Rain's Redemption

by MeepMeep7913

Taken from birth from his still-living parents, he was instead brought to a foreign nation to become a ninja of Rain. Having changed the board, Nagato now sought to end the hegemony of the Leaf in the height of its power and the rest of the major nations and bring the peace he sought. It was time for Yahiko's dream, and Rain, to be redeemed.

6. Chapter 6 - Tension

EIGHTEEN YEARS AFTER THE THIRD NINJA WORLD WAR.
KONOHAGAKURE - HYUUGA CLAN COMPOUND

It had appeared that the Fourth Hokage had finally reached the limit of his patience. The situation with the Hyuuga was now much worse than it ever had been with the Uchiha, with the fraying tensions between the two houses of the Hyuuga clan now reaching boiling point. The differences were now just too great, despite the great familial links between the two houses that was greater than most of the clans in Konoha.

With the Uchiha, it had been remarkably simple. Resentment had festered since the time of the First Hokage when Madara Uchiha, the most powerful of the clan in all of their recorded history, had not been made Hokage - only growing as two more of the Hokage were not Uchiha. By the time the Fourth had stepped up, it had been entered the minds of the clan head Fugaku and the upper echelons of the clan that they would have to be more direct.

But the tensions dropped drastically by the intervention of Mikoto Uchiha, whom knew all of what her husband Fugaku discussed with the others he invited to their home - and whilst they were hesitant to even say 'coup', there was just too much lingering animosity to just let go of the fact that they should've been given more as one of the founding clans of the Leaf. Fortunately in the good graces of friendship with the wife of the current Hokage Kushina, Mikoto had accordingly arranged for a couple of secret meetings herself with the Hokage and Kushina.

It had been the direct appearance of Minato Namikaze within the clan house, that although originally startling and semi-hostile, had given way to surprising fortune for the Uchiha as Minato made Fugaku one of his advisors. Though not a position of official power, it had its benefits in having the ear of the Hokage and hearing of the goings-on in the village even the likes of which the entire Uchiha police force could not pick up. Along with the promise that should he train an Uchiha well enough that they would be at least considered for the position of the Fifth Hokage, it had then come with returning conditions upon the Uchiha clan itself.

Taking a more proactive role in the village as Fugaku forced more of the prideful Uchiha ninja to become genin teachers and more, the gates of the Uchiha clan stayed open longer than ever before to create a more sociable atmosphere with the rest of the village. They had even allowed other clans to join their police force for the first time. Along with the clan head doubling down on training within his clan and family, the Uchiha rose to higher reputation still with the emergence of two S ranks in Itachi and Shisui, and the promising talent of Sasuke. Things having turned onto a better path, Fugaku had privately thanked Minato.

Having dealt with the tension of the Uchiha clan, Minato made sure to then turn his eyes onto the second-largest and powerful clan within his village, and had been shocked when he found a bigger mess. He had to admit that he had not paid too much attention to clan politics as he had still been learning in the first couple of years of being Hokage, but now having dealt with the rebuilding of Konoha following the attack of the nine tails and dealing with the Uchiha; he would ensure now that this situation was resolved.

The problem with the Hyuuga, was that it was much more engrained within their clan. Unlike the Uchiha which had mostly been trying to get more out of the village only since its founding just over a hundred years ago, the 'traditions' within the Hyuuga clan dated back further centuries so that even the first usage of the traditions only had an estimated date. It had all revolved around one aspect which divided the clan so deeply and created the traditions and culture within the clan of literal slaves and masters - the caged bird cursed seal.

A high ranking, master-level seal that history within the clan had long since forgotten of who had even created it, the seal was little more than a toggle switch to be activated with the keyed-in chakra of a main house Hyuuga and a hand seal. The switch had only two outcomes - as normal with the seal then only being ink on a branch members' head, or excruciating pain paved directly into the skull on which the seal sat. Even just twenty seconds of usage had been enough to kill less-resistant members of the branch house.

So, the divide had occurred as they had eventually enslaved members of their own family. Leading into the creation of the two houses with the main Hyuuga house with the unmarked masters who applied the seals and controlled the clan itself, and the branch house which far outnumbered the main house and so provided most of the labour and profit.

Minato Namikaze had now had enough. After a few years of failed negotiations over and over with the clan elders and clan head, Hiashi Hyuuga, it was now clear to the Hokage that the main house had no intention of giving up power. So, he was left only with the options of stepping back and allowing the village to operate normally as the situation with the Hyuuga didn't actually affect the inner workings of it like the Uchiha had threatened to, or the option which he actually enacted.

Disobeying a direct order from the Fire Lord and Daimyo who ruled the Land of Fire that the Hyuuga had appealed to, the Fourth Hokage intervened in clan politics in the first such case since the village had been founded and in direct violation of its charter. An action which had caused a bit of unease amongst all the clans, but there was no outright protest as it was clear why their military commander and village leader had done so.

Minato had issued a village-wide memorandum stating an order stamped with the seal of the Hokage's authority - demanding the dissolution of the caged bird cursed seal and compensation to be given to the branch house, under pain of being arrested for slavery and treason to the sitting Hokage. It had stated plainly that the main house themselves were to remove the seal and apologise, or he would design the counter himself. It had been well timed, for having deliberately been enacted when all Hyuuga had been recalled the week before the remembrance day of the attack of the nine tails; which had swiftly become the village's largest occasion.

Put under house arrest within their side of the compound and watched over by the police force of their rivals, the main house were sure of two things regarding their Hokage - that their Byakugan had confirmed the presence of the flying thunder god seal present on all the police members, and that Minato already had a counter to the caged bird seal. The forced attempt to get them to remove it was merely to try and now contain the fire that Minato felt he had to start, in a show to try and dampen any action of vengeance between the two houses. There would undoubtedly be some, but the presence of his forces, the village police force and his own visibility in the compound would prevent full-scale actions.

Neji Hyuuga saw it all. Blessed with everything but one thing, he had been lauded as the greatest prodigy the clan had seen in two centuries as he took to the gentle fist style with rapid ferocity and even added to it. Main house techniques were even amongst his repertoire, as the strong health of his eyes had made it the opinion of most of the Hyuuga that his Byakugan was the greatest of them all. He fumbled in only one aspect - that he was part of the branch house, and so had been born a slave.

It had removed all satisfaction he'd ever had of now being the strongest within the clan, a jonin and A rank at only seventeen. It festered within his very being, hatred at the entire main house of the clan clear in his eyes and actions to the maximum extent that would not get his seal activated - especially as his father had been killed by that very seal in front of his very eyes by the hands of the elder he now guarded. Forced to guard the very elder who'd slaughtered his father undoubtedly in some twist of cruel amusement, he could do nothing but listen to the meeting of elders and clean head as the slave that kept their meeting private.

Drawing to a close, Hiashi Hyuuga sighed as the outcome of the meeting was only ever perhaps going to reach came to fruition. With the assured freedom of the branch house either at the Hokage's own skills as the world's most renowned sealing expert, or with their own counter seal that had been locked away for countless generations; it was just a matter if they wanted to die in treason to their village or live as a shadow of their former status. It did not matter how much the elders had argued for hours now for any semblance of leverage in negotiations or to even weasel out of it in some way including grovelling before the Fire Lord again, it would never work.

The Fire Lord had stayed silent ever since the damning memorandum declaring the clan as an organisation practicing slavery and could be arrested for treason, and the branch house would never allow for anything to stand in the way of complete freedom unlike the partial ones suggested in the meeting. With the guaranteed taste of freedom, it was as well guaranteed that there would be many in the branch house who would now die for that freedom. The only thing that stayed their hands was the fact that Minato would not allow for blood to be spilt in his village, and he was the key to their freedom.

"I'm afraid, esteemed elders and others, that I now call this meeting to a close. Though very few resolutions have come out of this meeting, I doubt that anybody will object if I was to say that I will tomorrow organise the counter seal to be administered by main house members of my choosing; after a meeting with the Hokage." Hiashi declared to the gathered members as he held up one such counter seal, a hexagonal shape as the central array that would evidently surround the central cross that defined the cursed seal on Neji's head.

The branch house member had his eyes locked on that single sheet of paper that could, and would change his entire life - and as the corner of his mouth lifted into a snarl, he found that he cared no more as his arms disengaged from being held respectfully behind his back. It had taken years and the direct intervention of the strongest of outside forces to get to this point, and he'd had enough, as his hand went into his kunai pouch.

Hiashi froze as his daughter let out a strangled scream, Byakugan immediately flaring into life that instantly let him see before he'd even finished turning his head; that his youngest daughter Hanabi was now in the strong grasp of Neji. There were slight, intermediate shakes of both his hands that grasped his daughter so tightly, staying his hand that itched to assume the gentle fist stance from the kunai that was pressed tightly enough against Hanabi's neck that the skin paled from the blood constriction.

"Activate the seal on my head, and this kunai will still be dug so tightly into your daughter's neck that she'll die." Neji snarled out in the now unmasked hatred that had been coiled for years within him, unleashed toward his uncle as he kept his hands clasped with crushing pressure on the kunai and shoulder of his cousin. The bulging at the corners of his eyes that signalled the activation of the Byakugan pulsed more unnaturally than Hiashi had ever seen it, anger evident in the very heartbeat of the young man that was his nephew. "Now all but Hiashi back away, to the wall!"

A shared look between a couple of the elders and the simple rotation of Hiashi's eyes to their own corners as he still faced the gone-mad branch member before him, the clan head simply twitched his head toward them and the wall. Clear as day to the rest of the room, and despite the obvious emotion that showed the reluctance of the others to obey the only slave in the room, they complied with the demand. Now with all the occupants of the room barring their clan head on the other side of it, the centre of Neji's eyes focused on Hiashi despite that everyone in that room could see the proceedings without even facing it.

Clasping his hands together so that there were half-hidden by the long sleeves of his robe, Hiashi's own Byakugan eyes narrowed slightly with the frown on his face deepening. It did give Neji an inkling of respect for his clan leader that he could not tell of the emotion behind the deliberate expression, whether it was worry for his daughter, anger, confusion to the reasoning of the sudden situation or even scheming to ensure Neji failed.

"Why are you doing this, Neji?" Hiashi asked softly after a moment of internal deliberation. "Your freedom is soon at hand."

The young adult's eyes narrowed further, the hatred broiling through the very gaze he had unblinkingly locked onto Hiashi's face. "You should know why,Lord Hiashi." He spat out. "I will not allow you to change or destroy the seal as you personally take it away for the next day."

The confusion broke through the stoicism Hiashi thought he had perfected. "That would make no sense, Lord Fourth personally has his own and will be attendi-"

"No more lies, or time for you." Neji interrupted Hiashi with a sharp tone, as the hand gripping the kunai steadied itself before pressing hard enough to let a trickle of blood roll down Hanabi's neck to get his point across. The young girl, scared out her mind and forgetting all training she'd been learning, would have let out panicked breaths or sobs if it wasn't for the fact that her brain thought that might slit her own throat. "The counter seal, give it to Hanabi. Slowly."

