Piracy Of The Last Jinchuriki

by R8handman

Black Zetsu refused that his work all these centuries was for nothing and decided to destroy the shinobi world he influenced, and in doing so Naruto found himself in a Land eerily familiar to his home. Finding this Land is troubled and wanting a place to belong. Naruto decides to use the ruins of his past to help this country. His future is unknown in this pirates infested world.

11. Departure

Disclaimer: Like everybody else in fanfiction, I own nothing. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, and One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda.

"Standard" - Normal Speaking

"Italics" - Thoughts

"Bold" Tailed Beasts Speaking and Techniques/Moves

-Bold- - Places and timeline -

---

- Flashback: Seven days ago-

Naruto could feel his chakra flowing within Tama's body. Slowly, he manipulated his chakra into thin threads that weave across cells, cells, tissues, organs, and muscle. The process was exhausting as tremendous focus and control were required from him to create the Eight Gates that limited the flow of chakra within the circulatory chakra system and the 361 chakra points that served as nodes in the chakra Network.

Slowly but surely, Naruto began to enmesh Tama's screaming and thrashing body with the ability to access chakra. Looking at her neck where the Gozu Tenno seal lived, Naruto connected it with Tama's chakra network before stemming its flow. Slowly, he lessened his flow of chakra within Tama's body and gave a sigh of relief as Tama's screams stopped as she passed out from exhaustion. Slowly he took a step back and cut off the flow of chakra entering Tama's body from his hand. He then took a step back and turned around to drink a glass of water.

Shinobu rushed over and immediately checked Tama's pulse by feeling her neck, and immediately her face turned ashen before yelling, "Her heartbeat!"

"PFF! WHAT!" Naruto yelled as he spat out the water and whirled around in horror before checking Tama's pulse and immediately his worst fears were confirmed.

Immediately his mind blanked before coming to a single conclusion on what was wrong, before yelling in desperation, "Her body! It's not adapting fast enough!"

"I don't understand!" Shinobu said while grasping her apprentice's body, "What do you mean, her body is not adapting fast enough?"

"She needs more time for her body to grow and get used to the changes..." Naruto explained as he felt hope disappearing from his body. "Unfortunately, she doesn't have enough time to grow and adapt to these changes before she dies."

"Grow?" Shinobu questioned with trembling hands, "Like she needs to grow up in a brief span of time! Physically?"

"Yes," Naruto sighed as tears brimmed his eyes, "Unfortunately time is something I can't control!"

"My Jutsu can help!" Shinobu interjected, giving Naruto a glimmer of hope. "My Ripe-Ripe Enticement Jutsu can save her!"

Naruto sat there stunned before a hopeful whisper escaped from his lips, "You can save her?!"

But Shinobu had a conflicted look on her face before protesting, "If I do this, Tama can never return to normal, she will still have the heart and mentality of a child!"

A frenzied look crossed Naruto's face before he snarled and whispered in an angry voice, "I don't care about that right now! All I want now is for Tama not to die from my mistakes!"

Shinobu then gulped before slowly nodding before her hand hovered over Tama's dying body and activated her Jutsu.

"Ripe-Ripe Jutsu!" yelled Shinobu.

---

Hitetsu just stared at the door, eyeing it with a worried look. He was feeling extremely worried about his ward. The screams of his wards kept rising higher and higher for a while until they stopped. Suddenly he heard his apprentice Narutomaki outburst before whispered exchanges between him and Shinobu happened.

Five minutes passed on in silence before the door opened and a bleary-eyed Narutomaki emerged from the room carrying an unconscious teenage girl who was wearing clothes that were too small for her size.

"Who is that?" Hitetsu asked with a raised eyebrow at Narutomaki.

Narutomaki just looked at him and sighed with a conflicted, "Please don't be mad at me about this... I am going to take her to her room."

"Room? As far as I know, that girl-" Hitetsu questions stop as he takes a closer look at the sleeping girl.

The girl had purple hair that had a back bun that was barely held by a yellow comb. She wore a light-green girl's yukata with a plain, yellow flower pattern.

"That's-"

"That's Tama-chan..." confirmed Shinobu as she exited the office.

Without warning, the world around him turned sideways, and he fainted.

---

"So... Nothing... Meeting..."

"Ashura... Forests... Wano,"

Hitetsu blinked weakly at the wooden ceiling of his private quarters, barely making out the words and mutters around him before he bolted upright from his futon

Looking around, he saw Narutomaki and Ashura Doji talking in low hushed voices before noticing his movement. Narutomaki was currently drinking from a ground full of sake.

"I had a nightmare... that Tama-" Hitetsu muttered as he shook his head and then made sure his Tengu mask was still on.

"What you think you saw... It happened," Narutomaki told him with a sigh before he took another gulp and then explained, "Tama is still sleeping from the ordeal, and she will wake up by next week."

Hitetsu then just blinked before asking sharply, "So how old is O-Tama right now?"

Ashura then let out a tired sigh, "According to Shinobu, she aged her by eight years."

"So, she is-"

"Fourteen years old," Narutomaki summed up before looking at his gourd with dissatisfaction before tossing it away, "It's empty already?"

"Drinking this much in the afternoon?" Hitetsu asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's the stress, and it's nighttime. You have been out of it for hours, old man." Narutomaki said as he slid the window open, revealing the bustling nightlife in Okagukare and the starry sky.

"So what happened?" Hitetsu asked in a grave tone, "And what will happen now?"

"The meeting has been delayed to next week, I sent Shinobu and her brother Shinosuke to send messages explaining why the meeting has been delayed," Narutomaki told him with a sharp look, "The village representatives will arrive next week through the tunnels."

Ashura then looked at Narutomaki, "Major recent events will be discussed... Like the beast rampage... and the new shrub of forestry that is growing in each region."

"But the most of land is infertile due to the factories!" Hitetsu gasped with wide eyes before smiling, "This is a miracle!"

"Yeah... It's indeed a miracle," Ashura said with a grin before slapping Narutomaki back, "But it's not surprising since we got our man of miracles here!"

Narutomaki's body turned rigid at that comment before smiling sadly and whispering softly so only Hitetsu heard, "It's nearly the same damn nickname... Child of Miracles by Konoha... Now Ashura called me Man of Miracles... "

"Ashura... I want to have a word with Narutomaki, alone," Hitetsu said to the pink-haired samurai.

"Of course," Ashura said before standing up and leaving the room.

---

Sitting across the room, Naruto could still feel the kokeshi doll tucked within his Kimono, and looking at the corner of a sheathed sword that was familiar, but he couldn't place his mind from where he remembered it to be from. Hitetsu then concluded this was a sword that was recently made by his apprentice.

"You made another sword?" asked Hitetsu with hidden excitement. "Why did you keep this from me?"

"Because I didn't make it. I found it in the most unlikely place during Nue's rampage at the Flower Capital. Also, I found this! Here!" Naruto tosses the kokeshi doll at Hitetsu, who snatched it midair with ease and held it gingerly like it was something precious to him.

Hitetsu's hands trembled with happiness as a weak grin erupted across his face. "Oh, I thought I will never see you again!"

Hitetsu just chuckled before patting an annoyed Naruto's head and then motioned him to come closer, which Narutomaki did.

"Where did you even find her?" Hitetsu asked, with deep happiness radiating from the brilliant smile on his face as he set the doll on his futon.

"In the basement of the Shogun castle. Along with many swords and dolls and a Poneglyph, including this sword. I recognize this style anywhere it's yours, is in it?" Naruto said as he unsheathed the sword and inspected it in the moonlight.

Hitetsu's face immediately frowns and becomes guarded and mutters, "So you found that place."

"Yes." Naruto told him with a straight voice.

Hitetsu's face contorted to a scowl, and pinched the bridge of his nose, "This is basically inviting trouble!"

"Yes," Naruto agreed before raising a finger to silence the fuming old swordsmith, "But I didn't poke around... Nue sent me crashing through the Shogun palace as he demolished half of it and the Flower Capital. Then I stopped Nue by throwing him off the Capital."

Hitetsu then pinched the bridge of his nose before sighing, "You are more like a son than I thought..."

"I have a question..." Naruto asks him in a suspicious voice, "Why were your work and belongings in that basement, with the poneglyph?"

"How the hell do you know about the Poneglyphs?" Hitetsu asked him with a raised eyebrow. "That's a secret kept from all Wano Citizens. Only very few people should know about it in Wano."

Naruto's eyes narrowed at these words before exhaling, "Yamato explained to me what they are after I ran across one in Onigashima. Yamato also told me only Kozuki Oden could decipher these stones after Kozuki Sukiyaki died."

"Who is this Yamato?" Hitetsu asked, unfamiliar with the name since Naruto always talked about the Orian and the Yakuza he works for.

"Hmmm, it's complicated..." Naruto told him as he scratched his chin thoughtfully for a second.

"Try me," Challenged Hitetsu.

"Well, she is Kaido's kid... Goes by Kozuki Oden and rebels against her father half of the time after she found Oden's journal in the ruins of Oden's castle around 17 years ago." Naruto summed up simply.

Hitetsu just gave Naruto a strange, befuddled look and then just rolled his eyes. "I do not know what those outsiders do and think. Really strange people... I mean, who goes by Kozuki Oden? Who does that?"

"Well, Yamato does it and Kaido really hates that." Naruto informed him, "Now explain to me, why were your swords and dolls in the Shogun's basement?"

Hitetsu just gave Naruto a long, unsure look before he told him.

"That place was once a secret hobby room for me, however I was imprisoned there for several years." Hitetsu explained as his head looked down on the floor, "I always told you I took smithing because I have a talent for it, but it was always a hobby."

Hitetsu then reached for his red tengu mask before removing it and it fell on the floor with an echoing clatter.

Naruto blinked in surprise as he saw a face that had deep wrinkly eyes with prominent eyelashes and thick eyebrows. Below the old man's dark nose was a thin, wispy mustache that curved around his upper mouth. He also had a small beard growing out of his chin, which split into three prongs, and a long white hair that reached down to his back.

"Governing is an exhausting job, isn't Narutomaki?" said the old man with a sad smile.

"Who are you?" Naruto says before tilting his head to the side as he racks his mind for the face he was seeing.

The old man just turns red and points to his own face in anger, "It's me! Come on, you should know about Kozuki Sukiyaki! I was the last ruling Kozuki on the Shogunate!"

Naruto just looked closer at the old man and chuckled before shaking his head with a grin, "Nice joke, old man! And I am the honored Sage of the Six Paths!"

"Oh, that's it!" Hitetsu snarls before he grabs Naruto by the collar, "In my days any brat showing this level of disrespect-" Hitetsu stops before sighing, "I can prove it to you..."

"Prove what..." Naruto said in exasperation as he folded his arms and frowned.

Hitetsu proceeds to brings out a scroll that Naruto immediately recognized. The scroll was unfurled to reveal his attempts to decipher the ancient text written on the poneglyph he found on the second floor on Onigashima. Immediately, Hitetsu held the scroll next to a candle, and it caught a flame burning it to ashes, much to Naruto's shock.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, YOU OLD GEEZER?!" Naruto yelled in horror.

