Naruto stood before the ninja, each with their eyes fixated on him, a burning fire of revenge burning within most of them, the silent promise of killing him, ever visible.
He looked to each of them, waiting for one of them to make the first move, and he wasn't soon disappointed, as the pink haired one threw several kunai, each moving rather quickly through the air. Turning only slightly, he carelessly batted them away with a wave of his armored hand, the one holding his flaming sword, using his free hand to catch the Inuzuka's kick to his ribs a second later.
He threw the girl off, ducking under Yoshihiro's hammer swing as he simultaneously spun back around, swinging his blade to strike the large man's leg, only to watch as sparks flew as his blade, wrapped in red hot flames, his sword met tempered steel plate instead of flesh. Yoshihiro growled moving to kick the boy only for Naruto to leap up, landing behind the Tsuchikage before spinning around again, only for his sword of flame to be caught by a fist of stone. Yoshihiro spun around, keeping his grip firm as he swung his own weapon with his free hand in a wide arc, aiming for Naruto's side.
To his and everyone else's surprise however, the blond merely raised his own hand and caught the hammers head, letting out a small grunt of effort as he tightened his grip over the weapon. Yoshihiro's eyes narrowed. He knew the boy was strong...but this was getting ridiculous.
The Tsuchikage then noticed a few, however slight distortions in the air surrounding Naruto and it only took him a second to recognize what they were before he was cut to pieces.
Vanishing in a cloud of smoke a moment later, revealing a log.
Naruto went to move but a shadow held him in place, his eyes traveled to the Shadow user, Chouji appearing above him a moment later, his shattered arm held in a tight sling Sakura had made quickly to get him back in the fight, the Akimich visibly fought against the pain as his enlarged fist headed straight towards Naruto. The blond allowed his eye to travel towards Shikamaru, who was again visibly struggling against the strain of keeping him still. The blonds eyes flashed a brighter red again as his killing intent flared. Shikamaru offered a moment of resistance before he collapsed again, leaving Naruto with only a single split second of time left to escape Chouji's attack as the Akimichi's massive fist slammed down into the area he previously occupied.
His speed made him seem little more than a blur as he made a mad dash towards the shadow user, ready to destroy what was most likely the most problematic of his opponents.
"Shikamaru!" He heard the faint cry of worry reach his ears but paid little attention to the fool's behind him, and focused solely on the Nara. When he was close however, he saw the shadow wielder smirk before he leapt straight up, the earth exploding beneath him a moment later, revealing the Yamanaka girl, a dark smirk plastered over her own features as she looked straight into his eyes.
She threw her arms wide open, letting out a loud screech, one that made Naruto stop his charge, clutching his ears in pain and even the nearby Shikamaru wince as the scream reached a level that would burst eardrums, there was a pulse of chakra from the girl before she collapsed, being caught by Shikamaru before she fully fell.
Naruto felt her presence enter his mind, growling as he struggled to fight her off, watching as his hand slowly went down to his kunai pouch. The others of the group watched on, as Ino's face contorted with pain as the last vestiges of her subconscious mind displayed the struggle her conscious mind was currently waging with the Jinchuriki. Each hesitant to attack, not knowing if this technique was like other Yamanaka techniques where the damage received in the vessel would damage the users actual body.
Naruto fell to one knee, his growls growing in volume as his hand tightened into a tight fist, and slowly, ran his metal covered thumb over the golden wristbands, releasing a bit of his blood through special openings onto them, watching as one of the five seals glowed and burned off before he gathered chakra, the burning feeling forming t the pit of his stomach and spreading out, a visible red haze forming over his body before it exploded outwards.
Ino's eyes flew open and she let out strangled gasp as her mind was forcefully pushed out, she arched her back before the tense muscles relaxed and she fell against Shikamaru, panting and sweating as her eyes, still smoldering with deep hatred passed back to Naruto who stood back up, red chakra receding back into the seal he glared at the two Shinobi before he shot forward, the rest of the ninja behind him giving chase a moment later as they tried to catch up.
