Chapter 31 – Fire Temple

## Konoha's North Gate ##

There were five people near the north gates of Konoha. They were Senju Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke, Nara Shikamaru and their client Kenshin. Kenshin was the fire daimyo's grandson and Konoha was tasked to escort him to the fire temple where he would rendezvous with the guardian twelve.

"Alright now that we are all here let's take this from the top" Naruto said looking at his team "Supply check" Naruto ordered.

"100 shurikens, 10 fuuma shurikens, 100 kunais, 20 explosive tags, one medical kit, one sleeping bag, 10 food bars, 10 food pills and 10 soldier pills" Sasuke said and Naruto nodded turning to Shikamaru.

"Troublesome…50 shurikens, 50 kunais, 10 explosive tags, 5 smoke bombs, one medical kit, one sleeping bag, 10 food bars, 10 food pills and 10 soldier pills" Shikamaru said and Naruto nodded.

"I have 100 shurikens, 100 senbons, 100 kunais, one advanced medical kit, one sleeping bag, food bars, food pills and soldier pills" Hinata said and Naruto nodded turning to Kenshin.

"What?" Kenshin asked.

"What do you mean what?" Naruto rhetorically asked "Don't you at least have a bag for sleeping and some food?" Naruto asked and Kenshin shrugged his shoulders.

"It's your job to escort me so I assumed that I was taken care of" Kenshin stated and Naruto sighed.

"Hold here…I'll go home get some more supplies" Naruto said.

"You are going home now... what are we supposed to do in the mean time?" Kenshin asked.

"Relax…I'll be back in a flash" Naruto said and ironically disappeared in a yellow flash. Five minutes later he returned with another supply kit.

"Damn shinobi…the world would be better off without them" Kenshin thought to himself.

"We will be travelling in a loose diamond formation. Shikamaru on the back for support, me and Sasuke to the sides, Hinata you take the lead" Naruto ordered and everyone nodded. "Hinata, five hundred meter sweep every two minutes" Naruto said and she nodded.

"Kotetsu" Naruto called out towards one of the gate keepers "Sign us out" Naruto said and handed him the mission form with the permit to leave the village.

"You are clear to go Naruto…good luck" Kotetsu said.

"Let's move out" Naruto said and they started walking out of the Konoha towards the fire temple. It would take a few days for them to arrive at the fire temple travelling by civilian pace.

## 2 Days into the Mission – Middle of Fire Country ##

Naruto's team and their client were travelling peacefully and in just two days they were already at about half the distance. Kenshin didn't know how to properly use chakra neither had the stamina of a shinobi so they had to stop every couple of hours so he could rest.

They had offered him to be carried but he refused. Naruto even offered him to stay and rest inside Naruto's dimension while they travelled at shinobi speed but he refused as well. According to Kenshin, Naruto's dimension was scary, dark, cold and lonely. It felt as if he was in a horror movie, too scared to even move.

"Say" Hinata started gathering the attention towards her "What's life like to the daimyo's grandson?" Hinata asked and everyone raised an eyebrow at the question. They had been travelling mostly in silence the whole travel. Sasuke was brooding, thinking about his brother, Itachi. Shikamaru was watching the clouds, Hinata was busy sweeping the area and Naruto and Kenshin didn't really seem to get along.

"Finally deciding to leave the peasant and come with me?" Kenshin asked with sultry voice and Hinata got a tick mark.

"Why do you insist on calling me peasant?" Naruto asked shaking his head and ignoring his comment towards Hinata.

"Because you are" Kenshin simply replied "Everyone on your team is from a clan…the Uchiha Clan, founders of Konoha, the Nara Clan and the ever honored Hyuuga Clan" Kenshin stated. There were a few wrong things with that train of thought; after all neither Hinata belonged to the Hyuuga clan and neither was Naruto clan less.

"Have you ever thought of was asking me my full name?" Naruto rhetorically asked.

"What is full name then?" Kenshin asked in a superior and arrogant tone.

"Naruto...Senju Naruto" Naruto said and Kenshin stopped walking and stared at the blonde.

"That will put the prick in his place" Naruto thought nodding to himself.

"S-Se-Senju?" Kenshin asked stuttering and Naruto nodded. "But I thought Tsunade-sama was the last…why didn't you say anything when I called peasant back then?" Kenshin asked shocked. The Senju were considered royalty in Konoha. There was a reason why Tsunade was called the Slug Princess.

"I don't care about titles" Naruto simply answered "I think respect must be earned and not given just because of the name you carry" Naruto explained and Kenshin stared at him.

"Looks like even today the Senju remain honorable and modest" Kenshin thought to himself with a smile. "Maybe he'll do a different job than them" Kenshin sadly thought.

"I supposed I owe you an apology" Kenshin said but Naruto waved him off.

"Just stop hitting on my girlfriend and we are good" Naruto said and Kenshin nodded.

"So" Hinata started "you didn't answer about your life" Hinata said and Kenshin sighed before starting.

"My life is pretty boring now. Since my father died six years ago when I was ten it became even worse" Kenshin sadly said. "My father was supposed to succeed grandpa as the new fire daimyo but he was killed. Ever since then, the title fell to me and now I'm constantly taught in the ways of the daimyo. I have to learn extensive geography and history, negotiations, politics and economy…it sucks" Kenshin said and Naruto chuckled.

Naruto's days at the academy were pretty boring with Iruka as a teacher. That man was a very good practical teacher but he couldn't, for the love of god, talk for more than 10 minutes without starting to sound boring. And the lessons tended to last hours, sometimes going on three hours on a row.

"My instructor at the Academy was also boring" Naruto replied and Shikamaru snorted. Shikamaru would always sleep during Iruka's highly detailed and constructive lessons.

"I have a question" Sasuke and everyone turned to stare at him. Who would have thought that the brooding Uchiha would actively participate in the conversation? "Why weren't you trained in the way of the shinobi due to your bloodline?" Sasuke asked. "I mean…it's not powerful as the sharingan"

"Good old Sasuke" Naruto thought chuckling.

"But it still seems like a powerful bloodline to be able to negate any ninjutsu" Sasuke explained.

"I never knew I had a bloodline until the day my father died. My mother died when she gave birth to me and she also was a civilian so I never knew" Kenshin replied looking down "When I was ten years old, me and my father were travelling and being escorted by a Konoha team much like this" Kenshin started.

"We were ambushed by a team of nukenin and my father ended up being killed during the battle. The Konoha team managed to hold on until the twelve shinobi guardians arrived but it was too late. During the battle one fire attack managed to slip by the Konoha shinobi and was heading towards me" Kenshin said.

"Then it happened…I instinctively closed my eyes and placed my arms in front of me to shield myself from the fireball. The moment the fireball was about to hit me I felt a sharp pain in my hands and opened my eyes. I saw that the fireball was being sucked into my arm like a vacuum" Kenshin explained.

"I didn't know what was happening or how to control it. The fireball was sucked in completely and just moments later, from the same arm, came the fireball that I had just sucked in. It completely surprised the enemy and I ended up killing one of them giving Konoha enough time for backup to arrive" Kenshin said remembering his first kill and how he threw up afterwards.

"After the whole ordeal was over I was taught how to use chakra and control it by the twelve shinobi guardians. My bloodline was very dangerous if I didn't know how to use it. According to them, I could accidently kill any civilian when I shook his." Kenshin said.

"Makes sense. Civilians don't have active chakra networks but they need it nonetheless. You could absorb all of their chakra almost instantly and they would never knew of it as they weren't trained" Naruto concluded.

"Don't worry...you have 4 chunnins guarding you" Naruto said.

"That didn't help much the last time. You ninja train everyday and yet when the time comes you are all worthless" Kenshin flatly replied.

"You know what?" Naruto rhetorically asked "I'm going to tell something I told a friend I have back in the Wave. Stop bitching about it and do something" Naruto simple said and everyone raised an eyebrow at the bluntness at which he said that to the daimyo's grandson. After all, Naruto was never one to give any proper respect and honorifics to anyone.

"You are blaming Konoha shinobi on the death of your father and I can accept that, but not all shinobi are worthless as you say...you don't want that to happen again then get training in the shinobi way. Master your bloodline and train, bleed and fight for those you care for" Naruto explained and Kenshin turned away not looking at Naruto thinking about what he said.

"I'm going tell you something the Sandaime hokage once said to me when I was a kid" Naruto said and everyone focused on him "In this society, true power is not attained from mastering all the world's techniques. This is something I have already taught you. When there is something important to protect… that's when a shinobi's true power emerges" Naruto quoted.

"Power, true power comes from those who have the determination to protect. The true power of a shinobi emerges when he fights to protect those that are precious to him " Naruto explained.

"So if you want to protect those that you love don't rely solely on others. Find your own strength and fight for them. That is how I unlocked the final tomoe of my sharingan, when Hinata-chan was being kidnapped. I unlocked the next level, the mangekyou sharingan, when Hinata-chan was about to die and I needed to save her" Naruto explained and looked at Kenshin who was deep in thought.

"Easier said than done" Kenshin muttered out loud.

"I never said it would be easy. But would you rather have someone you cared for die just because you thought that training was tiresome and hard?" Naruto rhetorically asked but Kenshin didn't reply.

"I guess not" Kenshin replied before he gathered his thoughts and made a promise to himself. "I will do it. I won't rely on others and I will defend my family with everything I have" Kenshin stated with a small smile.

"Naruto-kun" Hinata thought looking at Naruto smiling. Naruto always had a way with words.

"Troublesome...I guess he will make a fine Hokage one day" Shikamaru thought to himself.

"Hn" Sasuke replied not really paying attention to what Naruto had said.

"So" Kenshin started "Can you train me?" Kenshin asked and Naruto chuckled.