Pausing for a moment and then composing himself, Hiashi gave a small nod before stepping forth once with an obvious motion, and then a couple more. Stopping only when Neji actually let out an angry motion from his throat, an arms length from his daughter; did he then bring up his hand with the counter seal in it. Th entire room watched as he raised it slowly towards his daughter, nothing being said as everyone waited for it to take an even flatter form in the style of the gentle fist and thrust forwards; but it only held out the piece of paper between two fingers.

With a shaking hand of her own, Hanabi reached out in a time-consuming manner that was only slow because of the terror coursing through her system at being held hostage with a blade to her throat. Her own fingers fumbled twice in its attempt to close on the piece of paper as they shook so hard, everyone watching her silently as she succeeded on the third try and withdrew her hand.

"Now, with the rest of them." Neji hissed at Hiashi as soon as he saw the piece of paper nearer to his grasp.

In only a fraction of the time it had taken him to near Neji, Hiashi had retreated to the opposite wall to join his other high-positioned clan members. After all, if he had wanted to attempt to personally rescue his daughter, he would've done it when his hand was raised and in a better striking position. But he hadn't, more concern being shown for his daughter in mere minutes than the hundreds of branch clan members he had been head of for over two decades as he complied with Neji's demands.

A quick gentle fist strike to a main chakra point on Hanabi's back paralysed her arms as his hand then darted out and seized the counter seal, ignoring the twitch in most of the occupants along the opposite wall as Neji did so. Briefly analysing it with his own eyes for any obvious signs of deceit or change in the seal with his own eyes, completely inexperienced as he was to the sealing arts as he then applied it to his forehead; and charged it with his chakra.

It was nothing like he expected. He had expected a collusion with his chakra network, or perhaps blinding pain that came from the function of the seal as it undid itself, but nothing of the sort happened. It was merely a twinge in his muscles like the absolute first moment of the onset of a headache, before it vanished and nothing more happened at all.

Low levels of fury began to add to his hatred, as his paranoia started to tell him he had been tricked - as he glared to Hiashi once more. "What happened?" He spoke out in a calmer, steadier tone than he imagined should've actually been present given his current feelings, less of his hatred let into his words than he had wanted to convey to his slave master.

With but a simple sign of a swallow, Hiashi explained in a similarly calm tone. "The counter seal was never designed to rid the bearer of the cursed seal completely, but to instead render it completely powerless. It locks away the functions of the seal, including the portion which resists attempts at removal." He paused as he saw Neji's gaze, the silent command to tell him. "It now only needs to be wiped away with the correct application of specialist chemicals, no more seals are required."

The fury died down as Neji contemplated those words, knowing there was still the possibility of him having been tricked. But he doubted that - he had surprised them as Hiashi had only picked up the seal, having been present throughout the entire meeting to see there had been no changes made; listening to hear there had been none planned. He only closed his eyelids to focus on the feelings now growing within him of finally beingfree.

None of the others moved, even as he closed his eyes. Even a genin in the Hyuuga clan knew their Byakugan saw through most barriers, and the occupants within that room knew Neji to be the strongest of the clan. They didn't so much as twitch, knowing it was either in Hiashi's hands to make a move, or for Neji to decide on his next course of action.

Hiashi's move was to now try his hand at diplomacy, one of his greater skills. "Now, my daughter please." Hiashi requested gently, to start simply. Despite the perfectly calm manner it was spoken in and not one deviance in pitch from his usual voice of being head of one of the strongest clans in the world, Neji could tell he had gotten to the man at his deepest, right away. Always the perfect picture of strength and unity that relayed the orders of the main house to the branch house, Hiashi had never before requested, let alone used polite manners; to any of the branch house.

Neji kept his eyes closed as he relished in the completely smooth feeling of his entire skull, evident to him despite the lack of visibility from the years of having to endure its rough texture and occasional throbs of power that threatened its activation. Licking his lips slightly as he let out a quiet, relaxing sigh, Neji allowed his shoulders and actions to slacken slightly - evident that he no longer had to keep such a tight grip on his hostage whose throat he slit anyway in the same instant.

Blood spurted in copious amounts from the young child's neck, eyes having shot open wide as only a strangled exclamation of pain escaped her - having been choked by the blood surging out and into her windpipe. Hanabi promptly collapsed to the floor.

Lowering his body mass into a forward leaning position of his own personalised adaptation of the gentle fist style, he held out his hand in flattened preparation to use it. As he saw Hiashi's own shock and outrage fly across his face at his previous action having instantly broke the clan head's demeanour, Neji only chuckled once before he met Hiashi's charge as he prepared to slaughter the upper echelons of the Hyuuga main house.

EIGHTEEN YEARS AFTER THE THIRD NINJA WORLD WAR.
AME, ELITE THIRD BATTALION TRAINING STATION

Considering that a battalion had above two hundred ninja within it and that the third battalion of the Eclipse unit had only reached full strength a few months ago, it made the elite unit the smallest sized part of the Rain military apparatus. Despite that, it had a budget of just under half that given to the regular elite forces - of which numbered in the thousands, showing the overhaul in expense given to the equipment and infrastructure to Eclipse.

Naruto did not get to see that, as he was after having been taken from the central headquarters into the depths of Ame's underground. Passing through a narrow entrance that sloped down into only a dimly lit, tight passageway lined with the same thick pipes present throughout all of Ame that controlled the flow of its water, his only sign that he made progress at all was his own steps and the passing of the low-energy bulbs that were spaced so far apart.

It was sharp stop at a thick metal door that still sat flush and level with the wall that signalled their destination was at hand, that after the flaring of seals across it, recognised his escorts' chakra and opened. It had honestly been a blur, but one thing was for certain - it was far too small to hold a large amount of people. For one thing, conditions would be too cramped as they were underground and he'd only passed through a corridor into one room.

His curiosity only saw two bedrooms, and he reckoned this was the only corridor in this small base or outpost, he wasn't too sure what it was in his mind.

He now sat down opposite his escort at only a desk between them, as the walls themselves in the small room they sat in were sparse. A couple of filing cabinets, a propaganda poster on the wall along with a noticeboard that had only a few sheets of paper and a calendar tacked to it; and furniture including the desk and chairs they sat on made up the entire room. The helmet his escort into the room had worn made only a lowly-audible click as both the person's hands grasped it, and pulled it off.

"I am chunin Serona, leader of the third squad of the second platoon of the third battalion of Eclipse. You will only have to worry about your own squad designation and orders, which will be the twelfth squad of the platoon." The now revealed Serona spoke the very first words that inducted Naruto into Eclipse. Free now of her helmet, her face distinguished only a sharp look of rigorized expression - the shortly cut black hair and green eyes giving the look of discipline. Though Naruto did not know it, that was exactly why she had been chosen. "A platoon consists only of eleven squads, but as one-member squad with your own orders and as Ame's jinchuuriki; this was considered an acceptable exception. Do you understand?"

Naruto's eyes flicked quickly around the room, taking in its sparse and dull features, before looking back to lock eyes with his new superior. "Yes ma'am." He responded simply.

It was all too familiar yet different at the same time. This is what he had for his future.

A moment passed as Serona analysed her new charge, before informing Naruto of his induction. "Rules from when you were an initiate shall continue to apply so long as you are a genin in the elites. You cannot question without approval, and diligence is required at all times - punishment shall consist of further intense training unlike what you had in your division training compound." She stated, continuing as she saw Naruto correctly give no spoken or unspoken response. "This is a purpose-built training facility, small as it is, with three rooms for sleeping and rest; and two further, larger multipurpose rooms. This office shall be for any written work, and the multipurpose rooms for all other training. You will often be taken out for training as well as this station is inadequate for long-term inhabitation."

She paused there as she now looked to the desk and the administration upon it, before then passing over three pieces of paper stapled together to face Naruto. "Please sign here." She simply ordered.

Hesitation and reluctance emerged visibly for a short few moments as Naruto only looked to the papers with sad eyes, before the slight narrowing of his superior's eyes broke him out of it as he picked them up. Reading the first couple of lines, he sighed as his eyes seemed to gain speed in just sliding down the text of the document, taking nothing in. Losing all interest and just wanting to retreat to a space he could call his own even if temporarily for a short while, Naruto merely picked up a pen and scrawled his name on it.

He had no idea what he just signed, and it made him all the more bitter.

He loved the fact that he had a permanent friend, but even the fact of their union at birth was an indication of his problem. It felt like he'd never made a single choice of his own will, in his whole life.

NINETEEN YEARS AFTER THE THIRD NINJA WORLD WAR.
AME, ELITE THIRD BATTALION TRAINING STATION

Naruto set his hands on the smooth surface of the table, steadying himself against the slight shaking of his body. He cursed himself for the weakness of what he considered to be not a very big issue, but it had been one too many today. Kurama's chakra had healed the wounds in only moments after its creation, but the poison that had damaged the skin cells had left a scar above his right eye that could be permanent.

A hiccup alerted him to the tear that had leaked out his eye, making him unleash a curse out loud this time as he forcibly jerked a hand from the table and rubbed his cheek dry. Grabbing a glass and filling it with water, he downed it in one go before leaning once more, this time on the worktop of the kitchenette. Dropping the cup in the sink, he knew he was only making idle notions now.

He hated it here. He hated it so much.

It had been tolerable the first few years. He'd told himself it was infinitely better than getting no education, and that at least there was a clear direction to go in. That the orphanage with its restrictions and one street to play on had stifled him.

But it was the only time in his life that he could remember actually celebrating his birthday. Kurama could wish him well on his birthday all he wanted, but there was nothing else but the sky in the mindscape and he knew it was a prison all the same still for his friend. He didn't know why Kurama stayed despite the fact he could leave the seal of he wanted to. The orphanage had truly been the only place he personally had felt like he could leave it if he so wished.

He didn't want friends. He had Kurama, the only friend he'd ever made in life and he was comfortable with that. His dream to be acknowledged through his sealing was his greatest passion, but it wasn't his greatest desire, merely his second-most ambition. His greatest desire wasn't a dream, as he wouldn't allow it to be something that could fail.

He wanted to be free.

He despised the Land of Rain. He hated it with all his heart, that all he'd ever known was the singular street in his earlier years, or the barbed wire where he'd spent most of his life, or even now. He knew he was being watched - he could sense them using an ability that had now become second nature, outside his door when they were supposed to be beside the front entrance. He knew he didn't have any chance at all at leaving the outpost that felt all the more tiny from that he could only keep to his room when he wasn't training or had another purpose.

It burned him that he had been forced into this military apparatus without a singular choice in the matter. He may have found reason in it when he was more gullible in his younger self, but the talk with Kurama that had revealed everything had dispelled every notion of that person. Any loyalty, any reason at all to be a Rain ninja had gone.

Now, the only reason to be a Rain ninja was to be free.

Naruto knew he had to get stronger. He knew he was being observed, and that him being kidnapped meant somebody had all along known he was a jinchuuriki. But now it had been documented as fact, it gave official reasoning for him to be put into whatever box they wanted to keep him in to ensure he stayed. In this case, surrounded by elite ninja.

Thus, he had to get stronger. He would need all the strength he could get so that when the opportunity came, he would be ready. The problem was, with his entire life pretty much dictated by Ame policy one way or another, they knew all about what he could do in terms of what they trained him in.

