotected back.

However, the mysterious being brought one of it's gauntlets out, obviously intent on catching the sharp edge of her sword in the confines of it's fist.

It was as she was finishing her twirl and moving Sakuya to attack, that her head faced the dark figure's head in passing.

As did her True Sight.

The same second that her eyes connected with the dark figure's, was the same second that her movements became more swift. Giving her the chance to shift her weapon's trajectory over the awaiting hand and onto...

A sharp *clang* echoed around them, signaling that a strike has been made.

Cao Cao could only grin, amused.

Yuki simply grit her teeth, staring at her katana.

But more importantly, looking at the armor which it crashed against.

She cracked the armor, but only that, there was no damage done whatsoever to the person inside.

Yuki determined that her current position was impractical, her close proximity made it difficult for her to move around. So she made to temporarily retreat so that she could-

A fist quickly grabbed her by her form-fitting top, lifting her from the ground and over the dark figure's shoulder's.

Ah...

Before throwing her into the forestry, smashing her against a tree without mercy.

The young hero gasped as she hit the large plant hard enough to nearly knock it off of it's roots, causing her to see stars.

She managed to recover quickly however, as a vicious swipe forced her to push herself to the ground before it managed to catch her neck in the attack.

The overhead attack easily cut through the wood cleanly. Giving her a small window to move out of the way before the warrior hit her properly, with unpleasant results no doubt.

Yuki efficiently sprinted away from the armored being, moving away from her downed position to make some space between the two combatants.

Good thing too, as the warrior attempted to swing their blade around in an arc to catch young human, but only narrowly missed the shot due to the running start she had.

Although because of the dodge, the attack would hit the ground instead, bringing up a lot of dust into the air and clouding the area up.

The young hero stopped once she made enough distance, eyes scanning the artificial cloud, she needed a clean shot...

Almost as if on cue, a green blur broke through the cloud, heading straight towards her at breakneck speeds.

Yuki allowed for a green aura to envelop her katana, before swinging it down in an arc to produce a vicious green wave that sped towards the blur, intent on catching her enemy by surprise.

Indeed, the two blurs did clash, but now that the blur got closer, she noticed in rising shock that the blur was...

Another green wave, one that only heroes knew...!

"Cao Cao...!" the hero couldn't help but growl, furious that he would go so far to teach that move!

But she didn't have time to worry about that, as a looming shadow began to move towards her quickly.

Yellow eyes turned to the sky, seeing her shadow fall towards her, causing her to spread her legs as she prepared to move from her position in short notice.

As expected, the armored warrior came sailing down upon her, using that attack from before as a way to distract her for a surprise attack.

So Yuki quickly backed up a little bit, making sure that the metallic apprentice of her former sensei would be too far to hit her, but close enough to counterattack the moment it landed.

Except that it didn't work out like that.

The mysterious being instead covered their broadsword with a green aura, before slashing it towards her position.

The female human quickly brought her blade up, catching the errant attack before it could reach her, but still pushing her towards the ground with it's force. Causing her feet to begin to crack through the ground due to the pressure.

She could only grit her teeth in frustration, there went her plan...

While she was temporarily preoccupied with that, the armored warrior actually smashed it's blade onto the ground, using it as a stopgap and then as a makeshift pole to launch itself straight towards the young human.

Yuki only just destroyed the wave that was sent against her, leaving a clean shot to her body as her former sensei's apprentice raised a metallic fist to do immense damage to her person.

She could only raise her left arm for defense.

*Crack*

The hero bit back a yelp as she felt something break in her arm, but was unable to do anything about it as she was sent crashing across the ground, sliding away in a rolling heap before hitting another tree. This time, knocking it off of it's roots.

Except, due to the angle that she hit it, it became obvious that she would be in it's falling trajectory.

With this in mind, she grit her teeth, tucked her left arm to her chest, and rolled out of the way. Hearing the unique sound of a tree falling down where she once laid.

She could only groan at the turn of events, this wouldn't be easy...that's for sure.

---

The young traitor of the Hero Tribe sighed as he continued to sense the ebb and flow of battle close to Kyoto, making sure to keep his 'eye' on the important players.

As of now, the strike force was engaging the yokai group, as well as several copies of the 'unknown variable'...

Shiba couldn't help but smirk, boy...did he live up to that name.

Speaking of which, the blond wonder himself has begun his engagement of the some of the most powerful heroes in the Hero Faction, ambushing him.

Although it was a shame that Georg's last-second teleportation to Uzumaki's location didn't allow for a quick win...those clones of his saved him. A shame.

As for their brave leader? Well it seemed that he was enjoying spending quality time with his old apprentice.

The young man then revealed a red slit eye, suddenly serious.

...Looks like new players were entering the board.

Ah...but they were expected anyways, so it wasn't anything serious.

Nevertheless, he should contact Cao Cao, he would definitely want to know about this movement.

Shiba also needed to know when he should release control of his monster, especially if he wanted to control someone else...he could only do so much after all.

His senses shifted back to Uzumaki, a bright light of power still burning bright.

He wondered how much that light could take before it was snuffed...?

---

Naruto surged forward with the rest of his clones, intent on breaking through this human-made blockade.

As expected, there were at least two humans laying in wait, with presumably one more incoming.

Thanks to their great numbers and their identical appearances however, he had no trouble getting through. Their presence alone shocking his enemies into stopping to watch.

Heh! He knew that he was too good for these bastards!

"Uh...um!" Kunou attempted to talk.

Not now, kid! He was basking in his own brilliance! Let him have his victory!

The yokai princess didn't listen to his mental commands however, and continued to look agitated as she tried to spit out what she wanted to say.

Then she managed it.

"Well...! Aren't we different from the other clones?" the kyuubi asked, genuinely confused on what the plan was.

The shinobi blinked.

"...Oh shit..."

This abrupt realization came at a pretty bad time as well.

"Hahahaha! You really are an idiot, aren't ya!? You're the only one holding our target after all! Well, that's alright! I like idiots like you!" a boisterous voice claimed as they moved onto the blondes.

Naruto groaned as a large man charged him from behind, raising a large fist to hit him with.

Right behind him was a young woman with a sword brandished, covered in ice and about to swing at his direction.

Well fine then! He would just have to try to use his training back at Rias' place to full effect!

Naruto dug his hand into his back pouch, grabbing several stars to utilize quickly.

But he added a little something into them.

"Catch!" the shinobi declared, jumping ahead and then twisting around to swing several shuriken at his opponents.

Heracles smirked as several metal stars were sent towards him, throwing his fist at the metallic objects so that they would get blown away by his fists!

As expected, the man's fist blew up the metal stars.

"Gah!"

Naruto smirked as he landed on his feet and kept moving forward, the idiot fell for it.

As the shuriken moved past the hulking brute, it moved towards the female hero who was following shortly after him.

Jeanne responded quickly, using her sword to create a storm of frosty wind, quickly freezing up all that was in it's path, aiming for the deadly weapons that were heading towards her.

Except that they weren't stopping.

The young hero's eyes narrowed as she saw her icy wind begin to freeze up the star, but how it kept getting ripped apart before it could settle.

Almost as if something was protecting it.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that her fellow blond's throw was obviously weakened by his awkward angle, it was still heading towards her fast.

So she stabbed her sword into the ground, creating several walls of ice, using it as a shield against the dangerous weapons.

The wall of ice didn't work.

Jeanne ducked the second that she heard the harsh crunching sound of ice getting ripped apart, barely moving out the way in time.

As they passed by though, she did hear the sound of sharp whistling.

Wind.

"Aha!" she declared, standing up once the danger has passed. "You can't fool this onee-chan~! I found your little trick!"

Heracles was just gritting his teeth as he glared heatedly at the blond that was moving away from them, all while covered in minor cuts and deep gashes. "Damn him...!"

Jeanne ignored the furious man, instead opting to tap her ear and contact their other partner. "Sieg-kun? Yeah...turns out that our friend is heading to you now! So...maybe we can have a party there instead?"

She went silent, listening to the other line for a moment, before smiling.

"Roger that! We're gonna catch 'em! No worries!" she chirped, before cutting off the connection.

"Hey, hey...Hera-kun! We are gonna hang out with Sieg-kun now, is that ok?"

Heracles growled in response, eyes still on the receding irritant.

Jeanne could only grin. They still had one more player to use, that hadn't revealed themselves yet.

