IMAGINE IF NARUTO HAD HAREM WITH KUSHINA, AND HAD TWIN SISTERS?

Hello guys. How are you all? Welcome back to my channel. So, today we are going to see what if Ultimate Uchiha Naruto went back meet Kushina Minato and his twin sisters part one. Subscribe if you enjoy the video and also check the description. So, let's begin the story. Naruto was not having a good day at all. That was the understatement of the century. During the final minutes of the battle between him, Obito, Madara and the Juubi, a few things that gave the blonde a reason to be pissed. First, Naruto had witnessed Obito command the Juubi to destroy his friends and he hadn't been able to save them. He had no clue where the cages were or Sasuke for that matter and had to attempt to save them by himself. Needless to say, he failed. All of the lives of the main body of the Shinobi Alliance weighed heavily on the young man's shoulders. He now fought to save the civilians of the various nations. Second, he was unable to fight all three of them. So, Kurama made him use a heat only seen once. As much as the fox hated Minato Namikaze, the Shiki Fujin had its uses. Running through seals that flashed up in his mind, Naruto summoned the Shinigami. The command he gave it, seal the Juubi into himself and take his soul away so that the Juubi could do no more harm. The Shinigami obeyed and pulled the soul and power from the beast. Well, the two Uchiha looked upon the sight powerless to stop the death god. Third was something no one expected. Sealing away the Juubi with the blonde had some repercussions. Using such a technique on a being as powerful as that demon while having it remain completely effective wasn't possible. So, as Naruto felt his soul leave his body and merge with the Juubi on its way to Shinigami's stomach, space-time was being ripped apart. The Shinigami would be messed up if Kami ever found out about this. Before the world was encased in white from the tear, the death god swore that he'd never do something as dumb as promise a kid to seal an all-powerful chakra beast. And that was how the world was destroyed. Little did Naruto realize at the time someone up there had given him a second chance at life. He felt the numbness caused from removing his soul from his body subside and fill him with a tingling sensation. It was as if all the parts of his body were on fire and he could do nothing to stop the pain. The world went from white to black as the boy was tossed around through the vortex of space-time. Minato, step away from them or these children will die a voice commanded. The wielder of that voice wore all black with a mask of white covering his face. He was Minato's height and to the surprise of the Yondaime, he had a Sharingan in his right eye and Minato's newly born children in his hands. The Hokage, Minato, was a young man with light blonde hair spiked up over most of his head with two bangs running to his cheeks. He wore simple attire, black pants and an undershirt, but he wasn't planning on fighting, just witnessing the birth of his two kids. In the man's hands, there were two children, one a boy, one a girl. Both had sky blue eyes while the boy had spiky blonde hair and the girl had tomato hair have an arrow red. The girl also had six whisker marks, three on each cheek. The masked man placed two explosive tags on the children leaving the parents wide-eyed. Who will you save? He asked humored by the situation as he threw them both in the air. Then the task filled the air. Minato dived away from his wife to the kids. He saw the man grab his lover and disappear in a vortex, but he had bigger things to worry about. With the Hiraishin, the three Namikazes flew to a house and he ripped off the blankets covering them. With a huge red and yellow blast, the tags exploded. He had barely grabbed his kids and pulled them to safety. The house behind them was in splinters, one of those in his leg, but he ignored the pain. They went to his room with the two babies in hand. Sorry Naruto-kun, Natsumi-chan, your two san will be right back. He could have sworn he saw a nod from the boy as he grabbed his white cloak with Yondaime written down the back. With another Hiraishin, he flashed to Kushina. The red-head was strung across a large rock with black seals binding her. She was in pain struggling to see her partner. Kushina-chan, what happened? He took Kyuubi, she panted looking at him with one eye open. Minato cut her down and laid her on the rock. Naruto, Natsumi, are they all right? Hi, I'll take you to them. Dot he flashed Kushina to the room placing her between the kids before flashing to his spot above the Hokage monument. Meanwhile, the village was horrified at the destruction Kyuubi was causing. He killed civilians, Shinobi and medics alike smashing buildings with his tails. When they saw a huge black ball form in front of the beast, they knew their deaths were coming. Suddenly, a figure appeared on the Hokage monument standing in front of Konoha. Look, it's Yondaime someone shouted and civilians began to cheer. The fox fired the bijuu dama straight at the academy, but Minato jumped in front. A huge black circle of symbols erupted from a three-pronged kunai in his hands. With a small flash of light, the black ball and Minato vanished appearing in a forest clearing. The ball shot off behind him and exploded in a sphere of blue destruction obliterating the trees. Where is the masked man? wondered Minato. I must report what happened to the Sandaime, he muttered to himself. He didn't see the cloaked figure sneak up behind him. Minato knew something was off. He whipped around with a kunai in hand, but it passed hopelessly through the man's head. With a loud clap, his arm was in the grasp of the man. Not so fast, Minato Namikaze dot a vortex shot out of Madara threatening to suck Minato in. Just in time, the Namikaze ran away leaving the other man with one thought. He's fast. Minato skidded away from where he landed. It was in the rubble of the shack that exploded from the tags earlier. He forced himself to stand up as his enemy appeared in front of him. You, who are you and why are you doing this? At this, the man chuckled deeply. You could say I'm doing this on a whim and a goal for both destruction and peace. As for who I am, I am nobody important. I will stop you, declared Minato throwing a three-pronged kunai at the mysterious man. To his shock, it passed straight through, but the cage appeared behind him and slung a punch at his chest. He stared into a Sharingan as the punch went through his chest leaving the blonde on the other side. A space-time technique. He's as adept as me with them and he has a Sharingan, too. The only one with those powers is Uchiha Madara. If you want me to be dot The Hokage rushed towards him again throwing a punch at his arm. It went through again and the masked man solidified his hand to punch him in return. The hit barely tapped Minato's chest, but he knew what this meant. He has to solidify his body to attack, so I must be as fast as possible. I hope I can finish this in time, Konoha. He threw a three-pronged kunai forming in his right hand. The man smirked as he saw the ball of blue chakra in front of the man. Minato dived at Madara just behind his kunai allowing it to pass through. Face to face, time seemed to slow down. Madara turned around and attempted to hit the cage on his side. Now, thought Minato. Rasengan, the Hokage declared from above. Obito widened and gasped. He couldn't become intangible in time. The smashed into his shoulder driving him into the ground. Minato hopped back as dust covered the newly formed crater. The cage hopped away as the man quickly stood up. Obito knew he shouldn't have let his guard down. After all, the man was his sensei at one time. He stared passively at the spiky-haired blonde before him. Then, the intruder felt a sharp pain in his chest and he looked down to see Minato's palm with black symbols extending out from it. Summoning contract seals, muttered the man. But this, the Kyuubi is no longer yours. Dot Minato jumped back landing 10 meters from Obito. I have to hand it to you, Yondaime. You hurt me and canceled my contract with Kyuubi. I intend to control the world and there are plenty of ways for me to do that, he complimented smirking as his body warped into a singularity where his eye was. I need to reseal Kyuubi, but Kushina's too weak. I'll have to choose one of the children and I can seal the other half with me. The way to make the preparations for the sealing. Hiruzen Sarutobi was successfully delaying the massive chakra beast. Knowing that it had to be sealed, he did his best to buy time for poor Minato and his kids. Hiruzen knew that two kids could never live effective lives considering that it was nearly impossible to seal the Kyuubi and stay alive. It was quite the ordeal. Minato, a healthy powerful Hokage, would give his life for his two children, but Hiruzen, a senile old man, would be stuck with the paperwork. No, he could never do that to his successor. With resolve, he fought against the Kyuubi even harder knowing he would die to save his friend's life and seal the beast within the Shinigami. He ran hard to where he saw the fox pinned down by golden chains. Minato, stop, he screamed as he saw the man begin to go through hand signs. He punched his younger counterpart in the stomach before he could finish the sequence to summon Shinigami. I can't let you die with two children to care for. Dot he formed the hand signs. Snake, boar, ram, rabbit, dog, rat, bird, horse, snake. Dot With a loud clap, he exclaimed, Shiki Fujin. A huge spectral figure formed behind the elderly former cage, sword in its mouth and red beads in its right hand. The Shinigami. Seal the Kyuubi in me, commanded Hiruzen watching as the death god shot towards the fox. Blue chakra flew out of the sand into the Sandaime, but he couldn't seal away all of the chakra. Minato, seeing his predecessor's problems, quickly summoned a pedestal on which a baby girl with red hair and whisker marks lay crying. The demon growled. I will not be sealed. The beast launched a claw at the girl. Blood spattered everywhere. A loud cry of pain was heard. Minato watched in horror, but his body didn't move fast enough. Hiruzen was out in front saving the Uzumaki and Namikaze from sacrificing their own bodies. The claw had just touched the girl's forehead and the parents let out a sigh of relief. Minato stepped out in front. I'm sorry, Hiruzen-sama. This is not your sacrifice to make. Shut up, I made my decision, he grunted pushing the claw back. I'm going to seal the Kyuubi now. Thank you, Hiruzen-sama. Is there any way I can repay you? Hiruzen let out a moan of pain. Tell Asuma that he deserved better than me when he comes home. Tell him to take care of his brother and to make me proud. It was almost time for the old cage to be sealed in the Shinigami. Minato nodded to his requests slamming his hands on the ground. Hakke no Fujin Shiki. The Kyuubi growled in rage as it condensed into a huge ball of red chakra. That chakra flew into Natsumi, the third jinchuriki of Kurama, the Kyuubi. Hiruzen slumped over as his soul was pulled out into Shinigami's mouth. Kushina fell over from chakra exhaustion and pain. Minato couldn't feel anything other than sorrow. For his village, for his daughter, for his nearly dead partner. Meanwhile, Naruto lay down in the bed utterly bored. Leave it to idiotic humans to make his birthday the worst day ever for the 17th time. He knew Kurama had attacked. He could sense all of the other bijuus chakra, but he didn't know what became of his mother and father. He assumed they were dead again, but he couldn't see at all, much less know what was happening outside Konoha. Being the Juubi may have its perks, but he was sure he'd have to live a lonely life yet again. At least he had a sister this time, and she was not him. Oh, but Minato and Kushina did not die that day. He was wrong. End prologue. Remember to review. I just loved that huge scene with Minato and Obito, so I had to write about it. That was probably the most serious part of this fanfic. Review about how you liked the battle. I know, an unoriginal idea. You think you know the vengeful, powerful Naruto whose family rejected him for his sister. That's not anything like what happens here. Will Naruto unite the world or just toy around with the world? Hopefully a good deal of both for my amusement as well as yours. Minato's kage bunshin resisted the urge to stab itself in the leg and dispel. This was almost as bad as paperwork, and that's saying a lot. Paperwork, the bane of all kages, but it hardly compared to his family's bickering. It was ruthless, unending, cruel, and worst of all, made his paperwork take longer. At least he thought of using shadow clones. Naruto shouted a four-year-old Natsumi. She had straight red hair down to her shoulders and wore a black and white themed shirt and red pants, which matched her hair. Kushina approved of the color. What did I do? Naruto looked exactly like a mini Minato, just how Natsumi looked like her mother. Ever since Minato married Kushina, their friends had commented on their lookalike children. If Naruto was his, he would be happy that his son didn't take after his clothing style. He was into navy blue t-shirts and black shorts with white bandages above both knees. Yondaime thought it was odd since his son never trained like Natsumi, and never really seemed to do much actually. You know what you did. Minato's bunshin put his head down on the armrest of the couch while the children bickered, trying to tone it out. Uh, no, I don't. Where's Kurama? Oh, yeah. Naruto convinced her to name her plushy fox Kurama just for old times' sake. Personally, he thought it was hilarious to mess with the inferior, and he really itched to say hi to the pesky fox again. Too bad you can't seal in a right. Who knew what was possible anyways, as no one had a giant chakra monster on hand to seal stuff into. I have no idea what you're talking about. I bet it's in your room. She stormed off to Naruto's room. The boy looked at his father and shrugged, laying back down on the floor. Minato eyed him with a look that he gave the kids when he knew they did something wrong. He could swear that he heard Naruto mutter, just wait, Natsumi me. And that's when he heard the scream from Naruto's room, and a pink girl ran back into the living room. After rubbing his eyes, he saw it was Natsumi covered completely in pink paint. Naruto burst out laughing on the floor. A floor that was now spotted slightly with pink. Naru-chan, I'm going to strangle you. Definitely inherited Kushina's temper. She jumped on the blond boy as pink dripped off her body onto the floor, much to Minato's dread. Kushina is going to kill him when she gets home. Pushing his chest into the ground with force a four-year-old shouldn't have, she began shouting at him. Where is he? Naruto, tell me now. Naruto couldn't stop laughing despite the pain. Everyone knew he could take a hit even as young as he was, so they were fine when his sister used him as a human punching bag. Scratch the human part. At least he didn't act like a stuck-up brat such as Kyuubi before the battle with Obito. Honestly, he was ashamed of a good number of his friends. Ashamed enough to hide his insane amount of demonic