Yo..

I'm quite surprised by the reactions for the previous chapter, it just shows how much you are attached to the character.

And yeah, I know that this fic suffers from lack of much romance and sex, but they're 14 right now...so it's not the time for that. And most of all they are in a freaking WAR.

I actually realized why millions of people love "Naruto" series, because it touches the emotions of people very strongly.

Enjoy the chapter...

Chapter 31

The Ghosts of Her Past

(Few Minutes Earlier)

"I fight for them because you never give up on family, no matter what!"

Her eyes widened in shock on hearing those words, and she could see a reflection of that man in this boy.

"SHUT UP!"

Naruto quickly grabbed Izumo and jumped away as the very next second a large red tail emerged from the ground. His eyes widened in shock when Kushina shunshined in front of him and sliced her sword at him.

"She really wants to kill me...forgive me, Kaa-san." thought Naruto quickly, and Kushina was surprised when both the boys disappeared in a flock of crows.

She landed on the ground, there was no such things as family. It was merely an illusion, and she would not fall for lies again.

"No matter how much you try to preach your nonsense, I will use my hatred to crush all your dreams and hopes. There is no such thing as family," said Kushina murderously, as her opponent appeared in front of her.

Naruto wiped a bead of sweat from his hands, the amount of Killing intent this woman was leaking was unbelievable. The air had become so heavy that he was having difficult in breathing.

"Run away right now, before it's too late." said Ikiryo silently, as Naruto was quite surprised by his alter ego.

"You're telling me to abandon my friends, my soldiers to die? I can handle her, it's not like I have handled Jinchuuriki before," said Naruto defiantly, as Ikiryo just sighed tiredly.

"At first I thought you were an idiot, scratch that you are retarded if you think you can fight the Kyuubi. Fine, it's your funeral anyway.." said Ikiryo nonchalantly, and quickly cut off the connection.

Naruto didn't know why Ikiryo was nervous, it was true that she was probably the strongest opponent he had ever faced...but he had a Jutsu that was unbeatable. A power that could counter even the strongest jutsu in the world.

There was a puff of smoke as a couple of shuriken emerged from the seals on Kushina's hands, and without waiting for a second both of them started attacking each other.

The entire beach was lit up with sparks as again and again their weapons collided against each other, if Kushina was firing shuriken quickly then Naruto was easily able to dodge and deflect them with his sharingan.

Finally Kushina had enough and shunshined right in front of Naruto, but the boy quickly caught both of her hands as he tried to stare in her eyes.

"Your sharingan is useless against me," said Kushina smartly as she carefully avoided eye contact with him, but she was surprised when a small smirk came on his lips.

"Too cocky"

Kushina's eyes widened when she saw another Naruto in the air and it had already fired 4 exploding tags straight at them.

"Even during all that he was able to form a shadow clone without any hand seals...he wants to take me down with him," thought Kushina alarmingly,

BOOM!

A loud explosion occurred in the air and sand flew everywhere in the air, but Naruto was a little irked when he saw Kushina standing without a scratch on her body.

The 2 tails of red chakra had protected the Uzumaki from the blast, but instead of gloating in victory Kushina was still in a state of shock as her opponent also didn't have a single injury on his entire body. The boy freaking blew them up with exploding tags, and yet he was unharmed?

"Something's not right here, he should have been blown to pieces," thought Kushina seriously, Zetsu had told her this boy was strong but there was something really weird about him.

However she didn't have more time to think as her opponent performed a set of hand seals that she could barely recognize. He was so damn fast.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu(Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu)"

A giant fireball was fired from his mouth and it headed straight for the red head, but she merely brought her sword forward and sliced the attack in half.

"Amaterasu"

Her eyes widened in horror when a sharp arrow of black flames emerged from the fireball and directly struck one of her tails, and the next thing Kushina felt an unbearable pain in her entire body.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

She screamed in pain as those black flames stared spreading across her other chakra tail, it was as if she was being burned by the sun itself and now she saw the strange pattern in the boys's sharingan.

"A Mangekyo Sharingan...just like Madara," thought Kushina worriedly, she had to take this boy seriously or he could really kill her.

Her entire body was on fire, and judging from the murderous look the boy was giving her it was fair to say he wanted to finish her off. One thing she knew about sharingan was that any jutsu performed by those eyes required extreme concentration and she just knew how to save herself.

Naruto had to quickly jump towards a few of his unconscious soldiers as Kushina unleashed a torrent of kunai at them, fortunately he was able to save his men, but in doing so he left himself open to attacks.

"GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

He screamed in pain as a large hand of red chakra emerged from the ground and quickly grabbed him. He could already feel parts of his skin melting off, and the poisonous Kyuubi chakra was seeping into his body.