Shikamaru drew two kunai, throwing Ino behind him as she had not yet fully recovered from the backlash of her own technique.
Close combat and speed were never the shadow users strengths however and Naruto was soon upon him, red flashed before his eyes as he put up whatever resistance he could.
In seconds the Devil King systematically disarmed the him and delivered five solid punches to the boy's face, stomach and chest before he grabbed him, and held him up by the scruff of his shirt, rearing back his blade as he prepared to impale the shadow user.
"SHIKAMARU!" Chouji roared, the fear for his friend almost palpable as he rushed forward even faster than before.
Sakura appeared at the Jinchuriki's side, Chakra scalpel in hand as she moved to thrust it into his kidneys, only for her to catch sight of a minor distortion in the wind and pulled her hand back in time to merely receive a minor cut on her arm, instead of having it lobbed off entirely.
"KAMAIKTCHI!" Temari suddenly yelled, launching her attack at Naruto's back, hoping to stop him.
Naruto calmly turned his head, before he turned around fully, hefting Shikamaru by his neck so the shadow user formed a type of human shield. He could easily kill the shadow user himself and get out of the way, but using him in such a manner would not only anger his comrades, making them clumsy and careless, it may also make the wind using Kunoichi hesitate in the future.
Temari's eyes widened. "NO!" she yelled, looking at each of her wind blades, she extended her hands, forming what little chakra strings she could and intercepted five of the wind blades, five that she knew would hit vital spots on the shadow users form. Sakura, since she couldn't see the blades as well as she could, merely vague distortions of the air wouldn't be able to help. And so she, along with the others could do little more than watch as the blades rush headlong towards the wrong oponent.
Naruto waited until he was certain the full gravity of what happened had sunk in, before he callously threw Shikamaru to the side, watching as he rolled to a stop, unmoving. Blades had sliced open his thighs, back, arms and legs, each wound bleeding horribly. Ino stumbled to her feet and rushed to his side, Sakura, giving the red robed Kage a wide berth as she did the same, leaving Naruto to face the remaining four ninja.
Chouji looked at the limp, unmoving form of his best friend, bile rose in his throat as he felt like throwing up, that feeling was soon replaced however by rage.
Blinding, bubbling rage which rose from his stomach, extending to every extremity of his body as he glared at the ninja. His anger growing with every passing second as he simply stood there, blade held firmly in his hand, completely uncaring...devoid of emotion, a blank slate, a void...a monster.
Chouji could barely see straight as he growled, slamming his hand into the ground, earth gathered around it, forming numerous spikes throughout his whole fist. He rushed the blond, not even registering Yoshihiro's cry for him to stop.
Naruto easily weaved around the attacks, watching as the large Akimichi swung his club like fist around in his wild attempts to hit him. Leaving several glaring openings in his defenses, one of which he swiftly took advantage of, appearing behind the Akimichi, his still flaming sword held firmly in his grip, held across his chest before he let it fall back to his side.
Chouji paused, frozen for a brief moment before blood slowly began dribbling from his lips, down to his chin, and down his neck, staining the clothing beneath his armor, which soon fell away, revealing dozens of large, cauterized gashes across his chest, stomach, ribs, and back. Injuries that did not take a genius to deduce what produced them. The large Ninja fell to his knees, before he fell to the floor entirely, his eyes closing as darkness overcame him.
"Foolish." Naruto muttered.
"Yeah you are." Came a familiar, cold voice from behind him. Turning he found Yoshihiro, before the man swung his hammer, intending to crush his skull with the blunt weapon. As the weapon smashed his head to bits, spraying blood and brain matter everywhere, it was no real surprise to anyone that the blond vanished in a cloud of smoke a second later.