Hitetsu rolls his eye before shushing Naruto and then bringing out a piece of parchment, and the old man began to write.

"Hey-" Naruto blanched as he looked at Hitetsu in amazement as he was writing the ancient script perfectly with ease. Naruto tried to speak, but no words came from his mouth before shaking his head and slapping both of his cheeks to regain his verbal skills.

"How?" Naruto said as he felt the urge to bang his head repeatedly on the wall, "But I spent four years trying to crack this stuff... All those books I read from the Konoha Cryptanalysis Team didn't work! And all this you could read and decode this stuff. I should have just asked you to help me with my rubbish attempts."

"It's not a terrible attempt..." Hitetsu told him with a shaking head, "This script has been passed down from father to only one son per generation in the Kozuki Clan. I taught it to Oden during his childhood."

"Okay..." Naruto muttered before he whirled around with crazed eyes "SAY WHAT!?"

"As I said before..." said the old man with a smirk, "I am Kozuki Sukiyaki!"

Naruto was blown away by this as he looked at the man who served as his master and guardian with a flabbergasted expression before closing his eyes and took a shaky breath before slumping to the floor and then looked at Sukiyaki with a tired look, "So you were the Kozuki who ruled Wano before everything went to shit... How on earth did that happen?!"

Sukiyaki's smirk disappeared, and he bowed his head down in deep shame. He then looked at Naruto with weepy eyes full of sadness and regret. "I am so sorry about what happened! You think I am a failure of a shogun to let Orochi take power and that is true. I failed my Daimyo's! I failed my son Oden and his family! But most of all, I failed the people of Wano!"

Naruto continued to listen to the former shogun's silent weeping before whispering, "So both of us failed to protect the things we were responsible for..."

Sukiyaki then lifted his face before saying with a stifled sniff, "Narutomaki, what is it?"

Naruto turned a heart-wrenched face towards his master, "I am a bigger failure than you think. Even bigger than you ever will be..."

"What?!" Sukiyaki said with surprise before his face turned angry, "If this is about me-"

"It's not, and it's also not about what happened to Tama..." Naruto told him with a shaking head as a distant look came on his face.

"Then what is it?" asked Sukiyaki slowly.

Naruto closed his eyes before confessing in a quiet voice, "The truth is I am not from Wano. I was born and raised in another country."

Sukiyaki raised an eyebrow at those words, "So you are an outsider? I really don't care about that part," he muttered before a confused expression came on his face. "But how on earth did you end up in Wano? The borders are practically impossible to cross!"

Naruto opened his mouth to explain but stopped when he saw Sukiyaki shaking his head saying "Forget it, I don't care Narutomaki!"

Sukiyaki's eyes now held a gleam that studied Naruto with a stubborn intent before he said, "What I care about is who are you? Whenever I tried asking you about your life, but you just avoided the topic. So please be honest with me. Can you tell me your story?"

Naruto then just mumbled as he left the room, "Wait here. I want to show you something."

When Naruto reached his office, looking around to see no one. Naruto then drew blood from his thumb and smudged against a certain floorboard to undo the blood seal he had placed on it. Naruto then gingerly lifted the floorboard and reached inside it for a small box he occasionally looked at and mourned over on his birthdays for the past years. A big reason he never celebrated his birthdays anymore was because it was also the death anniversary of his comrades. Opening the lid of the box open, Naruto extracted a large, thick book that was extremely precious to him. Of course, most of the book content was scraped together by Naruto from multiple sources.

Naruto then rushes back to Sukiyaki, who notices the book under his arm and asks, "What's in it?"

"My past life... It's easier to explain with this." Naruto said as he opened the book to reveal highly detailed pictures that were taken nearly a decade ago.

Choosing carefully, Naruto picked three pictures to introduce.

Looking at them, Sukiyaki stared at them with surprise before muttering, "I heard of those things from outside when I was the shogun... they are called photographs, aren't they?"

Naruto nods before saying, "You are right, these pictures are taken through a camera and then printed out."

Naruto then lifted the first page to see a picture, which showed his favorite scenery in Konoha. The picture was taken in autumn during the sunset where the sun beautifully shone on the Hokage monument, giving it's a golden orange glow that glinted across the hidden village. Naruto had taken the picture from a camera he once stole from a shop. The next page showed a picture of Naruto sitting on the Third Hokage's lap while wearing his the borrowed Hokage hat, all while they both grinned for the camera.

The next picture showed Team 7, next to the other teams and their sensei before Sasuke had left for Orochimaru. After that, there was a picture of the four of them in a pallor. Next to that picture was Team Kakashi, that comprised him, Sakura and Sai, while Tenzo and Kakashi served as co-captains.

Naruto had found out Tenzo's real name, whose alias was Captain Yamato's after reading his ANBU file. The next pages were full of pictures that included Sasuke's Taka photo. Konohamaru and his team. Gaara and his siblings. His own father and his students, Kakashi, Obito and Rin. His parents when his mother was pregnant with him.

Naruto then found the picture he wanted to show and pulled it out and showed it to his master.

"This is your home..." Sukiyaki muttered as he marveled at the picture. "It's kind of beautiful and strange at the same time... It also looks like Wano a lot, but there are subtle differences. What are those metal sticks pocking out the houses?"

"Those are antennas." Naruto said with a chuckle, "They transmit and receive images and sounds through the air for TV's and Radio's."

"What's a TV?" Sukiyaki asked in confusion.

"It's too difficult to explain." Naruto told him with a shaking head.

"So, what happened?" Sukiyaki asked in a wary voice, "To your home?"

Naruto felt like he wanted to shut down, but he sighed and whispered out, "It's gone because I couldn't protect it and a prophecy became true in a way that I never wanted it to be."

"What prophecy?" asked Sukiyaki with an echoing voice.

"My master had a prophecy that the Child of the Prophecy would be a student of his and that he would bring a great revolution to the world of the ninja." Naruto explained in a hollow voice before giving a hollow laugh, "The revolution could be for the world's salvation or the world's destruction. Guess what? I brought destruction to my home!"

"But the world still exits..." Sukiyaki asked in confusion, "I think you will bring salvation to this world. I believe it!"

Naruto mentally hits himself as he remembered the context, "This world is not my world!"

Naruto then gave a tired, sad smile before whispering, "But my home is still gone... I can never go back there."

Sukiyaki frowned before he beckoned to Naruto to come closer. Naruto did that only for Sukiyaki to kick in the knee. Naruto yelped in pain as he saw Sukiyaki scowls in disappointment and whisper at him angrily, "You have a home here!"

Taken aback by these words, Naruto smiled before he felt a stray tear fall from the corner of his blue eye and wiped it away before laughing in a broken, ragged voice, "You are right... I can be an idiot sometimes."

"Now returning to the subject on Poneglyphs," Sukiyaki said as he looks at the glimmer of hope and excitement in his student eyes, "Forget it!"

"Why?" Naruto pitifully groaned.

"Too dangerous! Also, you are irresponsible. You left that scroll lying around for me to take it..."

"Well, I did not know how dangerous it..." Naruto complained before asking, "Besides, you are the sole expert on the topic, so is it risky so shouldn't you pass it down to someone in case something bad happens to you?"

"No!" Sukiyaki flatly refused. "This knowledge is passed down from father to only one son per generation in the Kozuki clan."

Naruto then bluntly says, "Well, Oden is not around anymore and Momonosuke will need someone to pass the knowledge to him if he returns one day."

Sukiyaki just remains silent as he continued to frown at Naruto.

Naruto then sat down and whispered, "If something happens to you, old man and your grandson never learn how to read and write the Poneglyphs."

"That will be a disaster." Sukiyaki said with a shudder, "That heritage is important to the Kozuki clan as our ancestors were master philologist and stonemasons."

"So, is the tradition worth destroying the heritage?" Naruto asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"No!" Sukiyaki replied before sighing to himself, "I backed myself in a corner, haven't I?"

"Think of it as a failsafe if something happens to you." "I could teach your grandson in your place..."

Sukiyaki had a conflicted expression as he weighed the pros and cons.

"If I start torturing you..." Naruto asked him with a blissful and sunny look, "Will you teach me about the language? Information spills faster that way!"

Sukiyaki immediately blanched at the threat before snorting, "You are joking. Your heart can't bear seeing this old man be in pain... But I agree with what you said."

"So, is that a yes?" Naruto asked with a cheerful expression.

Sukiyaki just laughs before saying you are the second most troubling person I took care of. "Oden is my child, and you are my apprentice... I will teach the Poneglyphs on several conditions..."

"Kill every person who intends to use misuse this information and also teach no one this expects a Kozuki!" Sukiyaki asked him with a serious face.

"Absolutely," Naruto said with a nod.

"Excellent! Then in that case," Sukiyaki said, an earnest smile on his face. "Let's begin!"

"Lesson one!" Sukiyaki announced, smiling brightly as he unrolled the scroll he had in his hands. "Basic forms of the characters. I expect you to pay close enough attention that you'll have no less than all of it done within a day. Perhaps then we can take a break for tea after that. Also summon your clones, I will each give them a phonic to focus on."

"Hey, isn't that too much?" Naruto protested weakly as he saw the sum of information he had to process.

"Oh, hey! No, take backs!" Sukiyaki snapped at him.

Naruto gulped before forcing himself to focus on the lesson at hand.

---

-Six days later-

Sukiyaki stared at Naruto, who was clutching his head with a furrowed expression as he mastered the language step by step.

The clones helped a lot, but the major factor was Naruto's tenacity to push himself despite looking like his brain will explode from the strain of cramming too much information in a week.

In fact, he only seen this type of tenacity from one other person. His late and precious son, Oden. Oden, a person who was a free spirit, had mastered all what there is for being a Kozuki in an sped up pace. He was his pride and happiness...

And that is why Seventeen years ago, his life shattered to pieces when he was informed by Orochi and Semimaru of Oden's death in his prison basement by throwing his son's bloodied swords, Enma and Ame no Habakiri. Sukiyaki fell down and wept and screamed himself hoarse before vowing revenge on all those who had a hand on Oden's death. Two years passed, and the rage ebbed away to shame and self-pity, but still he had to escape. And he escaped by using both of his son's swords to cut down the doors to his prison and ran away from the capital. One look at the unrecognizable devastated country of his. He then completed on committing seppuku to atone for his failures before realizing that it will be a useless death and continued living in the ever-growing ruins of his homeland. It all changed seven years ago where a young man who looked lost and pain entered his life.

Now he had another source of pride. But Narutomaki could never replace Oden, just as Oden could never replace Naruto. Those men were always pillars within the community they served. He was interrupted by his thoughts when Naruto slumped down with a sigh.

"I think that's enough!" came Naruto's weak and tired voice, "I am going to check on Tama if she had woken up."

"Tomorrow will be the last test for you," Sukiyaki informs Naruto with a strict smile, "If you pass it you can read and write the Poneglyphs perfectly and if you fail, you will require more lessons."

"I fucking detest these lessons..." Naruto grumbles out with a wince, "My head is full of migraines and headaches from overusing my clones to study this."