"Hold your horses. We will only be escorting you to the fire temple. Once there, we will leave. Although, if you ask the twelve shinobi guardians I'm sure they would be happy to help you" Naruto said and Kenshin nodded.

"Enemy inbound, both sides" Hinata said and Kenshin froze.

"Relax" Naruto said placing a hand on his shoulder to calm his nerves. "I take care of my team and clients. No one is dying today...except them" Naruto said and turned to Hinata.

"Can I get a head count?" Naruto asked and Hinata focused on her byakugan. At this time the whole team stopped and took defensive stances around Kenshin.

"I count twelve people" Hinata said and focused more on each individual "Based on chakra level I estimate nine around gennin level, two chunnins and one jounin" Hinata explained. "The gennins don't seem to have any experience or carry themselves as someone with training so are most likely thugs who can use chakra" Hinata said and Naruto nodded.

"They were probably taught by the jounnin and chunnins" Naruto concluded and activated his own sharingan and started scanning the surroundings.

"I thought you were a Senju" Kenshin said confused when he noticed Naruto's eyes. It was the fabled sharingan.

"I am Senju on my mother's side and Uchiha on my father's" Naruto said "I'm in the bingo book go look there, it has my family tree" Naruto explained.

"Incoming attack" Hinata said and kunais came flying from all sides making impossible to escape.

"Doton - Doryuuheki (Earth Wall)" Naruto said and slammed his hands on the ground. All around the group, fours earth walls rose from the ground to trap everyone inside. The kunais and shuriken hit the wall and got stuck. The earth wall blocked around one hundred kunais and shurikens.

"You know the plan?" Naruto asked and they all nodded. Naruto made a shadow clone of himself and used his kamui to sink underground. Naruto's clone dropped the wall and everyone was standing there in front of them. All twelve of the attackers were standing there trying to intimidate the Konoha's shinobi.

Like Hinata had said, the thugs didn't have anything in particular related to shinobi, they had normal clothes and no armor or hidden pockets. They didn't even a hitaiate unlike the others. The chunnins and jounin had a scratched hitaiate that belonged to the hidden grass village, meaning they were nukenin.

"How about you, kids, gives us the bloodline noble and we will let you go on your way" the jounin said. It appeared as if he was the leader of this small group.

"We do not abandon our clients and we never surrender...it's the way of the leaf" Naruto said with his sharingan spinning.

"An Uchiha...you might be worth something in another village" the jounin mused "Let's take him as well along with the Hyuuga girl" the jounin said with a twisted smile. "Get them" the jounin said and all of thugs rushed the target.

"Futon : Fanned Wind" the original Naruto said hidden in the trees. He picked his fan and, channeling chakra through it, he swinged it creating a very strong gust of wind. The gust collided with the thugs and all of them went flying and crashed into the ground and trees. It was clear that they weren't going to get up as they had cracked bones all over and some were even dead.

"You were saying?" Naruto asked as the clone dispelled and the original approached his group. It was nothing more than a distraction so the enemy would think they were all there guarding the client. They didn't expect a surprise attack and, as such, Naruto was able to eliminate more than half of the group. Even if it were the weaker ones.

"Meh...they are just cannon fodder" the jounin said and Naruto shook his head. There was no honor among thieves. They were willing to sacrifice them as pawns and nothing more.

The jounin wanted to kill them quickly and took out a sword that looked like a normal katana. The jounin dashed towards Naruto's group and raised his katana and tried to do a downward slash to kill them. However Naruto was faster than him, Naruto blurred from his position heading straight towards the incoming jounin.

Naruto closed the distance and gave no time for the jounin to react. Naruto ducked under the swing and rose placing himself in the middle of the jounin's arms. Naruto quickly head butted him making the jounin stumble backwards. Naruto kicked the jounin's right hand and made the sword fly into the air.

While the sword was still in the air Naruto gave the jounin a kick to his chest making him fly away and collide with a tree. Naruto caught the falling sword and immediately threw it at the jounin piercing his clothes and snaring him to the tree. The jounin and chunnins gulped when they saw that display of skill and speed. The jounin was already sweating as the blonde kid could have killed right away if he wanted.

"Who wants a piece of action?" Naruto asked and Hinata and Sasuke raised their hands making Naruto chuckle.

"Hinata you take the jounin, Sasuke the left chunnin" Naruto said.

"Why does Hinata get to take the jounin?" Sasuke yelled frustrated with the fact that Naruto would think that Hinata was stronger than him or that Sasuke wasn't strong enough to take the jounin.

"Shut up and do what I say" Naruto ordered and Sasuke scowled. Releasing a bit of KI to further his order Sasuke eventually caved and Naruto turned to Shikamaru.

"Troublesome...I'll take the other one" Shikamaru said sighing and stepping forward leaving Naruto to protect Kenshin. They all immediately dashed towards the enemy who braced themselves to fight the incoming Konoha shinobi.

"Aren't you going to help your girlfriend?" Kenshin asked surprised how calm Naruto was. He didn't seem any bit worried to see his girlfriend or the rest of the team fight for their lives.

"Don't worry, all of them are very strong. Do you know the ninja ranking system?" Naruto asked and Kenshin nodded. It was one of many subjects he had to learn. After all, the fire daimyo was the supreme ruler of the fire country and, as such, indirect leader of the leaf village. The fire daimyo was more turned to economy while the hokage was the military leader.

"Even though we are all chunnin, I'm ranked as a kage level shinobi, Hinata-chan is an elite jounin, Sasuke is around low-jounin and Shikamaru is a solid chunnin" Naruto explained and Kenshin had his eyes widened.

"You don't really think Tsunade-baa-chan would give you an escort with four ordinary and fresh chunnins were you?" Naruto rhetorically asked but Kenshin said nothing.

"Tsunade-baa-chan?" Kenshin muttered out loud and Naruto nodded "Oh shit...I called him peasant in front of her...I'm so lucky to be alive" Kenshin thought to himself shivering. Everyone in the world knew exactly why Tsunade was famous and it was because of her short temper and monstrous strength.

"If anything goes south I'll intervene" Naruto stated and turned to watch the battles.

## Hinata vs. Jounin ##

"Oh goodie...the blonde kid sent the lamb to the slaughter" the jounin said licking his lips in anticipation.

"Are you in the bingo book?" Hinata asked in a monotone voice.

"No, why do you ask?" the jounin asked confused.

"Shame...that means there is no reward in killing you" Hinata said and the jounin scoffed.

"We will see" the jounin said and took out a couple o kunais.

"Suiton - Teppoudama (Water Bullet)" Hinata said and sent a couple of water bullets towards the jounin. He jumped to the side to avoid them and threw a kunai to Hinata wrapped with explosive tag.

Hinata dodged the kunai and the tag exploded creating a cloud of dust. Using the cloud as coverage Hinata created a shadow clone and activated her byakugan. Using her eyes she easily bypassed the dust cloud and located the jounin who was observing intently the cloud for any signs of Hinata.

Hinata took out a couple of poisonous senbon and easily threw them towards the jounin using the dust as cover up. The jounin was fairly close to the dust cloud and, even though he was a jounin, he didn't have reflexes quick enough to completely dodge the senbon as they were small and difficult to see.

The senbon scratched the jounin and introduced the poison into him. Due to his quick reflexes he managed to avoid any critical strike from the senbon but he still got infected by the poison although he didn't know that yet.

"Bitch" the jounin said before flashing through hand seals "Doton: Domu (Earth Spear)" An chunk of earth rose from the ground and formed a spear that the jounin grabbed and threw blindly into the dust cloud. He heard a piercing sound and smirked thinking he got her.

The dust cloud finally lifted and the jounin smiled at the sight of Hinata being pinned to the ground with an earth spear through her left shoulder. The jounin approached her and kicked her. "Serves you right bitch" the jounin said laughing until Hinata disappeared in a cloud of smoke to reveal a small log.

"Kawarimi (Substitution) shit" the jounin thought as the log started sizzling. He took a closer look and saw that the log had a explosive tag attached to it. The tag detonated and the jounin was thrown backwards but managed to flip mid air and land on the ground barely hurt. He scanned his surroundings trying to find her.

The jounin knew he was at a disadvantage as he was fighting a Hyuuga. His enemy had the byakugan and was a safe bet that she knew exactly where he was unlike him who had to rely on his senses to find her.

"Fuuton - Renkuudan (Wind Bullet)" Hinata whispered before taking a deep breath and firing multiple wind bullets towards the unsuspecting jounin. The jounin felt the chakra usage and immediately performed a Kawarimi to avoid the death zone. Hinata saw him mold the chakra with her byakugan and adjusted her trajectory with the last bullets.

The jounnin performed the Kawarimi and avoided the bullets safely or so he thought. He started doing hand seals for another jutsu when he felt pain through his legs. He buckled over in pain and noticed that he was bleeding from both legs who had holes in them. He tried to get up until he felt a sharp pain in the middle of his chest and then nothing more than darkness.

Hinata had quickly approached the jounin and delivered a juuken strike to his hearth killing him instantly. There was no point in letting him suffer in pain so Hinata took him out his misery.

## Shikamaru vs. Chunnin ##

"Damn that Naruto...giving me all the work while I could be resting by the client watching the clouds" Shikamaru muttered sighing and stopping right in front of the chunnin. Shikamaru was already making plans and more plans to defeat his enemy and end this battle quickly. After all, the clouds don't watch themselves.

"If you want I can leave" the chunnin said in a sarcastic tone.

"That would be great...see yea" Shikamaru said and turned to walk away from the enemy who had a WTF face.

"I'm joking you bastard...you aren't going anywhere" the chunnin yelled and charged towards Shikamaru.