"Katon: Kaze no Ryu"
The earth shook beneath their feet, and the ground beneath Yoshihiro slowly began to glow red hot, slowly growing in size and the old man only had a scant few seconds to react as he realized what was happening. Forming his hand seals and slamming his hammer onto the floor, creating massive spikes to form all around him before they each convened over him, forming a tight cocoon, a massive dragon exploded from the ground beneath his feet a moment later, the heat from the creature was by far the most intense any had felt before, and nearby wooden buildings nearly fifty feet away combusted along the edges closest to the rising flame dragon, wind distortions along its length around it made it obvious to Temari's trained eye that it had also been imbued with wind chakra. She swallowed down her fear, watching as the beast coiled and twisted in the air as it hovered over the city, the stone cocoon caught within its jaws, visible cracks forming along it as the heat dried the earth until it was brittle and the wind cut into its shell.
Hana, Temari, Ino and Sakura watched in fear as more cracks and snaps reached their ears, each praying that Yoshihiro's shield would hold against the assault, but to their horror, the dragons jaws snapped shut. Earth, burning red hot fell like the crumbs of a cookie from its mouth and smashed against the floor, picking up dust and crushing anything unfortunate enough to be beneath it.
The dragon of flame and wind roared again before it finally dissipated, but the heat did not. Much of the nearby buildings had been lit and the flames were now spreading throughout the city.
Footsteps reached Temari's ear and she looked to where the dragon had initially rose from, and found the form which would now forever be one with her nightmares, rising as if from the depths from hell itself, the blade still firmly gripped in his hands.
Naruto's hand suddenly reached out to his side again, stopping Yoshihiro's hammer strike with his bare hand, turning his head, he looked at the face of the Tsuchikage, a large chunk of the right side of his chest plate missing, along with several other deep gashes along his arms, legs, and one across his cheek, along with several burns marring his tanned skin.
Naruto roughly shoved the man off, making him stumble. As the Tsuchikage regained his footing he turned to Naruto, ready to defend, or deliver an attack, but it was too be for naught as the boy raised his sword and cut the air between them. "Bankure no shuha" He spoke the name of his Jutsu, watching as Yoshihiro's eyes widened and his mouth opened, releasing a cry of shock and pain before flames, swept over him, an explosion tearing up the earth at his feet a moment later, sending him flying back, earth met sky as the man felt the war hammer slip through his fingers, the heat, making his heavy metal armor feel as if it was cooking him for a moment before his form was finally thrown from the blast radius. He slammed against the side of a building, wood, brick and clay collapsing over him as darkness consumed him utterly.
Temari grit her teeth, settling herself in a defensive stance as Naruto turned his attention from Yoshihiro back to them. She spoke to the Inuzuka girl over her shoulder. "Hana, we have to pull back, summon your nin dogs to get everyone out of here safely."
Hana let out a growl shoving down the disgust in her throat at the thought of having to retreat from this monster again, but realized that indeed, as they were they would be killed, and her brother still needed medical attention, as did Chouji and Shikamaru. Biting her thumb she formed her handseals and soon three large, horse like dogs appeared around her in plumes of smoke.
"Get them out of here, I'll hold him off." Temari spoke again, taking a small, unconscious step back as Naruto began walking towards them again.
"I'm not about to lea-"
"JUST DO IT!" The wind mistress yelled as she grabbed a scroll from her pouch, unrolling it, its contents appeared in a plume of smoke, revealing another fan which the girl used to take to the skies. Hovering several yards above before she let loose with another volley of wind blades as Hana and her summons vanished.
With a wave of his hand, the Jinchuriki manipulated the air around him dispelling Temari's own wind blades before they ever got close. Allowing his eyes to travel skyward, finding her standing above another of her fan's, the first one which she still held firmly in her hands ready to release her next attack if need be. The Kitsune jinchuriki growled lowly in his throat, forming his hand seals while the blade was still firmly gripped in his hand. "Haseba!" He finished his hand seals, spinning once to his right, followed swiftly by another spin to his left, his blade dragging across the floor around him. Sparks rose from the ground around him, a perfect circle. He shifted his stance, spreading his legs wide apart, holding his blade somewhat behind him as his clawed hand was held infront of him. Faint wisps of chakra visibly flowing from his palm, down to the earth beneath his feet.
Temari watched, a slow feeling of dread crawling up and down her throat from her stomach. 'It cant be.' She thought with horror gripping her heart as the chunk of earth the Jinchuriki was standing on was visibly pulled loose from the rest of the soil, a perfect, semi circular chunk of earth rose slowly, picking up speed the higher it got and she was forced to accept, that it was being held up by wind power alone.