Naruto leaves the room, leaving Sukiyaki alone as he chuckles to himself before whispering, "There is no test brat... you already can read and write at my level!"

Ten minutes Naruto returns to him informing him that Tama is still sleeping.

---

-One Day Later-

"YES!" Naruto shouts in joy as he jumped in the air, celebrating the fact there was no exam and he can read and write the language that was a pain in the ass for years before it made his life a torturous hell the past week.

"Drinks on me, old man!" Naruto shouted in celebration as he danced on top of his table while looking at the amused expression on his master face, "Tonight we are drinking the sake of my country, that's older than thousand years old..."

Sukiyaki's eyes gleamed with surprise as he whirled at Naruto in surprise. "Your stash is that old!"

"Of course!" Naruto said with a grin, "It was brewed by inhabitants of Mount Myoboku! I have all their stash sealed away and there is a huge amount of it there! In fact, I have a bottle lying around in the office that I never touched."

Naruto then looked around the office before he found it tucked away between books and grabbed it

"Woah!" gasped Sukiyaki as Naruto opened the battle, "I can just feel myself getting drunk off just smelling that stuff."

"This is the strongest drink I drank..." Naruto tells him with a smile, "It is the best sake I ever tasted, but don't drink too much of it. It can ruin your taste of other sakes."

"Seriously?" Sukiyaki asked as he saw Naruto pour a cup for him. "Not even the Yakuza or the Orian had a drink better than this one?"

Naruto then remembers Komurasaki and Kyoshiro and blanches as he remembered the destruction at the flower capital.

"Shit! I just remembered I forgot about the capital!" Naruto groans as he face palmed himself, "I was so worried about Tama... and so busy with the lessons I forgot about my job!"

"Well, let's celebrate your accomplishment, tonight," Sukiyaki tells him before he down the sake down in one go before sighing blissfully, "This is Sake is the one of the best I had ever had. It should be a crime for you to hide it for so long..."

"Well, there wasn't a reason to drink..." Naruto tells him before following Sukiyaki's actions and then wipes the sake of his mouth, "Alcohol shouldn't be used to drink your sorrow always, old man."

"I know..." Sukiyaki says before pouring down another cup of sake for himself.

"Hey careful don't over-drink that stuff..." Naruto warns him before snatching the bottle away. "We need to be sober tomorrow, especially me when I go to the Flower Capital."

The Next morning Naruto then went over to Tama's room. He still found her sleeping deeply while her body rested from adapting a chakra network.

Naruto then brought out the Sakura Ringu and placed it onto a rack before tying a scroll of instructions for on what to do and not do if she woke up while he was away in the capital. He then left the room and headed for the Flower Capital.

---

Okagakure: -Present Time-

Well, he just returned from the Flower Capital an hour ago with his identity exposed after burning Kurozumi Semimaru alive and scuffling with an All-Star before fleeing back to Okagakure. Still, he kept looking at Tama, who was looking more incensed at each passing moment of silence between them.

"Well, she probably wants an explanation... After all, you destroyed her life." a voice whispered. Naruto immediately whirled around to see a fuzzy silhouette from the corner of his eye. It disappeared as soon as he saw it.

"Again... Just like in Udon! Who are you?" Naruto thought as his hands twitched.

The voice in his head then just replied in a mocking tone, "Why don't you take a guess?"

Naruto just ignored the voice before muttering as he ran his finger through his hair, "I must go crazy from the stress."

He then ducked as the scroll that was in Tama's hand flew across the room and missed him before ricocheting off the wall and down to the floor of his office.

Naruto then looked in surprise to see Tama's face flowing with silent tears that didn't suit her face.

Naruto then stood up and moved closer to his foster sister and then reaching out for her for a hug.

WHACK!

Tama just slapped his hand away and then sniffed as tears continued to pour down her face.

"Tama..." Naruto said in a soft, surprised voice.

Once he said her name, Naruto felt Tama throw herself at him and began hammering his body with her grown fists as she bawled and cried out one thing repeatedly, "Turn me back! Turn me back! Turn me back! Turn me back! Turn me back! TURN - ME - BACK!"

Immediately Naruto then hugged the young girl trapped in a teenager's body despite her punches until she tired of it and began to cry into his kimono. He then held her there for a while before gripping her by her shoulder and whispered to her, "I am sorry, but there is nothing I can do."

Tama then scrunched her face with a hurt look before whispering, "I don't care how you do it... Just give my old body back!"

Naruto bit his lip before he whispered to her with a solemn look, "I can't, it's impossible... Shinobu said it's irreversible."

Tama then gave him a distressed look before she resumed bawling her eyes out. "I don't want this! I want to be me again!"

"Tama you are you! Nothing-" Naruto stopped himself before saying something that could make things worse before he told her, "It's going to be okay."

Tama then whirled with tears in her eyes and sobbed, "No, it won't! You don't get it! I can't go back to school anymore!"

Naruto then winced before suggesting, "Shinobu and Tsurujuro will help you through this... I will too and everyone else. But not right now; there is a crucial meeting for me to attend tomorrow and I need to prepare for it. We will talk about this later."

Tama looked even more hurt with these before she whispered, "So this meeting is more important than me right now!"

Naruto lets out a mental moan as he felt he couldn't take back what he said before kneeling down and clasped her shoulder with a tired sigh, "Sometimes, I can't be only your big brother, Tama-"

Before even Naruto could finish, Tama shoved him aside and whispered to him, "I hate you!"

Naruto felt stunned before pushing his irritation down, "You can't say that to your big-"

"A Big brother who isn't there when I want and need him the most!" Tama exploded with anger as she clenched Sakura Ringu with her hands, "Before I woke up, you left me for the flower capital. It should have been you to explain what happened to me. All I got was Master and Shinobu comforting me when I woke up before they explaining what happened to my body. The only thing I got from you was a katana and a scroll; a scroll full of rules and what not to do until I returned... I would rather have no brother than be a sister to someone like you after what you had done to me."

Naruto felt a sharp knife slowly cutting his insides from Tama's words before he sighed and asked her in an expressionless voice, "So you hate me then?!"

"You destroyed my life... and I will never forgive you for that! I HATE YOU!" Tama said with a face that a child should never have before storming out of his room in anger.

Naruto then expressed his emotions by punching through a wall, leaving a sizable hole in his office as he extracted his arm with an incensed look.

Suddenly Naruto felt a presence behind him and turned around to a fuzzy silhouette flickering like a ghost while sitting on his chair. The only thing he could see from the face. It seemed familiar, but he couldn't describe its features or he could recognize it.

"She grew up in such a short amount of time... That girl is someone who hates you and you know you kind of deserve it." The silhouette told him with a disembodied voice,

CRASH

Naruto attempted to tackle the flickering figure, only to pass through him like a ghost and crashed into his chair. The flickering silhouette just stood and floated through his table and looked around before giving off sad and disturbed feeling. "Why would you attack me? I didn't do anything!"

Naruto just snarls at him and draws his sword and points it's threateningly at the flickering silhouette and growls, "Get out of my head!"

A sigh came from the voice before it muttered, "I can't. Both of us are stuck with each other for now... Just like Tama is stuck in her aged up body and Nue-"

Naruto really did not need this right now... he wanted to be alone, so he glared at the flickering ghost.

"OUT! NOW!" Naruto roared at them before proceeding to take a threatening step before stumbling around as spots danced in his eyes and his sense of the world tilted.

"Oh, your exhaustion is making you this angry?" asked the silhouette before tilting their head and pressing a calming hand onto his chest, "I recommend a long nap... After all, it would help if you had it after this hectic week and day... you shouldn't be overworked!"

Naruto then suddenly felt his body turning as heavy as lead and his mind shutting down before he let out a mutter to the now dissipating flickering silhouette, "Who are you, seriously?"

"What do you mean? Ah..." said the ghost-like figure, then shook their head with a chuckle before laughing out loud as the darkness filled Naruto's eyes, "You're still the same idiot. We both have met each other before the Fourth Great Ninja War! In fact, we have known each other since long before that!"

Naruto's eyes widened before his mind collapsed from the exhaustion he accumulated throughout the week.

---

Sukiyaki could hear the shouting from Naruto's office before he saw Tama storming away to hear room before slamming the door with enough force to rattle the mansion. He then heard muffled sobs from Tama's room.

Shinobu then gave him a look before he approved with a nod and tired voice, "Go console her and keep an eye on her..."

Shinobu nodded and muttered, "Of course, Hitetsu-san!"

Sukiyaki grimaced at that name. It was a kind of weird for someone to know his identity right now.

Shinobu then left for Tama's room. Tama sobs stopped for a moment before things began to clatter and echo as she began to throw her room contents at Shinobu.

"She is not happy," Ashura said with a shaking head before, "Heck no, she is pissed at us. Siblings' relationships are something. Kiku cried for a week straight when her brother Izou left Wano after chasing Oden-sama to the sea to bring him back."

"Well, he came earlier than expected, so she didn't have time to process everything..." Sukiyaki muttered to Ashura before explaining, "He told me he will come tomorrow after explaining his absence to the Orian he worked for and requested an extended leave."

CRASH

"The sound came from Narutomaki's room!" Sukiyaki thought before he heard a muffled and enraged yell that sent a message to stay away from.

"Should we do something?" Asked Ashura with a hint of concern.

"Governing isn't easy. My guess is he's just releasing all pent up stress for tomorrow. Just give him space. He will be alright tomorrow... Narutomaki is stronger than all of us. He can handle himself." Sukiyaki says to Ashura.

"Oh yes, next week is the meeting, isn't it?" Ashura reminded himself with a smile before frowning, "Being an advisor after what I had done doesn't feel right."

"Yes, we should get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day to prepare and plan the meeting." Sukiyaki mutters before leaving the reception and going to his room and crashing onto his futon.

---

Sukiyaki woke up the next morning and found the mansion already in a flurry of activities, orders and requests as servants and mechanical puppets zoomed around the mansion preparing for the first meeting between the representatives of the villages Narutomaki built.

Surprisingly, one person was missing from the preparation. Narutomaki was nowhere to be found. Entering the office, Sukiyaki found Narutomaki on the floor looking at his ceiling silently before peering upwards to him and asked, "How is Tama?"

"She is still sleeping..." Sukiyaki told him before advising Narutomaki, "I think it's too soon for her and you to interact again... Just give her time. I am sure she will forgive you."

Narutomaki then sat himself upwards and then rose to his feet, before wincing and holding his abdomen tightly before looking at his hand streaked with blood and then groaning in pain he whispered before, "The wound opened..."

"What wound?" asked Sukiyaki with concern.

"It's nothing..." Narutomaki grits out before waving off with a bloody hand at the old man. Immediately Sukiyaki pokes Narutomaki with the sheath of his flowery sword, causing Naruto to hiss in pain before he smacks away the sheath. He then immediately walked over to his desk and sat as blood trickled through the reopened wound. Narutomaki then gained a concentrated expression before steam began to hiss from his wound.