chakra from them and stay hidden to their eyes. Anyways, back to the boy being pummeled into the floor. Sorry, Natsumi-chan. I didn't do anything. Minato's clone sweat dropped. He's really asking for it, isn't he? If you don't give me him, she whispered in his ear, I'll tell Kushina when she gets home from her mission. Naruto paled. Kushina could be very persuasive, especially if they did anything permanent to the Hokage mansion, like pink paint. He gulped. I'm sorry, I didn't mean Nii-chan. He's in your room under the loose floorboard. I knew you had it, but thanks. You're a good Nii-san. Minato breathed a sigh of relief. Crisis averted. Thank Kami, because if anything bad happened today, his wife was going to string him up by his feet and slowly skin him alive, for today was their children's fourth birthday. Kushina had promised to be home in a few hours from her mission to hunt a suspicious Inuzuka who left the village on business. Naturally, that meant the bickering would be missing their birthday dinner, but the festivities went on enough during the day that it wouldn't matter too much. In fact, the real Minato would be coming back and collecting the kids in a few minutes. Oh, sweet Kami, Natsumi was still pink. Minato's bunshin interrupted the two just before they split ways. Natsumi, you need to get on some real clothes so you can go to the festival. Naruto, I don't even know why all Uzumaki kids have to prank, he asked the ceiling. Sure, Tsumi-san. I'm going for a walk outside. Before his father could argue, Naruto ran across two rooms and out the door. Juubi smirked at how fun it was to mess with his sister, and his brother in some crude sense of the word. He wasn't particularly fond of the day, October 10th, because of the memories he had where he'd be beaten and nearly killed. People thought he was a demon, and now he didn't know why being super powerful was bad. Well, he also didn't destroy a good amount of the village, though he could. He had full control of his demonic chakra, but he would never do it. He loved Konoha too much for it, but he wouldn't really mind taking everyone's chakra back. After all, it was his to begin with. He liked to wander around the village and just sense people's chakra. It was an awkward pastime for anyone, and impossible for most, but Naruto had two legendary and immeasurably amazingness, or so he claimed. It was fun to trick people with Shinra, but the Sharingan did well to scare the [ __ ] out of people with Naruto walked past the Yamanaka flower shop, wondering when he'd have to go back home. Naruto, someone exclaimed. And now, sure enough, from the small shop emerged a young girl with long blond hair, blue eyes, and some type of purple fetish. Not that Naruto really knew such words at a young age. Naruto, I've been looking all over today for Natsumi. Where did she go? My Tsumi-san said she'd be at the festival, but she's not. Boy, calm down. We'll be there in a bit. Oh, good. Well, happy birthday, Naruto-kun. Even if people don't think you're a hero like your sister, I do. Thanks. You know, you know, the infamous Sasuke fangirl couldn't possibly have a crush on him when she was four. Right. Well, he was infinitely more powerful than Sasuke. No, he needed to stop being a stuck-up prick like his broody rival. He couldn't help it. It was just one of the personalities that the Juubi seemed to have that merged into him. I'll see you tonight, Ino-chan. He immediately covered his mouth with his hands. How'd the chan get there? Everybody is coming to our party. Even Hinata, and she isn't allowed to do anything ever. Oh, I wonder who else will be there. She paused. Bye, Naruto. Tsumi-san is making me learn to jutsu stance. As she skipped off back into the flower shop, leaving a wide-eyed Naruto in her wake. Oh, man, Shikamaru's right. She is troublesome. That evening, Natsumi, Naruto, blow out the candles. It was their birthday party, and all the other kids, most of the Rookie Nine, were there. Everybody was cheering for them, well, mostly for Natsumi. Perks of being recognized. Minato and the council say that she's holding back a great evil. Psssssh, Kurama was about as evil as Naruto's pinky toe, and twice as fluffy. If he really wanted to, Naruto could crush all of the humans, right? He was still the big bad Juubi, and not some idealistic kid, right? Eh, wrong. Congratulations. Kids and old man with spiky white hair, dressed in loud wooden sandals and exotic clothes, seemed to appear out of the shadows of the room. Thanks, Ero-Oji, replied Naruto. Stop calling me that. But Tsumi-san said it was a good name. Everyone in the room chuckled, except the kids and the old pervert. The kids because they had no idea what a pervert was, and Jiraiya because he was a super pervert. Minato, in all seriousness, began the Hokage sensei, you know why I'm here. It involves your daughter's birthday present. Minato, sitting in between his two kids, nodded and spoke up. Kushina-chan and Jiraiya sensei are going to start teaching Natsumi how to control the Kyuubi's chakra. That's her birthday present, as we think it will give her much more control in the future if we start early. Daddy, a few heads nodded in agreement. Sure, it would be dangerous, but with a former and one of the best masters alive, training would be a breeze. Kushina smiled. That's true, Minato. But aren't you forgetting someone else's present? Of course I'm not. Naruto, here you go. Daddy pulled a present out of his storage scroll in his arm. The wrapping paper was white with leaves on it, how fitting. The boy grabbed it and tore off the wrapping paper. It was an orange book, and everyone looked at Minato in horror. It's not what you think. It's a book on seeing how I want him to learn my horation at some point. The group let out a collective sigh of relief, and Naruto shrugged. In any of his memories, he never really delved into it, so it was a good start. It was almost dumb to learn, seeing as how he already had plenty of power, but whatever. It's a goal, and a goal is something the young Juubi definitely needed. Thanks, Tsumi-san. We're going to go play outside now, replied his son, dragging Natsumi past the other kids, heading outside. The kids there were Hinata, Kiba, Choji, Shikamaru, Ino, Shino, and the two Namikazes. It was maybe 7:00 p.m. and very dark. Normally, on a day like this, it would be around sunset, but the days were growing shorter and the nights longer as the year dragged on. Okay, so what do you guys want to do? asked Naruto, taking the lead as usual. That's what happens when you are mentally older than dirt. Watch clouds. People watch. Eat something. Eat dogs. Something logical, I hope. Why? Because it makes sense. Whatever everyone else wants, I guess. Prank people. Naruto sweat dropped at the variety of answers, wondering what Sasuke would have said if he was there. Technically, the two had never met except by seeing each other when their fathers talked, but they weren't so insanely different. Maybe his former rival would have said, think about how much my life sucks and plot to kill my brother. Well, it looks like we're playing ninja. Months later, it was Hinata's fifth birthday. Naruto had memorized all of the important aspects of the basics, and became a three out of 10 in his slight mastery of it. He didn't train outside of that because he didn't care. He could just release his chakra and change his form anyways. He was taking a nice walk around the training grounds where he heard the cracking of a twig. The four-year-old shot around, looking for an intruder, spotting a blurred shape in the trees. "Eh, looks like I can't hide anymore. Sorry, brat. It's not your lucky day." The man had smooth black hair and stood about 6 ft taller than most. He had brown eyes and two twin swords on the back of his jet black ANBU gear. His most discerning features, a young lavender-haired girl is slung over his back and a kunai hit eye eight around his forehead. "Aren't you the Namikaze, brat? You've got quite the nice price on Iwa for being his son." The man mused. "Give back the girl." He replied coldly. "Make me run." Naruto's eyes rippled, a pupil condensing in the center and dark concentric rings lined his bluer eyes until his entire eye was a dot. "You have one last chance. If you promise not to harm her and peacefully return to the village, I will spare you interrogation." "Hmph, as if. You're what, five? I think I'll take the girl home, harvest her eyes, and make her my personal slave just for you. How do you like that?" "Wrong choice. Bansho Ten'in." He stated, holding his hand out. The girl flew from his grasp to the young blonde who lay there on the ground tenderly. He still cared for her after she went through great lengths to save him during Nagato's invasion. A black rod of chakra materialized out of thin air and stabbed the surprised in the chest. "Never ever mess with my friends." His voice was deeper, demonic, commanding. He pushed chakra into the man through the black receiver, making him writhe in pain. The foreign chakra fought his body from the inside, making it a form of torture. "Shinra Tensei." Naruto said as he shot the man back into a tree, denting it. "That's not possible. You can't be that strong." The tree splintered, fell back into the forest with a resounding crash kicking up dirt. Staggering away from the stump, the man stared at the five-year-old in front of him. "You'll pay for threatening her." Naruto watched as he wiped his bloody mouth on his sleeve. The man pulled out a kunai and walked towards Hinata. "Come any closer and she dies." He warned with a smirk. The Kumo-nin pressed the blade of the weapon on her neck. Naruto's anger only increased. "Nonsense. Everyone like him will pay. Nagato, Kabuto, Orochimaru. I'll kill them. Since it seems I won't get back alive." He gestured to the hole in his chest with a dark chakra receiver embedded in it. "I'll just take the girl with me to the grave." The Namikaze stared in horror as he raised the kunai and stabbed it into her stomach. He couldn't save her. They were too far away. For all his power, he was helpless, just like then. Flashback. Naruto was pinned to the ground, six black rods stuck in his back and one through his hands. He raised his head to see a lavender-haired Hyuga rush to him. Holding up his hand, a man in a black cloak with red clouds stopped her. Pain, Nagato's puppet, picked her up with the gravitational powers of the top, bringing his hand down to the earth. The man slammed her to the ground. The cloud of dust kicked up, but Naruto knew she was almost dead. Hinata, why can't she just save herself? Why? She couldn't move. A silhouette walked up to her. He pulled a black rod from his sleeve and swung down. Then flashback. Pain had happened again. Red splattered everywhere and Naruto lost control. Naruto woke up in the cold, hurt earth without a tree for miles. All that he saw around him was a crater the size of a small village in Konoha in the distance. At first, he wondered what the hell happened. Then he realized his anger got the better of him. Anger. Why should he be angry at anything? It's not like it would matter to the all-powerful being that he thought he was. He had some nagging feeling in the back of his head, one of his more human emotions, worry, concern. Unable to pinpoint what exactly it was, he sat up and tried to recount what the hell he just did. Remembering why he was mad, Hinata's death was the thing that set off the chain of emotions in his head. He was Naruto Namikaze, too, and he had a family, friends, and a whole lot of precious people to be worried about. He smirked. Yeah, he would still keep them safe, no matter how he felt about most humans in general. With that happiness of remembrance came the other feelings he didn't like too much. He felt awful, wondering if he killed any innocent people. Hopefully, the Kumo shinobi was dead, which he had no doubt the man was, and the village was safe, which his view of the horizon told him was true as well. What he remembered clearly was fighting the man, seeing him kill Hinata. Then he actually flying by to pick up his daughter as Naruto fought the older shinobi. With his body as an adult, his chakra allowed himself into an older version. He tossed the foreign ninja out of the training ground like he was a plaything. Unfortunately, when he arrived in the spot where he was now, the man was already dead. Upset that he gave the man a slow and painful death and over the death of his former admirer, he released an enormous burst of chakra. Thus, he wound up there in the middle of the crater over an hour later. Beside man, I should make chakra limiters or something so that I don't do this again. It's tough being all-powerful these days and I don't really need the strength outside of the fight with Madara or someone like that. Resolved of most of his worry, he headed back to the village. If Hinata was dead, he'd just revive her. And if his father saw him destroy a large part of the forest, then he'd make up some lame excuse. It's not like a five-year-old could have that much chakra and raw power, right? He stood up, noticing that it was nigh impossible for him to be sore, and shrunk back down to his younger self. Then, he headed back to Konoha to explain some stuff and act innocent. After that, he'd wait. Wait until he can play around with some of the humans that think they're strong. Danzo, Obito, Madara, Nagato. They'd all have a sweet surprise in store for them. In short, he was going to have a great time changing the future, starting with Kuririn a few years. Minato had an exhausting night so far. Not only was he painfully worried about his son, but there was an attempted kidnapping of the Hyuga heiress. Thank Kami that Hiashi had gotten to Hinata in time to save her from whatever the hell was going on. From what the Yondaime heard, some young man coated in dark black chakra completely demolished the kidnapper. He paused to sort his thoughts. "I wonder if it was a shinobi. Did that whole plot go against A's commands, so he sent someone to clean it up? It would make sense as Kumo has two who are known to have chakra cloaks of sorts. Too bad Hiashi didn't get a good description and Hinata was knocked out. And where is Naruto? If Kushina-chan finds out that he is just fooling around or something, she's going to be so pissed. Oh Kami, save us all. Please come up with a good reason for Naruto." He prayed silently. He felt defeated by his job and his problematic children. With a heavy sigh, he threw on his nightclothes, finally getting out of his Hokage hat and robes, and staggered to his bed. He felt the warm form of a snoring Kushina as he put an arm over her and fell asleep. In the middle of the night, he heard a creak at the door. He shot up at the sound, waking up his wife. "What was that?" She whispered. "I don't know. The seals should still be working, right?" Kushina gave him a guilty look that he couldn't see in the black room. "You forgot to replace them, didn't you?" He couldn't see her nod, but Minato always knew when his wife forgot. "I'll be right back." He snuck down the stairs with the gracefulness of a cage, completely silent. Familiar with the house, he made his way to the living room and silently found the light switch. He flipped it on. "Ah!" To say Minato jumped