Her fan, was built for this sort of use, wind chakra flowed through, and around it easily, it also caught the wind easily, providing lift with relatively minimal effort, it was also very light in comparison to its size. To lift a chunk of earth, which depending on the density of the stone could have weighed anywhere from fifty to one hundred and twenty pounds with just wind pressure...it shouldn't even be considered remotely possible. The sheer chakra, and control over the wind necessary for that type of raw, brute force power was not even human. Not to mention the fact that he was not cutting the stone he was standing on.
Naruto rose high above the ground, never stopping in his accent until he was standing at eye level with the still shocked wind mistress.
Temari gritted her teeth, unrolling another scroll, making her large fan, which she used as her primary weapon disappear, before she unrolled another scroll. Two plumes of smoke escaping this one, revealing two, smaller bladed fans. These weapons provided a quicker succession of attacks, but much less power, it seemed her opponent was quite determined to meet her up close and personal, so she would have to hold her own with these.
Naruto stared at the wind mistress, glowing red eyes meeting fierce silvery blue before his form streaked through the sky.
Temari waved both her fan's sending more wind blade which were again, dispelled by the blond Jinchuriki. For Temari, at the sight of such a thing, her hope of any victory at all was growing bleaker and bleaker, if he could still dispel her long range wind techniques while manipulating such an extremely advanced wind technique to keep himself levitated, then this man was beginning to seem less like a human and more like the demon everyone claimed him to be.
So fully giving up on long range, she snapped both fans shut, shifted them into a reverse grip, and formed two, clearly visible blade like extensions, she allowed herself to glance briefly towards her friends, who were placing Chouji, Shikamaru and Kiba onto Hana's summons and could only pray that the Inuzuka girl would listen to her and run. The blade like extensions to her fan's were nearly a foot long each, she tightened her grip on them before she met his charge with her own.
Naruto unsheathed his second blade, and cut off his fire chakra from the first, channeling wind chakra into both blades as he met Temari in mid air, their chakra formed blades clashing with howling sounds instead of the usual metal on metal. Temari looked from the corner of her eye as Hana and her summoned dogs leaped over the buildings and made their escape.
Hana, with Ino's help, heaved Chouji's massive form onto one of her summons, Sakura placing Kiba onto another, Shikamaru was already on his own animal. She walked over to the animal who carried Kiba before she gripped his mane, and leapt onto him herself. "Get on, we're leaving!"
"But what about Temari!" Sakura questioned with worry as she allowed her eyes to travel up to said wind mistress, as the Jinchuriki also rose up above the ground, standing on a floating stone platform.
Hana growled, feeling torn between helping her friend and doing as she had been ordered. As she looked at the wind mistress, seeing her bravely stand her ground against the monster that had all but demolished them. She wanted to, oh gods how she wanted to stand besides her. But she knew that if she did not leave now, they would most likely be witnessing their last battle. And so, turning, she ordered her mount to ride off, at full speed, praying that her wind wielding friend would indeed be able to catch up to them later.
Temari let out a startled cry as Naruto swung both blades, she raised her own wind blades, gritting her teeth against the force of the attack, she tried to hold her ground, but soon, the sheer power behind the Jinchuriki's swing threw her off her standing platform.
"Katon: Ryuuka!" Naruto spoke before he blew out a stream of fire through his mask, which quickly took up the form of three fire dragons which dived straight down to the ground, dispersing as they made contact in the unwavering surface, spreading fire throughout the whole courtyard at their feet.
Temari's eyes widened in momentary panic as she beheld the sea of flames she was currently falling towards. But she soon recovered her level headedness and opened her two small fans before throwing them away, manipulating their trajectory with a mixture of wind manipulation and chakra strings, placing them beneath her feet where she manipulated the air again and was soon hovering safely above the flames. She threw out another group of chakra strings towards her other larger fan which had also been falling to the inferno below before she yanked it towards herself, catching it from the air, snapping it open before she replaced it with the fan's at her feet and looked back above to where she Naruto should still be.