"So slow..." Narutomaki said with a hiss of relief before he formed a set of hand signs and his hand glowed with green shimmering energy over the wound and then gave a sigh of relief before he muttered to himself. "Man, I miss Kurama and the others. Healing now takes time... All the residual Tailed Beasts Chakra in my body is gone and is behind the seal, with no access."

Sukiyaki ruefully shakes his head, unable to make sense with Narutomaki words before telling him, "If you are alright now, go take a bath and change your clothes."

Narutomaki nods before he tells me, "The meeting is at noon this time next week. It's going to be a big one."

"Isn't it technically the first one..." Sukiyaki asked him with a sweat drop.

"That's why it's a big one," Narutomaki tells him with an eye smile before he asks with a serious expression, "I am going to tell everyone what happened last week, and I really need your help, Sukiyaki-sensei. You can start with your side of the story about how Orochi imprisoned you."

A conflicted look flashed across Sukiyaki before whispering, "They will hate me and blame me for everything... Some would ask me to commit seppuku to atone for my failures."

"I won't allow that to happen!" Narutomaki told him with a flat stare, "I founded these villages so everyone can live at ease... Including you! If I can't make you belong here, then there was no point in building the villages."

Sukiyaki just turned around and faced the wall, wiping his eyes under his tengu mask.

"If you do it... I will tell you how Hiyori is doing. In fact, I will tell everyone in the meeting how she is doing." Narutomaki muttered offhandedly.

"What!" Sukiyaki said with a shocked expression as he whirled around and stared at Narutomaki with hopeful eyes, "My granddaughter is alive?!"

Finding an area of weakness in the old man, Naruto exploited it by offering him a smile and whispered, "I will inform you of her wellbeing after the meeting if you tell everyone who you really are."

"That's blackmail!" Sukiyaki whispered weakly in a protesting voice.

"Nah, it a deal, besides It's not fair for our representatives to not know who you really are." Naruto tells him with a flat stare before he tells him, "Of course my advisors will be informed it will remain a secret between all of us."

Sukiyaki then weighed the options before whispering, "Promise me you will tell me about my granddaughter!"

"I promise you, Sukiyaki-sensei, and I will never go back on my words." Narutomaki told him before standing up and muttering, "Meanwhile, I will take your advice. I am going to have a nice hot bath."

---

One week later: -Onigashima-

Yamato wakes up in a bed in the mansion, and immediately her body screams from the pain coursing through it. She then checks her body to find herself and her limbs covered in bloody bandages and every single muscle in her body throbbing in agony.

The last memory she could recall was when she was crouching in a fetal position with her father, telling her with a growl, "Look at what you made me do! You were reasonable for a while, not pulling any stupid stunts! I thought you stopped being an idiot for a while! But then you had to do this!" He then brought down his lightning infused Kanabo repeatedly at her until she passed out.

Slowly she rises from the bed and attempts to escape from the room to avoid her father's lecture, but her body is in so much pain that she falls flat on the floor with a large oomph. Yamato then lets out a scream through her gritted teeth as she crawls on the floor to the doorway, thinking, "Naruto... Naruto is in danger! He needs to run away!"

The door slid open and with her vision blurry from Yamato couldn't make out the person who entered and began approaching her cautiously

Yamato then takes a shaky breath then calms herself down as it's the best state for the usage of Observation Haki and immediately senses her surroundings. She immediately senses Ulti and Page One and from her Haki telling her they were anxious about her being. But the person behind them was unrecognizable and possibly stronger than Jack.

Yamato then felt rough but gentle hands attempting to lift her from the floor before Yamato yelped in pain.

"Onyx, can you help me with her?" Ulti asked as she tried to avoid dragging her body on the floor, due to the difference in heights.

"Of course..." said a low, woman's voice that kept coming closer, "Kaido-san ordered me to guard and make sure the Young Master did not cause any issue to herself or others around her."

Suddenly she felt herself gingerly being picked up in the arms of someone huge, probably the size of the All-Stars.

Yamato then blinked through the pain to see the body of a giant, muscular, lean and curvaceous, and well-endowed woman that could rival Black Maria with her looks and body. Inspecting Yamato realized the person's body had a shimmering white fur with dark black stripes across them. Cat ears poked from her long orange hair that tumbled down from her head. The woman had a coiling and thick striped white tail. She wore a kimono that definitely once belonged to Black Maria.

"A mink!?" Yamato whispered in confusion as she recalled the general description of them in Oden Journal as she stared dumbfounded at the tigress mink before asking in a pained voice, "Shouldn't you be living on Zou?"

The tigress' dark green eyes blinked in surprise before she bared her fangs in an annoyed hiss before whispering in a shaking voice, "I don't have any connection to that place! I never had the luxury to live there, but hear tales about it from my mother."

"They found her on a celestial dragon's ship," Ulti hissed at a confused Yamato. "It belonged to a very high-ranking celestial dragon that had Admiral Akainu escorting it from what I heard. They found Onyx as the only cargo from the ship, collared and shackled with explosive collars on each set limb and neck."

Electricity crackled in one of Onyx's hands before it sparks dissipated, "Yes, I owe Kaido-"

"My father freed you?!" interrupted Yamato in a surprised voice before she felt deep envy at the tigress mink, "Why?"

Onyx frowned before raising an eyebrow and told her with a low growl, "You think I don't deserve to be free? Well, your father broke my shackles after I showed him how valuable I was to the World Government and how I can be more valuable to him..."

She then flexed her sharp claws and a thin smile crept in her face before she gave a toothy grin to Yamato and sauntered off saying, "Of course a bounty is going to be released by the marines when they find out I am alive, and if I were you, I would get on your father good side."

Yamato then turned her head around to see Page One fiddling with his fingers and not looking at her directly.

"Where is he then?" Yamato asked with a pained voice, "My father?"

"He is in the Flower Capital, preparing for something," Page One told her with a sigh before giving her a grateful look and bowing his head, "Thanks you."

"For what?" Yamato asked before wincing as she felt her injuries inflame across her skin.

"We didn't get into trouble over what Ace and Naruto did when you took responsibility over what happened on this island." Ulti whispered before giving Yamato a gentle hug, "We owe you..."

"So much!" Ulti said as she grasped Yamato's hands and held them before Yamato pulled them away with a wince.

"You two must realize that the time for you two to join the crew is in six months' time." Yamato informed them with a sigh, "So try to get stronger... I can't keep protecting you forever."

"About that, from the rumors that I heard your father acquired six new devil fruits from the expedition." Page One informed her as he ticked off his fingers, "I heard there was a fruit that matches a description of a Mythical Zoan. Two Ancient Zoans judging from their patterns, but they don't know what type they are and three unidentified ones."

"This was probably the most successful expedition they had ever had since they took over Wano," Yamato said before her thoughts turned over to Naruto.

"So..." Yamato asked with a worried expression, "About Naruto... what did they do to him?"

Page One then gave her a grimace before he looked at his sister, "Well... He barely escaped from the Flower Capital after burning alive the old man from the Kurozumi clan."

"I heard that King tried to capture him before he escaped by blowing up an abandoned block in the red district during the clash..." Ulti said before she tilted her head as she scrunched up her thoughts and then muttered, "Yeah I think that's it."

This should have made Yamato feel relieved. Instead, her blood froze from what she had pieced together.

"So, my father is in the capital for a broadcast?" Yamato asked before she received a nod from both siblings, "This is bad... He is going to challenge him with a threat before forcefully recruiting him into the crew."

"And how do you think Naruto will respond?" Ulti whispered as she looked around to make sure there were not overheard.

"I don't know?" Yamato said quietly before she whispered out, "But that worries me..."

Yamato then lifted herself with a heave and swung her legs over the bed and take a wobbly step before being caught by the siblings who hoisted her up.

"Thanks..." Yamato grunted before making her mind up and told them with a forced voice, "Can you do yourself a favor, you two?"

Page One and Ulti shared an uneasy look before nodding and muttering their consent.

Yamato then closed her eyes and muttered in an exhausted, "From now on... You two should cut ties with me!"

"WHAT!/ NO WAY!" the siblings protested with anger and indignation before an argument exploded between them and Yamato.

As they protested, Yamato cut them off with an open palm and explained, "My father is currently pissed at me more than he had in the last couple of years and it would be bad for you two to get caught up with my problems. So it's best for all of us to pretend we were never friends."

A dark shadow fell on Ulti's face as these words registered in her mind.

"So our wellbeing is more important to you than our relationship." Page One asked with a low growl.

Yamato then nodded with a sad smile before she looked at Ulti, who took a step towards her with clenched hands.

POW!

Yamato's head snapped backwards from Ulti's uppercut, and she fell off her bed with a crash. Before she could even get her bearing right, she was pinned by an enraged Ulti who currently had a pissed off look that showed her betrayed and hurt eyes. Ulti then began to claw at her skin and tug her hair furiously, which Yamato responded to do the same, starting a cat fight.

Yamato felt her wounds open as she struggled to pry Ulti off herself before she kicked her off from her and reached for club and tightened her grip around the handle.

Immediately Page One was in between them and holding back his sister, who howled and cried at Yamato, "Fuck you! You promised you wouldn't-"

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" Onyx shouted as she barged into the room. Once she saw the source of the commotion, her white arm reached out to pick Ulti from the scruff of her clothes and carried her out as she continued to thrash and fight her as she

Yamato then hauled herself back to her bed before she saw Page One leaving with a betrayed look on his face, "You shouldn't have thought or said that to Ulti... My sister hates one thing more than anything else in the world and that is to be left behind. After what happened to us, I think I agree with her."

With that, Page One left Yamato alone, and Yamato buried her hands in her face before silent sobs racked her body.

---

-HALF AN HOUR AGO: Flower Capital-

Denjiro sat in the corner of the banquet hall in the Shogun Castle watching the servants of the Castle standing frozen like statues afraid of making a single mistake that could warrant the wrath of the Shogun.

In the middle of the room was a weeping Orochi and a heavily drinking Kaido. Kaido occasionally paused between gulps with an uncomfortable look and unsure on how to deal with the sobbing mess that was beside him. It was weird to see the happily cheering and upbeat Orochi grieving... Even a monster like Orochi has feelings of loss and grief.

In Denjiro's eyes, after what Orochi had done to Wano, seeing him sniveling and hiccupping with excess tears made him more monstrous than human. Orochi was wailing excessively to the point it looked like a tantrum.

"Shut up!" Kaido's yell echoed throughout the castle, before saying "So what if the old man died?! I killed the hag, and you didn't complain!"

Orochi just stopped bawling and swiveled his head with a pissed expression and stared at Kaido with bloodshot eyes.

"You have no right to talk to me like that, Kaido!" Orochi yelled back, "I am Wano's Shogun!"

"Then act like one!" growled Kaido with a glare.

"Fine, then I want you to capture him alive, so we execute him." Orochi demanded with a growl before he hissed, "I am having him boiled-"

"That's not happening," Kaido cuts in with a low growl, "Besides, there is no point in killing him now. The damage has already been done."

"What if he causes more damage..." Orochi growled out as his body shivered in fear, "What if he kills me?!"

Kaido ignored the shogun and growled out to Queen, who was staring at the geisha with a blush, "Illuminate the Light-Scrolls across the Land of Wano immediately!"

