Hurtling towards the earth, Naruto looked back up at the ship one last time. He'd sensed Hades creeping up on them just as he'd dropped away so he was pretty happy with his timing. Turning back down to look at the earth, the blond tried to spot anywhere safe to land. There may have been trees everywhere in this fairly lush area, but even so it wasn't really protected enough from something like Hades.

Chakra exploded from his limbs and his downward fall was rapidly swung sideways into horizontal flight as the ninja shot away from the massive guild. Anywhere away from here would be good, so forcing the remaining nature chakra into propulsion the teen almost doubled in speed and hurtled towards the horizon.

It came as a bit of a surprise to the teen then when a sudden burst of life to his upper left had him swinging away to dodge a sudden attack. Shooting up to gain some space, the surprised teen looked down at the distant assailant. 'Where did he come from? He just appeared!'

Mentally noting the guilds change towards his direction, Naruto stared at his opponent as he slowly flew up into his way. "Well now, I'm a bit surprised you managed to dodge me. How did you know I was there?"

Blinking as Naruto finally got a look at the guy, the blond couldn't help but reply, "More like where did you come from? You weren't there then suddenly bang! You were!"

A small smirk crossed the humanoids face as he finally stopped rising. The reason for the word 'humanoid' was because Naruto couldn't think of him as anything other than a very weird summons. He was tall, exceptionally so, dressed in a set of knee length tights, a short waist-coat that exposed his midriff, a pair of gold bangles around each wrist and a set of trendy black sunglasses covering his eyes. A jetpack of sorts was wrapped around his wide shoulders, the exhaust at the bottom glowing softly as it held him afloat. The rest of his body however was completely covered in a fine white fur, the only part of him not fuzzy being his hoofed feet. His legs were hinged strangely, like he had two sets of knees and while his upper body was relatively normal, the pair of animalistic ears pointing straight up off the top of his head and twin horns protruding from each side of his skull made for a rather interesting set of accessories.

Addressing Naruto in a very deep bass, the creature couldn't help but let a tint of pride worm its way into his voice. "Well, I suppose you can thank a certain aspect of my magic for that. But enough of that. I believe you have something that belongs to my Master. Would you be so kind as to hand them over? I don't really want to fight you if at all possible."

He might have caught him off guard, but with that advantage gone Naruto could easily tell this guy would have no chance against him. That being said though, he was strong enough to cause enough of a delay that Hades would catch up. So shaking his head and raising his hands, the blond gave the odd goat-man a small grin. "Sorry, but I just can't do that. Catch me if you can. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!"

Suddenly Naruto disappeared within a plume of smoke and before the Grimoire Heart member could think twice, upwards of twenty identical Naruto's shot from the cloud, past him and into the distance. Not even attempting to grab the various copies, the tall goat-man just watched on detachedly before sighing. "So you don't plan to make this easy. However, I did come prepared."

Stretching his arms out before him, the hybrid focused for a moment before swinging his arms together and letting out a single, loud clap. The abnormally echoing sound carried for a few seconds as bubbles suddenly appeared all around Naruto and his clones. Blinking in surprise at the large pink balls, they all simultaneously popped and before Naruto could blink he was set upon by a wave of Grimoire Heart grunts.

The attack was short, swift and effective as every clone was rapidly dispersed and the original was thumped on the back of the head hard enough to make him see stars. Wavering through the air for a moment, the few men that had attached to his back were dislodged and felt flying away. Blinking the lights away, the blond then watched on in surprise as another clap filled the area and they abruptly vanished.

Righting himself, Naruto looked up at his opponent cautiously as the man once again moved to stand in his way. Frowning agitatedly, Naruto glanced back at the airship. Not too far away now. Gritting his teeth, Naruto pondered what to do. He could try escape again, but that goat guy would just sick his pocket change on him if he tried. Fighting him may have been an option the first time around but now there just wasn't enough time. What else was there… that could work.

Slapping his hands together in the Ram seal for extra focus, Naruto eyeballed his opponent and lashed out his chakra to wrap him up in a veritable bear hug of energy. Letting his body then begin to fall to the ground, Naruto waited as the trees rushed up to greet him. Moments before contact though, the ninja tensed and with a whispered "Kawarimi (Body Replacement)", Naruto forcibly snatched the goat-man from the air and replaced him with himself.

Not a second later there was a surprised cry and a painful sounding crunch as the mage disappeared into the foliage. Letting out a grunt of satisfaction, Naruto took one last look up at the guild before shooting away at speed. He had been close enough to catch a look of Hades staring down at him through the glass on top of the airship and he had not looked at all happy.

The wind whipped his hair around his face violently and it felt like hands were trying to rip his clothes off but Naruto just continued to push faster. He needed space to find a suitable hidey hole and also to try and make as much distance between himself and that goat dude. He didn't want to have another sneak attack sprung on him. Taking a quick look at the sun, Naruto angled himself northward towards a large number of mountains. His long arc rapidly covered the distance and before long the teen found himself a suitable cave to hide himself in. Checking to see that the airship was far enough in the distance to not pose a threat, Naruto dropped to the earth and suddenly blanched.

Sticking his tongue out and panting a bit like he'd just copped a mouthful of paint vapour, the blonds' features twisted as he looked further north. "What is that horrible energy?"

It wasn't evil as such, more just extremely… off. The best way to explain it was that it felt like it was trying to warp the nature of everything around it. Shaking his head though, Naruto ignored it. That wasn't his problem, he hadn't come looking for whatever it was and he currently had more than his fair share of issues. So pushing the awkward feeling to the back of his mind, Naruto walked into the cave and abruptly froze. 'Oh hell.'

