The lost soul..

Naruto shifted through more mission reports when one of the Hyuuga who were working administration in the building walked in and bowed. "Naruto-sama, the ninja you requested have arrived."

He nodded. "Good. Send them in."

The Hyuuga nodded and bowed again before walking out. Moments later, Kakashi, Kurenai, The Aburame clan head Shibi and Hinata, clad in robes befitting her as the new Matriarch, walked in.

"Good, you're all here." He drawled standing. "The reason I have called you all is because I have decided to begin the first stages of m plans. And the four of you are necessary for it. We will head to Kiri, if all goes according to plan then the mist village will fall right into our hands without even a single battle between our forces."

Everyone looked at each other incredulously and were seriously considering that their leader had gone mad, but...they had said the same thing when h proposed to attack the Hyuuga compound on his own. So they decided to grant him the benefit of the doubt.

Shibi was the one to answer. "And how will you accomplish that Naruto-sama?"

"Kakashi, please explain the situation Kiri is in right now." Naruto commanded.

The copy ninja straightened and spoke. "When we went to Kiri, Anko and I quickly learned the obvious. The place was practically in ruins, The Mizukage's forces on one side and the remainder of the seven swordsmen on the other. The war has been around for a few years now, so the civilians in that area are all either miserable or drafted into Shinobi duty. While the seven swordsmen have stronger troops they have less resources and funds than the Mizukage, which has slowly been giving him the advantage. Right now, it looks as if in a few months time the seven swordsmen will be defeated. The shinobi on both sides are complacent, one side believes they should surrender instead of die needlessly, while the other side is sick and tired of the fighting."

Naruto nodded. "We will use the complacency and civil unrest of the population to our advantage. As Kakashi stated, the side with the seven swordsmen is losing simply because they have less resources from which to draw upon. We will alleviate that problem."

Shibi nodded. "I see. Then they will be in our debt."

Naruto nodded. "We will provide them assistance. In exchange, they cannot name a Godaime Mizukage, and instead they must name a Jounin-oyabun, much like Kusa and Ame. Our ninja will oversee operations there. The overseer's as they will be called will consist of a team lead by a Jounin, they will be switched once every year so they do not begin to feel too attached to the Kiri nin and the Kiri jounin commander will hand them reports of the village situations once every three months. The overseer's will also make sure there are no, movements against us, especially not by the Jounin-oyabun.

Kurenai spoke up now. "Naruto-sama. You cannot possibly believe that they will simply hand over control of their country, even if they did they would only bide their time to stab us in the back when their strength returns to them." She argued.

Naruto nodded. "Both are good points. However, not every plan is without risks. This is simply the one with the least amount of long term complications. Fighting a war with Kiri will diminish us to the point where we will not even be able to sustain ourselves, much less conquer the four shinobi villages. This will not only increase our influence in the south, it will also add to our income, man power, and will grant us control of Kiri's powerful Navy, which can only be rivaled by Kumo, and even then Kumo's is much smaller and less experienced."

Shibi nodded. "I see. But I am still confused, Kakashi and Kurenai's roles are already stated, but what possible benefit would my presence and Hinata-san's presence grant.

"You are for a much more practical use than Hinata I admit. You are to use your entire hive of Kikaichu and actively spy on the enemy, granting us intelligence at a very quick rate, defensive weak points, Strong jounin locations, as well as where the Mizukage is at all times."

"And me?" Hinata asked, ticked off that he had said she was not to be of practical use.

"While you will not be serving a practical use, or combat use at this time, your use will be placed on your political value. Once we do this, word will spread, and word will reach the other ninja villages quite quickly. It will not be long before they also hear that the Hyuuga clan head, Hiashi is dead and has been replaced by a girl no older than thirteen. Many will think that the Hyuuga clan has grown weak and will therefore think that we are weak. By going on this mission, you will handle yourself as a clan head should and make the Kiri ninja believe that you are most certainly not weak. Which will reduce the likeliness that Kumo or Iwa get any ideas of attacking. In order to make sure you are ready I will grant you a signed leave of absence from active duty Kakashi will train you in these two weeks before we depart."

Hinata looked to Kakashi who seemed a little surprised but smiled at her none the less.

Shibi spoke up next. "Naruto-sama. I request to take another of my clan members on this mission."