back from the scream. The blonde boy immediately berated himself from allowing a human to scare him that much. Well, it was his house, so he was slightly justified. "Oh, it's just you, Naruto. I hope you didn't wake up your sister with that." "All right." Naruto tried his hardest to keep his foolish emotions back. After almost losing himself that night, he wanted to hug his parents and his sister and keep them safe. He did vow to protect his precious people before and he wouldn't be stopping now. "Where were you?" "Places. Your mother's going to be upset." Yep, dot. Minato had no idea how a five-year-old could stay this calm and collected, especially after being outside in the middle of the night. "Why is your shirt ruined?" Naruto's black ANBU style shirt was ripped across the center and a bunch of it seemed like it would fall apart if you touched it. Some squares of fabric hung off of it, but it was the worst out of his clothing. His pants were mostly intact, keyword mostly. Apparently, Naruto noted, he needed to try to stay in this size body and he could just hang on to the older one if he really needed to. Other than that, he could just buy bigger clothes. "Well, I guess you could say it is ruined. This is going nowhere." "How kind of you to point that out?" The Hokage gasped and did his son's comment and walked over to the couch, sitting beside him. They just sat there in each other's company for a few minutes, neither saying a word. Suddenly, Naruto gave his father a warm hug, making his father's slight anger at the boy melt away. Minato wasn't a man to stay angry for long, anyways. After a while, he got up and ruffled his son's spiky blonde hair. "You know, we still care for you even if we have to train your sister." "Yeah, I know. I'm not one for training, anyways." replied the young Namikaze. "Good night. You have to explain everything in the morning. I sense that you've had a long night already." "You could say that." He answered as his father walked up to his room. Naruto made the decision to stay downstairs for a while, meditating and thinking. After all, as the Juubi, he didn't have to sleep. "It's the little things that count." He decided. He needed to sort some things out. Who was he? On one hand, he was Naruto. He had lived as the village pariah, shunned and disliked by everyone. He was the idiot in the academy who played pranks on everyone. He was the man who saved Konoha on a number of occasions, though he couldn't prevent the defection of his best friend and rival, Sasuke-cha. He was one of the last two who stood up against Obito. On the other hand, he was the Juubi. He didn't care about much other than getting his chakra back, which he was definitely not going to do this time. Once the practical god of the world, he just stood there as a tree for as long as he could remember. He also had a slight anger issue, some arrogance, and a tendency to not worry about the lives of mortals. So, who the hell was he now? He just paused, searching for who he'd strive to be. He didn't want to be apathetic like before, but he also wasn't able to return to being the old Naruto. No, other than short moments and with his family, he couldn't do that to himself. Though, he could still be devious, a prankster of sorts, wreaking havoc on those that had wronged him. At least he no longer had the foolish ideal of a second chance and total peace, so he could have a bit of fun. In the meantime, he wouldn't degrade himself, but he would try to be the old Naruto. He smirked. "Why is it so hard to just be me? This is so troublesome." Somewhere in the Nara compound, a young genius woke up in his bed, sneezing up a storm. He shrugged it off as an impact of his dream and went back to sleep. Taking after the unknown boy's example, Naruto turned off the light and staggered to the room he had adjacent to Itsumi. Akin to miss Kurama, especially after understanding how boring the world was to him. Maybe I'll find a way to safely get him out of Nissan, he thought as he too took a nap. The next day, the spiky-haired boy explained everything that he did last night in his own words. Basically, it was a stupid tale of how he decided to try a tree walking exercise he saw a couple do, thinking it was super cool, and got knocked out when he fell off the tree. His parents explained to him the concepts of chakra exhaustion and chakra control and how dangerous it was to do it without supervision. Sure, maybe it was like that for others, but Naruto had near unlimited chakra if you removed the suppression gates. He also had perfect chakra control since he was a being of pure chakra that just had a stronger soul and more chakra than the other god. Meanwhile, his parents were slightly suspicious. When they asked Naruto to show them the chakra he had unlocked in his escapade, it was almost black. Minato worried at first that it was linked to the person who was present at the kidnapping of the young Hyuga, but he dismissed it almost immediately. His mother recognized it slightly as similar to chakra she had suppressed from the Kyubi. "Boy, why are you guys looking at me like that?" "Oh, sorry." Sachi replied Kushina. "I was just thinking." "Me, too." added Yondaime. "Why are you guys so on edge after last night?" Naruto asked, trying to draw some information on the Hyuga incident. "Nah." his father replied with a smile. "We're having some problems with Kumo. That's all. This kind of stuff isn't something you need to worry yourself over. Right, honey?" He turned to his wife for support. "You think I'm going to agree with you after you let our son endanger himself?" she screamed back, her hair raising in some type of demonic reminding the two Namekases of the Kyubi's tails. "No, honey. Sorry about not watching Naruto. And you, I don't have any idea what to say to you. You don't tell us where you were for the entire night and do dangerous chakra exercises. You're grounded until you graduate the academy." Minato tapped her reassuringly on the shoulder. "Are you sure, Kushina-chan? That's a little extreme." His face softened a bit and she melted into Minato's grasp, winding up in a very passionate hug. "I'll reconsider, but it'll cost you, dattebayo." She gave him a suggestive smile. "I'll think of a way to repay you." replied her husband. Naruto brought his hand to his mouth. Eventually, Natsumi came downstairs, breaking apart the parents who were on the verge of making out in front of their children, young children. She was quickly filled in on the escapades of Naruto the previous night and the entire family went their own ways to do their own things. Natsumi was going to go train with Sasuke, typical, and Naruto was probably going to find some civilian shop owners who overpriced him in his past life and mess around with them. Ah, the wonders of Sharingan. The twins would have similar routines for the next year until they all would join the academy at age six. Naruto still had an interest in space-time ninjutsu and seeing as how they were the only things he wasn't familiar with, he still hadn't asked Minato. Besides, he thought his father was too busy training his sister who actually needed it. Well, not if Naruto was around. While Naruto messed around, Natsumi had already gained control of the Kyubi's initial chakra, not quite at the one-tail level yet. She could also use the academy three in the way of leading their parents to consider having her graduate early. They didn't, seeing as they wanted their kids to live a full childhood. Naruto sighed as he had lived for long enough anyways, even if a good part of it was stuck in the moon, which was absolutely no fun. The Juubi was having a relatively good time adjusting to human life. Each day, he began to gain slight qualities of his former self in public, even if he was often just a boring, emotionless nonsense when no one was looking. Still, it felt relieving for him to socialize every now and then, especially with his friends and Ino. Yamanaka was his best friend, dare he say that he had one, and they met up to talk almost daily. Their conversations ranged across many topics from flowers to the future, ironically enough, to the academy. Speaking of, the academy was starting for the group of future greats in a year. Though Naruto couldn't have cared less about the classes themselves, they could be a good cover to sleep in and instead send a cage bunshin to school for him. Or he could just make a chakra clone, though he wouldn't get the memories of it. Either way, he eagerly awaited the future and started counting down the years until he would make his existence in the world of Namikaze. It was the first day of the academy. After their father saw them off, the twins ran to class and sat down with their friends. Naruto remembered everyone in the class. They were the same people from before minus his sister. He picked a seat behind Ino, next to Choji, who was next to Shikamaru. Naruto was in the back corner. Thinking that the first day might actually have been important, Naruto didn't send a clone in his place, a fatal mistake. If anything, it was boring as hell to know why they learn about math or how they will be using the textbooks to study history. Come on. It's not like he couldn't recite history most people wouldn't have even thought of in their dreams. Ugh, when can I go fight Yugure? He banged his head against the table. "Namekaze Natsumi, their teacher." Iruka Umino asked loudly. "Here." she shouted back from her seat next to Sasuke. "Namekaze Naruto." No answer. Naruto the boy raised his head from his desk, irritated that the puny human interrupted his thoughts. He mentally punched himself. I will try not to refer to them as puny, miniature, vertically challenged, or insignificant are all better words. Naruto, their teacher's head swelled to the size of a desk and gained a bunch of tick marks. "Here." he replied nonchalantly. Ino turned around and snickered, Naruto giving her a sly grin. "I can already see he will be a handful." said Iruka as he finished reading off the classes' names. As usual, many fangirls swooned at the mention of a jealous Sasuke. "All right, can everyone introduce themselves? What they like, dislike, their hobbies, and their dreams?" Naruto tuned it all out until he was allowed to speak. "I'm Naruto Namikaze. I like the number 10, my family, friends, and trees. I dislike the moon, things that don't interest me, and those that hurt my friends or family. I don't have any hobbies and as for my dream, I'll figure it out." Iruka smiled at Yondaime's son. "Uh, interesting, Naruto. Moving on." The day was awful. They didn't even do spars. If they did do any spars, Naruto didn't know what he'd do. As the most powerful being in the world, he couldn't lose to a bunch of insignificant humans, but he didn't want to crush them so badly that either his mother gets mad, something that would scare even him, or he becomes Rookie of the Year. He didn't want the attention. He wanted to work from behind the scenes as all the humans were huge hypocrites, advocating seeing underneath the underneath, but being unable to see that Naruto wasn't even human. Maybe it was because he was Yondaime's son and didn't dare, or he was just an expert at hiding his chakra. What they did do was learn about the founding of Konoha. For hours and hours, Hashirama Senju was praised and showered with admiration, while Itachi and Madara were shunned. Eventually, the lesson switched into a talk so they could all understand the position Natsumi was in. When one pink-haired Sakura Haruno asked if that made her a demon, Naruto's eyes flashed nine tomoe for a second while he threatened to maim the woman. Sure, he had grown to respect Sakura before, but this woman was hardly the kunoichi he knew. Naruto ate with the other clan heirs, even Sasuke, and they talked about little things for far too long. Natsumi and Sasuke were pretty close friends, almost on the level of the two blonds at their table. Ino kept talking to Naruto about how excited she was to learn how to be a kunoichi, leaving the Juubi to wonder why he signed up for this. Instead of acting as bored and uninterested as he felt, Naruto kept trying to act like his energetic old self. While he wasn't all foolish and stupid, it was an improvement. He would spend a great deal of the next two years acting similarly and found himself just happy to have his family around him. He didn't train, lounged around a lot, and hardly slept, but it was worth it. He finally had parents and even a sister. Life was good, especially when he came home to a nice bowl of ramen. At the academy, he was one of the top in his year. He was proclaimed undefeatable in taijutsu and never came out with a scratch unless fighting the when he sucked up his pride and fake getting beat. The best part of it for him was that he usually sent a clone to the academy while he studied or came up with interesting news using his multiple and unlimited chakra. Unfortunately, he had only found scrolls on three elemental affinities and thus could only use a few suiton, doton, and katon, dattebayo. Of course, the B-rank and C-rank he knew could be powered by his chakra to be insanely destructive. No one knew just how powerful he was. All the girls, except Ino, knew the magnificent presence of Sasuke-kun. It wasn't Naruto's fault that he didn't do homework or written tests. It was too lame and troublesome. Shikamaru agreed. Despite the boringness that was the shinobi education system, he became closer friends with Ino. They hung out every day after school for two hours before she had to go to her clan training. A/N: I will do a date scene with Ino, just not now. Sorry, guys. It's just not time yet. I mean, they're eight. Naruto could honestly say that they'd be a blond couple in a few years. His father always teased about how they'd make a perfectly colored couple and each time received a face of indifference mixed with a bit of shut or I'll kill you as May would put it. Ero-oji, also known as Jiraiya, teased the poor kid, too, though it was for a totally different reason. The one time Kushina saw him say those things in front of her daughter, oh man, did she lose it. The super pervert was tossed into the women's hot springs with a sign that said I'm the world's biggest pervert on his back. Afterwards, he needed crutches and got a free trip to a village far away where a blond medic, Tsunade, was hiding out. For Naruto, this day was the culmination of everything he had done the past eight years. Each day, he'd wonder where and when he'd get to pummel a bad guy into the ground just for the hell of it. Today was just the day. A ray of sunshine shone through Naruto's window and he let off a wide grin. It was just past sunrise, about 7:00 in the morning. Throwing his basic clothes on, he quickly split his chakra, leaving two Narutos standing in his room. It was like Nidaime Tsuchikage's Earth Release fission technique, but more basic and not as shinobi-like. For Naruto, it was simple. He had 10 tails worth of chakra, so he split it and put about a tail's worth of chakra in a clone. For any human, it was nigh impossible. The clone quickly took off to go downstairs and leave with his sister for the academy. The original packed some stuff in a bag, not a lot. He didn't have many basic needs, yet enough to make his travels more pleasant. He