The lost soul..

If one had ever seen a spark go off in a room full of gas fumes and gunpowder, they would describe the effect to be similar to the effect Zaraki's attack on Naruto had on these two forces.

With a snarl of anger Naruto snapped the Kusa leader's neck in two with a sickening crack. A second later the man melted into a pool of mud at the jinchuriki's feet. Naruto snarled as he turned his glowing blue eyes onto Yoshino's shocked features. The golden bracers on his wrists hissed and pulsed as the seals glowed red.

He unsheathed his second blade as he raised the first one, ready to deliver the killing blow this time. Yoshino snapped out of her stupor in time to grab the two chain whips resting on her shoulders, pushing chakra into them the small jointed areas lock together, forming a solid rod like weapon with tiny blades sticking out of the edges all around, the unconventional weapon became hard enough to stop his blade as she crisscrossed them in an X pattern above her, half of the whip was now solid, the other slack as they hung limply from her shoulders.

Naruto snarled as he reared back his second blade, but as he swung, it was intercepted by Kenpachi's naginata. He turned his ice blues onto the large man who met his gaze evenly.

With a heave, Naruto was shoved back as Kenpachi helped Yoshino back to her feet. The young woman looked back into Naruto's eyes, but when she did, she found nothing, no hesitation, no sadness, no regret.

There was only anger.

Anger and hate.

The blond's eyes glared fiercely at the two before he took his fighting stance, his voice laced with venom as he spoke. "So be it."

Kakashi's first instinct was to rush to Naruto's aid; however, before he could move forward in order to do that, numerous Anbu appeared, blocking his path. His eyes scanned over them quickly before he dashed, full speed as he formed his hand seals. The Chidori flared to life in his hand as he rushed one of the Anbu, the Anbu raised his sword in a futile effort to hold off the attack as Kakashi was moving to fast to dodge perfectly.

However, to his surprise instead of plunging the lightning blade into his chest, Kakashi leapt up, landing on the mans shoulders and using him as a spring board to lunge even further into the enemy ranks, heading directly for one of the two Anbu captains.

As Kakashi's form arched through the air, the cackling of the Chidori trailing behind him he looked to be little more than a streak of black and lightning before he plunged the attack in the captains chest, the roar of the thousand birds dying down, it marked the start of this battle.

Kimimaro's bones shifted under his skin, forming an armor beneath the thin layer of his flesh as he launched numerous bone bullets from his fingers towards the ninja that had just appeared before them, catching a few of them off guard.

The bullets punched through their chests, and shoulders before they retaliated by launching several kunai and Shuriken.

The bblades were shrugged off of his skin, barely even mannaging to scratch open centimeters of skin before they struck hard, unyielding bone.

His attention was brought to the area in front of him as one of the Anbu appeared, sword already reared back for a swing. The bone user's eyes narrowed before he threw a heavy bone from his wrist which slammed into the surprised Anbu's mask sending him reeling before Kimimaro appeared semi crouched in front of him, gripping the man's sword arm with his free hand he pressed the finger tips of his other hand against the mans stomach before he let loose another quick burst if bone bullets, filling the mans stomach cavity full of the tiny projectiles. As he moved to pull away however, the man's last clenching grip on his wrist tightened, stopping him from moving.

Kimimaro's attention was brought to his right as an orange glow reached him, revealing a Karyuu Endan technique heading straight for him, the fire dragons roar ringing loud in his ears as the fire kissed his pale skin with its terrible touch.

The heat was intense, he wasn't sure if he would survive it, fire was the only true weakness of his bloodline, while his bone armor worked on almost any other attack, the heat, as well as the fact that his armor had practically no air holes, made it very difficult for heat to escape should he come to close to it, thus, making it so any Katon jutsu that was too close would literally boil his organs from the inside out, receiving a direct hit as he was about to do now...well...

He began to sprout bones to form a cocoon around him, but he knew he'd never get it up in time; the attack was coming to fast.

Just as the blast was a mere twenty feet away, there was a flutter of green robes as Guan appeared in front of the bone ninja and slammed his hands on the ground, erecting a thick wall of earth in time to save them both. He looked to the Kaguya, he had experience with that clan, and had seen many of their abilities. "Boy, tell me can you shape your bones into a cocoon around yourself?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Just do it!" The older man snapped, though Kimimaro never liked taking orders from anyone other than Orochimaru, and now Naruto he complied and enlarged the bones in his body to wrap around him in a protective shell.

Guan rushed the now cocooned boy and grabbed him, with a great leap he went over the earth wall as the fire still roared beneath them he used his massive strength and hurled the bone user past the Anbu using the jutsu onto the group behind him.

As Kimimaro got in range his bone cocoon suddenly exploded, sending dozens of bone spikes everywhere, impaling most of the ninja before him.

The Anbu that had been doing the jutsu, stopped and moved to turn and help his comrades when Guan appeared before him and delivered three brutal punches to the mans chest, neck and face before delivering a savage round house kick which snapped the mans neck in two as the former member of the seven swordsman removed his sword from his back, holding it in a ready stance as more of the ninja charged him.

Ginchiko stood surrounded by her opponents, sword held in a ready position as she scanned over the group around her.