Slowly extending his hand, Naruto watched as a soft glowing light shone off him in a gold aura that he couldn't help but recognise. Growling angrily, Naruto smashed his fist into the cave wall. "Damn it Kyuubi you said I wouldn't turn yellow!"

Despite really wanting to get onto destroying the keys, such a blatant change to the Kyuubi cloak wasn't something he could just ignore and to make matters worse, he had hardly even noticed its appearance. Growling again, he smacked the wall once more for good measure before dropping to his rump and quickly dipping into his mind.

XxXxXxX

Skidding to a stop before the monster fox, Naruto didn't even let it come to terms with his presence before screaming at it. "What the hell is this you overgrown cuddle toy? You said I wouldn't turn yellow dattebayo!"

Blinking in shock at the fact this insignificant whelp had the audacity to scream abuse at a being such as itself, the Kyuubi spluttered indignantly a moment before letting out a roar that slammed Naruto into the back wall. "SHUT YOUR FILTHY FLESH MOUTH HUMAN! I WILL NOT STAND FOR YOU TALKING TO THE KING OF ALL MAYHEM AND DESTRUCTION LIKE THIS!"

In a moment of rage, the Kyuubi then flung itself against the cage so violently that the entire room convulsed from the force. Despite this abnormally strong assault on the bars though, the incredible work of the Forth Hokage held firm and unwavering.

This didn't stop Naruto getting tossed to his backside though. Resisting the urge to hold his ringing ears, the defiant ninja jumped to his feet and motioned to his entire body. "What do you call this then or are you just colour blind? Why am I glowing?"

Taking a moment out of its time to inspect the aura around its host, the Kyuubi punched the cage walls. "Are you seriously that stupid that you cannot see for yourself that you are not in fact yellow, but that it is my cloak around you?"

Indeed noticing this, it didn't stop Naruto assuming the worst and screaming back, "Yeah, first your cloak then me!"

Slapping its palm to its face, Kyuubi groaned in disbelief. "And what do you think would happen next, the world will turn yellow? How I was managed to be sealed within such a brain-dead individual is the shame of my existence." Unable to remain angry in the face of such pitiful dim-wittedness (in its eyes), the Kyuubi knelt down low and spelt it out for him. "Just because I'm turning yellow for some confounded reason does not mean you will. Did you turn red when previously using my chakra? No? Well then what changed?"

Not willing to let it go just yet, Naruto pressed on. "But it's different! Even you don't know what what's going on!"

His insistence however really began to test the Kyuubi's patience and red eyes flashed dangerously. "How about you trust me on this? I've had just about a lifetimes worth of your whining so if you know what's good for you, you will shut your flap right now."

Frowning deeply, the blond stared up into the enraged eyes of his prisoner. Furious it may have been, yet for all of that Naruto couldn't seem to find any form of deceit in its voice. That didn't mean much in the face of a creature that could lie through its teeth, but what it said made sense. Taking a breath, Naruto went to say something but hesitated. Quirking his mouth, the blond eventually just nodded. "Fine. I'll trust you this time."

Staring at the ant sized human, Kyuubi let out a slightly less intimidating growl. "Good. Now get out, I cannot stand your presence at the moment."

Despite having accepted the fox's word, Naruto was still suspicious so even as he disappeared from view, his eyes locked with giant red ones until they were no more.

XxXxXxX

As soon as his eyes opened, the ninja reached into his pocket and pulled out his scroll. Unsealing the few keys he'd grabbed, he dropped all but one to the floor and looked it over. It was an ethereal purple of different shades, the colours actually moulding through themselves in a never ending motion. Its soft glow mingled with Naruto's own and threw haunting shadows on the walls around him.

As for the actual design, the eye itself in the middle of it almost looked like it was staring at him as he turned it over. There didn't seem to be an off switch or anything like that unfortunately so gripping each end, he pulled.

While its form seemed to stretch a bit, it held solid no matter how much force Naruto put through it. Frowning as he looked it over again, the blond put it on the ground and stood up. Raising a foot, he stamped down on it as hard as he could. While the ground cracked a bit, the actual key remained unbroken. Whistling as he picked it up to inspect it, Naruto had to give it to the creators. "They sure knew how to make something sturdy."

Dropping it again, Naruto lifted his leg but this time charged his foot with chakra. Like his first failed attempts at flying, he brought the limb down and unleashed the force upon the key. This time the ground fissured violently, bolder sized pieces of rock lifting up to fill the relatively small space in the cave. Dust went everywhere and Naruto had to shield his head from falling amounts of rubble.

Flinching as an ominous grumble faded into the depths of the cave, Naruto opened one tentative eye and looked around at the damage. The once pristine hole now looked like it was ready to collapse and Naruto couldn't help but chuckle nervously. "Probably should have thought that through a bit more."

Still, he turned his gaze to his buried foot and dug down into the dirt. Fishing about, he grimaced as he found a still whole key. Pulling it out, it was looking a bit worse for wear but other than that, not a scratch. "Awww come on!"

Creating a clone, he passed the key over with stern directions to stand still. Holding one hand out, Naruto forced his chakra into a tightly packed ball for his usual Rasengan (Spiralling Sphere), but this time it turned out a bit differently. Pausing in surprise, both he and the close stared at the bright gold ball shining away brilliantly in his palm.