"Which one and for what reasons?"

"My son, Aburame Shino. I believe that he could use the experience this mission has to offer. While I can extend my Kikaichu to cover most if not all of the village at one time it takes a great amount of concentration. One that my son has never used before, you can think of this as somewhat of a…training exercise for him.

Naruto thought about it for a moment before he finally replied. "Is your son at least chuunin level in stealth on his own?"

Shibi paused before nodding. "Yes. I believe he may even be a little above that if he tries hard and the conditions are right, he could even be considered high chuunin."

Naruto nodded before speaking again. "Very well. Now, if no one else has any questions then you may leave, make preparations to depart in seventeen days."

Hinata, Kurenai and Shibi bowed and began leaving, Kakashi granting the Hyuuga the time and place of where they would meet. After they had left Kakashi turned to Naruto.

"What is it Hatake?" Naruto said leaning back in his chair.

"You know…after you take Kiri, if you even get it, you can't just immediately go and attack another country."

"Do you take me for a fool Hatake?" Naruto scoffed. "I must first stabilize my power in Kiri, and then gain the adequate number of troops, supplies, funds and resources before I begin another campaign. Besides…" He looked out the balcony towards the marketplace where the people were going about their business. "I know that a normal Shinobi can only take so much combat before he finally snaps." He looked to the Sharingan wielders eye. 'Isnt that what you were going to say."

Kakashi leaned back in his own chair and sighed. "Yeah." He looked to Naruto again. "You say the words but you don't really understand them do you?"

Naruto was silent for a long while before he spoke again. "My entire life has been battle. I fought battle after battle until I was feared by all, as a devil in human form." He looked to Kakashi. "Even you, to some degree see me as a demon don't you Hatake?"

He smirked as Kakashi didn't answer. "No, Kakashi, I do not understand. But perhaps that will change some day." He mused silently before standing and leaving his office.

'Minato-sensei.' He mentally sighed. 'What have we done to your legacy.'

Meanwhile, in a dark lair, seven robed figures gathered together.

"Are you serious?" One voice, which belonged to a silver haired man with a three bladed scythe and a kumo forehead protector asked incredulously. "He actually beat the both of you?"

"While also defeating Itachi's Tsukiyomi." Another voice, this one coming from a very tall man with pupiless eyes a face mask and a bandana with the waterfall village symbol over his head.

"That is…disturbing." Another, one with a scorpion tail and hunched form spoke up.

"No, that's fucking hilarious yeah." Another voice, this one coming from a blond rock nin snickered.

Kisame growled. "You wana come down here and say that you clay using transvestite?" He said as he moved to grab Samaheda.

"You fish faced freak!" Deidara snarled moving his hand to one of his pouches.

"Enough, both of you." A female voice spoke up entering the room. She looked to the still silent leader. "I have treated him. He will hopefully awaken in a few days time."

The leader nodded and turned to one member which looked like a Venus flytrap. 'Zetsu. I want you to gather as much information as you can on the Kyuubi's jinchuriki. His strength is troubling, but nothing we cannot handle with the proper information."

Zetsu, bowed before speaking. "Of course." He seemed to fade away as the leader turned to the rest of the group.

"This changes nothing. We will continue with our plans accordingly. Do not approach the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki in open combat unless the odds are very favorable."

They each nodded before silently fading into the darkness.

The leader let his eyes travel to the giant statue of a bound humanoid figure in silent contemplation.

Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Will you be the one I wonder?

Will you be the one that brings this world into ruin…

Tsunade was currently on her ninth bottle of Sake, drunk as hell. She was drinking for a number of reasons, one was the death of her sensei, another was simply for the situation that had fallen over her home. Jiraiya was yet another reason, she felt sort of betrayed by him. How could he side with someone like Naruto. He couldn't possibly believe that he would succeed in his ambition so there had to be another reason.

Another major reason was that girl, Akina. She reminded Tsunade a little of herself back when she had lost Dan and Nawaki. Throughout her entire story Tsunade felt the memories that she had long ago tried to bury resurface.

In a nut shell.

She could relate to the girl.

And she hated it.

Just as she was about to reach for the tenth bottle a hand firmly grasped her wrist.

"You know Hime. That's really bad for your health."

She looked at the silver haired man that stared at her with a neutral expression. "Jiraiya." She glared.