Eroninja

“Kill him, and anyone that gets in your way.”

Hearing Hayate’s command, the dark guild members he had hired to help eliminate Baki began to surge forward. But, from Naruto’s perspective, it seemed to be in slow motion as he activated his chakra cloak and moved forward himself.

Time seemed to stretch on forever as he raced to his target, hoping that what he had planned would succeed in defusing the situation. Directing his gaze towards Hayate, he found himself reflecting on the brief encounter they had shortly before meeting up again, but this time with the woman that they both loved between them.

*****

He, Hana, and Tsume had followed Baki’s scent trail to a tunnel entrance whose steps led down to the capital city’s labyrinth of sewers. Confident that they were on the correct trail, he had asked Hana to go alert Kakashi and the others since based on the tracks leading down into the tunnel, they suspected that the Dark Guild, who they believed were targeting Baki, had also managed to pick up their trail.

Something they were able to confirm upon reaching the bottom of the steps, when a handful of daggers appeared from the darkened tunnel as they flew towards them. Naruto stepped forward to meet the projectiles, as he pulled the blade that he had taken from Sasuke during the battle of Ame and had worn at his hip to complete his paladin outfit. He easily battered the blades aside, while Tsume stepped behind him and dropped to all fours as she activated her Beast Mimicry. She then leapt to the tunnel wall, before then leaping to the ceiling and disappeared into the darkness as she raced along it towards their attackers. Naruto almost felt sorry for them as they made the mistake of focusing on him, since he heard a startled shout that had tried to alert them to the approaching danger which ended in a bloody gurgle, and was soon followed by the sound of two more bodies hitting the floor.

Although he had lost sight of his Inuzuka lover, he wasn’t too concerned since he heard a steady growl as he approached. Upon catching sight of her and the group that had tried to ambush them, he had a hard time not smiling despite the fact that three of the four lightly armored opponents were dead, and the fourth was pressing himself up against the wall while Tsume was crouched before him growling like a guard dog who had cornered a thief. A growl which deepened in intensity with the slightest movement he made causing the man to look as if he was trying to push himself through the stone wall.

Naruto whistled causing Tsume to relax, and almost immediately the man dressed as a rogue tried to take off down the tunnel. But Naruto easily caught up and grabbing him by the neck spun him so that he ran himself into the tunnel wall. The man stumbled back momentarily dazed, at which point Naruto grabbed him by the front of his tunic and as the man recovered his wits stated, “It’s rude to hit n’ run. Especially, without even introducing yourself. So, who are you, and what are you doing down here?”

“I ain’t telling you nuthin,” the man stated defiantly, “So, what are you going to do about.”

Letting a menacing tone color his voice due to Tsume’s growls faded as she returned to standing upright, he replied, “Probably turn you over to my lady friend for starters and watch as she plays a little game called, ‘How many cuts until he spills his guts?”

Tsume pressed herself up behind Naruto suggestively and reaching around his side held her clawed hand up between the man and her lover, which were still coated in his comrades’ blood. She smiled widely and ferally towards the man as she said, “And he isn’t talking about the answers to his questions.” She then slashed across the man’s stomach, splitting his tunic open, as well as drawing a thin angry line which sporadically beaded with blood. “My personal best is eight.”

All color bled from the man’s face as he realized what they were suggesting, and focusing on Naruto said, “W…Wait, doesn’t that go against your code or something. What kind of paladin are you?”

“A fake one,” Naruto replied coolly, “Now, I’ve answered two of your questions. So, you better start reciprocating, or we start playing.”

The man weighed his options for a second, before saying with a hint of pride in the name of his guild even as he surrendered his own, likely suspecting the name itself would cause his assailants to back off, “We’re the guild Eisenwald.”

Which lasted until Naruto stated, “Never heard of you. Why are you slinking about down here?”

Rather than answer though, the man replied, “How can you never have heard of us? We’re the greatest of the dark guilds. If you know what is good for…”

Naruto cut him off as he said, “I guess it is game time then.”

Tsume gave the man another feral grin, yet before she could aid in getting him to spill his guts in a more figurative way, she tensed as did her lover who suddenly pulled his captive to the side of them. Naruto then caught a knife by the blade with his gauntlet encased hand which had appeared from the darkness of the tunnel. The Dark guild member starred at them in shock and realization that the spot where Naruto was holding the blade had been occupied by his head moments before. His gaze then turned towards where it had flown in from to see a band of his fellow guild members being led by the man cloaked in white who had hired them.

Naruto’s gaze darkened at the approaching group as he focused on the cloaked man leading them who had tossed the knife, and stated, “Death is a rather harsh punishment for someone who hasn’t divulged any secrets yet.”

“Perhaps,” the cloaked figure replied, “But, truth be told, it was more a test of your abilities. You’re not members of the guild. So, what exactly are you doing here?”

Naruto frowned at the response, which intensified as Tsume moved to stand beside him while allowing her hand to move along his shoulder acting as if they were rather familiar with each other. Which admittedly they certainly were, but the act allowed her the freedom so that as her hand passed past the nape of his neck, she quickly traced the words, “Its him.”

Although, he doubted any of the dark guild members noticed, the man in white, and whom Naruto now suspected was Hayate thanks to Tsume identifying his scent, which smelled of death and earth, as being among those that had attacked Yuugao and Baki, didn’t. Still, although he was likely unaware of the exact message that she had passed, was alerted to it, particularly as he was already well aware of who he was dealing with as he stated, “Naruto Uzumaki, and Tsume Inuzuka. What is the Leaf’s purpose here?”

For a moment, Naruto was thrown as to how Hayate would recognize him as he had been thirteen when the first and only time that they had crossed paths had happened. Which had been when he had served as the proctor for the prelimary elimination matches that took place between the second and third round of the Chunin Exams that he had attended. Yet, he quickly realized it was a silly reaction, since the whisker marks on his cheeks would be an identifier for him, similar to the red fangs on Tsume’s. Although Tsume’s, he reasoned, shouldn’t necessarily have pinpointed her exact identity, although he reasoned he should be too surprised that a Leaf jounin would recognize the leader of the Inuzuka clan.

Still, he found Hayate question rather troubling, since by identifying them without revealing his own identity it was clear he was trying to knock them off balance mentally. Although, he was unsure as to why. Which, unfortunately helped man in white to achieve the desired effect, as Naruto began to question if he was even correct in assuming the man was Hayate, which began the domino effect of more and more questions being raised such as who was the man currently standing opposite to them, what Kabuto was even truly after, and most importantly to him, how did Yuugao fit into it all?

Fortunately, before his mind got itself too lost running in circles for the answers, Tsume proved harder to shake as she stated, “Congratulations, you have access to a bingo book. Or, is the knowledge of our identities more homegrown in nature? Hayate.”

The man reacted to the name as well as the confident way that Tsume had stated it, all but revealing his identity. Still, he didn’t bother to unmask as he instead replied, “You didn’t answer my question. What are you doing here?”

Naruto felt a surge of gratitude towards his Inuzuka lover for turning the tables, and putting him back on a stable mental footing, but it didn’t last long as Hayate’s question held the slightest twinge of the implied threat that if they didn’t give him an answer he would consider them obstacles to be eliminated. If he didn’t already. Still, with the answer of who they were dealing with all but confirmed, Naruto believed the hostility likely laid in Hayate suspecting, but hadn’t been able to confirm that Yuugao was currently defending Baki. This led him to believe that she had also hidden her identity and had perhaps revealed herself through her techniques. Which, as Hayate and her had joined the Anbu division at the same time, which had led to a competitive but friendly rivalry that had then blossomed into a loving relationship, meant that if anyone would be able to identify her simply by her fighting style, it would be him. Yet, Naruto imagined that the man was questioning his conclusion, as he didn’t want to believe the woman that he loved was standing between him and his revenge.

Of course, this put him in a rather difficult position, since he didn’t want to outright lie to the man. But, neither did he want to provide him with or let slip any information that wasn’t absolutely necessary. Particularly, since he couldn’t be sure about what information Hayate did have on Yuugao or her involvement. Not to mention, he didn’t want to put out anything which might contradict whatever stories his lovers back in Konoha had already put in place to try and explain Yuugao’s disappearance.

Taking a gamble, he stated, “As a result of Kabuto’s latest attack against Konoha, we’ve come to the conclusion that it was Baki who murdered you.” Naruto paused as the dark guild members surrounding Hayate all took a step back both in confusion, and fear. The fear, Naruto imagined was due to their not having much experiencing working for a supposed dead man. Although, he reasoned it could also be that working for a dead client wasn’t all that rare a thing in the Land of Ruins but didn’t generally work out so well for the who undertake such employment. Resuming his explanation for their presence, he stated, “As such, we were tasked with confronting him with this knowledge, and returning him to Konoha to stand trial.”

Hayate observed them for several moments as he weighed the truth of their words, before asking with a slightly hopeful tone, “Is that why Yuugao is protecting him?”

“Yuugao’s here,” Naruto asked trying to sound surprised, as he turned to look back towards Tsume. Whom he was pleased to see was playing along as she wore a look of surprise as well. They shared a meaningful look, which was meant to convey a silent conversation of whether or not to reveal more of their, ‘mission.’ After a moment, he turned back as he admitted, “I’m not sure. Yuugao disappeared during Kabuto’s attack. In truth it was her disappearance, coupled with some strange happenings in Suna which led to the current theory. Although, I believe that she does intend to bring him back to Konoha to stand trial for your murder.”

“That bastard,” Hayate said angrily to himself, “Why did he get her involved?”

Confident he knew who the bastard Hayate mentioned was, Naruto tried to push the deceased jounin into accepting that Baki would face justice, and help him find peace as he stated, “Hayate, please stand down. We’ll take Baki back to the Leaf where his involvement in your murder will be made public, and he will be made to answer for his crimes.”

“No,” Hayate replied definitively. Naruto felt a dark aura begin to arise from the man cloaked in white as he countered, “You should be the one to stand down. Konoha did nothing for what… six years. Instead of avenging those who lost their lives because of Suna’s betrayal, they swept those deaths under the rug so they could rush into a new treaty with the very backstabbers that tried to turn the Leaf to ash. Yet now as I stand on the brink of killing the son of a bitch that prevented me from warning the Third Hokage about the threat they posed, you want me to stand aside to give you a crack at doing what the village already showed it lacks the will to do. Forget it.”

“Hayate, we can’t just let you murder him,” Naruto stated trying to reason with the man.

However, Naruto’s further attempts to reason with him were quickly cut off as Hayate said in a voice tinged with anger and hatred, “Why? What right do you have to interfere? We’re outside the Leaf’s jurisdiction. All you need to do is go back and report that Baki was dead when you found him. If you’re worried about the political ramifications just say I was being controlled by Kabuto.”

“I can’t do that,” Naruto stated as he stepped forward, and drew the Sword of Kusanagi that he had taken from Sasuke during their fight in Ame. To his surprise, the blade felt warm to the touch, even through the cord wrapped handle and the metal gauntlets coating his fist. Putting the strange feeling aside, he added, “I know you have every right to feel hatred towards him, but still, I can’t just let you murder him.”

“Can’t let me,” Hayate repeated, his anger turning to a cold fury which was easy to hear despite the calmness of his tone. “What gives you the right to decide my vengeance is wrong?”

“Because you seek to murder him for nothing more than vengeance,” Naruto stated his calm tone reflecting his resolve, “You can’t even say the same about him, as you already admitted that his reason for attacking you was in conjunction with his duty as a spy within the village. I acknowledge that it isn’t fair, but he was doing his duty.”

