Chapter 2: Adventures in Hidden Mist Village

Naruto readjusted the hood to his cloak as he got off the ship he had gotten passage on, bringing a hand up to his face he also made sure his face mask was in place to hide his whisker marks before looking around.

The port town he was in had definitely seen better days, the ships that would normally be bustling in and out of the port were almost nonexistent with their only being one or two ships in the dock. Most of the buildings were run down and had rust staining many different areas, making it obvious they either did not have the resources or the people to maintain appearances. 

The people were even worse off, as Naruto began to walk to the meeting point, he saw more homeless people in this port than he did when Gato had been terrorizing wave country. Many of them were sitting off to the sides of street, begging for money or food while others were hidden in back alleys and side streets.

What was worse was that Naruto could see several families who were homeless, little children who were even more malnourished than the children he had seen in wave country. Just the sight of seeing how terrible these people had it and knowing there was nothing he could do to help alleviate their pain right now was heart wrenching for the 14-year-old Uzumaki.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Naruto saw several figures hopping from the roofs, ninja with Kirigakure Hitea-ate. He took a moment to watch as several patrols passed by, most likely looking for bloodline rebels and or dissidents. The blond watched the ninja as they passed, trying to get a feel for their emotional position. 

Living in a village that constantly hated him, Naruto had picked up the unique ability to detect what others were thinking and feelings to a certain extent. It was this ability that helped him connect with people like Haku and Gaara eventually becoming friends of them.

Many of the faces on the ninja's here were an open book; Naruto was pleased to see that most of felt just as bad as he did about the situation. While their faces showed no emotions because of their masks, their eyes showed too much, it had always been said that the eyes are the gate way to the soul; for people like Naruto had never been truer. Their eyes showed guilt and sadness over what was happening here, small flickers of eye movement as they flicked their eyes over to some of the helpless people showed that they too wanted to help. Naruto knew they most likely couldn't because Yagura had more likely threatened to kill their families.

It was strange, Naruto had heard that during the beginning of his reign the Yagura Karatachi was one of the most compassionate Kage. Naruto did not know what would cause him to change so profoundly, however the evidence of the man becoming corrupted was right here for him to see. Naruto did notice a few ninja who seemed to derive some sort of pleasure from watching those around them suffer and assumed they were the more hardliners of the bloodline haters. 

Naruto stopped walking as his enhanced hearing picked up a stifled sob, looking around he noticed a few of the other ninja seemed to notice as well and looked even more guilty. Channeling chakra into his ears Naruto was able to make out the sound better, let's see judging from the pitch of the voice it's a female around her mid to late teens. The sobs sounded pained, and Naruto could also hear fear in it, having never been one to stand by when someone was in that much pain Naruto put more chakra into his ears to locate the source of the sound. Walking into a small alley Naruto looked around; when he was sure no one was following him Naruto disappeared in a gentle breeze.

Reappearing on the roof, Naruto crouched down and made a hand seal activating a genjutsu. "Illusion Arts: Shroud of Camouflage" he whispered as the technique came into effect. It is much like standard Henge that is taught in academy, rather than affect the mind of an opponent, it affects the surrounding of the area. It masks and camouflages the area around Naruto to make it seem like as if there is nothing, making him invisible to all but the most powerful Kage and those with Dōjutsu and enhanced senses like Inuzaka and Aburame insects. It was a technique Naruto had been taught by Jiraiya who used whenever he tried to peek on woman, though Naruto understood it had many applications in stealth and espionage.

Making sure he would not be spotted by any of the ninja that were passing on the roofs Naruto continued on his way towards the sobs which were now becoming much louder and clearer. Naruto eventually found the source coming from an abandoned warehouse of some kind, there were no ninja that he could see in this area but he knew that did not mean anything. He looked towards the second story window which is where the voice was coming from; dropping off the building he was on Naruto quickly moved towards the warehouse. Channeling chakra to his feet the blond shinobi walked up the walls to take a peek inside the window, what he saw was something that would haunt and disgust him for a long time to come.

Inside was a young woman who couldn't be more then 16 or 17 years of age, she had long dark brown hair which seemed to be the standard hair color in Kiri and vibrant green eyes. Her skin was a pale milky smooth color, and she had a figure that Naruto had seen on some of the civilian super models that Jiraiya-Sensei was with on occasion. At least the woman's eyes would have been vibrant if it were not for the fear in them and the tears that were flowing out of them freely; her skin which would probably have looked perfect and beautiful was instead black from multiple large bruises that covered most of it from her neck to her legs. Her face had several welts and bruises, no doubt from being hit and smacked multiple times.

The obvious source of this woman's fear and pain was right in front of her, a man who looked to be in his mid thirties. He had a medium height and medium build, with black hair and brown eyes. The man was obviously a Kiri Shinobi since the man was still wearing his Hitea-ate on his head, however everything else was gone. The man was completely nude and currently in the process of raping the young woman, judging from the bruising on her some of which looked several days old this was not the first time he had done so.

Naruto's blood began to boil as he gnashed his teeth together hard enough that the coppery and tangy taste of blood came to the blond as his gums began to bleed. Naruto had always held a deep-seated respect for woman that sometimes bordered on worship, he was not sure what it was about them that made him feel this way, but it was part of the reason he had never raised his hand to Sakura even when she would hit him.

Sure, Naruto was not a virgin anymore and had in fact slept with several girls in the past year, but he would never do anything unless the woman he was with wanted to. To see some man… no a monster doing something like this to an innocent young woman was nearly enough to send him on a killing spree of every shinobi in this village.

Closing his eyes Naruto quickly reigned in the impulse and took several deep breaths; even if he tried to he would not be strong enough to defeat an entire town of ninja. He could not do anything about them right now, he looked into the window; while he may not be able to do anything about this town, but he could at least help this woman.

"Hahaha, come on I know you love it!" Housen Kozuki laughed as he listened to woman sob and cry. A Jonin of Kiri for nearly 10 years, Housen was considered a sick bastard even by his peers; he had become a genin at an early age and had risen through the ranks fairly quickly. It had at one point in time it had been the man's hopes to become a member of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist before they had fallen from grace. 

When the group had been disbanded due to the betrayals of nearly all the shinobi in that group except one he had just opted to find some other way to gain glory. While Housen had yet to find glory, he had found several ways to entertain himself. He looked down at the young teenage girl he was pounding himself into; her pleas were like music to his ears. "Ah! Did I ever tell you how- urk!"

He was cut off from speaking as a pair of hands wrapped around his head, one covering his mouth and the other on the back. With a quick twist the hands snapped Housen's neck and let him fall out of the girl and drop to the floor, revealing Naruto who was glaring at the corpse as if hoping it would spontaneously combust. 

Taking his attention off the now dead shinobi Naruto looked over at the girl and winced, she looked like she was going into shock; no doubt from seeing someone die. Her eyes were wide, and she was starting to hyperventilate, he made to move over to the girl and help treat her wounds but stopped when she turned her attention to him and began backing away.

"P-Please… don't hurt me," the girl's voice chocked as she continued to back away, despite the fact that she was already pressed against the head of the bed, "I… please I… don't…"

Naruto pulled down his hood and face mask to give the girl the most compassionate smile he could muster despite the sick feeling he had in the pit of his stomach, "don't worry I'm not gonna hurt you." the girl looked at him and seemed to calm down a bit, "I just want to help you," Naruto continued as he made slow movements towards her.

"You… you do?" she asked as a small flicker of hope appeared in her eyes for a brief moment before vanishing. "How do I know I can trust you?" she asked in a low voice.

"You don't" Naruto said keeping his tone warm and kind, "I have no way of proving to you that I don't mean you any harm. All you can do is choose to trust or not trust that what I say is true, however I promise you right now that I will help you and take you somewhere safe where you won't ever have to deal with things like what that man did to you again."

