Chapter 17

Beta: Old man of the mountain/Darklord331

An assortment of people was hidden behind a dark veil in a dark cave. Each one was only visible through their eyes.

One had Sharigan eyes, another had red eyes, another had brown, one had a solo eye visible, and another had green eyes. The group varied in size, but the most unique was the one sitting at the head of the group. He had dark ripple patterns in his gray eyes. Those who have seen these eyes know what they mean, but for those who didn't, it was considered another powerful doujutsu.

"Zestu," the dark figure questioned, "Have you located the Nine Tails?"

Out of the shadows came a plant man with a white and black half-body and a Venus fly trap around his head.

"Yes we can confirm the location of the container. He's in the Bending Nations right now and Konoha has just had a run in with him."

"Ha! Shitty brat went all the way there it shows how weak he was to stay in this country!" The man with pink eyes grinned, "But it is interesting, maybe I can sacrifice all those heathens out there to Jashin!"

"No one cares about your stupid god, just shut up Hidan."
"Fuck you Kakazu! I'll send you straight to hell now!"

"Hell runs on money I will be fine there."

"Enough," A female voice chimed in, "Focus on the meeting. Zetsu are you sure about this information?"

"Yes we even have an updated look," He handed them the drawing that he stole from the Hokage's office. The group looked at it, and most didn't bat an eye, but one with gray eyes smiled while looking over to the sharingan eyes.

"Well, I'll be damned the kid grew some balls. Where's he been all this time? I mean he had to be somewhere else."

"Interesting fact," Zetsu grinned, "We can confirm that he was in the Blood Prison. Some sick fucks on the Konoha council sent him there and he was tortured for quite some time in that place."

Most of the group didn't flinch at this information.

"How did he escape?"

"Brat managed to escape after burning the place down and murdering everyone inside, but the kicker is this. He broke the Box of Eternal Bliss."

Now everyone was interested.

The Sharingan user frowned and wondered what had happened. He knew that his actions sparked some of the issues Naruto faced, but he never knew it would go this far. If anyone was still alive, he might have to hunt some of them down.

"Kid destroyed the place with a bang! What beautiful art!"

"Fool, it is something of eternal suffering. All those who bear witness to this place will forever know the carnage that unfolded. Truly, it is something that will last a lifetime." He smiled. "However, I'm more curious about the box itself. If he broke it, does that mean whatever was powering it is now his?"

"Irrelevant." The rippled-eye man turned his head. "Our priority is to find the Nine Tails and bring him back. Zetsu has confirmed his location, so Itachi, Kisame, you two are to go to the Bending Nations and find the boy. Do whatever it takes to bring him back, but if you can't, at least report your findings. The boy obviously is not the same as before, and we must be cautious with anything that we learn."

"Understood." The Sharingan man, Itachi, nodded, and soon he and Kisame disappeared from the room.

"As for the rest of you, head out on your assignments word is that the other nations are slowly beginning to ally with one another due to the increasing threat of Orochimaru and his allies."

"Should have skinned the fucking snake." Hidan growled, "Next time I see him I'll kill him."

"Please," the voice earlier spoke, "You're too inept to even hope of defeating someone of Orochimaru's caliber without dying a million times."

"Fuck you Sasori!"

"Enough." The ripple eyes focused on Kakazu and Hidan, "I want you two to head out and start collecting more bounties. Bring back any that might prove useful for the research of bloodlines."

"Fine I can use some more people to kill."

"At least leave their heads intact so I can collect on their bounties fool."

The two lefts with one leaving a middle finger for the rest of the group.

"Sasori, you and Deidara are to hunt down Orochimaru. We need to get our ring back from him."

"Finally, I can skin that snake for what he is worth." Sasori, the smaller shadow, smiled. "If we don't find the ring do you want us to bring him back?"

"No, the man is too much trouble and there is no point in keeping him around. Not after everything he has done." The man's eyes glowed, "Eliminate him. Make sure that the snake is gone for good."

"Yes sir." Sasori bowed and turned to his partner, "Let's go, the less time we waste the better."