“His duty,” Hayate roared as a massive spike of chakra and malice exploded forth from him, “His duty ended my life, and the lives of how many others. You dare to lecture me about duty. I already paid the ultimate price in the service of the Leaf.”

Shaking his head sadly, Naruto replied, “I know. But how many lives will make that right?”

“I’ll be satisfied with one,” Hayate stated before darkly adding, “But if you insist on pushing this, I’ll let you pay the same price as I and see how empty your words are when viewed from the other side.” Before, Naruto could reply a man dressed as a mage pushed his way to the front and whispered something in Hayate’s ear, who quickly turned away from the Uzumaki as he ordered, “Stay here, if they try to follow, kill them.”

Hayate then took off down the tunnel while the rest of the Dark Guild members barred his path. Which didn’t last long as Naruto summoned a small army of clones that smashed into those barring their path, and created an opening which he and Tsume used to disappear down the tunnel until they found a line of armored warriors who were strangely facing away from them. Not that it mattered as Naruto used a big ball Rasegan to blow them out of his way to reveal Yuugao who was in the midst of her own confrontation with Hayate.

*****

Naruto’s focus returned to the present as he neared his target and pulled a tri-prong kunai from the tool pouch he was wearing around his waist. He hoped the gamble that he was about to try paid off with a peaceful outcome to the impending conflict. But truthfully, he feared that it was already too late, particularly since Yuugao had also denied Hayate’s pleas for vengeance. Reaching Baki, the man was caught off-guard as Naruto wrapped an arm around his neck, at which point he tossed the kunai he held lazily upward before disappearing in a flash of red.

*******

Tsunade finished signing her name to a form approving the overtime being requested by the crews which were still in the process of repairing the damage done during Deidara’s attempt to destroy the village. Placing it in the stack of finished documents, she turned her attention to the tower of papers that she still needed to be reviewed most of which were related to the incident, and promised herself the next time she met Kabuto, she’d make him regret ever being born for letting such a psychopath loose in her village. Not to mention the days of paperwork that had been generated from it. Although, a part of her was somewhat grateful for the necessary, if mind-numbing work, as it did keep her from focusing on how she would handle the Yuugao situation. Most notably being whether or not she would allow the woman to remain as Konoha’s Head Anbu Captain. Granted, it would be a matter of whether or not she intended to take Baki alive, but even if she did, Tsunade wasn’t sure if it would be right of her to leave the woman in her position, and feared the reason she was even contemplating it was due to her being one of Naruto’s lovers, not to mention held a rather important position in their overall ambition. One, which if she was being honest with herself, she wouldn’t be able to fill with either Komachi or Taji despite both women being in the Anbu as well. The reason she imagined Komachi would be a hard sell, was despite how the woman now served as Yuugao’s second in command, she doubted many of the other Anbu members had forgotten her ties to Root. Furthermore, Tsunade suspected that many among the Anbu probably assumed Yuugao had transferred her to her squad to keep an eye on her. Taji also had a similar taint, due to her time being controlled by Furofuki. But there was also the matter of her age, as while in reality she was getting younger, on paper she was well past the age when most Anbu tended to drop out. Granted, if the worst came to be, she imagined that she could simply find another woman with the right credentials to fill the role, and then have Naruto bring her into the fold. However, she really hoped it didn’t come to that as she could imagine scenarios where it led to unnecessary drama where the kunoichi in question would be upset or loss confidence as she believed it would have been the sole reason for her selection to the position.

Tsunade sat back in her chair, and closing her eyes, she rubbed her temples to ward off the impending headache that she felt approaching, she also directed a brief flash of annoyance towards Yuugao for taking off half-cocked and playing right into Kabuto’s hands. But, another part of her understood, since the same could have been said of her having played right into Furofuki’s when she had abandoned Konoha after Dan’s death. She sighed and hoped Yuugao realized what she was in danger of losing before it became a mistake that couldn’t be fixed.

Her eyes snapped open as she suddenly went on alert, although she was unsure what prompted it. At least until a red flash appeared in front of her desk. She rose to her feet out of instinct, but as her mind began to process what was happening, she wondered if she was dreaming due in part to Naruto wearing unfamiliar armor in the vein of the fantasy shows that seemed to be growing in popularity. She felt a slight hunger awaken in her from the sight, but quickly shunted it away as she recognized the man he was holding. Her lover favored her with a smile, even as his eyes still reflected what she imagined was concern about the situation that he had just left, and which he was in a hurry to get back to as he stated, “Sorry, Tsunade. Can’t stay to explain. But I think you know what needs to be done.”

In a flash he was gone again, and while it was apparent that the situation with Yuugao wasn’t quite resolved yet. For the first time since Yuugao had disappeared from Konoha, she found herself believing things weren’t spiraling into the tragedy she had feared. Particularly, since one of the key players in it was now standing in her office. Giving Baki a chilled smile as she retook her seat, she said, “Now then Councilor Baki, how about we discuss where exactly you were on the night Hayate Gekko was murdered.”

*****

Naruto reappeared in the tunnel and caught the kunai that he had tossed just moments ago. He almost wanted to smile, as the mob of Dark Guild members which had been in the midst of charging them slowly came to a halt. The confused Dark Guild members first directed their gazes towards each other, before they finally began looking back towards their employer. Many of those closest to Hayate took a step away in concern as a darkness which was not wholly of the tunnels doing seemed to surround him.

Naruto took a step forward hoping to reason with him, but before he spoke, he was cutoff as Hayate asked in a barely suppressed fury, “Where is he?”

Despite the tenseness of the situation, and her trust in Naruto, Kashike mumbled more to herself that anyone present, “That’s what I would like to know.”

“Konoha,” Naruto answered, “Where I imagine…”

He didn’t get to finish as Hayate disappeared in a blur of speed which caught Naruto by surprise. Not in the sense that he couldn’t follow Hayate’s movement as he closed the distance between them, only in that he imagined even Lee and Gai would have troubled moving as quickly. Naruto prepared himself for the attack as Hayate charged straight at him, but suddenly found the path before him blocked as Yuugao stepped between them.

Yuugao while not able to track her former lover as he disappeared from view, had a sense of what he was about to do so threw her arms out as she pleased, “Hayate please stop this! It’s over.”

Naruto watched Hayate’s eyes, which he expected would soften as he recognized that she would be caught up in his attack. However, the opposite proved to be the case as something seemed to snap within the jounin.

Yuugao could just begin to make out the blur that she imagined was Hayate, and realized he wasn’t going to stop. She closed her eyes accepting of his apparent casting her aside and hoped her death would be enough to snap him back to his senses. However, she suddenly found an arm wrapped around her as she was pulled to side, almost like she was a dance partner, and heard the loud clang of steel meeting steel which reverberated throughout the tunnel. Opening her eyes, she found herself staring up at Naruto who was holding his sword up along his forearm blocking Hayate’s own blade which was still pressed against it.

Hayate began chuckling as he held a hand over his face, and began muttering, “I see. I see. That’s why he sent me after him.” He pulled his hand away, which caused Yuugao to gasp as the darkness which had surrounded Hayate’s pupils revealing his status as one revived by Edo Tensei were now a sea of red, while dark black veins seemed to spread from his eyes similar to when a Hyuuga was activating the Byakugan. However, unlike with them, they weren’t concentrated solely around his eyes but continued to spread throughout his body. However, perhaps more disturbingly to her, she realized that the darkness that had seemed to surround him when he had been standing further away, was actually emanating from him as his voice took on a cruel and mocking tone as he asked, “So, how long has this whore been sharing your bed? The way she threw herself in front of you, why it seems like just yesterday when I could picture her doing the same for me.”

Yuugao felt a swirl of conflicting emotions with the two biggest, being hurt at how he had just referred to her, but also guilt for her moving on. But the feeling began to melt away as a warmth replaced them. Which she realized was Naruto’s bijuu chakra as it burned a bright red as it coated her, which while to her felt like a warm blanket, must have felt decidedly uncomforting to those standing in front of him as even Hayate began to look uneasy.

Naruto pushed Hayate sword arm back before scooping Yuugao up in his arms and leapt several feet away. Yet, before he landed, he created three clones two of which appeared near Tsume and Kashike. When he landed, he handed Yuugao over to the third, while the other clones grabbed ahold of the woman that they had been next, at which point all three teleported away this time using the marks located on his lovers traveling with Kakashi.

His own red eyed gaze met Hayate’s as he said in a deep gravely voice, “If you want to settle this with violence, then I’m more than willing to accommodate you now.”

Hayate’s smile revealed teeth which appeared to be in the midst of some kind of change as his gums where bleeding profusely, as the act caused cracks to appear along the sides of his mouth like it was splitting open. “Good,” he replied as he held his sword up, pointing it at Naruto, “because after I’m done with you, I’m going to find that whore and remind her what she’s been missing, and after breaking her body completely. I’m heading back to Konoha to see if the home fires are still burning, and if not, maybe start a few.”

Naruto didn’t need to be in his true Bijuu mode to feel the malice radiating off of Hayate, which proved to be too much for the Dark Guild members working for him as they broke and ran. Shaking his head, he asked, “What happened to you?”

Hayate smiled almost pleased as his humanity slipped away, to be replaced by a powerful chakra which filled him with a need to take that which he desired, that while were not wholly alien to the man that he had once been, now were no longer hindered by a sense of right or wrong. The malicious chakra seemed to well up from within him, something which had always been there, but had been locked away behind a barrier of his humanity. But, now with that stripped away, the realization that life had moved on without him had bore through him like a hole drilled into the earth which struck the pocket of darkness all people have, but most keep locked away, causing it to burst forth and release a power which was proving to be too much for his body to contain as he could feel his skin cracking and breaking beneath his robes to be reshaped into a vessel more accommodating. The smile he was giving grew almost lecherous as he pictured himself standing over a broken Naruto, while in the midst of breaking Yuugao although in a different manner but planned to eventually leave her just as dead. Replying to the Uzumaki that he would have to crush first, he answered, “I’m not sure. But I like it!”

*******

Yuugao wasn’t sure where she reappeared, nor did she particularly care because as soon as Naruto’s clone set her down, she rounded to face it while demanding almost desperately, “Don’t do this! Take me back!”

The clone looked pained as it replied, “I can’t do that.”

“Please,” she pleaded pressing herself closer to him, “You don’t have to face him by yourself.”

The clone gave her a soft smile, as it replied, “I don’t really intend to either. But, all four of us fighting him in a tunnel would only be to our disadvantage.”

Yuugao recognized the tactical wisdom of her lover’s words, as fighting in an enclosed space, would give a skilled opponent a chance to neutralize the advantage their numbers would normally have afforded them. Still, it did little to ease her desire to be returned to the fray. She stepped away as she recognized their discussion was taking place on a busy street, and noticed Kakashi, Hana, Tenten, Yakumo, and Moegi approaching.

She also noticed that Kakashi and the others seemed a little on edge, which she found out of place, although she supposed it could be due to their not being sure about how much she had resisted. However, she quickly realized the tension wasn’t due to her presence, since she also noticed that most of the denizens on the street had barely reacted despite their flashy entrance. Instead, their gazes seemed to be searching about like animals that were sure some natural disaster was about to unfold and were searching for the signs to let them know in which direction to flee. Still, Kakashi’s visible eye seemed to smile at her, which she imagined was born of a desire to tease her, but upon it landing on his student’s face it lost all of its mirth as he came to the conclusion that the three Naruto’s before him were clones. Growing serious, he asked, “I take it you’re behind this oppressive feeling that has everyone about ready to scatter.”

“It doesn’t feel oppressive at all,” Tenten stated crossing her arms across her chest in annoyance, as Kakashi and her had been debating that very point as they raced to it while following Hana to where Tsume and Naruto had entered the tunnels.