Which left only what Kurama could give him as the edge he needed.

He hated himself more in that moment as he had heard before how his friend did not want to be treated as a tool. Naruto sighed, but it didn't matter how long he thought about his situation as an hour passed of him only occasionally changing position in the kitchen. He could think of nothing else, and all other resources open to him were in the hands of his captors, to be controlled or noted before being handed to him.

"...Kurama." He eventually murmured to himself.

"Do not worry, Naruto."Came the deep, reverberating tone from within."I have an inkling as to what you wish to ask. Please do not ever assume that asking for my help would anger me."

Regardless, the red-headed teenager still flinched, as he felt like his friend hadn't grasped the full context even if the nine tails had guessed he was in need of help. "That's not it, Kurama." He whispered aloud, quietly before a sob escaped his mouth, his throat constricting as he was terrified of what he was about to ask. Not because he was scared of his friend - but because he was scared of losing his only friend. "I think I need your chakra."

The hoarseness of his voice continued to play on his mind even in the split second his friend didn't respond to him after saying that.

"...I will admit, I didn't think it would be that."Kurama started, making Naruto lower his head over the sink in dread as he kept his eyes firmly screwed shut."But I always knew it would come to it. Please Naruto, I'm made up of gigawatts of your energy, did you really think I couldn't spare some?"The teenager could literally picture the grin on his friend's face from the tone he was using."I'm more insulted you were scared to ask me. Of course you can - after all, my magnificent self is also reliant on you getting of here too."

A crack opened as his vision was partly restored from spending minutes keeping his eyes welded shut, as the several drops fell from his eyelids as they seized the chance to escape. His breathing flooded in, finding his throat had lost all feeling of constriction, as he tried to forcibly calm himself down.

He hadn't lost his friend. Now he just didn't want Kurama to see him like this.

"Did you know I failed to get you out?"The tone of Kurama's voice let out the words as if he mused them, deliberately thinking aloud - getting his host's attention from the hitch in his breathing."I know! The absolute shame I had to feel from when I was captured in my attempt in Grass to flee from Rain ninja! Me, a tailed beast - heavily limited, though I was - having failed against a few ninja!"It seemed to be working, as Naruto's breathing started to slow, and his vision became less blurry with the tears he'd amassed when he'd tried not to show it."Honestly Naruto, you should know that I myself felt like digging a big hole and putting myself in it. Alas, this stupid mirror floor cannot be dented."

Naruto couldn't help it. A couple of wheezes left his mouth, before an actual, solitary chuckle broke through his lips. He spent a minute pulling himself together as nothing was said, before he drifted over to the bed that was against the opposite wall to the kitchenette. Almost collapsing onto it, Naruto didn't feel tired so much as he just felt drained of all motivation. It'd be at least a couple of hours before he fell asleep, staring at the wall to let it all just play throughout his head before rising for the next day.

He had ambitions, but it was hard to motivate himself at times when each day was the same cycle.

MINDSCAPE

Naruto looked up at his friend, only a slight questioning look to the features of his face as his eyes only blankly stared, occasionally blinking. A slow traversal to look at the soft surface he was on, he saw that he sat in the palm of a hand so big it could crush an entire house with it, let alone his much shorter being. A quick flick to the corner of his eyes saw that his friend was looking concerned at him, a softer expression than he was used to from the still-prideful being that was the nine-tails.

"What is it, Kurama?" Naruto questioned softly with a quiet volume, almost whispered as even Kurama had to twitch his ears as he focused on what his host said so as to not miss it. He'd meant it when he'd said he didn't want his friend to see him like this, yet Kurama had then summoned his consciousness to the mindscape which made it moot.

Kurama said nothing at first. A short while of looking to one another continued, before the nine tails merely then laid his head down onto his other arm as the nine, large tails of burning orange colour coiled round to traverse the length of his being toward his head. One such wall of fur was pushed into the hand Naruto sat on, making him lean against it as he became more alert to the movement, making him look back to Kurama.

"Don't be alone this night at least, Naruto."Was all Kurama stated, before closing his eyes to go to sleep himself.

Clamping down on noise in his throat, Naruto internally cursed himself as he felt himself crying again. Fourteen years of age, and he hated being soweakdespite having spent almost a decade training now.

Yet, he felt better for being there in that moment.

TWENTY YEARS AFTER THE THIRD NINJA WORLD WAR.
AME, ELITE THIRD BATTALION TRAINING STATION

Educational supplies were in deliberate short supply within the training station. Given that an initiate had all the literacy and knowledge skills given to them over a span of at least two years during conscription, it was deemed sufficient for the military. In the case of an outpost holding a jinchuuriki, it was purposefully kept clear of material not related to what they wanted the tailed beast holder to learn.

Using the advice Kurama had given him when was eleven was the only reason he had more than he was allowed access to. Knowing enough for where the largest concentration of chakra points were on the human body, he'd long since concluded that only the hand or foot could competently hide a seal. Given there was dozens of the chakra pores in such a small area, the emissions of chakra (whether low-level subconsciously or higher when using techniques) masked the tiny chakra signature of the storage seal.

It was the same reason why most ninjas could not hide from sensors. Much like thermal energy was always emitted by the body, chakra was emitted in ever-present, tiny amounts from the chakra pores dotted across it.

Having figured out how to make it blend in with his skin and disappear which required giving it direct access to his chakra network to feed it, Naruto had placed the small storage seal just below his ankle to avoid detection when using techniques with his hands. Given it was also covered up, it most likely would not be detected so long as he never gave them a reason to look.

Within the storage seal was contained the entire efforts of eight years of learning. He could not keep the original books of information given that no initiate or genin were allowed to keep textbooks or the source, but he had made notes throughout his entire time studying. He'd never been more glad for it, as for over two years to boost his understanding of the sealing arts and other ninja areas he'd stockpiled the summative notes. It had proven necessary, as materials to learn the sealing arts were taken away from him now in the elites once he'd finished with it in an attempt to only keep his learning on the subject to within certain scopes.

They didn't want him to learn techniques such as barriers which could keep his presence hidden from them. Only that which could aid his fighting style to make him useful to them. By an order from the higher ranks, it seemed he was not allowed to learn to use the tailed beast chakra. But just as with the notes he'd stockpiled as a foundation for further learning all aspects of the sealing arts under Kurama's tutelage rather than only certain areas, there were ways round that too.

The chakra circulation technique was taught to initiates as an exercise in chakra manipulation. By forcibly moving chakra in a loop through their coils, it was a technique to help initiates understand how to shape and mould their chakra rather than just chakra control techniques which refined it. As chakra control helped lower the amount of chakra used in a technique, chakra manipulation was required from the very start of a technique to use it in the first place as it had to be shaped right to even use it.

Using that very same technique was easy by the time any initiate became genin. It was useful exercise in spreading heat throughout the body in colder temperatures, or even medically for feeling for any ruptures in their network. By allowing Kurama's chakra to mix in with his own, it allowed for the dense tailed beast chakra to be forcibly brought through the coils in controlled amounts; and avoiding detection as it was kept internally.

Slowly increasing the amount over time allowed his body to be forcibly adapted to the presence of the dense chakra, ensuring that eventually it would accepted as if it were his own. He would have utterly no training in using the chakra, but it would give him a sorely-needed advantage when the time called for it. Naruto privately thought that it would undoubtedly be used despite Kurama's hope in keeping it a secret for into his adult years.

For now, it allowed for the building up to the full density of nine tails worth of chakra, as he was currently at four. Pushed out by Kurama who controlled the density and output, it was then pulled into the coils by Naruto using the circulation technique to allow his biology to be coated internally in it and to adapt.

So as he sat at the desk, pouring over the sealing project already five years in the making since his child-like self had thought of it when he'd first heard of the sealing arts from Kurama, he focused on both the sealing papers before him and the circulation technique. Even a year after starting to pull on Kurama's chakra throughout his body, he'd still not mastered the effort of totally doing it with but a thought so it became a subconscious effort; but it was better going as so long as he kept his mind on the technique, he could read the seals before him. He no longer required a hand seal to make his chakra circulate like when he'd first began learning to pull on his chakra.

It would be a long process with at least a few more years to go, but Kurama was right. They would be free.

TWENTY YEARS AFTER THE THIRD NINJA WORLD WAR.
AME, ELITE THIRD BATTALION TRAINING STATION

It was the job of the elite commander to evaluate all Eclipse ninjas in whether they had passed their evaluation period that also served as training to get them to an acceptable standard. As the Eclipse had much less ninja in it than any other combat department, they could afford to at least have the ninja stand in front of them personally for five minutes and question in order to help their decision process. As the ninja sent on a lot of 'off-the-record' missions, it assisted in being able to see in their very mannerisms if they were up to the task.

But this time, it didn't matter. For in front of them stood a genin at their desk for the absolute first time since they became a commander, with it before having been chunin at the minimum and normally jonin that transferred into the Eclipse unit. This development meant that the commander didn't really know how to judge them, but they would have to given it was personally ordered so by Lord Pain.

The ninja in front of them was not yet ready for the slew of A ranks undertaken by the department, and the occasional S rank that ended up in Ame's hands (S rank difficulty was quite rare, and it didn't help that most such missions went to the major villages) but lower ranked missions was certainly something they could do. It made this process only a bit awkward, but nonetheless straight forward as the decision had already been made for them. The awkward part that they didn't know how to judge Naruto, was where to put him in Eclipse given the differing specialisations of squads or platoons. Whilst the teenager in front of them also had clear strengths, it wasn't up to the standard yet and there was a possibility they could still change specialisations as they were still learning.

Very unlikely, given they were a jinchuuriki with close combat preference, but still something they didn't want to bet on. What they would bet on was that the jinchuuriki was nearing the required strength, more than likely capable of conducting an A-rank mission, but the sustained output of high-level missions they were not.

"You've learntmorethan the basics, being higher in skill than all your fellow initiates and indeed many chunin, just not enough yet for this unit. But we don't have the time to teach you the specialist stuff 24/7, at least not to the level that is needed." The commander commented as they drummed their fingers on the desk, before pointing at Naruto. "So you'll learn by yourself."

The body language of the elite commander seemed to show a bit more approval as Naruto just stayed quiet, second nature at this point as all Ame ninja were taught to never question their superior without their identity was a mystery, which was saying something due to the notorious nature of the elite organisation. The figure was decked out in the typical stance and uniform of the Eclipse, the supposed best of the best Naruto had been told for years, which was a complete black armoured suit. It was much like configured style of the armoured bodyguards that followed high ranking personnel around from time to time, which was mainly of extra armoured plating suspended over the actual layer.

The main difference though was the outright dark plastic screen which covered the face of the elite commander. As something he could dimly see his own reflection in, Naruto wondered if the person behind it wanted to stand out as every other Eclipse ninja did not have such a helmet that lacked the usual imposing crimson lens or nearly double the armour. Either way, he merely awaited what the ambiguous figure wanted.

A folder was slid along the desk, which Naruto stepped forth to pick up. Flipping it open, he saw that it contained the Bingo book entry of an A-rank criminal, as well as several other pages of information on the faction the criminal led and a map of the area.