Suddenly.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

Four ninja suddenly flew over the woman and the spandex wearing Green Beast of Konoha appeared behind her, standing back to back with the Kiri ninja he flashed his signature smile that managed to blind some of their opponents. "Do not worry my fair Ginchiko, I will protect you with my life."

She didn't have time to dwell on it her "rescuers" strangeness, though as the ninja surrounding them charged.

She twirled her sword once, catching one of the ninja in the eye as Gai kicked another of their opponents with a solid straight kick.

She followed up with a spinning movement, in which she elbowed one ninja in the gut, making the man lean forward. Gai used him as a spring board to do a split kick catching two ninja that were approaching behind her in the face with enough force to shatter their facemasks. as she sliced the neck of the ninja she hit with a clean swipe of her sword.

She formed a quick series of hand seals slamming her palm down on the floor where a small circle of yellow lightning shot up around her. The compressed shockwave of the attack was enough to knock down two ninja that rushed her, but not enough to disturb Gai as the man delivered an expert drop kick onto another man's skull, possibly crushing his head down into his spinal column.

Ginchiko saw two more Anbu approaching him with their swords drawn. "Hey!" She called the leaf jounin, he snapped his attention to her as she threw him the sheathe of her sword.

He caught it deftly and as soon as his feet touched the ground he spun around smashing the wooden club like weapon into the face of one Anbu before turning and with two quick movements knocked away another one's blade and hit him over the head with enough force to give him a concussion before shifting the weapon in his grip and held it so it went up to his elbow and cocking his arm back he smashed the end of the wooden weapon into the center of the man's upper body right into his solar plexus.

Two more were coming up behind him and he ran forward, away from them and towards Ginchiko as she stabbed another ninja in the stomach.

She noticed him coming, and leaving her blade impaled in the man's stomach rushed towards him, he lowered himself so he was almost hunching and she leapt on his back, before making another acrobatic leap, taking out two kunai as she twirled in mid air with the expertise of a long time gymnast as she landed between the two Anbu behind Gai and threw the two kunai which pierced them both at the sides of their head, right where the temples were.

Gai skidded on his knee's to her sword arching himself backwards so he went under it and grabbed the blade as he passed, before placing both his hands over his shoulders so they toughed the ground and pushed himself up in something akin to a spinning break dancing move, kicking one ninja twice in the face before he raised the hand gripping the sword in his spin and slashed him across the stomach before he flipped to his feet.

He turned to Ginchiko as she stood and offered another bright smile.

Naruto ducked and weaved; avoiding three quick slashes delivered by Kenpachi as the Taki leader wielded his Naginata with the experience, precision and speed of a man who knew his weapon. The blond Jinchuriki seized an opening and delivered a fast kick which sent the man skidding back.

Naruto had no time to continue as the Kusa leader Zaraki quickly took the man's place forming his hand seals he yelled out. "Raiton: Hekireki no Dagan" before many small lightning bolts began to shoot out from his palm and fingers Naruto quickly dodged and weaved out of the way as he formed his own hand seals. "Katon Gokakyuu!" He yelled as he breathed out a large stream of fire making the man cease his attack and leap back.

The blond heard the slight shift in the air and raised his hand in time to block one of Yoshino's chain whips. The metal weapon wrapped around his armored wrist and forearm as she formed some more hand seals. "Shishi sotei no jutsu"

Naruto looked down and saw the grass grow beneath his feet and wrap around his legs and free arm, he grunted as he tried to struggle free, focusing some more, he realized that this was nothing more than a Genjutsu. Just then, Guan and Zaraki appeared in front of him, at a distance of about thirty feet of him, each forming different hand seals. The genjutsu had too many layers, he wouldn't be able to undo it in time.

As if to accentuate his discovery his other two opponents finished their hand seals and each called out.

"Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu"

"Fuuton: Hitofuki no Ken"

The two attacks merged, forming an even more powerful fire dragon, it was so hot he could actually 'feel' the burn from a distance of almost twenty feet. He grit his teeth and snarled as his eyes flashed beneath his hood.

Thinking fast, he gripped the whip that held his arm in place and sent wind chakra into it, Yoshino, noticing the immediately difference in the feel of her weapon, released her grip and leapt back just as the whip was sliced to ribbons.

Now with his hand free, Naruto lowered it until it was almost down to his calf. Charging up as much wind chakra as he possibly could he reared back his hand and when the dragon was only about ten feet away, he punched with a hard uppercut motion, creating a huge gust of wind which diverted the flames above him, even so, they burnt off his hood, just a testament to how close he had come at that time. He was lucky, wind may not be able to 'beat' fire but it could divert it.

Before he had a chance to undo the illusion however, Kenpachi charged him, the man, for his size, was definitely very fast. Naruto moved to unsheathe his swords, which he had sheathed before due to an exchange of jutsu, but before it was even half way out of the sheathe, Kenpachi slammed into him with the strength of a bulldozer, Naruto coughed and gasped for air, and 'heard two distinct snaps, indicating that two of his ribs indeed did break from the no doubt chakra empowered blow.

When Kenpachi stopped Naruto kept moving, his back skidding against the earth, kicking up dust before he managed to flip over to a kneeling position, his claws digging into the ground as another griped his chest, over the now broken ribs.

The tree coalition leaders looked around the battlefield. Watching as their men fell to powerful ninja's like Kakashi, and two of the seven swordsmen, Zaraki called to his army. "FALL BACK! FALL BACK!"