The two vanished from the room leaving only Zetsu, the man with ring eyes, and a female shadow.

"So, it begins. Soon the world will know pain."

"Yes Pein-sama. Our troubling times are coming to an end."

Zestu smirked and a single red eye stared at the group before vanishing without making a sound.

The Akatuski was on the move again.

Bending Nations

The brothers had arrived at a nearby town. It was far enough from Omashu that most of the citizens from the city wouldn't possibly pass them on the way out. But the main issue Naruto had was the Avatar and his friends as he didn't know where they went. For all he knew they could be flying over their heads, and he never would know.

However, he was more worried about the shinobi, and there was no doubt in his mind that they had reported back to Konoha. With Jiraiya and the Toads still working together in the village he was unsure they were going to be coming here. No doubt members of his old generation are going to be arriving in droves. Team 8 while not the most combat oriented one did have advantages in tracking so all they had to do was track him and his brothers and-

A hand slapped his shoulder,

"Hey, stop over thinking things." Buddha smiled at Naruto, "No matter what happens you're not alone."

He was right, he still had his brothers at his side, and he was convinced they could handle most enemies. However, the Shinobi were only one enemy he had to be wary of. In particular, the Akatuski. He had told his brothers about them and the danger they posed; Buddha seemed interested but unbothered.

Beelzebub however had a twisted smile on his face stating he was wondering if he could see how much he could get out of them.

"Anyway," Buddha walked around him, sucking on his lollipop. "Time to get back to training." He smiled brightly, "And I think I have something pretty good for your new taijutsu style."

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"You see I was thinking, you seen the Hyuuga clan infuse chakra into their hands and feet to attack their opponents and thanks to your training in Chi-blocking, you are now able to use it on both shinobi and benders alike. So, here is a thought; what if you used your chakra and struck someone in those places causing them to overload like before?"

"Already doing that,"

Buddha's smirk increased,

"Ah but have you infused elemental releases into your strikes?"

"Huh?"

A puff of smoke appeared next to Buddha revealing a clone. Turning to the clone, he pointed his index finger and middle finger at the clone. Aiming for a spot in his shoulder, he started gathering chakra into his fingertips. There, Naruto watched as he started molding the chakra into fire chakra. The reddish hue was visible to the naked eye; dashing forward, he slammed the two fingers into his clone. The fingers digging into the shoulder of his clones before he quickly pulled them back.

The area was quiet, the clone stood there with more confusion on his face.

Then it grabbed its shoulder grunting.

"What the-" Beelzebub stared in confusion.

Naruto's eyes widened.

The chakra was spreading and soon the clone's body started convulsing, turning red, and his body expanding.

Then it exploded.

Buddha held his head and groaned,

"Well, that was unpleasant experience."

"What was that Buddha?"

Turning to his brother he smirked,

"This is what I'm thinking is the next step. You see you can shut down benders and chakra users all day long, but it is more non-lethal attacks that you're aiming for. You know how to use it in a lethal practice, one day that won't be enough, or someone might not be suspectable to this. So, how do you compensate for it while also ensuring that if all else fails, they are not getting away easily?"

"So, if Naruto were to infuse elemental release into his fingers and hands when he is about to strike an opponent he could cause this to happen?"

Buddha rubbed his head. "I guess, I only know how fireworks. There is no telling what is going to happen with the other elements, but we are in a secluded place. So that means we have time to experiment and see, no?" He gained a fanged smirk. "Plus, this gives us even more time to work on individual projects before we continue on our journey!"

Naruto nodded.

"I agree, I would like time to master this style and plus I haven't used clones in so long for training other than elemental releases, it would be nice to work with them again."

Naruto put his fingers in a cross and five clones appeared.

He raised an eyebrow, "The fuck?"

"What's up?"

"I was trying to put in as much chakra as I would for the army of clones. But for some reason, it only made five of them."

The three brothers looked at the clone in confusion.

A mouth appeared on Naruto's cheek,

"That would be because of your dark chakra."

Looking down at the mouth he raised an eyebrow,

"What are you talking about?"