"Raiga Kurosoki, currently known to be in a town in a western region of the Land of Fire." The elite commander stated as they clasped their hands together. "He leads a faction called the Kurosoki family, which have begun to disrupt trade routes between the Land of Fire and the Western minor nations. We want you to take the mission before Konohagakure clears them out instead." A moment was elapsed before the commander shrugged. "As well as the standard pay, all ninja sent on target hunting missions are allowed to keep the bounty."

Seeing that they were done briefing and that only a couple minutes had passed of the allotted five they gave to every evaluation discussion, the elite commander opened the floor. "Before I give your second set of orders, are there any questions, Naruto?" They asked.

"Yes, commander." Naruto responded as he looked right into the dimly reflective mask. "Why an A-rank, commander? I don't think I've ever fought such an opponent who would fight at that rank."

The mask looked over Naruto, before tilting slightly. "I suppose lack of resource, genin." The smooth, synthesised voice answered. "I have decided that since we cannot just spare good soldiers for you to learn from constantly, so I will force you to learn. There is no greater teacher than experience after all, and sending you into the field will force you to adapt and improve. You should have the skills to improve and survive - if not, well then, it saves further resources down the line. Though, as our jinchuuriki, try to survive." The commander finalised by bringing their two index fingers together and pointing again.

The reminder of his position in the world had Naruto clamp the backs of his teeth together in anger, but he kept up the image. "No further questions, commander." He simply said.

"Good."The commander paused as they reached down to a drawer of the desk and withdrew a plastic pocket folder, which was also then slid to Naruto. "Within that you will find the necessary paperwork for your next stop, your travel orders and another license for you. The paperwork is a requisition order signed by me for Eclipse equipment. You'll find that we don't give headbands to elite units, it's rather engraved on the armour, and you have a headband already..." They mused as Naruto himself looked up at the black cloth holding the metal engraved with the three lines of Ame. "And congratulations, that is a travel pass which will allow you to cross the border without too much hassle unlike pulling out proof for a 'll notice the one little condition attached to it though, in that you have to report back in person every three weeks..."

A questioning gaze was sent to the laminated card Naruto picked up, indeed seeing it in a red box at the bottom of it. The gaze was then sent to the commander, but otherwise no verbal question was asked as the commander had stopped taking questions.

"Enough time for the missions we will send you on, genin, and that's all you will have to worry about." The elite commander stated with a finalistic tone as the five minute mark was almost and collect your equipment from the storage in the central headquarters, and then you have twenty-four hours to plan before I expect you to be on your way. You have three weeks, and we'll discuss further training when you get back from your mission." A waving hand motion was then made towards the door as the last communication from the commander to Naruto.

AME CENTRAL MILITARY HEADQUARTERS, TEN MINUTES LATER.

The chunin frowned again as they looked back to the registration card after looking at Naruto before speaking again. "I've never seen a genin before here." They muttered loudly, before getting on with protocol as they opened up a program on the computer, and not questioning the differing details that opened upon it. The chakra signature for the machine matched, and it was the strongest test they had on hand. "Your credentials have confirmed you as a member of Eclipse. Please just state your purpose being here for the record."

Annoyed a bit by the attitude of the chunin on duty in the elite department of the central headquarters, Naruto just wanted it over with. "I'm here to collect my equipment from the storage here." He stated, before holding up the paper he clutched. "I've got the requisition order."

"You'll want to see the Eclipse agent on duty, then." The chunin in chakra armour responded, before pointing their hand away from them. "Simply knock on the left door over there. That's the main office for the Eclipse unit, and whoever is currently on duty will be the only one to have access to the Eclipse storeroom."

Not saying another word, Naruto moved over to the wooden door that had been pointed at, and rapped his knuckles on it. After a second, it opened with an immediate flourish, as the black armoured figure within stepped out and closed the door. Looking down at the jinchuuriki, they took a moment to analyse the charge of the Eclipse unit that they had to train and watch over. Whether or not Naruto passed, he didn't know as they spoke up."I wasn't expecting anyone else today." The figure began, their voice altered to a deepened and completely neutral tone. "So you are the genin in our unit. As the commander would've completed your paperwork and briefing with you already, we'll go straight to giving you your equipment."

Naruto was used to the lack of greeting and respect by now, merely following the Eclipse agent to only the next room over on the right, but this one was a lot more secure than the wooden door to the office before a code into a keypad, and then unlocking a heavy-duty padlock, the agent then hauled open the steel door set on solid metal hinges - before then having to unlock another caged door after that one. It was then a simple matter of striding into the Eclipse storeroom, with Naruto filtering in after the agent.

It was a small room, with half of it being taken up by a caged section, with a third metal door that the agent had to unlock before stepping into it - and obviously following protocol as they locked it behind themselves. The equipment all lay on either shelves, storage chests at the agent's feet, or in the storage seals inscribed on the left wall of the cage. A small counter was the only access point between the two sections of the room, as the rest of the room looked remarkably bare apart from posters setting out basic protocol and the wooden features and decorations.

"OK, first things first." The agent stated as they pulled out a checklist on a clipboard. "Please answer the following questions - have you been declared medically fit at your last medical?"

Naruto just grunted as his annoyance internally deepened with the questionnaire he was ging to be put through. "Passed every year." He simply responded.

"Very well." The agent spoke as they made an indent in the checklist. "Next. Are you sure you wish to proceed into the elite department? Once you have been issued your own armour, you may not leave until given permission by at least your battalion leader."

Blankly staring at the armoured figure, Naruto kept the scathing answer he wanted to give to himself at the lack of choice he had, instead replying with two words. "I'm sure."

"Good." The agent spoke as they made another tick, then tapping the checklist and spending the next several minutes running through the protocol on the checklist. "OK. Final question. Do you accept that your equipment is your liability, and that free replacements will only be issued for accounts of enemy action or negligence of someone else's or nobody's behalf?"

"Yes." Naruto responded with one word, minutely thankful to be done with it now as the agent put down the checklist on the counter to one side.

"Good." The armoured figure repeated. "Then let's begin." Turning around, the agent took a moment to peruse the shelves on the back wall before reaching to one in the middle upon which sat a heavily sealed package. "This must be for you. We have equipment in standard sizes of course, but given your age, we had to scale them down a bit. Fortunately, the elite commander ordered yours in advance. Of course, you'll have to order your own equipment in future."

Placing the package on the counter and tearing it open, the agent gave a nod as a range of clothing, metal and a book were folded and placed onto the counter as the wrappings were binned. Firstly, sliding a manual and two scrolls to the jinchuuriki, the Eclipse agent spoke up. "This is the manual which details the specifications and instructions on how to correctly utilise your armour. Don't let them fall into enemy hands. And to slim down on how bulky your armour makes you, there's only two storage slots in your armour for your items - two circular cylinders set into the back of torso where the torso armour plates meet the leg armour plates. Perfectly matching the dimensions of the scrolls before you."

Taking out a set of clothing next, the agent pushed them forth and motioned to them. "This is your under-suit and combat boots, essential to making sure you remain medically stable within your armour. Inscribed into the material of these hybrid under-suits are a range of environmental seals, which will regulate factors such as your temperature so you remain stable in a suit of armour. Wearing these and a second layer of armour, you would be able to survive for a while in either the Lands of Wind or Frost. Please put these on now, as they are designed to help keep the armour in place. Seal away everything else into the storage scrolls."

Nothing more was said as the agent drew a curtain across the inner side of the counter, blocking him from view and allowing privacy. Bitterly looking at the curtain before then moving his neck down to fully view the armour, he had to admit itwascool, but the organisation it represented left a foul taste in his mouth. Hopefully it kept him alive no matter who he faced.

Naruto got changed into the under-suit and boots as he discarded the simple training clothes he'd worn for years now. Navy blue in colour, it was just a full-body suit made out of a rubber-like material, and secured by a zipper on the front. A simple knock on the counter had the curtain drawn back in a swift motion, as the agent spoke again. "Those under-suits are actually based on wetsuit designs, with a bit of change to make sure they can withstand more general applications. An interesting fact is that they are helped created by the blubber and material of the Nirveno seals which thrive in the wetlands to the south of the country." The agent spoke idly as they pushed forth more items.

"And these are what every new inductee looks forward to. The armour." The armoured figure spoke with a more jovial tone to the electrically synthesised voice as a pile of metal and clothing were pushed to the opposite side of the counter. Seeing it all in a neat pile, Naruto took a step forward and found that the metal armour was actually in separate blocks, with a sleeve of armour for each of the limbs and an almost vest-like construction which allowed the torso armour to be slid over the head. "Yes, the armour we have here in our section is based on a sliding system. It means that for every two plates of armour, one is designed to slide right over the over. It helps afford much more flexibility and speed than the designs in the regular elite department whom all wear solid metal suits. Unfortunately, it also means the armour here is more intricate, and thus expensive."

Picking up the torso armour he'd been issued, Naruto held it in his hands for a moment as he looked over the metal for the tell-tale light scratch markings before looking back up the agent. "Weight seals inscribed into it?" He questioned.

"You are good with the sealing arts." The armoured figure spoke, none of the perhaps faked praise making it into the altered voice. "It stops agents from getting exhausted quicker than they should be, as well as it helps with getting it on in the first place. Speaking of which - if I were you, I'd put the arm sections on first, they're always more difficult to put on if you're already wearing the torso section."

Naruto was looking at the right leg armour in his hand, letting it hang to the floor mid-air so he could get a proper look at it. Looking closely at it, the nine-tails jinchuuriki could see the armoured plates - three sides of it to be exact, with four armoured plates on each side. The lower two plates of each side would accordingly envelope the shinbone and calf, with there being a front side and two sides to the back in a triangular formation which opened up at the back between the two back panels of armoured plates with a strong-looking zip. The section of armour ended in a solid plate at the base of it - that exactly fitted the structure of the sole of the combat boots he was wearing. The armour was designed to be slid right on over the body, and secured by a strong zip which was secured into place with a velcro strap.

The armour itself was made up of a black metallic sheen, to a tone that matched a pitch-black sky. The commander's previous comment was soon understood by him, as four white lines were carved into the very central plate on the front of the torso section lay the national symbol of Ame for each of them. The remaining armour was exactly the same over the remaining limbs, with the torso section being made up of a frontal and back panels of armour, which due to the sliding plates, could be moved flexibly. Strapped securely to the torso, the torso section would then connect to the four other sections of armour to lock them into place and cover up the gaps between the armour parts. The only parts of the body now really exposed were the joints in the limbs and the head itself - and in between the joints, the rubber suit on which the armour was attached to as a second layer over the under-suit could be seen; as the agent caught Naruto paying particular attention to it as he flexed his arm.

"Don't worry about the flexibility of the armour, it's perfectly flexible. Between the plates being able to 'slide' so to speak, as well as the second layer being made up of rubber, ballistic nylon and a classified tensile material, it'll suit your every need." The agent explained, before pointing to the exposed joint area in their own armour. "What you need to mainly worry about is a kunai strike to here. The armour is brilliant and can stop a sword empowered by wind chakra, but that rubber, ballistic nylon and classified material combo crap can only withstand a few kunai strikes before it starts splitting apart."

Naruto looked up, interest breaking though as his opinion rose of the armour. "Classified material?"