The girl looked at him for a second before slowly relaxing, she scooted herself away from the head of the bed and moved to the center of the mattress. Naruto made slow movements towards her to make sure she did not freak out before sitting at the edge of the bed next to her, "I'm going to heal you; for that I need you to lie down while I use ninja technique. Can you do that for me?" Naruto asked in a calm and gentle voice.

The woman nodded and laid herself down her back as Naruto right palm glowed in bright yellow chakra. Like his mother, Naruto also inherited special chakra which he had awakened while working on wood release. Because of his immense life-force and high affinity to yang release, his chakra had gained healing properties similar to First Hokage which was further enhanced by the presence of Kyubi. By transferring some portion of his chakra, Naruto can heal any type of injuries like cuts, bruises, broken bones etc. He discovered it after Jiraiya told him of 'special chakra' of Uzumaki clan. His chakra now had a natural affinity for healing. Also utilizing this ability with mystical palm boosted those healing powers tremendously.

"Healing Arts: Mystical Palm Technique"

Naruto poured his bright chakra into the women slowly covering her whole body. He focused most of his chakra on girl's stomach, which was the area with the most bruising. The healing effects were instantaneous, for in a few seconds, the large black bruise that was on her abdomen had simply vanished. Similar effects were also seen when various other bruises, and broken bones had melded causing the woman to relax in the blonde's presence.

"Can you stand?" Naruto asked after he finished the healing. He held out his hand to the young girl, she hesitated for a moment before taking and standing. The woman expected to feel some kind of pain in her legs but was surprised when she felt none. She walked a few steps to confirm it and once again felt no pain.

Naruto beamed when he saw a small smile appeared on the girl's face. He felt a small amount of pride and mentally thanked Tsunade-baa-chan for sending the scrolls of First Hokage. He always held more respect for healers like Tsunade rather than frontline fighters like himself; after all it was easy to take a life and far harder to save a life. After returning to Konoha, he will definitely ask his baa-chan to teach him to improve his subject on healing technqiues.

"Hey… Umm." Naruto spoke gaining the girl's attention. "Listen, this place will no longer be safe. Soon, someone from Mizukage forces will discover the dead body. You'll have to move to a safe place." Naruto explained soothingly. "I know a group who could help you. If you want, I will take you there. Could you allow me to carry you? I promise I won't do anything."

The woman looked at him and bit her lip, it was obvious she still had a distrust of him because of what that Kiri shinobi did; not that Naruto could blame her. He waited patiently for her to answer, "I- you promise you won't do anything…?"

Naruto smiled, "I promise". The woman closed her eyes as she seemed to come to a decision. When she gave a nod of assent Naruto reached into his pouch, channeling chakra into one of the seals he pulled out a large cloak, wrapping it around her to cover her modesty. He gently lifted her up in a bridal carry, making sure her head was resting comfortably on his shoulder. Without hand seals, Naruto created a wood clone from the ground with mental orders to destroy the man's body and all evidence of the three of them ever being here, with a nod to its creator it went to work.

The woman in his arms began to nod off as Naruto left through the window, feeling lulled by the comforting and warm aura that the blond possessed. Before she fell asleep a stray thought crossed her mind, "I don't even know your name…" She looked up at Naruto to see what she now realized were some of the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen as he gave her a soft smile. The last thing she heard before falling asleep was "its Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki".

X-X-X-X-X

Ao sighed for what felt like the hundredth time today as he waited for the person who was supposed to lend them aid to arrive, whoever it was extremely late. In the ninja world this usually meant one of three things, they had gotten caught up in something; this could be caused by anything from simple forgetfulness to getting into a fight with other shinobi, with neither of those being very good. They hadn't even gotten here yet, given the trouble it took to get into Kiri their support had been given some leeway in this, Ao had been given a week to stake the place out, with today being the last day. Or the final thing that could have happened, this person had been killed on his way here; either before or after they got here.

Crossing his arms Ao began to tap his fingers a dull rhythm against his arms, this was unbelievable that someone would take this long to get here and not even have the courtesy to send a message! Back in his day people were prompt about being on time to any important engagements like this!

A nudge on his shoulder brought Ao out of his mental ramblings, looking towards one of the men in his squad who was with him for this assignment Ao saw him nudge his head. Looking over in the direction indicated he spotted a man wearing a black cloak that reached down the ground, the hood was up covering the man's face with the only thing Ao was able to see being a blue face mask covering the bottom half of the man's face. The odd thing about the man was that he was carrying something in his arms, judging from the shape and size it was most likely a person.

Ao activated the Byakugan in his left eye, spotting the three whisker marks on each cheek as he used the Dōjutsu's X-ray vision; Ao relaxed ever so slightly. While this man could be their contact which had been described by a message Terumi-Sama had gotten a while ago, it could also be an imposter. As the cloaked man came closer Ao stopped him, "you look like your pretty far from home son."

The figure chuckled, "I was told there are many opportunities in the Mist country and came to try my luck."

The voice sounded younger than he expected but Ao visibly relaxed as he heard the password, he would still need to be weary but at least now they could move on. "You're later then I thought you would be," Ao said watching as the man shifted his attention to the form he was carrying. Now that he was not paying as much attention to their support he took the time to notice that the figure the man was carrying was a person, a woman to be exact.

"Sorry," the man said, "I was… held up."

Ao sensed the underlying meaning to his words and couldn't help but wince, while most of the people on the Mizukage's side were forced to fight, there were others who were not above committing such atrocious acts. "Well… I suppose its fine since you're here," Ao began, "still back in my day…"

X-X-X-X-X

Naruto sighed as he set the young woman down on the bed in the medical room of the main base to the rebel faction; he looked over towards Ao and nodded. The two of them soon walked out of the room and made their way down a long hallway with various doors leading to places like storage and living spaces. Now that he was not worried about his charge Naruto turned his attention to the man who he had met at the port.

Ao was a middle-aged man with a patch over his right eye and talismans in his ear with the kanji for Sho Uketamwa (To Hear) on both sides. Naruto was able to spot the rather intricate looking seal that was hidden within the kanji, given the chakra Naruto could feel emanating from under the man's eye patch, the blond assumed he had a transplanted Dōjutsu like Kakashi. His hair was a light blue in color and looked similar to Kisame's hair, he was wearing the Kiri Hitea-ate around his head. He was wearing a pair of striped shirt and pants with a green robe over them in the standard hunter Nin attire of Kiri. Suddenly they stopped at a door that was at the end of the hallway, Ao knocked. 

"Come in."

Naruto blinked at the very feminine tone as Ao opened the door and entered with Naruto following right behind, when Naruto entered he saw a woman sitting at a large desk and felt a slight hitch in his breath. During his travels he had seen and been with many beautiful women, out of all those he had seen so far this woman took the cake. 

The woman was very slender and looked to be in her late twenties to early thirties. With ankle length auburn hair done up in a herringbone pattern at the back with a top not tied with a dark blue band and four bangs in front of her face one of which covered her right eye. Her face was perfectly heart shaped and feminine yet had the look of a leader who had earned the respect of her people. Her skin was a light milky color that looked soft, smooth, and delicate despite the fact that they were in a war. She wore a long sleeve dark blue dress that fell just below the knees; it was closed at the front with a zipper and was kept open at the front right side from the waist down. The dress only covered up to the upper part of her arms leaving slender yet strong looking shoulders and the lower part of her breasts, showing off her beautiful D sized chest. Under that was a mesh shirt that covered a little more of her arms and chest, but still left a good amount of cleavage showing. She also wore shorts in the same color as her dress and mesh leggings that went to her knees under that, she was wearing high heels with shin guards instead of sandals.