"You see your clones were infused with light chakra originally and while potent and in large quantity the clones as thin as paper. Meaning they were only good for numbers and being glass cannons."

"But now that they have dark chakra?"

"They are in lesser numbers, but they are far more durable than the other clones. Meaning they can take anything short of lethal strikes to the vital organs and survive and continue fighting on. I believe they can even lose limbs or suffer serious injuries in a fight and continue pushing on and their reserves are thicker as well, so they won't just pop when used up.'

"I see." Naruto didn't like the idea that his clones were now limited, but he did understand that the tradeoff was not that bad. Higher durability and more reliability in a fight, where you might not be able to see who is real and who isn't, are far more useful, and plus, that means they are more useful in a fight than before.

However, he wasn't sure what his limit was in making them, he would have to experiment later.

"Alright, you five. We need to work on honing my Taijutsu style, so starting now, I want you guys to refining Fire Release and Water Release. See what we can learn from this. If one of you dies, then I'll make another clone. Learn and evolve from this process."

"Yes sir!"

Naruto nodded and sent his clones off while he sighed, "I guess this is a good time to work on lightning release."

Buddha on the other hand was talking to Beelzebub, "So what do you want to work on?"

"Hm, I'm not completely sure, considering I can't learn most techniques that means I'm really limited in what I can accomplish."

"Not really I mean come on, I'm sure there is something you want to experiment with on those ripples of yours."

Beelzebub rubbed his chin, tilting his head to one side.

"I guess I'm curious if I can change the way the ripples work."

"How so?"

"I'm thinking about what if I can make the ripples work more on a premise of cutting rather than exploding."

"Hm, well we won't know until we try!" He created another set of clones, "Let's get to work!"

Beelzebub smirked and soon got into his own training.

Azula and her friends

"Please make sure nothing happens to Tom-Tom."

Mai had been holding onto her brother for quite some time but now had to let him go. Her aunt and uncle had arrived in Omashu, and while she was happy to see them, she was also sad to lose her brother. But she knew deep in her heart that it was better this way.

"Mai don't worry, we'll make sure he is safe from all harm. You have my word," his aunt was a beautiful woman with only some signs of wrinkles on her face. She had brown eyes, with braided black hair, and wearing dark red and gold robes. She had a small flower in her hair which seemed to interest Tom-Tom to no end given he was reaching up for the flower.

"I know but-," A hand was placed on her shoulder. Looking up the hand she stared at her uncle.

He was a strict man, black hair that was tied in an upright bund, wearing the uniform of a high ranking general. He had slanted eyes with a slight golden hue to his eyes creating a somewhat intimidating presence. For most that looked into those eyes they were terrified, but to Mai she could see the pain he was in.

His mother was everything to him, while he was the military man she was the housewife and all she ever wanted was a loving and caring family. While he might not have approved of her husband he respected her decision and came to dote on his nephew and niece. To the point that his own children made the joke that they were also his kids.

When word reached him of his sister and her husband's death he was angry. So angry that the room increased in heat his papers burned, his desk started going up in flames, and his chair was gone with a single throw. Breaking against the wall with a thunderous explosion and his roars were heard by all his men and women. Terrifying them, someone had angered the Wild Tiger of the Fire Nation.

The Wild Tiger was not known as the most dangerous man in the Fire Nation but due to his accomplishments and the ruthlessness he slaughtered their enemies, he was held in high regard. He had the highest survival rates of all the divisions and known as a man of the people, always making sure he could bring back as many men and women from battles. Ensuring they never feared of not going home to their families and that they didn't have to bury them.

"Mai," he pulled her into a hug. She wasn't so shocked as she was used to it.

But she could feel him trembling. His body barely shaking, but she could tell he was holding in all his feelings.

"Please stay safe, never hesitate to write to me, and for my sake don't do anything rash. Your parents, they only want what is best for you and I know they want you there when our world finally finds peace."

Slowly her arms creeped around her uncle, and she buried her face into his armor and tears started slowly dripping down.

"I promise, I will be careful."