"Troublesome" Shikamaru muttered and braced himself to fight that troublesome shinobi. Shikamaru crouched and placed his hands rat hand seal. The shadow beneath Shikamaru started shimmering and suddenly a thin line raced towards the incoming chunnin.

"A Nara..." the chunnin thought as he stopped running towards Shikamaru and started evasive maneuvers. If he got caught in the shadow it would be the end of him. Even though the shadow bloodline from the Nara clan is very powerful their techniques have several weaknesses.

For instants, the most basic technique, which Shikamaru is performing, the user must be rooted in place keeping the constant hand seal making him vulnerable to an attack. Another weakness is that, if the enemy's chakra is powerful enough, they can break the shadow bind placing the Nara user in a tough spot.

Seeing this, the chuunin jumped high in the air and took out a couple of shurikens and sent them towards Shikamaru. Shikamaru was forced to stop his technique and jumped to the side to avoid the shurikens. Shikamaru took out a couple of smoke bombs and threw them into the middle of road clouding the chunnin's view of his enemy.

The chunnin knew he couldn't stay in the smoke cloud and, as such, he jumped into the nearby forest and latched himself into a tree channeling chakra into his feet. "Let's see" the chunnin thought considering what to do against the shadow user.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Great Fireball technique)" the chunnin said and sent a big fireball towards Shikamaru who was still on the road watching the cloud of smoke disperse. Shikamaru noticed the fireball and pin pointed the enemy's location from the jutsu.

Using the fireball's shadow and the natural shadows created by the trees in the forest, Shikamaru did a quick Kawarimi with a nearby log and immediately crouched. His shadow blurred from his position and quickly passed underneath the fireball and up the tree snaring the chunnin into position.

"How?" the chunnin asked. He never noticed the shadow crept on him. He looked towards to where the fireball crashed and noticed a burned log meaning Shikamaru had switched with it.

"Very simple...I used the fireball's shadow along with the shadows from the trees. The smoke bomb's original purpose was to lure you into the forest" Shikamaru explained and performed another set of hand seals.

"Shadow-Neck Binding" Shikamaru said and the shadow under the chunnin's feet started crawling up his legs and taking the form of hands. These shadow hands easily reached the chunnin's neck and proceeded to strangle him to death. The chunnin fell to the ground and Shikamaru left to group up with Naruto so he could finally watch some clouds.

## Sasuke vs. Chunnin ##

"You should give up. Only an Uchiha can defeat an Uchiha" Sasuke taunted or most likely bragged but in the end didn't matter. Like most shinobi, when you taunt them they fall for it and charge head on.

"Shut up you bastard" the chunnin said and blurred towards Sasuke who smirked and easily saw him approaching with his Sharingan. Usually the one that advances first is the first to make a mistake.

They both arrived near each other and started exchanging blows with Sasuke coming on top. The chunnin threw a sloppy punch and Sasuke capitalized on it. Sasuke swatted his fist aside and grabbed his wrist. Sasuke flicked him and slammed him into the ground. The chunnin got up and Sasuke took his chance and gave him a round house kick and the chunnin was sent flying into a nearby tree.

"Pathetic" Sasuke said smirking. "As expected. No one can match the power of an Uchiha" Sasuke bragged.

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Fire Technique)" Sasuke said and sent multiple small fireballs towards the chunnin. He had just got up and couched a bit of blood when he saw the incoming fire attack.

The chunnin decided to perform a fast Kawarimi with a nearby log since it would be difficult to dodge all of the fireballs. The chunnin came into his senses when he noticed Sasuke appear next to him. Sasuke sent him a kick and chunnin managed to block with his right leg. Sasuke twisted his body and gave him a right hook.

The chunnin blocked it once again with his hands but Sasuke continued his twist and used his other leg and slammed it into the chunnin's face sending him flying once again. Sasuke quickly repapered next to the chunnin, before he could even land, and gave him a kick that sent him flying into the air.

Sasuke blurred from his position and appeared behind the chunnin in mid air. Sasuke grabbed the chunnin, trapped the chunnin's legs with his hands and wrapped his legs around the chunnin's chest and plummeted towards earth.

Sasuke slammed the chunnin's head hard into the ground, hard enough to bury him and snap his neck. Sasuke got up and smirked and his handy work, all that training was paying off.

## Back with Naruto & Kenshin ##

"You see" Naruto said pointing towards the incoming members of his team "Nothing to worry about" Naruto stated.

"That's good but I can't stop shaking" Kenshin said trembling.

"It's the adrenaline" Hinata started "You aren't used to see this type of combat and you were obviously nervous…it will wear off, give it a couple of minutes" Hinata explained and he nodded.

"We will set camp here tonight" Naruto said as the day was already beginning to darken and they had just battled a couple of nukenin. "Sasuke go collect wood for a fire, Shikamaru…water" Naruto said and they both left.

"Hinata-chan stay close to Kenshin…I'll bury the bodies" Naruto said and left to go collect the bodies of the enemy and bury them.

A couple of minutes later everyone returned with their respective things and Naruto started a small fire with a katon jutsu. They ate quietly and peacefully and Naruto formed a small earth dome so that they could sleep with some coverage.

"Four three hours shift each one. Who wants the first?" Naruto asked and Shikamaru stepped forward.

"Troublesome…I'll take the first one" Shikamaru said yawning.

"No cloud watching" Naruto said grinning and Shikamaru waved him off.

"Little does he know it's a clear sky so I'll be watching the stars" Shikamaru thought evilly.

## Three Days Later – Fire Temple ##

The rest of the travel went without any sort of troubles as they weren't ambushed again. During the travel Naruto eventually caved and decided to show Kenshin the leaf sticking exercise for chakra control as it could be done while travelling. Kenshin had a really hard time doing it because he was already old and such his chakra network was a bit atrophied.

They were reaching the fire temple and stopped at the supposed entrance to it. There were stairs as far as the eye could see and there weren't even intervals between them. It was step after step in what seemed to be a long walk.

"234 steps" Kenshin said and Naruto's eye twitched.

"Keep those comments to you" Naruto said and they all started walking up the stairs that didn't seem to end.

After 234 steps they finally reached the real entrance to the fire temple. The temple itself seemed to be surrounded by high and sturdy stone walls with the entrance being a big golden gate with two statues near them, as if guarding the gates. They approached the gates and stopped in front of them. Naruto tried to push the gate to open it but it wouldn't budge.

"It won't open…Am I supposed to blow it to pieces?" Naruto asked turning to Kenshin who paled at the thought of Naruto blowing up the gates.

"Hold on" Naruto said and his eyes flashed to his mangekyou and, touching every members of his team and using his Kamui, he simply walked through the gates. Kenshin got chills down his spine when travelling through the gate. Just what type of shinobi was this Naruto, he just passed through a gate like a ghost.

Once inside, the temple itself looked very modest. It wasn't an overly large construction or fancy for that matter. It seemed to be a monastery built primarily of wood with some empty grounds around. If Naruto had to guess these empty grounds were mostly training ones.

"HOLD" someone yelled and forced Naruto's team into defensives stances around Kenshin. "Identify yourselves" the person ordered. They relaxed their stance but kept on edge, after all appearances can be deceiving.

"Konoha team escorting Kenshin-sama" Naruto stated and that someone stepped from the shadows to reveal a monk. The person was a bald man with dark eyes, and very thick eyebrows. He wore the standard attire of the ninja monk along with the sash worn by members of the Twelve Guardia Ninja group and went barefoot.

"I'm Chiriku the head monk in the fire temple" Chiriku said greeting the Konoha team and motioned to another person to step out from the shadows but Naruto's team had already knowledge of his existence.

The other person looked like he was around fourteen. He had shoulder-length, dull blueish-grey hair in an asymmetrical style with a single lock falling into his face, and brown eyes. He wore sandals and the standard monk uniform with a long right sleeve.

"This is Sora my apprentice" Chiriku explained and Sora bowed to the Konoha team.

"Pleasure to meet you" Naruto said greeting them "I'm Senju Naruto leader of team. This is Nara Shikamaru" Naruto said pointing to the yawning Nara "This is Hyuuga Hinata" Naruto said pointing towards Hinata who slightly bowed "and this is Uchiha Sasuke" Naruto said and Sasuke did his traditional cocky smirk.

"Nice to meet you all" Chiriku started "We weren't expecting you for at least a couple more days" Chiriku stated impressed with the speed at which they got to the fire temple.

"We made good time and we didn't have much trouble" Naruto explained and Chiriku motioned them to follow him inside.

"As we weren't expecting you on such short notice the fire daimyo as yet to arrive and, as such, there aren't any twelve shinobi guardians here" Chiriku explained.

"It shouldn't be a problem. Our mission is to escort and protect Kenshin-sama until he can rendezvous with the twelve shinobi guardian. As such, we shall wait here with him until they arrive. I will send a message to Tsunade-baa-chan to report our progress and explain our situation" Naruto explained and Chiriku nodded.

They approached the monastery and saw that some monks were practicing taijutsu in one of the training grounds. They weren't sparring like shinobi do. When shinobi spar, they aren't afraid to hit their comrade while the monks would stop if the attack would hit the opponent.

Seeing the curious face of the Konoha team Chiriku decided to explain. "We aren't the traditional monks" Chiriku started and everyone focused on him "We are ninja monks. We usually don't take the traditional path the shinobi seem to take. Like for instants, we don't train much in anything other than taijutsu and elemental ninjutsu" Chiriku explained.

"All of the ninja monks are around what you might call chuunin level. More skilled monks are usually assigned to the twelve shinobi guardians along with a select few from Konoha." Chiriku stated and Shikamaru remembered something when he saw Chiriku's scarf.

"You were a member of the twelve shinobi guardian" Shikamaru stated and Chiriku raised an eyebrow.