“Maybe not to you,” Kakashi replied, before nodding towards a couple of women who rather than scared looked excited although they were still unsettled as they undoubted wondered what was making them feel so exhilarated, “And probably not to anyone sharing the same chromosome sequence as you. But I can tell you it most decidedly is unpleasant for everyone else. Kind of like finding out you’re the smallest fish in a very small pond filled with a shark.”

Yuugao felt a brief sense of amusement at Kakashi’s description in regards to what he was feeling, and imagined Naruto’s chakra was acting in a similar manner as his enhanced pheromones which essentially told everyone present that they were on a true alpha’s turf, which would naturally put the men on edge, while the women would likely welcome the feeling. She imagined Kakashi was perhaps feeling it more than most, not only because he knew the source, but also because for ever so brief a time, his own lover Hanare had been a potential target for inclusion in Naruto’s growing Family. Yet rather than smiling, she instead frowned as she began to sense something unpleasant welling up within her and noticed that it wasn’t just her who was beginning to feel it. Her gaze turned towards the direction she could feel Naruto was currently fighting and recognized the source of the unpleasantness was also located there.

Her attention was pulled away as Kakashi asked his student’s clone, “What’s going on over there?”

The clone that had carried her replied, “I’m not entirely sure.” Before then launching into a brief recollection of the events up until they had teleported into the street. He then concluded his report by adding, “Hayate isn’t acting like anyone else I’ve encountered under the sway of Edo Tensei.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Tsume stated while keeping her eyes focused on the area where she knew her lover was likely locked in combat with the equivalent of an unkillable zombie. “Most are brought back to serve someone else’s bidding. How many are given the chance to avenge their own deaths?”

“I don’t mean his actions,” the clone giving the report replied. “Those, for the most part, are understandable. I mean how his chakra seemed to surge, like when I first tried to talk him down. Then again after I teleported Baki away. I’ve never encountered those reactions before when facing someone brought back via Edo Tensei.”

“Um… perhaps Tsume isn’t as off the mark as you believe,” Moegi said hesitantly. She seemed to grow more self-conscious as everyone focused on her so quickly added, “N…never mind.”

One of the other two Naruto clones approached her, and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder said, “Go ahead Moegi, what do you mean?”

“Well, before we left for Suna, I asked Tsunade if I could look at some of the village’s Forbidden Scrolls.” Naruto’s clone nodded, since he was aware the orange haired kunoichi was interested in forging her own path as a shinobi. And despite what the name of the scrolls would suggest, the techniques inside weren’t actually forbidden, but were deemed too dangerous to be made common knowledge. The Scroll of Seals, that he had been tricked into stealing by Mizuki was but one such scroll. Moegi continued her explanation by stating, “One of the scrolls listed techniques created by the Second Hokage, which included Edo Tensei. The actual means to use the jutsu was redacted, and marked forbidden, I think by Tsunade. But she left behind his notes on the technique probably so people would be able to come up with effective counters. One of the Second Hokage’s recommendations when using the jutsu was that you only bring back people the target would have positive feelings towards. He reasoned that it would weaken everyone’s resolve to fight. He viewed it more as a psychological weapon, although he also mentions those brought back by Edo Tensei can be used in situations where they didn’t really have a personal stake.”

“That’s kind of twisted,” Tenten said rather saddened one of her home village’s heroes would come up with such a technique. “Still, you’re facing an undead zombie you can’t keep down without using some sort of sealing technique. Who cares about resolve? If you brought back someone with a grudge, you would probably barely need any means of controlling the person brought back. You just point them in the right direction and let them go. Hayate’s kind of proving that to be the case.”

Tenten winced as she realized she had said the last part mindless of who was present, and she was about to offer Yuugao an apology, when the purple haired Anbu stated, “What if that in of itself is a problem?” Focusing on both Naruto and Kakashi, she said, “What if the reason the Second Hokage preferred it be used in a situation where those involved had positive feelings for each other was because the will he wanted weaken wasn’t the person the jutsu was used against, but the person being brought back. After all, Tenten is right. You would probably only need a fraction of the controls placed on a target if you directed someone resurrected by Edo Tensei against a former enemy. After all, the will to fight and kill would probably be at their height in such a case. Wouldn’t those be considered boons?” Naruto’s clone looked like it was about to respond, but then all three clones stiffened as they shared the same far away looks. “What’s wrong?” Yuugao asked nearly panicked.

“A few clones got wiped out,” the one that had carried her said reassuringly, “We just gained their memories.” The clone then grew concerned as it said, “Hayate’s chakra is continuing to grow ever stronger, and his body is undergoing some sort of transformation. To be honest, his chakra is taking on the same sinister taint that I remember feeling when Shion and I faced Mōryō after he had reunited with his body. I think he is becoming some sort of demon.” The clone focused on Yuugao with saddened eyes, and with what she felt was perhaps guilt as if he was blaming himself for the situation. Still, it soon faded as it stated as if Naruto himself was present, “I’m trying to lead him to an unpopulated portion of the city. Someplace where I can cut loose without worrying about people getting caught up in our fight. But I can’t really say where that is. Currently, we’re heading in the direction those dark guild members fled, so hopefully it takes us to where they infiltrated the city in the first place and as such, us out of it. I imagine you won’t have a hard time following where we are, so when you have a plan with how to take him down, disburse one of the clones to fill me in. Save at least one for when you’re about to execute it.”

“Understood,” Kakashi said before nodding to another of the clones telling it to disburse itself to let his student know they had received his instructions. He felt a burst of pride due not only to how Naruto had taken charge during the mission, but also in how while he was perhaps the most powerful member of the team, and as such had put himself between them and what was perhaps a demon in the making. Still, trusted in his team enough to help pull him out of the situation. As such, while Kakashi knew he was hardly one of the only ones who helped shape Naruto into the man that he had become, nevertheless took some pride in how his student still understood the importance of teamwork which was the first lesson he had drilled into his students. Which, considering how Kakashi had taken the lesson from someone who the words, had just been words, helped remind him that it truly didn’t matter where it originated from so long as one took it to heart. So, not wanting to disappoint his student, as the smoke from the disbursed clone began to clear ordered, “Tenten, go back to the guild hall for Lee and Gai. Also, it is unlikely that they haven’t noticed what is going on in their city so try to coordinate with the guild. The last thing we need is to have them start attacking us.” He received a quick nod, as Tenten began running back towards the guild hall. Focusing on the two Inuzuka present, he ordered, “You two link up with your partners outside the village and take one of the clones with you to contact us. Naruto said they were following in the same direction the dark guild members were fleeing. Try to get ahead of them and find out where they will come out at. Scout it out and let us know if there are any good spots to stage an ambush by disbursing the clone.”

Both Inuzuka nodded. Yet, before taking off to follow her instructions Tsume asked, “What do we due should we encounter any Dark Guild members?”

“Proceed at your own discretion,” Kakashi replied, “It might be too much to hope that Hayate plays along. So, if they end up on the surface early, it could earn us some good will with the locals to take them out too.” Turning towards Yakumo and Moegi, he stated, “To that end, we three are going to take to the rooftops to find a secondary combat zone someplace in the open where Naruto doesn’t need to hold back.” He turned to where Yuugao had been standing and wasn’t too surprised to find that she had slipped away once more, likely when the one clone had burst into smoke. Although, he noticed that she hadn’t been the only one as Kashike had also pulled a disappearing act. His gaze shifted to the clone that had been closest to Yuugao and could see the concern etched into its face as it too had noticed her taking off. He wondered briefly why the clones had made no move to stop either woman, but suspected it was because perhaps most notably in Yuugao’s case, who would not stand by and take the chance that she would lose the man she loved again, neither woman would accept any order which didn’t take them to the battle directly as Anbu were supposed to lead the way. Still, giving Yuugao, a little bit of cover so that when he turned his report on the mission into Tsunade, he wouldn’t be forced to say she went off script again, he stated “And it looks like our two Anbu know what they should be doing. So, let’s follow their lead and get to work.”

*********

Naruto was running parallel to Hayate as they dashed through the tunnels. Occasionally, they would strike at each other with their swords in a flurry of strikes and parries that left both combatants relatively untouched. Sadly, he couldn’t say the same for some of the dark guild members their running battle had taken them through as Hayate would often strike at him while in the midst of the fleeing men and women, and would take an almost perverse pleasure in cutting through them in order to land a blow on him. From the overwhelming panic he could see etched in their faces, Naruto got the sense from their panicked and hasty exit earlier, that the dark guild members had a greater sense of what was happening to Hayate then he did. Although, as the fight had dragged on and Hayate’s chakra not only continued to grow in power, but also became darker and more sinister, he became more and more convinced that the man was becoming a demon like Mōryō.

With that thought in mind, he wondered if he should just go full out and enter his full Bijuu mode, rather than just having his red chakra cloak up. But he rejected the idea since it would undoubtedly have a negative impact on the city above them. Still, a part of Naruto almost felt envious of Hayate, who appeared to be rather drunk on the power currently coursing through him. He found a small dark part of him envied the freedom that Hayate was enjoying with his indiscriminate killing, since with all the threats he faced, a part of him wished that he didn’t need to take the higher road every time. That just once he could meet the brutality and hatred directed at him with more of the same. However, he quickly silenced those desires within him, since he knew even if he indulged in a situation where everyone would understand, it would leave a taint within that was always looking for the next excuse.

Looking at Hayate, whose bisected mouth was smiling at him with murderous glee, even as his old teeth fell out to be replaced with those similar to a shark, Naruto wondered if perhaps he was not looking at an exterior manifestation to what he believed had become of Sasuke. To which, he pondered what would have happened if he had allowed Hayate to kill Baki. Yet, while he admitted it was possible that Hayate would have found peace and disappeared as the Third Kazekage had when he had learned how Gaara and him had planned to build a peaceful future for both their villages. Naruto highly doubted it would have been the case, as he suspected that as Hayate’s ire had begun to focus on Yuugao as well due to her not siding with him, he would have grown resentful and demanded more in the way of recompense. Similar to how Sasuke’s desire to avenge his clan had continued long after he had supposedly killed his brother and had since been directed at people who had nothing to do with his clan’s downfall.

Naruto’s focus shifted from Hayate as they were nearing the end of the current tunnel, although he doubted that they had traveled far enough that it would lead them out of the city. His instincts turned out to be accurate as they appeared in an opening which resembled a ruined town beneath the Capital City. He suspected the town had been used as a staging area by the dark guild during their operation to kill Baki, since there were signs of people having ransacked it in a hurry. He also had a good idea in which direction they had fled since despite the dark guilders having taken the time to gather what they could from it, there were various trinkets and provisions which had been dropped as they decided to continue fleeing rather than pick up the items that had slipped from their grasps.

Although, he planned to lead Hayate down the same tunnel and hopefully out of the city. He decided to engage Hayate now that he had some room to work with, with the hope of giving the dark guilders more time to flee as he didn’t want to contribute to the slaughter of people who were in the midst of running for their lives.

Taking stock of his opponent, Naruto wondered if the man Hayate still existed, or if he was already gone with all that remained being the dark impulses that had been tied to him which were now being given the chance to be indulged in. It was easy the imagine the latter being the case as Hayate’s body seemed to have almost doubled in bulk, rather than it just being a case of him growing in size. Instead, it was akin to an insect molting as his former self seemed to crack and break as something monstrous tried to shed the human exterior. Where Hayate’s clothes and skin had already cracked and split on his torso, unnatural pale flesh was exposed, some of which had angry red boils also taking shape. From his forehead, a pair of obsidian like horns pushed free of his skull which folded backwards as they each split in two and grew with the lower half of the growing horns running along the back of his skull, before snaking around his neck to come to a stop above his shoulders. With the top half growing until they resembled ram horns as they finished.