The agent gave a shrug in response, before answering. "I couldn't tell you much, it's restricted to the higher ups and the scientists. What Idoknow is that it's what makes up the main difference between the regular elite units and Spectre. The regular elite units armour can only withstand five A-rank Justus before they become brittle, and split or shatter. This armour, with its sliding system, can withstand much more. The 'classified' material actually transfers the force or energy projected by any technique or weapon away from your limb and the rubber, and directly into the armoured plates if the under-suit layers were struck instead of the armour. Thus, saving you from being actually hit - regardless of where you've been struck. It'll still hurt though, try not to get hit."

Naruto looked once more over the armour he wore as he gently gripped the sliding plate on the underarm of his left arm and moved it back-and-fro, but he spotted the fault. "But that would mean that the armoured plates are withstanding all of the damage, and thus would be building up all of the damage to them."

The agent gave a nod as they rapped their knuckles against an armoured plate on their own arm. "That is the problem to watch out for, indeed. I'll assure you now, your armour can withstand an A-rank jutsu and still come out looking whole and unbroken. It's what happensover timethat counts. Should it take too many jutsu hits, or there's a sustained barrage of strikes against a panel of armour, it will finally give in - the rubber and nylon won't so long as they're not directly struck, as it transfers all that crap to the armour plates." The agent informed them, before looking to the armoured plate they'd struck. "But the armour plates can shatter, no matter how many seals cover them or the material they're made from. It'll take a while, but let's just say it's averygood idea to get your armour checked up on at least once every two months. Just bear that in mind before you decide to fight an S-rank, or something like that, eh? It'll last a while, but it can shatter."

It was the agent standing up straighter that Naruto caught, as a serious tone was evident through the alterations. "Seriously speaking, it's extremely durable. I don't see why it should ever shatter unless you don't keep it maintained or you fight an S-rank. That's why it's so expensive." The agent explained. "That'll be down to all of the seals on the armour, and its durable materials. Plus, the armour is much more silent than you think with the sliding plates. The biggest noise threat you'd face is if you land too heavily against a surface."

Giving a nod to symbolise his understanding, Naruto merely kept up curtesy. "Thank you." He stated.

Getting a solitary nod in return, the black armoured Eclipse agent pulled down a helmet from a shelf above their head on the front wall and deposited it on the counter as they moved on with the proceedings. "Consider yourself lucky." The synthetically altered voice sounded out gruffly. "These helmets are incredibly expensive, more so than any other piece of the armour you've received. So expensive that not even the regular elite units get helmets, let alone the normal forces."

The helmet looked like a mix between a metal shell that completely enclosed the skull, and the rebreathers that many ninja in the Land of Rain liked to employ to combat the wet conditions of the country. Painted a complete obsidian black to match the rest of the armour, the facial area of the helmet was comprised of two metal plates in which were embedded the eye lens. A darkened, crimson tint reflected off of the visibly thick eye pieces, with visible sections in the helmet for the mouth and ear positions. Tiny, dotted holes covered these positions in a uniformed pattern, allowing air and sound to be transferred through the helmet whilst sacrificing none of the protective qualities.

"If regular helmets just aren't worth providing for today's warfare." Naruto stated in thought, getting a nod from the other person. "What makes these ones so special then?"

The Eclipse agent gave it a moment of thought before responding. "Well, first of all, you've each been given a suit of armour. If you didn't cover your head as well, it would become the area of weakness for enemies to exploit." The agent explained, before picking up the third helmet on the right. "Plus these helmets have electronics and seals in them. They're designed to assist the agent in their operations, unlike a regular helmet. They have six main functions - night vision capabilities, a rebreather, short-range radios; environmental protection as well as an option to allow more visibility and finally, durability."

Flipping over the helmet to expose the underside of it, and tapping a small button set into the bottom rim of it to show him it, they explained. "This is the button that will open the helmet to allow you to have more visibility. It will enable you to overcome the weakness of perhaps a limited field of view, at the expense of extra protection."

The agent pushed it down with their finger, getting the two frontal plates of the helmet to spring apart via mechanical hinges and aclangnoise. Upon a person's head, it would completely expose the eyes, nose and mouth of the operator - and currently let the three look into the helmet. It was lined with white padding which contrasted the outer black, as well as at the top of the helmet lay an electrical CPU; with wires that then dug their way into the padding out of sight - all hidden by a transparent plastic screen which was obviously to stop any electrical faults running through the skull of the operator.

"I wouldn't recommend opening it a lot, it is designed to be comfortable and to aid you in combat situations." The agent spoke, the bland tone ruining what should've been an informative tone. "And obviously, the protection seals which filter and defend against elements like poison gas become completely useless with this open. But, they did recognise you'd need to uncover the mouth to use some techniques, hence this."

Another push of the button closed the helmet and slid the two, red lens of the eye pieces back into position, as the agent then turned the helmet onto its right side and retrieved a screwdriver. Unscrewing a very small panel which opened up, an electronic circuit board was revealed with a sheet of plastic in the middle of it upon which a seal was transcribed. "This here is the chakra recognition seal." They explained, the stance they took and staring at Naruto making them serious once more. "The seal here is for a one-time use only. Just pulse your chakra into the seal please, and it'll hardwire the system in it to only accept your chakra signature. Nobody else will be able to operate the functions of the helmet without your chakra."

Doing as he was told, Naruto put a finger onto the small bit of plastic and released a short pulse of chakra into it. Nothing visibly happened, but the agent was obviously happy with it as they then screwed the panel back down and then motioned for him to put the helmet on. Accepting the helmet held out to him, he slid it over his head - as the dark crimson tinted lens slid into position exactly where his eyes were, covering his skull in the obsidian-black metal. Slim, yet obviously very protective through the strong metal, it also didn't make a singular sound - neither as he breathed, or as he twisted it about as the view of the storeroom through the perspective of the metal. The only sound it did in fact make, was the smallclickas the rim of the helmet was twisted to attach it to the armour, and lock it into place.

"Very good." The Eclipse agent repeated for the last time. "Everything else can be gathered from the general depot, including first aid kits and kunai pouches. Otherwise, welcome to Eclipse." The agent finalised, thumping their left fist to their shoulder in the nation's salute.

More out of ingrained training, a resounding thump against metal occurred as Naruto copied likewise.

EIGHTY-SIX HOURS LATER, IN THE LAND OF FIRE.

Spitting out the bland slop back into the bowl in front of him, Naruto pushed away the curry that had an over-reliance on spice to make up for an evidently sub-standard chef that didn't know anything else. It didn't work on him as he had a chakra with an even hotter affinity circulating his body on a permanent basis, and if Kurama had been awake then he probably would've laughed. But he wasn't, and Naruto took the chance to review the map.

It was in the next valley, only an hour tapped his finger on the edge of the map as he thought for a moment, before then tracing the rim of the caverned out, circular area to the higher vantage point of the valley that held a gold mine. The bandits themselves would only be an issue if they got in his way, otherwise they were the Fire nation's problem. The problem was he didn't know where Raiga was in the mine.

He'd have to try his hand at a bit of longer distance warfare, and hope Raiga wasn't a sensor.

ONE HOUR LATER.

In the end, it turned out that he was able to see Raiga directly, as they were in the midst of some sort of a funeral. The long, brown-haired cackling leader stood before the casket which was being carried by six people in black cloaks, the missing nin raising his hands up with an exaggerated cry as the funeral coffin was laid into the ground.

"Alas, Fuga!" The Kiri missing nin exclaimed with dramatic flair. "I do so miss the times we spent together! The adventures we had in the mine, where you would prove to have the loudest voice amongst all the dissenters. If only... it had been a bit quieter..."

Raiga paused, before giving a hum as his auditory senses alerted him to something as he turned his head to look down the path they were trekking just as another man rounded the corner. Upon seeing the foolish youth he'd been manipulating for a while now, Raiga's grin widened.

"Karashi!" Raiga announced as he signalled his cloaked followers to continue forth without him. "It's a pleasure to see you, but you aren't due in the mine until tomorrow! What could be the reason for this graceful visit?"

The grandson of the curry maker stopped a few metres away, having to stoop slightly and wheeze to regain his breath, before answering. "I couldn't wait any longer, Lord Raiga! I need to grow stronger, to show others that I can be better than them! Please, teach me!"

An exaggerated expression overcame the rouge swordsman, giving another hum as he sought to whisper more poison into the young adult's ears - before frowning and turning his head as he heard something. Three explosive notes attached to kunaithunkedinto the funeral coffin, only causing Raiga's eyes to widen slightly at the interruption before following through with standard protocol that had been ingrained in him since an early age, as hetossed down a smoke grenade. The white, enveloping haze blanketed the entire area, thoroughly disorienting the rest as Raiga utilised the body replacement technique with only two hands seals that gave him plenty of time to get outside the blast radius of the kunai.

However, he was still forced to leap clear of the smoke he'd furthered with another smoke bomb to avoid the shuriken that had beentooaccurately throwninto it to take advantage of the blinding conditions. Considering he'd used a replacement technique, even a jonin would've struggled to find him that fast.

The explosion that swallowed up the area beneath him now propelled him a bit further as a small amount of confusion set in for Raiga in how the shuriken had so accurately found him when he'd been retreating from the blast radius, but it did not matter. Spotting the sun glint off metal immediately as further shuriken were thrown at him from the ground,the jonin-level missing ninja merely reacted by flashing through hand-signs at a fast rate - and initiating the substitute jutsu as the position of the projectile and Raiga was swapped in an instant. Using the sudden displacement at a lower altitude to his advantage, he was only a second away from the black armoured figure as he angled his foot slightly and charged it with chakra.

Naruto sensed the build up of chakra, and merely hopped out of the camouflage net covered hole he'd been hiding in as Raiga impacted the ground. Dust and projectiles of earth rained out from the strike, the former swordsman of the Mist already blazing out from the rising dust cloud to engage the annoyance that interrupted his funeral in hand-to-hand combat. Whilst not his best strength as he was much better with a sword, he could best a lot of chunin with it as he engaged the metal man.

Raiga admitted to himself, he was a little impressed as his opponent experienced no difficulty with it, although not because he could totally keep up with it. The missing ninja could tell he was the slightly more skilled user of hand-to-hand as his hand made its way past his armoured opponent's guard as they partly fell for a feint he'd directed downward. It was the fact that the chakra-charged fist he'd rammed into the helmet did absolutely nothing but move his opponent a bit off-kilter as the armour made his attack redundant.

It in fact opened up opportunity for his opponent, as they thrust a knee up as they were sent back a little, their other knee bending to bring them back into balance before springing forward a bit on it as Raiga dodged it. Sending forth two punches, one of which Raiga blocked and the other of which he merely ducked his head around to avoid, the swordsman merely tried a different approach as he thrust a heel-kick into the joint of the armour of his opponent's leg that didn't have an armoured plate covering it so.

It didn't work as the armoured plate didn't give way nor was there enough room to accommodate even the edge of his heel which would've delivered the force into the joint, as instead the armour slid down less than a centimetre on its mechanism. With the force of his blow dispersed, Raiga scowled as he knew he his opponent to be just less skilled than him in the hand-to-hand area as he'd only gotten two hits through their guard in the past few minutes. Though he didn't recognise the style as it looked like they had learned a systematic approach of heavy blows and tanking hits by placing their limbs in the way as if they knew they could withstand most strike; quite rightly so from what he'd experienced, it was getting interesting as he smiled.