Naruto snarled, standing as he glared at Yoshino and Kenpachi, the woman avoided his hateful gaze as Kenpachi met it, this time with eyes that may have even been slightly apologetic before they each began to ran back to the fortress of Nanao.

Naruto snarled, and his generals soon appeared before him.

"Orders sir?" Guan questioned as he shifted his one remaining eye to him.

Naruto's eyes narrowed, cold fury shone through brightly now that everyone could see his features as they were not obscured by the hood. However, Kakashi and Guan caught another emotion in his eye, one that came and went so quickly they wondered if they had ever even seen it at all.

When his voice came out, it was cold, flat, but a dangerous undertone of anger was laced in there as well. "I want this placed burnt to the ground by nightfall."

As the heavy Iron and wooden gates slammed shut with a great boom Kenpachi turned and with a swift punch nailed Zaraki right in the face, sending him slamming into a stone wall. "You fool!" The Taki leader roared, losing his normally level headed composure as Kusa ninja and Anbu appeared between himself and their downed leader. "Why the hell did you do that!"

Zaraki waved off his men as he slowly stood, a small crack going along the eye of his dragon mask. "I did what I felt was right. He had let his guard down and I attacked."

"That boy..." Kenpachi growled. "Never lets his guard down, this isn't like any enemy you've ever faced before, he is a force of nature, possibly one of the few 'Living' natural disasters if he so choose to be and now our only hope for our men's survival you have squandered on your foolish overconfidence!"

"If I hadn't attacked he would have killed Yoshino and then attacked us regardless! Zararaki roared back with equal ferocity.

"You don't know that for certain!" Kenpachi said as his lips settled into a thin grim line.

"And what you do?" He shot back.

"Yes." Came the voice of their forgotten comrade as she spoke up, looking at Zaraki through angered eyes. "He may have killed me, but I know for a fact that if he did so he wouldn't have attacked our men."

"And you base this on what? The fact that you seem to have known him at some point? Thanks lady Yoshino" The title was spit out with much sarcasm."But your opinions matter little since the both of you failed to mention that you had some kind of personal history with this boy."

"That is irrelevant at this point." Kenpachi spoke forcefully. "Right now, our only hope is to attempt to appease Naruto-san again, this time, only myself and Yoshino will go with our men, you stay here." He practically snarled the last order as he turned back to the gate. As he was about to yell to the gate guard to open the gate Zaraki unsheathed his blade and pointed it at him. "You're not going anywhere." He snarled out as Taki and Ame ninja unsheathed their weapons.

"What would be the point of keeping us here Zaraki?" Yoshino spoke calmly from her place, making the Kusa leader point his sword at her.

"For all I know this could have all been some elaborate plot by the two of you and that kid. Now you expect me to calmly let you guys walk out of here with your men so that he can take you all in and then attack just me and my Kusa ninja? What the hell do you think I'm stupid?"

"You're a delusional fool." She shot back narrowing her eyes as she fingered her remaining whip.

Zaraki snarled before Kenpachi spoke. "Calm yourselves both of you."

Zaraki then pointed his blade at him. "Shut up old man, none of you are leaving me and my men here to die, even if I have to kill you all myself.

Kenpachi narrowed his eyes. "Put that weapon away boy, before you hurt yourself."

Several hours later Naruto, already healed from the light injuries he received in the previous skirmish sat in his tent his mind going over the short reunion, if it could be called such, as he rested his head on his fist, blond spiky hair framing his features and shadowing his eyes from view as the bracers glowed with red chakra and hissed eerily from his wrists.

When one of the chuunin entered his tent, Naruto was surprised at what he stated. "Naruto-sama! Nanao's gates are opening again!"

The bracers misty glow faded as he turned his eyes onto the chuunin, who pointedly avoided his gaze as he bowed. He swiftly stood, nearly knocking his chair back before he walked around the man and out of the tent, the sun was already setting and the men were scrambling to their battle positions, no doubt because of this latest development.

"So they have not made any move at all since the gates opened?" Naruto found himself questioning Kakashi as the man stood next to him. The silver haired jounin shook his head.

"Not one. Its strange but I don't even see their men on the walls."

"Hn..." Naruto grunted before he turned to a chuunin. "Bring me one of the Hyuuga, a strong one with good range with his Byakugan."

The man hastily bowed and rushed off.

Kakashi turned his visible eye onto his blond commander. For the last few hours the only real topic of conversation among both the generals and the soldiers was simple.

"What was Naruto's history with the Taki and Ame leaders?"

Indeed it was a question that plagued even him, and he usually didn't give a flying fuck about other people's histories.

He was hesitant to speak on it. Hell. Who wouldn't be? He was arguably facing one of the most dangerous ninja in the world, and questioning this ninja on an apparently sensitive aspect of his past.

A few minutes past in which the silence around them became almost oppressive, during which time Kakashi managed to gather his courage and was about to open his mouth to speak when...

"You summoned me, Naruto-sama?"

'Damnit'

Naruto turned to a Hyuuga clan member that had been brought and nodded before he pointed to the fortress. "Tell me, what do you see?"

In silent understanding the man nodded and activated his Byakugan, after a brief moment, confusion and suprise graced his features. "They're...kneeling?" He squinted trying to get a better look.