Naruto considered one last attempt towards Hayate’s humanity, but seeing none remained in his blazing red eyes, he launched himself forward as he pumped his wind natured chakra into his blade. Hayate smirked as he easily parried Naruto’s strike, as his sword, which now appeared like a short sword due to his size lit up with a dark lightning chakra to prevent his blade from being sliced in half. Naruto’s blade slid against it as he tried to batter it aside to open him up for further attack, but found the blade barely flinched in his steel like grip. He leapt back as Hayate swung at him in turn, and cursed as the length of his opponent’s blade grew almost twice as long. Naruto managed to block it, but as he was still airborne, he was sent flying back until he smashed into the wall near the tunnel they had emerged from. Naruto gasped as his back met stone but managed to catch himself as he slid down it so he didn’t sink to his knees and was thankful he had his chakra cloak up as it had undoubtedly lessened the impact. However, he wasn’t given a moments respite as he rolled forward and past Hayate when he appeared before him, his lighting blade, which now resembled a scimitar of energy sliced through the wall where he had just been standing like it was as insubstantial as air.

Naruto was back on his feet and charging as Hayate turned to face him, the latter smirked as if daring him to try again. He obliged, but this time he came up short as he purposefully missed Hayate’s blade to instead fire a wind scythe at it. This had the desired effect as it seemed to push the lightning blade out of position, but Naruto quickly realized it was a trick as Hayate used the momentum to spin himself around to attack his exposed back. Naruto managed spin enough to bring his blade around, but rather than trying to meet it with strength deflected it up enough that he could rotate beneath it and once it passed over head, sliced his own blade through Hayate’s upper thigh.

Hayate let out a roar of pain and fury as he leapt back to create some room between them. While in the air, he pointed his sword at Naruto, who looked as if he was planning to follow, but at the last moment rolled out of the way as a bolt of lightning erupted from it and exploded the wall behind him. As Hayate landed, Naruto hoped his strike had been a good one, particularly as even with his blade being charged with his wind natured chakra he had felt quite a bit of resistance to his cut, and felt his hope grow as his opponent stumbled for a moment upon landing. But he quickly realized that it had less to do with his strike, as Hayate’s body wasn’t finished changing as his shins suddenly seemed to snap backwards as the bones within seemed to reshape themselves. Despite the pain Naruto would imagine the metamorphosis would inflict on him, Hayate seemed to be enjoying it, as he ripped the remains of his shredded robes away to reveal that his lower half was covered in dark black fur, as his legs looked like they belonged to a goat that had learned to walk upright, which was further exemplified by their terminating in hooves.

Raising his blade up to his chest, Naruto quickly made the hand sign to generate a half dozen shadow clones. But, as soon as he disappeared in the cloud of smoke, Hayate struck, as he thrust his blade of dark chakra forward towards where Naruto had been standing as it suddenly elongated, and felt a feeling of elation as he felt something get impaled on it. As the smoke cleared, it revealed he had impaled Naruto through his red cloak and had pierced his heart while he was in the midst of holding a sign that he was unfamiliar with. Hayate smiled in triumph, as the five clones charged him almost desperately, which he believed was because he had fatally wounded their creator and were hoping to do some damage before poofing into nonexistence. Retracting his chakra blade, he swung it away from his body as it returned, slicing through three of the clones who all burst into smoke as it passed through them. The remaining two clones continued to charge, with one leaping into the air as the other jumped along the ground forcing him to choose which to defend against using his blade. Choosing the one in the air, he thrust his chakra scimitar out catching it in the chest, as the clone on the ground darted to his open left side hoping to bisect him along the waist. However, as its brethren burst into smoke, the clone’s swing failed to reach its target as Hayate caught its sword effortlessly with his bare hand. The clone’s eyes opened wide in surprise but didn’t have long to contemplate its failure as Hayate swung his blade around and removed its head.

“Is that the best you’ve got,” Hayate shouted into the smoke towards where he had first impaled Naruto, although he doubted that he’d receive a response figuring he had already bled out.

However, to his shock, he noticed movement in the smoke, although not in a way a body would have disturbed it. Quickly raising his dark scimitar, he just barely managed to block a wind scythe as it cut through the smoke. However, rather than smashing into it and being cut in half to pass along either side of him, the blade maintained its cohesion as it battered against the energy of his blade like a giant buzzsaw. Slowly but surely, the wind scythe began to cut into it. Hayate tried to push it away, but it only seemed to hasten the demise of his blade which suddenly winked out of existence as the air blade met the solid metal core of the actual blade that he was channeling his chakra through, which upon destroying it caused his scimitar to wink out of existence. The wind scythe then buried itself into his chest, where despite having exhausted much of its strength, still managed to leave a deep jagged wound along most of it. Hayate reached up to his chest, and to his surprise he found actual blood to be flowing from the wound although as he pulled his hand away, he saw that it was a black in color. Although the wound looked angry, it didn’t last long as it began to close, and Hayate’s gaze shifted towards where a dead Naruto was laying, although from the tunnel behind him he noticed the darkness gaining a red tint before Naruto appeared holding his sword at the ready.

Naruto spared a look at the sixth clone he had summoned, who had then turned itself into a more durable K-clone as it converted some of the Kyuubi chakra he had expended in its creation. He disbursed it causing it to also to explode into smoke at which point he created several more clones to charge towards Hayate while he circled around. As he moved, he focused more of his chakra into his blade, and frowned as it seemed thirstier than it had been. However, he couldn’t exactly say that he found it too concerning at the moment considering the strength of the wind scythe he had just let loose far exceeded his expectations. But also, because he got the sense that something may be awakening in the blade, like a presence or purpose which had laid dormant. Mainly as the blade had been used for purposes other than what it had been intended. Recalling Tenten’s tale of how the first sword of Kusangi had been forged through the sacrifice of the blacksmith’s wife to defeat a demon, he wondered if perhaps some component of that need or desire had been ingrained into all the subsequent blades to have been creating in the forge. A purpose, which the blade that he had taken from Sasuke, and Tenten suspected was perhaps one of last of the blades created in the forge before whatever power the sacrifice had conveyed to it had run out, was feeling as it likely faced its first demon since its creation.

Naruto would have loved to ponder the matter more but felt the last of his clones meet its end, and so stopped to fire off another wind scythe hoping the smoke of his clones’ demise would cover the attack. However, just as he was about to fire off the attack, the shadow Hayate was casting on the smoke disappeared suddenly. Naruto noticed the blur of motion, as Hayate charged to him along a circular path. He just managed to face the former jounin, when Hayate reared back his fist in an attempt to knock his head clean off his shoulders. Still, Naruto managed to duck beneath it, and sliding under the demon’s outstretched arm, he began to move behind him while he brought his blade up and sliced along Hayate’s side. Even with the blade being charged with his wind chakra, it didn’t leave much of a wound as it again felt like he was trying to cut through a statue with an unaugmented sword. More troubling however was how the wound began closing up even before he had completed his pass. Turning, he tried to cut along Hayate’s back, but received a kick to the chest which lifted Naruto off of his feet, and carried him over a railing to a level below, where he fell heavily on the stone roof of one of the buildings.

Trying to catch his breath, he raised his free hand to where Hayate had kicked him, and felt the impression on the plate mail where the hoof had made contact, and wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t been wearing the armor, or had his red Bijuu chakra cloak not been up. Hayate was interested in giving him a chance to learn the results of the former as he leapt over the railing and his hooves looked to be zeroed in on his skull. Naruto quickly rolled out of the way, as the creature that had once been a man crashed through the roof like it was little more than a thin covering of ice. He continued his roll until he reached the edge due to the hole Hayate had made, began to expand after him. Upon reaching the edge, he continued over it and reached out for the side of the building using the hand which wasn’t currently busy gripping his sword. Using chakra, he slowed his decent and steadied himself so that he would land on his feet. Yet, as soon as his feet touched the ground, Hayate’s hand burst through the stone wall of the building and grabbed him by the back of his skull. He then him through the wall and tossed him until he smashed into the one on the opposite side of the room creating a sizeable impression within it.

Naruto gasped as the wind was knocked out of him once more but found himself barely feeling the blow in comparison to the kick that he had received earlier allowing him to remain standing. He began to puzzle out why and considered that perhaps whatever material Hayate’s hooves were made of, were either far denser than regular stone, or perhaps charged with the sinister chakra Hayate was giving off, and thus capable of neutralizing his protective cloak to some degree. Deciding to bank on the second idea being the case, as either one effectively meant he should avoid any portion of Hayate’s body the black obsidian like material was coating, which meant his hooves, horns, and the long decidedly sharp looking nails which had grown out of his fingers at some point. Still, even should his theory prove to be correct, and he would be able to avoid taking any real damage, Naruto felt it would only result in a stalemate of sorts as he worried that even a Razenshuriken would fail to deliver any lasting damage considering just how tough his body appeared to be. Not to mention, while the Razenshuriken would deliver almost an untold amount of microscopic attacks which damaged living cells, he couldn’t even be sure if he could classify Hayate as a living being. Even more concerning though, was the ticking clock Naruto felt beginning to countdown, as he could tell Hayate’s chakra was still increasing, and while he still had a while to go before, he would reach his chakra level when going all out. Naruto wasn’t sure if there would be much of a city left should the fight reach such a point.

For a moment, he considered trying to summon Shion, but considering how things had turned out when her mother had confronted a demon, he didn’t want to risk it. Although, he made a small mental note to schedule a study session with her in the future, he smirked slightly as he pictured how such a session would end, causing Hayate to snarl, “It’s good you can smile in the face of your impending murder at my hands.”

“You think so?” Naruto replied in a taunting manner, “I guess you would be the expert.”

The dig worked due to it causing Hayate to roar in anger, as he charged towards Naruto and lowered his head as if to ram him through the wall. However, Naruto slid out of the way at the last moment and bringing his blade around sliced into Hayate’s back just as he crashed through the wall. The blade struck true, although it failed to bite deeply as the wound was already disappearing when Hayate spun to face him. However, as he growled at him with hate in his eyes, Naruto’s own gaze was drawn to a scar on the right side of Hayate’s pale chest. Realizing it was located where his sword had cut him earlier, he noted that unlike where the wind scythe had cut directly into the center of Hayate’s chest, there was at least a marker of some kind that he had taken damage. Naruto wondered if it was some hidden property of the sword, or was perhaps, related to the metal it was constructed of. Meaning that he could leave similar marks using his chakra blades. He considered switching to them as he felt he would be more proficient with them, but quickly rejected the idea since his gut was telling him it was a property unique to the sword of Kusanagi he was using. Moreover, he figured that he would need the greater reach as he intended to stab a vital organ, and hoped at the very least the scaring left behind would begin to weaken him, and it was apparent that extending his reach using his chakra wouldn’t leave any trace of a wound behind. Of course, he realized that he was perhaps getting ahead of himself, since he figured that he should first see if there was a scar on Hayate’s back where he had just cut him to confirm his theory. Although, Naruto quickly realized that truthfully, he could just slice Hayate a few more times to give himself more evidence to work with, and so charged forward.

As Naruto closed the distance, he felt something was off, and quickly attributed it to Hayate, who seemed to suddenly have trouble breathing. Almost like he was choking on something that he was struggling to keep down. Although obviously concerned, Naruto had received enough surprises from Hayate for one day, so pressed on with his attack. But, when he was within a few feet almost instantly regretted it, as the hairs on his body began to stand on end. At which point, he noticed sparks of electricity arcing along the horns which coated the former Leaf-nin’s head, a steady stream arced between the two lower horns, at which point Hayate opened his mouth and spewed forth a continuous stream of lightning.