"It's almost looks like the sun…"

"Yeah…"

The rapid flowing currents of energy were rather hypnotising in this new state so after a moment, Naruto ripped his gaze from his creation and looked up to his still mesmerised clone. It was holding the key out well enough so taking the advantage, Naruto lashed out and buried his attack into the key.

A harsh grinding sound and with a grunt, the blond pushed the attack deeper into the key. It let out a rather deafening scream of pain before with a snap, broke in half and dropped to the floor. Grinning happily, the blond picked it up and inspected the badly scratched halves. "That's more like it. Again?"

Looking to his clone, he watched it pick up another one and grin. "Very good."

Repeating the process, a second key dropped to the ground in fragments moments later. Looking back at the remaining two, Naruto looked down at himself as his clone commented, "With these destroyed, we should be back to normal yeah?"

Checking himself over, Naruto frowned a little. "Well, I'd have expected it to happen a bit faster. If anything I think I'm glowing brighter."

"That's just cause there's two of us here. Anyway, get drilling, Grimoire Heart can't be far away."

"Indeed, we're actually a great deal closer than you'd expect."

Blanching, both Naruto's spun around to face Hades himself as his imposing form filled the exit. Behind him stood six beings of rather intimidating power levels, Ultear and Meredy being among them. Backing up slightly, Naruto created another two gold clones as he neared the keys.

Laughing victoriously, the powerful old man held a hand out. "Come now Naruto, you know just as well as me that cave is a dead end and creating more clones means nothing in this small space. Just hand the keys over and we'll leave you be."

Shaking his head slowly as the two clones picked up the remaining keys, Naruto pointed to the broken ones on the ground. "Sorry, but I broke those two and the other two won't be leaving here today."

His gaze being redirected to the fragments, Hades began puffing up as an absolutely furious expression grew upon his face. Looking back at Naruto, anger filled his eye but he still managed to talk steadily. "Boy… that was a very dumb move. You'd do well to pass over what you have left if you want to live."

"I hand them back over and there's the possibility no one will live through the calamity I'd unleash. That's a chance I will not let stand. NOW!"

Screaming the signal, the three clones suddenly exploded into gold light. Instead of attacking as Hades expected though, they vanished down into the depths of the mountain. "What –"

He was unable to say anymore as the original ninja suddenly bull-rushed him, arms out wide and slamming into the mage with ridiculous force. Air exploded from his lungs as he was driven back but Naruto didn't stop there.

Letting out a yell, he smashed into the six mages standing behind their Master. Caught completely unawares, they were all forced backwards as Naruto's shroud unconsciously expanded outwards to act like a massive plough and drive them all away.

Kicking off the ground, Naruto's foot left a small crater behind as he launched all eight of them off the side of the mountain. All mages let out a scream of surprise as they found themselves airborne. Naruto meanwhile kept a tight hold on Hades as the blond started spinning him around like a giant hammer. Grunting with the effort, he then let go and the Master hurtled off into the distance with a deafening shout of rage.

Looking down at the mages he'd pushed off the cliff, he was unsurprised to see they had managed to survive the fall and were clinging to the rock face via various magical abilities. Hearing a loud whine begin to emanate from within the cave mouth though, Naruto took one last look at them. "You'd really wanna get away from here right about now if you value your lives!"

Turning, the blond then shot up into the air like a rocket. Coming to a halt safely above the mountain, he turned just in time to see the fireworks. An ear piercing whine filled the air for a moment before a ground shaking boom echoed through the earth. The whole mountain groaned as it heaved upwards for a moment before it began collapsing in on itself. Dust and rocks were thrown high into the sky from the power of the attack and Naruto was suddenly hit with the memory of being buried alive.

An ever curling inward plume of dust rose up into the sky threateningly as earthquakes wracked the region. Swallowing nervously as large cracks shot away from the still dissolving mountain, Naruto really began to wonder if a Rasenshuriken (Spiralling Shuriken) had been a bit of overkill. Granted he'd wanted to destroy the keys and bury them at the same time, but he hadn't wanted quite this level of destruction. Eventually the grumbling began to quiet down and it was then Naruto remembered Ultear and Meredy being so close to it. "Crap!"

Shooting back down, the blond frantically zipped across the surface of the uprooted environment for any signs of life. Stretching out his senses, he came across a pair of hugging individuals huddled within a hollow block of ice. Landing near it, he punched it heavily and splinters of cold crystals went everywhere. Punching it a second time, he knocked a hole clean through the side and stuck his head in. "Hey, you guys in there ok?"

SMACK

The blow sent him reeling and he regained his mind just in time to dodge the next and jump into the air for safety. Below him was Meredy staring up at him in absolutely unbridled rage, her cape torn, face scratched, but otherwise unhurt.

Gritting her teeth, she clenched her fists before screaming at him, "How dare you do that! Not only did you nearly kill all of us, but you have just destroyed Ultear's dreams!"

Looking over into the hole, the teen spotted Ultear glaring at her fists as they trembled uncontrollably. Frowning, Naruto looked back to Meredy. "But she is ok?"

Picking up a rock, she launched it at him. "What the hell do you think?"

Catching it, the blond let it drop as he stared at Ultear. He could understand her pain but if he'd let them continue gathering the keys, it would have spelt death for millions. Unconsciously catching another rock thrown at his head, he glanced back down at Meredy as she began throwing bigger and bigger objects. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you for what you've done to Ultear!"

"Meredy, enough."

Pausing mid throw, the pink haired girl turned hesitantly back to face her surrogate mother. "But… he broke them…"

Angry eyes flashed as the woman stood up. "That's not the worry."