"I was. Why do you ask?" Chiriku asked curious as to why he would ask such question.

"Because Asuma-sensei as the same scarf as you and was also one of the twelve" Shikamaru said.

"Sarutobi Asuma?" Chiriku asked surprised to hear the name of his long-away friend.

"Hai" Shikamaru said.

"Oh Asuma-kun, we were partners in the twelve back in the day. How's that bastard doing?" Chiriku asked. Shikamaru blinked at the way he phrased the question. Was a monk allowed to curse?

"He's fine and a good sensei. He always took us out to eat after a successful mission" Shikamaru said and Chiriku nodded. It was good to find that his friend was good and he got a gennin team to teach. And if this young man's flak jacket was proof, Asuma was doing a good job teaching them.

"This way" Chiriku said and guided them to the rooms where they will staying for the next couple of days until the fire daimyo arrives. After a couple minutes of walking they reached the rooms and each member took one. Naruto assigned the same shifts to watch over Kenshin.

They were deep inside the fire temple and they shouldn't have much trouble but Naruto didn't want to take any chances. He himself is a master at infiltration but that is partially due his Kamui ability but nonetheless there are a lot of skilled shinobi out there and Naruto wanted to make sure Kenshin was safe at all times.

## Next Day - Fire Temple - Outside##

Deep within the forest just outside of fire temple were two cloaked figures. A small light bypassed the branches and showed them. They were Tobi and Kakuzu and they were talking to one another.

"You know what to do?" Tobi asked and Kakuzu nodded. "Good. Don't underestimate the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki. Iwa classified him as an S-rank shinobi and we know for a fact that he can control at least four tails" Tobi said. After all, if Kakuzu got himself killed before he could even finish his mission that wouldn't please Tobi at all.

"Just make sure you do your part" Kakuzu said and dashed out of the forest going towards the fire temples gate. Kakuzu approached the golden gates and formed a ram seal. His hands started to darken as they seemed to turn into something stronger than stone itself.

"Doton: Domu (Earth Spear)" Kakuzu said forming a fist with his right hand and slamming it against the golden gates. The gates were obliterated and blasted backwards crashing into the middle of the training grounds.

"Subtle" Tobi thought as he warped away to get into position.

## Inside Fire Temple - Naruto & Comp. ##

Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Shikamaru were guarding Kenshin while Chiriku and Sora were taking them on a tour around the fire temple. Regarding Sora, Naruto felt that was something off about the kid. Naruto noticed the glares the other monks seemed to give Sora and these types of glares reminded him of his life back in the old days.

"Chiriku-san" Naruto said gathering his attention "Do you mind if I ask a personal question?" Naruto asked and Chiriku raised an eyebrow.

"I'll do my best to answer it truthfully" Chiriku replied and Naruto nodded thinking how to put his questions the right way.

"Truthfully you say" Naruto thought before activating his sharingan and hiding it with a small genjutsu. Hinata sensed the genjutsu and activated her byakugan as well. All of this and Chiriku never realized it. After all, would you expect a sharingan user belonging to the Senju Clan.

"I noticed some strange looks that the other monks seem to give Sora-san" Naruto said and Chiriku remained impassive but Hinata saw a small rise in his heart beat and Naruto noticed a small increase in his blood pressure due to a small bulge in his neck. Sora just frowned as he to wondered why he received those glares.

"Sore subject" Both Naruto and Hinata thought. Chiriku looked over to Sora who was silent and watching him intently to see if Chiriku was going to tell him.

"I know those types of glares and If he is what I think he is then you should have let the Hokage know about this" Naruto explained looking directly at Chiriku and letting his genjutsu drop to reveal his sharingan "I don't think you are equipped or trained if something should happen" Naruto said and Chiriku flinched.

"Something did happen" Naruto stated.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked "You said you didn't know why they treated me like this" Sora sadly said looking intently at him.

"Tell me" Sora yelled but this time towards Naruto.

"You are what people call a jinchuuriki, a human sacrifice" Naruto started "Jinchuuriki are human beings that have a bijuu sealed inside of them" Naruto said and Sora's eyes widened at the implications.

"Which one does he have?" Naruto asked Chiriku.

"Kyuubi" Chiriku sadly replied sighing.

"WHAT/WHAT?" Naruto/Hinata/Kurama/Shikamaru yelled.

"Kurama...what is he talking about?" Naruto asked his partner who was dumbfounded at the monk's statement.

"I don't have a clue...I don't sense anything coming off of him" Kurama replied.

"That is impossible Chiriku-san" Naruto said to Chiriku.

"What makes you say that?" Chiriku asked confused.

"Because I'm the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki" Naruto said Sasuke's eye widened along with Sora's and Chiriku's.

"But...when it happened...I felt the chakra and it was definitely the Kyuubi's" Chiriku explained and Naruto stayed silent.

"That dobe seems to have everything...the Kyuubi should belong to me...with it I easily could defeat Itachi. After all the sharingan is capable of controlling the Kyuubi" Sasuke thought to himself.

"Did I do something?" Sora asked carefully as nothing was making much sense as of now. Chiriku sighed and decided it was time to explain everything but he never wanted him to find out this way.

"A couple years ago when you were younger, you somehow unleashed that chakra that was sealed inside of you and proceeded to go on a rampage around our temple destroying good part of it and injuring many monks. Thank Kami no one died but the damage was severe and they started looking at you with hate and fear." Chiriku said

"It was that day I realized that you had the Kyuubi's chakra sealed inside of you. I don't know who or how it happened but it doesn't matter at this point. After that whole incident everyone became aware of you and started giving those looks" Chiriku said placing a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"So, I'm nothing more than a monster" Sora said looking down.

"No, you aren't a monster" Naruto said.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW?" Sora yelled at him almost sobbing.

"Because I'm not one either" Naruto replied and Sora's eyes widened. "Since you have the Kyuubi's chakra and since the Kyuubi's soul is inside me, when you use the Kyuubi's chakra, if you can't control it, it runs rampart. If you don't manage to control the chakra it runs wildly and you won't be able to distinguish friend from foe and you will destroy everything in your path" Naruto explained.

"What am I supposed to do then?" Sora asked.

"You're in luck" Naruto said and Sora got confused "Me and the Kyuubi are going to help you control it so this doesn't happen again" Naruto said and Sora was shocked.

"The Kyuubi is going to help me?" Sora asked fearfully.

"Yes. The Kyuubi is both a dear friend and a trusted partner. He will help us don't worry" Naruto said.

"Trust Naruto to call a bijuu his friend...troublesome" Shikamaru thought.

"When you are ready we can begin" Naruto said and Sora nodded.

"Thank you Naruto-san" Chiriku said. Maybe Sora would be able to make a couple of friends his age and Naruto would be the best as he was also a jinchuuriki.

BOOOOM

"What was that?" Naruto asked as everyone recoiled from the explosion they heard coming from outside of fire temple. After a couple of seconds a monk came running inside.

"Chiriku-san we are under attack from a shinobi" the monk said between breaths placing his hands on his knees. "He destroyed the gate and is destroying and killing everyone in sight.

Sasuke, the moment that he heard this, blurred away from Naruto's position heading towards the gates. Sasuke intended to kill this threat quickly so he could go back to training.

"SASUKE" Naruto yelled as Sasuke was running away from him "That idiot is going to get himself killed" Naruto said out loud and turned to Chiriku who was discussing plans with the monk that came to warn them.

"Chiriku-san" Naruto said gathering his attention "Kenshin-sama takes priority. Once we have him transferred into a secure location I can provide assistance" Naruto and Chiriku nodded.

"Let's hope your teammate can last" Chiriku said and motioned them to follow him so they could take Kenshin to a secure room inside the fire temple. After a couple of minutes of running they finally came across what seemed to be a panic room. The room had large metal doors.

"Fuuin Teppeki : Kai (Sealed Iron Door : Release)" Chiriku said going through hand seals. The massive iron doors glowed momentarily before unlocking and allowing Kenshin, Sora, Hinata and Shikamaru entrance to the room. The room itself was very large and it was completely surrounded by iron or other metal. The room itself was mostly empty expect with a table and couple of chairs.

"Hinata-chan, Shikamaru, you stay and protect Kenshin. I'm going outside to help" Naruto said and everyone nodded. Naruto was about to leave when Hinata grabbed him and gave him a small kiss.

"Be careful" Hinata softly said.

"I always am" Naruto replied and dashed away with Chiriku besides him.

## With Sasuke ##

Sasuke was running through the monastery inside the fire temple. After a couple minutes of running he finally found the monastery's exit and ran outside to find this shinobi and terminate his existence. Sasuke came outside and there was destruction everywhere. Monks laid everywhere on the ground and most likely dead by their appearance.

Sasuke activated his sharingan and scanned his surroundings. Sasuke felt a presence behind him and jumped away just moments before the shinobi came punching the ground. The ground exploded from the power of the punch and sent debris everywhere. After a couple of seconds the dust cloud settled and Sasuke saw a shinobi standing there looking at Sasuke impassively.

The shinobi standing in front of Sasuke was very tall and seemed muscular. He was wearing a high collared black cloak with red clouds on it. In his head he wore a white hood and a black mask, with his eyes being the only visible part of his face. His eyes were the strangest thing. The pupil was a very deep forest green while the rest of the eye was blood red.

"He's making my job easier coming after me" Kakuzu thought looking at Sasuke. He still didn't understand why that Tobi person wanted Sasuke for, but it didn't matter to him. As long as he got paid he wouldn't ask any questions.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Sasuke asked glaring at the man in front of him.

"I'm Kakuzu and as to why I'm here, I don't think that concerns you" Kakuzu stoically said.

"I guess I'll have to beat it out of you" Sasuke said smirking and dashed towards Kakuzu.