Meanwhile, the blond duo continued to make their way to Kyoto, hoping that they would intercept the yokai matriarch along the way.

"...Hey, they seem to be giving up the chase." Naruto pointed out, confused, but also unwilling to question their good fortune.

Kunou was also watching for enemy attacks from the humans, wary that they were let go so easily.

Then, almost as if he somehow predicted it, the yokai princess felt her protector swerve to the right, dodging a fierce volley of magic missiles that nearly hit them from the front.

Naruto held the little girl firmly, barely moving fast enough to swiftly sidestep, duck, and jump over several magic missiles, all of which were fired from some shrubbery that hid the attacker.

The shinobi quickly retaliated by digging a free hand into his pouch, grabbing some shuriken and enhancing it with wind chakra. Intending to throw the more powerful projectiles to end the battle quickly.

He quickly went ahead and did so, flinging the razor-sharp weapons where the magic attacks were originating from.

The attacks ceased the moment that the weapons sailed towards that position, shredding everything apart the second that they passed through.

The teenaged boy stopped moving for a split-second to scan the area where his enemy once was, he didn't hear anyone getting hurt or moving...just gone.

Also, when the hell was this mist supposed to subside!? It was seriously annoying!

Naruto then felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

The shinobi twisted about to face the magic missiles that were streaming towards him from behind, the same ones from before no less.

This time, the teen was forced to back up quickly, buying some time to grab a kunai from his pouch and cover it with wind chakra.

Then, with quick and deft hands, he began to swipe and parry all of the quick magic shots that were set against them, refusing to let any of these ethereal attacks get close to the yokai princess.

Once more, the volley ended prematurely, with the shooter disappearing into the mist like a ghost. As if his attacked never existed.

Naruto glanced about himself, cautiously waiting for the inevitable attack to-

"Ha!"

Blue eyes snapped to the sky, widening as he saw a silver-haired man raise his large sword and swing it towards the ground-

"Shit!" the shinobi growled as he moved Kunou -much to her discomfort- around to a bridal carry and tucked her close to him. Before rolling out of the way with a mere second to spare.

The moment that the sharp blade hit the ground, all hell broke loose, much to the blond's rising annoyance.

Immediately after contact, the sword created a massive crater with it as it's epicenter, one that obliterated the forestry around them and forcefully pushed the shinobi away with it's incredible force.

The best he could do was tuck and roll to make sure that his fellow blond didn't get hurt.

Naruto indeed rolled onto the floor, only stopping after he slowed down enough to forcefully push his hand to the ground to utilize as a brake.

Not even a few seconds afterwards, a large shadow enveloped his form, with an overbearing figure raising it's fist to bring forth onto the vulnerable teen.

Again, he managed to push himself out of the way, but due to the short notice, he was only able to use the hand that was already on the floor to push himself.

So when an explosion rocked him as he moved out of the way, his loose grip on the little girl under his arm allowed for Kunou to tumble out of his hands. Separating the two from one another.

The blond tried to rectify the situation, but once more, he was cut off.

An icy wind blew onto him, which literally began to form ice on his clothes and to slow his movements significantly.

"D-Damn it!" he couldn't help but snarl out, this wasn't good...!

"Well, well, well...looks like we finally caught him." a young masculine voice drawled, approaching him from the side.

Siegfried moved closer to the nearly frozen ninja, studying him as if he was an exhibit from an expensive museum. "So...you're Uzumaki Naruto? The unknown variable? I have to admit, I didn't quite expect for you to go down quite so...easily."

Naruto merely returned with a toothy grin. "I'd like to see you do better with a kid to protect."

The right-hand man of Cao Cao inclined his head to accept the point. "I suppose even the most powerful would have trouble in such circumstances, what with Georg's use of his Sacred Gear and all."

As he spoke, a young bespectacled young man emerged from the ruined forest, wiping off the dust from his robe.

Blue eyes widened. "You! But...I thought that-!"

"That this was the last time that you'd ever have to deal with me?" Georg finished, a self-depreciating smile touching his lips. "You should know that life doesn't work like that."

Another human walked closer to the small group, but moved to the little kyuubi on the ground. "Welp~! It's about time that we grab our mission! Cao Cao asked us to do it after all, right? This onee-chan wants to keep her good reputation!"

Jeanne leaned to the unconscious girl, lightly grabbing her underarms to pick her up and-

*POOF*

The human female blinked as the young girl popped into nothingness, confused and horrified.

What the heck!?

All eyes quickly turned to the blond that was partially frozen, who had a massive shit-eating grin on his face.

"Come on now, did you really think it's be that easy?" Naruto asked rhetorically, looking about as smug as one would expect.

*POOF*

Then he exploded into a cloud of smoke, disappearing.

...

"Damn him!" Heracles roared, gnashing his teeth.

Siegfried stared at the position where their enemy once stayed, a slow smirk growing on his face.

"Well then...this is much better."

Jeanne walked closer to the silver-haired young man, pouting. "Shoot, it seems he tricked us. How did he do that though? This onee-chan is confused~!"

He wish he knew, but there was one thing he could be relatively sure of.

He wasn't far from them.

It was during that time that the earpiece in Siegfried's ear buzzed, grabbing his attention.

"Hello? Shiba? What's going on?" the young man asked, sensing something wrong.

He stayed silent as the other line spoke, widening his eyes after a moment.

"What's wrong Sieg-kun? Bad news?" Jeanne inquired, curious.

Siegfried turned off the earpiece once he was done, glancing at his comrades. "We have a position on our target again, follow me there so that we could finish this. But first..."

Several fast projectiles shot out of the woods near them, ripping across the air towards them at furious speeds.

The silver-haired man grinned sharply as he turned around, Twice Critical activating and then...taking it even further...!

Balance Breaker! Chaos Edge-Asura Ravage!

Four arms grew out of his back, with one of them holding another blade...

Before impaling it into the ground.

"Dáinsleif!" Siegfried roared, calling upon the demon sword's power.

Immediately, a massive pillar of ice emerged from the ground, one that took the metal stars, barely stopping them despite the sheer size of the pillar.

"...First we take out the trash." the descendant of the original Siegfried finished.

Heracles grunted, taking a step forward. "Fine by me, I want to relieve some stress anyways. There's no way that these fists won't crush him!"

Jeanne beamed in agreement. "I want to kill some of those weird copies too~! Let's all kill him, together!"

Georg stayed silent, he just studiously watched as several of their enemy's copies emerged from the woods, ready to fight.

They didn't waste any time. As the corporeal copies surged forward, with some bearing sharp objects on their hands.

The clones crashed against Siegfried first, who had brought out a few more demonic blades for his other arms, making five in total.

'Naruto' had two kunai out, wind coating them as he set them against the six-armed warrior.

Two demonic swords were swung down by the silver-haired hero, with the blond copy catching them with his own enhanced metal knives.

*CLANG*

'Naruto' grit his teeth as the powerful swords pushed his feet a couple of feet deeper into the ground, obliterating a huge chunk of ground from right under them, leaving them in a crater.

Siegfried quickly disengaged his two swords, grinning wildly as his other arms began to swing the other weapons at their enemy in successive blows.

The clone reacted quickly, catching the sharp objects before they reached him by knocking them away from their trajectory, making sure to glance them instead of take their full brunt.

However, it became quickly apparent that these swords of his had special abilities that the clone wanted no part of.

Every time 'Naruto' managed to knock a sword away, he only knocked it's effect away from him, he never stopped them from actually happening.

So when he batted away the hero's Gram, there was an inevitable explosion of dust and dirt that ricocheted from the ground where the sword hit.

As the sharp echoing rings of weapons clashing continued, completely unabated, large pillars of ice began to pierce the ground around them, and vicious whirlwinds formed around them, buffeting them with it's fierce power.

Other blond copies joined in during the confusion, attacking the group of humans to keep them off the boss' tail.

They won't get past them that easily!

---

'Naruto' landed at a relatively well-hidden grove, receiving the memories of the clones that he sent out.

Alright, good time to release the henge.

*POOF*

An explosion of smoke erupted at his position, covering the two individuals that were covered by the jutsu.

"Whew...! Looks like my idea worked. They didn't suspect a thing until it was too late." the shinobi noted, grinning at the little girl besides him.

Kunou was looking around, completely dazed. "W-What did you do? That was...that was weird..."