"Terumi-sama" Ao voice interrupted Naruto's thoughts, "this is the support that Konoha was able to send us" the man sounded somewhat disgruntled at only receiving one person for help, but Mei didn't seem to be bothered as she smiled at Naruto.

She slowly stood from her desk and walked towards Naruto as she held out her hand, "I would like to thank you for coming to our aid. In all honesty I had not expected to receive much help if any at all Mr.…" she trailed off obviously fishing for a name.

"Naruto" the blond said with a smile towards the busty red headed woman as he shook her hand, "it's a pleasure to meet you Mei-san." Naruto paused when he noticed Mei looking up and down his form and couldn't help but grin, "I take it you approve of what you see?"

Naruto felt Ao as well as the two Anbu who were in the room stiffen and glare at him, but Mei seemed to ignore it as she favored him with another smile. "I'll tell you… only if you let me know what you think of me" that seemed to throw the others in the room through a loop.

Naruto chuckled, "let's put it this way, if ever there was a goddess walking this earth I have no doubt that I've just found her."

Mei to her credit only took a light tint of pink to her cheeks as she gave him a favouring grin, "then you can assume I… approve of what I see" she took one last eye full of him before putting on her business face. "As much as I would love to continue this banter with you, I need to tell you what our situation is and see if I can't give you your first mission."

Naruto nodded as his face instantly became blank, "I am at your disposal Mei-san."

X-X-X-X-X

Takane Ryuzen was a middle-aged man with long black hair and coal black eyes, wearing the standard garb of a Kiri chunnin. At the age of 12, he graduated the academy, killing off his best friend as the standard graduation exam before it was changed thanks to Zabuza. Over the years he kept average stats, with an average number of missions. He became a chunnin after his sixth try in Kumo and continued on to become an average ninja, when the bloodline wars started, he had stayed loyal to Mizukage. While he did not really care about the sides of killing bloodline bearers, he was loyal and would not betray the Mizukage. All together there was nothing special about him; he was a fairly average person.

It was that average status that had gotten him, and his team killed, his team which had been comprised of two genin, one Jonin and himself had been tasked with raiding various towns alongside a group of bandits. While he had not liked what they were doing he had no choice and it was an easy task, they would let the bandits do all the work and then take their share for allowing it. If the bandits tried to resist it was their job to kill them and find another group to steal money for them.

The group he was with had gone to one of the rendezvous points to collect their pay, only to find out too late that it was an ambush and the bloodline users had disguised themselves and set several traps. Takane had been killed after an hour of torture giving any and all information he had on himself and whatever he knew about the Mizukage's forces. After they had gotten the information they needed out of him and the Kiri Jonin, he had been killed.

Naruto used Wood release: True Transformation and changed himself into an injured Takane. Unlike standard transformation of the academy which creates an illusion over ones form and could easily be dispelled. The wood release version was a physical transformation, rather than applying a layer of chakra over the body to create an illusion; this creates a real physical body while also copying the chakra signature of original person.

Naruto staggered as he made his way up to the main gates of the large base for one of the Mizukage's forces, holding his side which was 'bleeding' as his breath came out in haggard gasps. As he got to the gate the shinobi in the watch tower spotted him and called down to two shinobi who were standing guard inside the gate, which began to open with a creek as one of the guards went to get the commander while the other came out of the gate and walked in front of him just as he began to stumble.

"What happened to you?" the man asked as he slung 'Takane's' arm over his shoulder and helped him up.

"B-Bloodline rebels", 'Takane' gasped out using a bit of wind chakra to cut up his gums making it look like he had blood coming up from his throat. The Commander of the base came just as 'Takane' started explaining, "We were… attacked by the bloodline users…" 'Takane' bent his head down as he coughed up some blood, mentally applauding himself for his good performance.

"How did you escape?" asked the Commander who was looking at him in suspicion.

"… I… managed to… fall into a… r-river…" Naruto head began to bob, "guess… they thought I… was… dead." Letting his eyes close, 'Takane' feigned unconscious as the commander looked him over for a moment.

"Get this man to medical! I want him up and about to give a report by tomorrow!" the commander ordered as the one who was carrying him and someone else came up on his other side and grabbed his other arm. As they dragged him through the base they did not notice the small smile on 'Takane's' face.

X-X-X-X-X

"Alright he's in," Ao said as he observed the front gates closed, "now we just need to wait for him to open the gates and we'll begin our mission."

This would be one of the first times they actually attacked an enemy base, they had done many raids on ninja teams and caravan's before. But because they lacked the number they had never been able to storm one of the strongholds the Mizukage created, mainly because no one could sneak in to disrupt it from inside. Henge did not work on the more talented of Jonin, and Yagura had created these bases to be impenetrable from the outside. There were a total of fifteen guard towers that were designed to spot enemy ambushes long before they ever got within 100 meters of the place. The walls were sturdy enough that only Terumi-Sama could break them with her Lava techniques, meaning someone had to open it from the inside.

So, upon learning that Naruto could create a solid physical transformation their leader had immediately made plans to begin infiltrating and destroying enemy bases. They had gotten what intelligence they could, finding out where one of the bases was through capturing a few ninja who were working with bandits and interrogating them. Naruto would use his physical transformation into one of the men and come to the base 'injured' and claim they were attacked. Once he was inside the boy would need to kill and replace the men on the guard towers near the entrance and open the gate to allow their team through. They would then proceed to capture the commander and take him back to base where he could be thoroughly interrogated. 

However, this was also a two-point mission for Ao, who was mainly here for the purpose of finding out how skilled the young man who had come here was. Depending on how talented he was they would be able to make even bolder plans and hopefully end this war faster. Ao sighed; while he trusted Terumi-Sama with his life he was not sure what she was thinking, making plans that hung on the abilities of a kid! Back in his day people relied on the abilities of senior ninja and entire ninja squads! Not young upstarts!

"What should we do if the boy fails?" asked one of his men.

"Then we leave, no point in attacking if it will lead to failure," replied Ao.

X-X-X-X-X

Naruto opened his eyes the moment the door closed, sitting up in his bed he looked around. He was obviously in a medical room if the wounded people in beds were any indication. They had gotten rid of his 'clothes' and given him a standard patients garb, basically just a white smock. Naruto looked around to make sure none of the other patients were awake before getting up, dispelling his wood style transformation coming in his true form. Putting the cloak over his head he was just about to make his way to the door, only for it to open. Acting on pure instinct Naruto drew a Kunai and the minute the person walked through the door he appeared right in front of them, thrusting the kunai into the person's neck and inflicting a fatal wound. Before they could hit the ground Naruto caught the person so they would not make any noise, only now did he take a look at who it was.

The person, a woman was still alive as she looked at him with wide pained eyes while her hands went up to her throat. Naruto watched in horror as within seconds the woman shuttered and died, her eyes still open. Naruto's face paled as he recognized the person as a doctor, he picked her up and closed the door behind him as quietly as possible so as not to wake the patients. He walked over to his bed and gently set her down, arranging her form so she looked to be sleeping. This was his first kill, or at least the first one in cold blood; he didn't count the man who was raping the woman as he refused to see such monsters as people. 

While he had killed before during his trip with Jiraiya-Sennin it had been in self-defence, this time he had killed someone simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Worse still he killed a doctor, someone who has devoted their life to healing others. He felt sick to his stomach as he clenched his eyes shut, taking several calming breaths as a few small tears fell out of the corners of his eyes. Reopening them he shut the woman's eyes and lightly touched her forehead with his own, saying a quick prayer and apology before he left. He still had a mission to do and couldn't afford to be distracted, he could break down later.