"Naive" Kakuzu thought and braced himself to put the brat in his place.

Sasuke close the distance between Kakuzu and himself in no time and jumped in the air trying a spin kick. Kakuzu, bringing his left arm up, blocked it. Kakuzu grabbed Sasuke by his legs and smashed him into the floor making him cough. Kakuzu used his doton technique and tried to punch Sasuke who was on the ground but Sasuke managed to Kawarimi out.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Great Fireball technique)" Sasuke said and sent a fire ball towards Kakuzu who flashed through a couple of hand seals that Sasuke wasn't able to see.

"Suiton - Suijinheki (Water Wall)" Kakuzu said and started expelling water from his mouth forming a sphere around his body. The fireball crashed into the water wall and disappeared in steam leaving Kakuzu unharmed.

"Tsk" Sasuke scoffed at the sight of a mere shinobi defending himself so easily against him. Sasuke was so focused on Kakuzu that he didn't notice something grab his foot by the ankle.

A hand emerged from the ground and caught Sasuke's ankle with a very firm grip, not allowing any Kawarimi of any sort. The strange part was that the hand was only the hand, there was no arm unless a bunch of black threads attached to the hand. The hand rose from the ground and into the air dragging Sasuke along and sending him crashing into a building nearby.

*Cough Cough* Sasuke coughed and got up cleaning a bit of blood from the side of his lip and stretching his arms. Sasuke dashed again towards Kakuzu with a frontal assault. Once next to Kakuzu, Sasuke sent a punch to Kakuzu's face who didn't even try to block it. Instead, Kakuzu used his earth technique to strengthen his fist and smashed it into Sasuke who poofed in smoke.

"A clone?" Kakuzu wondered when he looked to his right and saw multiple small fireballs coming hot towards him. Kakuzu easily dodge all of the fireballs with small and consecutive jumps.

This time it was Kakuzu who ran towards Sasuke and engaged him in a heated taijutsu battle. Sasuke quickly realized that Kakuzu as much faster and much stronger than him and by a large margin. Sasuke's sharingan could barely keep track of Kakuzu and his speed. Kakuzu tried to punch Sasuke who tilted back to avoid hit. Kakuzu tried another punch and Sasuke ducked going for a leg sweep.

Kakuzu jumped up and tried and downward kick that Sasuke blocked by bringing his arm up in a cross formation. Even though Sasuke blocked the kick he was being pushed down by the sheer strength of his adversary. Sasuke removed his arms and rolled to the side to avoid the his kick as it smashed into the ground.

Sasuke tried to jump away but Kakuzu's hand split from his body and caught him by the ankle again and proceeded to smash Sasuke against the ground and nearby buildings multiple times until it finally released him by throwing him into the ground.

"Weak...pathetic" Kakuzu said as he watched Sasuke trying to push himself to stand but having difficulties. His body hurt all over and Sasuke was pretty sure that his ankle might be dislodged from place. "Why Itachi didn't kill you is beyond me" Kakuzu said and Sasuke saw red.

"ITACHI! WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF ITACHI?" Sasuke yelled towards Kakuzu who remained undisturbed against that pathetic killing intent "TELL ME" Sasuke ordered.

"You are in no position to order me around boy" Kakuzu said and Sasuke gritted his teeth "Itachi belongs to our group. Anyone who wears this cloak" Kakuzu said pointing towards his black cloak with red clouds "belongs to the Akatsuki group" Kakuzu explained.

"WHERE IS HE?" Sasuke yelled again asking Kakuzu where his brother was. His hate was dulling Sasuke's pain as he was standing even though his ankle was in very bad shape.

"Now that would be telling" Kakuzu said chuckling and making Sasuke scowl at him flashing through hand seals. A chidori popped to life in Sasuke's hands who proceeded to blur towards Kakuzu who remained in place.

"Chidori" Sasuke said and tried to pierce Kakuzu who simply grabbed Sasuke's wrist and disrupted his chidori with ease. With a small twist of motion Kakuzu broke Sasuke's wrist making him scream in pain.

"I guess Itachi left you alive as an act of mercy. You are worthless" Kakuzu and delivered a strong kick to Sasuke's chest and he was sent flying into the ground.

"Where did all that training go?" Sasuke wondered in thought as he got demolished by this shinobi "Dammit I'm to weak...at this rate I'll never avenge my clan" Sasuke thought as he crashed into the ground forming a small crater. Sasuke at this point couldn't even feel half of his body and was barely conscious.

"Primary objective...completed" Kakuzu thought to himself.

"Raikiri" a voice was heard and the only thing Kakuzu felt as a very sharp pain from his chest. He looked down and saw a hand coated in lightning sticking out of his chest.

"H-How did you get b-behind me?" Kakuzu said just before Naruto pulled his arm out and Kakuzu fell to the ground dead. Naruto's raikiri pierced cleanly through his hearth and no one could survive such attack.

"I guess I won't be needed" Chiriku said as he watched Naruto kill the enemy with a single jutsu. Both of them then proceeded to run towards Sasuke and got him out of the ground.

They were lifting Sasuke when Naruto felt a chakra spike behind them. Naruto turned just in time to see Kakuzu finish his hand seals and say "Fuuton - Atsugai (Pressurized Wind Bomb)" and sent a big chakra compressed vacuum ball towards Naruto and Chiriku.

Naruto dropped Sasuke into Chiriku's back and, picking up his fan from his back, he swatted the wind bomb away into nothingness. The ball collided with the fan but the only result was a loud sound as Naruto's fan neutralized the attack.

"Will you be alright alone?" Chiriku asked. The enemy had just decimated Uchiha Sasuke who was a chunnin and Naruto's teammate.

"I can take care of myself...Take Sasuke to get healed" Naruto said and Chiriku jumped away.

"How are you still alive?" Naruto asked surprised to see his enemy still standing "I know for certain that I got your hearth" Naruto stated looking at his enemy and noticed his cloak.

"So you are after me again?" Naruto asked looking carefully at him, sharingan blazing "Taking into account that I sent Itachi and Kisame with their tails between their legs I suppose they sent someone stronger?" Naruto asked but Kakuzu remained impassive.

"And...why do I feel four different chakra signatures coming off you" Naruto wondered as he focused more on his enemy trying to find anything else.

"He's already close to figuring it out...he's not to be underestimated" Kakuzu thought. "I'm not here for you Kyuubi...but I suppose I can take you as well" Kakuzu said and Naruto laughed.

"You can't take me that easily...I believe I will put up a fight at least" Naruto said.

"Ready?" Kakuzu asked.

"Yes" Naruto said and both of them dashed towards each other at high speeds. They met a half way and their fist collided with a shockwave. They were evenly matched in taijutsu with Naruto being faster and Kakuzu being stronger, far stronger than anyone should be. Naruto noticed that his skins was dark, almost black.

Using his sharingan he decided to analyze as best he could why his skin would be so. "He's using earth chakra to strengthen his skin and increase his strength" Naruto concluded from the analyzes.

Naruto jumped back into the air to gain some distance and he was surprised when Kakuzu's hands detached themselves from him. The hands were going fast towards his ankles and Naruto had to do something. Naruto focused his chakra and golden chains erupted from his hands. Naruto sent the chains into the ground and used them to outmaneuver Kakuzu's hands midair and land on the ground.

Naruto channeled chakra into his wrist storage seal and took out his chokuto and began channeling raiton charka through it. Naruto dashed forward and sliced the black threads connecting the hands to Kakuzu. The hands fell limply to the ground. Naruto was a bit sick to see another set of black threads pop out of the ground and re attach themselves at the hands pulling them backs to their owner.

"What are you?" Naruto asked confused with his enemy. "First I pierced his heart and he gets up like nothing...and now he detach body parts." Naruto thought shaking his head. Why couldn't he have normal adversaries, first was Orochimaru vomiting himself and now this one.

"Raiton - Rairyuudan (Lightning Dragon)(1)" Naruto said blurring through hand seals and slammed his hands together. Lightning could be heard sparkling around his hands and suddenly a large blue dragon with yellow eyes erupted from his hands. The dragon roared his way towards to Kakuzu who had his eyes widened.

"Fuuton - Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough)" Kakuzu said and sent a gust of wind towards the incoming dragon intending to disrupt the jutsu. However his wind jutsu was far too weak when compared to Naruto's and did little to nothing to even slow it down.

Kakuzu had no choice but to run away. The moment the dragon was about to crash into him, Kakuzu sidestepped it and jumped as far away as he could. Even though Kakuzu dodged the attack his left arm was spasming a bit from the electricity.

"Surprise" Naruto said as he reappeared next to Kakuzu's position with his hand crackling with electricity. "Raikiri" Naruto said and slammed his hand into Kakuzu. Kakuzu was able to slightly dodge the attack but ended up being stabbed through the right shoulder.

Naruto jumped back to gain some distance and once again Kakuzu fell to the ground lifeless. Naruto was no fool, this time he was ready and he could still feel three chakra signatures coming from Kakuzu. Kakuzu started jerking around in the ground and suddenly he exploded in black threads.

His Akatsuki cloak was ripped to shreds, the whole mess of black threads started to form two separate globs away from Kakuzu's body. In each of these globs of black threads was a white mask with different color and design. The masks were light blue and looked like a bird and the other one was red and looked like a dragon.

Kakuzu's body rose from the ground and he still looked the same. Even though he just had those mask taken from his body he didn't change much. "What is happening?" Naruto asked himself "I already killed him 'twice' and yet he still stands" Naruto thought until he looked around and noticed the other two masks on the ground.

"As expected from the Konoha no Raijin (Konoha's Thunder god)" Kakuzu thought to himself. That lightning dragon was exceptionally powerful and not even his wind technique managed to dispel it.