Her deadly gaze flicked up to Naruto. Recognising the emotional fury of a woman, he held his hands up and tried to talk to her. "Ok, you may wanna calm down before you attack. Think this over clearly."

Raising her hand, a perfect crystal appeared in the rain haired girl's hand and she grinned at him viciously. "What's to think over? While I'm angry you broke the keys, more importantly you nearly killed us! I think I've thought this over enough."

The ball then shot at Naruto's head with deadly aim. Catching it almost lazily, Naruto fixed her with a glare and held it tight. "I've already told you why I was doing this! And as for 'almost killing you', you wouldn't be worth your spot as one of the strongest mages in Grimoire if it could! Besides, I came to check on you didn't I?"

Feeling the orb try tug free from his grip, Naruto sunk his fingers into its otherwise unblemished surface. "Not this time you don't."

Raising one eyebrow, Ultear let a small smirk cross her lips. "That wasn't the main reason I tried to hit you."

"Eh?" Naruto blinked in confusion before an extremely dangerous signal exploded into life in his brain. Only just managing to dive back in time to somewhat cushion the blow, Naruto found himself propelled away in an explosion of air and spittle as Master Hades unleashed an absolutely devastating blow to his side.

Growling angrily as he watched the blond rocket away, Hades turned to Ultear. "You know what to do. Make sure they're repaired by the time I'm done with this thorn in my side."

Nodding, the woman turned to the mountain and held her hands out, eyes closed in concentration. His attention then turned to Meredy and while his fury wasn't directed at her, she still flinched under the gaze. "You go and tell everyone else to get the ship and follow me. This time it's my turn."

Swallowing, the pink haired girl nodded once before taking off to find her fellow mages. With that sorted, Hades turned his attention back to the rising dust cloud from where Naruto landed. Narrowing his eyes, the mage then let out a small growl and vanished with a small puff of dirt.

XxXxXxX

Landing in a roll, the multicoloured wrecking ball barrelled its way through several trees before finally coming to a halt against a sturdy rock. Letting out a cough, the ball unfolded to reveal a scratched and bruised Naruto. Falling from the rock face, he crumpled to the ground and let out a groan. Damn that old guy hit hard.

Pulling himself up, the blond ran a clawed hand over his face as the minor cuts welded back together. Looking back the way he came, he let out a curse as he saw the mountain he'd destroyed rebuilding itself very slowly. Small tremors shuddering through the earth indicated that those crevices were healing too and Naruto could only put it down to one thing. "Ultear. Damn that ability!"

Still, despite his frustration, Naruto was surprised to notice he wasn't as heated as he'd expected. Usually with the cloak came irrational anger, but for some reason this time around it wasn't as overbearing as usual. Actually… thinking back, he couldn't even remember the onset of the cloak. Looking back down at his glowing form, he opened and closed his hands several times as he considered the options. Funnily enough, the only thing he could put it down to was the colour change. Nothing else had really happened so that was the only current alternative.

That was worth thinking about later though as his current problem had just flickered into view before him. Imposing as ever, the massive mage stared down at him with a deceptively calm face. Naruto knew otherwise though as the dark aura surrounding him was giving off nothing but deadly intent. "You know, had you not been such an absolute hindrance to us I may have considered letting you live. Unfortunately for you though, the chances that you'll come back and retake the keys are too high. Not to mention you have thoroughly pissed me off."

Sinking down into a defensive position, Naruto made sure to track every twitch of a muscle. "You still don't seem to get that I just wanna keep everyone safe."

Raising one eyebrow high, the mage crossed his arms impassively. "And you don't seem to understand that those keys have no impact on this monster in you."

Blinking, Naruto's eyes widened. Wasn't it he who wanted to see the Kyuubi extracted? It sure was what the blond remembered. Seeing his confusion, Hades couldn't help but elaborate. "To explain since you clearly can't comprehend it yourself, it wasn't the keys for a few pivotal reasons. Firstly, they are broken, yet you still seem to be encased in this… thing. Colour change regardless." Hades glared at Naruto when he saw the blond attempt to respond. "Secondly, you'd have thought that with close proximity to such power, you would have increased in this transformation faster. Thirdly, despite us having gathered no more keys, you still seem to be accelerating in this transformation. Fourthly, this is apparently only a recent occurrence for you if the hurriedness of your actions is anything to go by, yet we have been after the keys for much longer than a few days. I can go on if you so wish?"

He didn't have to as with each point, Naruto's heart sunk. If this really was the case, then he still had absolutely no idea what was causing this and he was back to square one. As much as he didn't want to believe what Hades said, they were all valid points and no matter what he seemed to come up with, nothing could disprove this. So that meant, if it was true all this had been nothing but a wild goose chase…

"Unfortunately for you, with your quest to destroy something irrelevant to yourself has cost me much time and effort. You have also established yourself as a significant future threat and as such, I cannot risk you coming back to harass us. Goodbye, Uzumaki Naruto."

Holding one hand out, he rolled in his ring and little finger leaving his index and middle finger pointed directly at the blond with his thumb pointed straight up into the air. A tiny pinpoint of purple magic rapidly gathered at the point of his fingers before it was unleashed at Naruto.

The blinding speed of it was so impossibly quick that Naruto didn't have the time to react and all he could do was widen his eyes in pain as he felt the bullet shoot straight through his shoulder. Hissing in pain, he clutched the wound as he felt it begin to heal over. Looking back up at the Master, he saw more power gathering at his fingertips and his eyes flash. A rapid succession of bullets was then fired off and Naruto gasped as blood squirted from multiple holes peppered across him.