"The Light-Scrolls are already prepared, Kaido-san." King said as he walked into the room.

"King!" Kaido said with a raised eyebrow before complimenting him, "Good Job."

"Today, Semimaru-sama funeral will be held in the Flower Capital," Kyoshiro said as he sat in the corner with a bowed head that hid a small smile. "We are expecting a crowd of people and it will be chaotic..."

"That is why we are already counting on... It will make the message go faster." Jack said with a growl before Queen asked, "What shall we do?"

Kaido eye's flared before he grinned menacingly "This is what we are going to do!"

---

Naruto sat in his office and looked over a parchment of paper that detailed the funds allocated to the villages. He then raised an eyebrow when he saw the plan that was implemented over the next three years and sighed as he saw its possibility to be unbalanced over the years after that.

"Man... This isn't Konoha, but I wish it were." Naruto muttered as he crossed out the less important projects. "Missions would have brought an excellent source of revenue."

Sukiyaki then entered and addressed him with a curt, "Narutomaki-sama, they are here... The representatives are waiting for you."

Naruto then gave him a raised eyebrow. "Since when did you start addressing me with the honorific sama?"

Sukiyaki chuckled before whispering, "It's just the formal proceeding for this meeting. All of us will address you in that term."

"Bah..." Naruto exhaled before muttering, "You can drop that part sensei..."

"No..." Sukiyaki said with a faraway look before chuckling, "I don't think I will!"

Naruto then stood up and walked down the mansion he was required to have by the wishes of the people he governed. He then turned a corner and entered the mansion garden, which had maple and sakura trees blooming across the indoor running pond that went to the outer garden.

He then found the open balcony that overlooked the garden and saw the representatives waiting respectfully with silence. However, Naruto saw that there was one person other than the three representatives and his five advisors waiting for him on the balcony. The person was a powerful individual, who sat next to Onimaru in his human form. He wore a brown tattered cloak that hid his features

Naruto then looked at Sukiyaki, Tsuru, Ashura and Shinobu with a questioning look, before asking, "Who is this?"

Onimaru then stood up and knelt towards Naruto. "I brought him because-"

"Because you will want to be informed of me," interrupted the person in the cloak.

Ashura then gasped, recognizing the voice before scrambling to the man. The man pulled down his hood to reveal his webbed hands and light yellow-green skin. The man has a round body, two blush marks on his cheeks, a beak-like mouth and extremely long and wild orange hair. He wore a tattered green kimono, a red cape, tan sandals, a yellow sash tied around his waist, and a large tan kasa with a dark diamond shape at its top.

"Kawamatsu!" Ashura and Shinobu gasped in surprise and shock.

Ashura then immediately checked on Kawamatsu by holding him and scrutinizing him closely. Once he was done Ashura whispered, "It's really you... I thought you went with them!"

Kawamatsu then turned around and looked at them with, "I would have gone with Momonosuke-sama, but someone had to stay with Hiyori-sama." He explained before bowing his head down, "I volunteered, and Toki-sama agreed before she rode out to Kuri and issued her prophecy."

"What happened to Hiyori-sama!?" Ashura asked in a startled voice.

Kawamatsu's body became rigid as an unreadable expression came on his face and he closed his eyes, remembering what happened.

"We escaped by diving into a water channel so the both of us could escape unnoticed by Kaido's men." Kawamatsu told everyone in a wistful voice, "I took care of Hiyori tried to cheer her up when she became mute from grief until she recovered and began to laugh at my jokes..."

Kawamatsu's body then started shaking as held back his tears as he gasped out, "She then found out the food she ate was all I bought as I slowly starved... She insisted me to eat with her but I refused-"

"And she ran away..." Naruto realized as he managed to piece what happened, "Hiyori couldn't stand seeing you die too Kawamatsu. She ran away to save you from starving to death."

"I know!" Kawamatsu howled out with deep frustration as tears streamed down his face before asking a question, "I failed to protect her. She is dead, isn't she?!"

Naruto then glanced at Sukiyaki with a soft smile before he began to laugh out loud with delight. Immediately, all the blades were gripped with restraint as enraged face was on everyone's face apart from him and Sukiyaki.

"What's so funny?" Kawamatsu growled out with a voice tinged in anger, "Because if you are laughing at the death of my lord's daughter-"

"We will cut you down here!" Ashura growled out with an enraged glint in his eye, "Despite what you have done for us and Wano... You should choose your next your words carefully... Now what's so damn funny?!"

"Because I know Kozuki Hiyori!" Naruto told them a delighted look as he continued to laugh, "Turquoise hair... Blue slant eyes... Refuses to cry... Knows how to play a shamisen... Keeps giving me dropkicks when I act like an idiot."

Immediately all eyes stared at him with a thunderstruck expression and Naruto then looked at Sukiyaki, who had a deep interested look at the mention of his granddaughter. Immediately questions exploded around him, pestering at.

"Where is she?" Yasuie demanded with a panicking voice.

"Is she well?" Shinobu said with worried tears flowing down her eyes.

"Is she safe?" Kawamatsu gasped in relief.

"Let's go get her!" Ashura said as he stood up before Naruto

Kawamatsu nods in agreement

Naruto then raised his hands to reign the conversation, "Look Hiyori-chan-"

"Hiyori-chan?" echoed Sukiyaki with raised eyebrow.

Naruto ignored that before delivering a flat stare at everyone in the room, "She is well and alive thanks to me and Denjiro-"

"Denjiro too!" scandalized tones echoed in the room.

"Just! Let! Me! Finish!" Naruto snapped at them with an annoyed expression, "Yes, she is with Denjiro right now... She is his ward right now. Now please don't run around and look for them. They are already in enough danger while being undercover in the capital."

"Undercover?" Shinobu whispered as she scrunched her face as she thought of all the people she knew in the capital.

"Yes, they are quite close to Orochi and spying on him... They were doing it way before I met them and realized who they are! In fact, they will be a major reason for what happened in the capital yesterday. I saved their positions and secret identities from being reveled at the expense of mine."

Shocked silence spread across the room before Sukiyaki whispered, "What did you say? Start explaining now!"

"It's complicated," Naruto muttered with an eye roll before he gave into the incredulous stares in his direction before shrugging, "I may have or may not have burned Kurozumi Semimaru to death yesterday."

The only non-shocked reaction was surprising as it came from Naruto's left.

"Yes!" hissed Sukiyaki with delight as he pumped his fist before challenging the stares. "So what? I hated that guy! He deserved everything about what happened to him."

Tsuru then covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. "Kin'emon hated Semimaru more and dreamed the day of breaking that annoying lute over his head."

"Well, what happened?" Kawamatsu asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You guys have heard of an enormous beast rampaging across Wano before the forests bloomed back to life." Naruto tells them a serious expression.

"It's kind of hard to forget that thing that nearly killed me in the quarry mine..." Kawamatsu said with a chuckle.

"Nue was created by me, but he was never meant to be born..." Naruto explains with a regretful look, "Orochi men accidentally unleashed the beast by holding Tama hostage..."

"That's the major reason Tama hasn't been attending lessons." Naruto adds as he looks at Tsuru with a sad look before she nods with understanding.

"But Nue rampage has forced Denjiro choosing to protect Hiyori over Orochi..." Naruto continued to explain, "That went unnoticed by all except Semimaru and he confronted them about it, and they were backed to a corner so I had no choice but to reveal myself to cover up for them and then kill him by burning him alive. They explained everything to me before I killed Semimaru."

"Kind of ironic isn't..." Ashura snorted with amusement. "Their family name means charcoal, and he was burnt alive."

"Fitting name for him ..." Naruto snorted with a grin, "Brightest point of his life was being burnt alive to a husk of his former self."

Laughter echoed around the room before Naruto grinned and chuckled before calling out, "Moving on, I know another person with a secret identity living here... He agreed to come out and tells us his tale-"

Naruto stopped as he felt something creeping around him and blinked as he saw the silhouette now looking much clearer but was now draped in a white cloth pointing towards the direction of a sleeping Picture Tanishi on the corner of the balcony and disappeared immediately.

Kawamatsu opened his mouth to answer before stopping as Naruto walked up and took a suspicious look at the Picture Tanishi before whispering at the slumbering Tanashi, "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Are you okay?" Tsuru asked him with a concerned voice.

Suddenly the Tanishi opened his eyes and projected beams of light right onto Naruto's face, blinding him and he stumbled backwards half blinded by the projection. Moving out of the projection zone, Naruto silently looked at the projection that illustrated something that drew gasps from every person in the room.

Projected on the wall was a seething Orochi looking like he was maddened by grief and Kaido drinking heavily with a wicked amused grin on his face before he wiped his mouth and spoke in a booming voice, "I have a message to a certain someone that I can't find."

Kaido then lifted an unmistakable sketch that heavily detailed Naruto's expression and face, "Uzumaki Naruto, be thankful to the begging and confession of a certain someone to not kill you. Of course, I wouldn't have... you proved your worth after all the stunts and small skirmishes you have done over the years in my territory ... Uzumaki Naruto, you have two options, ..."

Naruto stared at the projection in stunned silence, feeling the world around him closing in and becoming smaller than its sounds were fading despite the cries of horror and protests to not listen to any of Kaido's words from his advisors and guests. Naruto had only one thought in his mind.

"Well, FUCK!"

---

Kaido was riding high on his alcohol as his orange eyes glowed with buzzed excitement. "Uzumaki Naruto, you have two options. First one is to submit to me, and I will spare your life. Or you can rebel and fight me in a duel in Udon in a week's time. If you lose to me in this fight and you will lose, you will submit to my crew and join them."

Orochi attempted to protest before he backed away from Kaido's glare.

Kaido then took a swig from his groud before growling out, "And don't make it a no-show or I will burn Udon to the ground before moving to Kuri and the next regions to find you. And I will find you!"

Kaido then bursts in drunk cackle before leering at the tanashi with a drunk smile and whispered out a threat, "Oh I know you will show up. Just get ready for a life of piracy under me, you brat."

Queen then cuts the connection before continuing to ogle at a pretty geisha.

Kaido then looked at King who nodded silently before he received a call from his tanashi, "Kaido-san, it's the recruit!"

"Onyx?" Kaido asked with a musing expression as King affirms it with a nod. "Answer her!"

"Hey is this thing working..." Onyx rough voice came through the snail mouth before Kaido asked her, "Onyx, what is it?"

"Well, Kaido-sama. It's the young master and the siblings." Onyx's hesitant voice came through, "I think they had a falling out right now."

Kaido frowned before he callously said to tigress mink, "Yamato rebelling against me is not something I like... Just give them space. They will probably be friends again... But anyway, how do you find my place to be?"

"It's nice!" Onyx's voice said with amazement. "Black Maria gave me some of her kimono, but I want new ones tailored for me specifically. Spending a week in someone else's clothes is weird despite my mom telling me minks swap clothes with a person they are grateful to."

"Black Maria is one of my strongest officers. She calmed you down when none of the Tobiroppo could." Kaido agrees with a nod. "Strong ones like you deserve to be free and have your wants... As I said before, welcome to the Beast Pirates."