The other masks were cracked and destroyed but he could still see that they were brown and the other one was dark blue. "Do the masks have anything to do with his lives?...maybe I need to kill him three more times to make it permanent" Naruto thought deciding on his approach. He looked towards Kakuzu and noticed that the masks were missing until he heard a swirling noise to his right.

"Fuuton - Atsugai (Pressurized Wind Bomb)"

"Katon: Zukokku (Cranium Carver)" Kakuzu said as both masks were staying side by side preparing to launch the jutsus. In the light blue mask the wind started swirling, the same as fire in the red mask.

Both masks launched their jutsu simultaneously combining the two elements to power up the jutsu. A shining ball of fire, like the sun, was flying towards Naruto at high speeds. "Kamui" Naruto said and activated his mangekyou. The ball was about to collide with Naruto when the space in front of him started swirling.

True enough, the incoming fire ball started to be absorbed into Naruto's right eye. It only took fractions of seconds until the shinning fire ball of destruction disappeared right in front of his eyes, literally.

"Kamui" Naruto said and using his left eye he focused on the location of Kakuzu's original body. The space around Kakuzu started distorting and from it came the shinning ball of fire that the masks had previously unlashed upon Naruto.

Kakuzu had no time to dodge as the fire ball suddenly appeared right next to him. The ball collided with Kakuzu and his whole body erupted in a tornado of flames. Naruto had to block his view from the tornado due to the intense light and heat being generated. The tornado died down and Naruto, still aware of the other masks, looked to Kakuzu's body who seemed to be nothing more than ashes on the ground.

Naruto couldn't find the mask and assumed that it was vaporized with his attack. Suddenly the red mask flew towards the pile of ash and dived inside of it. Slowly but surely, Kakuzu seemed to be rising from the ashes untouched. Seconds later Kakuzu was standing like nothing had ever happened.

"The brat really is dangerous" Kakuzu thought as Naruto had already destroyed three of his five hearths. "Even if my power is limited...I have a feeling that he's not serious either" Kakuzu thought looking at Naruto who was staring at him impassively. The brat did really look like Uchiha Madara.

Kakuzu, being very old, had obviously met up with Uchiha Madara back in the old days. Although Kakuzu never fought him, he knew very well that Madara was an enemy not to underestimated and was said that only Senju Hashirama could match his power. And both of them were on a level that was so far out of reach of ordinary shinobi, that they were considered gods among humans.

And now, Kakuzu had the man's grandson standing in front of him looking, staring at him impassively and without a flinch. There was no doubt about Naruto's heritage, his battle fan, his hair style and the power behind those eyes was far too great to be discarded as nothing more than bull.

"You give a whole new meaning to rise from the ashes" Naruto said and jumped to the side to avoid a wind blade sent from the light blue mask. "Two masks to go" Naruto said smirking and Kakuzu's eyes widened.

"So you figured it out" Kakuzu asked and Naruto nodded.

"Yes. You seem to be linked deeply to each of the masks you carry. Judging from the number of critical hits I landed you should be dead three times already and yet you aren't. However, each time I 'killed' you, in fact I destroyed one of your masks. Logic states that once they are all gone, you die" Naruto explained and Kakuzu nodded.

"Impressive observation. It's very true, I steal the hearts of powerful shinobi I defeat in combat. By doing so, I can extend my natural life span, I'm more than one hundred years old and I once fought the Shodaime hokage" Kakuzu explained and Naruto was shocked. Kakuzu was over one hundred years old, that means he still fought in the clan wars before the village system was set up.

Naruto guessed that Kakuzu had eventually joined Taki during his life only to later defect. If Kakuzu had indeed fight against his great-grandfather it means that fighting Kakuzu was a family business so to speak. And now, Naruto was going to finish his gramps work.

"This is it" Naruto said before slapping his hands together as if praying. Kakuzu sent the light blue mask to interrupt him but Naruto easily dodged the attacks still with his hands in the same position.

"Senpou" Naruto started and green marks started appearing on his face. The marks formed a loop around his eyes going into his cheeks and they had two concentric circles on his forehead. Naruto's sharingan eyes seemed to start glowing even more than usual, his eyes felt like they were radiating power.

"Is he going to..." Kakuzu was thinking but didn't managed to finish as Naruto's next words made him forget everything.

"Mokuton Hijutsu" Naruto said as he did the snake hand seal and the ground started shaking. Naruto looked towards Kakuzu who was panicking and running through hand seals as well.

"Katon: Zukokku (Cranium Carver)" Kakuzu said and fired a torrent of fire towards Naruto of had just finished his jutsu.

"Jukai Kotan (Nativity of World Trees)" Naruto shouted and flexed his arms forward making trees burst from the ground. Hundreds upon hundreds of trees suddenly popped from the ground and started heading towards Kakuzu destroying everything in their path. The torrent of fire clashed with his wood barrage but did nothing as the trees easily dissipated the fire.

The trees didn't stop or waver at their obstacles and easily reached Kakuzu who had started evasive maneuvers. The light blue mask was firing wind blades and bombs trying to destroy the onslaught of Naruto's wood attack but nothing seemed to work. If they destroyed one tree, two more would grow from the ground.

Kakuzu jumped in the air to avoid the major attack and started maneuvering to avoid being caught but it was only a matter of time. One tree came from behind and wrapped itself around his left ankle flinging him into another set of trees. In the end Kakuzu was trapped with trees wrapped around their legs and other ones wrapped around his arms.

Kakuzu felt pain, this pain was coming from his chest. He looked down only to see a chunk of wood piercing his chest right through his hearth. He gave short, shallow breath as he looked one final time into Naruto's eyes who seemed to pulse and start spinning. Once the spinning stopped, Kakuzu looked down and instead of a piece of wood it was nothing more than Naruto's sword.

Kakuzu looked around and everywhere the trees started to shimmer and simply fade away as if it was nothing more than a dream. He looked over to his other mask and saw it snared to the ground with Naruto's golden chains. The light blue mask had his mouth pointed into the air so, any jutsu it fired, it would miss.

Kakuzu saw everything disappearing and was confused. "W-what i-is this?" Kakuzu asked to Naruto who was behind him with his hands grasping his sword.

"You are over one hundred years old and yet you forgot one simple detail" Naruto said and made his around Kakuzu standing in front of him. Naruto locked eyes with him and simply said "Never look into the eyes of an Uchiha"

Kakuzu's eyes widened in realization. Everything that had happened since the time Naruto started to gather chakra in that strange hand seal was a genjutsu. Naruto had played with Kakuzu's experience in battling the Shodaime to make him believe that Naruto possessed the mokuton. Naruto had used that as a distraction to permanently end the battle.

"Amaterasu" Naruto said and the light blue mask erupted in black flames and completely disintegrated it. Naruto turned to Kakuzu who, by the looks of it, had just a few more seconds to live.

"This brat will be trouble in the future" Kakuzu thought just before Naruto removed his sword from his back and Kakuzu fell to the ground, face first, limp. With all of the five masks destroyed Kakuzu had ran out of hearts and was finally in the afterlife.

Even though Naruto had won a long battle he felt something strange with it. All of the Akatsuki members were supposed to be really powerful and yet this one fell for a simple genjutsu. His battle had been pretty straight forward. Naruto wasn't saying he wasn't powerful but...he felt that Akatsuki standards seemed to be higher.

True to Naruto's thoughts the body at Naruto's feet started to spasm. Naruto jumped away thinking it might be some end of the line suicidal jutsu. Once the body stopped shaking, Naruto approached it cautiously. He would never know just what kind of tricks they may have under their belts...or cloaks for that matter.

Naruto looked closely at the body and his appearance was completely different from Kakuzu. This someone standing dead in front of him was definitely not Kakuzu. This person was about Kakuzu's height but seemed like a regular Joe. He had brown hair and his eyes were completely white.

"He seems to be nothing more than a sacrifice like the others" Naruto thought as he realized something "If he's nothing more than a sacrifice...he was a diversion...shit" Naruto realized as he focused on Hinata's hirashin marker and vanished away in a yellow flash.

## With Kenshin, Hinata and Shikamaru ##

Kenshin, Hinata, Sora and Shikamaru were inside the sealed iron walls. According to Chiriku it was the safest place in all of the fire temple. Only someone who knew the correct hand seal sequence and had the right chakra signature could unlock the doors that led into this area of the temple.

"Do you think Naruto will be alright?" Kenshin asked slightly afraid for Naruto. He had started to grow fond of the fellow shinobi. Kenshin knew that Naruto was strong but there were many shinobi around the world and there was bound to be someone more powerful.

"He will be alright...don't worry" Hinata replied but that didn't seem to ease Kenshin worries.

"What makes you so sure?" Kenshin asked surprised to see so much faith placed on Naruto.

"Because he never gives up and he never surrenders. It's his nindo, his shinobi way" Hinata softly replied "If that doesn't put at ease maybe this will" Hinata said and threw Kenshin a copy of the updated Bingo Book. "Page 112" Hinata said and Kenshin quickly flipped to it.

"Konoha no Raijin...S-Rank...Uchiha Madara...Senju Hashirama...Namikaze Minato" Kenshin had his eyes widened at what he found about Naruto. He was related to the most powerful shinobi to ever live and, if his rank was anything to measure by, he was indeed very powerful.

Suddenly they heard the sealed door unlock and everyone took fighting stances in front of Kenshin. It might be an enemy or it might not be, but it was best to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. The door opened and Chiriku entered the room with a heavily injured Sasuke on his back barely conscious.

"What happened?" Kenshin asked. He had never seen a shinobi in such bad shape and he had already seen the twelve shinobi guardians in bad shape.