Another pair of arms wrapped around Mai, and she could feel the warming and loving embrace of her aunt.

"We both will be praying for your safety, write to me when you can. I'll let you know if anything happens."

Mai cried for a few seconds before pulling out of their embrace and smiling.

"As much trouble as this is, I have two great friends. So, I'm not worried about the future, but my enemies should worry about me." She twirled her knife before giving a small smile to Tom-Tom. "I have more than enough reasons to return home now, I'll see you soon." She kissed her brother's forehead making him giggle.

Mai watched as her aunt and uncle were escorted away from Omashu back to their ship to return to the Fire Nation.

"Mai."

Turning her head slightly, she saw Azula standing there with a frown on her face.

"Is everything in order?"

"Yes, my brother is safe, and my family is taking him back home."

"Good I made sure the troopers know how important this and not to fuck up. Otherwise, I would have their heads."

Mai rolled her eyes,

"Sure, you did."

Both girls stared at each other.

Then laughter broke out between them.

"Azula," the girl looked at her friend, "Why did you really ask for me and Ty Lee?"

"I-"

"Don't get me wrong I appreciate it. It keeps me away from home, I don't think I can handle going back yet. But out of everyone in the world why did you really come for me and Ty Lee."

Azula frowned before taking a seat on the ground, Mai quickly joined her.

"To be honest? I'm afraid."

"Afraid?" Those were words she never expected to come out of her friend's mouth. She was a torturer to her and Zuko growing up and seemed to relish in the idea of conquest and domination.

"Yes I know shocking," She rolled her eyes before staring out at the sunset, "But lately, I've been very afraid. The war, I always thought of things in the sense of sacrifices are necessary to win. People's lives weren't' that important, everything that my father taught me and Zuko growing up." She sighed, "But now, I see things differently."

"How so?"

"Zuko's banishment, it is something I couldn't forget." Azula's hands dug into her thigh, "Seeing how Zuko was treated, how ruthless and uncaring my father was in scaring him. It really opened my eyes on my father. The fact that he holds no love; not for me, my mother, my brother, his brother, no one. Nothing matters to him other than being the one that rules overall. In his eyes that is the only thing important to him." She shivered, "I was afraid, after that point I didn't want to end up like Zuko. I didn't want to be put into a similar position or facing the same scrutiny that he gave him. So, I did everything my father wanted me to do and in time he asked me to commit even greater horrors on people."

Mai put her hand on her friend's shaking back.

"When I had started conjuring lighting, my father wanted me to cast my bolt of lightning at certain targets. So, he gathered prisoners from Boiling Rock and had some chained to the ground so they couldn't move. Making them unable to dodge or bend. He would order me to fire my lightning at them, when I missed he would smack me for wasting time. Then he would tell me to do it again. I had to keep doing it again and again and again until finally I killed all the targets. Watching their lifeless eyes as they hit the ground, some screaming for mercy, begging for their lives. Telling me about their children and family and wanting to see them. Hearing them, seeing them like that, and all the screams."

Mai saw tears going down Azula's face as she lifted her hands up and her eyes widened.

"Wait, where did this blood come from?" She started rubbing her hands on her pants. "Why won't it come out!"

Mai realized what was going on, quickly pulled her face up.

"Azula look at me! Look at me!"

The girl was hyperventilating, her eyes were racing, and her tears were flowing down without any attempt to stop.

Mai quickly pulled her friend into a hug, and she could feel her hands gripping her shoulders. Her trembling body, her heavy breathing, and the tears now staining her clothes.

She never knew, she never knew what the Fire Lord did to her. No one could have known what she was subjugated to. The pain she was in, the fear that was welling in her chest, and the suffering that was forced onto her. How hard she was fighting to pretend nothing was wrong and projecting herself as a confident yet cruel princess.

'In reality we never knew that she was just as scared of the Fire Lord as we were.'

Mai held her friend close, nothing more was said, and all she could do was sooth her friend's troubled mind.

Ty Lee would soon find them but seeing them condition she just joined the hug, trying her best to be a supportive friend.