"Thank you! Kaido-sama." Onyx said with a bowed head.

"There might be a new capable recruit next week!" Kaido tells her with a grin.

"Huh?" Onyx asked with a confused expression.

"Oh yeah, the broadcast didn't reach Onigashima!" snorted Kaido before taking another gulp of sake. "Looks like I will have to explain this to the others."

---

Naruto watched the snail turn off its broadcast, leaving them with a blank projection. He glanced around and looked at the faces of the village's representatives and his advisors. All of them shared one expression and feeling, fear and uncertainty.

Naruto then calmly put up a brave façade before he jokingly said, "That was probably going to happen eventually, after all the stunts and fights I had over the years."

"Don't do it..." came a voice from his left side, "Please don't give in to Kaido's demands."

Naruto then looked at Sukiyaki pleading eye's before looking at the rest of the room. Everyone else looked frustrated, and some looked sad, as they knew what was going to happen next.

Naruto then began to pace around the room as he looked at all of them with a look of certainty, "I know what I have to do right now for the village's sake!"

"No!" Sukiyaki protested with wild eyes as he his hands shook. "You are the villages themselves. Why don't you do something for your sake? You are the best of us, we ... I can't lose another to Kaido! None of us can!"

"I understand... But Sukiyaki-sensei, but your son Oden stood his ground," Naruto said as he ignored the gasps of shock that spread across the room before saying firmly, "And I must do that too to protect the villages I built! That we all built!"

Sukiyaki ignored the stares of awe and shock before he slammed his hands on to the wall.

"Damn it Naruto! I lost Oden and I couldn't do anything while I was imprisoned..." Sukiyaki said as he pointed towards Naruto with anguished eyes before starting to yell "DO YOU THINK I WILL LET THEM TAKE ANOTHER CHILD OF MINE!"

"BECAUSE I HAVE A DUTY AS THE LEADER OF THE VILLAGES!" Naruto yells back with closed eyes before whispering with an air of finality, "As the village leader... No As the villages sole Kage if I hide in the village and watch Kaido start to burn down the regions as he is looking for me while hide. It is the same as abandoning the villages. People here have things they care about outside. The villages aren't just an organization to look after the people of Wano. Every year lots of people join the villages and they give birth and raise children in Konoha... They live and will fight to protect their villages and what is precious to them, they would fight to their deaths. Even if we are not related by blood, those of the village like these are, to me, my most precious, most important family!"

Naruto then took a deep breath before he continued his words to the stunned representatives and advisors, "If I turn my back on the villages and the country, it is just as bad as abandoning my family. Everyone here should understand... you all saw your own country fall apart. You all lost a place where you could call a home call that is safe. That's why all of you came here... The villages aren't me. They are an idea that existed before I was born, created by two boys who wanted to protect the people close to them, especially the younger generation. What will be left for the younger generation if Wano it had been burned down?"

The silence that came from everyone answered Naruto's question. Naruto then sat cross-legged down before he sighed out, "I know some of you want an explanation on why the former shogun is here... But we get bigger problems to deal with like who is taking my place if I fall down to Kaido."

"Isn't it obvious?" Yasuie said with a stern look, "It should be Sukiyaki-sama. He leaded our country justly and fairness."

"Oi, Oi, You got to be kidding me!" protested Gyukimaru with an outraged expression, "He is the reason, why we are all in this mess... If he hadn't disappeared and made Orochi as his successor until Oden returned-"

"That's bullshit!" Yasuie said with a scowl, "Orochi is a devious rat and that extends to the rest of his family, who supported him in the shogunate. Looking back, I don't know how they did it, by they obviously impersonated Sukiyaki-sama."

"Then where was he during all this time? If he was alive all this time, he could have put an end to this madness before it even started." a frustrated Tsuru asked.

"Don't blame him..." Shinobu muttered as she remembered the day he disappeared and was declared dead. "He was probably hiding like the rest of us."

"No," Naruto told them with a shaking head as he membered the tale from Sukiyaki last week, "You got it wrong, Shinobu... He was still imprisoned until-"

"Thank you, Naruto... But I will tell them myself at another time..." Sukiyaki told him with pained eyes, "We should be focusing on who should lead the villages if the worst happens to me."

Naruto then stands up and heads for the door before Tsuru asked him, "Where are you going, Narutomaki? I think you should choose a successor."

"You guys need to sort it between yourselves... I know you guys will choose the best choice because you want to protect the village." Naruto tells her sadly before standing to leave the room.

Soon he was in his room and sighed to himself, "So it came to this..."

He then looked at his two swords before collecting them and then looked at an oni mask that had sharp pointy horns that was slightly curved, and it was pale as alabaster and had a creepy grin full of pointy teeth. Naruto held it already, feeling the death like aura emanating from it and before looking at the ghostly spectral clothed in white looking at him with a nervous expression.

"So, what do you think?"

"Are you fucking crazy?!" hissed the white silhouette with nervousness. "That's your plan?!"

"Crazy, maybe? But it's an option." Naruto replied coolly before placing down the mask, and the silhouette dissipated to nothing.

He then pulled a scroll, and a brush began writing a letter before whispering to himself, "Whose letter should be written first..."

Naruto immediately realized and whispered to himself, "Dear sister..."

He began to write the letter. Once he was done writing, he rolled up the scroll and wrote on it (To Tama). Already feeling emotionally drained, he then picked up another scroll and muttered to himself, "The other letters can wait for tomorrow..."

Naruto then stood up from his desk and called out to the two people waiting outside his room.

"Kawamatsu and Ashura, do you want anything from me?"

"No," said Ashura worriedly before telling him, "We chose the person who will take over if the worst happens."

"It's Sukiyaki-sama," Kawamatsu told him slowly before adding, "We can help you with Kaido."

"No!" Naruto told them, "I need Kaido to think I am a lone individual... I can't risk it with you two on my side."

"Then what if we helped you prepare yourself against Kaido?" Kawamastu asked with a smile. "After all, we both fought Kaido twenty years ago."

Naruto felt a smile before he smiled at the kappa, "I guess I will take up the offer."

Immediately Naruto drew his sword to block a swift strike from the kappa sword that was aimed at his jugular. The impact of swords sent reverberations across the room.

Kawamastu then drew back his blade and sheathed before smiling. "Nice reflexes..."

"Well, you surprised me there! You have gotten weaker, though." Ashura told him with a grin.

"Well, the fastest way to build back my strength needs to be through duels and fights..." Kawamastu said before complaining, "eating poisoned fish for years wreaked havoc on my body."

Naruto smiles before asking them, "Now how did Kaido fight? I know he can turn to a dragon..."

---

One Week Later

Naruto woke up and made his way over to the window and opened and looked at the village he found and created. The village population was silently sleeping, but the stars blazed across the sky, surrounding the full moon. Taking in the sight he could never see again, he then looked at the packed bag full of scrolls and a small baggage full of letter scrolls he intended to leave behind to his family and friends.

He picked up his baggage and sealed it away inside a seal tattooed on his shoulder and then took a bath. He was glad for the cool water as it calmed down his nerves before he dried himself and prepared himself for battle.

Uzu-Uchiwa. Check.

Nidai Kitetsu. Check.

Kunai pouch. Check.

A plain black and orange kimono. Check

And that mask that he was scared to use. Check.

He then looked at his office for possibly the last time and then left, walking down to the mansion where he lived for the past three years. He then entered Tama's room and found her sleeping silently. He approached close to her bed and then kissed Tama's forehead before leaving the letter.

He then turned around and left the room and did the same to Sukiyaki, Ashura, Shinobu, Kawamatsu, Tsuru. Strangely, none of them were in their rooms and he left the scrolls on their table.

Naruto proceeded to vault himself to the highest vantage point in the village and breathed the fresh air of the new forests in Wano, before crossing his fingers and whispered, "Shadow Clone Jutsu."

A couple of shadow clones formed around him, and he handed them each a scroll containing letters and they scattered in all directions and into the wind.

He then wandered around the empty village streets before heading in the gate's direction. Once he reached the gates and crossed the boundary of the village.

A call echoed down towards him, and Naruto whirled around before looking at a sight that was touching.

Slowly, he curled down and felt slowly tears flow down his face as he saw everyone in the village reaching out towards him but seemingly unable. Every person in this village was standing in front of the gates holding torches that were just lit and continued being lit, and in front of them all was Tama holding her letter with a scrunched face that was bawling as she gave him repeated nod saying she understood. Shinobu and Tsuru just looked at him with tears full of gratitude, which all the residents did too. His villages representatives bowed down respectfully towards him.

A silent goodbye that was filled with gratitude and sadness, but where was the old man-

"Do you think we will see you off without a goodbye, Naruto?" Sukiyaki's voice came behind him.

Naruto looked behind him and found his master holding a sheathed katana that was moderately curved with colors of lilac and gold. The tsuba is trefoil-shaped, and each lobe is holed in the middle and thickly ridged. It's tsuka is lacquered solid lilac, as is the saya. Both are embellished with simple, golden, five-petaled flower motifs on each side. The kashira and kojiri match in appearance, being large with trefoil cutouts to match the tsuba; the kojiri possesses an additional accent, which seems to be a wide, knobbed ring above it. Three pieces of cord are on the sword: one directly above the kashira, another on the saya a short bit below its mouth with two hanging, tufted ends, and yet another cord further below on the saya. Further, a little bandaging is present on the tsuka for better grip.

Naruto frowned at the sword in Sukiyaki's hand and asked him, "Is that-"

"Enma?" Sukiyaki finished before giving a firm nod, "Yes, it is Enma that my late sons used to wound Kaido... If you use it, you might have a higher chance of survival against Kaido, so you can take it."

Naruto carefully took it before slowly unsheathed it and inspected the drawn blade that once belonged to Oden. Like the Nidai Kitetsu sword, Enma also possesses an irregular flame-shaped hamon and a. black no-hi edge.

"I have to warn you Enma is infamous as a sword impossible to wield and master in Wano..." Sukiyaki warned him as he saw Naruto marveling at the craftsmanship.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked in confusion before he felt the sword tug something within him, and Naruto immediately followed the sensation. The feeling felt strange, and Naruto would describe it like this.

Inside his body was a huge amount of chakra that Naruto described as a seemingly endless ocean. If his charka felt like a seemingly endless ocean, then the feeling was like going down the layers of trenches and calm currents of his ocean before hitting the seabed and underneath it and the ocean crust. Something woke up drawn to Enma.

Inside his mind, he could see Enma touching the ocean bed before cleaving it apart and immediately black foreign energy rushed out of the cut, and it immediately caused Naruto's mentally screams in pain as he felt the black energy was setting his chakra network in flames. Naruto bit his mouth, ignoring the pain as Enma drew the energy out of his body.

Naruto opened his eye to see Enma, and his right arm hardened and in black coating a golden flowing aura that was not Kurama's chakra wrapped around them and his body. In fact, the energy was not chakra. The energy continued to swirl around his right and Enma as demanded more of the energy.