Narrowing his visible eye, Hades scrutinised Naruto as he shuddered there for a moment. His form then went up in a cloud of smoke and all that remained was a destroyed lump of wood. 'Curse that trick of his.'

Looking around, he tried to spot the distinctive gold hair and aura. Catching a flash of it in the corner of his eye, the tall mage spun around and lashed out. Chains topped with razor sharp hooks shot out and latched onto the form, dragging his body back into view rapidly. Squirming as the agonizing claws dug deep into his flesh, Naruto anchored himself to the ground with chakra and pulled against the Master. "Damn it… this hurts dattebayo!"

Giving another tug, Naruto let out a cry and Hades grinned. "You won't last long against this my boy. Just roll over and die for me now like a good dog."

Hauling on the magic chains, Hades managed to break Naruto's concentration on his feet and reeled the teen in towards an awaiting fist. Peeking out of one pain clenched eye, Naruto saw the incoming attack and raised his arms in defence. The punch connected with devastating brutality and the claws were forcibly ripped from Naruto's body as he was sent flying back.

Hitting the ground again, the ninja winced and pulled himself to a stop as quickly as possible. Checking himself over, the blond came to realise there was no actual damage on him. Frowning, he could only suspect it was something like Meredy's pain arrows or whatever she called them. Still, if Hades wanted a fight then that's what he was going to get.

Scowling angrily, Naruto raised the ram seal and stepped up against the trunk of a tree. Chakra flowed through him and in an instant he vanished from sight as the invisibility technique took hold.

He was a ninja. He specialised in sneak attacks and fighting from the shadows. To top it all off he was out running the elite of his village back when he was just a child. It didn't matter if Hades was equal to him in strength, he'd never come across someone like Naruto and the blond was about to use that advantage.

The mage came stomping through the trees confidently, not even trying to conceal his presence as Naruto silently edged his way around behind him, splitting off clones as he did so. The first thing he had to try and do was immobilise Hades since any attack would just have him jumping about even more. Raising a kunai, Naruto aimed it like a dart before flicking it across the path of Hades. A little bit of spin on it helped it bury into a tree trunk and Naruto tugged the ninja wire attached to the hole at the end of the knife experimentally. Feeling it hold, Naruto let it go slack. Quickly tying a rock to the other end of it, Naruto pinched the string and waited for the old man to step over it

Counting the steps, Naruto waited until one leg was on either side of the slack wire before he pulled it tight. Hades back foot caught the wire and the mage let out a grunt of surprise as he just managed to catch his balance. As Hades pulled his back foot forward to try and regain his balance, Naruto let the force of the leg swing the weight the ninja had tied to the other end of the string around like a pendulum.

The result of this was the wire to swing out around Hades feet, orbit his legs and securely fasten them together. Eyes widening as the mage pin wheeled his arms to try and keep his balance, Naruto then dashed forward and took the moment of unbalance to kick Hades fair in the stomach and send him shooting back through the air. The wire attached to his legs pulled tight and just before the thread could cut his feet off, Naruto swiped a kunai though it.

Soaring back, the mage crashed into a web of threads set up by the clones and Hades found his arms rapidly strapped to his sides as the wires slung around him and tied him up securely. A crowd of Naruto's then took advantage of his flight and unleashed a wave of ferocious attacks to Hades' body as he neared the ground.

Hitting the ground with a crunch, the mage let out a hacking cough as he slid to a stop by a tree. Several more rounds of wire quickly bound him to the tree and as the mage finally was allowed a moment to catch his breath. Breathing deeply, Hades then saw Naruto's gold glow phase into sight as he walked toward the man. Piercing gold eyes stared down at the mage as the blond began to speak. "So what do you wanna do now? I have more pressing matters to deal with than you so I can just leave you here and we part ways. Or, you can try again and I kick your ass about some more until you can't move permanently."

Looking up at the blond unamusedly, Hades tested the wire against his skin as he replied. "You honestly think we won't hunt you down and find you for what you have done here? No matter where you run and hide, we will come for you."

Cracking his knuckles, Naruto shrugged and glared down challengingly. "If you really wanna do this we can, though I can promise it will be painful."

Chuckling, the old mage looked off to the side. "Ah, but I'm not the only one who wants you gone. When I said we, I mean we."

Time suddenly seemed to slow down as Naruto's head turned over to look the same way Hades was. The air near his face seemed to be rippling, condensing and glowing as a heat began to wash across him. Only just managing to get his arms up, the airborne bomb went off with a thunderous bang and sent Naruto shooting into the air. That didn't seem to be the end of it however as explosion after explosion sent him higher with each successive blast. Eventually it came to a finish and Naruto, disoriented and concussed as could be, found himself falling back to earth. Struggling to get his arms and legs beneath him, the blond landed in a haphazard pile and stifled a hiss as his ankle twisted awkwardly beneath him.

Rolling over and clutching the injured limb, Naruto didn't even have time to detect a massive claw like hand swipe in and snatch him up in a vice grip. Gritting his teeth as he was lifted into the air, Naruto squinted down at two men standing below him, one of which owning the massive arm currently holding him up in the air.

"Oh my, this trashy blond honestly had the gall to try and tie up our Master like that? I cannot even begin to fathom the foolishness of such an attempt; did you really think such a tacky tactic like that would even hope to hold him for more than a few seconds at the very least?"

The flamboyant, over dramatised voice reached Naruto's ears and craning his neck forward, Naruto got a closer look at the man speaking.