Avatar and his gang

Kurenai had informed the group about the change of plans. Explaining that they were waiting for a response from the village. Due to the situation with Naruto they had to wait on back up.

Aang wasn't too thrilled about that but due to what happened in Omashu he wasn't trying to throw his weight around.

Sokka and Katara weren't talking to each other. Katara was still defending her and Aang's actions to try and find Bumi and go through with the prisoner swapping scheme. Sokka was against some of the decisions that were initially done and even entering the city. But just the fact that he was thinking logically while they were thinking emotionally, it put him at odds. They had tried playing peacemakers in this mess, but neither group wanted to budge and since Aang had seen the effects of the war and confronting Naruto, he seemed distant.

Kurenai sensed something and quickly pulled out a scroll she was given by Jiraiya when they first arrived in the land. Unfolding the scroll everyone heard a pop and saw some smoke.

"Hey Kurenai, how you are doing?"

The woman rolled her eyes, "I'm fine Asuma."

The man sighed while Gai laughed. "What youthful energy! Make sure to share it with the group!"

"Indeed Gai-Sensei they must share it with us!"

Neji sighed, "Please don't." Turning to the group he walked over to Hinata and checked on her, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Nii-san." Hinata turned to the group, "Although I would say that things are quite tense."

"I can see that." Neji turned to the group, seeing a monk child with arrow tattoos, a dark-skinned girl wearing a blue battle dress, and a boy with a ponytail and boomerang. Next to them was a weird lemur-looking creature and a giant fur beast with arrow tattoos on his body.

"Greetings." Neji bowed to them, "My name is Neji Hyuuga, I'm Hinata's cousin and I'm a member of Team 9." He pointed to his teammates, "This is my sensei Maito Guy, my teammates Tenten and Rock Lee."

"Yosh it is great to see you!" Lee struck a good guy pose.

"Sorry about them, they get easier to deal with over time," she turned her head, "Hopefully."

The three saw that it was a unique group to say the least; Neji looked like Hinata but with brown hair and wearing a long sleeve robe. He had a headband covering his forehead but had a very relaxed posture compared to the rest of the people present. Minus the one with his hair tied up to look like a pineapple.

The woman is wearing a white top and brown pants with slipper shoes and her hair was tied up looking like two panda ears. She had a large scroll on her back, brown eyes, and a bright smile.

Finally, Gai and Lee; they had on green tracksuits with long orange socks, and bowl haircuts and large eyebrows.

"Um, nice to meet you all." Sooka waved at them.

Aang nodded with Katara being wary.

"I guess we are next; My name is Asuma Sarutobi, I'm the team leader of Team 10." He pulled out a cigarette. He had black hair and brown eyes with a beard and tan complexion. He was wearing a similar outfit to his counterpart minus the flashier clothing choices.

"These three are my students; Shikamaru Nara,"

"Troublesome."

"Be serious idiot!"

"Anyone want some chips?"

Asuma sighed, years of training together and they still act like this. "Next is Ino Yamanaka and Chouji Akimichi."

The group noticed that this team had the pineapple guy wearing an outfit like Asuma's, while Ino was wearing a tight-fitting top, skirt, and leggings. She had more sexual allure than some of her female counterparts. On the other hand, Chouji was wearing what looked like red samurai armor with swirls on his face.

"Um, again it is nice to meet all of you but why was it necessary to have all of you here?"

Sokka was still piecing this together, but he was sure he knew the real reason. Ever since that Naruto guy appeared the group had been on edge, and it seemed they were acting suspiciously.

"Well in two parts," Asuma answered, "We are tasked with helping the Avatar in his quest to master the elements and ensure the ending of the war."

"Awesome! This will bode well for the future!"

"What is the other part?" Sokka glared at the group, "This is about that Naruto guy right?"

"Sokka they are helping us there is no point in being so rude!"

"You heard them Katara, they are here for a second objective."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "Quite inquisitive mind."

"I have to be, especially since I understand what we are facing."

"Well, to answer the question yes. Our second objective is trying to find Naruto and convincing him to return to Konoha." He sighed, "But knowing the blond that is not going to be easy."