Placing his sensei's invisibility jutsu over himself, Naruto left the room after making sure the door was locked from the inside and then closing it. He made his way down the hallway of the base, which he knew from the general observations they had taken beforehand that the base had two stories. He was on the first and would need to reach the second to get to the guard towers which were connected to the main building. Naruto jumped onto the ceiling, channeling a small amount of chakra to his feet as several people walked passed. Deciding the ceiling was safer anyway he continued moving on, crawling along the roof as he made his way up the stairs.

Once he was on the second floor he dropped back down and continued on the floor, dodging area's that were heavily populated with Shinobi. Finding a secluded spot the blond opened a window and climbed out, before closing it so nothing would seem amiss should someone come by. Looking over Naruto found he was right next to one of the towers, though he didn't know which one. Moving along the side of the wall he made his way towards this tower, as he got closer he looked at the ground floor and realized with relief that he was next to the gate entrance. Moving into the small tower Naruto walked behind the two people who were looking out at the grounds around the outside of the base, pulling out two kunai Naruto steeled himself for what he was about to do.

A flash of steel later and Naruto was gently setting down two dead ninja after he had pierced them through the temple, he rolled them over and memorized their features before creating two solid clones who transformed into the ninja he had killed. Using chakra engraving, Naruto created a storage matrix on the floor and sealed those bodies inside the storage seal. Looking at the other two towers next to him he noticed they were still looking out at the grounds meaning he hadn't been seen, he sighed in relief before moving over to the second guard tower and repeating the process. 

With that over Naruto climbed over the wall and walked down onto the ground, sneaking over to the gate Naruto spotted the two who were standing guard on each side. Using the two kunai he had been working with to make his kills Naruto took aim and threw them, both Kunai pierced the back of the two ninja' heads. Before they could hit the ground Naruto created two solid clones, both Naruto's appeared next to the dead shinobi and caught them while they were falling. After sealing them like before, Naruto looked at the wench designed to close and open the gate, pushing it up the wheels began to turn as the gate opened. 

X-X-X-X-X

Outside of the base Ao and the others had been waiting for something to happen, when doing a stake out of any kind it is usually boring and only penetrated with excitement when and if something actually happened. Ninja who specialize in espionage and reconnaissance learn this early on, only those who are patient and collected can truly do stake outs. Especially of this nature, where you are going to be infiltrating and destroying an enemy base should the one you sent to open the way come through.

"Sir, the gate is opening" one of his men informed Ao.

"I can see that" Ao said, while he did not show it he was impressed with the short amount of time it took for this boy too accomplish his mission. "It looks like he came through after all, alright men we're moving out."

X-X-X-X-X

Naruto took a long chug of his sake bottle, letting the liquid burn down his throat. Setting the bottle down, he closed his eyes as he took in several deep breaths, trying to settle his after-mission nerves. This had been one of his first A-rank mission, he didn't really count the wave mission since it had originally been C-rank. Kakashi, Sasuke, and him had done most of the fighting so it was team mission rather than a solo. Despite that his mission had gone off without a hitch, he had given an impeccable performance after the mission. Ao's team which was the one he would be assigned to unless needed somewhere else had given him a toast to him when they got back. Yet even with all the praise he was getting, his thoughts kept going back to the 'woman' he had killed at the 'start' of the mission. Try as he might, he could not keep his mind off of the final look of pain and fear that had seen in her eyes as she died, which was of course why he was here. He had been unable to sleep and so had come to a small bar the base had to hopefully drink himself stupid, unfortunately he was having no such luck as his overwhelming yang chakra coupled with Kyubi's presence just burned the alcohol out of his body system.

As he was cursing his new powers, a voice spoke up behind him, "yen for your thoughts?"

Naruto turned around and came face to face with Mei Terumi; he have her somewhat of a pained smile and gestured her to take a seat. Moving up to the stool she sat down next to him and shared a companionable silence, Naruto collected his thoughts before he began to speak. "I killed today," he looked over at Mei to find her looking at him with a raised eyebrow, finding it odd that a shinobi would be bothered by this; still he was young so maybe it was his first. "Normally this wouldn't be a problem, I've killed before; usually in self-defence or the few times me and Sensei ran into bandit camps or missing-nins." 

Well, there went that idea… wait, "sensei?" Mei inquired in curiosity.

Naruto rubbed the back of head as a sheepish expression passed over his face, "sorry… I didn't inform about my sensei Jiraiya."

Mei's eyes widened in shock, "Jiraiya? You mean Jiraiya of the Legendary three? The sensei of Yondaime Hokage?" at Naruto's nod Mei turned to her own thoughts. When she had first heard that Konoha was only going to be sending one person to help them, Mei had been while not displeased as she had not expected much, had at the very least found herself feeling disappointed. However, the handsome young man before her seemed to have quite a bit of skill as he demonstrated with pulling off a successful infiltration mission, allowing them to destroy one of their enemies strongholds for the first time. They had even managed to capture the commander of the base; he had provided her with the location of even more bases which she was planning on having the young blond infiltrate. She could now see why he was so skilled, if he was trained by Jiraiya… she looked over at the blond to see him looking at her quizzically and became somewhat embarrassed at spacing out, "I'm sorry please continue."

Naruto smiled appreciatively; he did not know why but he felt comfortable in her presence as if he could trust her. Naruto went back to his story, "it had been at the start of the mission and I had just been about to sneak out of the medical room when the door opened. I… can't really remember much except for instincts kicking in, one moment I'm just getting off the bed and the next there's a young woman in my arms clawing at her throat…"

"You looked in her eyes, didn't you?" Mei asked as an understanding light came to her. In the academy they had been taught that the worst possible thing you could do was stare into the eyes of someone you had killed. It had caused many problems for young genin who became plagued with nightmares about their first kills, many of which had to quit being a shinobi because they had become mentally unstable. It had been why the original graduation exam in Kiri had been to kill the person closest to you, they felt that if you could do that then killing some random person would be nothing.

Naruto nodded, "yes, I had looked into her eyes and watched her die, saw the helpless and pained expression on her face, I..." Naruto quickly wiped away a stray tear hoping Mei wouldn't notice, she had but decided to just file it away for later. "But that's not even the worst of it; I killed a doctor, someone who's purpose in life was to heal others. While they do have some minor combat training, they never take a life unless they have to. People like us," he gesture to himself and Mei, "we're killers. Our whole purpose revolves around causing more death then our enemy," Naruto paused. "I've never really liked killing, in truth when I first thought about what I wanted to be my first choice was a doctor."

"Why didn't you become one?" Mei asked in curiosity, a doctor was on the complete opposite end of the career spectrum.

"Honestly" Naruto signed, "I have no idea why or when I had changed my mind. Wouldn't have mattered anyway, from the moment I was born I was chosen to be a ninja by factors outside of my life." 'Well mostly because I'm the Kyubi's jinchuriki'.

"What do you mean you were chosen from the day you were born?" Mei asked confused by blond's answer.

Naruto became silent for few moments. It will only take seconds to reveal his 'special' status but that would be a state matter, something he didn't even reveal to his friends. Yet, there was something in Mei that made him gravitate towards her. He couldn't really explain but he would be lying if he said he wasn't attracted to her. Maybe that's why he was being so open to her.

After few moments of deliberation, he said, "I'm Kyubi jinchuriki."

Mei's eyes widened when she heard Naruto's words. She couldn't believe it; not only the blond was student of Jiraiya, but he also carried Kyubi, which was considered to be the strongest of all nine tailed beasts. She couldn't believe that the Fifth Hokage would send someone so important to her aid in civil war. Whatever doubts Mei previously had in her mind, they slowly started to go away. 

"I…I see. That explains what you mean." Mei said. "Why don't you continue your story?"

"There's really nothing more to tell," Naruto said with a sigh, "I killed someone who I feel didn't deserve to die. Sure, she may have been the enemy, but people who can heal are some of the only people I really respect. It takes little effort to kill, however, to heal takes a lot of work time, effort and sweat."