The electric bolt hit Naruto dead in the chest, and lifted him off his feet, although he noticed that it hadn’t penetrated his chakra cloak. Still, much like he imagined the spray of a firehose would, it pushed him with enough force that he smashed through several of the buildings. Naruto didn’t feel the stream was losing any steam, and so reached out with a chakra claw as he passed through one building to the next and succeeded in pulling him off the tip of the unending bolt. However, he wasn’t given a chance to pat himself on the back, as literal the entire building collapsed on him, which although knocked the wind out of him, was manageable, at least until a moment later, when it felt as if someone dropped several more buildings on top of him, at which point his entire world went dark.

********

As Hayate’s electric beam hit Naruto, he had felt a sort of feedback as if he had fired it at an unbreakable object, leaving him to believe that only the force of it had pushed his foe away. A feedback which suddenly disappeared leaving him to believe the Uzumaki had pulled himself off of it somehow, and so he immediately directed it upwards. At first cutting along the backwall of the area in which they were fighting, before directing it upward towards his true target which were the stone braces along the ceiling which supported the town above. His beam of electricity cut through several, before he closed his mouth causing his jutsu to cease, and watched in amusement as a small section of the city above collapsed onto the ruined buildings that he had sent Naruto into.

Hayate marveled at the destruction he had caused and felt a sense of elation at the power that he now wielded. He tried to get a sense of Naruto but found it difficult as he had never been much of a sensor, and found his new chakra seemed to drown out everything else. A part of him felt that he should confirm the Uzumaki was dead, but he ignored the impulse feeling it belonged to a weaker being. Particularly as a sadistic part of him hoped he was alive, as he wanted Naruto to find him after he had an opportunity to reconnect with Yuugao. He smiled in lust and amusement as he pictured the Uzumaki finding them to discover him wearing her naked body like a chest plate while he was buried inside her. He chuckled to himself as he imagined the horror which would be etched on Naruto’s face, but also from the moans he imagined Yuugao would let out as they fought while the blond tried to rescue his living armor.

Planning to make his vision a reality, he began to climb the rubble that he had created and found it acted as a staircase to his literal ascension from a man whose death hadn’t mattered in the grand scheme of the world to its would-be future Daimyo. After all, having already bested the bastard who housed the strongest of the Bijuu, he almost looked forward to seeing what else the world intended to throw at him as he began to take everything that he believed he was owed.

A wish that was granted as soon as he emerged from the hole that he had created and was asked, “Hold creature, are you behind this destruction?” Hayate turned to face the one who had asked the question, and finding an insect dressed in green standing before him simply began laughing at the joke the universe was telling.

********

Rock Lee frowned as the creature began laughing upon catching sight of him. At which point he stated, “I do not see this to be a laughing matter.”

To his surprise, it responded by stating, “You should try seeing it from my point of view.” Almost immediately it disappeared from his view only reappear to tower over him a moment later with its fist already pulled back to deliver a blow. As such, Lee leapt up in the air, and raised his knees in front of him as the creature struck and smashed its fist into his shins. Lee was sent flying but managed to recover so that he landed on his feet in a low crouch. He winced, as he took a moment to feel glad that he had taken the time to switch back to his usual attire since he had felt the force of the blow even through the steel weights that he wore around his legs. Taking a moment to look down, he saw why as they were all bent and mishappen. Realizing what would have happened if he had taken the blow without them, he hit the quick release on the weights as he figured he would need to go all out from the onset, and so launched himself at the creature.

He enjoyed the brief look of surprise which appeared on the somewhat familiar, if distorted human like features of the creature’s face as he slammed his fist into its cheek, rocking its head back. Upon landing on the other side, and despite it feeling as if he had smashed his hand in solid stone, Lee immediately turned to launch himself at it again to attack while it was off balance. He again scored another direct hit, but nearly cried out himself as the bones in his hand felt like they were going to break. Yet, before he could land and contemplate whether or not to attack again. The creature caught him by the foot as he flew past, and immediately tossed him so that he slammed into a nearby building.

Lee felt something give in him as he hit hard enough to crack some of the stone blocks as he bounced off them. Still, he tried to stand as the creature approached and tauntingly said, “Do you wish to know what was so funny? I just finish burying the Uzumaki bastard who was gifted the strongest bijuu, and is probably fucking my whore of a fiancé. Yet who do I find to challenge me next, you the shinobi that never was.” Lee felt a surge of anger, as he managed to get back to his feet and charged the creature which effortlessly blocked the flurry of attacks that he threw at it. All the while the creature taunted him by stating, “Did you really think you could just become a shinobi while relying on taijutsu alone? You’re a fool, but at least you never truly had a chance of attaining your dreams, and so have no idea of what it is like to have them stolen from you as your body fails you. You were fortunate to be born deficient.”

“Shut up,” Lee shouted angrily, “You do not know…”

Lee didn’t get to finish the rest as the creature easily slipped a punch through his offensive flurry and hit him just below the sternum both stunning him and knocking him up in the air. The creature then launched itself forward catching Lee’s entire chest in the palm of its hand and smashed the chunin back into the wall he had hit earlier. Pinning him against it the creature stated, “I don’t know you. Fool, I know all about what you’re thinking. I thought much the same when they told me the small cough that I had contracted was just the first symptom of a chakra degenerative disease that would eventually leave me nothing but taijutsu to fall back on. Much like you, I thought well that should be enough and then proceeded to watch as each accomplishment of my life was slowly stolen from me. First, my position as an Anbu was taken, then I was told I was no longer qualified at the full rank of jounin so was to be considered a Tokubetsu Jounin for the duration of the Chunin Exams, but the writing was on the wall that soon I’d be demoted to chunin. But the world had other plans as I learned why everyone told me it was best to just drop out as I ended up getting murdered in my first real fight against a shinobi.” The creature brought its face close as it whispered pityingly, “Have you any real accomplishments that you can call your own? Maybe I should just kill you and end the farce you call a dream.”

Lee wanted to refute what the creature said after all, there were a few scattered accomplishments that he could cling to. Such as when he fought the mercenary ninja Kongo, during their mission to protect the son and grandson of the king of the Land of the Moon during their travels. The simple escort mission eventually turned into a counter revolution to install prince Michiru as king against the Prime minister who had hired mercenary shinobi to act as his enforcers when they had learned the king that had hired them had been assassinated. Lee had bested one of them, but while he had been able to move around after the battle, he had needed to spend weeks recovering afterwards due to his opening the fifth gate during the fight which he had needed to due in order to secure the win. But, some part of him was unable to raise his voice to challenge the creature’s words as he heard his sensei’s voice actually echoing the sentiment as he pointed out how Lee had never truly achieved any of the goals that he had set for himself, but rather, had tried to tie his later achievements to Naruto’s besting of Neji. And, as such while Lee had eventually become a chunin, he had never truly cleared the first goal that he had set for himself, but rather had allowed Naruto to knock it down for him.

Now faced with an enemy that if what it said was true, and Naruto had not only been unable to best, but seemed as if it was currently toying with him, Lee found himself doubting if he had truly achieved anything. But, before he could really contemplate the matter further, he began to cry out as the creature either bored or sensing the doubt it had caused, began pushing on his chest. But fortunately for Lee although he felt several of his ribs crack and break, before he was crushed completely the wall behind him gave way as the creature pushed him through it while stating, “An insect like you isn’t worth squashing.”

Lee landed roughly in the pile of broken stone, and his vision began to darken, but before he lost consciousness completely, he heard a woman’s voice cry out, “Hayate!”

*********

“What the hell are you doing? Can’t you sense what is going on out here,” Tenten roared as she entered the Guild Hall only to find her sensei standing at the center of a destroyed room with flipped over tables and knocked out adventurers.

Gai looked at her a little sheepishly, as he stood at the center of the destruction while holding the fine tunic of a kneeling older grey-haired man, while a red-headed woman armed with a mace and a shield stood with a few of the still conscious although battered looking adventurers who appeared torn between helping or fleeing now that someone else had captured the fur attired beast’s attention. The red head chose to attack but had to cut it short as she was forced to raise her shield to defend herself as several kunai impacted with it, while Tenten said threatening, “Back off lady.” Refocusing on Gai, who still looked a little unsure how to explain the situation which caused her to let out a sigh of exasperation, “You know what, I don’t care. Where’s Lee?”

Gai began to look even more sheepish as he said, “Um, I’m not sure. He and I had a disagreement, and he stormed off. At which point, the locals decided they wanted to ask me a few questions.”

“So, you beat the fuck out of them,” Tenten’s said in vexation, “And Lee’s out there probably heading straight to…”

Tenten trailed off, as she felt one of the two powerful chakras begin to fade, which as it was the one that was filling her with warmth and had been keeping the sinister one at bay caused her attention to shift. Which had been all the opening the red-head had needed as she charged towards her hoping to take her out before she could aid the beast of a man that had almost single handedly decimated the entire roster of her guild. Yet, before she reached her, she was stopped as grey-haired man that Gai had been in the midst of punching when Tenten had entered ordered, “Hold Risty. Can’t you feel that aura?”

“You know I’ve never had much talent with using detect presence,” the red-head woman said while keeping her guard up.

“That may be,” the man replied pulling himself from Gai’s grip, who let him go and stepped towards Tenten, seeing as it appeared that they were now willing to discuss things. Standing he continued, “But, even you should be able to feel this presence.”

The woman frowned, but closed her eyes as she relaxed her stance, but then almost immediately opened them again while asking, “Is that a demon? How would it get into the city without our detecting it?”

“I’m not sure,” the Guild Master said before directing a questioning gaze towards Tenten, “Perhaps our newest arrival can explain, because if I’m not mistaken it was the disappearance of the second demon’s charka which distracted her just now.”

“That wasn’t a demon,” Tenten snarled feeling a sudden desire to pick up where her old teacher had left off. However, she calmed herself knowing picking a fight would only delay her from learning what had just happened to her lover, and so set about explaining things as best she could while fearing whatever help she succeeded in rustling up would arrive too late for those she loved.

********

“Hayate!”

Although, Yuugao had shouted the name confident that the creature she was staring at had once bore the name, a part of her hoped it didn’t respond to it. That it had lost its ability to reason in exchange for whatever power had allowed it to apparently best the man, whose chakra’s slow disappearance filled her with the dread she had lost another man whom she had loved. Worst still, that his life had been lost at the hands of the one who she had originally sought out to avenge, but now found she had to put down herself. While at first, she found it strange that the anger which had been goading her actions over the past week or so wasn’t making a sudden return, and demanding blood. She quickly surmised that the reason was because the person who would bear the greatest responsibility for the tragedy would be her. After all, it was her actions which inevitably led to her past and current lovers crossing paths, leading one to his apparent death, and the other to apparent damnation. Still, despite knowing that if she survived the next few moments that she would inevitably have to explain how it was her fault the heart of the Family had been silenced, she pushed it all aside as the Anbu Captain of her personality came to the fore knowing that what mattered at the moment was fulfilling their duty to protect the innocent.

She could feel Kashike was growing rather nervous beside her so while the creature looked about for the voice that had called to it, in a cool and calming voice said, “Don’t try to fight him head on. We’re just trying to pin him here long enough for the others to come up with a plan to stop him. I’ll go in first, when he zeroes on me, you fire off a jutsu to confuse and distract him. Once, you gain his attention, I’ll do the same.”