His sharingan swirled once again and Kushina was again surprised when the boy passed right through her Kyuubi chakra laced attack. But his escape came with a price, his entire shirt was burnt off and she could clearly see blood leaking from all over his chest.

Give or take, he barely had 10 more minutes before the Biju chakra poisoned his entire system and destroy his organs from the inside out.

She had to admit the boy was strong but he was far too young to face someone like her, maybe after a few years they could have fought as equals. But right now she had questions for him.

He was panting harshly on the ground, and she didn't know why but seeing him in so much pain did not make her happy.

"Naruto, take my help. You are going to need me," said Ikiryo flatly, as his counter part just glared at him angrily.

"Like hell, if I let you take over you would have your way, you wouldn't even hesitate to sacrifice my men if it means you get to have some fun with her," said Naruto seriously, and he was sure he heard a "Tch" escaping from Ikiryo's lips.

"Fine, I will help you in protecting your stupid soldiers" said Ikiryo honestly, and now Naruto was really on edge. His evil counterpart was being nice and helpful?

"Cut the crap, what the hell are you up to?" asked Naruto quickly, as he saw Kushina edging towards him.

"Nothing you idiot, if we combine our powers there is no force in the world that can stop us. Besides in my entire existence I have never seen someone have more hatred in themselves than me, I'm really interested in this woman" said Ikiryo in an evil as well as lustful tone, and Naruto sweat dropped.

"You do know, that she is the same age as our mother right?" asked Naruto comically, as Ikiryo just gave him a wink.

"Who cares? She's strong, she's hot besides I do like red heads more than ravens," said Ikiryo gleefully, and Naruto was really shocked that his alter ego liked older women and red heads, he was the complete opposite of Naruto.

"Still there must be something you want besides fighting her..." said Naruto smartly, as Ikiryo whispered a few words that shocked him to the core.

"WHAT!"

Ikiryo cringed painfully as Naruto shouted in shock, however he just shrugged nonchalantly.

Kushina came forward and grabbed Naruto's neck as she lifted him in the air, she was intrigued when she saw the boy's eyes were closed.

"Why do have a Mangekyo Sharingan? Who are you?" asked Kushina curiously, as she gently lifted his Phoenix mask.

"For the record, I'm really sorry for this"

Before Kushina could process what he meant, he grabbed her neck and what happened next shocked and surprised her to the core.

The boy quickly bit her neck and started sucking blood out of her body, he was ravishing her blood like a hungry animal that had been starved for years. She was in a world of pain, but somewhere she found this to be enjoyable.

But her instincts soon kicked in and she pushed the boy away, and quickly jumped away from him. Kushina glared at the boy, he was wearing a face mask so she didn't know who was he...but the blood on his lips and mouth was so...

"What kind of monster are you?" asked Kushina angrily, as she started healing the wound on her neck.

"You know, you are right...I am a devil," said Naruto proudly, and her eyes widened in horror when he opened his eyes.

Instead of the sharingan in both of his eyes, one of them was totally black in color like a demon, while the other retained the Mangekyo.

He wiped the drops of blood on his lips and sucked it in with the help of his fingers, and the next second the wounds on his chest healed instantly. Even the blood was completely soaked back into his body, it was as if he was never even injured in the first place.

"Now that's the Naruto I remember...the sneaky, cold, manipulative bastard a.k.a 'Me'" said Naruto demonically, he had waited for this moment for years. And now he really was interested in Kushina Uzumaki.

"Naruto?" asked Kushina curiously, she had heard that name years ago. Just who was he?

"Don't worry about that, hotty...we are going to have a lot of fun," said Naruto seductively, as a small invisible blush came on Kushina's face.

The next moment Naruto appeared in front of her and gave her a hard punch that sent her crashing hundreds of meters away. He was faster and stronger than before, it was as if he was a totally different person.

"Now then, let's do some clean up..." said Naruto jovially, and he made a hand seal as 4 water clones appeared around him with the same expressions on their faces.

"What's the order boss?" asked one of the clones eagerly,

"Ah, I promised my partner in crime that I would save these pathetic soldiers...and even if I want to kill these useless, motherfu-"

"I can hear you, and I will kick your ass back to oblivion if you touch them. You are only controlling my body partly, I'm still here and I can stop your fun, you know." said Naruto sadistically, as Ikiryo chuckled.

"Don't worry partner, we are on the same side. You know the 'enemy of my enemy is my friend', if she kills you then I die too. It's in my interest to help you, even if it means saving your soldiers. Now let's kick some Uzumaki ass, shall we?" asked Ikiryo charmingly, as a small smile came on Naruto's face.

He didn't want to admit it, but he liked this. The amount of power flowing in his body, the 'bad boy' attitude of Ikiryo...and deep down Naruto knew that this was who he really was.

And somehow he didn't feel bad about it, maybe Ikiryo was not so bad.

"Katon: Goka Mekkyaku (Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation)!"