Naruto rubbed the yokai princess' head. "Sorry, it was kind of in short notice, I just had to use the mist to our advantage to fool those bastar- uh...jerks. It's called a konbi henge (combination transformation), which made us look like we were just one person. Pretty useful, huh?"

The little kyuubi couldn't disagree with that.

Naruto then plopped down onto the ground, relaxing. "Alright then, all we gotta do now is wait."

Kunou frowned at that, leaning in. "Huh? Why? We got away, right? Why not try to go to Kyoto or maybe even find okaa-sama along the way?"

A indulgent sigh was her first response, much to her slight annoyance.

"Kid...don't you find it suspicious that these guys found us in the middle of a thick mist? How easy they pinpointed us? The problem is, even if we lose them for a little bit...they will probably just pull another disappearing act and attack us when we're distracted. So I'm planning on ending this fight before we keep going."

The yokai princess nodded slowly, made sense. It was pretty weird how easily these people kept finding them.

But...why wait here then? Why not just go and face them?

These questions were bandied about in her head, as her golden eyes bored into her protector's skull.

Yet he simply stayed still, waiting.

She huffed finally, relaxing back onto the tree that she arbitrarily chose as hers.

She honestly didn't get it, but she trusted him. So no need to go out of her way to prod Naruto for answers.

A few minutes passed in silence, with the sound of battle echoing from somewhere relatively far away.

Then, almost out of nowhere, Naruto stood back up, stretching his limbs.

Kunou stared at him, transfixed.

He didn't...look different, but he was. He was.

She couldn't really put a finger on it, but he had a new...aura. A feeling that surrounded him in such a way that it changed him, but it was still subtle.

Naruto turned to her, grinning, with toad-like eyes and orange pigmentation around them.

"I sent a clone to send me some extra power when we first left the yokai search group, he just finished now. Now...I'm gonna go beat everyone up, alright?" the shinobi asked, a cheeky smile on his face.

The yokai princess blinked, if anything more confused than before.

But she still believed him, she had nothing to fear.

"Got it. Go get 'em! Naruto!" Kunou declared, raising a small fist into the air.

A confident thumbs up was her answer.

---

Yuki was knelt against a tree, head peeking out of her cover to help determine where her adversary went.

She needed to find a way to win this without her left arm now...which meant no more sword locks, it was a battle that she couldn't win now.

But she couldn't think of anything...there had to be something...!

...What would Naruto do?

Yellow eyes blinked.

...That actually gave her an idea.

She'd have to thank Naruto later.

Immediately after this epiphany, a harsh amount of killing intent hit her and gave her the good sense to roll out of the way from the tree. Right before it was cut vertically in half.

The dark warrior was back, and obviously intending to finish her off this time.

But hopefully...just maybe...she had a way to cut her enemy down to size. She just had to play her cards right.

The hero raised her katana up with her right arm, eyes narrowed as she regarded her adversary, making sure to glare right at the red visor.

Both combatants went silent for a moment, contemplating and sizing up the other for battle.

Then the dark figure made the first move, charging forward in zeal and swinging it's blade horizontally at the human's torso.

Yuki responded quickly, utilizing Sakuya to catch the broadsword at the bottom and swinging upwards, redirecting the attack so that it would reach her neck instead.

She already made to lean back while she was doing this, barely avoiding the attack that was set against her.

Chance!

The moment that the attack went by, she leaned back in and moved forward, intent on getting under her opponent's guard to counterattack.

But that was foiled quickly when the warrior twisted it's sword hand, swinging the blade so that it would make an arc and prevent the hero from moving closer lest she take serious damage.

A makeshift shield.

Yuki opted to back up again instead, using the fact that the warrior's maneuver required for it to stay still to work.

Once the dark figure noticed her movement, it stopped spinning it's weapon to give chase, idly noting that she was moving behind a couple of trees for temporary cover.

It decided to use this, swinging it's broadsword to cut through the trees easily without effort, feeling a pang of disappointment when it didn't feel flesh get ripped apart.

Then it saw harsh yellow eyes emerge from the series of stumps, connecting with it's own under the visor, swinging the weapon in her hand which had a green aura surrounding-

The warrior growled as it's left arm caught the violent green wave, making the large cracks that were already present even worse than before.

As it the mysterious being was distracted, Yuki closed the distance between the two, ducking under the figure's guard and bringing her blade in towards the damaged armor.

She aimed her katana at the crack, impaling it with vicious force and pushing with all the strength that her arms and legs could muster, eyes locked onto the visor.

But now that she was up close...she could see.

She could see.

Green eyes stare back at her.

---

Cao Cao watched the final stage of the fight with a smirk, thoroughly pleased.

She has grown well, he was sure that she'd be a nobody but...

"It seems you've surpassed my expectations, Yuki-chan..." he couldn't help but say.

Her eyes especially has surpassed what he expected, he left those eyes broken and embittered, but now they're firm and practical.

Wasn't this what he wanted? Wasn't this what he sought?

To test the limits of humanity?

Even if she became physically powerful, her eyes would still have been merely a fraction to what they were in the beginning, what with the loss of her original family and all.

Yet here she was.

How much would it take until she broke again? What were her new limits?

"What are you up to?"

The sudden question broke through his musings, pushing him to turn his head just enough to glance at the devil that interrupted him.

"Hm? Whatever do you mean?" he asked sarcastically, a sly smile growing on his face.

Maria glared at the human male, eyes narrowing. "You know what I mean! What are you planning!?"

Cao Cao shrugged helplessly, nonchalant. "I'll tell you this, I don't have something planned for Yuki-chan. But I do have other plans in motion...you simply don't know about them yet."

The succubus watched the older-looking male suspiciously, before she turned to her comrade with worried eyes.

The hero leader eyed the female devil that was floating beside him, curious, then coolly disregarding her.

They were both in an elevated position, looking down on the battle that moved deeper into the forest. With himself standing on a tree branch while she stayed floating near him on her devil wings.

All thoughts ceased again as he tapped his ear, listening to a voice that was giving him a warning.

His eyes widened, his plan was underway.

"I see...very well then, I will be there shortly. Also...cut him off of your Sacred Gear...he isn't useful anymore. Leave him as a ticking time bomb if you can." Cao Cao muttered gently into his earpiece, before turning it off.

"Well then!" the young man declared, straightening his back and catching the succubus' attention. "I think it's about time that I take my leave. I hope that we shall see each other in better circumstances!"

With that statement, the 'hero' materialized a spear out of thin air, calmly wielding it with practiced ease.

Maria immediately flew backwards, away from the spear that just screamed 'danger!' to her.

Almost as an afterthought, seven orbs materialized immediately afterwards, one of which began to move closer to his person as he opened his mouth to whisper.

"Hatsutei Ratana..."

Maria gaped as the young man that was occupying a tree branch suddenly disappeared into thin air, just like that! No sudden movements whatsoever!

Just gone.

It had to have been one of those orbs...whatever they were.

Nevertheless, she now had the option to help Yuki-san without punishment, so she was intent on doing so.

With that in mind, she lowered herself to the ground, ignoring the feeling of water droplets that began to pelt her head.

---

Blood spurted out, splashing her as she made her pass, covering her and Sakuya with it's disgusting substance.

She tripped over herself from the sudden loss of resistance to her blade, falling down face-first to the grassy floor, wincing at the fact that she fell on her broken arm.

Ugh...

The young hero slowly turned around, eyes focusing on the form of her enemy, who was standing tall still, almost stoically.

But slowly, the figure began to hunch over, moving it's last good arm to cover the stump on it's other arm from bleeding. Trying to slow down the loss.

Red liquid kept seeping through clenched fingers, as the powerful being eventually fell down to it's knees, losing it's strength as time went on.

Yuki watched, feeling extraordinarily complex feelings conflict with one another as she continued.

She could only turn away, feeling inexplicably sad.

It was at that moment that she felt something wet tickle her scalp, which pushed her to check the sky despite the fact that the danger hasn't already passed. Her mental exhaustion being that extensive by this point.

It was beginning to rain...

"Yuki-san!" a feminine voice called out, moving closer to her as well.

The hero turned to look at the half-devil that was steadily floating closer to her, waving happily.

But Yuki didn't exactly look amused to see her.

"Maria-san, what are you doing? The battle isn't over yet!" she reprimanded sternly, voice firm.

Maria kept moving towards her, shaking her head. "Don't worry, Yuki-san. He left already, just like that. Even leaving behind his apprentice no less..."