Sending a quick series of light punches and a kick at his opponent that were all blocked with even the kick being smacked away, Raiga used the twisted momentum from the strike to flip back and land metres away. There, he merely smirked wider as he folded his arms, his opponent seemed wary as the swordsman stayed back.

"Black tornado!" Came a scream from behind him and even a bit above, but Naruto refused to look back as his gaze remained firmly on the Mist missing ninja. A pillar of five bandits were gathered behind him that had all stacked each other up on their shoulders to form a human tower - that was rapidly making its way towards him. It occurred to Naruto that they were at least partially trained, as he mentally pictured the assortment of blades that the pillar of bandits wielded cleaved right through the rocky ground they were running across; before he sought to respond with a flash of gold from his back.

The entire human tower collapsed at its base as a gold construct wrapped entirely around the bottom bandit, the quivering eyes of the bottom criminal seeing only the appearance of a golden spiked blade blurring past his face, followed by interlocking sections of a chain wrapping completely around his face. He didn't even get time to scream as his body was forcefully compressed between the sections of the chain.

The other bandits similarly found themselves hoisted out of the air by four further chains, three of them having their torsos penetrated straight through by the spiked tips of the chakra constructs of the Uzumaki sealing chains Naruto had produced. The fourth bandit had their leg wrapped around by a chain, not to slow their descent - but to speed it up as they were collided skull-first into the ground in a splattering of gore.

The five sealing chains were pulled back in a matter of just two seconds to hover behind Naruto's back as his gaze remained solidly on Raiga, as he then raised a hand to his side with a storage seal flaring across its palm. With only a small puff of smoke, a weapon the swordsman had not battled before appeared in the clasped right hand of his armoured opponent. Raiga had to admit, he became all the more intrigued from the revelations thus far as this was by far the most interesting opponent he'd faced in the past couple of months - and it had only been going a short while; only now moving into he main part as each opponent brought out their specialist weapons.

A sledgehammer had appeared into being on Naruto's hand, grasping the base of its poled handle as he hefted the hammer section over his shoulder. It looked different from a regular sledgehammer which normally had a wooden handle and attached hammer head, but the one Naruto swung was definitely more powerful as Raiga observed it. Longer than a metre, perhaps a metre twenty, as it looked solid cast from the way the navy-blue painted handle joined flush with the black metal head on it. In the hands of a ninja, the swordsman knew better to assume it was like a civilian version of a sledgehammer and would definitely be constructed of a stronger steel; especially with the sealing arrays glowing blue and criss-crossing it as his opponent charged it with chakra.

Two short swords spun into being in his own hands, brought together violently with the brief appearance of sparks as he clashed the ends of them together which immediately transitioned into dark blue lightning chakra that cackled and hummed across each blade. Giving another laugh, Raiga announced his excitement. "I did not expect an Uzumaki! Looks like Konoha got serious!"

Raiga's grin seemed to split open as he performed the swirling water walltechnique, a torrent of water being spat out from his mouth that collided with the ground and frothed right back up to begin to spread; but instead enveloping the man. Forming a solid containment wall of water that swirled violently around him, it shielded the swordsman from being impaled by the five golden chakra chains that darted the distance between them in the blink of an eye. It was of no surprise to the missing ninja at how fast the constructs made from the sheer energy of chakra could move as they held so very little mass, having rapidly used one of his best defensive techniques he needed only a single hand seal to execute as he had used it so often.

What was a surprise, was that it turned out the chakra chains were a fearsome technique for a reason, as not only did they withstand being grinded to their base components by the violent swirling of the water wall they'd sunk into it, but that they were succeeding against it. It was one of the Mist's best defensive techniques, one he'd trained down to a single hand sign, and yet the bladed tips of the chakra constructs were pushing forth as they emerged onto other side in only a few seconds.

One darted right for his face in a blur of speed that was only cut down by the quicker anticipation afforded to him, cutting right through the chain with a judicious application of ligthning chakra across the Kiba blade he wielded. Thrusting one of the two blades in his hands into the swirling water wall to utilise the swords' natural affinity for lightning to pulsate that lightning chakra throughout the water and weaken the other chains, that were then swiftly cut through with the other blade as Raiga rotated on his heel.

Not done in the plan that he'd thought up in his head, he commanded the water wall around him to drop as he instead loosed fingers from the grips of his blades in practiced motion to join them together in a string of hand signs. Splurging more water from his mouth, copious amounts of water raced across the ground which churned round on itself as Raiga held the hand sign, directing it forth in a great burst of speed in a singular direction. A tsunami of water, thriving with the vast amounts of water-natured chakra that powered and propelled the jutsu that the swordsman had give it, raced across the rocky terrain in a large wave right towards Naruto.

Naruto meanwhile, had hauled back his chains forcibly from the swirling grip of the water wall they'd been fighting against, satisfied with their performance against a high-level target. Whilst incredibly easy to use to dispatch of bandits and low-ranking ninja which had no defence against them, this had been his first combat test of them against even his first A-rank. As one of his main techniques which Kurama had first shown him, it had performed better than he'd expected as they'd actually begun to cut through the water wall. Weakened by their effort in doing so, it had allowed for Raiga to cut them apart, but it had been working.

His opponent was too experienced to let that get him, but Naruto had only lost a bit of his chakra in reforming the broken parts of his chakra chains that were the first technique he'd used in the battle, unlike Raiga.

Not willing to remain stationary by using the barrier technique of the chakra chain, Naruto opted for a different method to get around the racing and frothing water that would slam into him in just two seconds. Unlikely to hurt him given the outstanding quality of his armour, it would throw him away like a ragdoll though which would give Raiga quite the opportunity. Instead, Naruto stamped his foot into the ground and pulsed Kurama's chakra into it to give him a much more powerful boost than his own would give him.

Raiga's eyes widened slightly as he actually felt the chakra pulse his opponent had used to blast off round the tsunami of water, a chakra that felt so ultimately foreign to his own that was all he had ever felt throughout his whole life. He had no more time to think on it though, as his opponent was onto him in but a second as they rocketed forth under the power of the foreign-feeling chakra, but he did have enough time to bring his Kiba blades before him in the correct direction.

Blocking an incoming blow from the right with the sledgehammer in his opponent's hand by forcing up the Kiba blade in his left hand, he gritted his teeth against the more powerful blow which resonated through his arm; but the block held as his more experienced block in angling and moving just enough with the force of his opponent made up the difference. It was much simpler to knock aside the weaker attack with the smaller kunai Naruto thrust at him with his other hand, making Raiga smile as he deliberately then stabbed his blade into his opponent's hand.

It predictably didn't work, as his opponent yanked back an unexpected attack against the hand itself, leaving his right side open for the Kiba blade to thrum with lightning chakra and dart between a crack in the armour plates. Unleashing the stored energy in his blade in one commanded push that rushed right into his opponent, Raiga followed it up with a spat water bullet right into Naruto's helmet.

A high-powered glob of condensed water given fast momentum, it failed to even dent the armour but did succeed in transferring its spat force into kinetic momentum upon its opponent. Naruto's head snapped backward in a painful yank on his skull and spine, smashing into the ground and then flipping back further from the force of the point-blank shot. Giving a hoot of laughter at the attack that had always snapped his opponent's neck from the sheer force of being point-blank shot by one his favourite technique combos, Raiga celebrated his opponent's demise.

He didn't laugh when Naruto forced himself up, and then staggered to his feet.

"I know you can't react to a technique after sensing it the instant before it collides with you, but WHY did you think it a good idea to go up close and fight with a weapon to one of the world's greatest swordsman?!"Kurama grumbled out irritably as he pumped his chakra instinctively into his host in enough quantities that it forced the bones in his neck to correctly realign and heal in moments from the fractures that ran along them."Think for goodness sake!"

'I'm sorry Kurama, you know I don't have much long-range stuff!' Naruto thought back apologetically. The pain that should've felt from either having ligthning chakra coursing along the weaker material of the under-suit or having a spinal injury that should've paralysed him.

"Just don't die on me!"Came the rebuke, forcing Naruto to focus back on the battle as he rolled his now healed neck and shoulders to remove much of the stiffness. Seizing hold of the sledgehammer in his hand, he swung it with enough speed to smash through an incoming water projectile, before then spinning it again to deflect another. Summoning forth four more chakra chains from the gathering of chakra points on his back, two of the golden chakra constructs thrust forth to penetrate through multiple other incoming water projectiles.

A body flicker snapped out then as Raiga seemed to instantly cross the distance, faster than Naruto when he'd earlier dodged the tsunami as the swordsman directed all the kinetic force he'd gained from the body flicker technique to slam down both swords into his opponent. As a technique that didn't teleport the user but rather sent them surging forth in a burst of speed surpassed only by few other techniques on the planet; it gave Raiga a powerful rush of strength that transferred into his blades.

Strength that actually managed to crack the two chakra chains that Naruto had put before him to stop any further close clashes as he had directed the other two of the four forward instead. Inside the helmet, Naruto's eyes widened that such power had actually cracked his chains which had never before been damaged by physical means before, the sharpness of the blades having been propelled forth by Raiga's own strength and momentum.

Another body flicker snapped out as Raiga retreated as soon as he saw the damage to the chakra chains heal instantly with the transmission of further chakra down their constructs, before any could ensnare him. He remembered what they'd done to his fellow faction members, as he called out to his opponent now more than thirty metres away. "You fight well, Uzumaki!" He shouted out. "But as it seems you want my head, you'll have to come to me!"

Naruto said nothing as he recalled all his chakra constructs, the blade-tipped chains hovering around him like protective serpents.

Indeed, Raiga spat forth another tsunami of water from his mouth in an appearance to try and force his opponent back further with the mocking words he'd uttered, but his smile dropped slightly as he quickly dipped into a pocket. Darting his hand to his mouth and swallowing the chakra pill to rapidly regain some of his reserves, he had to admit he was now low on chakra after using several tsunami techniques of water, projectiles and water wall; amongst the body flickers and chakra-propelled movement he'd been doing for some time now. But he had a plan to finish this, using his ultimate technique once he forced his opponent's hand to ensure its success.

Water was his domain, as he'd only ever been bested by Kisame in it. Ironically, out of his dual affinities for water and lightning, his water-natured side was far stronger as the primary affinity than his lightning, despite the lightning blades having chosen him. But it was of no concern for this context, as he would combine both affinities to deal with his admittedly troublesome opponent.

However, he himself was forced to enact the usage of a body replacement technique as he was alerted to the usage of the foreign chakra again. He wouldn't say it aloud, but it chilled a part of his core that even such small uses of the chakra he shouldn't have been able to feel as a non-sensor reviled him so much, the foreign taint of it feeling so potent that it was abominable; poison to his own chakra. This time, it was sent skyward itself as the crimson coloured chakra burst forth from the end of his opponent's sledgehammer weapon.