Naruto watched alarmingly as a tsunami of fire came right towards them, but he was already on his way to perform his counter attack.

"Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Style: Violent Water Wave)"

A tidal wave of water, even bigger than Kushina's fire attack was fired by Naruto and both the ninjutsu collided as hot steam flew wildly in the air.

Naruto turned towards his water clones with an annoyed expression on his face.

"You idiots should really set up the barrier to protect these unconscious soldiers...because we are about to be attacked by a pissed of red head in 5, 4, 3,2, 1" said Naruto bemusedly,

The 4 water clones had already formed the barrier in order to protect the unconscious Konoha shinobi and Blacklight soldiers, and they watched in wonder as Kushina was coming right at them.

With a hundred fireballs!

"She's pissed," said Naruto quickly, he didn't know if what he was doing was right but deep down he was enjoying this.

"I love wild red heads!" said Ikiryo happily, and clasped his hands tightly.

Kushina quickly prepared herself for his attack as her fireballs, edged closer to him but again she saw that mischievous glint in his eyes.

BOOM!

She watched happily as her fireballs rained down on the boy one after another, and the entire beach lit up like a festival.

Finally it was over, the boy was really getting on her nerves...how dare he sucked her blood!

But her happiness was short lived as the boy emerged again from the dust and smoke without a scratch across his body.

And the boy gave her a bemused smile, and a seductive wink.

"Sorry, hotty...I'm not so easy to get. Though you are getting close" said Naruto mischievously, and as expected Kushina's entire face became red with anger and embarrassment.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU, DATTEBANE!" yelled Kushina comically,

"Now that's the spirit, babe!" said Naruto darkly, and soon Kushina jumped straight on him.

She sliced her sword across his chest, but he blocked the attack with his tanto. But his eyes widened in horror, when his entire body was engulfed by chakra chains that shot out of Kushina's body.

Kushina capitalized the moment made a hand seal and gathered a large chakra in her mouth,

"Katon: Haijingakure no Jutsu(Fire Release: Hiding in Ash and Dust Technique)"

A monstrous amount of chakra infused ash was fired from Kushina's mouth and the attack hit Naruto head on, as the boy was sent sailing away due to the power of the attack.

The ash spread in the entire area, and Naruto crashed on the sand badly. However his eyes widened in horror when hundreds of Biju chakra laced bullets were about to strike him.

"Oops, my bad" said Naruto naughtily, and quickly performed a set of hand seals.

"Mokuton: Moku Joheki (Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall)"

Layer upon layers of wooden walls formed all around Naruto, and started protecting him as the Biju bullets started blasting the wood to shreds.

"Wood Style? What the hell is going on?" thought Kushina frustratingly, first a Mangekyo now a wood style. What kind of freak was this boy?

She decided to end the battle right now, wood style could suppress her Biju chakra and she didn't want that.

She immediately threw a Kunai towards Naruto at a very fast speed. Thinking it to be just a simple attack, Naruto just decided to duck from the Kunai's attack but was surprised when Kushina appeared before him in an instant and punched him hard in the face sending him crashing a few feet away.

"Damn, the kunai was just a diversion which she used to distract my attention and sneaked up on me so quickly, she's fast" thought Naruto bitterly, as he wiped some blood leaking out of his nose.

She then rushed towards Naruto intending to finish the battle and attempted to send a right cross into his cheek. What happened next caught her completely by surprise.

Naruto ducked her punch and twisted her body, swatting her punch up and away , he then gave a strong punch to her torso, Kushina suffered quite a painful blow and coughed up some blood. Yet before she could even process that, he drove his palm into her chin knocking her to the ground with a spray of blood coming out of her mouth as her teeth cut into her own tongue.

"Why you...you'll pay for that brat!" said Kushina furiously, and spat some blood out of her mouth.

She then went through hand signs quickly and executed her jutsu.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu(Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu)"

Naruto gathered a large amount of chakra as Kushina's fireball came near him with astonishing speed, burning everything in its path.

"Suiton: Suijinheki(Water Release: Water Encampment Wall)"

A giant wall of water surrounded Naruto from all sides, and impacted with the Fireball with equal force. At first both techniques seemed to be at equal strength but soon the fireball seemed to become smaller and after a few moments it disappeared with only steam surrounding the entire area.

"Damn, what is this kid, he is creating powerful water ninjutsu's from nothing. There isn't even a water source nearby, How the hell could he do that?" thought Kushina in amazement. She then quickly disappeared from Naruto's view with the intent of forming a new strategy.

Meanwhile Naruto was searching for Kushina and was trying to locate her chakra through his sensor ability, and after a few moments he found her chakra coming from his right side.

"Got you" thought Naruto, and rushed towards his opponent's position

He then immediately attacked Kushina and attempted to kick her feet trying to make her lose balance but she jumped upwards in the air and attempted to give him a strong kick on his head but he was able to dodge at the last moment.