"Oh, you are hungry?" Naruto growled out to the blade and began pouring an immense amount of his chakra into the blade. The golden aura was tinged with his chakra before it began to mix, and Naruto saw white glowing cracks form on the black coating in his hand and Enma.

Feeling his instincts screaming at him to swing his sword down, Naruto jumped high into the air and swung it down and the world exploded in a white, blinding flash with a thundering crack.

CRACK

KABOOM

The tremendous explosion sent him flying into the air.

Once the white light faded from his eyes, and the explosion stopped ringing his ears, Naruto felt the winds and air wrapping around him as he plummeted down.

"What? Was he falling?" Naruto thought in confusion as he saw the dark starry night and breathed the thin air. He realized he was a couple thousand meters above sea level once he saw the island of Wano no bigger than his hand as he plummeted to the earth. Entering Sage Mode in the air was difficult, but he could do it imperfectly and still sense Sukiyaki-sensei, so he did that and while he did that, he sheathes Enma.

As he fell down the earth to Wano, he saw a huge line stretching from where he slashed his sword before it was curved around when it hit the ocean side and the beach before the ocean deflected the angle of slash and sent it cartwheeling away to the direction...

Naruto's orange eyes followed the line of attack before he found the impact. Naruto's eyes then widened in surprise and then muttered, "Shit!"

He then felt his right arm explode in pain as the aftereffects of mixing Haki and Chakra within his chakra network happened. It felt like iron nails were pushing out of his bones, his muscle melting down and nerves misfiring so much that they were short circuiting. Immediately, Naruto began to let medical ninjutsu chakra flow within and around his right arm, healing the damage as he fell down. Slowly the pain throbbed away, but still his right arm remained numb.

---

-Onigashima-

Yamato groaned as she sat in her room, rubbing salves and ointments into her many, many bruises and wounds all over her sore body. She was keeping a low profile all week. She rather not incurred her father's wrath again.

Page One and Ulti had been on nonspeaking terms with her ever since their argument. Page One spent half his time fishing by the shores while Ulti occasionally cooked whatever he caught.

The new member Onyx kept a close eye on her all week, and she was honestly nicer than any of her father subordinates. The amount of patchwork of scars on the tigress mink back horrified Yamato, making her feel a bit of luck to not be in the hands of a celestial dragon.

Her father had left for Udon in the morning, intending to meet Naruto and depending on his answer

She then suddenly heard a clatter on the ceiling above her and her body froze before she glanced up with suspicion.

"Who is there?" Yamato called out as she gripped her kanabo before a fist met the back of her head.

Slowly, she felt slight tremors shake her shelf before something impacted Onigashima and she was thrown off her feet.

KABOOOM

The entire island was shaking apart before its trembling slowly stopped. Yamato then immediately vaulted to her feet as she heard the descending chaos out of her room. She strolled to the doorway to see what the hell happened, but before she could reach the door and poke her head out.

CRACK

Something hit the back of her head, making Yamato collapse on her knees with a surprised gurgle, clutching her head that ringed in pain. As the darkness took hold of her, she felt rough hands inspecting her wrists.

---

Hiyori looked at the Flower Capital, conflicting thoughts swirling her heads before she nearly had a heart attack as she saw Narutomaki sitting next to her and staring at her with a sad smile and warm blue eyes.

"What- How..." Hiyori gasped before she hissed at him, "Narutomaki!"

Immediately, Naruto pressed two scrolls into her hands, and whispered to her, "I am a clone, and the boss is serious about meeting Kaido this morning. Hiyori-chan, please hand the letter addressed to Denjiro to him."

"Of course." Hiyori told him with a firm nod before she saw the longing look on his face and then asked him with a concerned look, "Hey, what is it?"

"If things come to the worst," Naruto says before telling Hiyori in a grim voice, "Can you comfort my sister?"

"Of course! That's the least I can do!" Hiyori told him with a firm voice.

Naruto then gave her a slip of paper and instructed her, "Follow the instructions to talk to reach the village, but don't reveal your identity to the common folk until your brother returns! Also, wear the mask I gave you if you head to the village. Really, I don't need a commotion that an Orian knows that place."

Naruto then froze before he felt Hiyori pull herself up by his neck and gave him a deep hug, then pecked a kiss on his cheek before whispering to him, "Promise me you would come back! Promise me you will be here when Wano is free from Kaido and Orochi!"

Slowly Naruto then looked at her with a sad smile before gently poking her forehead, just like when Sasuke did to him when he died. Before telling her with a whisper, "Goodbye, I hope we see each other again."

Naruto then dispelled himself to the original. A moment after Naruto dispelled himself, Hiyori scrunched her eyes, trying so hard to not to cry. But still she felt silent tears flowing down her cheek before she heard a thundering crack and an echoing sound that rattled the Flower Capital.

"What the hell?" she whispered in surprise as she lost her balance and fell on her back

---

Feeling the dispelled memories of Hiyori's meeting and her words returning from the dispelled clone, Naruto crashed into the earth and landed on impact with a jolt. He then dragged out his boots out of the holes he made during landing and walked in Sukiyaki's direction. Naruto then looked at his arm and frowned when he saw the cracked skin. Slowly, his Uzumaki healing and life force kicked in and began to repair the damage that happened to his right arm, producing a hiss of steam from the cracks on his skin as they sealed themselves.

Ten minutes later he saw a shell-shocked Sukiyaki staring at him and telling him, "Oden never made Enma do that!"

Naruto just thrust the sword back to Sukiyaki hands and told him as he gingerly held his hand that was stinging, "I am not ready for the blade yet... It's too wild and mixing Haki with Chakra creates a nasty backlash that will hurt my body during battle."

"Okay..." Sukiyaki said with a confused nod before hugging Naruto and whispered, "Fight as hard as you can to survive..."

"I will survive!" Naruto tells him with a nod before he grunts as he feels a body tackle him and sees a crying Tama weeping uncontrollably as she held on him.

"I am so sorry for everything!" said Tama as she sobbed uncontrollably, "Why were you going away before I had the chance to say sorry!?"

"So..." Naruto told her as he lifted the eight-year-old girl that trapped within her fourteen-year-old teenage body and tilted his head before

Tama then just gave him a glare before she started to cry again.

Naruto then lowers her down before asking her, "Can you endure this Tama? Shinobi are people who endure until the end. That's why the kanji for shinobi can also be read as to endure..."

Tama gave a silent nod despite the tears and snot that kept falling down her face.

Naruto then reached for his neck where he always kept Sasuke scratched headband from their first battle and tied it on Tama's head while saying, "Back in my home the headband signified that you are shinobi... This once belonged to my best friend, and it's very important to me. Can I entrust you with this? Once I come back hand, can you this back it to me?"

Tama just cried harder before giving repeated silent nods before she was picked up by Sukiyaki.

Naruto slowly turned around and called out to everyone, "Read the letters, everyone. It will explain my plan and what you need to do for the next three years while I am away."

He then walked down the road before seeing the secret tunnels and entering them, intending to meet Kaido.

---

-Onigashima-

"Did Mihawk come over the waterfall?" asked Kaido as he stared at the sea with confused orange eyes.

"No..." trailed King in confusion before sighing, "But I can understand why said that."

"EEEEEEEEEEHHHHHH!" Queen screamed in horror as he had been woken up by the shaking before he pointing at something in the sky, "WHY IS SEA AND THE SKIES HAVE BEEN CUT IN HALF?"

The impact that shook Onigashima was seemingly caused by a white flash that carved the sky and ocean apart and seemingly now fading away.

Suddenly Black Maria came scurrying in her hybrid form towards Kaido and reported, "Kaido-sama, I have been told there is no major damage to the island..."

"Good," Kaido said before asking. "Is the fleet ready?"

"Yes, all the Headliners and Tobiroppo are boarded on the fleet ..." Black Maria told him with a nod. "Only you and the All-Stars are left. Also, Onyx had requested to accompany us to see the crew in action against him."

Kaido just gave a nod of approval before muttering, "She is a good soldier. She is proactive, strong, and capable. I couldn't have asked a better soldier."

"So how much did Yamato spill about her friend?" Jack asked, "I know he uses two sword style and he is fast and string got a devil fruit that allows him to create swirling ribs of energy, and he uses an energy that is not Haki."

"Yamato is pretty stubborn, but she told me I will be surprised by what he can do, so watch out," Kaido told him before grumbling, "I can't believe we had a spy dancing around us for over five years."

"And I had a crush on him..." pouted Black Maria before sighing, "He was polite in all the golden festivals, and I missed his presence the last three golden festivals."

Kaido's eye then widened as he sensed a presence on the sea with his Observation Haki. The voice coming from the person told him he was alone and his intention was to seek a fight.

Kaido yellow eyes shifted into the color orange before he leaped into the air and shifted into a giant, serpentine, azure scaled dragon. Calling upon his dragonic powers, Kaido flipped the weather around the island and the sea into a violent storm, before flying towards Uzumaki Naruto, intending to swallow him whole.

As he rushed towards the voice that was struggling to not succumb to the sea violent waves caused by the storm, Kaido heard a defiant voice yelling, "One Sword Style: Isobu Shell."

He then heard a swipe in the air before felt a strong breeze slam against a dome of air erupted around him and his enemy blocking away the violent winds and waves from coming in.

Kaido then heard a yell echoing in the dome, "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu."

Suddenly the dome was filled with hundreds of individuals on Orange and Black kimono racing towards him. There were massive swirling orbs made of spinning blue energy the size of his head and dozens of glinting swords wrapped in shimmering blue energy. All of them were in the hands of blondes who looked identical to each other, who had a demonic grin as he came closer.

Kaido just smiled arrogantly, allowing the attacks to land on him. After all, he was the world strongest creature.

"SAGE ART: SUPERMASSIVE RASENGAN BARRAGE! / TWO SWORD STYLE: HORNS OF GYUKI !"

The blades and orbs slammed into him. For a moment, there was resistance before the blades punctured his skin, making Kaido grunt in surprise and pain as his blood was drawn. An orb slammed and ground at his gigantic body into his with enough mass and Kaido was already stunned by the impact as he reeled back into pain.

The combined forces of the blade and swirling orbs sent him hurtling through the air and flying away from the point of impact and he crashing roughly on his busy port.

"Kaido-sama!" came the shocked yells of his subordinates.

And at that point, Kaido's control failed him, and his lips moved into a feral and bloodthirsty grin. His blood, his adrenaline, every inch of his body felt like it was on fire from the anticipation, and for all he tried to stay cool, he couldn't deny the primal part of himself that he absolutely loved the pain he so dearly missed. He shrank down and returned to normal as he felt the minor cuts over his body. These wounds equated as paper cuts to a normal person. Even so, anyone cable of drawing blood from his body is...

"So, he is a monster!" Kaido mused with a feral grin before he waited in anticipation for Uzumaki Naruto to come to his shores. He was gutsy to start the fight on his island and way earlier than agreed. But he was a pirate and wouldn't complain about it. But underneath this amusement, there was an irritation from the signs of rebellion from the person as Kaido rose to the air and headed for the base of the skull dome.

---

-Flower Capitol-

"This is his plan?" Denjiro said as his eyes scanned the text written in the letter before he slumped in despair, "It's suicide... Taking on Kaido now is the worst decision he could do."