But to her surprise the blond was not there anymore and she merely found the now falling stone platform. She didn't need to wonder where he went for very long as she felt a weight which forced her fan to shift suddenly.
Cold sweat dripped down her face as she swallowed a lump that rose in her throat before she hesitantly turned her head, daring to steal a glance behind her. Only to find the familiar red cloak and hood standing directly behind her.
Temari, ducked, narrowly avoiding the blade that passed over her head as she did, she spun around on her heel, her foot approaching the rather precarious edge of the fan as she did, attacking with an upwards slash with one of her wind blades, which was blocked by Naruto's own. The Jinchuriki raised his other blade over his head, and swung, bringing it down on the wind mistress, who quickly raised her own blade to block.
The force of the attack forced her blade down however, eliciting a scream of pain from the woman as the razor sharp edge sliced deep into her shoulder.
She didn't have too much time to focus on it however, as a kick connected harshly with her side, throwing her off her fan and into the tiled roof of a second story building nearby. The Suna Kunoichi rolled onto her stomach, painfully picking herself up, ignoring the blood that escaped her lips as she painfully gripped her side, her ribs were probably bruised from that last hit, breathing was becoming painful and the blood loss, from her shoulder, which was nearly twice as bad as it would normally be due to the extremely, razor like sharpness of the blade, was beginning to make her vision swim.
There was a crash next to her, and she painfully turned her head, finding the familiar, leather boots standing above broken and cracked roof tiles.
Naruto watched the kunoichi for a moment, observing her labored breathing and trying to identify the vague familiarity he felt as he looked at her, he really couldn't place it. But decided that because she fought and showed such familiarity with those escaped survivors of the genocide nine years ago, that she was most likely from one of those families.
Paying it no more mind, the Jinchuriki raised his blade above his head again, ready to bring it down on the girl one final time.
But as his arm came down, there was a rumble beneath him, shortly before the roof exploded from beneath his feet, a pillar of earth throwing him high into the air, disoriented from the sudden attack. Yoshihiro suddenly appeared above him, his battered, bruised and burnt form breathing heavily. None the less he reared his hammer back and with a mighty swing, slammed it into the flying form of the Kyuubi jinchuriki, sending him plummeting towards the earth, or rather towards another building which the blond plowed right through. Yoshihiro formed several quick hand seals, strapping the hammer to his back before several fireballs formed in the palms of his hand. Pitching them into the hole the Jinchuriki made into the building, watching as a glow from within grew brighter and brighter before it exploded outwards, crumbling the building to dust as the attack enveloped it in a massive fireball. The Tsuchikage landed next to Temari, ignoring the pain coursing through his body as he lifted the girl to her feet, holding her until her legs again supported her standing form. "Get outa here kid, I'll hold him off."
"Bu-"
"No buts, this was Iwa's fight, never yours to begin with." The old man spoke firmly. Temari nodded weakly before she unrolled the scroll holding another spare fan. Stepping onto it, as she sent one last glance to the old Tsuchikage before she took back to the skies leaving the trade city of Sakai behind.
Soon after she was gone the Tsuchikage was forced to shield himself from flying debris as a massive, freak tornado blew through the area where he had thrown the Kyuubi Jinchuriki. Yoshihiro tensed as he unclasped his hammer from his back again taking up his fighting stance as he prepared for the Kyuubi Jinchuriki to emerge from the smoldering rubble.
But Naruto did not emerge from the collapsed building, instead the blond exploded from the floor behind the Tsuchikage, wood and shattered tiles flying everywhere as twin, wind empowered scimitars were already mid thrust.
Yoshihiro's eyes widened in alarm, realizing too late that the ninja had merely used the tornado and debris as a diversion, he wouldn't have time to dodge or replace himself with something. Gritting his teeth, the Tsuchikage closed his eyes, awaiting the inevitable pain.