"He was defeated but me and Naruto arrived in time to rescue him" Chiriku explained and gently placed Sasuke on the ground "Naruto mentioned you were a medic" Chiriku said towards Hinata.

"I'm training to be one...let's see what I can do" Hinata said and activated her byakugan. Sasuke's injuries were extensive

"I can patch him up but he will need to rest a couple of days" Hinata said and started the mystical palm technique to reset the ribs in place and heal other wounds. Hinata walked towards Sasuke's legs and picked his ankle. With a sickening twisted she reset the ankle to its proper place and used the mystical palm once again.

"It's done. He will need to rest his body for a couple of days now" Hinata explained and Chiriku nodded.

They all started a bit at ease when Hinata, Shikamaru, Chiriku and Sora felt a presence enter the room. They turned around to see someone standing in the middle of the room. He had a black cloak with red clouds but the most interesting fact was that he was wearing an orange mask with a swirl pattern.

Everyone took defensive stances in front of Kenshin as they didn't know what was this shinobi's target. Hinata took a peek into his chakra levels and they massive, they were on par with Naruto's levels and that was saying something. "Be careful...his chakra levels are on par with lower level bijuus" Hinata said and everyone gulped at the new enemy.

"Looks like Kakuzu already completed his primary objective" Tobi thought looking at the injured form of Sasuke who was on the ground unconscious.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Hinata asked not for once looking away from this new enemy.

"Tobi. I'm Tobi, so you can call me Tobi" Tobi said in a childish voice but Hinata could clearly see the chakra build up in his throat meaning that this wasn't his real voice.

"You aren't fooling anyone with that voice" Hinata stated and Tobi's posture changed.

"You know?" Tobi started "Your eyes aren't half bad" Tobi said chuckling.

"What do you want?" Hinata stressed out ignoring his eye's comment.

"You can say that I'm just looking for a piece of the puzzle" Tobi cryptically said.

"Meaning?" Hinata continued but Tobi stayed silent.

"Hand over the pseudo-jinchuuriki and I'll take my leave" Tobi said pointing towards Sora.

"I see" Hinata started "You can't come for Naruto-kun as he's too powerful for you so you come after the weaker version" Hinata deduced and Tobi chuckled.

"Don't kid yourself girl. Your boyfriend may be strong but he's no match against someone like me. And by weaker version...he's just a backup" Tobi said laughing.

"What makes you so sure?" Hinata asked still with her byakugan blazing. Tobi activated his sharingan for Hinata to see who had her eyes widened. "He's an Uchiha" Hinata said and everyone gasped. There was only supposed to be three Uchihas alive and those were Naruto, Sasuke and Itachi.

"Who are you?" Hinata asked suspiciously.

"Madara...Uchiha Madara" Tobi said with his sharingan spinning. Everyone was shocked to see that the legendary Uchiha warrior was still alive...well everyone but Hinata.

"Bullshit" Hinata said and Tobi looked carefully at her "Naruto told me that his grandfather was dead so you are not him" Hinata explained.

"What makes you so sure?" Tobi asked flooding the room with KI. Kenshin was on the floor while the rest of the shinobi were breathing heavily with only Hinata and Chiriku being able to match it. "No matter...I'm taking what I want" Tobi said and dashed towards Sora to capture it.

"Shikamaru-san, Sora-kun take care of yourselves and protect Kenshin-sama. We will take care of him" Chiriku said and both he and Hinata took defensives stances against the incoming Akatsuki nin. Hinata was in her standard juuken stance and Chiriku had his right hand lowered with the palm pointing to the ground while his left one was in front of his chest.

"Raigo: Senjusatsu (Welcoming Approach: Thousand-Armed Murder)" Chiriku said and his forehead seemed to constrict. Suddenly, semi transparent arms seemed to form midair and start going towards Tobi. Hinata, using her byakugan, saw Tobi mold chakra in a way that she remembered it from somewhere.

As the arms were about to connect with Tobi, they simply phased through them. Hinata's eyes widened in realization of the technique Tobi was using. She took a closer look at Tobi's eyes and they weren't the standard sharingan but a complete different form. Tobi's eyes had shifted into a mangekyou sharingan and he seemed to using Naruto's Kamui technique. Tobi's mangekyou was blood red with what seemed to be two triple wheeled patterns overlapping each other.

"How is he doing this?" Chiriku asked shocked that his attacks were ineffective. He had never seen such technique. His technique was passing right through the enemy without any obstruction. Tobi was nothing more than a ghost at this point.

"It's a special technique he uses with his mangekyou sharingan called Kamui. He's able to dematerialize his body and thus allow any attacks to simply 'pass' through him as if he was a ghost or an illusion." Hinata explained and Tobi nodded. That was the simplest description he could came up with.

"How do you know that?" Chiriku asked not losing focus as he kept his punching barrage.

"Because Naruto-kun can use it as well" Hinata said and went unto thinking mode "Is he really Madara? He can use the same technique as Naruto-kun" Hinata thought wondering if Naruto was mistaken regarding his grandfather.

"So what do we do?" Chiriku asked.

"There is nothing WE can do. He cannot remain intangible indefinitely as there is a time limit at which he can maintain the technique active. However, neither of us are fast enough to capitalize at the moment in which he materializes" Hinata explained frowning. Naruto had explained her how his technique worked and there weren't many flaws. Kamui was almost a perfect technique and a very powerful one at that.

"So what CAN we do?" Chiriku asked as he dropped his attack. The concentration necessary to maintain the attack was to great and he could only do it for a couple of minutes at max.

"Stall until Naruto-kun arrives" Hinata simply said and turned to Shikamaru "Use your shadow to help us" Hinata said and Shikamaru nodded crouching on the ground.

Shikamaru started to expand his shadow to try and capture Tobi. Of course Tobi wouldn't be caught in such weak technique but it provided Hinata and Chiriku a much needed help in distracting the enemy. Tobi arrived near Hinata and Chiriku and they all engaged in taijutsu. Hinata kept a very close eye in Tobi's chakra network so she could try and hit him when he became tangible.

Hinata back flipped away and looked towards the taijutsu battle between Chiriku and Tobi. Chiriku dashed forward and tried to punch in the chest only to slip by him and stumble forward.

"Now" Hinata thought as Tobi was about to punch Chiriku in his back. "Hakke Kuushou (Air Palm)" Hinata said and sent a wave of compressed air filled with chakra towards Tobi. The wave arrived near him and passed right through him and nearly hitting Chiriku who was on the other side.

"This is going to be hard" Hinata thought as she rushed Tobi to give time for Chiriku to recover. Hinata went for a juuken strike to his chest and phased through him. Tobi turned around only to see Hinata start to spin.

"Kaiten" Hinata said and was enveloped in a blue dome of chakra. Tobi noticed it and used his kamui to avoid the Kaiten and jumped back. As Tobi was about to land he noticed Shikamaru's shadow was closing in at a very fast pace. Tobi simply warped away completely and reappeared on the other side of the room.

Hinata and Chiriku recovered and dashed once again towards Tobi who remained in place seeing them coming. Tobi took advantage that they were on the other side of the room and quickly warped away and reappeared next to Shikamaru. Shikamaru disabled his shadow technique and engaged him in taijutsu. Even he knew that this was a lost battle.

Tobi phased through a sloppy punch and, once behind Shikamaru, he delivered a quick chop to his neck and kicked him in the back sending him flying into a nearby wall unconscious. Tobi was going to approach Sora when Hinata and Chiriku managed to arrive near them and engage him in taijutsu.

Tobi use his Kamui and easily outmaneuvered all of them and sent them into the ground with well located kicks and punches. Kamui was such a useful technique that all he needed was that and taijutsu, and we was able to deal with even the most difficult adversary.

"Mokuton: Sashiki no Jutsu (Cutting Technique)" Tobi said and from the solid concrete floor sprouted several pieces of wood in the shape of spears. Tobi grabbed all of them and sent them towards Hinata and Chiriku who were getting up. Chiriku got grazed by one spear in his shoulder before Hinata could set up a Kaiten.

Since Hinata and Chiriku were busy blocking the wooden projectiles, Tobi calmly walked towards Sora and Kenshin who were scared. To Sora, this enemy shinobi was decimating his sensei who was the most powerful monk in the whole fire temple. To Kenshin, he was scared because he never saw such a powerful shinobi who could take on four enemies at once and defeat them like nothing. But then again, if he really was Uchiha Madara then there was nothing they could do.

"Let's just do this here" Tobi thought as he arrived near Sora and Kenshin.

"Look at me" Tobi said grabbing Sora by his clothes and forcing him to make eye contact. Sora's pupil dilated and he gave a shallow breath before his head fell down. Once Sora raised his head his eyes were know blood red with vertical black slits. His right hand became beastly in appearance as it was completely red with large claws.

Tobi dropped Sora to the ground and looked towards Kenshin who was on the verge of heart attack. Tobi noticed something off with his hands. He raised Kenshin by his collar and looked at his hands to notice that, in his palms, there were two diamonds marks overlapping each other.

"The Meiton bloodline...excellent. This will speed things up" Tobi thought before he focused on Kenshin. Tobi's eyes glowed momentarily before he looked directly into Kenshin's eyes. After a couple of seconds Kenshin's eyes widened and his face became one of emotionless with nothing but a blank look and dead eyes.

"You know what to do" Tobi said and Kenshin simply walked towards Sora like a zombie. Tobi turned towards Hinata and Chiriku who were running towards him at full speed trying to stop whatever Tobi was forcing Kenshin to do.

"Mokuton : Underground Roots" Tobi said and wooden roots bursted from the ground pinning Sora. Sora was unleashing more and more Kyuubi's chakra but the wood technique seemed to be able to keep Sora in place.