“ri…Right!” Kashike said as she pulled one of her serrated knives and dropping back a few meters.

Yuugao felt a wave a revulsion as the creature caught sight of her, as she recognized enough of the features of the man that she had loved, that she could almost still see Hayate was still present inside it. Particularly, as his red eyes seemed to light up in pleasure upon catching sight of her. “Ah, Yuugao,” he said pleasantly, “I was just about to go looking for you.” He noticed that she had discarded the black swordsman robe that she had been wearing earlier to reveal the Suna Anbu uniform she had on underneath. Yet, rather than annoyance, he sounded almost giddy at her choice of clothes as he said, “It really is fitting to find your whorish traitorous ass in the uniform of the people whose betrayal led to my death.”

“Why is that?” she replied, while readying the Anbu blade that she had unsealed to replace the local one she had used as part of her disguise.

“Because of how much I’m going to enjoy slicing it off of you, before turning you into a meat shield that I plan to use against the bastard you tried to replace me with,” Hayate replied as he slowly approached her.

“What?” Yuugao asked, as for a moment the woman within her pushed aside the Anbu Captain hoping what she just heard was true. At least as far as it sounded like Hayate believed Naruto was still alive.

However, the distraction nearly proved costly as Hayate suddenly disappeared, before reappearing behind her. Yuugao tried to turn and face him but knew she would be too late as Hayate raised a clawed arm above his head. But, before he could bring it down, he was hit by a flurry of electric blasts which arrived in the form of small birds which caught him around the head and chest. Yuugao used the opportunity to strike as she darted behind him and sliced along the back of his ankles. However, her blade did little more than tickle him as he quickly spun and smashed his fist into the spot where she had just been.

Yuugao managed to avoid it, as she used the dust it cast up to slip away while Kashike fired another volley of the electric birds to shift his focus to her once more. He growled as he leapt towards the woman, only to be blasted off course when Yuugao having sheathed her blade, fired a Giant Fireball Jutsu. Despite being one of the more destructive jutsu in her arsenal, as he emerged from the cloud the explosion had created, he appeared to be none the worse for wear.

“Is that it?” Hayate asked as he locked eyes with Yuugao. “Are the two of you just trying to tickle me to death?” His gaze suddenly shifted towards Kashike who had been moving around to attack from out of his field of vision, “Do you mind? I’m tired of you butting in as I try to work things out with my fiancé.”

He pulled his disappearing act again as he quickly charged towards Kashike this time and reappeared behind her. Yuugao leapt in her direction as she flashed through several hand-signs intending to create a pair of fire wolves which would home in on him. But, he quickly backhanded Kashike sending her bouncing down the street, before he then leapt towards Yuugao as he snatched her out of the air. He smiled at her as he said, “There, now we can properly get reacquainted.” Yuugao’s gaze quickly darted towards Kashike, causing Hayate to chuckle as he said, “Don’t worry, she’s not dead. At least, I don’t think so.” He gave her a wide grotesque grin as a large serpent like grayish tongue appeared from his mouth as he added, “After all, waste not, want not. Speaking of which, let’s see if you taste as good as I remember.”

He pulled her up against his face, and she tried to pull herself away as his long grey tongue first made contact with her face, before it began worming its way down the front of her shirt. She shivered in disgust, which seemed to delight Hayate as he closed his eyes and shivered himself. Which was when Yuugao struck, as she suddenly stopped trying to pry herself out of his grip, to drive the palm of her hand up into his chin. The results were immediate as Hayate screamed in pain as his own teeth severed his tongue, and he dropped her in order to cover his mouth which was spewing a black substance that appeared to be his blood. She quickly pulled and tossed the tongue which had still been wiggling about in her shirt to the side as she leapt into the air at Hayate who was stumbling about as he gagged on his own blood. She pulled her blade as she tried to drive it down into the spot where his neck met his shoulder, but it snapped in half when it failed to penetrate his skin. Having anticipated the result, Yuugao grabbed onto his back using chakra, and applied a Hirashin seal hoping that it would prove beneficial to her lover in the future. Even, if she planned to take Hayate down herself, as she reached into her pouch to pull out a metal wire attached to a pair of metal hand holds.

Quickly, making her way up Hayate’s back using chakra, she looped the wire up over his head and around his neck just as Hayate showed his tongue had regenerated enough to say, “What are you up to now, you fucking bit…” His words were cut off, more so from surprise at the sudden pressure around his throat as she imagined that even as she had cut the flow of chakra in her knees which had been holding her in place in order completely to tighten the wire, that she still wasn’t completely closing off the flow of oxygen to his brain. Still, she imagined that she was doing something as his hands reached up over his shoulders in order to try and grab her. Hoping to give him something else to worry about, she channeled her elemental chakra nature into the handles, causing the metal wire to burst into flames, which although it did nothing to aid her in cutting into his neck, did make it much harder for him to breath as the flames consumed what little oxygen he was able to enjoy. Her ploy worked as it made it just unpleasant enough that Hayate forgot about her, in favor of trying to pull the wire away from his neck as it slowly cooked his throat. He began to manage some success as he managed to get his fingers beneath the wire, when Yuugao suddenly made it harder as she reactivated the chakra in her knees after driving them into his back, and used them for leverage as she pulled back hard trapping his hands in place. Although, she doubted she would be able to strangle him complete, even with the increased leverage she hoped the fire would slowly cook the oxygen in his throat and lungs as even the air he breathed in grew heated.

A fear Hayate himself likely came to suspect might prove debilitating as he redoubled his efforts to dislodge her while stumbling about. A tactic which proved less than successful as she remained stubbornly in place, at least until he positioned himself near a stone building at which point, he moved quickly to drive himself into it back first. Yuugao released her hold on the wire as she dove out of the way as he passed through the building like it was made of paper. Hayate emerged from the hole he had created a few seconds later and catching no sign of her said in a voice that sounded like it was as dry and cracked as a mud puddle after baking in the sun, “Yuugao… you’re just making it harder on yourself.” Cursing at the lack of response, he caught sight of the Anbu she had been fighting with and said, “Fine, since you went and replaced me with someone else. You can’t get too jealous if I do the same to you right?”

He leapt from the hole and intended land on the other woman’s legs hoping that by crushing them it would wake her up and cause her to scream. But, just before crashing down, he smiled as Yuugao appeared from behind the corner of a nearby building and made a leaping dive which pulled the woman out of the way. She rolled to a stop a short distance away, as Hayate appeared from the cloud of dust he kicked up from the stone his hooved feet had crushed. Giving her a lecherous smile, he said, “You just couldn’t bear the thought of me and another woman together, could you? Don’t worry, I’ve always wanted to have a threesome.”

Yuugao stared up at Hayate holding the still unconscious Kashike, and whispered regretfully, “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry, and what exactly are you sorry for,” Hayate asked having heard her. “For betraying me? For sitting around for six years as my murderer walked free? Tell me bitch, what exactly are you sorry for?”

There was a lot that she wanted to reply, although not to him as she was sorry that it appeared that because of her actions Naruto would learn the pain of losing a lover, and probably in a horrible degrading fashion. She prayed silently, that whatever Hayate did to them, that if Naruto was alive that he’d be stronger than her, and not allow it to destroy him as it had her. But she also wished to apologize to Kashike as her own selfishness looked like it was going to consume her future as well. The feeling caused tears to gather in her eyes, which Hayate misinterpreted as he said, “Don’t worry, Yuugao. I’m not going to kill you and your little friend. I’m just going to make you wish I had.”

Yuugao closed her eyes as she hugged the other woman close hoping to shelter her as long as possible, so missed the red flash which appeared behind Hayate, but felt her heart swell as Naruto’s voice said, “For even daring to touch them, I’m going to make you wish you never rose from the grave.” She opened her eyes just in time to see a pained look appear on Hayate’s face, which quickly looked almost relieved as Naruto rotated from behind where he had stabbed the demon in the back and then sliced open his neck as he moved to stand between. As Hayate staggered back clutching at his ruined throat he added, “And that was for dropping part of a fucking city on me.”

********

Kakashi let out a small sigh of relief as he watched the creature that he could only assume had once been Hayate stumble away from his student. He sent a sidelong glance towards the clone of the Uzumaki a few feet over from him and could see it was standing down as it had tensed like it was about to intervene itself. An action that Kakashi could certainly understand but would have preferred not to see happen, since it would alert Hayate to the fact that Naruto was still alive, if he hadn’t already been aware of that fact. Not to mention, would have likely made him aware of additional opposition to him, particularly since it had appeared that Yakumo and Moegi both had also been ready to enter the fray to protect their fellow harem members. An action that Kakashi would have ordered them not to take, although he imagined Naruto’s clone would have likely disregarded, but hopefully it would have been wise enough to just try to teleport Yuugao and Kashike to a safe location. But, with the matter seemingly settled as he noticed Yuugao after saying something to Naruto began carrying the junior Anbu away from the fight, he directed his focus to more immediate concerns.

Still, it proved easier said than done as he felt a sad pang of loss at it looking like another old friend had returned from the grave yet had switched over to becoming an enemy. But he pushed the emotion aside in favor of focusing on the task at hand, namely stopping him. A task that he sadly was no longer sure was possible, considering how Hayate had shrugged off everything the two Anbu kunoichi had hit him with. Moreover, as he began to recover from Naruto’s attack, to send a deathly glare the Uzumaki’s way, he removed the hand that had been covering his throat to reveal that although some black blood was pouring out of the wound, it was no longer gushing indicating the wound had already healed a considerable amount.

Kakashi’s gaze focused on the sword that Naruto was holding, which had done the damage rather easily, especially considering how Yuugao’s had snapped. His gaze then shifted to Moegi, who was dressed as a priestess, and wondered if they wouldn’t be better off getting someone from the religious caste like Shion to aid them. Something, he imagined Naruto had already considered but was hesitant to do, namely due to what had happened when her mother had confronted a demon. He considered asking the clone, but ultimately decided against it as he considered it could damage the alibi they had established back when Naruto had aided Yugito in defecting from Kumo. Granted, it was well known by now that Naruto could use the Hiraishin, but if it was learned that Shion trusted him enough to allow him to Hirashin to her location at will. Well, Kakashi imagined quite a few people would begin to look at her willingness to lie about where he had been during Yugito’s defection in a new light.

He frowned as Naruto charged Hayate as a light red cloak sprung up around him in the shape of a nine tailed fox and wondered why the blond was holding back. Yet, before he could give the matter much thought, he noticed the arrival of several new individuals and heard his rival’s voice call to him, “It seems things have gotten rather out of hand.”

Kakashi turned to Gai, about to tell him how that was quite the understatement, but the words died on his tongue as he noticed standing beside the muscular man was the older man that ran the guild hall. Although, he had developed several ugly looking bruises to his face since he had last seen him earlier that morning. A trait he shared with several other adventurers that stood behind him, although Kakashi did notice that a tall stocky man standing next to Pluton was completely untouched. Which although Gai appeared to be ignoring their condition, the face Tenten was making which screamed, “Don’t blame me,” all but confirmed who had put them there.

He was about to ask what had happened, when the tall and stocky man next to the Guild Master, and was dressed in heavy armor, topped with a kettle helm with a white flower attached to the left side stated, “So this is the leader of the criminals that snuck into the city?”

Kakashi was about to state now wasn’t the time for such a discussion but was beaten to the punch as Pluton said with a note of exasperation, “Honestly Lord Steiner, let it go.” He stuck his hand out towards the one-eyed jounin as he stated, “Kakashi Hatake, my name is Pluton Ainzach, although I imagine you were already aware of this.”