"What do you mean?" Naruto questioned.

"I mean just that, all the ninja are kneeling, weapons laying in front of them? They're unarmed sir, and I see no ninja that could be hidden in the buildings or Genjutsu."

Naruto's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Kakashi shifted his eyes back to Naruto before he spoke. "What are your orders?"

The blond's features visibly tightened. "Assemble your men Kakashi, we're moving in, be ready for anything."

The copy ninja inclined his head before he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

It was only about twenty minutes later that Naruto found himself standing in front of the open gates, dozens of leaf ninja stood behind him, all tensed and ready to fight at a mere moments notice.

He could see from his place outside the gates that ninja were indeed kneeling, all of them at the edges of the streets within the walled city, their weapons, armor, masks, scrolls and other ninja accessories, all laid out in front of them, as if they were offerings.

At his hand signal several dozen chuunin climbed over the wall, receiving no resistance as they did so. Bounding over it, and securing the gate master as they did so, the wall itself also had a few ninja there, but they too were all kneeling with their equipment in front of themselves.

"ALL CLEAR." He heard one of the chuunin shout from the top.

The blond nodded before he craned his neck back to glance at Kakashi and Guan. "Be ready for anything."

The two nodded before they collectively marched into the gate, half a dozen Anbu behind them with Jounin standing behind them as more chuunin began climbing the walls.

As soon as they entered the courtyard his jounin and chuunin moved with uncanny efficiency as they confiscated the weapons in front of the kneeling ninja, however, Naruto was concerned mostly with the stench of fresh blood and death that surrounded the area. After a moment he realized that the only ninja kneeling before him were from Taki and Ame, no Kusa ninja...was it possible that there was dissension among the ranks? It would have been a foolish move, but not entirely unheard of, it was why most large alliances fell apart as well, once things got crazy everyone was continually blaming each other for the misfortune and ended up turning on each other.

As he snapped his blue eyes onto the kneeling ninja closest to him he walked forward with heavy deliberate steps, wrinkling his nose in annoyance at the scent of fear that suddenly spiked in the air. He reached down and grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt before he hauled him to his feet. "Where are they?"

Immediately the man knew who he was referring to and spoke with a slight stutter. "Th-the city shrine."

His lips thinned at that.

Every walled city, even Konoha itself had a place of prayer near the center of the village, it was meant as an outlet for ninja, seeing as many in this line of worked, occasionally turned to their faith as an outlet to handle the pressures of their life.

He unceremoniously dropped the ninja before he turned and began making his way towards the shrine Kakashi and Guan following silently as the ninja continued to confiscate weapons from the kneeling Taki and Ame ninja.

As they walked forward the smell of blood and death became so strong even Kakashi could smell it. It was then that he noticed many bodies, lying on the side of the road, each lined up and covered with a long cloth, the Kusa headband resting above it, some more from Taki and Iwa as there had been dissension among the ranks then.

He noticed many other injured Kusa ninja lined up on the other side of the street, four guards set around them, the only Ame and Taki ninja with their weapons still present. As the Konoha Anbu appeared they hastily bowed and began disarming themselves as the huddled prisoners watched on with unveiled disgust.

Finally the reached a circular courtyard with five streets that served as its entrances and exits, a large open temple was all the way at the end of the circular courtyard where he could faintly see two silhouettes kneeling before the large gold statue within the temple.

As Naruto stepped forward he paused before turning to Kakashi and Guan. "No matter what happens...do not interfere."

Kakashi gave him a reproachful look. "What are you planning Naruto."

Naruto snarled as his fists clenched tightly. "Do not question me Hatake." He snapped at the older man making the copy ninja take a step back. The boy then turned and with heavy strides made his way to the temple.

As his footsteps echoed loudly in the eerily empty courtyard Naruto couldn't help the sharp pang that went through his chest as he drew closer and closer. Passing the wooden beams that held up the roof in the place of walls without a second glance as he approached the two kneeling figures.

His two comrades...

His allies...

His betrayers...

His enemies...

As he came to a stop, his final footstep seemed to echo from the pillars that held up the temple, he watched as Kenpachi bowed to the statue again before he slowly lit some incense on one of the many candles laid out before him before he placed it in its proper place.

"This seems familiar does it not Naruto-san? All three of us here...standing side by side again."

"Enough Kenpachi." He growled at the pious man. "What are your intentions?"

The older man sighed as he slowly stood, picking up his naginata as he did so, Yoshino following his example after a brief moment.

When they turned to face him, he could see their veiled sadness, the silent apology in their eyes, and the regret in their souls. They knew, and he knew that they knew, that at this point, he would not accept their surrender. He would not pardon or disregard their betrayal.

"We decide this through battle, you against us. If we win then you leave Taki and Ame, you'll leave us alone and we shall leave you alone... if you win...you may have your revenge on us."

"And why should I even accept these terms? My men already have your men captured and your cities under our control? You've already lost everything. I stand to gain nothing."

Silence was his answer an infuriating silence which angered him more than their very presence, he wanted to fight them, he wanted to accept their terms, and what was worst...they knew he wanted to do so.

His eyes, those cold pits of ice that showed the equal coldness of his soul bore into Kenpachi's own fiercely, glaring to him with fury rarely displayed. The older man returned his gaze calmly, almost...as if with pity.