They then engaged in a fierce battle of Taijutsu, trading kicks and punches with each other. It was mostly Kushina attacking and Naruto dodging her attacks with good speed.

"Damn her Taijutsu is impressive and she hits damn hard" thought Naruto seriously, as he noticed some bruises over his body.

"This Kid is something else, though I am not going all out but still he is strong."thought Kushina calculatingly,

Both the shinobi jumped away from each other, both of them were panting harshly. None of them were gaining the upper hand, and it was frustrating to say the least.

"Why did you betray Konoha? Why did you betray your family?" asked Naruto sternly, for his part Ikiryo decided to remain silent as he too wanted to hear her side of story.

Kushina looked at the boy for a few moments, he was genuinely curious about her and she could clearly see he did not hate her for being a Jinchuuriki.

"Why did I betray Konoha? Even if I told you the reasons it won't change anything.." said Kushina calmly, she was regaining her strength back.

Using the Kyuubi chakra continuously did harm her body, and so she was trying to buy time and she was sure the boy was doing the same.

"I am not buying that crap...answer my question!" said Naruto seriously, as a tired sigh escaped from her lips.

"I will accomplish the task which Jiraiya couldn't...I will bring peace and justice to this world," said Kushina firmly, and she saw a distasteful look appearing in his eyes.

"Peace and Justice? Don't fuck with me! You betrayed your comrades, hurted my friends, my family, my village. Don't you dare give me that bullshit!" said Naruto accusingly,

For her part, Kushina looked at the boy calmly...what did he want to do? Why was he so hell bent on protecting his friends? There was no family or friends in this world.

"Then tell me what is your goal?" asked Kushina genuinely, there was no insulting tone in her voice.

"I'm going to defeat all of you, and put and end to this WAR. I will stop this madness, no matter what it takes!" said Naruto promisingly, and he was irritated when she laughed at him.

"So, that is your way of justice. But what about my village, my parents, my clan? Does Konoha alone have the right to proclaim peace and justice?" asked Kushina bitterly, as she remembered how her clan and village were betrayed by their greatest allies.

Today the Uzumaki clan was nearly extinct and Konoha had played a vital part in this treachery. And she saw how shocked the boy was on hearing this.

"What are you talking about? Konoha is your village..." said Naruto cluelessly, as the red head shook her head in negative.

"My name is Kushina Uzumaki, I belong from the Uzumaki clan of Uzushiogakure"

"Isn't that the village that was destroyed during the Second shinobi war?" asked Naruto curiously, and he saw the woman giving him a silent nod.

"Konoha and Uzu were allies, the crest on your uniform is the symbol of Uzumaki clan. The people of my clan were skilled in Fuinjutsu, and were known for their longevity. We were a peaceful clan, but the other villages were threatened by the amount of knowledge we had...so they planned to destroy my village," explained Kushina briefly, and Naruto was really shocked after hearing this.

"Surely Konoha must have helped its allies, if the Uzumaki clan were friends then I'm sure the Hokage and the village would have sent someone to help your clan," said Naruto with utmost conviction, but the murderous look in her eyes told him he was wrong terribly.

"The so called 'allies' never sent any help, apparently few people in the village considered my clan a threat. I was in Konoha at that time, to be made the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki as only people of my clan were able to hold the Nine Tails. While Konoha was using me, they silently watched my entire village being destroyed by Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri. My entire family was wiped out...is that how you treat your family? By selling them to the dogs!" said Kushina furiously

The only thing she received from the boy was silence as he lowered his head in shame, so they did the same thing to her as they did with Armin. If this was the truth, then how was Konoha a great village? What was the difference between them and the others?

"Konoha only cares about her interests, so stop spreading your bullshit of family!" accused Kushina furiously, she was expecting him to shout back but he never did such a thing...even Ikiryo had fallen silent and was not uttering a word.

"I know how that feels, to be betrayed by your own village. Kushina, what you are doing right now is...acceptable," said Naruto politely, as the woman just couldn't believe what she heard.

She tried to search for any deception in his words, but could find none. Why was he so adamant of considering her a comrade?

She had tried to kill him, hurt his friends and yet he did not hate her. She was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and yet he considered her a human being and not a weapon

"Why? Why do you don't hate me? I'm your enemy...and I will kill you" said Kushina sadly, why was such a thing happening to her!

"Because my Tou-chan and Kaa-chan never gave up on you...and neither will I" said Naruto happily, and slowly removed his facemask.

Kushina took a few steps back in shock, her legs felt weak. This was not possible...was she really trying to kill him!

"My son's right, Kushina-chan"

Kushina looked behind her and a few tears came in her eyes as there he was...

"Minato"

Author's Notes: End of chapter.

Be happy and have a good life.