The human female looked surprised for a moment, but quickly smoothed out her facial features to think.

He left...just like that? Then why did he bother to come here in the first place? What was his real goal?

She knew her former sensei, he didn't do things for no reason, despite the fact that he claimed to do so. No...he always did things for some reason...

The hero pondered the question for a minute or two, seriously considering, ignoring the rain that began to get heavier as time passed.

Then realization reached her yellow orbs as she remembered something.

She quickly moved her hands over her form, cursing under her breath when she realized that she already got her hero outfit out.

"Maria-san!" Yuki shouted, grabbing the succubus' attention. "Lend me your phone! Quickly!"

Maria didn't argue, she quickly went into her dress pocket and gave her partner her phone, silently thankful that she didn't transform into her fighting outfit.

Yuki quickly called up Naruto, hoping that he picked up so that she could at least warn him of the fact that Cao Cao was after-

Her thoughts went cold and her lips thinned as she slowly took the phone off of her ear, giving it back to Maria, quietly.

"...Straight to voicemail." was all she said.

Bad implications.

The half-devil took the phone back after wiping if from the rain that accumulated on the screen, worried. "Then what should we do? Keep going to Kyoto? Try to warn Naruto-sama? Whatever we decide...we have to do it now. Especially since we probably can't make another call now that the taxi driver disappeared..."

Yuki nodded slowly, recognizing their bad position, but her mind was still elsewhere.

More specifically, her mind was...

Yellow eyes turned to look at the dark warrior, still holding on to it's stump of an arm desperately, trying to keep itself...no...himself alive.

Her heart was bleeding with sympathy now, seeing the mysterious figure still hunched over while still trying to nurse his injury after getting abandoned by his master was painful to watch.

It reminded her too much of her own past.

She looked away, unable to look at the person in the suit of armor.

"...No..."

Yuki froze in her tracks, flinching imperceptibly at the distorted voice that called out, almost as if physically rasping for her...

She turned around cautiously, eyes wary. Idly noticing that Maria was also watching with an equal amount of caution, ignoring the fact that the rain was pouring onto her heavily now.

The armored figure slowly got up from it's position on the ground, getting to it's feet as it steadied itself. Blood still seeping from it's arm. With the heavy rain helping the blood flow from his body to the ground.

"...No...I won't...let you...!" the figure growled, shaking his head repeatedly.

The two females watched in fascination, uncertain on how to respond., but couldn't help but continue to watch anyways.

But their attention was about to move to something just as troubling.

Before any of them could figure out what was going on, Yuki and Maria both shivered as a heavy sense of foreboding entered their senses, giving them a heavy dose of goosebumps.

Both turned around, eyes wide as they searched for the source, fear began to unwillingly to creep into their hearts.

Then Maria saw it.

"...What is that?" she couldn't help but breathe out, the sense of foreboding growing in her stomach.

Yuki turned to where the half-devil was looking at, swallowing the sense of unease that accompanied it.

They were both looking at a pillar of violent red energy, swirling from the ground into the sky from another part of the forest, somewhere closer to Kyoto than them.

It's power was...dark. That was all she could say for sure.

She couldn't tell what it was or where it came from, but there was something she was sure of.

Naruto was there, somewhere. In the middle of that mess.

She opened her mouth to inform the succubus beside her-

A harsh clang interrupted her thoughts from behind her, followed by repeated chants.

"No...no, no, no, no!"

The hero grit her teeth as she was unpleasantly reminded of the other problem they had, forcing her to turn around and deal with the issue at hand.

So she did so, prepared to end this, permanently. It was truly unfortunate though...

But then her facial features contorted to something very different from her attempt at calm detachment, shifting to something akin to complete shell-shock.

All thanks to the fact that the warrior clawed his helmet off.

Green eyes.

Brown messy hair.

Facial features that mirrored that of her adoptive father...

She took a step back, unwilling, unable to understand what was happening.

But she tried to, she wanted to, but it was so much at once...!

Yet her mouth still opened, tentatively whispering a name that she hasn't uttered in years.

"...Basara?" Yuki whispered out, hoping against hope that her comrade was-

'Basara' growled, clenching teeth as he grasped his head, shaking it repeatedly. Green eyes glowing ominously as a streak of hair began to shift to vibrant green as well.

No...there was something wrong...

Then the young man let loose a scream, raising his stump of an arm into the air as it glowed green, covering it up in it's luminescence.

Once the glow faded away, both females stared in abject wonder at the change.

The abandoned 'apprentice' of Cao Cao now had a metallic arm where his old one once stayed, wielding the broadsword that he carried before as several pieces of it glowed green.

Brynhildr.

His features had grown increasingly intense after he grew out the arm, with a small clump of hair standing up vibrant green, a strange mark right next to his right eye, and his eyes glowing ominously with power.

But what really struck Yuki was the slasher grin on his face.

"...Bad." was all the hero could say. "This is very, very bad..."

Maria nodded slowly, before she turned back to where the pillar of energy came from.

She seriously hoped that Naruto-sama was doing better than they were...

---

"Damn you...! Stay still so that I can pummel you!" Heracles roared, throwing a fist straight at the obnoxious blond's face.

'Naruto' spun around it, catching it as he did so and bending it around the large brute, a dark grin on his face as he did so.

The large hero grit his teeth, he couldn't hit the slippery bastard...!

He was about to swing his other arm around, intent on catching him off guard, but through the side of his eye, he caught two blurs appearing right under him.

He immediately tried to intercept, but instead, all he got was two vicious blows up his chin.

The descendant of the original Heracles was sent sky-high, his jaw smarting from the blow, but when he managed to open his eyes, he was met with a new problem.

Three of those damn copies raising their foots in the air, right above him.

Three vicious blows smashed against his face, sending him sailing to the ground, slamming him into the ground with brutal force.

As he crashed, Jeanne was facing off against a clone herself, deftly clashing against his small knife with deft swordplay from her rapier.

The two clashed their weapons together after a swift flurry of blows, faces inches from one another during the cross of blades.

"You know..." the clone grunted out, trying to ignore the creeping feeling of frost that was enveloping his hand from her blade. "You really should stop while you're ahead. There's no way you can win this."

The female hero hummed at that, tilting her head upwards as if to consider. "Whatever do you mean? This onee-san doesn't really think that our chances are that bad, you know~?"

'Naruto' narrowed his eyes faintly. "Because despite the battle that we're fighting, we aren't taking you a hundred percent seriously. We have no idea if your bodies can take our more...powerful moves...so easily. So to be honest...we're hoping that you give up before the boss gets back."

It was true, despite how much stronger these humans are compared to the normal ones...they still didn't have anything to truly enhance their bodies. So to take a rasengan to the gut would be...

Well...it would probably kill them. Easily.

He wanted to keep these people alive for questioning, so this was ridiculously important!

Jeanne pouted, pressing her rapier against the clone further. "Oh~? You're not taking us seriously? Well that won't do...that won't do at all."

Blue eyes crinkled lightly, confused at the shift. He wanted to defuse the situation, not make it worse.

Jeanne then stamped her foot onto the ground, a decidedly unfriendly smile plastered on her face.

Balance Breaker.

"Blade Blacksmith!"

The clone's eyes widened, wha-?

Then his thoughts ceased, thanks to the fact that several holy swords were sticking out of him.

*POOF*

The female hero smiled as the copy disappeared. "I suppose that we just have to stop holding back too, now don't we~?"

As she stated that, several magic bullets shot out of what remained of the forest around them, piercing through the still-too-thick fog and aiming for...

"Look out! Move, move, move!" a clone cried out, rolling out of the way as the magical attack nearly hit him, trying to spread the word before his brothers met their end.

Several copies shifted their focus from their fights with the 'heroes' to the attacks, trying to make sure that they didn't get popped.

Some didn't stand a chance.

The clones that were just coming down from sending Heracles to the ground, couldn't get out of the air in time. They got impaled before they could move out of the way.

The 'Naruto' that was in the middle of a duel with Siegfried was a different story, they were surrounded by ice pillars and small whirlwinds that prevented anything from getting through, literally insulating them from harm.

Excluding the one locked in a death battle, that left four clones running around dodging the suspiciously accurate shots.

Jeanne took this opportunity to concentrate inwards, calling upon her inner strength to end this fight, they did have a job to do after all.

As she went to do just that, the someone broke through the ground close to her, emerging from it like some sort of zombie from a horror flick. Looking absolutely furious.