That only raised his anger more.

How dare he pity him? He was the most powerful man currently on the face of the earth, both on and off the battle field, he controlled 1/3 of the entire nation and this fool was PITYING him?

He turned his eyes onto Yoshino, and she met his gaze with a strange look of pleading. But for what, he could not tell.

Silently he unsheathed his blade, watching as Yoshino and Kenpachi hesitantly fingered theirs.

"Naruto-san please...please return home, this is not what Sarutobi-sama would have wanted!" Kenpachi pleaded with the blond Jinchuriki.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he growled. "Silence Kenpachi, you know nothing of what you speak."

However, due to the uncharacteristic display of anger Kenpachi knew that he had hit a sore point. "You do a grave dishonor to him Naruto-san. I know that a man as benevolent as Sarutobi-sama would never want this, he would never want so much death and destruction to fall upon the world."

"Enough!" The blond roared as his chakra exploded outwards, both Kenpachi and Yoshino noticed however the faint red hue around him that pulsed, flickering as if barely restrained from its escape.

Both of the Ame and Taki leader's eyes widened at the realisation 'He cannot control the Bijuu.'

Suddenly the blond vanished in a black blur and the two had to momentarily struggle to find him before Kenpachi spun around placing his naginata in front of him in time to block Naruto's scimitar. He grabbed the blond's wrist and twisted, Naruto grunted before he punched the man with two quick jabs to the face. Yoshino appeared at his side chain whip already lashing out to his throat, with his free hand he unsheathed his second sword, letting the chain whip wrap around it before he threw it to one of the wooden pillars nailing it several inches into the hard wood.

Kenpachi then twisted his arm even further, making Naruto drop his blade, the blond then delivered a strong downward elbow to the mans forearm, making his grip slacken. The blond leapt back as he swung the naginata in a horizontal arc.

As soon as his feet touched the floor he ran to the side, throwing kunai and shuriken, as Kenpachi and Yoshino both ran in opposite directions, returning his attacks the cloak that trailed behind him receiving numerous tears, slashes and puncture holes as the kunais grazed his skin and armor.

He caught the glint of steel from the corner of his eye as his discarded sword glinted from the floor, he leapt up, and leaping from one pillar to another, never pausing in his attacks of kunai or Shuriken as his two opponents ran at his side, having noticed his objective.

They each ducked, dodged and weaved, twirling in the air, blocking counter attacking as they continued their run.

Yoshino threw a kunai, Naruto noticed it, but realized that if he dodged, he would loose the momentum he had built up, and would never reach the blade before either Kenpachi or her, if he continued forward however, he would get hit in either the throat or the shoulder if he went fast enough, if so, then his arm would be useless until he could pull the weapon out and heal the injury.

Deciding to risk it, he pumped chakra into his legs and lunged, ignoring the sting of the blade as it pierced his armor and dug deeply into the flesh, scraping the bone with the very tip.

He extended his right arm forward and with a swift roll he grabbed his blade and got to his knees, but wasn't able to do more as Kenpachi appeared behind him, attacking with his naginata in a downward swing. The blond placed the sword across his back, a loud -clanging- sound reverberated in his ears as Yoshino appeared in front of him, with a kick already aimed at his face, he ducked his head as low as possible, her foot grazed the top of his skull before it came in contact with the back of his sword.

Naruto snarled as he craned his neck over and shoved the kunai down, and out of his shoulder with the metal of his mask, the sharp blade cutting his shoulder wide open before gravity let it simply fall. In reality, he had probably done more damage pulling it out than when it got in.

He felt Yoshino shift beside him before he snapped his eyes up to her and managed to catch sight of her chain whip before it latched around his throat. A strangled snarl escaped his lips as she pulled, the small blades on the whip pricking his skin as the whip tightened.

He felt small feeling return to his arm with mustering all of his will power, moved his half functional arm and unhooked his cloak letting the chain blade take the red cloth as it had grasped it more than him.

Then, turning he managed to kick Kenpachi's legs making the man stumble enough so he could roll forward and get to his feet. Turning quickly he barely managed to stop Kenpachi's next swing, even so the weight of the weapon and strength of the attack still sent him skidding back until he hit one of the pillars.

He grunted before he rolled to the side in time to dodge another swing which dug almost half way into the thick wooden beam.

He came back this time swiping at the man's mid section; however, because his weapon was lodged in quite well he was forced to scoot back, thus releasing his weapon all together.

Naruto then followed up with a brutal uppercut which sent the large man sprawling onto his back.

He stepped forward, but just then, Yoshino appeared in his path, her bladed whip transformed into its sword like state as she attacked with quick, light strikes.

He slashed at her with his claws, making the woman roll to the side, but as she did so Naruto reared back his leg and delivered a brutal kick which connected solidly with her ribs her air left her as a single loud crack reached her ears as she was sent flying down the length of the temple

She grit her teeth against the pain and reformed her whip blade back into a whip before she swung to one of the pillars using a slingshot like manuever, Naruto found the woman flying 'towards' him this time.

Before he could form a proper defense, her foot slammed right in the center of his chest completely knocking the wind right out of him.

Yoshino panted and groaned in pain as she hit the floor, Kenpachi appearing at her side. "Yoshino!" He called worriedly before a rush of chakra caught both their senses before a virtual wall of fire erupted from the place Naruto had been thrown to, spreading flames throughout the whole temple.