He was a tall and relatively lanky fellow with a very well kept silver pompadour for a hair style. A pair of blue-tinted glasses sat on his nose and his almost feminine mouth held a smirk as his narrow eyes stared up at his prisoner. A blue waistcoat with a popped collar covered most of his body, the front left hanging open to reveal a beige coloured shirt and dark trousers. The most interesting part of his body though had to be the enormous black arm that stretched out from his shoulder. Naruto could feel the claws of it digging into his skin and from the texture of the organic cage, he guessed it to be made up of rock hard scales.

"Indeed. This little boy seems nothing like what the Master described. To have been caught so easily by my Chain Burst and then by you? It's actually rather pathetic when you think about it. Maybe the Master is getting soft."

This deeply tanned man looked a bit more normal than his companion as all his limbs were human. His piercing brown eyes glared up at Naruto emotionlessly, his strong, stony face belaying nothing of what he was thinking. Thick cords of earth brown hair stuck up in clumps from his skull, only one of the confetti like strands obeying gravity and hanging over his face. Side burns ran the length of his face, meeting with a tri pronged goatee that hung down to his neck line. A forest green chest plate and shoulder pads trimmed with hollow tubes protected his torso from harm while the rest of his body was clothed in a vibrant orange shirt and pants. About midway down each limb was a green tourniquet that effectively sealed off the upper half of his clothing. Finishing off the look was a brown belt strapped securely around his waist to support the chest plate.

Glancing up at Naruto, he spoke again in a deep baritone. "So boy, why did you decide to attack us when you knew the result was death?"

Wincing as the fist around him gave an experimental squeeze, Naruto glared down at them. "For reasons some meat heads like you don't need to know. If you don't wanna get hurt, you better be putting me down and let me go on my merry way."

Laughing gaily, the man holding him flung his free hand out extravagantly. "You won't hurt us? Please, you have a better chance of being saved by your little guild members than you do of hurting us. Some pathetic trash like you caught up in my Beast Fist has no chance. Though I must thank you for the entertainment factor. This will be fantastic comedy for discussion over dinner!"

Laughing loudly again, Naruto felt the anger the Kyuubi Cloak gifted him burning within his stomach, but this time it was a more focused, cold fury than the previously animalistic rage. His lips pulled taught and the gold aura around his form flared as he drew on the power within him.

"Honestly Azuma, this little baby couldn't even… what?"

His brow furrowed in confusion as the flashy man looked up at Naruto. His muscles began tensing as a force within his fist began pushing outwards, rapidly growing in strength and threatening to overwhelm his grip.

Raising an eyebrow, the now named Azuma glanced from Naruto back to his partner as he began sweating. "Rustyrose? What's he doing?"

Gritting his teeth, Rustyrose grinned. "Nothing I can't handle."

Holding his free arm out, it suddenly contorted painfully as it rapidly grew in size and shape until it was a perfect replica of the other fist. Clamping down around Naruto, he used both hands to try and squeeze the growling blond to a paste but found even both hands were unable to do so.

Chuckling as his partner struggled, Azuma's eyes flashed excitedly as he watched Naruto fight for freedom. "Well now, perhaps Master Hades wasn't exaggerating after all. Maybe he'll be worthy to fight me!"

Teeth bared as he pushed out of the hands, Naruto glared down at the dark mage. "You're not worthy to even get kicked about by me! NOW!"

Howling the signal into the air, both mages were caught unawares by an entire group of clones as they suddenly swamped them. Azuma found himself beaten deep down into the earth with a barrage of hammer fists while Rustyrose screamed in pain as a Rasengan (Spiralling Sphere) was driven home into the middle of his back. The fists encasing Naruto seemed to waver uncertainly for a moment before they abruptly vanished into the air much like a mirage. Dropping only a few feet, Naruto caught himself in the air and watched with smug satisfaction as the glitzy man was sent hurling into the trunk of a thick tree.

The whole organism shook from the impact and the mage slid to the ground without so much as a twitch.

"Walk that off."

Turning his attention over to Azuma, he was pleased to find he had been driven into the earth right down to his neck. His face was looking a bit worse for wear as that was the main driving point all his clones had used to clobber him down. Blood and spit was oozing from his nose and mouth while brilliant purple bruises were blossoming into life all over his face. Surprisingly though, the mage was still conscious and aware enough to look up at Naruto unwaveringly. "That was quite the jump you got on us. I hadn't expected you to have so many Thought Projections about."

Floating down to hover just before his face, Naruto shrugged. "You never know when you may need them."

Turning, the ninja then took to the sky and looked around. "Now, to get back to Ultear and get those keys before she does…"

Before he could move though, a tree branch suddenly exploded out from his chest. Glaring down at it disbelievingly, the blond raised shaky hands to grasp the thing as a cough sent blood showering all over it. "W… wha…?"

Turning painfully, he looked down at Azuma and saw the mage had managed to pull half of his body from the ground. One arm was outstretched towards him, apparently having guided the tree branch to its mark. The man was grinning victoriously and his eyes flashed as Naruto let out another wracking cough. "I'd have thought a mage of your calibre would have known to never turn his back on an opponent."

"I didn't."

Blinking in surprise, Azuma twisted his head around just in time to watch the foot connect solidly with his face. Following through like he was kicking a ball, Naruto's brutal hit ripped Azuma from the ground and sent him flying across the clearing to land in a bloodied mess. Frowning as the mage didn't move again, Naruto turned his attention to the clone on the branch as it popped. "No, I was finding out what magic you used. I'm glad I found out too. That could have been a nasty surprise."