Looks like she wasn't the only one about to get serious.

Several of the holy swords that were created to destroy the blond copy began to coalesce into a single entity, growing ever more elaborate as it took in more of the sharp weapons.

Meanwhile, Heracles' body began to glow bright, with several small protrusions beginning to stick out from his body.

"Stake Victim Dragon!" Jeanne declared excitedly, gleefully watching the numerous swords form a large dragon. Allowing her to jump on top of it's head and survey the battlefield from an elevated position.

"Detonation-Mighty Comet!" Heracles roared, with several missile-like objects sticking out of his skin, a maniacal grin accompanying it.

His own Balance Breaker...!

He was going to enjoy this...

---

Naruto was close to the area where his clones were fighting, he knew that his enemies were still fighting there thanks to the recent memories his clones left behind and to his incredibly enhanced sensing abilities.

Almost there...

He stopped in his tracks, narrowing his eyes as an explosion rocked the forest, sending dirt, rocks, and trees into the air. The shock wave also buffeted against him, strong enough to bend the trees near him, but not nearly enough to make him budge in his current state.

The shinobi just watched the plume cloud that went higher into the sky, receiving all of the memories of the recently deceased copies. Contemplating the turn of events.

Sacred Gears were annoying, weren't they?

He had no idea about the full extent of these people's new abilities were, only fragments. Underestimating them wasn't a good idea in this case.

So then...may as well make sure they didn't have the chance to attack back.

A bit of...shock and awe was in order.

With that thought in place, he took off his vest, leaving it at the floor so that it wouldn't get caught in the second technique he learned back at the forest. After that, the sage moved forward, toad-like eyes serious as he zeroed in on his enemies.

He reached his destination in no time, crashing through the fallen trees as he emerged in the now ruined battlefield. Which was a mix of rubble, several craters of varying sizes, holy swords sticking out of the ground, pillars of ice towering over everyone, and toppled trees everywhere.

Moving away from that, Naruto quickly took stock of his enemies; noting the silver-haired man and his six arms, the young blond woman standing upon a dragon made of swords, a muscle-head that was glowing with weird protrusions all over his body...

Plus there was a pseudo-sniper here too.

As a side note, the fog that was still lingering on the battlefield was...unnatural. He could tell now, but what did it do exactly?

"Ah...so you must be the real one, right!?" Heracles growled out, taking a menacing step forward.

Toad eyes panned to the muscle-head, deadly serious, but strangely quiet.

"...Hm? Is Uzu-kun shy now? You shouldn't have to worry! Onee-san will take good care of you!" Jeanne chirped, while the dragon that she was sitting on began to move closer to his position.

The blond continued to watch, silent, contemplating.

"It's a shame Uzumaki, it's been a long time since I've faced another blade-user with such skill. But we have our objective...hand over the girl." Siegfried demanded, as his four dragon arms wielded the demon swords with expert efficiency.

Once more, the young teen stayed silent, closing his eyes after a few more moments.

"One chance." he eventually said, unusually solemn. "You all have one chance to give up. If not, then I'll have to crush all of you."

The humans exchanged glances, surprised, before bursting into fits of chuckles, amused that the blond would issue demands with his horrible position.

They were currently utilizing their Balance Breakers, the epitome of power for Sacred Gears. Not only that, but some of them were using their sub-species variants of their Sacred Gears, more powerful and personalized versions of their inherited weapons.

What chance did Uzumaki possibly have?

Naruto didn't bother to wait for them to stop chuckling about his threat. He simply made a familiar hand sign and let it do the talking.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

Immediately, two clones appeared in an explosion of smoke, flanking him with serious expressions.

The heroes immediately quieted down, getting serious now that he made the first move.

One of the clones leaned to the boss. "Hey...are you sure you want to go through with this? I mean it will probably work...it's just kind of risky, don't ya think?"

Naruto shrugged casually. "The theory is pretty sound I think, and in practice it works too. Don't worry."

The copy sighed, seems that there was no convincing the boss with this.

The triplets then huddled together, the original provided the hand, another started to making grabbing motions over that hand, and the last poured wind into it...

He needed to make the jutsu as stable as possible...!

Siegfried narrowed his eyes as a fierce wind began to blow against him and his comrades, coming from-

"Fūton: Rasenshuriken!" Naruto shouted above the screaming winds, carrying the deadly jutsu over his head with practiced ease.

The heroes watched the spinning star with unease, the power of the attack was obvious as it boldly pushed them all back, despite the great strength that they all boasted.

Even the dragon that Jeanne created was slowly getting pushed against the powerful push back of the jutsu.

Naruto noticed their worried features, he tilted his head as he looked at all of them, an amused smile on his face.

"Oh...don't worry you guys." the shinobi stated clearly over the screaming winds. "This jutsu isn't actually for you."

Siegfried's eyes shifted from wariness to confusion, turning to look at Jeanne and Heracles who carried the same looks.

Before anyone could ask, the blond raised the fierce attack higher as if about to throw it...

"It's for me."

With that, he threw the powerful jutsu to the ground, right where he stood.

The explosion enveloped the blond immediately, vicious winds grinding against one another as a dome of wind began to emerge from the impact.

Siegfried took a step back, eyes wide, did he just throw that attack at himself!?

Regardless of what he thought, the dome of wind was beginning to expand, growing larger and about to reach them, with deadly consequences no doubt.

Jeanne and Heracles stared at the dome, gobsmacked themselves, but also quickly noticed the danger.

But before any of them could actually make any moves, a peculiar thing happened.

The dome stopped.

It's expansion stopped suddenly, despite the fact that the violent wind blades from within kept swirling around inside.

If anything...the dome of wind began to recede.

All watched in awe as the dome of wind slowly but surely retreated back to where the attack was initially thrown, until it finally vanished into nothingness, leaving nothing but the crater as evidence of it's existence.

In the middle of that crater...was Naruto.

Naruto opened his eyes, still toad-like, to the world again. With a soft wind shifting the clothes he wore and the occasional violent crash of wind blades that broke out right next to his form, just far away enough to not harm him.

With his golden hair flowing, eyes fierce, and clothes following the whims of the wind surrounding him, he made his declaration.

"...Fūton Chakra Mode...activated."

A few seconds of silence passed after the declaration was made, with the heroes watching him warily.

"...W-What did you do?" Heracles questioned eventually, shaken, but managed to gather his nerve at the last second. "Well...it doesn't matter anyways! We're still going to crush you, even after your little circus show!"

With that, the large man screamed, releasing the missiles that were attached to him as they surged to the stationary blond.

Naruto just watched as the projectiles headed straight towards him, clustered together for one powerful strike.

Then he raised his hand in a quick motion, as if back-handing the air itself.

Siegfried narrowed his eyes at the movement, what was he-?

His eyes widened, his mouth fell open to gape as the missiles that was set against their enemy was shredded to pieces, several of which fell short of their destination. Falling in a heap in front of the blond.

Jeanne blinked, thoroughly confused, not understanding what just happened.

While Heracles involuntarily took a step back, horrified. That was his Balance Breaker...!

His eyes traveled back to his enemy, anger rising in his veins, about to mete out his righteous-

"Yo."

A hand casually clasped itself at the descendant of the original Heracles' back.

"I warned you."

Heracles screamed as he began to writhe in pain, feeling something akin to a shredder do it's dirty work on his back, trying to get away from the pain...!

Naruto took his hand off the large man's back, allowing him to breathe, worn out from screaming his lungs out.

Then the teen flicked a finger.

A large gash appeared on the hero's back, ripping apart skin as the owner bit back a scream, as he fell down in agony.

Naruto watched, frowning. Somewhat uncomfortable with the pain he's caused, but still fine as long as it doesn't go overboard.

Now for the others...

A wall of flame came flying towards him while he was distracted, coming from Jeanne's dragon as it utilized the holy swords from within itself to attack at her order.

His form was seemingly taken in by the storm of fire, causing the blond woman to smile in triumph, believing that she managed to catch her opponent off guard.

---

Meanwhile, Georg was watching the battle from a still-forested area, several magic circles ready to fire at the ready. Using the mist that he's created to hide his position and prepared to teleport again should his position be compromised.

A perfect plan for a support like himself.

But it seemed that Jeanne managed to kill their enemy, so maybe it was time to-

"Nice hiding spot, though I did figure out where you were before I even entered the battle dattebayo."