Tobi threw a scroll at Kenshin who caught it and kneeled next to Sora. Kenshin placed his right hand on Sora and his left hand on the scroll. "Meiton: Kyuketsuko (Dark Release: Inhaling Maw)" Kenshin said and started absorbing the Kyuubi's chakra from Sora and funneling it into a scroll.

"What did you do to them?" Hinata asked panting and sweating. They were trying their best but nothing seemed to work. And now, with Shikamaru unconscious, there wasn't nothing they could do but to see what Tobi had planned.

"Nothing you need to be concerned about" Tobi said walking towards them who were trapped with wooden roots. Hinata had tried to release wind blades from her chakra points but the wood was too strong for such small attack.

With one large roar Sora unleashed the rest of the Kyuubi's chakra and was left on the ground unconscious and with his skin blood red. Unleashing all of the chakra he had inside of him burned most of his outer skin. Kenshin finalized the technique and fell to the ground also unconscious. Tobi approached them and picked the scroll and warping it into his dimension.

"And finally...to deal with the witnesses" Tobi said and turned to Hinata and Chiriku who knew what was coming. Tobi took out a kunai and walked towards them. Tobi was about to kill them both when he was almost blinded by a bright yellow flash.

Naruto appeared in a yellow flash with a raikiri already sparkling in his hand. Naruto tried to stab Tobi only to slip through him "This is my Kamui technique..." Naruto thought with his eyes widened. Naruto had completely slipped by him when Tobi turned around to stab Naruto in the back only to also slip through Naruto.

They both jumped away from each other staring at one another. Naruto quickly took multiple shurikens and, infusing them with raiton chakra, threw them into the wooden roots freeing Hinata and Chiriku who took their side. "Sharingan and...Mokuton" Naruto said with his eyes widened.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked with his mangekyou blazing.

"What is it with people asking masked men who they are?" Tobi rhetorically asked sighing.

"He says he's Uchiha Madara" Hinata said and Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion. Naruto placed his hands in the ram seal making Tobi wonder what he was doing. Naruto focused on Tobi and started sensing chakra.

"You're not gramps" Naruto said chuckling but Kurama had a much different expression when his host sensed Tobi's chakra.

"What makes you say that?" Tobi asked surprised by yet again someone stating that he isn't Uchiha Madara.

"Your chakra is nowhere like mine" Naruto simply said.

"You are half Senju" Tobi replied.

"True" Naruto agreed "However look at me. I have blonde hair and blue eyes which means my father's genes are dominant. Which would mean that my chakra is similar to that of my father and grandfather for that matter" Naruto explained and Tobi scoffed to himself. This whole persona of him being Uchiha Madara was going down the drain.

"So" Naruto started "Who exactly are you?" Naruto asked "I sense Senju chakra in you but you are clearly an Uchiha" Naruto stated observing him carefully.

"Naruto" Kurama called out and Naruto focused on his partner "He's the ONE. He was the one who removed me from your mother and controlled me into attacking Konoha" Kurama explained and Naruto's chakra spiked. The man in front of him was the reason why he had a crappy life and why his parents were dead.

Killing Intent flooded the whole room. Even though the KI wasn't directed towards Hinata and Chiriku they were both gasping for air. "That's some power you have there" Tobi said as a bead of sweat rolled down his face, not that Naruto could see it.

"YOU WERE THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR MY PARENTS DEATH" Naruto yelled powering his KI with the Kyuubi's chakra. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU" Naruto shouted and powered his chidori nagashi and dashed towards Tobi with swirling chakra in his right hand.

Naruto appeared next to Tobi and immediately flashed behind his back and tried slamming a rasengan through Tobi, only to phase trough him at use it on the ground making a large crater.

"He's fast" Tobi thought "and nearly got me. I've got stop underestimating the brat" Tobi instantly pulled two kunais and threw them as hard as he could towards the unconscious forms of Kenshin and Sora.

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw it. The kunais were moving at high speeds and would most likely kill them both. Naruto wouldn't be able to get there in time and neither Hinata or Chiriku were fast enough. "I have to do something" Naruto thought and considered using his long range Kamui but the kunais were going too fast and he wouldn't be able to teleport them and they were just out of reach of his hirashin markers.

Naruto's eyes glowed and his chakra spiked. The strangest thing happened, time seemed to freeze. Naruto looked around and everything had stopped. Tobi still had his arms in the throwing motion and his kunais were still midair but frozen in the same place, as if there was no gravity. He looked towards Hinata and Chiriku who had running motions and concerned expressions on their faces.

"Kuronosu (Time God)" Naruto subconsciously said and his eyes pulsed just before they started spinning in counter clockwise. Naruto was watching as everything was playing itself backwards in slow-motion. The kunais were flying backwards into Tobi's hands, Hinata and Chiriku were running backwards and even Naruto himself felt being pulled back, even against his own actions.

After everything rolled back, Naruto was on top of Tobi's body with his rasengan in his hand about to slam it into Tobi again. Naruto's eyes pulsed once again and everything resumed. Naruto phased right through Tobi and smashed his rasengan into the ground. Naruto didn't know what happened but he wasn't going to take any chances and immediately threw Hirashin kunais at the exact same time as Tobi did intercepting them.

"How did he know I was going to do that?" Tobi wondered in thought. Tobi jumped back to gain some distance and started observing Naruto who had shock splashed across his face.

"Kurama...what the hell happened?" Naruto asked his partner who was speechless.

"I-I-I...I think you rolled back time" Kurama replied and Naruto's jaw dropped. Just what kind of power his eyes had. Although, it did made sense as Naruto was able to see what would happen and then it happened exactly as it was supposed to happen, so Naruto either rolled back time or he took a peak into the future.

"Naruto-kun what's wrong?" Hinata asked snapping Naruto out of his thoughts.

"I think I might have unlocked another mangekyou ability" Naruto said still in disbelief of what he had done. He had done something that was unheard off. Naruto didn't travel back in time, NO, he forced time to roll itself back.

"Really?" Hinata asked surprised and Naruto slowly nodded "What does it do?" Hinata asked.

"I...I'll tell you later. Now we have a worm to deal with" Naruto said locking eyes with Tobi. "Amaterasu is useless, as is the Tsukuyomi and this new power I don't how to control it" Naruto thought.

"I'm at an disadvantage and I already have what I wanted" Tobi thought to himself and turned to Naruto. "Until we meet again" Tobi said and warped away leaving no trace of him.

"He's gone" Naruto said and sat down thinking about everything that happened "How is everyone?" Naruto asked.

"Shikamaru, Kenshin and Sora are unconscious. Me and Chiriku are just tired with a couple of bruises. About Sasuke, I did reset his bones to their proper locations but he still needs to rest" Hinata explained and Naruto nodded.

"Good" Naruto said happy that everyone was alive "Let's clean this mess up" Naruto said but Hinata interrupted him.

"You should know that Sora no longer has the Kyuubi's chakra in him" Hinata said and Naruto was surprised.

"What happened?" Naruto asked and Hinata informed him of what happened. How this Tobi character had controlled Kenshin into removing the Kyuubi's chakra from Sora and sealing it into a scroll that Tobi took.

"I guess in the end everything worked out for the best" Naruto said and everyone went to collect their friend to take them to the infirmary to heal up.

##Two Days Later ##

In the last two days everyone had recovered from their injuries including Sasuke who, somehow, seemed to brood even more and throw himself into training even harder than usual. Chiriku and the rest of the monks had finished the cleanup and had already reconstructed the destroyed gates.

During these two days the fire daimyo and his protection had arrived and he was shocked to know of what had happened. He thanked Naruto and his team for helping defend the fire temple and keeping his grandson safe. The fire daimyo had even asked Naruto if he would like to join the twelve shinobi guardians.

Naruto had politely refused saying that he had a group of criminals after the Kyuubi and that it would place the fire daimyo in even more danger than he already was. Everyone from Naruto's team was gathered up at the gate ready to leave.

"Give my regards to Asuma" Chiriku said and Shikamaru nodded.

"Next time we meet I want to spar with you" Kenshin said towards Naruto who chuckled and nodded in acceptance.

"You are a new man Sora" Naruto said towards the overjoyed Sora who was happy that this malefic chakra was gone.

"I know" Sora replied and shook Naruto's hand.

"See you all" Naruto said and they all left the fire temple heading back to Konoha.

Naruto looked to Sasuke who was scowling at something. "You are all right Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Mind your own business Senju" Sasuke replied and Naruto flinched at his tone but left him alone. "How?...how can I be so weak? He destroyed me in minutes and Naruto was able to defeat him" Sasuke thought seething, he had to gain power and fast.

"I don't feel like walking" Naruto said and without warning anyone he pulled them all into a hug and Hirashined back to Konoha.

## Hokage's Office ##

Tsunade was having a normal day. She had a pen in one hand, a bottle of sake on the other and a stack of papers in front. Just another normal day for the busty hokage. Tsunade was signing a piece of paper when she saw a bright yellow flash. She placed that paper back on the desk and saw Naruto standing there smiling at her while the rest of the team was on the ground seeing stars.

"Mission accomplish baa-chan" Naruto said and Tsunade motioned for him to report. She was shocked to find what had happened in the fire temple.

"Akatsuki is getting bolder to unleash a direct attack at the fire temple" Tsunade mused out loud "And even worse that Tobi fellow" Tsunade said. According to the Kyuubi, Tobi was the one responsible for the attack fourteen years ago.

"I will look into this when Jiraiya is back in town" Tsunade said and turned to his team "Good job. You are dismissed" Tsunade said and everyone left the office and headed into their homes.

"Want to eat something?" Hinata said grabbing Naruto by his arm and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Why not?" Naruto said shrugging "Ichiraku's Ramen here we go" Naruto yelled and Hinata giggled.