It was a week after tsunade and Sakumo made it back to the village and Naruto and Kakashi started to notice that something was wrong. For once Naruto was genuinely concerned about his father. He would usually tell Kakashi about how his mission went and bring him back souvenirs and books to read. But he's done none of that, let alone say a word since returning. Naruto tried to talk with Tsunade but his aunt seemed to be closed off as well. He was currently alone at the moment. Kakashi was busy being challenged by a kid with a green jumpsuit and freakishly bushy eyebrows. Something that Naruto would never get used to.

He made his way to the Hokage office to speak with the third. As he knocked on the door, he was let in by a voice he knew and respected all too well. "Ah Naruto, what do I know the pleasure of you visiting me", asked the newly introduced Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. If there was one man that Naruto knew for sure could decimate his father, it would be this man. The most powerful man in the village and undoubtedly the most powerful kage alive. "Hey lord third, my dad has been acting different ever since he came back from the mission and so has Tsunade. And come to think of it, I haven't seen that Dan guy around either. What exactly happened in Kiri that made them come back all gloomy?" Hiruzen sighed. "I knew you'd come to me eventually." He then took on a serious face. "Naruto what I'm about to tell you will challenge your ideals and show you just how messed up this world is." Naruto's interest was peaked but he remained quiet.

Flashback

Sakumo, Tsunade and a third Jonin could be seen traveling at high speeds through the land of water. They were to meet with the Third Mizoukage to discuss a peace treaty. They were a ahead of schedule considering they left early so they decided to take a break. They sat down beside a river and Tsunade was the first one to speak up. "I heard Kakashi was ready to start the academy." Sakumo gave a chuckle, "yeah, that boy never stops asking me to train him. He already figured out tree and water walking on his own, not to mention he is surprisingly proficient in sensing chakra signatures."

Tsunade gave a small smile. "He is quite the little genius. I want to get Nawaki started on his training but he said he wasn't ready to be a ninja." Sakumo waved his hands in a nonchalant manner. " Eh don't push him Tsunade-Chan. He'll know when he's ready to be a ninja, you just have to give him time. He'll come around." Came the reply of another man. He had long light blue hair and black eyes. This was Dan, Tsunades lover. Tsunade nodded. "Speaking of coming around, how's you and naru-. Dan's words died in his throat because of the noticeable change in Sakumo's demeanor. "I'm sorry if-". "It's fine." He said. "Truthfully, I don't know anymore. I mean I've tried to talk to him and every time we talk, it ends up in one big fight. I mean I can't fault him for being upset with me considering I was never there for him when he was a child."

"I know he's angry with me, he just chooses to hide it when he's out in public. But Kakashi has told me that Naruto still acknowledges me as his father at least. I think he's just trying to forget about his childhood and move on with his life." He said with a frown. Tsunade wore a frown of her own. "Don't think like that. He's still a kid after all. He's just as brash as my sister was, she chuckled. You may not have been there for him", at that Sakumo winced. But it's not like you had a choice. You had to fight on the frontlines during the war and you tried your best to keep Naruto out of danger by not drawing attention to him.

It's not like he hates you. If he did, he wouldn't carry the chakra sword you gave him." Sakumo smiled, "you do have a point". "Of course I do." She said confidently. But before Sakumo could retort, a thick and heavy mist formed around the trio. Sakumo's senses were alarmed because there were 7 massive chakra signatures surrounding the area. Tsunade and Dan sensed it too and were on guard. If it wasn't for Sakumo's years of experience and his heightened reflexes, he would've been pierced by a long needle like sword with string attached to it. It didn't take a genius to figure out what kind of situation they were in. "This is bad" he thought. He couldn't hear or see anything.

He, Dan and Tsunade were back to back to back and they were anticipating the next attack until a high pitched creepy voice spoke up. "Sakumo Hatake and Tsunade Senju, what a pleasure it is to be in the presence of such legendary shinobi." "Konoha, has been getting a little too powerful for our liking and we just can't have that, now can we?" But before anyone else could move, Tsunade punched the ground, lifting giant chunks out of the ground. That was Sakumo's cue to go through rapid fast hand signs. "Windstyle great break through!" Almost immediately the mist cleared and in front of the 3 Konoha nins stood undoubtedly the strongest swordsmen in all of the elemental nations.

First, there was a tall man with tan skin, he had short spiky black hair with a mask covering the lower half of his face and piercing black dotted eyes. He also had a giant sword draped over his shoulder. It was the kubikiribocho and this man was Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist. Next was a shorter man. He had pale skin with white shoulder length hair and white eyes. The sword he was wielding had 2 handles, which Sakumo assumed was a twin sword. It was black and rounded at the end of it. This was the Hiramekarei. This was Mangestu Hozuki. Next there was a short woman with red hair. He was holding 2 swords that were very sharp and were cackling with electricity. She was Ameyuri Ringo, wilder of the Kiba blades.

Next to her was an equally short man. He had brown short hair and he was holding a giant hammer with a clever that was chained to it. This man was Jinin Akebino, wilder of the helmet splitter. To his right was a taller man with long black hair, he wore an eye patch and his weapon of choice was a large sword with explosive tags covering every inch of the blade. He was Jinpachi Munashi. Then there was a man equally as tall as him but he was slimmer and had pale skin and long spiky blond hair. He also wore a white hunternin like mask. In his hand was the long needle like blade that was previously thrown. This was Kushimaru Kuriarare. And finally, easily the largest man of them all, a man with long orange hair and green lines framing his cheeks. He wielded the most intimidating sword of them all. His blade of choice was a large sword that was wrapped in bandages but Tsunade could sense some chakra within it. This was Fuguki Suikazan and he was the owner of Samehada.