put on a pair of clothes, the basic Anbu outfit that seemed too big for him. Then, he aged himself so that he fit comfortably in them and looked to be around 17 to 18. His muscles were toned and his abs ripped, making the 5 ft 10 blond look like a god of sorts. He slid two black gloves with metal plates on his hands and a black cloak over himself, giving himself the appearance of a shady murderer. Beside, that wasn't what he needed, so he pulled the hood off of his head and hanged himself into an inconspicuous person he saw on the street the other day. Brown hair down to his ears, a skinny physique, and brown eyes. With his new persona, he jumped out of his window into the water morning. Why was he so happy? Simple, he had heard the first rumors of the bloodline slaughter and the Kiri rebellion from someone on gate duty. The two seemed irritated at the lack of events in Konoha, and they always were the first to start rumors about other nations and hidden villages. Where was he going? Why to Kiri, of course. The woman with long, as in down her entire back, red hair and a dark blue dress drummed her fingers against her desk in a slightly annoyed manner. For Mei Terumi, leading the newly formed resistance was plain chaotic, time demanding, and worst of all, it made her feel old. Newly organized, the resistance was an attempt to protect those with bloodlines from the Mizukage Yagura. Mei still remembered when they only had 20 people in their house 2 months ago. Now they have about 1,000. Not even a tenth of Yagura's forces, but it was a start. Frankly, Mei was impressed with how fast Ao, Zabuza, and the rest of her original crew was able to recruit shinobi, those with bloodlines and those without. Surprisingly, even after the slaughter of the Yuki clan, many people had stuck with the Sanbi and served the Bloody Mist. Why? Mei believed it was because Yagura used to be a caring and trustworthy person before 2 years ago when he taken the Mizukage's hat. She sighed looking back at the stack of papers before her. Who would have thought there would be so much paperwork for an illegal organization hiding out underground? Not Mei when she agreed to be the leader. It was absolute madness how much food they needed to ship in per day to fund this place. After putting down her pen for a second, she heard a knock on the door. Come in, she commanded, hoping it was a young, handsome guy. Unfortunately for her, the man who walked through the door was Zabuza Momochi. What do you want, Zabuza? She couldn't deny that he was a good person, kind, somewhat, peaceful, nope, and interesting, well, yeah. Maybe it were those mini scowl eyebrows, which she decided he didn't have, that she hated. At least he was one of her most loyal supporters for some unknown reason. Why was it that he tried to assassinate Yagura? Honestly, she didn't care about his reasons or his past slaughterings. She was sure it wouldn't matter in the bedroom, no. He's not the one for you. He isn't even cute. The see you, of course. Mei-chan, Mei wasn't convinced of the reason as much as she was secretly hopeful. Fine, I just wanted to let you know I'm leaving. What? Why? Mei was in shock. She turned her head sideways at the pale former resistance nin. His Kiri hitai-ate wasn't scratched because they all still saw themselves as true Kiri shinobi. He wore his ugly camo. Mei thought he might be handsome if he trashed that and had his short hair spiked up a bit. Why was he going to desert them? He knew they'd gather enough supporters in time to stand up to Yagura. Do you know how much money we have left? Well, yeah. I'm constantly reminded by Ao and the damn paperwork. Zabuza grinned. How long do you think the 3 million ryo would last? Mei looked down at the papers, realizing they were at the end of their funding. 2 months, and the people living underground in their bunker didn't bring enough ryo to buy food from the local villages. Maybe they could have their own greenhouse in a year or two if the rebellion hadn't won by then. According to Ao, we have about 2 weeks. I've got an idea. Ao dotted her confused glance. He elaborated, I'll take some bounty missions and see if I can't keep everyone funded. I suggest you have a few others do this as well before we all go broke. That would be the most humiliating defeat ever, and I won't have a broken rebellion associated with me. Ao dotted damn the prideful man. Still, she understood what he was saying. It made perfect sense. In fact, she couldn't even argue it. Something was left unsaid, and she was curious. So, that's the only reason you want to leave? I have another reason, but it isn't important, he replied. There's this Yuki boy I found, starved half to death and treated like trash by his small village. I decided to train him to take care of himself, but I don't want to do that in a war zone. Did you just say you have a heart? Don't get too used to it. I'm going to pack up and leave with him this afternoon. I'll make sure to come back and see you, Mei-chan, he said as he turned around to go out of the door. Wait. Zabuza-kun, he stopped. The door was open halfway. Mei clasped a hand over her mouth at the added honorific. When will you visit? Once a year. I promise. Ao dotted The door slammed shut. With that, she was all alone. Well, not quite. There was always a huge stack of paperwork on her desk. Then, to her horror, there was another knock on the door. People just can't leave me alone today. First I get paperwork, three stacks of it. Then, Zabuza-kun has to leave me. She banged her head against the desk. Come in. The door opened and Ao, in all his blue spiky-haired glory, stepped in with a man in tow. Ao had an eye patch over his right eye. She knew it was the and wore plain Anbu clothes. He was doing much of the surveillance missions these days. With brown hair down past his ears and plain brown eyes, the man following her advisor seemed completely normal. He was 5 ft 10 and wore a normal navy blue shirt, sandals, and a pair of slightly worn black pants. Overall, he appeared to be in his early twenties. He was extremely skinny, a sign that he wasn't a shinobi, so what the hell was he doing here? And who the hell was he? He didn't seem like a Kiri citizen at all, and she couldn't detect a henge. What was going on? Ao, who is this? Said man spoke up. This is Ryu, no last name. He claims he is a civilian, but my sensory skills tell me he has at least jonin level chakra reserves. He followed me peacefully here, saying he wouldn't explain who he actually was until he was in front of you. Ao dotted Neither of them knew just how much he was suppressing his chakra. She looked the unknown man up and down, detecting no threat from his passive expression. So, who are you? My name is Ryu, like he said. I was an orphan. Ao dotted What was it? What does he mean by that? I'm not a civilian, I just look like one. That hardly answers Mei-sama's question, spoke Ao. It's not like she has all of her life to listen to your younger generations attempted mysteriousness. Ao dotted Mei held back her anger, thinking that Ao had just made a slight comment about her life being short. That means I'm old. I'm not old, you nonsense. Fair enough, Ryu replied before the other two jumped back at what they saw in his eyes. They were blood red, three commas swirling around the center like a whirlpool. You're an Uchiha, Mei observed. From Konoha, Ao exclaimed, a bit angered. The resistance leader knew that Ao still didn't like Konoha shinobi after the Third Shinobi War. He was an old hag, and grudges were hard for him to get rid of. You could say that. Why are you here, asked Mei looking into his red eyes. She didn't like this man too much. Not only was he a liar, it seemed, but he was interfering in an affair not related to his village, assuming he actually was from Konoha. The man had no eight to signify allegiance. I guess I have a personal issue with Yagura and his tenant. They stole something from me, and I'd very much like it back. Ao dotted Neither of the resistance shinobi had any clue what that meant. Besides, I can't let him slaughter you, now can I? You wish to help us, Mei asked, nodding to Ao for him to uncover his eye and see if the man would tell the truth. Yes, I do. He's not lying, Ao replied, putting the eye patch back on. Ao, show him a room. Ao dotted She got up and walked over to him, whispering in his ear. Make any more comments about my age, and I'll kill you. Also, keep a few people outside the door for a few days and make sure he is truthful. Ao dotted Ao paled at the sweet but deadly voice before nodding in agreement like a young child. Hi, Mei-sama. Follow me, Ryu. Ao dotted The man nodded and followed her advisor out. It's morning, and today is already troublesome. As she thought this, Tsunade sneezed somewhere inside Konoha. Naruto was amazed at how gullible these humans were. What if he was a Kiri shinobi? What if he wasn't actually going to annihilate Yagura's army? He laughed at them internally while the blue-haired wielder led him to a small underground room. Judging by the chakra signatures of the place, there were only 1,032 people, a useless number if Yagura brought his military force to attack. The jinchuriki practically died when they thought he only had jonin level chakra, especially since the fool had a dot. After being set down in his room to recount the events of the past 2 days, he unpacked and threw himself on the bed. Ah, comfort. The best part of the entire trip so far. The fact that two guards were stationed outside his room. It's not like they could do anything to stop him, considering they probably weren't seal masters or possessors of the dot. If they killed him in his sleep, he'd just reform in a few years. Granted, that wasn't anywhere near ideal and far too painful. It was useful nonetheless. Thoughts of this drifted him back to Obito and Nagato. One was an idealistic bastard hated by both versions of himself. Maybe within the week, the blond, who was now a brunette, would have a chance at the Ichiban. Nagato, however, was okay by his standards. Sure, he wouldn't let the man get away with destroying his home before, but he really just wanted peace. Maybe they could work something out. Naruto didn't worry too much over the topic, thinking it was an event for another day. Finally, though, he was getting a chance to have a real fight. He promised himself to only release three of his gates out of 10, giving him Sanbi level chakra. Yes, that would work just fine with a Tailed Beast Bomb, planetary devastation. He couldn't wait for a chance to stretch his legs after a full 8 years, but he couldn't help but wonder just how suspicious everyone was of him. It all relates to how he got to the hideout in the first place. Flashback, Naruto had been jogging through the Fire Country and hitched a boat on the way to the Water Country. While traveling on the boat, he heard a few rumors about two passengers that had fled Kiri and were now returning to be a part of the revolution. He found the two men who were supposedly from Kiri talking by the railing of the small ship. One was a burly man with a coat far too small for himself, resulting in blue-colored cloth being torn all around his body. He had a very small amount of blue hair on his head, not even reaching his ears. The other man beside him was taller and leaner, but he looked to have some relation to the first, but the same blue hair, and each wore a light blue jacket. It matched their hair, a black undershirt, and black pants. Naruto could see a small tan line on the tops of their foreheads where they used to wear hitai-ates daily. Hello, he said as happily as he could, standing beside the two of them on the railing. "What do you want?" the one on the right, the burly one, asked. "I've heard rumors around here that you two want to join the Kiri Rebellion." He tried to make it sound as innocent as possible. He was a good actor, but the overly cheerful act was always a tough one for the demon. "What's it to you?" returned the man. "Oi, Riku, stop it." the other one commanded with an exasperated grin. He was obviously tired of Riku, possibly his brother's antics. "The man's just asking a question." "The question that I don't feel like answering." Kaiko "Stop acting so depressed." Riku glared at Kaiko, crossing his arms over his chest. It was the standard symbol for stubbornness. "Stop getting in my business." The two were now face to face in an eternal stare-off. Naruto watched the transaction for 2 minutes with mild amusement. It reminded him of how his sister used to be mad at him for not being excited. That was before the Hyuga incident, when he decided to open up and act a bit more cheerful. "I'm still here, Naruto." the brown-haired civilian sighed. "Why do you want to know about the resistance?" asked Kaiko. "I'm thinking of joining." Riku grunted. "You're just a civilian. That's way over your head." "Who said help had to come in the way of shinobi?" Naizu and shot back his brother. So, they were brothers. This explains a lot. His brother sighed, obviously upset about something in the past that Naruto had no knowledge of. Maybe he lost a friend during the purges. "I'm going back to the room. You can deal with the civilian, Atato." "Yeah, I'm just interested in providing any type of aid I can. It's cruel to hunt people because they don't understand or fear them." Dottie finished it off with a trademark smile of a previous life. No matter how powerful he was now, deception was still one of the fundamental principles of the shinobi. Besides, it would be much easier to find the base without violence, no matter how much less fun it was. The lean man gave a thumbs up. "That seems like sound reasoning. Something Yugure and my brother have in common." Naruto made his eyes seem hopeful. "So, you'll help a civilian with finding the way there." "I guess, but you'll have to answer a few questions. They don't want any spies to get in." Naruto nodded in understanding and bid the man farewell as he returned to his room. Annoyed with how trusting the world had become, the Juubi spent the rest of the trip in almost complete silence. When they got off the boat, arriving at the main island, the two brothers, though one was reluctant, led Naruto to the hideout on the island's outskirts by a small village. End flashback. With nothing better to do than plan for the future and have flashbacks, Naruto decided it'd be best if he just went to sleep for a day or two and waited for May to see him again. "She really is quite pretty." was one of his thoughts, wondering when he'd started looking at women in any of his pasts. He didn't realize he had a slight blush from his imagination as he went to sleep for the night. The next day, a civilian-looking blond was sleeping until he heard a knock at his door. With a deep groan, he forced himself to get up, trying not to slouch back to his face. He could be too tired even if he didn't have to sleep. He envied Kurama, trapped inside his sister. He didn't get bothered squatting, as he had to get up and answer the door no later than 5 in the morning. Opening the door, he saw it was one of the shinobi guarding him. The man wore Anbu gear and a boar mask just to make it seem like he was a formidable opponent. Naruto, however, knew his reserves were pitiful, maybe high