"I think I understand," Mei said and in truth she did. While Mei did not quite have Naruto's perspective she could understand his thoughts and feelings on this kind of subject. "Still don't you feel better knowing that the people you care about are safe because you're fighting?" She asked her friend.

Naruto chuckled, "that's the only reason I'm still a shinobi, if I didn't have my precious people to protect their would be no way I would still be in this business."

Mei smiled at the man who was quickly becoming something of an enigma to her, from just the little conversations she had had with him since he came here she found herself intrigued. His apparent desire to protect he cared for just made her want to figure him out all the more, "so you fight to protect your precious people than?" 

Naruto nodded absently as he took a drink of sake, only to be disappointed when he realized it was all gone. "Then I suppose since you're here does that make me precious to you?" Naruto looked over at Mei in surprise before he saw her slightly pouty expression.

Naruto grinned as he tapped a finger to his chin, "Well…" he looked at her with a critical eye before leaning over and wrapping an arm around her waist. "I suppose so… that is if you make me one of your precious people," he finished in a husky whisper.

Mei shivered from his tone as a small blush spread across her delicate features, but she managed to keep her grin in place as she looked at him for a second before standing up. "I guess I could make you one of my precious people," Mei said using Naruto's term as she winked at him. "Provided you escort me to my room…"

Naruto laughed as he stood up and stuck his arm out for Mei to take, "I can do that… though some of your men might get jealous to see you cuddling up to the new guy."

"Well then I suppose they will stay jealous won't they?" Mei asked rhetorically as they left the bar, "I hope you're not intimidated by any of my admirers…"

"Me intimidated," Naruto scoffed, "don't make me laugh, I was just worried that they may end up in the hospital for trying to put me in my place."

Mei giggled before they continued to walk down the hall, a companionable silence coming between the two. True to Naruto's prediction he did draw several angry glares from almost all of the men who were also in the hall, no doubt wondering how the new guy was so close to their leader when he had only been here for a few days. What Naruto had not expected was some of the woman who actually glared at Mei, Naruto had not been here long enough to be really known and he had not met any of these woman even in passing. He wondered if they simply thought she was degrading herself by getting so close to someone after only a few days of their first meeting.

"It's because their jealous."

"Huh?" Naruto asked in a somewhat dumb tone as he turned to look at Mei.

Mei covered her mouth with her free hand as she giggled, "word of how you rescued a woman from being raped apparently spread through the base soon after you arrived. It seems that your good dead made you quite popular…"

"But they don't even know me?" Naruto said blinking before realizing what was going on, "I can't believe… I didn't think I would see fan girls in the middle of a war…"

This comment cause Mei to laugh outright causing the people around the two to become startled. Mei's laugh calmed down and became an occasional small giggle, "well to be honest I didn't expect it either, but there you have it," she said as she made a casual gesture to a few of the girls around her.

"I suppose so," Naruto said as they once again continued in silence, a few moments later they were at Mei's door.

Mei turned around and gave him an alluring smile, "Thank you for escorting me kind sir."

Naruto grinned at her as he gave an exaggerated bow, "not at all my lady, it has been a pleasure to merely find myself so graced as to be in the presence of a goddess such as you."

"Charmer," Mei murmured unable to contain a blush from the comment.

"I am so such thing," Naruto affected mock surprised look, "I am merely someone who speaks what I think." Naruto took her hand and gave it a small kiss, looking up he was pleased to see Mei's face was now red. He gave her one last smile, "I'll see you later Mei-chan."

Mei's blush increased in hue at the addition of the affectionate suffix Naruto added to her name, 'Mei-chan… I could get used to being called that.' She looked at where Naruto was going down the corridor, 'Naruto Uzumaki you truly are an enigma I will enjoy figuring out.'

X-X-X-X-X

Six Months Later

Nearly six months have passed after Naruto had joined the rebel forces of Kiri. Apart from doing several missions and gaining experience, Naruto also trained himself in free time. The hideout where rebels had settled in, had few training spots and while Naruto couldn't use large numbers of clone to train, he still did use them in limited amount. He mostly worked on improving rasengan, Hiraishin, and wood release techniques secretly.

During these months, the relation between Naruto and Mei had drastically changed. If they were friends earlier, now they were close to be called lovers. This was because, whenever they weren't fighting Yagura's forces or attacking his hidden bases, the two would be seen together often training or flirting each other.

Presently we find our blond hero inside the office of Mei. He looked around at the other people who had also been called, two of them he didn't know. They were not front-line soldiers, so he had never fought by their side. All he knew was that one of them was the head of the medical staff and the other managed the supplies they acquired through various means. He also knew that the one who managed the supplies did not like him for some reason; the man was fairly young, so Naruto assumed it was because of how close he was to Mei. The man had complained once about Mei insisting on having Naruto with them as a part of their meetings, he never did it again after Mei threatened to melt his balls of which Naruto knew she could quite literally do.

Ao was also with them; he and the hunter Nin had gotten closer in the past six months Naruto had been here. During that time Naruto had usually been with Ao's team and had gone on several more infiltrate and destroy missions.

There was also Chojuro, a shy young man with blue hair, black eyes and sharp shark like teeth; a trait he shared with Zabuza and Kisame. He wore black rimmed glasses that were connected to a set of headphones. He was wearing a blue striped shirt with camouflage pants, while his Hitea-ate was worn across his chest. He carried a large sword on his back called Hiramekarei, which was wrapped in bandages much like Kisame did with his sword. Naruto had met and teamed up with him during one of his missions, they got along well enough. Naruto had found out that despite being a member of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist Chojuro was extremely shy and under confident. Though he had noticed the man seemed to find the courage to glare at him whenever Mei was on Naruto's arm and flirting with him.

"As you all know we have recently dealt several harsh blows to the Mizukage's forces," Mei started catching the attention of the people in the room. That was true enough, in the past six months they had managed to destroy ten enemy strongholds, cutting off valuable trade routes and isolating enemy forces allowing the bloodline side too to pick them off. After that first mission Naruto had been on they had continued to use the infiltration tactic with great success, while Naruto would not claim credit for being the reason their missions were so successful he was glad to know that he was helping bring this violent war to a close. "However, it seems that with our success Yagura has decided that we have become a serious threat. I have received Intel that he has amassed his forces, and they will be heading towards our base at one month's time to destroy us." the two who had no part in the fighting paled at her words and began to mumble to themselves, a glare from Mei quickly shut them up. "Because of this I am planning an evacuation of the base, we are lucky that we were able to get this information fast enough so that we can evacuate the base without costing lives."

"So, we're going to have to run eh?" asked Ao with a small grumble, "back in my day when we had to face such engagements we…"

"Ao…" Mei interrupted with a sickly-sweet voice as one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows twitched. "Shut up… or I'll kill you…"

Ao paled, "I… I didn't mean to imply that…"

Naruto gave a silent laugh as he listened to the small banter, Naruto had realized a while ago that this was a common occurrence between the two. Mei tended to get a particularly bad attitude when Ao would start talking, mainly because he would somehow end up making a comment that could easily be taken as a talk about marriage. Mei had confided in Naruto privately that she was somewhat depressed that she was going to reach her thirties in a few years and had yet to find a husband. Naruto had merely laughed and told her that a woman as beautiful as her shouldn't worry about such things since she would no doubt have men flocking to her as soon as the war was over. This had led to a little word play between the two that had begun to happen more often five months ago, especially when it was just the two of them.

Naruto had grown much closer to the busty red head; he would not deny that he was quite possibly starting to fall for her. She was smart, strong, intelligent, beautiful, and seemed to have the same love of flirty wordplay that he had. While Naruto would deny it vehemently to anyone who commented on it, traveling with Jiraiya had slightly tainted him. While Naruto would never peep on a woman like Jiraiya did; he always took great joy in making a woman blush either with a subtle or not so subtle compliment on her looks or making a comment laced with innuendo. Seeing a beautiful woman who seemed to enjoy the same thing he did was not only welcome since it kept things fun, but also because their 'talks' kept Naruto from having nightmares about the things he had done and seen in this war.