The bespectacled man's eyes widened, spinning around to try and salvage the situation.

All he saw was a hand.

"Sorry about this, it won't kill you."

---

"Where did he go!? Did you see him escape, Jeanne!?" Siegfried questioned harshly, eyes scanning around the burnt crisp of ground that his partner burned.

The girl that carried the spirit of the original Joan of Arc huffed, pouting cutely. "How rude! My child's flames are more than powerful enough to kill him!"

The silver-haired man could have growled, he still wasn't comfortable until he found a body!

"Gaaah!"

Both 'heroes' snapped their heads to an area where trees still stood, as a body came flying out in a heap, covered in nasty cuts and gashed all throughout his body.

"...Georg!" Siegfried muttered, mortified.

It became increasingly obvious as he stared that the young man was either dead or unconscious since the fog around them finally began to lift, aiding in visibility.

As the mist lightened, their enemy walked right out of the area that he kicked their comrade out of. Just as self-assured as before.

Jeanne subtly ordered her dragon to move forward slowly, intent on getting close enough to use another elemental attack and catch their enemy off guard.

Siegfried also raised two demonic swords; Balmung and Tyrfing, to use their powers to catch the teen before he tried anything else.

As they began their attempts to attack, Naruto himself brought his arms close to his chest, crossing them as if he was clutching something invisible to his body. As he did this, the casual wind that surrounded his form began to move to his hands, enhancing it to the point that the wind around the skin began to grind violently against one another.

This powerful winds glowed bright white, cupping his hands like a couple of gauntlets.

As the two heroes made their move, he made his.

Naruto once more back-handed the air, releasing the charged power from his finger tips.

The moment that they were released, the ground around him began to shred apart, literally getting ripped apart piece by piece as they made their way to their intended target.

Neither Jeanne or Siegfried had a chance in dodging the nearly invisible attack, at it moved far faster than anything they were capable of.

It hit the female hero first, as the blades that make up her 'child' began to get ripped to shreds from the attack, destabilizing the dragon as it began to fall apart from the accumulating damage.

Until it finally broke apart, the swords that made it up were broken up to little shards, falling under it's own weight.

Jeanne was hit by the last bit of violent wind as it broke through the crumbling dragon, giving her massive cuts and gashes all over her body.

Siegfried was behind the female hero when she received the attacks, using the two demonic swords he was already about to use from before. Summoning a whirlwind and a massive pillar of ice for protection, before crossing his swords together in a makeshift shield for the attack ahead.

The wind reached him.

He grit his teeth as the wind blades buffeted the ice pillar after cutting through the whirlwind with little effort, carving through his makeshift defense without much difficulty.

The silver-haired man held firm, watching the ice pillar begin to crumble under it's own weight as the wind shred it's base to pieces.

Then, it broke through.

He bit his lips hard enough to bleed, as the wind hit him where his demonic swords weren't protecting, ripping his body apart as it made it's pass.

The wind continued past the two heroes, sending rock and soil into the air as it ripped apart anything in it's way, eventually shredding the trees that were on the other side of the field.

Until it finally died down, leaving the ground devoid of grass or soft dirt, and making a long line of obliterated trees.

Both heroes that were affected by it's coming fell over, groaning and bleeding heavily on the ground.

Naruto's eyes flitted around, determining that the battle was over now that his enemies were for the most part, finished. All he had to do now...was get Kunou and take these people with him to Kyoto or her mother.

Either or.

"N-N-Naruto! What was that!?"

Ah, there she was.

Toad-like eyes turned to where he came from in the forest, as a little girl emerged from it, golden eyes wide in awe.

She followed him...it was a good thing he had Sage Mode on, otherwise he could have accidentally hit her with his attacks...

The blond couldn't help but shake his head, but he let it go.

"Kunou-chan, you alright? Not hurt are you?" Naruto asked gently, walking up to her, making sure to not touch her.

Kunou just gaped, completely entranced. "...That was amazing! I've never seen anything like that before! How'd ya do it? How'd ya do it?"

The shinobi allowed for an indulgent smile to spread across his lips, amused. "Kind of complicated kid."

Her eyes dulled, looking annoyed that he still called her a 'kid' after all of this.

But he was telling the truth, it was kind of complicated.

The process of his Fūton Chakra Mode was very similar to similar to his fūton: rasenshuriken. Almost identical as matter of fact.

In a rasenshuriken, the rasengan itself was the medium that was used to control the wind, spinning it around faster and faster to create the deadly wind blades that were so infamous.

The rasengan was the core.

The Fūton Chakra Mode? Same concept, as himself as the core. Spinning around the wind chakra around his form to provide a coat of deadly wind, keeping himself insulated from it while keeping it as armor.

Not only that, but by utilizing his skills in shape manipulation, he could actively send out wind chakra from the points of his fingertips if he wants. A flick of motion while releasing some of the wind coating his body actively sends wind blades in that direction.

But...there were still lots of problems with it.

For example, he couldn't make the wind blades in this form anywhere near as powerful as those in a rasengan.

The rasengan was essentially a little maelstrom of power, with the chakra flying everywhere, clashing against one another repeatedly to make it's grinding effect against it's victims.

It was that aspect of the jutsu that makes the wind blades so deadly, as it spins around the wind blades and grinds them against one another. It made them overwhelmingly sharp, and when they were released...they flew apart everywhere because of their momentum.

There was no way he could replicate that with his body, if he tried, he'd just kill himself.

So instead, he created the rasenshuriken, set it on himself, released the wind from their container, and spun his chakra around himself, trying to keep the wind's momentum without having it kill him.

Although it would have killed him in his normal state, but that was what senjutsu was for. As senjutsu chakra had a stabilizing effect on anything he attempted with chakra, allowing him to stabilize the rasenshuriken enough to throw it for example, or even make a one-handed rasengan without any help.

Hell, he made a rasenrengan without clones once against one of the Paths of Pain, in the toad chief's mouth if he remembered...

So essentially, with senjutsu chakra, he could keep the wind chakra spinning around himself, to be utilized however he wishes. As a shield, or even to keep the air pressure off of him when running at high speeds, allowing him to move even faster than normal.

Too bad he couldn't fly or anything while like this...that was the original point of this mode too.

More than that, since the mode was still new, it still takes a lot of concentration to continuously spin his chakra around for so long, so he couldn't focus on any jutsus or anything while in this state.

Speaking of that, the final problem with this was...

Naruto took a deep breathe, as he slowly and methodically let loose the wind that was coating him. Making sure that the wind blades that surrounded him were still getting moved around his body, but slowing down the chakra that was spinning it.

Slowing it down, little by little.

The process of getting rid of the mode he was using was exhausting for his senjutsu reserves, as he meticulously made sure that the winds blades wouldn't be released in a fashion that the rasenshuriken did.

As he finally slowed down the wind blades enough to let them be released, then watch them fizzle out, completely harmless, he came to an obvious conclusion.

The amount of senjutsu chakra he had left was pretty low, especially since before he even used his new chakra mode, he used a rasenshuriken.

So he let loose a sigh as toad-like eyes shifted to blue, and orange pigmentation faded away.

Naruto finally looked at Kunou again, who was looking at him all confused. Opening his mouth to speak-

He suddenly fell to his knees, eyes wide as he nearly fell to his hands, shaking.

Kunou looked taken aback at the sudden movement, but quickly moved closer to him, clutching at him. "Naruto!? Are you ok!?"

The blond turned to look at the yokai princess straight in the eye. Suddenly and completely unsure.

Why did he feel so...weak?

His legs quite simply gave up on him to what quickly felt like a building on his shoulders.

This was something that never happened before...what could have caused it?

Then his eyes widened as a thought occurred to him, remembering how slick and oily the natural energy felt as the clone took it in...

Could that be it...?

He didn't feel anything negative when he used senjutsu...so maybe the negative effects were just hitting him after he's weakened after using Sage Mode?

If that's the case...then he had to use it more carefully.

"...Naruto?" the little kyuubi called out, concerned.

The teen raised his head to her, giving her a shaky smile. "Ah...sorry, just tripped."

Kunou's eyes scanned his face for a few seconds, trying to see if he was telling the truth, before nodding slowly.

Blue eyes turned away from the kid for a moment to look to where he laid his vest at-

Ah.

He face-palmed as he realized something.

The area that he just completely obliterated with his wind? That was where he placed his vest...