Yoshino ignored the pain in her chest and appeared in front of of Kenpachi, her hands already going through seals.

"Suiton: Suijinheki"

She yelled spitting out a large stream of water from her mouth, when the flames hit, the water boiled and hissed as steam rose into the air.

She sighed in relief when the flames died down. It was short lived however, as with a battle cry Naruto slashed through her wall with a wind empowered blade, her eyes went wide but she was only able to catch a blur of black before something hit her in the side of her head sending her to the floor in a daze.

Naruto attacked Kenpachi, claw and sword flashing with steel as the larger man struggled with his blocks without his weapon he was quickly losing ground and he would never be able to hold the pace the attacks were coming for to long, just then as if waiting for his fall in confidence an attack made it through.

Yoshino regained her senses and scrambled to her feet, and turned, but only in time to see Naruto's blade cleave a bloody, gruesome gash from Kenpachi's left collar bone, down to his right hip. Blood poured from the wound like a waterfall, coating the ground crimson as the man stumbled back, the flames dancing, taunting, laughing around him.

Reaching a pillar, he slid down, the blood quickly pooling beneath him as his breaths came in shallow pants and short gasps for breath.

"NO!" She heard herself scream as she moved to rush to the man's side. But a black blur was the only warning she had before a kick connected with her side, sending her to the floor in a heap, skidding several feet.

She coughed up blood as she got to her hands and knees; gripping her chest as pain raced through her body she looked up into the emotionless eyes of her opponent...

And felt her anger rise.

They had fought, but their hearts had never been in it. They had never wanted this fight. This was a fight they had to take; it was their responsibility as leaders of their village. They had never wanted this, and every time they had hurt him or hit him, she felt a pang go through her. She had felt pain with each blow she inflicted on him and she was sure Kenpachi felt the same way.

But him...he didn't feel anything did he? He had just cut him down with a merciless air and didn't even bat an eyelash...

How could he?

This...this MONSTER.

With a cry of rage and pain the young woman shot to her feet and rushed him.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise at her speed, she had not been that fast before...

He raised his sword as her chain whip clicked back into place, taking its bladed form as she visibly prepared to swing.

She streaked past him. As Naruto turned around he heard a cry, before a fully formed water ball technique slammed into his side, making him stumble back several steps.

As he struggled to regain his balance he saw her charging again. He dug in his heels and turned swiftly, his blade flashing as he swung, only to have her do a somersault over both the attack and himself.

He placed the blade across his back to block a swing she delivered in mid air.

She landed and immediately spun around, delivering a sweep kick which practically knocked his feet straight out from under him.

She got to her feet and tried a downward swing only to have Naruto flip to the side and quickly take a defensive position as she continued her furious attack.

He blocked a downward swing with his blade, however, using strength he never knew her to possess she practically shoved his blade down, leaving him open for a follow up attack as she leapt up and delivered three swift kicks to his chest he grunted in pain before he leapt back to get some distance between himself and his opponent.

He had been caught completely blindsided by her increase in strength. Just what had happened? Was it perhaps Kenpachi's death? Could she have gained the same kind of strength Ginchiko gained when Hidetada died? Whatever it was it was proving to be...troublesome...very troublesome.

She rushed him, her form streaking towards him in a blur of black, blue and white.

His eyes widened before he raised his blade again exchanging a quick series of blows in mid air before they both landed on one of the pillars, fighting parallel to the ground as they stuck to the wood with chakra He continued to step back, up to the roof as her attacks continued to come at a very fast pace, one that he was having a difficult time keeping up with.

She screamed in rage and her pace increased, Naruto's eyes went wide as even her strength seemed to increase, the jewel at her neck activating and glowing fiercely, the stored chakra being unleashed.

Her attacks were becoming erratic in her anger, but he could not bring himself to seize the openings in her attacks as she swung at him with an almost animalistic fervor.

Finally one strong swing made him stumble slightly, the momentary delay was enough as she slashed at his chest, the wound going from the right side of his chest, up to his right shoulder. He grunted in pain but his surprise was visible for all to see as the woman vanished and reappeared above/behind him, her leg coming down in a brutal axe kick which slammed against the small of his back. Naruto barely bit back a roar of pain as he was sent slamming into the wooden floor making it crack and break beneath the force of his impact.

He growled as he felt the metallic taste of blood in his mouth, he rolled onto his back but as he did so Yoshino suddenly fell on top of him, one knee in his stomach, the other foot stomping down on his wrist as she loomed over him, her blade glinting as she prepared to plunge it into his heart.

His free hand shot up and latched around her throat, but with an angry cry she grabbed onto his wrist and yanked him off, ignoring his claws as they cut her, just a few more centimeters and he would have slashed out her jugular.

She looked into his eyes and he into hers.

Her eyes were grief stricken, torn, tears glimmering over the orbs.

But she held them back as she always did glaring into his eyes fiercely. He could see her.

He could see her trying to gather her anger...her pain...her hatred for him...but she couldn't, it slipped through her fingers like sand.

Her features twisted, and with a strangled sob, her weapon fell from her grip clattering to the floor as her tears fell with it. She stumbled off of him, before she slumped against one of the pillars.