"Mei-chan," Naruto said getting her attention as well as several glares from the others at calling Mei by such a in there eyes, disrespectful suffix.

"Yes Naruto-kun?" Mei asked not caring to look at the shocked and jealous looks the two received, honestly she had figured these people would have been used to it by now.

"I don't think there is any need to evacuate, in fact this could be where we end the war." Naruto statement caused several shocked looks all around; it was extremely bold to claim that they could end the war right now. Despite numerous recent victories and cutting down about 1/3 of Yagura's forces, they were still outnumbered 3 to 1.

"That's a bold claim to make Naruto," Mei said dropping the suffix as she adopted a completely serious tone, "I assume you have a plan?"

Naruto simply reached into his cloak's inner pocket and set down a large tri-pronged kunai on the table, while the people around him were wondering what the odd kunai was, Mei's eyes widened. "That's… that kunai…"

"Yes," Naruto said in a firm voice, "it's time the world is introduced to new flash."

X-X-X-X-X

Naruto started out across the plain trying to see if the enemy had arrived, like always in Mist country the area was extremely misty giving everyone very low visibility. However, it was no problem to the blond because he was a sensory ninja like Uzumaki members. 

Looking at his right and left, Naruto saw several people who were lining up kunai launchers, if he were to look behind him he knew that he would see people doing the same thing. He noticed that most of the people who were preparing them were looking at the odd tri pronged kunai in curiosity, most likely wondering what it was and how it could be used to end the war. Naruto and Mei had refused to say anything and the only person who the blond was sure knew what was going to happen was Ao, who was more knowledgeable then most people in mist village due to travels. Because of how isolated the Mist country was, most people who lived there did not have much information about the world outside their country. All these people knew was that their job was to launch the kunai.

"Since… when did you know of Fourth Hokage's technique?"

Naruto smiled as he closed his eyes, he had known she was there for a while having gotten used to her presence. He let himself find comfort in her presence a little long before answering, "I didn't know it before I came here Mei-chan." He turned around to face the busty red head and gave her a smile, "I cracked it just few weeks ago and I can use it fairly…Although I'm afraid I haven't reached the level of Fourth Hokage yet." 

"Aren't you afraid of repercussions?" Seeing the confusion of Naruto's face, Mei elaborated, "I mean… if Iwa becomes aware of new yellow flash, will you not become their target?" 

Naruto gave an understanding nod as he said, "yeah, I guess you're right. But then again this war has gone on long enough. It would be selfish of me to not use of one of my abilities."

Mei gave Naruto a smile, despite the war he had been through Naruto still maintained a strong sense of right and wrong. She did not know when it happened but sometime along the line Naruto had made it his personal goal to end the bloodshed in Kiri. Perhaps it had always been there and that was why she had not seen it, maybe when he first came here and saw how bad it life was here that he decided to help. She couldn't be sure and if she were honest with herself she didn't care, just knowing that this young man who had quite literally turned the tide in the war was with her was enough.

"Thank you," she said in a voice so low that even Naruto's enhanced hearing almost caused him to miss it.

Naruto tilted her head up to his, in the last few months Naruto had hit a growth spurt and was now at a height of 5'10" about a head taller than Mei. "You don't need to thank me; even if Konoha told me to return right now I would stay and help you finish this."

Mei small smile turned into a sultry grin as she closed the distance between them, "mmm… such heroic nature deserves a suitable reward, don't you think?" she began to draw circles on his clothing, which was missing the typical hooded cloak he usually wore while on missions allowing Mei to feel the rock-hard muscles the young man was packing.

Naruto smirked opting to be more bold than usual as he put an arm around her waist and pulled her into a one-armed embrace, making the two of them meld together. "If you insist," Naruto said turning his voice into a husky growl, "I remember reading that Mizu had some nice hot springs, perhaps the two of us can see if that's still true…"

"My aren't you bold Naruto-kun," Mei said holding a hand to her face to hide the blush that had spread to her cheeks.

"I can't believe this, we're going into battle, and you are making sexual banter with each other," both Naruto and Mei turned to Ao with deadpanned expression. "Why back in my day when we were going to fight we would…"

"Ao…" the two said in eerie unison. There was an odd shadow covering their face's making it so that Ao could not see their eyes, "shut up… or we'll kill you."

Ao instantly paled and despite considering himself brave took a step back, having Terumi-Sama threaten him was bad enough but adding Naruto as well… the old hunter ninja felt a shiver of fear run down his spine. "Well… I uh… I just wanted to tell you that the ETA for the enemy is 30 minutes and uh… I'll just leave you two now..."

"Thank you, you may go back to your post," Mei said, adopting her leader voice. Ao quickly bowed and walked away, hoping he could make it as far away from those two as possible and hopefully not see them until the end of this battle. Mei turned back to Naruto, "are you ready?"

Naruto nodded, "yes, I will signal our forces when to launch the kunai. I will be using a secret technique to trap the enemy forces. I hope they will react quick enough to realize the plan."

Mei nodded before looking at the ground for a second; nodding her head as if she were coming to an important decision Mei looked back at Naruto. Leaning on her toes she gave him a small kiss on the cheek, leaving a light blue imprint of her lip stick on him. Naruto eyes widened for a second as he brought up a hand to his cheek, this time he was the one who found himself becoming red, which only made the blue lip imprint Mei left stand out more. "That was for luck," Mei told him with a heartfelt smile, "and to make sure you come back."

Naruto's face slowly turned back to its natural tanned color as he grinned, "Do I get another if I make it back alive."

Mei struck up a thinking pose, "if you make it back alive I'll give you something even better… perhaps that trip to the hot spring you wanted…" deciding to leave their conversation on a light note Mei gave him a wink and walked off.

Naruto turned back to look at the preparations with a large grin on his face, despite knowing he was going to be forced to kill today that kiss had made his day. He channeled some chakra to his eyes to give himself some slightly enhanced vision in the hopes of clearing the thick mist, he sighed when he couldn't pierce through the mist meaning it would be a waiting game until they came within range of his vision. He took slow breaths as he remained calm, in all honesty had no clue if he could pull this off. This would be the first time he used the Hiraishin in battle, but he had spent several weeks getting use to the feel of using the space time jutsu. He could already teleport to the marked formula and kunai. So, with some luck or perhaps kami on their side, his current mastery of the jutsu would be enough to defeat the enemies that were now coming for the bloodline rebels.

It was about ten minutes later that he saw the first troops trying to race across the field as quickly as possible, for a shinobi open war combat was the most dangerous kind. Unlike Samurai who rely on their swards and charging the enemies headfirst into battle, ninja used large scale ninjutsu and other powerful techniques and weapons like explosive notes that were designed to take out a large amount of enemies at once. This meant that combat in any kind of open space was extremely dangerous. But Naruto planned to use it as an advantage because he had perfect technique for it.

Jumping down to the ground, Naruto faced the enemy forces who were charging towards him. Taking a long breathe, Naruto gathered large amounts of chakra before pouring into ground. Making a snake seal, he whispered the name of his jutsu.

"Wood release: Nativity of Sea of Trees"

X-X-X-X-X

To many of the shinobi, it had happened too fast for them. One moment, the earth below they were running suddenly rumbled and split into several carters as enormous number of trees grew capturing them before they have a chance to escape. To the rebels, it resembled dense forest that had grown out of nowhere.

"FIRE!"