Naruto responded to the appearance of another tidal surge of water that wanted to slam into him again by ensuring his opponent had to move too. Hefting the sledgehammer up and aimed above in the direction of Raiga, a pulse of dense, red chakra crawled along the sealing matrix that flared across it - as several smaller streams of fire flew out from the seals. Like seeking missiles, the flaming balls of crimson chakra all streaked towards Raiga's position with keen interest. They were moving at such speeds, with enough of them spread around the swordsman as they homed in on him that he would never have been able to flee with just a chakra-assisted jump.

He was correct in that assumption as Raiga disappeared using the hasty application of the replacement technique once more as a rock appeared in his former position. The sealing matrix, however, audibly spluttered on his weapon as the secondary arrays then retreated back into the main kanji, Naruto telling from a glance that the tailed beast chakra had overwhelmed it and launched fewer seeking streams than it had been designed for. Additionally, the streams of fire had no longer locked on to their target even before Raiga's disappearance as they slammed into the ground instead and plumed out in quiet expanses of rippling fire.

However, a brief scan of the sealing arrays were all he could do as they stayed alight as he channelled it further with Kurama's chakra to merely charge and store up the potent fire-natured chakra, as he grabbed the handle with both hands and then swung down with as much force as he could muster point-blank into the ground. Having done all that previously, it had almost been too late for Naruto as the second tsunami lapped against the sledgehammer that skimmed its raging surface, but it got no further. For a split instant, water collided with the broiling and explosive power of the chakra enhanced strike pummelling into the ground, but that lasted less than half a second.

It was no contest.

The chakra coursing along the sealing arrays of his sledgehammer was the most potent in the world, being the densest and most powerful of the nine tailed beasts as even only the short charge of chakra stored within it blew back the entire technique. Rippling forth from the impact point into the ground, the tailed beast chakra sprang forth in all directions to crack the armour plates along Naruto's legs, vaporise the first few metres of water that collided with it and then push back the rest in a display of power against the much greater amounts of water. Cracks ran along the scorched ground of the impact point that was now a foot deeper from where Naruto grunted as he hauled out his weapon.

It was saved and mostly intact only from the fact that it was the projecting medium and the reinforcement seals embedded in its sealing arrays.

Raiga would have snarled at the display of his once more failed tsunami attack, if not for the fact that his victory was assured. Crackling with glee as he allowed a brief moment of respect for the Uzumaki now below him as the replacement technique deposited atop a hill, he thrust the Kiba blades high above him into the air. Clashing together, the blades fizzed with the lightning chakra they were pumped with and naturally strengthened as per the ability of the blades, sending a small arcing projectile of lightning chakra upwards that disappeared into the heavens. With a flourishing gesture, Raiga swiped the still-connected blades downward to now point at his opponent who turned their head to look at him after sensing the burst of chakra.

The actual result Raiga had been awaiting happened a few moments later as he watched, a much larger bolt of piercing, natural lightning thundering down from the heavens and crashing into the entire area of water and rocky hillside. A deafening clap of an explosion rang out from the impact point before progressing into a vibrating, short-lived rumble as rock and earthen debris exploded everywhere, momentary arcs of powerful electricity flaring out from the impact zone and clouds of dust and steam that arose. The water had been just as much a casualty as the hillside, with the heat of the vaporising ligthning bolt causing the vast majority of the water -despite the large area of their battleground that it covered - evaporating upon the contact and transmission of electricity throughout the water medium.

"Survive that, Uzumaki!" He screamed out in jubilation, his breathing now laboured and panting as he was now scratching empty with his reserves.

Fate had apparently been tempted though, for even before the majority of steam began to clear did Raiga see a pile of rocks forced aside and cascade down the gentle hillside as glints of gold appeared. Unfelt by Raiga in the chaos of the moment, Naruto had once more burst away from the scene using an application of Kurama's chakra before swathing himself with as many of the chains as he could manage in that very moment. Panicking slightly at the sheer build-up of chakra from where Raiga had sent his technique skyward, Naruto had surpassed his previous record of eight chains to make thirteen that closed round him in as many ways and as tightly as he could command. Having tripped as he focused more on the protective technique and the exertion it pulled on him to create so many, Naruto closed his eyes as he huddled himself smaller.

Kurama himself activated the barrier technique of the chakra chains in that moment as the teenager forgot to do so correctly in his addled brain that had quickly became overloaded as his sensory ability overloaded with the sheer charge of lightning chakra in the sky. Unlike the clear barrier that should have sprang up between the chains had Naruto pulsed his chakra through hem correctly which he had not, it was tainted a darker crimson red as they joined together in a shield of chakra that blotted out the visuals around them.

It was just as well, as Naruto shook from the massive explosion that ripped through the entire hillside and into the ground that he felt, wincing as rocky debris bounced and clanged audibly off the shield that had fortunately held. Seconds then passed as the world settled down around him, as Naruto let out a yelp as Kurama briefly pulsed a higher density of chakra though his system than he was used to, in order to force his mind back into focus. Shaking himself from the panicked mind state that had fallen on him when his senses had gone haywire, he deactivated the barrier technique of the chains.

Forcing them to move and expand to brush away any rock before it could fall on him from where it had settled, he looked out at the world.

"HOW DID YOU LIVE?!" Raiga roared out then as he saw the helmeted appearance of his opponent then, losing all vestige of sense in fury as every single one of his attacks until now had failed. Falling into an offensive mindset driven by anger that demanded him to strike his armoured opponent dead as they were downed, he ignored the exclamation from his companion in the backpack as he scraped the very last of his reserves for the utilisation of a final body flicker.

Alerted by the burst of chakra from the hilltop he'd last sensed his opponent on and having already uncoiled his chakra chains that were now free to act, Naruto caught Raiga securely within the chakra constructs. A moment passed as the dark-haired man snarled at the crimson lenses that were evidently the helmeted eyes, for even if he did have the chakra to use a replacement technique; the chakra suppression abilities of the Uzumaki chains meant he would never have been able to.

No semantics were given as the bladed tips of the chains blew through his torso en masse, stabbing through several vital organs including the heart and the right lung, as the chain ripping through the backpack removed the second chakra signature Naruto had felt throughout the fight. Merely now suspending the dead body, he retracted all of the constructs to drop it and return the chakra back into his body as he felt his reserves fill up a bit more to the extent that he was only partially depleted. Though having to expend a fair amount in augmenting his movements, the only techniques he'd used were his chakra chains and the tailed beast chakra which was a damn unfair advantage to most others.

The chunk missing from his reserves were mostly from repairing the chakra chains - making a physical construct from energy took a considerable amount that would exhaust most jonin from using only that single technique. In return, it was a formidable technique that more than covered his weaknesses and had allowed to more than once counter his enemy and force them back.

All that was left was to analyse the two remaining chakra signatures he'd sensed. A single glance in the direction of the weakest was enough to make it retreat quickly, having the reserves of a civilian and more than likely 'Karashi' who had hoped to become a trained bandit under the missing ninja's faction. He partly hoped the man would now see the civilian life was not so bad after the display of fighting, but the larger part of him scoffed and promptly forgot him as he focused on the other chakra signature. A much greater one than Karashi, perhaps three-quarters that of Raiga.

He knew that judging the chakra reserves of a person was not a true indication of their strength, but it was actually the best way a ninja could indeedjudgetheir opponent if they had no prior knowledge from the Bingo Book or other sources. Increases in reserves happened with time and training, and so it was mostly true that a ninja with larger reserves was generally more experienced. Exceptions to that rule existed in fair amounts though, the case study example being the Uzumaki who had larger reserves than normal due to their genetics, with the fact that an Uzumaki genin may have more than a normal jonin.

"Show yourself." He merely demanded aloud with the altered voice coming from his helmet, ensuring to dispel any illusion that he wasn't to his watcher by looking in their direction as he did so. Acrackof a body flicker deposited that ninja closer to him than Raiga had backed away from, being fifteen metres away and providing enough clarity for a good observation. They wore dull-grey metal guards on their shins and arms, a light armoured vest on their body over a cloak that had its hood up and shadowing a porcelain white mask with the details of an orange beak and green eyes of a bird.

Naruto's helmet tilted somewhat as he observed the silent ninja, definitively from Konoha from the Leaf symbol on their vest, and re-did his assessment. The ninja from the organisation in front of him were tricky to judge in appearance alone in that regard as they hid their identities and all tales of their exploits and missions were classified. Most ninja part of it were a little better than the standard jonin, but they should never be discounted as a fair number were known to have far greater strength - it was known widely that Kakashi of the Sharingan had been an ANBU at one point.

"I did not expect Konoha's ANBU to be present and watching." Naruto spoke aloud, the musing tone he'd put on in the helmet lost to the electronic misconfiguration software. "Do you have business with me?"

The bird ANBU watched him for a moment more before just shaking their head. "Please just display your travelling writ."

Travelling writs were the typical system of granting permission to cross a border, especially for the major nations. Whilst a minor nations borders could be ironically better watched due to the much smaller size most had, the major nations had seemed to accept that their borders could be breached as even though they wielded entire armies; their vast tracts of land were simply too large to fully watch the borders. Being granted a travelling writ was the formal process to allow foreigners access into their territory.

It went without saying that anyone without one would be accosted if found.

Fortunately, Naruto had no need to sneak across borders as the elimination of missing ninja was allowed globally under the few international laws that existed. Pulling out the two pieces of paper that had a stamped authorisation on one and the details on the other, it was handed over to the ANBU who had begun closing in as soon as they saw he was cooperating. Taking a quick glance over the papers and merely making a few notes of what they wished to record, the bird ANBU then nodded.

"All is in order." They confirmed, handing the papers back to Naruto. "The Land of Fire thanks the Land of Rain for its cooperation."

A finalcrackof a body flicker that afternoon left Naruto alone then, as after a few moments he took a seat on a larger rock outside the radius of all the previously used techniques.

He knew that whilst that ANBU had not been present at the start to observe, likely on a patrol or returning from a mission and had been drawn to the chakra and techniques being thrown round, that even only watching the end would have seen the usage of Kurama's chakra. Whilst there was a good possibility that they would be in the same boat of Raiga in never having before felt the chakra of a tailed beast and so couldn't identify it, that possibility was much less than other nations given Konoha had been the most recently attacked by one.

That wasn't his problem, but it would mean that the ANBU would be making all effort to report a jinchuuriki in their nation if they had identified the chakra. He didn't desire to be here when they came back to investigate and wanted to be one step ahead of any reinforcements more specialised to fighting jinchuuriki by retuning back to Rain, but he needed a breather. Looking over to Raiga's body, it would be a simple matter to seal the body and got some distance away from the battle site before he made camp, but for now he would rest for a few minutes.

He did envy the freedom these missing ninja had, in being able to just leave their villages as they had. It was his paranoia that kept him from doing exactly as they did, and his paranoia only. He had been sent here on a solo mission to be fully evaluated after undertaking mission after mission in the lower C rank category within Rain for experience, but he still didn't understand it. His sensing ability utterly confirmed that nobody followed him when he left Ame, and that there was no technique used to track him either. His ability with seals was much above the point of being able to read into any seal using foreign chakra, and again his sensing ability double-confirmed that there was no presence of foreign chakra on him or in his system.