He was not disappointed, as blinding, white hot fire exploded from his back and chest as two blades pierced him through and through. Coughing up blood the Tsuchikage tried a blind swing behind him with his hammer, only for the weapon to be kicked out of his now feeble grip as Naruto twisted the blades within him.
The blond, though he would never admit it, was impressed with the Kage. Unlike what he had previously seen from the Kage of Kiri and the leader of Kusa Zaraki, this man was not only strong he also placed the lives of his ninja before his own. He reminded Naruto of Sarutobi somewhat, who would also rather be the first to die than to abandon any of his ninja. He had seen him let the blond Kunoichi escape, opting to stay behind himself, and even when he ordered the retreat, he could have easily left his top Anbu or some other lieutenant behind to pick up the slack, instead he had chosen to stay behind himself. Not only that, for a man his age he was incredibly durable, being able to withstand two of his more damaging techniques, as well as two swords in him and he still was not dead.
Yoshihiro let out a dry chuckle, blood spilling from his lips, down his chin and unto his chest. "Damn, aint this a bitch, I developed a technique in preparation to face you, but I never got a chance to use it." He looked over his shoulder, his bloody teeth making themselves known as he smiled at the Jinchuriki. "Well...I guess...if I gotta die, its nice to know I'll be killed by the man who sought out to conquer the world."
Pulling out his blades, Naruto let the old man fall to the tiled floor in an armored heap, groaning slightly in pain. Naruto walked forward, placing himself to the old mans side where he'd be able to cut his head off easier.
But before he ever made the attack, a battle cry behind him brought his attention away from the downed Kage. Spinning back around he blocked a spear thrust delivered by another Iwa ninja, this one with similar armor to Yoshihiro, but certainly much younger than the Kage. Several more Anbu arrived around him, each throwing down smoke bombs. Naruto knew what they were after, and let them have it, it made no real difference now. Iwa would be his in a matter of days. As the smoke cleared Naruto watched the Iwa Anbu leap back over the wall, their leader carried with them before he turned and began walking back to his own camp. This battle was done, he was the victor and even though Yoshihiro put up an impressive last stand, he too, fell, and Naruto was now one step closer to fulfilling his ambition.
Yoshihiro chuckled some more, coughing up even more blood as he was carried over the rooftops. A slow drizzle of rain beginning to fall over the city.
"Don't worry uncle, we'll get you back to Iwa soon." Toyohisa spoke at his side comfortingly. Yoshihiro looked to his nephew and was about to chastise him over his stupidity when he saw the boys eyes. Soft brown eyes that grew hard with determination as he rushed forward, spear held firmly in hand.
He looked every bit the Shinobi Yoshihiro had always wanted him to be.
The old man smiled nodding to himself before he let his head to slump forward, darkness creeping over his vision as he allowing himself to close his eyes. He could rest now...
Meanwhile in Kumo.
Yugito sighed in contentment as she laid along the length of a tree branch, one arm hanging limply off the edge as she rested her head on the other.
"You know, for someone who claims they're nothing like their tenant, you certainly don't make much of an effort to live up to that." Came Akina's voice as she finished her warm up exercises, walking over to the tree and standing under Yugito.
The Nibi Jinchuriki scoffed. "Oh shut up." Indeed, her likeness to her tenant was a sensitive subject to her. Her ears were pointed, and her green eyes held a strange edge or glint to them which could seem very similar to that of a cat, as well as her larger than normal fangs. These distinguishing features, which to many men would make her seem exotic and all the more beautiful, were often subjects of children's teasing's when she was younger, and so were a very sensitive point for her. But still, resting above treetops and...essentially cat-napping was one of the few indulgences she would admit most likely came from her feline tenant.
Akina smirked, ready to tease her a bit more when a messenger suddenly ran up to them, breathing heavily. "Yugito-san, Akina-san. Rikage-sama requests your presence immediately."
Yugito groaned, leaping off the tree and landing next to the other two as she looked to the messenger. "Did sensei say what he wanted?"