Naruto shouted and just as he hoped, several tri pronged kunai were showered down at the enemies. They couldn't outright kill the enemies due to the way the forest was created and held the enemies but the position they had thrown would do the job. 

That was when it happened; a bright yellow flash began appearing in several places so quick that it seemed as if the flashes were happening at the same time. Each time the flash disappeared anywhere from 10 to 20 shinobi would drop dead, before it disappeared again and began attacking another area. The enemy had no idea what was happening, nor anytime to comprehend and even if they could, they wouldn't be able to do anything. They had been already trapped by Naruto's massive forest technique.

Naruto flashed in front of the man before stabbing the man with the launched kunai and disappearing. Flashing behind a woman, he gave her a chop to the back of the neck before moving on to another man and smashing a fist in his face; said man was unconscious before he hit the ground. 

Each time Naruto flashed he made sure to grab the kunai while simultaneously knocking out or killing the enemy.

Naruto found the experience of flashing from place to place using the Hiraishin to be somewhat disorienting. No one but Minato and now Naruto truly knew how the jutsu worked or what it did, when in what Naruto was beginning to call the flash it slowed down ones perception of time; allowing them to make decisions in mere nanoseconds, making it an extremely powerful technique. Not only that but he was able to keep track of everything that was happening within a twenty-five-meter radius from the kunai due to the sensor arrays in the formulas, allowing him to flash anywhere within that range and take out his opponents. However, it also had its draw backs, the technique took an enormous toll on the body as it was not meant to do this as well as the information from the kunai that could overload his mind if he was not careful. The strain especially for first time users were incredible, Jiraiya-sensei had told Naruto that the first time Fourth Hokage had used the Hiraishin, he had passed out mere minutes afterwards.

Up in the area where Mei and other shinobi who were waiting could not help but watch in a mixture of fear and awe as one man destroyed an entire army. The enemy forces were no less than thousand in number and for them it seemed as if the entire field was covered in giant yellow flashes of light as Naruto teleported from point to point taking people out left and right. But some were shocked or surprised not because of the Fourth Hokage's technique but rather because of his ability to use wood release. 

However, there was still one man who was not out of the fight yet, it was the man Naruto had been hoping to get first if he were honest. He had of course tried but the man had formed his Bijū shroud making kunai, swords and even the standard Rasengan useless. As the rest of the enemies were felled the flash disappeared and in its place was a somewhat heavily breathing Naruto, who was currently standing across the chakra covered Yagura Karatachi.

"Who would've thought that I would've been able to witness 'that' technique first hand. Not to mention, the legendary wood release of First Hokage," Yagura mused absently as he looked at Naruto who merely glared at the man, "I presume you're the thorn in my side that appeared few months back yes?" again Naruto said nothing causing Yagura to sign, "a pity that you won't talk."

"I don't talk to people who take joy in killing others," Naruto stated with fierce glare.

"Take joy," Yagura said actually sounding surprised, "I take no joy in causing death boy. But to preserve the pure blood of human's I must extinguish those whose blood has become tainted."

Naruto scowled as he got into his fight stance, "considering that bloodlines were said to come from the Bijū I find it funny that 'you' of all people are talking about purity."

"Enough talk," Yagura glared as the comment Naruto made apparently got to him, "I am going to enjoy shutting that mouth of yours up permanently."

"You're welcome to try."

The two disappeared in a blur and a resounding crash rang throughout the clearing.

X-X-X-X-X

Mei felt her eyes widen as she watched the new battle that was starting to take place, just as it seemed like Naruto had literally won the war for them a new threat popped up and in worst possible form. The intelligence they had received had not mentioned anything about Yagura actually coming to the battle-field himself, though in hindsight she supposed it made sense if most of his forces were going into battle. Now Naruto was fighting a kage level ninja who was also a jinchuriki said to have a full control of his Bijū, things were not looking good right now.

"Ao!" Mei called out getting the man to her side immediately, "I want you to gather your forces and have them see who among the battlefield are alive. Knowing Naruto most of them are probably just unconscious, take them prisoner so we can sort out who the criminals are later."

Ao bowed, "of course Terumi-Sama, if I may ask where will you be?"

X-X-X-X-X

Naruto dodged an attack that would've shattered his entire rib cage had he not dodged Yagura's hit. In all honesty, he had never seen other than Tsunade to punch that hard. Nevertheless, he flipped on his feet and began going through several hand signs.

"Lightning release: Thunderclap Arrow"

A large blast of lightning shot out of Naruto's outstretched hand and tore through the landscape as it headed for Yagura. The attack hit dead on, and Naruto waited for the dust to clear before making his next move. When it did Naruto cursed at not even seeing a scratch on the man, apparently when one had full control over their Bijū as displayed here, it came with some serious advantages.

Yagura came at Naruto again, getting in front of him faster than most people could blink and aiming a punch with enough power that it would take off the blonde's head. Fortunately, Naruto had trained exclusively to fight at high speeds and dodged the blow, tilting his head to a side as he crouched down. A standard yellow rasengan had appeared in both his hands before he shoved them into the Mizukage's chest and stomach. It seemed to have an effect as Naruto was able to heavily injure the short man. A scream tore itself through the cloaked Sanbi jinchuriki's throat as his stomach and chest muscles were torn away before he was sent flying. The man managed to flip onto his feet and looked up at Naruto with a snarl. The blond grimaced at seeing the man's muscles and flesh almost finished healing. He wondered if this was what it felt for others when he just healed any injury he received. Oh, I can tell, this is going to be fun…

The three tails that waved themselves behind Yagura suddenly came up to the front as the man opened his mouth, large amounts of concentrated chakra forming between the tails. Naruto was curious for a moment wondering what Yagura was doing, that amount of demonic chakra would kill anyone; but him. Yagura swallowed the condensed matter of chakra, becoming extremely heavy and causing the earth he was standing on to shatter.

"Ninja Arts: Three – Tails Menacing Ball"

Naruto scoffed seeing the destructive ball before gathering chakra in his palm. He once again formed rasengan above his palm, and met Yagura's attack head on, it took few moments for the blond to overpower the attack causing an explosion. Fortunately, Naruto was quickly able to escape it by teleporting to a marked location. 

"I'm beginning to hate that jutsu!"

Naruto turned to see Yagura glare at him; not deigning to speak, the blond charged at Mizukage with full force, gathering rasengan in both of his hands meeting the man blow for blow as the fight continued. The blond had quickly realized that apart from rasengan, nothing could go harm the Mizukage. 

Naruto ducked under a swipe sent his away, before being forced to twist himself out of the path of one of the man's tails. As Yagura sent another punch at the blond, Naruto sidestepped the attack while grabbing the arm and pulling him into a knee. It didn't seem to do anything as the man just got back up and began attacking him even more furiously. Naruto dodged another punch, only to have his feet swept out from under him. The blond managed to roll to the left just in time to dodge another blow from Yagura that shattered the earth, pushing himself onto his feet Naruto shot off towards his opponent, appearing in front of Yagura before sending a larger Rasengan at him.

"Giant Rasengan!"

There was large explosion and Yagura was sent flying back, rolling to the ground a few times before coming to a stop. The Mizukage looked severely injured but thanks to three tails, they were healing quickly. He began to stand only for huge branches springing up from the ground and wrapped around him, restraining his arms and legs. Yagura looked shocked as the branches moved into a circle. The circle was being created by emerging wood pillars that had dragon shaped heads and spikes pointed at him.

"Wood release: Enclosed Shrine of Ten Taming Dragons"

Yagura attempted to draw more of three tails chakra but felt his chakra stop building and was wondering what was going on as he struggled against the wooden binds. While Yagura was trying to break, he noticed Naruto rushing at him with rasengan in hand.

"This is the end Yagura!" Naruto yelled with a serious glare before thrusting the attack on Yagura's chest.

"Rasengan!"