Something within himself twisted painfully at the sight. She had never openly cried before, she had always hidden her tears, her grief, her anger and her pain; she had always hidden them, or masked them.

He had driven her to this, and while a part of him said that he should not care, that it was inevitable another part couldn't help but to care.

He sat up, ignoring the pain in his shoulder and back as he walked up to her sitting form as she cried.

He didn't know what to do. He had never had any such experience with anyone and was at a complete loss.

After a brief moment of hesitation he spoke. "Yoshino..."

Her sobs slowed before she looked up to him, her pain and hurt, evident for him to see within her brown orbs. She looked into his eyes, those blue eyes that still showed only apathy as they looked upon her.

As she looked in deeper however she noticed something there...something that wasn't there before...

"Tell me why."

Silence was his only answer as she averted her gaze.

"Yoshino." He snarled. "Answer me...tell me why!"

She stood slowly, her form shaking slightly from the pain that wracked her small form.

When she spoke her voice was choked and heavy. "Tell me why you accepted our challenge..."

A heavy silence descended upon the two of them.

"Look at me..." he spoke breaking the silence with his commanding tone. Slowly, almost hesitantly she looked up to his eyes and gasped.

There she found something she thought she would never see within those blue orbs.

However, before she could properly identify it, the shifting of a figure behind him brought her out of her musings.

It was a Kusa chuunin, the man had managed to hide away in the shrine during the earlier confusion and had remained there, hoping to last long enough so as not to be caught.

However, with the ending of this fight, he could see an opportunity, to both avenge Zaraki-sama's death, and to gain personal glory. With the jinchuriki now distracted he could strike.

Removing a single kunai he licked the nervous sweat off his upper lip before he let the metal projectile sail through the air aiming for the junction of his skull and spinal cord for an instant kill.

Yoshino's eyes widened in momentary panic. Her whole body tensed she opened her mouth to scream but no sound escaped her throat.

Naruto heard the sound of the kunai approaching and turned his head back to look, he wouldn't be able to move quickly enough, apparently the chuunin had subconsciously changed his chakra into its natural wind affinity, and though it was sloppy it gave the kunai enough speed to get the job done.

He saw a blur of blank and white before the sound of metal cutting into flesh reached his ears.

He paused, his mind struggling to catch up with what he was seeing.

She fell; collapsing against him.

He acted immediately and took out two shuriken before throwing them with expert precision nailing the chuunin once in the forehead, and once in the throat. The man fell dead.

Naruto then allowed his eyes to travel to Yoshino as the woman was held up in his arm. The kunai had struck deep in her chest, she wouldn't survive long, already he could hear her slowly dying pulse and for once, felt a true, deep, sharp pain shoot through his chest as her shallow breaths reached him.

He knelt down to the floor, gently lowering her as he moved his hand to grip the kunai in her chest when her small hand gripped his own, gently...weakly...

"Stop." She breathed out. "Its already to late...you know that." She smiled, the corners of her eyes shining with unsheathed tears... "But even so, you were still going to try and that's all that really matters in the end."

His silence was one that betrayed his confusion, his uncertainty...

She slowly reached up, her hands shaking slightly as bloodloss began to take its toll. Slowly ever so slowly, she reached to the clamps of his mask and tried to undue them, but her strength failed her. As her hand began to fall away he reached up and gripped hers in his. Pausing slightly at his action he reached up and helped her undo the clasps, letting the metallic item fall to the floor with a dull clatter.

She smiled softly up to him caressing the jagged whiskers on his cheek as he stared down at her.

"I wish..." She began as the tears fell from her eyes. "Things could have been diferent...maybe...if we had never become the leaders of our village..." She paused as she coughed up a small bit of blood, her breaths coming in more and more strained. "Naruto...I...I'm sor..." Her hand on his cheek fell to the floor limply. After a brief moment of hesitation he moved his hand to grip hers. She weakly squeezed his hand before her eyes drifted closed.

He heard her heart cease in her chest.

A ripping pain tore into him, growing and gnawing on his insides as he continued to look down on her as the flames continued to spread...to destroy...to consume...

To create...

And he could only wonder.

"Why?"

The next morning.

Kakashi, Guan, Gai, Kimimaro and several Anbu shifted through the burnt and charred remains of the temple, soot and ash covered their legs up to their knee's as they searched through the remains.

"Look there!" One of the Anbu pointed making the group turn into the direction he was pointing.

They each rushed forward, finding Naruto's blond form sitting among the ruins of the temple, a perfect circle of uncharred wood around him. He was looking upon a Naginata stabbed into the ground, wrapped around it was a chain whip of sorts. On the floor infront of him were some prayer beads and a butterfly necklace.

"Naruto-sama?" Kakashi spoke up as he stepped forward. "Are you alright sir?"

A brief moment of silence before he spoke. "Kakashi, make preparations to return to your post in Kiri. Gai, you are to return to Konoha. Kimimaro, go and reinforce Ibiki and Anko."

The three mentioned ninja bowed before they each vanished in a swirl of leaves. Guan, the last remaining general hesitated for a brief moment before he spoke.

"Naruto-san. what am I to do?"

"Keep the men organized for now and simply hold your position."

"Naruto-sama..." He hesitated again. "What will you be doing?"

The boy slowly looked up to the cloudy sky as it rumbled with thunder. "I'm going to wait."