chunin level. The most interesting part of him was the powerful sword bandaged on his back. "Isn't that one of the seven legendary swords? Why the hell did you wake me up at this hour?" If only Kushina could hear her son's mouth. "Would you spar with me?" "It's Uchiha Sand that Juubi nearly growled at being called a worthless shinobi who had a stick up his face, though remembering his cover just in time. The masked man he was talking to stuttered in a way that reminded Naruto of Hinata. "At 5:00 in the morning." he shouted in a hushed voice. Yes, it's possible to shout in a whisper. Quite an impressive feat if you ask Kushina, known far and wide for yelling quietly. "Do please. I just got off my shift right now. I'd like to test my skill against a shinobi from another village. I don't think I'm strong enough to fight Yugure's men." "What's your name?" he replied shakily. The boar Anbu-like guard took off his mask, revealing a late teen with a boyish or woman-like appearance. He had short, messy blue hair, darkly colored eyes, spiky teeth, and blue eyebrows. Wasn't he one of May's bodyguards in the other timeline? "Why on earth would I get up early to fight someone who clearly has an inferiority complex?" Naruto's more hateful personality was attempting to surface here. Something said he would kill the idiot just because he wanted his rest. Nothing could really impact his future anyways, minus possibly the Akatsuki. "I need to prove something to myself." He started this off shakily, but it grew until he had the confidence of a normal civilian. Still not quite as confident as he should be. "I'll fight one of your friends, seeing how you all like the morning so damn much. But, they are busy with missions and training. I'm not strong enough to spar with them. I'm done." Naruto didn't know why he just agreed to this. Once he got over his tiredness, which was really just an illusion anyways caused by the human bit of his chakra, he was far more willing to do something. Since he got up, he had to go do something. "Thank you, Ryu-san." Chijuro exclaimed. "I'll get my practice katana and change out of this Anbu gear. There's a training room down the hall to the left." Naruto followed the man's direction, eventually coming into a large, dark room. Using the Sharingan, he could make out that it was about 100 m by and filled with a couple training dummies. The ground was cold stone, the roof made of a similar substance. About 5 minutes later, the blue-haired teen returned with two practice tantos. "Patches." asked in a happy voice. It seemed that he lost some of his nervousness when it was the topic of anything. Naruto reached out and grabbed the hilt of the unsheathed sword without much trouble. Chijuro lit a few lights, giving them enough ability to see each other. The Uchiha left his matured Sharingan on since they thought he was a member of that clan. "The spar." he pointed out, not too happy. He had immense power, but he couldn't use any of it. Kenjutsu was all stances and skill, of which he had none. This would truly be embarrassing and a strike to his pride if he lost, or if he didn't spar. Hi, don't all Uchiha learn to spar with tantos? I need to learn to protect May-sama." He tossed his sword from the left to his right hand and slid his right foot back into a standard stance. Naruto mimicked his movements. "I may not be a master, though you can't count me out." he commented with indifference. "Let's dance." As the Kiri rebel said that, he launched forward in a flurry of attacks. A swipe to the right, no, left. Naruto parried just in time for the boy to swivel and throw an attack at his side. His Sharingan spun as he jumped back. He could see Chijuro's next attack before it landed. With another clumsy parry, Naruto blocked the easy-to-see attack. The next 3 minutes of the spar consisted of similar blocks, the Konoha citizen barely avoiding multiple killing blows. As the spar progressed, Chijuro's resolve became harder and more determined. The boy in Chijuro came in with a swing from the right side. Naruto moved to block, but before he knew it, his opponent kicked him in the chest. Skidding back a meter, Naruto pulled his tanto back in a defensive position. "Damn it, I can't beat him. This isn't close to fair." Naruto dropped the tanto, which clattered on the ground. "In reality, your opponent will not use only" Dottie held up the tiger seal. "Katon, Enkaku no Jutsu, fire release. Grand fireball technique." A huge fireball rocketed towards his opponent, who narrowly avoided the searing heat. When the flames cleared, Chijuro had dived face down on the ground, and he was now standing up. "So, it'll be my sword versus your ninjutsu." replied Naruto before making another tiger seal. "Katon, Hibashiri, fire release. Running fire." A stream of fire coated the ground and rushed towards the Kiri rebel, forcing him to dodge. "Suiton, Bakusui Shoha, water release. Exploding water colliding wave." He materialized water out of the air with a seal and sent a huge wave that covered the entire room. Chijuro gasped as he was struck in the chest by the unavoidable stream, inevitably smashing him back towards the wall. He dented the wall, nearly knocking him out cold. "I may have overdone it." sighed the sword of blond. He decided that what happened didn't really matter for him anyways. It's not like he would ever be in danger, and his family wasn't impacted by the events here. Then again, he needed his own amusement. "Ryu-san, I'm not strong enough to my soaked by the" He pulled himself up and sat on his knees, facing the brown-haired dot. "It is not shameful to fall before me." he replied neutrally. "How can I become strong?" "Who knows? I'm going back to sleep." he sighed, quickly getting bored again. The fight was a rush, a rare challenge that he needed to do more often. He walked past the panting teen, opening the door to the hallway, then walking back to his room. For a normal human, the swordsman wasn't too bad in his opinion. In fact, he was sure he would have lost it only dot, and the kid had that massive sword, too. Deactivating his Sharingan, he wandered back to bed and immediately fell asleep for another nice nap. Maybe he'd get up for lunch. Blackness blotched his vision. The loud wail shot the Juubi awake. "Everyone get out of the base." Ao's voice shouted this over an intercom connected to each apartment block. "What the hell do they need me for? I'm still trying to sleep." After the voice finished, a red light flashed in the room, forcing Naruto to get up. "We are under attack. Get your weapons and rise to save the rebellion. Proceed outside where I will give you each instructions." Ao shouted. He threw his clothes on and marched with a stream of prepared shinobi to the exit. Maybe Kiri will be more interesting than I thought. Naruto followed his said instructions given by Ao from just outside the compound. Front lines. The man seemed to attempt revenge for going overboard with Chijuro, not like it phased the omnipotent Namikaze. Still in the guise of an Uchiha, he activated his Sharingan and followed the other shinobi at a run to the front lines. He passed them at tents. A shinobi covered in blood or nearly dead coated the mats on each of the white tents. Women with full white clothing and hats with a red plus float in and out of the tents. Passing by without a thought, he followed the black-haired man in front of him to the front lines. For any normal person, it was a horrific sight. Battered and bloody shinobi stood on each side at a stalemate. A few med-nins would run up with a stretcher and cart away one of the bodies on a white stretcher. Excluding the timid, newly woken shinobi, every one of them had dust coating their tattered clothes. Naruto even saw one person whose [ __ ] was ripped to the point that it looked like he was wearing a sash. The men had weary looks, tired looks gained from waking early for a tiring 30-minute fight. The battleground was a destroyed field, formerly populated by trees. In the devastated landscape lay pools of water, the telltale sign of ninjutsu. The two forces stood on separate sides, each by the sparse forest where a path ran from the resistance compound to Kiri. The resistance side had less than 500 men, while the loyalists had over 3,000 to display. The loyalists, however, had a higher percentage of genin and no bloodlines. The commander for the other forces stood in front of them. The man called himself Kur, though his real name was Yagura Yagura. When Yagura was unable to attend battles in the previous timeline, the man was known for ruthlessly eliminating the enemy up until his defeat a year before the rebels took over Kiri. It was said that every battle that he won left none alive, though that was just a stupid myth. Naruto now realized that the injured people were often carried away during any opportunity, and the shinobi always had each others back. No, these wars were won through teamwork and planning. The shinobi were not gathered tightly together, maybe one person every 10 ft. The forces were each only a few rows deep, favoring widespread. Waity heard a voice from his right. "Ryu, is that you?" Another person was pushing through the forces, heading towards the Juubi. He knew that voice. Kaiko, sure enough, a man appeared with a dull cyan jacket, black shirt under it, and blue hair. And he was covered in blood. The same scarlet liquid clumped his hair together and stuck to his lightly worn shirt. "I thought you were a civilian," he said, rubbing his shoulder. It looked like a kunai clipped it. "Well, I'm not. I'm an Uchiha," Naruto spewed normal [ __ ] without a care. Anticipation built up, but he knew it was wrong. Some part of himself asked where his lust for peace went. Where did his desire to protect everyone go? "Sweet. So, now we'll win this for sure," he smirked stupidly in attempt to brighten himself up. Naruto could see that deep in the man's hazel eyes, he was disturbed by something. "Where's your brother?" Ryu was a Kaiko's eyes darkened, and the man looked down. "He's already dead with a third of our guys. May sama was able to hold them off before she got injured badly, too. Hn. Naruto wasn't nonsense. He could rub salt on the man's already devastating wounds, yet he still didn't find himself feeling too much emotion. Though it still felt off, he ignored his gut. Suddenly, the ranks separated and people stepped away from the center of the resistance. Ao was passing, though, his forehead now without the metal protector. He wore his normal gray turtleneck under his green haori. The man walked all the way to the front and turned around to address the resistance. "Where the hell is May?" Naruto wondered. And ninjas quickly ceased their side conversations and turned their attention to the commander. "Everyone, we can't get lost here. Already, we have held off their force with half the people, and now we have treated all the injured, prepared those who could fight, and came out with strength. We will show them that we are not to be messed around with. We will keep up May's ideals, even if that is to retreat. But we will not stand down without showing them our message. Today, we will start to go on the offensive, and we won't lose momentum." All of them cheered with Ao's inspirational speech. All types of weapons, from swords to spears, were thrust in the air with determination. Naruto was bored, only impacted slightly by the conviction of the leader. It wasn't hard to tell that Ao didn't make too many speeches, not any that were at his jijis level, or his father's. Everyone bared their weapons, others forming the first hand sign for them dot. "Charge!" he shouted, sprinting across the field to the enemy. The field of colors followed, each screaming their own battle cry. Naruto ran alongside Kaiko, who he considered a good enough person to watch his back. The opposing army shouted their own declarations before meeting the resistance shinobi with a far larger wave. A huge clang resounded across the land as every shinobi clashed weapons around the same time. Huge dragons of water struck each other, raining water down on the shinobi. Rock spears shot just over Naruto's head, impaling the person behind him in the shoulder. Fire roared from one shinobi in the resistance, but it crashed into a wall of water and dispersed with a hiss. A light fog coated around Naruto as a large bullet of water shot at him. Eyes flashing purple, he held out his hands. He was easily sucked in by his preta path. He didn't even register that he saved Kaiko, who stood next to him, eyeing him with awe. "What was that?" he asked as the mist thickened around the two of them. Quickly, the only thing they were able to see was each other. "Why?" replied the former, switching back to the sharingan. "I thought the Uchiha had the sharingan and that it doesn't absorb chakra." "It doesn't matter now. I'll cover your back either way." "Thanks," stated Naruto. "This will surely be fun. Without my sight, I can have a level playing field." Before either could say something, three blurs appeared. "Get ready," advised the blue-haired man, drawing a kunai in the backwards grip. Naruto drew a kunai of his own from his pouch, holding it in front of his heart. Two of the blurs launched at them. The first engaging Naruto, while the second fought with Kaiko. Naruto blocked an overhead strike from a katana. Then he retaliated with a swift jab at the enemy's stomach with his free hand. The Kiri nin jumped back a few feet, dodging the punch. Suddenly, a stream of water shot from the third ninja who was hanging back. Using his powers of prediction, Naruto placed a kunai in his mouth and formed the snake hand seal. "Doton, Doryuheki, Earth Release." "Earth style wall," he muttered, spitting an earth-like wall of mud attack. The wall buckled but didn't break from the attack, saving both himself and Kaiko. The resistance nin was in a kunai on kunai fight against his opponent, Naruto choosing not to interfere. Naruto was mildly shocked when the first opponent came after him again with an attack. "Must they always be used?" he wondered, holding up a hand. His eyes flashed into concentric rings, and a gravitational force propelled the attacker away. He saw, out of the corner of his eye, Kaiko's opponent fading back into the mist. The three blurs moved close together. "Pain, Zukaku Fire Release." "Intelligent hard work," the three shinobi shouted from outside the fog. A huge ball of fire blazed through the battlefield, far too much to absorb without sustaining damage. He needed to save Kaiko, not just dodge. One second. The fireball was coming closer. He needed the recharge time. One half second. He was nearly face-to-face with the inferno, Kaiko with a petrified look of terror. "Now, shinra," he thought, holding up a hand. An equally large pulse of gravity emanated around the two resistance fighters, dispersing the fireball and flinging back the enemy. "Phew, that was close," smirked Kaiko, turning to his friend. Naruto gave him a legitimate smile, one of the first since he left his family behind. A kunai flew through the air, unknown to both of them. Naruto's eyes weren't the sharingan or his Juubi, so he had no prediction and could not see it heading straight towards Kaiko's back. But the thud, blood spattered the ground. Kaiko's features morphed