In front of the 3 Konoha shinobi stood the famed Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. And they were not here for friendly conversation. "Aww just when I thought we were going to have a little fun" spoke Ameyuri. "What the hell do you guys want?" Came the reply of Tsunade. "My, my, why so feisty? That temper hasn't gone away even after all these years." Chuckled Fuguki. "We are here to form a peace treaty with the Mizukage. Let us through." Spoke Dan. "And if we don't?" Came the reply of Kushimaru. Sakumo sighed. He really did not feel like fighting all seven of these guys. One was bad enough.

"Well then I guess could inform the Mizukage that his stooges were causing trouble and he won't be very happy now would he?" Replied Tsunade. That didn't seem to sit well with the group of swordsmen and they readied their weapons. "You have my back, and I have yours," Dan said barely above a whisper. Tsunade gave a smirk and nodded. As if on cue, the swordsmen attacked. Mangetsu and Zabuza chose to stay back. They wouldn't be needed. Kushimaru and jinpachi jumped towards Sakumo and Jinin and Ameyuri circled Tsunade. Kushimaru, never one to wait on a battle, immediately drew his sword and sakumo easily drew his tanto and channeled chakra into it. He could not afford to waste time.

He effortlessly blocked the needle that attacked him but had to jump out of harms way when Jinpachi swung his blade in his direction. The ground exploded upon contact. "Shit, I have to watch out for him. That looks painful" he thought.

With Tsunade, she caught the large cleaver in between her fingers and was about to punch the living daylights out of Jinin before a stream of lightning, moved her out of the way. She looked towards the grinning Ameyuri and snarled. "You're annoying" was all she said before she had to dodge the swing of the giant mallet. Dan was busy evading slashes from Fuguki and he could tell that the larger man was enjoying himself.

The trio were fairing well against 5 of the 7 shinobi and the 2 onlookers noticed that. They gave a look and Zabuza drew his sword and smiled. He dashed towards Sakumo and Mangetsu ran at Tsunade. "Fire style Fireball Jutsu!"yelled Dan as the giant fireball made a beeline for Fuguki. He just smirked and slashed through the fire with his sword and it dispersed. But he had to quickly block a kunai slash from Dan. "While you are indeed a strong opponent, samehada seems to like the Senju's chakra"said the giant man. Dans eyes narrowed and he slowly started to disappear.

Sakumo was having trouble with his three opponents. Between having to dodge a giant needle and an even bigger blade while dodging explosives was even a tough task for him. "But he was never one to give up so easily"he thought. He shrouded his sword in lightning and raced towards Jinpachi. He had to take out the biggest threat at the moment.

Tsunade sent a kick towards Ameyuri but Jinin blocked it but the blade started to crack. She dodged a swipe from Mangetsu who snuck up behind her and sent a stream of fire in his direction. She saw Sakumo fairing slightly better than her and then she tried to look for Dan but she couldn't see him, so she spread out her senses and found his chakra signature but it was rapidly decreasing. "What the hell!"she thought frantically.

Minutes earlier

After Dan disappeared, he flew inside of Fuguki and tried to take control of his body. "What kind of chakra is this! There is endless amounts of it and it's too dense for me tocontrol"he thought worriedly. He quickly jumped out of Fuguki and took a knee as he coughed up blood. He didn't have time to recover because the man was upon him in an instant. He barely moved out of the way as the giant sword came crashing down on him. "Ahh you've made a grave mistake. My chakra is far too dense and potent for anyone to control aside from jinchuriki and myself of course. And for trying to take my chakra, I shall take yours!"he finished with a sadistic laugh.

Present time

Jinpachi and Kushimaru lay beaten to the side as Zabuza was relishing the battle with Sakumo. "You are truly worthy of my time White Fang!" "But now I say we turn it up a notch eh?"he asked. "DAN!!" Both men turned their attention to the source of the scream and Sakumo's eyes widened as Zabuza gave a toothy smile. "It seems Fuguki hurt your blue haired comrade. You might want to help him out before he dies" he teased. Sakumo dashed towards his teammates. The other swordsman prepared to battle once again but a hand from Fuguki stopped them.

Sakumo appeared by their side in an instant. He cringed at the sight. He looked extremely pale and a chunk of Dan's right side was missing as he was covered in blood. Tsunade's hands started to glow green and she tried to heal him. "There's no use Hime" he said weakly. He absorbed most of my chakra. I can feel my conscious slipping" he said as he coughed up blood." "No, no, no I can save you, stay awake please Dan" she pleaded. "Your lover is right princess, there's no use. Samehada absorbed most of his chakra. He'll die before you make it back to the leaf. It's a shame though, Samehada and I were enjoying the fight but there's no use in crying over spilled milk or blood in this case"Fuguki exclaimed.

"We wanted to extend an olive branch of peace for your village. We had no intentions to fight or harm your Mizukage!"yelled Sakumo. "We do not trust you leaf ninja, nor do we need your assistance. You guys started the last war, so we thought we'd just get a little revenge" said Ameyuri with a chuckle. Sakumo was prepared to attack once again but a cry from Tsunade drew his attention. "I think our work here is done" said Zabuza. The group nodded and flashed away.

Flashback end

"After their encounter with the swordsmen, your father made the choice to abandon the mission and made an attempt to save Dan. I was told he died shortly after they crossed the border of the Land of Fire."said Hiruzen in a sad tone. Naruto sat silent and shocked at this information. He didn't know the mission turned out like that. A few moments of silence passed before he spoke up. "I'll go speak with him after i talk to Tsunade. Thank you Lord Third." "Your welcome Naruto, I hope to see you at the funeral tomorrow. And with that Naruto made his way towards the Senju compound.