Confused by the cryptic answer the former seven swordsman spoke up again. "For what, Naruto-san?"

He saw the boys eyes closed as he took a deep he spoke his voice was...strained...

"For the rain..."

(Five days later)

Gaara sighed tiredly as he walked into his home. Again, more reports of the Konoha Jinchuriki's victory. Every day his people lost even more hope, every day his ninja lost more morale and his village more money as jobs went to the now seemingly more powerful Konoha village thus weakening Suna even further.

He trudged up the stairs with heavy steps and slumped shoulders. He found this job to be more exhausting than a field mission where one couldn't sleep.

As he passed Temari's room he noticed her door was slightly open, peering in, he found his sister sitting on the railings of her balcony, a worried frown on her features.

Sighing tiredly he walked in. "You should be asleep Temari." He commented making her jump a little.

She looked back to him then back to the full moon that hung from the sky. "I cant really sleep."

"So you've heard too then." He asked with a sigh.

She nodded slowly. "Its worrying Gaara.." She whispered after a moment.

He nodded slowly. "I know..."

Zhuge Liang silently observed as Akina practiced their meditation in the gardens. Yugito had been tutoring her long and hard on the proper way to draw out the power of a bijuu, the process was slow, but assured that they would have much more control over their actions than what they would otherwise.

When she had been informed of her status as a Jinchuriki, she had been, predictably shocked and had even at one point felt disgusted with herself that she actually shared something in common with the man she wanted to kill. But they had told her little else besides that, just that she was one of two children taken to seal the nine tails and that she had held hers in secret to both protect her, and act as a counter measure should the first Jinchuriki get out of control, which truly at this point, isn't far from the truth. It was manipulative of him, but it was a necessary evil, and one that had proven beneficial, for now added to the drive of revenge she also felt a sense of duty to defeat him.

He saw the red chakra slowly form around her, taking shape of a fox with a single tail as she struggled to draw it out by pure will alone.

"By doing this. I may even sink lower than you Naruto-san...however..."

The Raikage turned, walking down the darkened hallway as his eyes showed with his determination.

"We must prepare for the coming storm...and our best defense is currently...your own flesh and blood."

"Lord Yoshihiro please be reasonable! We must move now! We must stop those leaf bastards before they gain even more momentum! We must avenge the disgrace we suffered at the hands of that bastard the Yondaime!" The Iwa Anbu captain yelled slamming his hands on the table the Tsuchikage was currently occupying with his nephew and his new girlfriend.

Yoshihiro placed his bottle of Sake back on the table before he addressed the man in a calm but dangerous tone. "Kanemuyo. There is a time and a place for everything. And right now, I am celebrating the engagement of my nephew and his beautiful new fiancee. Most certainly not the time, nor the place for you to bring out your desires for war against the leafs. We will discuss this tomorrow in my office, the proper place to do such a thing."

"But sir..."

"Leave Kanemuyo..."

The man was visibly tense with his anger as he turned and stalked out of the sake house.

"Uncle." Toyohisa began warily. "Are you certain? Please, if it is a pressing matter then you should go. We understand really, we can just postpone this until tomorrow or something.

Yoshihiro smiled at his young nephew before he took another long draw of Sake. "Please boy, I've been leading plenty of wars before and believe me that after such a battle even the demon of Konoha will want a break. One day wont make much difference, if he cant wait then that's his problem.

"Still..." Toyohisa said hesitantly. "Don't you think you should take someone that's called the "Demon of Konoha" seriously, I mean you're not as young as you used to be.

Yoshihiro snorted. "Please, I'll take him seriously when I fight him, its not the name that marks the skill of a person, I've faced demons dragons, tigers and all manner of named ninja, and more often than not, they're all talk. I'll say that he is a demon when he bests "The Devil Shimazu."

Toyohisa shook his head in slight dismay. "Still going on about that name eh? You never did tell us how you got it."

Yoshihiro smirked before he leaned back in his chair, drinking more of his Sake. "Maybe someday."

"Five months later"

The Hokage tower, as usual was abuzz with activity as ninja of all kinds and ranks rushed up and down the halls, carrying messages, taking missions, giving out reports of successful or failed ones and so on and so fourth.

However, all that activity came to a screeching halt as the lone familiar figure of Uzumaki Naruto entered the hallway.

The reason was because the young boy before them was, but also was not the same dark figure they had come to fear and respect in these last few months.

In place of his blood red robe was a white one, in place of tight armor and ninja pants was a set of a white silk Hakama and Haori, in place of the hood was a single straw hat with white silk wrapped over it. The red Kanji for Hokage painted onto the front.

As he walked down the hall many couldn't help but openly gape, anyone would confuse him for a younger version of their late Fourth.

He reached his office and sat down on his chair. After a few moments a woman hesitantly entered placing a cup of tea infront of him as was customary for all the Hokage.

"Suzume." Naruto called out the assistants name making her heart leap into her throat. "What is the first order of business."

"Uh-umm." She stumbled over herself. "Uhh, verifying the reports of recent missions."

Naruto nodded. "Very well, bring the reports in."

She nodded and hastily left, closing the door behind her she struggled to catch her breath as her heart beat loudly in her chest.

Slowly a small smile formed on her lips.

"Perhaps the future wont be so bad after all."