into a look of surprise as red dripped from his mouth. "Ouch," he muttered, falling onto his face and kicking up dust. "I couldn't save you," Naruto spluttered. He sat down next to the man he befriended on the trip to Kiri. "It's all right. I said the same to Ryu," he smirked again, the gesture not quite reaching his eyes. Unlike Nagato, Naruto didn't have access to the outer path. His was gained from mixing two chakras, both of which held some of the traits needed to awaken said dot. "Why? Why do you try so hard to save others? I used to be like you, then I realized that it didn't matter." "Of course it matters that Ryu I fought today, not not for me or my brother. I fought for the families that didn't get broken, yet to keep them safe." Dottie was coughing by the end, but his message was not near lost. Naruto remembered the war, Hiruzen and sacrifice. The sand aims saved the village. Why did they do it? They did it for the kids, not for themselves. I lost sight of all of my convictions. What happened to ridding this world of hate, not just playing with it? I get it, I was like that before." "Then what's stopping you?" He coughed hard again, spurting out blood. His face started to lose its color, and his smirk was reverting into an indifferent line. From being like that once again, his eyes glazed over, and Naruto felt his pulse stop. "Amity," shouted, "I'm Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki, number one most unpredictable knucklehead ninja. I vowed to rid this world of hate and to keep everyone safe." His ringed eyes turned red once again, two of the rings disappearing. Nine tomoe swirled into existence in each eye. "Ichibi, Nibi, Fuu and Kaiko, One Tails, Two Tails. Seal release," he exclaimed, releasing two of his 10 gates holding back his power. "The other side was going to pay." The sheer amount of chakra and killing intent pushed the mist away and cleared the entire battlefield. Shinobi stopped their fighting to look at the visible spike of black chakra. Naruto now had two ghostly black tails behind him, so invisible it would seem like dot Ao and Kur stopped their jutsu, Ao using them to see what was going on. Most of them used to pause their enemy to run back to their sides. Over 300 bodies littered the moist ground, most of them resistance shinobi. The three Naruto had attacked couldn't move from their injuries. Ao stared at the man exerting that chakra. "Isn't it the Uchiha? What is with his eyes and that dark chakra covering his body in some light cloak? It's almost like he's Yagura." Naruto, from the middle of the battleground, needed a way to separate the resistance from the loyalists, so he didn't kill them all. Eight bunshin no two replications with cage level reserves popped to life right next to him. "Doton, Banri Doryuheki, Earth Release. Earth style wall of 10,000 ri," he declared, each of the clones forming the snake seal. A huge wall of earth sprung up under the original, while the clones pushed the wall to cover the entirety of the resistance. "Now, they're all safe," he muttered to himself, letting his bunshins poof out of existence. He now stood 50 ft in the air, able to see both sides of the standoff. They were now back in ranks, the commanders of each side standing in the front row, while the injured were hobbling away to get medical help. A figure clad in blue with long, spiky red hair draped down her back, watched from behind the resistance side. She was intrigued by the development, though not one to deny a favorable turn of events. "Those who are injured, return to the med camp immediately," she commanded, unheard to Naruto, who was blinded by determination and rage. Determination. The urge to bring peace to the world and wipe Yagura's scum off of it. His dream, though more violent approach to his pacifist ideals, was hard set in his eyes. Rage. Rage at the death of his friend. Hatred at all of those who seek war and pain. Ironic, isn't it, that he wanted to kill them all. "You will regret it," he roared from the top of the wall, facing the ant-like loyalists. Images flashed through his head of Hinata dead on the ground, learning of Jiraiya's death, Kaiko's blood trailing from his mouth, watching Madara devastate the Allied Shinobi Forces, Nagato, his fellow student, Pain. So much pain. Nagato, I understand you. Their field commander, Kur, had an arrogant smirk on his face. One more punk to cut down, he laughed internally. Then Naruto held up the tiger hand seal. Katon, Gokakyuu fire release, great fire annihilation. The roaring flame descended from Naruto's mouth as he exhaled with a great breath. The flame sprayed out into an enormous blanket that threatened to cover the entire army. Suiton users, now shouted the commander in awe by the dot. Controlling their fear and awe, a row jumped in front and went through hand seals. Drawing on puddles of used water and spray from their mouths, they used suiton. Suijin heki, water release, water formation wall. A wave of protective water shot before the shinobi, about to crash into the fire. The wave stretched over the loyalists' heads, colliding with Naruto's with a loud hiss noise. A short fight for dominance later, steam encompassed the entire battlefield, not reaching the other side of the wall. Both of them were just barely canceled out. The 20-some experts had exhausted most of their chakra to hold back the intense flames. Kur was sweating. The steam was incredibly hot, permeating the morning air. Where had this opponent come from? All of Yugure-sama's near the resistance had told him that they were weak and vulnerable. He could have roughed up the trash and kept them from taking Kiri lightly. Commander-sama, what do we do? shouted one. We need to be able to see. Who's a user? I got this. Fut the man ended in a scream as a large tentacle-like tail shot out of the ground and smashed him in the chest. All everyone saw was a shadow. What the hell? wondered the leader. Holy fool, another man was grabbed by one of the things. Those near him watched in horror as the chakra was sucked out of his body, leaving him lifeless. When dot now Kur screamed, Futon, daitoppa wind release, great breakthrough. A large gust of wind exploded from one of the loyalists' hands, forcing away most of the steam. The view that it revealed startled most everyone. Naruto sat on the top of the wall, eyes glowering, with his hands clapped together. Tails stuck from him directly into the ground, and then they lashed out from under the loyalists. Fools, they're just asking me to take their chakra, thought Naruto with a smirk. There were multiple bloody screams as those with generously larger chakra capacities were drained. A few of them realized what was happening to their friends, so they took out kunai and started shooting at the appendages. Damn it, the Juubi cursed as Pain registered in his mind. They were an extension of him, so he easily felt the pain every time one of the loyalists shot them in half. As quickly as the underground attack began, it was over, leaving over 400 people to add to the body count. Now, 1,200 were scattered on the bloody ground, 400 from the resistance and 800 from the attackers. May-sama, should we help him out? asked back over on their side. No, don't do anything. He seems to be doing fine, dot. She had a few thoughts about possibly dating such a young, strong man. Back on the wall, Naruto rested his hands at his sides and stood up. He had used up maybe a half tails worth of chakra and regained most of that back. He could use that or even the Bijuu's signature technique. No, he'd have some fun first. Hachikage bunchin no jutsu, he said, placing his hands in a cross seal. Then, once again, hundreds of replicas of the Uzumaki appeared on the top of the wall. Each one of them had a kunai in hand, brown hair streaming behind, and the same red eyes. Instead of the Juubi, they just had the sharingan. He wouldn't need the other mix to finish this. He held his hand up. When he brought it to his side, the clones rushed into the force that was twice their side. The clang of shinobi fighting resumed, followed by the roar of dot. A water dragon took out a few clones, but an earth spike pierced through multiple enemies in response. Kur had taken to using a sword enhanced with chakra and two water clones to defend himself. A few of the stronger shinobi, maybe former Anbu, surrounded him protectively from the onslaught of clones. Doton, doroku ten earth release, earth dragon bullet. One of Naruto's made a dragon of mud and shot balls at the group holding the leader. The ex-Anbu made lightning-fast hand seals, spitting out water. Daikuufu no jutsu water release, great waterfall technique, they all said, countering the hail of human-sized mud bullets with a spiraling torrent of water. The water went on to destroy the chakra-depleted clones that used the dot. We have to get out of here and tell Yugure, advised Kur, addressing his guard. Hi, they replied, following him back through the battle, some helpless weaklings getting smothered by runaways dot in the chaos. Just before they fled to the forest, the commander saw a futon. Rasenshuriken, not that he knew the name, exploded in a huge sphere of white needles. 40 people had died immediately from the sheer piercing power of the wind needles throughout the dot. Holy [ __ ] was his last thought before leaving the battlefield. We need to find a way to stop this man. The group disappeared through the forest, slipping away in the chaos of the battle. Naruto watched the destruction caused by his clones. Serve them right for massacring and ruining Haku's life. I think it's time to end this. He placed his hands in the ram seal, using chakra to make the clones poof away. He decided it was time for the wall to go down to the point where he was only 15 ft above everyone. The areas of the earth wall that he wasn't standing on sunk all the way into the cracked ground. That would leave him plenty of room for him dot. What's happening? asked a loyalist who was fighting a clone. Like the man beside him, he was covered in blood, scrapes, and grime. His friend answered, I don't know. What the hell is that? the first stuttered, pointing at the Uchiha. Naruto held his hands to the sky, gathering red and blue chakra to his hands. The little bubbles condensed into a black sphere which kept growing. Isn't that Yugure-sama? someone gasped. The ball grew until it was the size of a desk. The ultimate and final of nine dot, witness the power of a god. Bijuudama, he stated, throwing the ball at the center of the remaining force, no less than 800 strong. Both sides were in utter awe that someone could throw a chakra mass that dense. No one could move in time. The large exploded in a flash of white, incinerating everyone within the proximity. When the light subsided, the new crater had many mangled bodies. Those few that survived had escaped already, running from complete annihilation. Well, another Chojuro, who had rejoined the battle from the med tents. Mei, who stood to his right, replied saying, yeah. Whoa, maybe this rebellion won't be so hard after all. The man was running down a dirt path as destruction followed him. He vaguely remembered grabbing his Anbu guards and leaving at the last minute before an enormous obliteration of the battlefield. Covered in glistening sweat, the man had a ripped black undershirt and a Kiri flak jacket. His sword was still intact, along with most of his possessions. His blue hair was splotched with mud and drenched from water dot. He was Kur, commander for Yugure and Kiri's forces. As he sprinted down the forested path leading to the camp, he discreetly signaled the Anbu to stay behind and guard the path. He could not have that man. He wasn't even sure if the guy was human following them. Yugure needed to know. He burst through the forest into a clearing large enough for a small camp. There were nine tents total for the Anbu and the elite shinobi. The Mizukage had his own tent. The normal soldiers and lower were stationed closer to the battlefield, slightly away from the muddy dirt path. The executioner, Zabuza hated him for stealing his sword's name, found the largest tent and promptly entered. Yugure was a short man, though he wouldn't let anyone get away with saying that. Standing at about 4 ft 9, he looked more like a child than a leader. He appeared even more ridiculous with his gray hair and purple eyes. Those who thought that made him weak were fools. The Yondaime Mizukage had almost full control of his, the Sanbi, and an arsenal of water dot. He was feared for his perfection of the suiton. Mizu kagami no jutsu, water release. Water mirror technique, which shot any attack back at the opponent to effectively block and counter most dot. He ruled with an iron fist, bloody massacres keeping most rebellions in check. Controlled by a hidden Obito, he decimated the bloodlines in Kiri and destroyed most of the villages saying his actions. The academy students even were forced to fight to the death on some occasions, another reason that Kiri earned its nickname as the bloody mist. Those who knew him before Obito manipulated him and he became Mizukage thought of him as a fearless and caring man who would do anything for the village. Now he'd do anything for power and control. Most of it was due to the masked Uchiha, but somewhere deep down, the man developed a twisted sense of justice for his actions. Yugure-sama, Kur saluted, bowing to his leader. The fight is over already, smirked the childlike man, clearly amused. Not in the way you think. The pale cage raised an eyebrow at that. Tell me what you mean. Someone came and Yugure had never seen this much fear in his commander's eyes. What could have scared the man so much? Speak up, he grunted, grabbing some sake and taking a gulp. He set the drink back down on a map of the water country and motioned for Kur to sit in an available chair. He had chakra like your Yugure-sama. He killed over 2,000 of our men like it was child's play. Yugure nearly crushed his bottle of sake in quick rage. So that was the chakra he had sensed earlier. The bloodline traitors had picked up a a powerful one at that. How could they have gotten such a strong supporter already? And who the hell was this man? No one was that powerful, minus Minato Namikaze, but he was neither in or involved. Tell me what happened. Do not leave out a single detail, he commanded darkly, as the man began his tale. Yugure's eyes widened as he heard what happened. Apparently, out of nowhere, this civilian-dressed man had created a wall separating the two sides. Then he drained the chakra of hundreds, used clones to fire after, and finished it all off with a dot. The weirdest part, well, the man had some barely visible chakra cloak, he made the Bijuu's signature with his hands, not in version two state. Yugure didn't believe it was possible and started to doubt what the man saw. After all, it must have been chaos. Still, Kur was his most reliable servant. What will you do, Yugure-sama? I need to put a stop to this unusual situation before the resistance gains support. Ready everyone for another attack in a week. But that's not enough time for the troops to The commander didn't get to finish the sentence. Yugure had punched him hard enough to make him crash against the flimsy tent wall, nearly collapsing