"Well either way," Kurenai stepped in, "Our objective is to help you and find Naruto. While two teams are working with you to keep you safe, the other will be looking for information." She glared, "Which means we are also going to try and avoid what happened in Omashu."

The three teens gulped at the woman's angry expression.

"So, what do we know so far?" Asuma turned to Kurenai.

The woman sighed, "Other than that we need to find an Earth Bending Teacher for the avatar and find something to help with the war effort? Also, finding an ARMY period to help? Not much more than that."

"And Naruto?"

Kurenai frowned,

"Nothing more than rumors that he was seen leaving Omashu a few days ago and we haven't heard anything else."

Asuma shook his head,

"Okay, Kurenai we'll stick with the Avatar while you and your team go around and find information about Naruto and his two friends. If you find them don't engage, we are not here to start a fight and from the sounds of it, he is even stronger than before and has advance training. See him, retreat and report it back to the group."

The group nodded with Kurenai bidding everyone farewells while Asuma and Gai got settled in.

Neji was sitting next to Tenten and Gai and Lee were training off in a corner. Shikamaru was sitting next to Sokka talking to him about the bending nations and elemental nations while Ino conversed with Katara. They were trading girl talk and talking about stuff no man wants to get involved with.

Aang on the other hand decided to go off and meditate with Chouji volunteering to watch him just to be sure he didn't go running off.

Gai and Asuma settled in.

"So, they are coming to Konoha?"

"Yeah, Kumo and Iwa are arriving in a few days. While originally they wanted to keep Hinata away and keep Neji in the village to help deal with Hiashi and the other Hyuuga members. Thanks to this, now we must hope things don't go crazy with Kumo coming back and Hiashi holding a grudge."

"I'm sure it will go well."

Asuma shook his head, "We can only pray."

Aang had found a quiet spot to meditate, while entering a deep mental state he found himself in a spirit plane.

"Roku?"

"He's not here."

Turning around he saw the hooded man from before standing there with his arm crossed and floating in the air.

"You."

"Yep me, you remember my name?"

"Yeah you said it was Yami?"

"Good memory, kid, but then again, I didn't have that high of expectations." Yami floated down on the ground and formed a small blue/white orb in his hand. "Has it really sunk in yet?"

"What?"

"The role of the Avatar, has the job really sunk in?"

Aang glared,

"Your just like that Naruto, yeah it did. I saw the evil that the Fire Nation created-"

"Evils of the Fire Nation?" Yami tilted his head before putting his head right side up. "Is that all you see?"

"What more do I have to see!?"

"Watch it brat." Yami turned and Aang felt a shiver go down his spine. "I'm not Roku and I sure as hell isn't a spirit you can intimidate or get worship from. Push your luck and well," Aang started paling and backed away slowly.

"Now, to the point. You are missing the big point." He casted the orb into the air and it turned into the symbols of the four elements. "The war didn't start because of the 'Evils of the Fire Nation' as you believe." A thin line connected the Fire Nation symbol to the Earth Kingdom. "The evils of the war can be traced back to the Earth Kingdom from the earliest dynasty."

"How dare you say that the Fire Nation and the colonies are attacking them, they were a clear slight against the peace-"

Yami appeared in front of Aang and grabbed him by the throat lifting him off the ground. Aang clawed at the man's hand but found nothing to grip but wisps of air. He couldn't understand what is happening.

"This is why, I hate children. You think you know everything because someone with a beard and has 'wisdom' tells you it is true. Then you just say, 'oh well it must be the fact' and just run with it. Not caring to ask more questions and pursue more information to form a conclusion based on a full picture."

Yami flung Aang across the ground.

"Maybe next time we can have a proper conversation."

Aang fell over, gasping for air and sweat rolling down his face.

"Hey are you okay!?"

Aang looked up and saw Chouji staring down in concern.

"Y-yeah I just need to get some sleep." He got to his feet slowly and walked over to Appa.

Chouji frowned, what happened, and he wasn't sure but,

'Were those hand marks around his neck?'

Chapter End