"But it was the only choice he had," Hiyori reminded him as she wiped her tears away from her eyes, "He had to protect the protect the people he has taken care of as the leader."

"So it dosen't matter if the plan is successful or not," Denjiro summed up with heavy heart, "Naruto had planned that all of his allies will be informed of his death and making himself seem to be the sole rebel."

"What about the back-up plan? I refuse for that to happen." asked Hiyori with a shudder, "Narutomaki says it will condemn him and Kaido to a fate worse than death. To a place where their souls will fight in a battle for all eternity."

"But he still has hope..." Denjiro told her with a soft smile as his eyes glitter with hope, "Even if he lives, all of us will still be informed of his death. He planned it that way... That guy is a mischievous fox."

---

-Onigashima-

Naruto slowly walked to the island using his swordman ship to calm down the waves. As he walked towards Onigashima, where he made Kaido in his dragon form crash to with hundreds of Supermassive Rasengans and sword strikes enhanced with his chakra during sage mode.

Now he walked down the calm corridor in the raging ocean created by domes of air created by his sword swipes. Naruto looked at his left to see the silhouette that had been following him looking extremely nervous.

Naruto knew why he was nervous. The back-up plan was extremely dangerous, and it detailed his death by sacrificing his soul.

SPLASH

Naruto whirled around to look behind him to see what had caused the noise and he blinked in surprise and whispered, "I must be seeing things, because there is no way, that is-"

Naruto's instincts flared as he saw a couple of cannonballs fired in his direction from the Torii fortress, where rows of advanced long rage powerful cannons fired at him and were manned by the beast's pirates.

Naruto just dug for a kunai and explosive tag from his Kunai pouch and wrapped the tag around the Kunai before he took aim and threw at the tori gate.

KABOOOM

Gunpowder and explosive tags are not a wonderful combination. The evidence was the pirates flying in the air, their bodies broken and dead before they hit the water with a sickening slap.

Now he passed the damaged tori gate and entered the island and glared at the army that was waiting for him.

Whispers and jeers began to break out among their ranks, and Naruto ignored them with a frown as he searched for Kaido.

"SILENCE!" Jack's voice echoed out and immediately Naruto located him on the prow of a ship that had the head of a mammoth.

"So here you are!" Jack calls out before asking him with open arms, "Now that you see the forces of Onigashima against you, what are you going to do?"

"I am going to-"

Naruto then saw a shadow blot out the moon, as a pterodactyl screech filled the air, making Naruto brace for himself as King zoomed down towards him before flying over his head and doing a couple of laps over his head before landing on a cliff and turned back to his normal form.

"Stand down all of you..." King orders before turning on Naruto, gives him a scrutinizing look and then called out to him, "Kaido-san is waiting for you. He wants a one-on-one duel that you just started. He is on the-"

"At the top of the Skull Dome," Naruto interrupted, "Yeah, I can sense him up there."

He then began to walk towards the skull dome and immediately the beast army parted away to make space. He could see a couple of faces recognized Black Maria giving him a cold frosty look, Queen ignoring him as he fiddled with a gun. Sasaki just gave him a disdainful look despite them drinking together during the golden festival a couple of years ago. And the rest of the Tobiroppo weren't looking so happy by his presence.

There was one person who stood at the edge of the crowd with a neutral expression. She looked like a woman with green eyes and long orange hair, but she shimmering white fur with dark black stripes across them. Cat ears poked from her long orange hair that tumbled down from her head. The woman had a coiling and thick white tail that had black stripes.

"She is strong..." Naruto through with a raised eyebrow as he sensed her strength, "She is definitely stronger than every Tobiroppo. I think she is even stronger than Jack!"

Suddenly, he could sense everything from the ... No, he could hear the crowd's mental voices and could tell from these voices a range of things staring with intentions, presence, emotions, and ending with their strength.

Focusing on the feeling, he could feel his mind and the Observation Haki energy harmonizing before his sage chakra was introduced to the mixture and for a moment, Naruto could feel everything on this island. He could feel the new mixture of sage chakra and Observation Haki telling him what had happened here and what was possible to happen here. He had full of clarity about people's intentions, presence, emotions, and their strength. He could feel their memories and their bonds with people. Before he could understand and process what he was feeling. Pain exploded across his brain and the world went black and he felt his body stumble before the world came back.

"Ha!" a shout echoed the beast pirates "Look at how he is trembling and stumbling around, he is scared of Kaido-sama!"

Naruto glared at the outburst before he felt a trickle of blood on touching his lips. Immediately, he wipes off it and realizes he has a small nosebleed. Cleaning his nose of the blood, Naruto wondered where the clone was that was supposed to dispel itself and tell him where Yamato is along with Page One and Ulti location.

Naruto then sets a foot on the skull dome surface and began walking upwards to the top of the dome, ignoring the shocked surprised from the crowd.

---

-INSIDE KAIDO'S MANSION-

Ulti ran up the stairs of the empty mansion, looking for Yamato. She wasn't in her room and was probably holed up reading that log journal in her little world. Doors after Doors she opened and found nothing.

She then nearly barreled into her brother before giving him a frustrated expression and asked him, "Did you find her?"

Page One just shakes his head and slumps to the ground with a sigh. "No!"

Ulti then moaned, "I might be mad at her right now... But I don't hate her. We both owe Yamato so much. She needs to be told that her friend is about to face the most dangerous thing in the world."

"Have you looked at that section?" Page One asked with a sigh, "Her father's quarters?"

"That's place is off limits to nearly everything on this earth except a handful people," Ulti hissed at her brother.

"And Yamato is one of them!" Page One reminds her.

Ulti expression calmed down as she weighed her options, "Seeing as everyone is outside and busy with Naruto, if we poke around, we won't get caught."

They immediately headed toward Kaido's office, and, to their surprise, they found the door ajar. Entering the room, they looked around with surprise. The room looked like it had been hit by a hurricane and in the middle of the mess was an open box full of devil fruits.

The siblings looked at each other before they became memorized with the devil fruits and their hands reach for a pair. Suddenly, their heads were grabbed and smashed into each other, knocking them out.

The last thing they heard before they passed out was Naruto's voice saying, "The plan is going nicely. Maybe I won't need to sacrifice my soul to the Shinigami. Wait, were you planning to steal those Fruits..."

---

-Onigashima: Base of the Skull Dome-

Naruto reached the top of the dome and found Kaido standing on the other side of the edge of the dome. Kaido was looking out towards the sea.

Naruto started to step closer, but froze in his steps when Kaido's Conqueror Haki was unleashed and is spread across their surroundings, creating fissures and cracks on the ground they stood on. Naruto impassively lets the blast of willpower roll over him before taking another step and drawing his swords.

"Stop." Kaido's rough voice commanded as he continued to look away at the sea before asking him, "Do you want something from me?"

Naruto just obliged and sheathed back his swords cautiously before remaining silent.

Kaido then took a deep breathe before releasing a deep sigh, before he spoke again in a tired voice, "I kept bringing down those people who were said to be stronger than me, and I was called the strongest... But what do I see from here?"

"A boring landscape in which no one is stronger than me..."

"So what?" Naruto asked him.

"We both know you can't beat me, and I know you can't save them from me." Kaido growls out as he turns around to look at him with a cold sneer, "Not Wano and its people nor Yamato..."

"There are only a few in this world who can stand up towards me and they are all pirates who accomplished as much as I did." Kaido adds with an arrogant voice, "What are compared to them and what will you gain from fighting me, isn't it better for you to join me?"

"Did Yamato tell you anything about me?" Naruto asked Kaido with a flat stare

"A bit from the beating I gave her," Kaido snorted.

"Well, I never told her much of my past," Naruto tells him with a sigh before a dark look crossed his face, "Are you saying that I can't stand up to you? The one who is the reason his own world is in ashes for the past nine years..."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kaido asked with a disturbed expression, "Are you saying you are from-"

"That I am from another world?" Naruto told him with a shrug, "Yes, all else in that world is dead. Animals and humans don't exist. I am the sole survivor if a war that tore the world apart. The fourth great ninja war is where everyone lost and they all had the power of chakra... A power that was gifted to humanity by the Sage of the Six Paths, my primogenitor."

"What power?" Kaido asked with a frown before realizing, "I see... So that energy you imbued in your sword can be used as fuel for techniques like clones and the orbs..."

"Oh, you got it faster than I thought-"

"THUNDER BAUGUA!" Kaido roared as he charged toward him at blinding speed, swinging his club horizontally. Naruto barely heard the crackle of thunder before he was facing a speeding spiked club that hit him hard, sending him rolling across the battlefield and landing roughly despite being in Sage Mode. Already he could feel the blood pouring from his brow as he from the corner of his eyes a downward swing, intending to finish him.

Naruto then rolled away and springing to his feet as the club narrowly missed him before kicking it away with a leg that was churning with dense nature energy. With a clattering impact, Naruto kicked away Kaido's club before clutching his foot in pain yelling, "Oh you imbued it with Armament Haki, No wonder it hurts!"

"You are lucky it's not coated with Conquerors, Haki, kid!" growled as he picked up his weapon.

Naruto then closed his eyes as he concentrated on opening seven of the eight special chakra points, that limited the flow of chakra within the. After years of training and experimenting with jutsu, Naruto found out the resilient body he got during sage mode, heavily synergized with opening the gates. The more gates he opened in Sage Mode, the longer he can use Sage Mode and the more powerful the gates become. If he trained like Guy and Lee, he could use the gate of death with no consequences. He called the move...

"SAGE ART: TRANSCENDENT GATES."

Naruto disappeared in a blur of speed, warping the space around him as he lifted his fist for a punch on the level of a Tailed Beast Bomb. He suddenly realized that Kaido was glimpsing his movements before he punched him so hard in the guts so his body folded in half as his body was lifted into the air. He then followed it by a midair combo that made Kaido grunt and groan in pain before he gave him a spinning heel kick.

Kaido was sent crashing into a mountain of the Skull Base. Slowly a chuckle boomed across the island as Kaido laughed in delight, "Good! Those blows actually hurts… It hurts so much that I am reminded of the day my old crew fell!

Suddenly the mountain Kaido crashed into collapsed as a blue dragon emerged from it and peered at Naruto with an amused grin, "You should have come sooner!"

Slowly Naruto felt a matching grin cross on his face despite him hating it, he did miss a good fight these days. Naruto then drew the Nidai Kitetsu and pointed it towards Kaido and shouted, "ONE SWORD STYLE: SHUKAKU TAIL!"

---

A/N: Hello everyone.

R8handman is here... I am posting this to tell you guys that I have been slowly going over my chapters to rewrite and fix them. As for Ch 11 it will be hopefully done by the end of the month. I Can't believe it been a nearly year since I started writing this story. If you have any suggestions on what I can improve, please tell me so I can work on it. Once I am done with checking the chapters I will update them all at once.

P.S tell me what you liked about this story.

EDITED: Hello the new chapter is out, please leave a review. I know it had been a while and I am so sorry for that.

P.S the edited prevoius chapters will be here this week.