Kakashi smiled politely, not bothering to correct the man since in truth he hadn’t as it hadn’t been relevant to the mission. Indicating the heavily armored man the grey-haired man added, “And this is Captain of the Guard Adelbert Steiner.” The man just grunted a response, so the Guild Master said with a hint of urgency, “We’ve been made aware of the situation. That you were here acting on a rumor of a threat to Councilor Baki’s life. So, I can understand why you would try to keep a low profile.” He added almost under his breath, “Although, one wonders why certain parties would choose to attack us then reveal that fact.” Gai, had the decency to look rather ashamed of himself, but Pluton carried on as he stepped to the edge of the roof that they were on to observe the battle, “Still, to think a Greater Demon would appear.”

Kakashi frowned as he asked, “Has that kind of thing happened before?”

“Never has a Greater Demon appeared out of the blue inside a city like this. Not since the time of heroes which was thousands of years ago,” Pluton answered, “Generally, when a demon does appear, it is of a lesser variety. Mostly, it is due to an adventurer finding some trinket, such as an accursed blade, which contains a greater demon’s essence. I believe you ninja call this essence, chakra. They are difficult, but manageable opponents as while the essence is potent, it is just borrowing someone else’s body to enact some grand plot. Some servants of the Dark Gods, have sealed Demon Essence into hosts in a similar fashion to how you shinobi create, what was the term again…”

Pluton paused as he sent a look over to Tenten, leaving Kakashi to believe she had been one doing the explaining up until that point. “Jinchuriki,” the weapon using kunoichi answered the unasked question.

“That’s right,” Pluton replied before carrying on, “In essence, this process is rumored to create Greater Demons, but in truth just results in the lesser variant. The last time a Greater Demon has appeared happened a little over five hundred years ago and was due to some adventurers unleashing it from a dungeon. It rampaged across the land gathering monsters from the various dungeons, before it was finally defeated using The Spell of Sacrifice.”

Naruto’s clone stepped forward asking, “Could you cast that spell again?”

Pluton looked towards one of those accompanying him, a young-looking purple haired woman wearing a large pointy wide brim hat. She was dressed in a revealing set of robes which prominently displayed her cleavage, and slits that ran up the sides to show the stockings she wore on her legs. The woman nodded, before stating in a soft and almost seductive manner, “Yes… it should be possible… but what are you…prepared to sacrifice.” She pointed her staff towards where the real Naruto was fighting Hayate, and asked, “Would you... sacrifice him?”

The clone frowned, but before it could answer, Kakashi stepped forward, “Are you saying it requires a life to cast?”

“Not quite,” Pluton said, “The spell itself only requires time and preparation to perform. The sacrifice comes in the form of the person or persons required to hold the demon in place. The demon and its army that appeared five hundred years ago was defeated using it, but the army that was mustered to defeat it was sacrificed as they remained in the area when the spell was activated to keep it in place.”

Kakashi wasn’t prepared to go to such lengths yet, so stated, “We’ll keep that plan as a back…”

“No,” the Uzumaki interjected, “Let’s go with it now.”

“Naruto you can’t,” Tenten stated worriedly.

“I have to,” he replied calmly, “I’m the best one suited to the task of holding him in place.” He gave her a reassuring smile, as he added, “Plus, I’m probably the best one suited to making sure I can get out of range of the spell before it goes off.”

The woman who had spoken, and whom Naruto was thinking of as Witch since she had not given her name, tilted her head inquisitively as she asked, “What do you mean you are best? Don’t you mean… your brother… who is currently fighting the demon?”

“You’ll understand in a moment,” the clone replied, “Now tell me what I need to watch out for.”

The Witch lips puckered in a slight pout at her question being ignored, but replied, “We spell casters and priests will need to establish a circle around the battle. Runes… will begin to form within the circle… starting from the diameter… moving inwards. When they connect in the center… a pillar of energy will be created… it will deconstruct everything which remains within. With its body… destroyed… the demon’s essence… will be banished… back to the demon realm.”

The clone nodded, recalling that something similar had happened in his fight with Mōryō. Which while the demon had taken the shape of a multiheaded dragon, that had been made of purple chakra. Which the Rasengan that he and Shion had formed had easily destroyed as they aimed it for his center of mass as they fell. Most of the body had offered little resistance until a core of some sort had been destroyed, at which point the purple dragon had just disappeared. Of course, the volcano had then chosen that moment to really start erupting, so he hadn’t been given much time to think about it. But Naruto recalled Shion describing that the coffin which had contained Mōryō’s true body hadn’t been much bigger than Hayate currently was. As such, he suspected that Mōryō’s true form had been similar in size, but he had just coated himself in a chakra cloak similar to when he was in his Bijuu form. Furthermore, suspecting it was Shion’s contribution to the Rasengan which had proved fatal to the demon, he suspected the religious members who contributed to the spell where doing the real damage while the regular spell casters provided the power to eradicate everything within.

The head of the town’s guard interjected, as he stated, “Hold on a moment. While my guard may have evacuated a majority of the people in the area, I’m not just going to stand back while you blow a huge circle in the city.”

The clone was about to protest and ask if the man had any better ideas when Gai stated, “I noticed there was a large gladiatorial arena in this city. Would that not suffice as a suitable place to fire of this jutsu?” Turning towards the Uzumaki clone, he gave it a thumb’s up before adding, “Provided you believe you can get him there.”

The clone recalling the large circular arena he had been interested in checking out, mirrored the gesture while stating, “I’ll get him there.”

Steiner still didn’t appear pleased, not that the clone could blame him, since he knew that he wouldn’t want some stranger to be firing off any powerful jutsu within his home if it could be avoided. But after a moment he focused on the clone and stated, “Fine. What do you need from the guard?”

“Nothing,” it answered, but giving the matter a second thought asked, “What about the remaining citizens of the city? Have they also been evacuated and if so, where would that be to? I’m going to try and limit the damage, but if things get really dicey, I can’t promise that will remain the case”

Steiner seemed somewhat surprised by the questions, before answering, “Yes, everyone should just about be evacuated to the castle by now. Queen Alexandros may not be in the city at the moment, but her orders that the castle be opened to the public during emergencies still stands.” Directing his gaze to the large hole the demon had apparently appeared from, according to what witnesses fleeing the area had told him before he had encountered Pluton and the others, he added. “Good thing too. Back in Queen Brahne’s day, she would have just had people take refuge in the tunnels beneath the city.”

“That’s good to know,” Naruto said with a nod, before then turning to Kakashi as he added, “When everything is ready to go. Fire a flare into the sky, until then, I’ll try to keep him contained in this area.”

“Right,” Kakashi replied just before the copy of his student burst into smoke. He smiled as the locals reacted in surprise to what he assumed was an unknown technique to them, but then grew serious as he turned completely from the battle taking place behind him and stated, “Alright, let’s get going.” Advise Naruto may not have heard, but was definitely putting into action as Kakashi felt a powerful surge in the chakra behind him, which made him want to run for the hills, but he noticed caused all the women present to shiver as if someone had run their fingers pleasantly up their spines.”

Something Gai seemed oblivious of as he asked with a growing sense of concern, “Has anyone seen Lee? It is hard to believe that he has yet to make his presence felt.” Receiving a few shakes of their heads in response, Gai paused a little longer than the others as he sent one last look towards the battlefield and wondered if there was something they had missed.

*******

Naruto was in the midst of a flip away from Hayate, who had smashed his fist into where he had been standing when he received his clone’s memories. With those memories, came an anger as he saw what Yuugao and Kashike had been put through while he had been out cold as his clone had arrived at the roof top shortly after their battle had begun. He clenched his hand tightly around the grip of his sword, and while he had arrived to see a shaken Yuugao clutching Kashike, seeing most of what lead up to that moment filled him with a burning fury.

A fury that was stoked as Hayate emerged from the smoke cast up from his blow while stating in amusement, “Do you really think you saved her? After I’m done breaking you here. I’m just going to hunt her down again. Then I’m going to bring her back here, and let you watch as I use her until she is nothing but a broken shell. One I’ll mount on my chest like a plate of armor while I burn Konoha to the ground. Then I’ll make my way over to Suna, and do what Konoha should have.”

“No,” Naruto replied definitively as he reached for his stomach, “You aren’t.” Twisting his hand in a manner one would turn a knob, his red cloak which resembled a nine tailed fox suddenly flared all around before settling down to coat him in a yellow cloak of chakra, similar to his sage mode one. Naruto launched himself forward, and he noticed that although Hayate was still able to follow his increased speed, he kept a worried eye on the sword that he carried. Not that Naruto could blame him, since he imagined that while the Guild Master had made it sound like the spell they were working on would be the only way. Cutting a demon’s head off might not kill it, but it would certainly neutralize the threat.

But Naruto wasn’t confident the blade would be capable of achieving such a blow, since thus far all he had landed were blows to Hayate’s flesh. Even the blow he had landed to the man’s back upon teleporting behind him using the seal he assumed Yuugao had placed on him, had taken all of his strength and he had angled the blow to travel up under Hayate’s ribcage in an effort to pierce his heart. He suspected that he had succeeded, but as was evident by the fact that the blow he had delivered to his opponent’s throat had fully healed. He couldn’t be sure such blows would be fatal to a demon, and as cutting through bone could destroy a blade even under normal circumstances. Naruto wasn’t entirely sure it was worth taking such a gamble and losing one of the few tools in his arsenal that seemed to fill Hayate with even the slightest bit of hesitation.

Although, considering how even the scars of his earlier blows from their exchanges in the tunnels had healed now, Naruto wondered if perhaps there wasn’t something else about the sword which was making Hayate wary of it. A worry Naruto himself was experiencing as while he had been unconscious, he had experienced something akin to whispering. Like someone had been urgently trying to rouse him from the darkness of his unconscious mind, but their words had been just too soft to make out. Whatever, it had been seemed to grow frustrated by its inability to communicate with him, as it had grown silent. But then there had been a flurry of the not quite understandable whispers before a picture had formed in his mind. The picture had been of Hayate standing over Yuugao and Kashike, with his viewpoint being from just beyond the former man’s shoulder, likely as a result of mark Yuugao had put there. Which proved to be the right play, as his eyes had snapped open to find himself in the small pocket of rubble that had formed around his chakra cloak before it had faded with his consciousness. At which point he had immediately Hirashined behind Hayate and plunged the sword he had still been holding up into his back.

Naruto let the matter drop as he reached his target, and they moved in a flurry of strikes at each other. Naruto scored several cuts along Hayate’s arms and legs, as he used them to block in the few instances where he couldn’t completely avoid a strike. But, Hayate ended up getting the better of the exchange, when Naruto noticed a small gap in his defense which would allow him to slice along his belly. However, when he committed to the strike, it closed in the form of Hayate’s arm dropping in front of it. While the blow he took was deep, as Naruto had previously feared, the bone prevented his blade from passing through it cleanly, at which pointed Hayate drove his other hand up into his stomach. Hayate had kept the hand open, as if he was trying to drive his obsidian like nails up into his guts. Fortunately, Naruto’s chakra cloak prevented them from piercing him, but he still ended up coughing up blood as the strength of the blow seemed to carry through him still.

Naruto flew away from him, while managing to hold onto his sword which pulled it free of the wound that he had left on Hayate’s arm. He landed on his back but managed to roll to his feet as Hayate followed after him to press his advantage. However, this time Hayate ended up being the one sent flying as a giant arm of yellow chakra formed from Naruto’s back shoulder and smashed into the charging demon sending him tumbling down the street until he crashed into a building.