He was so worried about making sure that Kunou didn't get hit that he obliterated his vest...and the phone inside it as well. Probably.

Damn...Rias and Akeno were right about his luck with phones, weren't they? He'd never hear the end of it.

For now Naruto ignored that little fact. Instead he forced himself up, grabbed Kunou by her hand in order to lead her away to the powerful energy source that he noticed while he still had his senjutsu.

A powerful energy source.

It must be the kid's mother, and she wasn't that far either!

It was while he was leading the little girl by the hand that he felt something wet hit his scalp, making him flinch at the sudden contact.

He glanced up into the sky, was it about to rain...?

Kunou snuggled a little closer to his body while he was distracted, catching his attention as she did so.

"Naruto? We're...actually going to be ok, right? We're really gonna see okaa-sama again?" she mumbled out, trying to meld her body as close to his as possible.

The shinobi held the little hand in his palms a little tighter, as reassurance. She's had a rough day.

"I told you didn't I? I'll protect you." Naruto soothed, firmly holding that tiny hand.

She didn't reply, she simply stayed as she was, moving in tandem with him.

Naruto smiled, continuing forward to meet the faction leader of the yokai. Eager to put this whole mess behind him and finally learn more-

His smile suddenly disappeared from his face as a chill went right down his spine, as the sound of clapping began to drown out all else from his eardrums.

"Heartwarming." a masculine voice stated dryly. "But you really shouldn't make promises that you can't keep...Uzumaki."

The shinobi didn't reply, caught completely off-guard by the sudden appearance of the handsome man wielding a spear. He literally just appeared in front of them! No warning!

It was only after he got over the abrupt surprise, that he noticed the seven orbs that were surrounding the young man...

"Okaa-sama!" Kunou screamed out, charging forward.

Naruto's eyes widened as he physically pulled the kid back, eyes scanning to see what had her so riled up.

Then he saw it, or rather...her.

A breathtakingly beautiful woman with long blond hair, a voluptuous body, and golden eyes.

But those eyes were...dulled, as if the woman wasn't actually present in her own body.

More importantly...she looked just like...

The shinobi gripped on Kunou's hand harder. He understood.

"...What did you do to her?" Naruto demanded quietly, doing his best to keep a lid on the anger that was boiling inside.

Cao Cao shrugged airily. "What I did to her, I've done to many, including my former student as a matter of fact. I sometimes have to use more...extreme measures on certain powerful or talented people refuse listen to me. Nothing personal."

Blue eyes narrowed dangerously, anger growing further from his complete lack of contrition. "You're controlling her then...? How? But more importantly...why?"

The hero leader sighed, casually placing his spear over his shoulder, at complete ease. "My, don't you have a lot of questions? But unfortunately, I didn't come here to answer those questions, I've come here to get the girl...and to give you an offer."

Kunou looked up nervously at the teenaged boy, fearful that the man would do to her what he did to her mother.

He squeezed her hand, easing her worries.

He was still with her.

Cao Cao didn't say anything if he noticed the exchange. "I'll only ask once, as many of my people are quite upset at you for all of the trouble you've put us through. Join us, embrace us as your brothers and sisters, and help us overthrow this decadent world that the Hero Tribe has allowed to form."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, ignoring the slow increase of rain that was falling now. "Decadent?"

The older man nodded solemnly, completely serious. "Yes, a world where supernatural beings such as devils, fallen angels, and even angels have abused and oppressed humanity for over thousands of years. A world where humans are still used by their 'betters' to inflate their numbers or use as cattle. A world that the Hero Tribe could have ended it if it had the guts to do so...but didn't."

The shinobi frowned heavily, confused, but steady. "What kind of bullshit are you spouting? What the hell does any of this have to do with that cause?"

Cao Cao inclined his head. "Fair point, if you're looking at it from a narrow point of view, it would look strange, wouldn't it? But I assure you, this is relevant. This event will aid us in our quest to challenge the supernatural, to show that they can be overcome by humans!"

The hero leader leaned back, tilting his head to regard the young woman that stood by his side. "Yasaka here will give me the ability to challenge the greatest of all monsters; Great Red."

Naruto's eyes widened to the size of saucers, horrified. "Are...are you insane!? I thought that Great Red was the strongest being alive!? Why would you-?"

"To test my limitations." the 'hero' interrupted, deadly serious. "Humans are known for adapting to difficult situations, aren't they? They can overcome numerous challenges to reach their end goal, given time. Can this not be seen as a new challenge to be overcome? A new goal to be reached and conquered?"

He then spread his arms out, welcoming. "I intend to open the flood gates Uzumaki, to push as many humans as possible to challenge their limitations...and challenge the greatest limitation."

"...He's insane." Kunou whispered, shuffling closer to his body.

Naruto didn't respond, he kept his eyes locked on his opponent. "...I wonder how many people will have to end up like Yasaka for this...'plan' of yours to work out."

Cao Cao's facial features crinkled slightly. "Why should the oppressed care about what happens to their oppressor?"

The shinobi took a step forward, newly aggressive as his eyes dilated, raising Kunou's hand as he did so. "Does the kid look like a fucking oppressor to you!?"

Now the hero leader's own eyes narrowed. "It doesn't change the fact that she benefits from the system in place, she's complicit, whether she likes it or not. So I ask again...should the oppressed care about what happens to their oppressor? Is it not just for the oppressors to get destroyed for their arrogance? As comeuppance?"

Naruto's face blanked out at that statement, he took a step back, and released a long drawn out sigh.

Then he gave his fellow human a steady look.

"Man...I wish I can see things from your point of view." the blond mused, suddenly relaxed. "But I'm afraid that I can't stick my head far enough in my own ass for that, so I'll have to decline."

Cao Cao frowned, bringing his spear back to the forefront. "A shame, we could have used your abilities. But as it stands..."

The black-haired young man turned around to look at the unresponsive Yasaka.

"...Kill him, I suppose." the 'hero' ordered lightly.

Golden eyes flashed open, glowing brightly with excess power as the beautiful woman began to change.

Her form grew to gargantuan proportions, dwarfing the trees easily with this transformation.

Then she solidified into a form that made Naruto do a double-take, trying not to equate it to...something else.

A kyuubi, with beautiful golden fur, and nine long royal tails, in all of it's feral glory.

Naruto pushed Kunou behind him, prepared to fight against the fierce beast of legend, but trying to do his best to ignore the memories of another beast...one that sometimes still haunted him.

"...Naruto..."

Ignore it. Pretend it doesn't exist.

The shinobi quickly brought his hands together, prepared to use his signature jutsu to get him out of this mess.

As he did so, he noticed that his enemy seemed to be looking awfully smug over something...

Then he felt it.

Killing intent.

He had to cut himself off in order to pull Kunou away from him and to cross his arms in take the attack that was heading at him from behind...!

*BOOM*

The yokai princess was thrown bodily away from her protector, only getting up to see what happened when she managed to stop herself. Giving her the chance to see what happened...

She couldn't, the mist that was surrounding them was too thick to-

Wait...mist?

Hey golden eyes widened, but that's impossible! They were badly defeated already!

Meanwhile, Naruto swiped away at the smoke that the attack left behind, giving him the chance to see what was going on. Smarting at all of the singes that the attack left behind.

As he did so, the first thing that his eyes registered was the maw of a what seemed like a thousand swords...

Fire and electricity spewed from that maw, heading straight towards him as the blond quickly grabbed a kunai from his pouch and enhanced it with wind chakra so that it could be used to intercept the attack.

He succeeded, stopping the attack cold, but the twin attacks were taking their toll on the little knife and on his hand, which was quickly getting heated up from the assault.

As he focused on this, his instincts screamed at him to move, pushing him to grab another kunai from his pouch and enhance it with wind chakra.

He caught the vicious blade that was aimed at his heart, but the power of the blade bodily pushed him close to the ground, making a decent crater from right under him.

It also pushed him closer to the double elemental attack, wincing as the attacks buffeted him on the left side of his face.

"You're outnumbered. You're weakened. With a large handicap. You need me..."

Naruto grit his teeth, as he used every ounce of strength he had left in him to shove the blade that was used against him and shift it to where the elemental onslaught was pushing him back.

This surprise move obviously shocked the sword wielder, as his blade was used to intercept the attack from his comrade, but during the distraction, Naruto quickly backed up. Needing to get some space.

It was at that moment, while backing up, with the now thunderous sound of rain pouring onto the ground, that he noticed something.