the makeshift room. My word is final. We will end this disloyalty before it spreads. Kur smirked sadistically, wiping blood from his lips. Of course we will. Mei saw everything that her new recruit, Ryu, did. The renegade was suspicious of him from the moment he joined, but she never expected anything like this. The young man, she assumed he was around 20, looked exactly like a civilian, yet claimed he was in a chair. How could that not arouse the suspicions of the leader? She considered the fact that he was a spy, but tentatively dropped the idea when he showed his sharingan. Konoha had no reason to be involved, right? So then she decided he did it out of morals, but he showed very little of those when he destroyed Chojuro in what was supposed to be a spar. Then she ignored him and turned her mind to the fighting at hand. From one of the medic tents, she got a kunai stuck in her leg. May saw the man join the fray. Though it wasn't until the middle of the fight that he began to completely dominate the loyalists. What triggered such power? She wondered. Just who is Ryu Uchiha and why is he here? As the man turned around at the end of the fight, people began to part. When he walked past, many patted him on the back or bowed, a few clapping for him. Ryu had a satisfied grin on his face, but it never reached his eyes. From her position behind the remaining resistance shinobi, she knew that he was in pain. The cheering crowd slowly dispersed from the battlefield, flooding back to the medic tents. All except May, her trusted out, and Chojuro. The latter seemed to be feeling a mix of awe, gratefulness, and anger. May saw him, and the brown-haired man said, "His eyes were back to normal, not that anyone saw his peculiar and generic brown like his hair." His clothes seemed to be in perfect condition, considering that he wore a feathery light black coat and nice pants. "Ryu," growled Chojuro, seemingly reluctant to agree that he saved them. "I need the truth." "Now," demanded May. The Uchiha just smiled wider, an expression she assumed didn't show itself too often. She liked a confident man, someone who was young and strong. Ryu noticed her slight blush, and it made him chuckle inside. "I wouldn't think you'd ask me so soon. Couldn't you say thank you?" Al glared at him for talking back. He didn't know that Ryu wasn't mad at her. He understood why, and he accepted it as a legitimate reason. "Not when you have lied multiple times, hurt my assistant, and then let hundreds die before you made your spectacular entrance, dot." She crossed her arms expectedly. Of Naruto, Naruto focused his gaze at the ground. "I'm sorry." He was a fool. He thought having power, eternal power, made him better than everyone else. Now, with the death of the man who reminded him exactly of his former self, he realized that he lost everything he stood for. Sure, he wasn't fully human, but he still had all of his memories of team seven. He had memories about many times when he was sure those closest to him would die. Even then, he still had a good amount of his former human chakra, making him more than demon or human. Maybe he could actually be the one Jiraiya talked about all those years ago. "Sorry," Al exclaimed in a slightly hysterical voice. "Sorry, it doesn't cut it." May almost backhanded him, instead settling for saying, "He saved many lives. His apology is meaningless in the face of that, dot." She addressed Minato Namikaze. "I was wrong about you. When Chojuro told me what happened, I thought of kicking you out, sending you back to Konoha. You affirmed some of my faith here, but I still need to know one thing. What is it? Just who are you?" With this, Al noticed your chakra was demonic. When you did your little stunt, he saw an amount of chakra to rival three kages. I believe that you are from Konoha. It makes some sense with your eyes, and dot The words, especially the fire that nearly destroyed them by itself, went unsaid, yet they were known by both parties. Why are you lying about your identity? Naruto smirked again, threatening to let out a small chuckle. In habit, he scratched the back of his head. "Who I am doesn't really matter. For all intents and purposes, I am Ryu Uchiha. You may think I'm not, but names hold no value as long as you do what's right. I figured that's what I came for, so you can let me get my revenge on Yugura, and I'll help you out. After all, I can't just let all this power go to waste when innocent people are dying, dot." Unfortunately for him, though he had much of his morality and ideals back, he still had a few arrogant thoughts drifting around his mind. Not everyone can change so completely so fast. Knowing she couldn't press the stubborn kid any further, she settled with that answer. Since he had good intentions, possibly he would be an asset either way. "Wait a second," a voice exclaimed. Chojuro wasn't too happy, and he was confused, too. "You said you have morals. It looked to me like you swatted me against a wall without even honoring our spar." He couldn't resort to the I've changed argument. It was too soon, less than five hours to be exact. "It was just a spar, and I was tired. I get grumpy when I'm tired," he admitted sheepishly. Well, it was mostly true. He never was a morning person. Al muttered something under his breath. It sounded like I still don't trust you, but no one could be sure. "Ryu," May began. Naruto looked at her questioningly. Had he left some vital thing out that they'd now put him on the spot for? "What do you hold well?" [ __ ] he couldn't answer that without causing some problems in one of the villages. He couldn't claim to be for any but the Kyuubi and maybe the Nanabi. Since he allied himself with Konoha, the rest were commonly known to be affiliated with one of the other villages. Kyuubi, he decided. It wouldn't be good in the long run, but he couldn't plan that far ahead anyways. He'd just take what happens as it happens. May raised a skeptical eyebrow, eventually figuring to accept the answer. "Let's go back. This morning was already eventful enough, dot." Al and Chojuro turned to leave, but the other two made no move to follow them. "Wait, Chojuro," Naruto called, making him get a curious look from the shark-toothed teen. "Can you give me some lessons? I think I suck a little." He nodded and followed out of the medic tents in their base. This left Naruto and May standing by the crater-covered field alone. "Ryu-kun, you seem like a good man," she praised, giving him a creepy smile. At least it would have been creepy if Naruto's face didn't widen in the same knowing grin. "May-chan, you're not too bad either, dot." Now, Naruto was a dense man, yes, he knew that, but he wasn't a complete idiot anymore. Plus with May, her lusty feelings weren't too hard to decode. He always thought she was hot anyways. "You should go on a date with me tonight. I know a great place to eat in a nearby village," she proposed, wrapping her hands around his back. How she just loved a strong young man, especially when they were mysterious. "Sounds grea-" He didn't get to finish that sentence. Her lips were already on his cheek. Naruto melted into her arms, considering that this was practically his first passionate kiss ever. That doesn't count Sasuke in that epic failure of a graduation day. Eventually, the two pulled away. "I'll see you tonight," May-chan exclaimed to a blushing and extremely cheerful Naruto. "Meet at my office. I'll be sure to wear something less constrictive," she said, hinting at possibly scandalous clothing, not that the jyuubi noticed. She winked and waved at him as she two walked back to their base. Naruto was all by himself, head resting in his hand while he looked dreamily after the woman. He just wished that he had millennia of experience, not in just sitting there, but in dating. Konoha, it was a few days later in Konoha when word would spread about the turn of events in Kiri. As the standing Hokage, it was Minato Namikaze's job to do more than take care of his kids and the affairs within Konoha's borders. He had to have a perfect awareness of every major ordeal in the five great villages, just in case one of those ordeals the entire order out of balance. If Iwa and Kumo had gotten into a skirmish, the safety of his citizens could end up in danger if it were to escalate. No one was better for bringing him news of other villages than one Jiraiya of the Sannin. While the blonde Hokage was busy frowning at papers relating to the Uchiha, he felt a familiar chakra signature land just outside the office. Sure enough, a window opened, and a middle-aged man with spiky white hair and red marks on his face was squatting on the windowsill. "Jiraiya-sensei," he exclaimed happily. "Please tell me you came to save me from the paperwork." Jiraiya frowned at the large stack of papers on the desk, but then smirked evilly at the pain kage. "Sadly not, but it is extremely important information I've heard from my spies in Kiri." "Kiri? They just began a civil war, right?" "That's the thing, Minato Gaki. The war may already have a set outcome, dot." Minato was confused with what Jiraiya said. The rebels were supposed to be strong, not too easy for Yugura to wipe out. After all, they did have a great deal of bloodlines. "So Yugura is going to win? That's why I'm here." "See, he's not, dot." Jiraiya was perfectly serious, convincing the yellow flash that there was far more to this than the resistance being a thorn in Yugura's side. He was always rooting for the misjudged and immorally persecuted bloodline users. "What do you mean? Why are the rebels going to win?" "It appears they have a man claiming to be an Uchiha and a Kyuubi, dot." The toad sage said this with a perfectly straight face. Minato thought it was an awkward joke at first, but at the sight of his sensei's perfectly serious face, he did a double take. The man wasn't joking. "You're serious? Has he done something yet, or do you honestly believe that?" "That's the thing. The man annihilated 2,000 of Yugura's men with the power of the sharingan and the aid of a dot. I heard this from multiple trustworthy sources, one of which was an eyewitness. Trust me, this is no joke." "What is his name? And why does he claim to be the Kyuubi when only Natsumi-chan holds the fox?" Minato was beyond lost, but that didn't seem to dissuade the man from thinking more on the issue. It made no sense. Why would someone claim to be an Uchiha or when not a single member of the clan went missing? He did have the sharingan, though. That was frightening to the kage. He couldn't let the volatile clan get a hold of this information. He also wondered how a man could be practically unknown, persona built on lies, but yet be so powerful. "I don't know why he claims what he does. It could possibly be an easy way to answer for his strength during a large fight of Yugura's men and the resistance. It was 1,000 versus 3,000, and this man was able to defeat all 3,000 single-handedly." "His name," Minato recalled. "Oh, yes, his name is Ryu Uchiha, a dumb choice if you ask me." "Dragon, really? It sounds like one of the names I put in my first book, The Tales of an utterly gutsy shinobi, for those who don't know. And it'll have to go in another book. I want him in our bingo book as an S-rank shinobi with a capture alive order. Draw out all your information on him and give it to Shikaku Nara. He'll puzzle it out and put it on paper." "Sure thing, kid. Just one thing, dot." Minato motioned for the Sannin to continue. "My new book will be coming out soon, so here's the first copy, dot." Jiraiya grabbed an orange-covered book from his ninja pouch and tossed it to Minato's hands. "What? No, I don't read this garbage," he spluttered. "I've seen that secret drawer in your room, Minato, dot." The blonde was horrified. "Edit it for me, and I won't tell Kushina." "That's blackmail. He realized that he shouted loud enough for someone to come in and quickly put a hand over his mouth. I mean, that's blackmail. Can't you do the Hokage a favor? I am. You get this book a week early, and I'm not telling Kushina that he was crushed. The man was right. All great Konoha shinobi had one deadly secret. From the Sand Aim to Anko Mitarashi, every one of them loved Jiraiya's stories. It's for the plot. The plot. Minato cried in denial. Jiraiya jumped out onto the roof, leaving the Yondaime tears. It's time to put this guy in the bingo book, he reminded himself, pulling out his notes as he jumped across a few rooftops. I feel like I should know this guy, she sighed. Somewhere, Naruto and his chakra clone both sneezed. Raiu. Raiu. Raiu. Raiu, the thunderous chant repeated itself over and over as the remaining members of the resistance were gathered in a large atrium-like room for a speech from Mei. It wouldn't stop, the shinobi rejoicing over there, or more realistically, Naruto's victory. The atrium was indoors, underground, in the stronghold that they just successfully defended. On a stage in front of over 700 people stood four figures. Raiu, Mei, Chojuro, and Ao each gave a small wave as they stepped towards the resistance. Chojuro had a pleased, shark-like grin, no doubt the impression given off by his sharp teeth. Ao was Ao, not really bothering to show any emotion past slight annoyance. Though he may have been joyful on the wood shoot a few sultry smirks at Naruto, who still couldn't stop himself from blushing like a complete fool. When it came to Naruto's achievements, however, it was no laughing matter. He felt guilty, far more than he should. After all, he had immense power, that of which was only tamed and controlled by one person, the Rikudou Sennin. If that was true, then how did he let himself get a stick so far up his face that he let his friend die? It seemed that the Naruto part of him finally had influence, instead of him acting like the impartial, uncaring Juubi. That didn't mean that the guilt faded. No, he would have to work harder, slay more bad guys, to make sure no one else died a meaningless death. For the first time since the fight was over, the fake Uchiha afforded himself a smile. Yugura was going to get it. Mei made a hand motion for the gathered crowd to quiet down. Quiet down, everyone, Ao grumbled forcefully. The resistance leader gave him a look that read, in Naruto's mind, show some emotion or I'll kill you. Ao silently apologized five times in his head, backing away to stand beside Chojuro. Mei spoke, "My friends and comrades, today we have achieved an amazing victory. But we have also suffered a terrible loss. Though I believe that if we all continue to put all of our heart into this cause, we can topple the corrupt leadership of Kiri." Cheers rose out, mostly wordless shouts. They were screams of joy at what was to come. "We couldn't have had such a decisive victory alone," she added, which was met by a few nods. Though there were a couple too full of themselves to realize they would have had to retreat. And a retreat would have forced them to take many years to regroup and gather forces. For this victory, we have one man to thank, who protected his comrades and struck fear in the hearts of Yugura's men." Dot at the first part of the statement, Naruto hung his head down. He couldn't protect Kaiko. Mei continued, unfazed by Naruto's thoughts. "This man is an Uchiha Raiu, as you probably