Naruto sheathed his sword, as he felt Yuugao’s presence on the outskirts of the battlefield. He wondered what had brought her back, as her last words before taking off with Kashike had been of her saying, “Please come back to me.” Naruto had simply nodded, before leaping forward to engage her former lover, confident that she was leaving matters in his hands.

Trusting that she had her reasons, he nevertheless endeavored to make sure the fight didn’t spill into her direction as Hayate launched himself forward delivering a blistering flurry of blows which took almost all of his concentration to avoid. Naruto was forced to leap into the air, as the now much larger Hayate threw a punch which hit the ground where he had been standing. Which had been the purpose of the blow as he almost immediately leapt after him to snatch the Uzumaki out of the air. But his ploy failed as a pair of chakra arms formed out of Naruto’s shoulders, and linking them, brought the twin fists down on the back of Hayate’s head. He crashed face first into the ground, and as he pulled his face from the crushed stone of his impact. Naruto greeted him with the sight of each of his chakra arms holding a Rashenshuriken, which he tossed at the same time.

He took some satisfaction as they hit, and he heard the first utterances of pain which indicated they had hurt him. But as the dust they kicked up settled, and he was greeted to the sight of a much more worse for wear looking and truly pissed off Hayate. He began praying that the others would hurry the hell up with their preparations. A pray which was answered as a flare was fired up over the city, which brought a smile to his face.

******

Hayate’s gaze was drawn to it too for a moment, wondering what it meant, while he also decided now would be a good time to threaten the Uzumaki as he began to state, “I hope that wasn’t the best you’ve got.” He began to return his focus to the blond while adding, “You managed to hurt me, but this is a far way from being o…”

He trailed off as his gaze refocused on where Naruto had been standing and found himself confused as the blond was gone. Instead, all he saw was what appeared to be a wall of yellow chakra. He followed it up, and his red eyes bulged as he saw Naruto floating in the air, in what appeared to be the head of a chakra construct of the Kyuubi. Naruto smirked as he said, “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

At which point the chakra construct threw a punch which tore up the street as it moved to connect with him. Hayate tried to leap away, but it only served to tee himself up all the better for Naruto as the blow proved to be an uppercut which sent him flying into the air. Naruto watched him fly for a moment, before teleporting himself after him so he could direct where he landed.

*****

Yuugao watched as her lover disappeared in a flash of yellow and red as he hirashined away. She was tempted to follow immediately but was remined why she shouldn’t as she adjusted Lee who was still unconscious where he rested on her back. Still she was tempted to follow after Naruto and take the still unconscious youth into what could be another potential warzone. But, rejected the impulse as she figured that she had been selfish enough already, so began heading to the temple that she had taken Kashike to. Still, she did so with an increased sense of urgency as she felt things were coming to a close.

******

Kakashi was standing in what he believed would be the queen’s view box of the arena as he lowered the tube which had fired the flare up into the sky and fought back a frown as Steiner said, “You know the greatest weakness of this plan is assuming that boy is going to be able get the demon…” The rest of what he was about to say was drowned out by a large crash in the center of the arena, which was followed by another although Kakashi had some idea of whom it was since he had seen the form of a large fox as it had landed and been swallowed by the dust its landing had kicked up.

Kakashi fought back the urge to send a smug look Steiner’s way, which proved easy enough to do as the dust began to settle and he saw Naruto was breathing hard while he stared at where Hayate was pulling himself from the crater his landing had made. He began to breathe a little easier as due to the acoustics of the arena, he could make out Hayate saying, “So, it looks like you can only hold that form for a limited amount of time.”

“Looks that way,” Naruto replied sounding drained.

Hayate smiled wickedly as he noticed the small audience waiting for them in the audience stand, most of whom were chanting. Focusing on the Uzumaki, he asked, “Don’t tell me you believe these weaklings are going to tip this fight in your favor?”

“No,” Naruto answered placing a fair amount of smugness in his voice, “But truthfully, I never really felt the scales of it had been tilted terribly in your favor either. I guess I couldn’t really take you all too seriously, considering you’re nothing but an angry shell of the man Yuugao USED to love.”

Hayate roared in anger as he charged Naruto, who for his part avoided the easily telegraphed blows while looking as if he was exhausted as all the while runes appeared on the ground moving towards the center of the arena. Kakashi shook his head marveling at how far his student had come.

Although, the ploy worked almost a little too well as after what seemed like hours of his student narrowly avoiding blows, but at most had been a handful of minutes. Someone landed behind him and moved to leap into the arena. Luckily, while Kakashi’s reflexes proved to be too slow to grab her, before she managed to reach ground below, another blur of motion intercepted the new arrival having leapt from one side of the spectator seats, to land in the ones on the opposite side.

“Let me go,” Yuugao shouted as she struggled in Gai’s arms, “He needs help.”

Kakashi leapt from the box to join them and slapped her hard enough to stun her. He then said calmly but sternly, “Just watch.”

Yuugao slowly turned her head to do as instructed and noticed that while Naruto would look like he was struggling to remain standing after avoiding a blow, like a man on the edge of exhaustion. His movements at the time when the various punches or stabs were in the midst of being delivered, were sharp and controlled. She also noticed the symbols appearing along the arena floor, which were only a few feet away from connecting in the center.

Her focus was pulled back to Hayate as he roared, “Stop running you little coward, face your death with at least a small amount of dignity.”

Coming to a stop Naruto, a strange stillness decended on the blond as he closed his eyes and replied, “Fine, hit me with your best shot.”

Hayate charged at Naruto with a roar and intended to remove his head from his shoulders. However, just before he began to bring his hand around to deliver the blow, the Uzumaki opened his eyes revealing frog like pupils. He then created a hand-sign that Hayate didn’t recognize, before the area was opaqued by a sudden cloud of smoke with tinged with red for a moment. Hayate emerged from the other side and roared towards the sky in denied fury before scanning around for the Uzumaki. He caught sight of Naruto standing behind Yuugao in the stands and dropped down into a crouch to leap at them intending to kill them both.

He paused though as Naruto’s voice said from behind him, “Are you sure that’s the real me?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Hayate replied, “Sooner or later you’ll both be dead by my hand.” He then leapt, but rather than the glorious leap followed by the ripping and tearing of the two people he now hated most in the world, he found himself falling almost flat on his face as a sudden force tried to pull him backwards. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the spot where he had assumed another clone of Naruto had been standing was now the center of a small mass of dirt and rock which was pulling more and more debris to it. However, before he could give the manner any further thought, the symbols on the ground beneath him all turned white, as the runes which had continued to be written in the air above the crater that had been created from the demise of Naruto’s Imploding Clone connected.

Hayate’s head whipped around back towards where the real Naruto stood and roared in rage as Yuugao turned away to bury her head in the Uzumaki’s chest as the ground beneath him turned completely white, and a pillar of energy shot forth into the sky. Hayate found the moment rather similar to his first death, as it was a brief sensation of pain followed by numbness as his body was reduced to nothingness by the unleashed and purified energy.

******

Yuugao basked in the warmth, and scent of the man she was pressed against, and fought back tears. Naruto wrapped his arms around her, uncaring of who was present and said, “I’m sorry.” At which her tears won the fight as she began to sob into him, feeling a mixture of shame, guilt, and elation. But eventually all the jumbling emotions settled down, to be replaced with a still calmness as she pulled her head away. She stared up into Naruto’s blue eyes, and unable to look back to where Hayate had been said, “Please take me home.”

“Sure,” Naruto replied in a tone both happy and stressed.

But, before he disappeared with her, she turned towards Gai, who looked unsure in regards to her behavior. Likely not quite sure if her reaction had been at the second death of her fiancé, and she had just clung to the closest body, or if it might indicate some stronger feelings. But, figuring it out became the furthest of concerns, as Yuugao stated, “Gai, Lee has been taken to the local temple. He was beaten pretty badly by…Hayate…when he emerged from underground. He got there before me.”

“He should be okay,” a female voice called towards them, “If the work they did on me is any indication. I’m not sure what that is exactly, but it is probably definitely deserving of the word miracles they used to describe it.”

Turning to see Kashike approaching, Yuugao could feel the remaining tenseness bleed from her lover. She gave a pleased smile towards the woman, which lasted until Kashike saddled up next to them unmindful of who was present. However, instead of slipping into an embrace, she whirled herself behind Naruto and grabbing him like she was taking a hostage as she pressed her knife against his throat and said in a threatening manner, “You two weren’t planning to give me the slip were you. There is still the small manner of you kidnapping the man that I am supposed to be guarding.”

Naruto winced a little as he could tell Kashike was only partially playing, so said, “It seemed like a good way to keep him safe.”

“Really,” Kashike replied, “Because, from my point of view it sounded like you already believed he was guilty. And it was just a matter of dropping him off in some Konoha prison.”

“Because he is,” Yuugao said immediately. “He admitted as much to you already.”

Which prompted Kashike knife to press her knife into his throat a little harder, causing Naruto to say, “That’s not really helping.”

“Maybe,” Kashike admitted ignoring him, “But, still, dropping him in the middle of Konoha probably isn’t the fairest way of beginning whatever negotiations that are going to happen over this mess.”

Naruto sent an imploring look to Gai, and Kakashi as his two lovers began to argue over the matter with him literally caught between them. Gai, was a little unsure why Kakashi seemed so amused, but taking it as a sign the Uzumaki wasn’t in any real danger said awkwardly, “I should probably go check on Lee.”

Kakashi chuckled as he followed after him stating, “I’ll go with. It’s a good opportunity to find out why you and Lee split up, and why you decided to go all berserker on the local guild.”

Gai sounded a little guilty as the two disappeared into a nearby entrance while he began to explain, “Well about that, it all started…”

Noticing that both Yuugao and Kashike were arguing over the matter rather heatedly at this point and hoping Tsunade and the man they were arguing about might calm them down, he teleported the three of them away in a red flash.

Next Chapter 100: Letting Go! The Dust Settles

Author’s Note: Hello everyone, I hope everyone this latest chapter finds you well, and it proved to be worth the wait. So, for the most part this proved to be a rather action filled chapter. Originally, I had planned to end it by wrapping up the few remaining threads and tying it all in a nice bow for when the Chunin Exam arc begins. But time being ever linear, it moved faster than my writing speed proved capable of keeping up. Still, I hope it is still an enjoyable chapter, as Yuugao and her place in the Family has been one of the longest running threads of the story and the next chapter, I think should be a nice capstone on it.

All in all, this was a fun chapter to write for me, since it was something I’ve been looking forward to since the beginning. With one of the reasons I wanted to make it a LBB chapter being so I could dial in on Naruto and her in more details. But ultimately there were just too many opportunities to tie other storylines to it, such as Lee, Kashike, and not to mention the greater ramifications to the overall story that will be revealed. Still, when I originally planned out these stories, I never really took into account how eventually some of what I had originally planned to take a chapter or two would become multichapter arcs on their own. Nevertheless, it has been a blast to take them from their initial plans to fruition. This arc being one of the more so since it original was intended to just be a story where Yuugao learns to let Hayate go and move on with her life. Which, didn’t include him becoming a demon and trying to kill her. Admittedly, probably would be more tender to go that way, but again I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to expand a bit on the lore, especially in regards to the Three Pillar theory that has been mentioned a few times. To in effect show what might happen to an Edo Tensei shinobi who doesn’t find peace, but rather the opposite.

So, with all that said, just one more chapter until Eroninja goes on the backburner for a while in favor for working on a few chapters of The Pride and The Promise. Of course, I still have a Limelight chapter featuring Mabui to finish, and possibly a LBB featuring Samui team. Although, I might work on the conjointly with Pride or Promise and release it before we delve into the Chunin Exam arc.

So, until then. Take care! Sincerely, The Lemon Sage.