"Is it another scavenger hunt or training regiment?" Akina questioned as she bit back a groan. Zhuge Liang had a very interesting way of training them both physically and mentally. He would not allow them to eat, unless they completed the training. The scavenger hunts were a series of riddles, which were all made by Zhuge, and so were very very complicated and difficult. Sometimes the two girls would have to go three days without food by how difficult these riddles were. His training regiments, whenever he came up with them, never had them starving but it made them beg for a scavenger hunt when he gave them. Obviously, neither option was one the girls would be overly exited about.
The messenger shook his head. "No I don't think it-"
His statement was cut off as a three pointed scythe skewered him through and through, entering through his upper back and exiting through his chest, spraying blood in the two startled girls faces as the scythe was savagely yanked out his side, cutting the man nearly in two from the chest up.
The two girls snapped their attention over to the direction the scythe was pulled from, finding two men with black robes, red cloud designs engraved into them. "Fuck, I was hoping I'd be able to take out two of em with one swing." The one with white hair spoke, loudly to himself. His partner saying nothing as he looked to the two girls.
Yugito and Akina's mouths suddenly felt dry as they each quickly identified their attackers.
'Akatsuki.'
Naruto arrived shortly at the slightly damaged Konoha encampment, ignoring the rain that began to fall over them, slowly growing in intensity. The wounded were being treated on portable bedspreads along the street, under some cloths that served to shield them from the cold rain, by whatever medics they had, the recruits still fit to fight standing guard, all parted to make way for him as he entered. Many of the younger recruits staring at him in awe as he passed, mutters passing over the crowd, their voices drifting through the air and into his ears, unbidden by the distance.
"Its him."
"What power, he just forced Iwa to retreat over the wall on his own."
"They say he's the Jinchuriki for the Kyuubi no kitsune."
"I don't care what he is, with that kind of power its no wonder Kiri, Taki, Kusa and Ame are under him."
"They say he's the strongest ninja since the Yondaime Hokage, they say he cant be killed."
"I don't doubt it, I mean did you see tha-"
Naruto ignored the foolish muttering of the green chuunins, coming to a stop infront of Hinata, who's injuries were being treated by a medic, who was now staring upon him, frozen. Shino stood at her side, uninjured, Hinata looked back up to him, her blank pale eyes serious as she nodded once in greeting. "Naruto-sama, thank you for saving me earlier."
"Your thanks are not necessary." He spoke calmly, the deepening effect of the facemask making his voice, once again seem all the more hollow, sending chills down Hinata's spine. It had been so long since that cold flat voice was heard in such a way, even Shino seemed to shift from one foot to the other in unease.
Naruto turned his eyes to Shino, or at least seemingly did since one couldn't really tell without his eyes being red. "Aburame-san. Are you uninjured?"
Shino nodded. "Yes sir, from what my kikaichu have gatherd, Mika-san and Tenten-san are also uninjured, Toushiro-san is taking care of a minor injury along his arm."
Naruto nodded. "Good. Take your men, and advance over the wall, now that Yoshihiro is defeated, I want you to break their stranglehold." He paused for a brief moment. "Then break their necks." Before he turned, making his way out of the camp.
A few minutes later, several hundred yards outside of the camp Naruto stopped, allowing his yes to travel skyward, the dark gray clouds blocking out the sun, the black smoke from the flames rising to the heavens as cold rain fell from it. "How strange." The Jinchuriki spoke to himself, pausing as he reflected on the situation. "It rains, the very same day I return to the battlefield. Just as it rained the eve of your deaths." He looked down to the blood soaked gauntlet that covered his hand, as the rain slowly cleansed it from its crimson taint. "Is that you? Weeping for me once again, Yoshino?" He lowered his hand, reaching into his kunai pouch as he took out a butterfly pendant and red wood prayer beads, the gifts he had given them so long ago.
Flames danced before his eyes as he blinked. The same words he spoke to himself, and to their spirits nearly a decade ago returning to his mind, drifting through it like an echo in the wind. 'Flames consume only what can be touched. Your souls. Shall remain with me'
Turning with his blood red robe sweeping behind him he placed the items back in his pouch as he made his way back to the camp. 'I alone shall shoulder the sorrow. That is all.'
The rain fell harder.