all know." Cheers broke out again, the chant of his name resuming even louder than before. But the leader didn't stop. As she motioned for them to calm down, she said, "And to those of you women who want a strong, capable man, he is not available." Dot she said this with such deadly finality that it scared some of the women who were thinking just that. Groans punctuated the silence following her statement. So no one could hear, she turned to Naruto and whispered, "I'll see you tonight." Naruto almost fainted. He vaguely remembered Mei continuing the speech, but the comment left him dazed. After a 16-year life and an entirety as a tree, and that was not worth bragging about, he finally had the one thing he'd always wanted, but never had, a date. When the speech was done and crowds of women began to tail him, Naruto had gone back to room and, no surprises here, fell back asleep. After all, he could hardly make it back to his room without being swamped by people. Half of him, okay, most of him, was about to smash them all into walls. That seemed to do the trick. He reined his intentions in, instead shoving his way through the admiring crowd. "Why couldn't it have been like this when I saved Konoha?" he sighed. Then he amended, "Do I even want this many women attacking me?" Fangirls. It made him shudder. When he awoke from his nap, he looked at the clock in his room. 4:30 p.m. Wait, did Mei even give him time? He sighed, contenting himself with getting ready anyways. He threw on a fancy black kimono. He didn't even know how it got into his room. Probably Mei-chan, he sighed. And why did it look better than all of his own clothes? At least it fit with his pants that he already wore. He sighed, realizing he should shower first. So he took off his stupid kimono, showered, and put all of his clothes back on again. As he opened the door, he was gladdened to see no one was waiting outside to ambush him. As he headed down the hallway to the redhead's quarters, he repeated a mantra in his head. I can survive a battle. I can survive a date. Mei was leaning back in her chair, ignoring all the paperwork on her desk. She had far more important things to think about tonight. After all, she had finally found a young man who could stand up for himself, and he wasn't hard on the eyes, either. Granted, the man was pretty generic, but maybe lean with defined muscles was the way to go. She heard knocking on the door, and a smirk spread across her face. "Tonight is going to be so much fun," she thought, clearly insinuating something. "Come in." And come in. Raiu was looking very sharp in his black kimono, which she gave him. "Well," was all he said. "Why?" Well, Mei was hardly wearing any clothes at all, though they covered the important parts. Though it may be slightly cold at night, shinobi were used to it, allowing them to wear pretty much whatever they wanted. Saying she was dressed scandalously probably fit, but it wasn't actually inappropriate. She was covered where she needed to be, but her figure was clearly shown through the light blue dress. It barely reached her knees. No one would have ever considered this beautiful woman to be one of the most powerful kunoichi to ever exist. At least, most people wouldn't. Konoha seemed to have a streak of pretty women being absurdly strong. Naruto was no pervert, not in the past, and especially not now. But he couldn't deny the directions his thoughts were taking. "Hey Mei-chan," he said, fighting back a slight blush. "Let's go," she exclaimed happily, walking past Naruto and leaving him speechless. Later in the town, the two of them were walking through a small town that was about an hour away from their stronghold. Their base was so close because obtaining food and materials was vital, so close proximity was fairly important. At some points throughout their walk, Naruto and Mei would hold hands. Clueless as to what to do, Naruto just let Mei do whatever she wanted. That usually meant giving him odd looks and grabbing his hand, or his shoulder, or touching her hand to his face. At least he was about her height. It would have been really weird for him if he was shorter. As the state of Kiri was not too good, to put it nicely, the small town mirrored it. Families were torn apart from the rebellion and Yugura's laws, those with bloodlines slaughtered and the rest of their family living in fear. In this town, much of the murder glossed over it, but it did not stop the paranoia from reaching them. After all, many of them were afraid of what their Mizukage would do next if he already killed many hundreds of innocent shinobi. Like many of Kiri's other island towns, this one had beggars in the street and a bunch of old, some abandoned, shops along the road. "So this is what the war has done," Naruto broke the silence. "I prefer to think of it as a revolution, not a war," Mei replied, twirling a lock of her auburn hair. At the Uchiha's puzzled face, she continued, "I don't want a long, drawn-out conflict. It would only make things worse." Naruto mumbled under his breath, "Cause that's what happened last time." "What did you say?" Mei returned. "Nothing." When she stopped at a store on the right, it actually, on a closer look, appeared to be a restaurant. "This is where we're eating," Mei exclaimed. Her date, "This looks like some run-down, old place that doesn't even serve food." "Don't judge a book by its cover, Raiu-kun. You taught me that," dot she smiled at him. "I have to get married soon, before I grow older." Dot he said it a creepy look. "Oh, nothing," dot she grabbed his arm and led him to the restaurant. "Say, how do you like sushi?" Dinner wasn't anything special. Naruto, though a bit nervous, had opened up by the end of their date. Well, he opened up as much as it made sense to, hiding his identity and all. Thankfully, Mei didn't pressure him whatsoever about him being Kyuubi, as he said he was. In fact, she hardly pressured him at all. By the end of the dinner, she was resting her head on Naruto's shoulder. "I had a fun night, Mei-chan." She gave him a sultry smile. "Who said it has to end now? There's a hotel a block away." Naruto's cheeks turned so red that his mother, all the way back in Konoha, stifled a sneeze. "I think that's a great idea," dot pleased the very attractive kunoichi called. It suffices to say that they had a very fun night. Konoha, four days later. Naruto was beyond bored. Unlike his counterpart back in Kiri, this Naruto still didn't care much for anything. After the academy was over for the day, he would take long walks around the village and sit atop of his father's head on the Hokage monument. As a clone, he didn't know anything about the events occurring in Kiri, but he did know what was coming up. He heard his father's mumbles, often late at night, where he'd come home and complain about the Uchiha. It may be happening later than before, though it was happening all the same. The sad thing is, he didn't think he could be troubled by the tragedy occurring. He would have opted to save them all had it impacted him in some way, or if it spurred those who made his past life hell. See, this Naruto didn't particularly like the Akatsuki at all, and he really wanted each and every one, except possibly Nagato, to burn at the stake. Well, that was if he could put in the effort to do something. At this particular time, he was enjoying a quiet walk on the way home. It was around 8, the time his parents had expected him home. He did actually love his family. The need for a family was one of the things that persisted from his other life. Thus, he followed their rules, talked at the dinner table, played with his sister, and they let him be the same breeding bored, arrogant kid that he become. Little did he know that he already changed. He even went on a date, and this clone wouldn't in a million years. He opened the door to the Hokage mansion. "Hey, I'm home." "Naru-kun." "Naruto-nai." Two voices called simultaneously from the kitchen. The first belonged to Kushina Uzumaki, a pretty woman with scarlet red hair and a beautifully flawless face. The second was from his sister. In his opinion, she was dressed like a kunoichi to be, not that he'd admit that she looked it. Itsumi looked exactly like a younger version of Kushina, and the elder Uzumaki hadn't really changed much since her genin days, other than height, features, and overall maturity. "Sup, guys? I had a long day. Got any food?" Kurama rolled her eyes. "You didn't do anything. You don't even train. All you do is just walk around all day and act exhausted, then sleep like Shikamaru." "See, the Nara's know what's going on?" Naruto replied pointedly. Kushina decided to intervene before this got out of hand, as usual. Killing intent pierced the air as she took an authoritative and slightly demonic tone. "Itsumi, stop bugging your brother. Naruto, stop trying to fail the tests at the academy. Go ask your father to train you in something." "Sorry, Kushina," they both mumbled. "Sit down and enjoy my delicious ramen dinner." She smiled at Naruto. "Or you're grounded," were the words that went unsaid. Silently, Naruto sat down and watched the two women scoop ramen into their mouths like they had nearly died of starvation. He suddenly found his formerly favorite food far less appealing. As pure chakra, he technically didn't have to eat, but he had yet to go more than a day or two without eating at all. The front door opened just as the three were about to finish up. "Dad!" Itsumi shouted, immediately jumping up and running to give him a hug. Naruto could see that his father was clearly tired. His hair was messed up, more so than usual, and his eyes seemed unfocused, staring off into space. The red-haired child released him from her grasp, letting him hang up his robe and hat on hooks. Minato and Itsumi walked back to the table, sitting down. Kushina slid him a bowl of ramen, leaving him to murmur, "Ramen, really? You think it gets old?" "What was that?" Kushina whispered dangerously in his ear. "Nothing, Kushina," coughed whipped coughed Naruto coughed under his breath. The former glared at her son, who was busy staring off into space. In a finality that only she could command, she said, "Nobody will make any more of these comments at the table. Understood?" She was met with nods. "Now, Minakun, why don't you tell us about your day?" Minato tentatively ate a forkful of ramen, thinking it as snakes in his head. When he registered what his wife was saying, he put his fork down and yawned. "It was boring Hokage stuff. Nothing you guys would want to hear." Itsumi groaned. "But there has to be something interesting, too, Dad." The Naruto added. "What happened with that Uchiha stuff you talk about?" "I do not talk about that. It's classified information." Everyone raised an eyebrow in argument, making him hang his head down. "Fine. There was this really weird thing that I found out about yesterday." He continued, brushing a stray strand of golden hair from his eyes. The entire family, even Kushina, was silent in interest. "This man, Ryu Uchiha, is not really an Uchiha, nor is his name likely Ryu. A few months ago, a rebellion began in Kiri, and he became involved a few days ago. He killed over 2,000 of Yagura's men, then afterwards he was still stuck with his cover. We haven't had an Uchiha leave the village since Madara, and none of them are named Ryu." "Weird," supplied Naruto, hiding an amused smirk. "Why on earth had he chosen to use the name Uchiha as cover?" "Won't Itsumi add it?" "He must be super powerful, like you, too, Dad. And what happened then, Minakun?" The Hokage took a breath, preparing to answer his wife. When asked how he did it, he claimed to be Kyuubi. Naruto fastened. His sister exploded with a loud what. Kushina mirrored her daughter. "Yeah, yeah, it's an odd development, to say the least. Not many people go around winning wars, then claiming to be someone they aren't. This Ryu Uchiha is an enigma, and I don't know if he is a threat to our village or not. I'm going to leave tomorrow morning on a trip. It won't be more than a week, but I need to find out more for myself. The last thing Konoha needs is another super-powered Madara Uchiha running around and screwing everything up." Naruto stood up. "I'm going to my room." No one questioned the boy. He often preferred to be left alone when he got like that. As soon as he made the proclamation, he didn't wait for an answer, walking passively out of the room, hiding his inner annoyance at his real self. Minato sighed at his son's odd personality. He certainly didn't get it from Kushina's side, so that meant he was his fault. "So, Natsuchan, how's training with your mother?" "Kushina is evil, and I still can't even draw out a full tail of chakra." "You're eight, honey," Minato sighed. "Nobody expects you to have full control of the most powerful bijuu." Itsumi stood up, too. "I'm tired. Good night." That left the two adults, the blonde still toying with his fork, while Kushina had finished all of her ramen. "Well, Minakun, I know about the Uchiha incident that is quickly approaching." Did you? He was openly surprised, but upon thinking about it, it wasn't too surreal. Even his son knew something was up, but then again, Naruto was extremely observant, more so than a number of the genin that graduated recently. She leaned closer. "I can't believe that you're letting Itachi kill his entire clan for the sake of Danzo's beliefs and uprising." "Mikoto-chan and an uprising?" The feeling of the room suddenly grew far darker. "I have to do what's right for the village, even if that means leaving while Itachi slaughters his clan to chase some wild rumor about some Uchiha, even if I have to chase after an impostor while you fill in for me." Three days later, an army of 750, they had picked up some recently, was walking outside down a small path. They traveled in rows, four wide, headed by a woman with auburn hair down to her knees, a spiky-haired man with an eye patch, a boring brown-haired civilian, and a boyish swordsman with spiky teeth. They were the official and unofficial leaders of the resistance, respectively Mei Terumi, Ao, Ryu Uchiha, and Chojuro. Mei had given them a speech before leaving, assuming that they would encounter the enemy soon. Sure enough, as they reached a desolated site where the previous fight took place, they saw the enemy. Like a bunch of black figures over the horizon, Yagura's men were far more numerous, over 8,000, bumps under the tree line. The site of the first battle reminded Naruto all too much of his failure. The two armies approached each other cautiously, so they could get within shouting distance, both tensely awaiting orders from the commanders. The resistance fanned out, now only two deep, covering their entire side. "Yagura!" Naruto shouted. "Ryu," the man replied, his voice quieter, but it carried better. The two continued walking towards each other, standing no more than 50 m apart. "You have something of mine, and I'd very much like it back." "Is that so?" the boy-like cage chuckled. "And you have hurt these people for far too long," he added, just to back up his morals. Even Mei could not stop this war now, with all her sweet talking. He smirked, pulling a long hook staff with a flower on one end from a strap on his back. "Well, what are we waiting for?"