He didn't understand the assurance they had for allowing him to undertake solo missions where he could simply carve a line through the three lines making up the Ame symbol and leave. He refused to call it defecting as he despised the place he could not call home, and he was sure that his superiors (whilst not having seen anything suspicious, he was sure) knew he had no real reason to stay loyal.

It was trying to figure out that assurance the nation had that allowed him off their leash so. The paranoia ate at him some nights as his brain restlessly tried to figure it out, but he could not with the level of information he had. Any attempt to retrieve that information would result in him being arrested or that assurance being used against him, as he knew he had no real stealth skills to speak of and his chakra reserves were simply too monstrous to hide. Not even then speaking of the tailed beast in him that any sensor would detect.

There was no rational reason as to why he could not just escape then and there, but it was also the paranoia telling him there was no rational reason as to why they trusted him so to cross borders without supervision that kept him from doing so. As a jinchuuriki, he was just too valuable to trust like that, no matter even if he were to display all measures of loyalty across whatever spectrum they used to judge such things.

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto got off the rock before he thought anymore on it.

ONE HOUR LATER.

Minato sat at his desk, going over the reports that he had ordered to his desk which had been the latest communications from Konoha's spy network that his teacher headed. Of particular interest were those that detailed the deployment of troops, skirmishes and other such factors across the Elemental Nations, as he read over each one and assigned them to differing piles. Working dutifully, he only allowed himself to sigh and lean back once the last report was assigned to a pile.

Given that the office was sealed and locked with only two trusted ANBU with him in the room, he relaxed into an unprofessional image as he put his head into his hand, pondering the situation. It was not yet his problem, and in all honesty there was little he could do right now without resorting to underhanded tactics, but he knew that sooner or later it would be his problem.

The fourth world war was fast becoming assured at this point. It was still some way off, perhaps even a couple of years if he wanted to be optimistic, but the onset of the precursor to war was here. The problem this time around, was that it would likelier be bloodier than ever.

Before the first world war, and the panicking period as every clan rushed to join or form a ninja village to pool their strengths as Konoha changed the rules so completely as the first formed village, there had accordingly been many differing nations formed from the scramble. Between the first and third world wars, it had seen the dissolution of many of those nations as they subjugated and the rise of the major nations with their vast tracts of land.

The third had been the outright bloodiest due to the nations now having such structure and organisation in their militaries, and the fourth would likely continue that trend. As the buffer states between the major nations continued to disappear, the superpowers would accordingly become more hesitant to war with one another leading to the times of peace in between. As had happened for over twenty years already, but war would always come so long as grievances between them existed; as which they did in exorbitant amounts.

The deterrents were becoming old. The deterrent that each nation was tired and hurting from war was gone from twenty years of peace. The deterrent of powerful ninja meant less now as each major nation had S ranks with public information to design counters around, including himself Minato reasoned. He had no doubt he could dispatch any ninja he was up against, but his act of slaughter thousands of ninja in one setting would likely not be repeated as they learned. The deterrent of it being so bloody and violent had never meant as much as the other deterrents, and it became less so every day as pressure and animosity built up between the nations.

The deterrent of the tailed beasts was perhaps the most credible one, but it could not halt war. Tailed beast chakra could not just be stopped and it was incredibly difficult to use sealing against something already sealed in a human that were too, trained in the ninja arts and would fight you. They could destroy entire armies much better than Minato ever could, and they could go for longer. The problem in how they could not halt war was the fact that each major nation had one, which equalised the playing field. It had led to the developing state of an 'assured destruction' policy as each major nation finally gained at least one in the third war, with only sporadic deployments of jinchuuriki.

No leader had deployed jinchuuriki to frontline service for that reason - it would swiftly be met with the counter deployment of an opposing jinchuuriki which may have led to the brutal razing of both side's resources. Each nation wanted to dominate, but even they understood that going scorched earth was a last resort.

The problem for the fourth war was that with the almost guaranteed rare sightings of jinchuuriki, it would prolong the war and make it bloodier in an ironic sense as each leader instead hurled their normal ninja at every problem instead of a jinchuuriki like previously. With that, the deterrent almost cancelled out its deterrence value as each leader could almost rely on the fact that the other side didn't hope to plunge things into total destruction; for the tailed beasts were that powerful. Minato knew that even given an hour, without the expertise of sealing or the sharingan, even the one-tailed sand racoon would level much of his village before the sustained damage on it would force it to withdraw.

Ame was accordingly not the starter to the icy conditions that came before a world war, but they had acted as a catalyst that sped it up. With the disappearance of two nations and bringing two of the major nations into direct contact for the first time, it had fanned the flames of war. Refusing to let go of the three-quarters of the Land of Grass they had seized, quickly giving up the remainder to be taken by Earth and eventually Fire as Minato saw reason in the Fire Lord's proposal to annex the alcove of Grass they had protected, it brought a lot of tension right into the open. Two nations that considered themselves enemies, brought into direct contact as many within Earth and (to Minato's slight disappointment) Fire would be scheming on how to ensure the opposing village could no longer threaten them; if their motive wasn't revenge.

The removal of two nations had destabilised thing so, and it had blown back in Ame's face as border skirmishes were now erupting between Rain and Earth with increasing frequency. Grass had been in Iwa's pocket, officially allied with a great amount of investments within the agricultural nation. Despite the free-handout of territory, Ame had definitely roused Iwa's ire and was for now, their first target. Only the direct contact with Fire had kept the lid on for a couple of years, but now the pressure was building too much as every nation became more and more militarised for war.

Only a decisive victory by the Land of Rain could push back the skirmishing forces that Earth was deliberately poking at them with in a precursor for war, seemingly taking Ame seriously as they had proven the existence of at least the capacity of an entire army. There would be no limited intervention that would be slaughtered by that many troops, but only an outright war - war Iwa had every interest in engaging in. It was in their interest to, as even if the fourth world war erupted because of it, it would be months at least before the Land of Fire had enough of the collateral damage from their war on its border and declared war themselves. Months Iwa could use to seize as much territory as possible with and to strangle Rain into submission even if the capital was likely far too heavily defended in its geographical position for any military to currently take.

Thus, only a decisive victory by Ame in pushing back the skirmishing forces at their border would delay the onset of the fourth world war.

Minato knew the fourth war was likely inevitable, but that didn't mean the extra time couldn't be used to his advantage. Thus, it would be in his interest to subtly support the forces of Rain. Whilst Hanzo of the Salamander and the upper echelons of Rain would never accept help from Konoha as the hatred was too much from the years of fighting it had taken to kick Konoha and Iwa from their borders (eventually culminating in the fight between Hanzo and the Sannin), nothing said that others in Rain wouldn't. It would, in fact, be very easy to use their spy network to convince the border guards to allow the flow of supplies in unofficially, even if they then had no idea how it would be used as intelligence within at least the capital Ame was sparse at best.

Direct action could even be taken with the build-up of his forces along the border with Earth to draw away troops, a risky move but one Minato could feasibly make as Iwa's focus was currently on Rain. It all left a bad taste in his mouth, almost feeling like he was betraying his younger self with his talks with Jiraiya on peace in the continent, but for his village he would do it. Time as the Hokage had enforced reality into his head, in that only another complete rule change across the continent would prevent world wars.

Ironically enough, the end result of the upcoming fourth war would have the greatest chance for that.

His musings were interrupted by the flaring of the sealing arrays across the office door, making him take one look at it to see that it was nothing hostile. If it had been, all the seals would have engaged and his ANBU would have leapt down, instead of the alarm seal turning red to highlight itself as someone on the outside of the office asking permission to enter. The only reason that would happen, is if an urgent situation or development was occurring as he commanded the sealing arrays across his office door to disengage.

Promptly, it swung open and revealed one of his ANBU that swiftly entered and took a knee before his desk - a person with a bird mask, one of the more popular masks across the many ANBU squads. Seeing the perspiration in the hair of the ANBU as their cloak's hood was ruffled and partially off, Minato could tell they had run straight to his office before even consulting with their assigned superior; making him sit up more alert in his chair as he knew it to thus be important.

"Report." He simply commanded.

"Apologies Lord Hokage, but I detected a jinchuuriki within the Katabami region!" Bird reported with a rushed voice.

Minato's eyes narrowed at the implications of what he'd just heard. A few seconds passed as he churned over the possible reasons why, before flinging the line of thought from his head as he had to act. Turning to his left, he was met with one of his guard ANBU leaping down from the rafters where they were posted, as the Tiger ANBU also took a knee and awaited his leader's orders.

"Yes, Lord Hokage." They affirmed their readiness to comply.

"Alert ANBU headquarters of this development at once, Tiger, tell them to organise several squads at once which can depart for the region." Minato ordered with a calm tone as he stood up, pausing slightly as he allowed his now extensive experience as Hokage supply him with the best results and words he could think of on the first notice of a developing situation. "I want priority to be placed upon tracking teams, and heavy assault teams. Have at least two Uzumaki join the squads, and get agent Tenzo to lead the organisation of this. I expect him to be in one of the lead squads - they are to move on my order!" He snapped out the last sentence to highlight its importance, with Tiger immediately departing the office to tend to the urgent situation.

Minato's gaze returned to the Bird ANBU still kneeling before him, taking a moment to think of anything further he may need to order but then making up his mind that information was what he needed. "Before you tell me the complete report, tell me the nation of the jinchuuriki." He ordered of his ANBU. A lot could be gleaned from that fact alone.

Slight hesitance in answering right away was not what he expected. "They wore the symbol for the Land of Rain, sir." Bird responded, ducking their head slightly as Minato narrowed his eyes further. He understood the hesitance now as that was indeed a very unexpected answer - to the extent that be could be forgiven for having disbelief in whether the ANBU had been correct in their observation. But Minato knew that not every jinchuuriki was within their proper nation, and he trusted his ANBU to do their job as he saw no anxiety in Bird that betrayed any thought that they may be wrong.

"Very well." He stated, as he mulled over that information. One other piece of information would form the main piece of context he needed at that moment, though. "And did you see what tailed beast was used by the jinchuuriki from Rain?"

A much more prospective question as they had most likely seen a version one or two cloak that had a big chance of not displaying the full number of tails of the beast utilised, but there would a minimum number however. That he could work with.

This time, the hesitance turned to nervousness as Minato now allowed his confusion to show at the act of Bird swallowing - making Minato stare to his soldier as he now felt anticipation enter his stomach for an answer he would not like, in the higher number of tails. In the Hokage's mind, it was worse as he had started to reach the conclusion for the only missing tailed beast they knew of, but he refused to allow himself to jump to that conclusion as he instead awaited for its confirmation. His ANBU had somewhat dreaded supplying these answers. "I am sure of this as I have felt its chakra before, sir." Bird replied in a quieter tone, as Minato only breathed in deeply through his nostrils. "It was the nine tails, Lord Hokage."

Bird knew that Minato Namikaze was feeling something, as their leader's face was perfectly schooled and blank, not even allowing their eyes to move as his gaze remained on them. It was obvious to the two ANBU in the room, as their leader then heavily blinked and contained it.

His voice, however, was not so contained. "Tell me everything." He commanded in a tone that was level, but one that had started to drip the anger that had stared to surge up within him.