Yet another pair of clones then emerged from the bushes and grabbed the unconscious mages. Smirking to himself, Naruto nodded at the incredibly useful technique. 'Oh Kage Bunshin, what would my life be without you?"

Leaving them to tie up the duo, Naruto turned his gaze back over to the mountain and was pleasantly surprised to see it had stopped in its reconstruction. 'It must be taking her a crazy amount of magic to fix that. Good, that means more time for me.'

Jumping into the air, Naruto was just about to shoot off when a sudden blast of magical energy just barely missed grazing his nose. Crying out in surprise, the blond dropped back to the ground and twirled around to see Hades smirking in satisfaction, arm out stretched. "Now, now little one. We can't have you trying to get back just yet."

Growling in frustration, Naruto raised his fists. "Damn it, you are one persistent old fart, you know that?"

Lowering his arm, the mage shrugged. "I've been called worse." His attention then turned to the two unconscious members of his guild. "You really didn't waste time on them did you? I told them to be careful."

A twitch pulled at Naruto's lip. "It'd take more than those two to take me out. Anyway…" Picking up a fair sized rock, Naruto threw it up into the air a few times to gauge its weight. "No more time to play. I'll be leaving now."

Rearing his arm back, he chucked it into the sky as far as he could manage. The old man frowned in confusion for a moment before his eyes widened in realisation.

"Catch you later old fart."

Diving at Naruto, Hades' fingers just brushed the teen's clothing as he went up in smoke and a stone smacked him on the head.

XxXxXxX

Reappearing in the stone's flight, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief at the successful Kawarimi. He hadn't been sure if he could make the switch from that distance, but it seemed like luck had been on his side. That being done, it was now time to get back to Ultear.

His whole body seemed to waver a moment as energy built up around him before it exploded out behind him and jetted the blond rocket towards the mountain.

Keen eyes scoured the ground as Ultear was searched for, the teen resolutely promising himself she wouldn't get away. Just as he grew close to where he thought she could be though, Naruto had to heave upwards to avoid the sudden body that appeared before him. Squeaking in surprise, the blond instantly recognised the goat-guy from before.

"We meet again, Uzumaki. Quite the stunt you pulled upon our last encounter, I must say I nearly crashed."

Snarling, the ninja swiped the air with his hand. "You people just don't stop do you? Get out of my way!"

Adjusting his glasses with one finger, the man smiled and shook his head. "I'm sorry but I can't do that. And to make sure I have brought a friend. Kain!"

Clapping his hands once, a ball appeared in the air and it exploded to reveal that massively obese man he saw running down the main corridor of the airship. Though… squinting uncertainly, Naruto looked him over. Had he always had such a cotton-y texture? And since when was he so light? He was floating!

Blinking uncertainly, the big man looked around. "S-so what did you want me to do Zoldeo?"

Crossing his arms, the large hybrid sighed. "Exactly what we discussed. Look for it."

"R-right!"

Kain then began looking around in the air and Naruto couldn't help but just watch on in confusion. First they appear out of nowhere and now they were looking for something? Who knew what they wanted, so with a shake of his head Naruto refocused.

"Ah – ha!"

Ignoring the cry of success, Naruto jetted upwards before levelling out and shooting over the top of the two strange mages.

Without a single moment of warning though, Naruto suddenly froze. His entire body locked down and his muscles refused to move for some unknown reason. Before he could start freefalling however, his arms and legs adjusted themselves under him to keep him afloat, albeit quite unsteadily. Managing to look over his shoulder, he spotted Zoldeo smirking successfully and Kain supporting himself on the goat-man's shoulder, he too looking quite pleased with whatever just happened. Growling, Naruto tried to move but found himself quite locked in place. "What did you bastards do to me?"

Chuckling, Zoldeo looked to his companion. "You can tell him if you wish?"

It seemed the big man quite liked the opportunity to speak so jumped at it. "W-well, you see it's my voodoo magic!"

He then proceeded to hold up a small, featureless doll with a single gold thread poking out of the top of its head. Naruto didn't even have to wonder what it was as he started explaining. "So, Zoldeo here came up with the plan that he startles you o–ok? The jolt was m–meant to knock a hair free, which it did, a-and then all I had to do was find it, g-grab it and freeze you in place! How genius is that?"

Eyes widening as it was revealed, Naruto would have shook his head if able. 'These mages seem to be able to do anything!'

Nodding, Zoldeo carried it on. "We knew we had no chance of beating you in a fight, so we had to strategise. In any case, that was just the first half of it. Now, welcome to the second half of the plan."

"Huh?"

Hearing an ominous groan before him, Naruto turned his attention to the front and found the Grimoire Heart ship seemingly floating through a warp hole into visibility. As the cloaking mechanism disabled, Naruto found to his increasing worry that the groaning was actually gears working within the hull of the ship to pull a humongous gun out.

Locking into place, the thing stood out over the bow of the ship with the muzzle pointed directly at him. A purple glow began to gather at its tip and it was then Naruto realised exactly what was going on.

Chakra instantly flooded his system and the blond grit his teeth as he desperately tried to break free of the voodoo. The sky around him seemed to light up gold as more and more of the Kyuubi's chakra poured into his muscles. His now extremely acute hearing also managed to pick up Kain's gasp of, "H-he's breaking through it!" and gave him extra motivation to break through the spell.

'Not fast enough though!' Straining even further, sweat began rolling down his forehead and cheeks as the menacing purple ball began to grow in size. 'Come on, come on, come on, come on, COME ON!'