Mei who had just arrived to help Naruto in fighting, was stunned in silence as she saw the red chakra cloak slowly disappearing. She also watched Naruto flying at Yagura with rasengan in his hand before landing the Yagura's chest. The result was a large spiralling explosion of chakra grinding the Mizukage's flesh before killing him. The wood pillars which previously held the man slowly unwrapped him and disappeared into the ground. A large burst of light appeared as the chakra from the Bijū dispersed into air.

Sensing Mei's chakra, Naruto turned around to look at the rushing red head. He almost fell to ground if Mei hadn't caught him. He breathed heavily as sweat began to pour down his features. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, he could really feel the strain that using the Hiraishin and throwing high level ninjutsu had taken on his body. He opened his eye when he felt his head put on something soft, what he saw was Mei smiling at him as she began to stroke his hair.

"Is it over?" Naruto asked.

"Shouldn't you be worrying about yourself?" She questioned as she looked up and down. His clothes were ripped leaving few tears on his ninja garments. "Yes, it's over. Although you look like shit."

Naruto chuckled, "oh good then it's not just my imagination because I feel like shit. Is everyone safe?"

"Yes," she said, many of the people were actually walking over to them after having witnessed the battle. "Looks like you're a hero huh?"

Naruto tried to laugh only to wince as he felt his chest strain under the pressure, "I suppose…well… I think I'm… gonna… have to… take a … reign… check on… that reward… good… night." with that the blond shinobi closed his eyes as the last bit of adrenaline left his body and he fell asleep.

Mei looked at him for a good while as she continued to absently run a hand through his hair, she looked over at the battle sight and shook her head. The battlefield was a sight of absolute destruction, the techniques used having literally reformed the landscape. She looked over at the forest that Naruto had created before he used Hiraishin to decimate Yagura's army . She heard the tales before, the stories of First Hokage using his powerful wood release to create large forests surrounding the hidden leaf village. Like everyone else, she also assumed of all them to be fairy stories, but Naruto's display today made her realize the truth of those stories. Looking back at Naruto, Mei smiled, enigma indeed…

X-X-X-X-X

It had been few weeks after the battle and things had been running smoothly in Mist, Mei had been selected as the new Mizukage and immediately began putting plans up to rebuild Kiri and the neighboring cities. With the help of many of the ninja, both those who had been on the bloodline side and the ones who had been against Yagura but could not leave for fear of their families had begun to help with the repairs. With the two factions now working under one banner and with the support of water Daimyo, Kiri was beginning to get under way to returning to its former glory.

Of course, it also helped that a certain blonde shinobi had decided to stay and help Kiri get back on its feet, creating a literal army of Wood clones and have them create several houses using Wood release: Serial Pillar House Technique. Naruto had also repaired the damaged forests restoring the eco-system with Wood release: Nativity of Sea of Trees. Word had begun to reach many of the outlying cities in Mist country about Naruto's amazing feet in defeating an entire army with a single jutsu and battling the former Mizukage right afterwards, many had begun to hail his name here as the hero of Kiri. Naruto while appreciative of the people's good thoughts of him, could not help but a bit feel apprehensive. News of what he did here would no doubt reach the other nations despite the isolation Kiri had from other elemental countries. When it did he had no doubt that he would face several issues, namely Iwa, Kumo, and Akatsuki.

He decided not to worry about that now as he sat in the new Mizukage office as Mei read over the last few reports for the day. Now that they were experiencing a new time of peace Naruto had made sure to get to know the busty Kage under circumstances where they did not have to fear for their life. He had to say that it was fun taking Mei out to eat, out for a walk or when they watched a movie after the new cinema had been built. That had been an experience since they had watched the Princess Gale Movie with Yuki Fujikaze AKA Koyuki Kazahana, which many of the people including Mei had been shocked to see showing their hero when he was younger. All in all, it was a good experience and allowed Mei to get out of the office every now and then, a place that seemed to be taking up more of her time then she would have liked. 

Unfortunately, he now had to leave, a few days ago he received a message that Jiraiya was on his way here and it would in fact not surprise the young blond if the man already was here. He looked over as he felt some added weight on the couch and saw Mei looking at him with a curious expression.

He gave her a smile, "it looks like this is goodbye for now."

"You're leaving?" she asked with a frown, she had grown close to the young man and did not want him to go. During the war it had been her talks with him that brought her comfort and allowed her to forget all of the bloodshed, even if only for a little while.

"Jiraiya is probably already in town," Naruto ran a hand through his hair, "now that my mission is complete I'm no doubt going to begin my training again."

"I don't really think you need any more training?" Mei mused with a grin.

"I wish that were true," Naruto said with a sad smile, "but once word gets out my enemies which are already quite numerous will multiply. I have to be ready so I can protect not only myself but the people they will no doubt use to get to me."

Mei sighed, someone as young as him should not have so many enemies, she shook off the morbid thoughts. "So, when will I see you again?" she asked.

Naruto smirked at her causing the woman to become curious, reaching into his cloak the blond pulled out a tri pronged kunai that he handed to her. "We can see each other whenever," Naruto started his smirk turning into a grin, "just make sure that you limit it to once every two weeks if it's not an emergency. That way I'll make sure to come whenever you call."

Mei smiled as she closed her hand on the kunai, "thank you."

"Ma, ma you don't have to thank me," he began with a grin before affecting a mock sad expression. "I would miss you far too much if we didn't get to see each other," he sniffed as he wiped away a false tear.

Mei's smile turned into a sultry grin, "oh, perhaps I can interest you in staying so we would never be apart? You know we never tried out those hot springs together…"

Naruto chuckled, "a part of me is definitely tempted to stay, but we both know I can't. Still, I have two more things I want to give you…"

"Oh, and what's tha- Mph!"

Mei was silenced as Naruto brought them into a passionate lip lock, Mei slowly closed her eyes as she wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck. Naruto in turn brought his around her waist, pulling her up so she was sitting on his lap. When Mei opened her mouth to moan Naruto instinctively brought his tongue into her mouth, increasing the volume and frequency of Mei's moaning. One of Mei's hands went into Naruto's hair as Naruto hands began to rub up and down Mei's thighs. When they finally parted both were breathing heavily with flushed faces.

"W-wow," was all Mei could think to say after the kiss.

"Wow indeed," Naruto said with a laugh before kissing her again.

X-X-X-X-X

"Ready brat!"

Naruto looked up to see Jiraiya standing at the entrance to Kiri, his arms were crossed, and he had a smirk on his face.

"You bet Jiraiya-Sensei!" Naruto said as he walked past the man.

Jiraiya soon caught up to Naruto and looked at him, "you know you're the talk of the entire country…"

"Yeah I know," Naruto said having a feeling he knew where this was going.

"Talks about you defeating an entire army with a single jutsu, not to mention the famed wood release" Jiraiya continued.

"Yes Jiraiya-sensei, I used Hiraishin and wood release to defeat the Mizukage forces" Naruto said looking at sensei irritably.

"You know this may come back to bight in you in the ass right?"

Naruto signed, "I know, but I couldn't just sit back and do nothing. Those people needed my help."

Jiraiya was torn between being worried and proud, after all his apprentice had just a war and brought peace to a country. "You're just like your father, you know that gaki?" He said with a smile.

Naruto stopped in his tracks turning over to Jiraiya, "So, will you finally tell about him? After all I've finished Fourth Hokage's Hiraishin technique. Now I'm strong enough to know him right?"

Jiraiya nodded as he realized that the time had come for the boy to know of his family. Naruto had matured and showed immense strength defeating a kage at 14-years of age.

"…Minato Namikaze" The toad sage revealed slowly to Naruto. "Your father was Minato Namikaze, the 'Yellow Flash' of the leaf village. Your father is none other than the Fourth Hokage."