Fog. If anything, thicker than before.

The shinobi growled, how could they have gotten up? They were so wounded that it would have been impossible!

But he couldn't stop to think, as several missiles pierced through the fog, moving towards him.

Naruto prepared to move again, looking for his enemies in this annoying fog which lowered his field of vision.

Then he noticed something strange.

The missiles weren't...aimed at him. Their trajectory was, if anything, aimed at something behind him...

It felt like a lead weight fell onto his stomach as realization hit him.

The shinobi spun around and raced towards the missile's destination, running as fast as he could with his weakened body.

Kunou's golden eyes shone with relief when their eyes connected again.

"Ah! Thank goodness you're-"

She didn't finish her sentence as he scooped her up and jumped away, with several explosions erupting behind him as they moved away.

Naruto released a sigh of relief when he landed, preparing to let go of the little girl to get back to the fight.

Then he saw several sharp glints break through the fog.

"Shit...!" the blond couldn't help but spit out, as he realized he had no time to make another jump or make a jutsu.

Naruto turned away from the attack, showing his back to it, and covered the little kyuubi up with his arms as he braced for impact...!

Several magic missiles crashed against his back, sending the duo forward and towards the ground. Crashing against it due to the initial push from the attack.

"You're still human...Naruto...you can't ignore me forever..."

The shinobi grit his teeth as he took the attack and made sure that his arms took the hardened dirt as well. Sparing his fellow blond from pain.

He hoped that the second that they stopped sliding across the ground, that he could make some distance to turn the tables on these people.

But then he saw the massive dose of flames get spewed from his right side, not even letting him get up to respond.

Once more, the blond covered his body, gritting his teeth as the powerful flames consumed their forms, knowing instinctively that this was from the yokai leader.

As he tanked through the attack, he began to get bombarded from the air by missiles and rapid-fire magic bullets crashing into him, sending him flat onto the ground in pain.

Damn it...! He just needed a single second to fight back...!

"...You can't keep this up...Naruto."

Blue eyes clenched shut as the fire grew stronger, enhanced by the fire from somewhere else, as well as a whirlwind that picked up. Leaving him in the middle of a literal fire storm.

He felt skin begin to give way as the flames grew stronger, giving him mild second degree burns that were moving dangerously close to third degree.

Yet his resolve to protect the little girl under him held firm.

The onslaught continued for a little while longer, until it finally, mercifully, stopped.

Steam came out of the blond's body, getting cooled down by the incessant rain, a pool of red water began to flow from under him as water and blood intertwined.

It hurt. It hurt so much...

"Naruto...?" Kunou whispered, voice small. "Are...are we going to die...?"

The shinobi slowly got up on his elbows, making some space between the two blondes, revealing a soot-covered face surrounded by burns.

But his smile was still true.

"...I promise you...didn't I?" he rasped out, wincing at the effort. "I...I will protect you. I promise."

The little girl let loose a wistful smile, eyes fluttering close.

"Thank you."

With that, Kunou closed her eyes, losing consciousness. The stress of the day knocking her out.

Naruto leaned down, tapping his head with hers, getting a little bit of soot on her completely clean head.

"...I'll keep that promise." the shinobi determined solemnly.

He had no choice anymore.

He had to do it.

Even if it made every fiber of his being feel sick at having to rely on that power again...it was for the greater good.

With that, he closed his eyes, losing consciousness.

---

...

...

...

"I know you're there."

...

...

...

"It's been a long time...Naruto."

"Not long enough."

...

...

"I heard you. I didn't want to, but I heard you..."

...

"This is a one-time thing, I won't let you push me as far as last time. I won't let you put those I care about in danger. You understand?"

"...I understand. But I wonder...do you understand? If I remember correctly...it was you who began to use my power recklessly enough for me to utilize to my advantage. Just remember...Naruto...we aren't friends."

...

...

"...That's too bad. Honestly, if there was a way to get us to work together as a team...ah...who am I kidding? Never mind. Though...if there's any chance for you to join the good side...I'd take it you know?"

...

"Keh! Damn brat..."

---

Cao Cao stood on the yokai leader's head, staring down at the fallen body of their adversary.

"Not bad. You used his protective feelings of the child to bombard him relentlessly. I'm impressed." Cao Cao complimented, turning to Heracles with a raised eyebrow.

The 'hero' puffed his chest out, proud. "I did it by accident, but by the time I realized it, I thought that it would be a good idea. Hahahaha!"

Siegfried walked closer to the hero leader, also peering down at the blond. "Also...his movements were far more sluggish compared to before. Perhaps his first battle with us took more of a toll on him than we thought."

The black-haired young man nodded, considering the idea. "Fortunate for us then."

Jeanne walked up to them, humming to herself. "Yep! It was also a good thing that we brought those phoenix tears with us! We would have been in big trouble if that Lucifer guy didn't hand them out to us."

Cao Cao hummed, agreeing silently. The supply of phoenix tears proved to be an excellent investment. He was partially stalling for time as he was talking to Uzumaki as a matter of fact, hoping that the team would use the phoenix tears to restore themselves to full strength and ambush him from behind.

It ended beautifully.

The hero leader then leaned down from his perch, as self-satisfied as ever. "Hey Uzumaki...there's one more thing that I forgot to mention. There's actually something I should be thanking you for."

Cao Cao spread his arms out, smirking. "It was actually thanks to your intervention, that I managed to trap Yasaka here. As she left Kyoto on the assumption that her daughter was close by and you were the only enemy, unaware that I was waiting for her to make such a mistake. In short, you were the beacon, her daughter was the bait, and you all played your parts to perfection. Isn't that funny? So thank you for your support."

Naruto didn't respond, still face down on the ground.

The 'hero' shrugged. "Well, he seems spent. I suppose I should just kill them both."

No one disagreed.

But before he could give the other, a sudden chill crawled down their collective spines.

What was...?

"...Hey...what...what's happening to him...?" Georg asked quietly, taking a step back from the group in fear.

All of the humans turned to look at the teenaged male on the ground, still face down, but with steam exuding his body.

Everyone watched in morbid fascination as severe burns were repaired, cuts were sewn shut, and clumps of skin grew back.

Then a violent red aura began to surround the blond, overtaking his form as the red energy shot into the air, piercing the storm clouds overhead.

That aura, oh...that aura...!

It felt like pure evil...

Suddenly, without warning, Naruto began to stand. Getting onto his feet despite formerly being unconcious, keeping his face turned away from the 'heroes'.

He had changed.

His fingernails grown to resemble claws.

His already wild hair became feral and untamable.

The whisker marks on his cheeks grew and thickened.

The aura around him was volatile and dangerous, with small pebbles floating into the air just from being in close proximity to him, and the ground cracked and gave way from him just standing there.

Then, slowly, ever so slowly, he turned around.

Glaring at them, through a harsh and blood-thirsty red slit.

"...What are you...? Cao Cao whispered, taking a step back, feeling something he hasn't felt in a long time.

Fear.

Naruto didn't reply immediately, he first smiled, which bared impossibly sharp and dangerous canines.

"Your worst nightmare incarnate."

---

AN: The longest chapter that I'll probably ever make. I guess I just wanted to see how you guys liked things such as these. Also, I just couldn't stop. -.-

Oh well, I suppose everyone gets to see what they have been pining for since the beginning of this fic; Kurama. Yep, he's made his first official appearance now.

Now you guys kind of see why I waited for so long? It's just so much more badass than just seeing him in a mindscape like usual. I just want to make these things more powerful, if it's possible anyways.

Also, as I said, Naruto isn't all-powerful, his unfortunate position and strange ailment pushed him over the edge quickly. That and being ambushed while getting bombarded by attacks from zero-visibility mist is rough...

So I hope the hype was worth the wait. Hoped I delivered. Hope that it wasn't too long. (Tell me about what you thought about chapter length by the way.)

And finally, hope that I reach 2k favs. :P

The end of the Kyoto Arc is next chapter, which smoothly begins the Excalibur Arc, with some interesting developments. :3

By the way, I need practice with writing impactful scenes. I sometimes feel like I suck at them! XD

(Quick edit: For anyone that thinks that Cao Cao is acting OP, remember; he is only the sum of the parts of a faction. The Hero Faction overwhelmed Naruto, not Cao Cao himself. The proof is in the text. I did hope that I didn't have to say that outright tho! XD)

-RekkingPride