Battling it out in a death race, Naruto's eyes began flicking from the ball, to himself and back again. He was nearly there… oh, he was so close!

And then with a resounding 'BOOM', the cannon fired just as Naruto exploded through the magic cast on him.

But it was too late and desperately lifting his arms, the blond only just managed to raise a meagre defence as the purple beam smashed into his form and exploded violently.

The entire area was bathed in an ethereal light and a single, feminine voice screaming in horror was the only thing just audible over the deafening bang as a blackened, smoky ball was shot into the distance.

XxXxXxX

'Warm…'

Lying still, Naruto found himself coming to after what felt like the most vivid dream of his life. It seemed to involve some crazy fight with persistent opponents along with some super cannon that blasted him into oblivion. Still, the details were sketchy and he wasn't out to remember exactly what happened right now as his mind was encapsulated by pure bliss.

His whole body felt fantastic and had he had the motivation, he expected he'd have an all out tsunami of energy. That didn't matter though as the level of comfort he was experiencing right now was just splendid. Breathing deeply, a smile pulled at his lips and the blond slowly opened an eyelid.

Instead of awaking to a bedroom like he expected, what he got was a good view of the tree tops and a strange aqua light glowing over him.

"He's waking up!"

'I know that voice…' Turning his head, the blond found himself staring at the feet of his fellow guild members Natsu and Lucy. There were a few other legs he didn't recognise but that didn't really matter. Looking up a bit further, he almost copped a look up the blonds' ridiculously short skirt before both she and Natsu dropped to their knees beside his head.

"Oh thank goodness you're safe! You just came flying in out of nowhere all burnt and badly hurt!"

As Lucy's eyebrows quivered in relief, Natsu's smiling face filled his vision as the fiery teen stared into his eyes. "Yeah, you looked really beaten up! What happened to you? You're really lucky Wendy was here to heal you!"

"Wendy?" Trying to process things as best he could, Naruto looked to his other side and found a small girl barely twelve years old sitting over him, arms out stretched and breathing deeply in effort.

Her waist length, blue hair framed her youthful face pleasantly the dirt and sweat not doing much to cover up her pale skin. A simple blue and yellow striped dress hung down from her shoulders and attached to her upper arms were a pair of bands with little wings sticking off them.

Her weary brown eyes looked to him and she managed a small smile. "He-hello! You'll be ok, just let me finish…"

She didn't get to finish whatever it was as the girl's eyes glazed over and she slumped to the ground.

"Wendy!"

Dashing to her side, Lucy dotted over her fretfully as Natsu raised a curious eyebrow. "What happened to her?"

"I'll tell you what you buffoon. You worked poor Wendy so hard that she collapsed from exhaustion. I hope you know I completely hold you all accountable for this. You're lucky she will be fine after a bit of rest."

Hearing a very uppity, well spoken female voice, Naruto looked to his feet and saw a short white cat dressed in a yellow long sleeved top and magenta skirt. The sleeves were trimmed with magenta tassels that coincided with a medium sized bow tied around her neck. A long white tail floated up into the air behind her and that too had a largish pink bow tied around it. Finishing it all off was a small canine tooth protruding over her lower lip that seemed to further her look of disapproval.

Her judgmental glare seemed to encompass all of them and she snorted as Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Don't think you are immune from this boy, your injuries are the reason she had to expel so much magic. You should be ashamed!"

Groaning softly as he pulled himself upright, Naruto tried to make heads and tails of the situation. "Hold up a second there Snaggletooth, I gotta work out everything." Ignoring the righteous fury of the small cat, the blond looked up to Natsu. "So what's going on?"

A frown crossed the normally vibrant teens face and he leant back. "We're here because of this dark guild we're fighting, Oracion Seis. They're trying to revive some dark magic and we're gonna stop them."

Nodding slowly, Naruto processed the information. That would explain that weird feeling he had when he…

Jumping to his feet, eyes wide, Naruto snarled angrily as he glared down at a shocked Natsu. "What way did I fly in from? Tell me quick, I don't have much time to waste!"

"Uh, that way?" Finger pointing off behind him, Naruto nearly jumped into the air but was stopped a moment earlier by Lucy grabbing his shirt. "Wait, what's happening Naruto? What's wrong?"

Taking a breath, the blond calmed himself enough to get out, "I really don't have the time so when I see you next I'll explain! Tell Wendy I say thanks and stay safe!"

The ground then crunched beneath his feet as Naruto shot off the ground and into the air.

"Damn I hope you're all still there! You won't get away with this!"

XxXxXxX

A/N – Before I get any complaints about it, I will say the reason Naruto was so badly hurt by the attack was because he was mostly unprepared. Kain had him locked down right up until the last millisecond and even someone like Naruto has limits. So please don't tell me it's unfair he lost because if it was anyone else, they'd have been vaporised.

I was tempted to finish up where Naruto got hit by the cannon but decided that was way too cruel. It might be a bit shorter too but I had to get something out to you all, it's been too long. A number of things managed to stall its release but I won't bother you with the details. However, money of any form would be lovely because I got bills coming out my ears after said events.

I'd also like to shout out this awesome story I found during my absence. A NarutoxFairyTail crossover with a darker, more battle weary version of Naruto. I won't give any details away, but it's well worth the read if you can take a bit of justified OOC and angst.

The story is 'La Tormenta' by 'Jiraiya's Dream'. A damn good effort for a first story too.

On another note, as of last chapter I broke 1'000'000 story views! Milestone much? Thanks everyone for looking, even if you didn't review! ^_^

Until next time.

Lanky Nathan