Bloodline Wars

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 then he did when Gato had been terrorizing Nami No Kuni (wave country). Many of them were sitting off to the sides of the street, begging for money or food while others were hidden in back alleys and side streets. What was worse was that Naruto could see whole families who were homeless, little children who were even more malnourished then he had been when trying to scrounge a living in the streets of Konoha. 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 rending for the young man.

Out of the corner of his eyes Naruto saw several figures hopping from the roofs, ninja with the Kirigakure (Hidden Mist) Hitea-ate. He took a moment to watch as several patrols passed by, most likely looking for bloodline rebels and or dissidents. Naruto watched the ninja as they passed, trying to get a feel for their emotional position. Living in the streets Naruto had picked up the unique ability to detect what others were thinking and feeling to a certain extent, an ability that had saved him from a number of beatings by drunken villagers in the past by allowing him to avoid the more unsavory people who would wish him harm. Many of the faces on the ninja's here were an open book; the blond was pleased to see that most of them seemed to feel just as bad as he did about the situation. While their faces showed no emotion their eyes showed too much, it had always been said that the eyes are the gate way to the soul; for people like Naruto that had never been more true. 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 homeless people showed that they too wanted to help. Naruto knew they most likely couldn't because the Mizukage had more than likely threatened to kill their families. It was strange, Naruto had heard that during the beginning of his reign the Yondaime Mizukage was one of the most compassionate Kage's. 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 the blond crouched down and activated one of the few Genjutsu he could do. It was more of a Genjutsu/ninjutsu hybrid much like the standard Henge that is taught in the academy, rather than affect the mind of an opponent it affects the surroundings of the area. Channeling chakra into the oxygen particles in the air, masking and camouflaging the area around Naruto to make it seem as if there is nothing there, making him invisible to all but the most powerful of Kage level ninja's or those with Doujutsu and enhanced senses like those of the Inuzuka Clan. It was a technique Naruto had been taught by Ero-Sennin who used whenever he tried to peek on woman, though Naruto understood it had many applications in stealth and espionage as well.

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 Ero-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 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 you know you love it!" Kerai Mushashi laughed as he listened to woman sob and cry. A Jonin of Kiri for nearly 10 years Kerai 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 Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū (Seven Swordsman of the Mist) before they had fallen from grace. When they 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 he 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 Kerai'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 hyperventilated, 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 girls 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… 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 take out a scroll containing medical supplies to heal you, is that ok?" Naruto asked. He received a cautious nod and slowly reached into his pouch which had several containment seals that were used to hold his various ninja tools.

Pulling out a scroll Naruto unrolled it on the bed and unsealed the materials, a number of medicinal creams, disinfectant and medical bandages came out of the seal. Naruto had long since realized that he would never be able to use medical jutsu, not just because he was always constantly battling to keep his control at the level it was at due to the constant increase in his reserves. But also because his chakra had traces of the Kyuubi's in it, while the miniscule amounts did nothing to him since he has had the fox since birth; they were incredibly toxic to others. Still that did not mean that he would not do the best he could to make up for his deficiency in this area by becoming adept at the creation of healing ointments and herbology, Naruto picked up one of the tubes containing one of his own personal creations.

To make up for his lack of being unable to use healing jutsu, Naruto had long since decided to make try and make a healing cream based off of his own abilities of regeneration. Naruto had always known that he healed quickly; wounds that would take weeks for others to heal were gone in hours and ones that took months to heal disappeared within a day. Naruto knew this was due to Kyuubi and the seal on his stomach, which channeled the fox's chakra into his body at a constant rate. A little over a month ago Naruto had been able to replicate that ability to an extent and make a powerful healing cream.

Utilizing the art of Fuiinjutsu (sealing art) Naruto had come up with a modified containment seal that was designed to be able to store Kyuubi's chakra. With the use of several powerful purification seals that were designed based off the ones on the Shikki Fuuin Naruto was able to purify Kyuubi's chakra to the point that it was no longer poisonous to humans, of course because of the potency of the chakra it still had to be given in low doses. Lethal wounds like being impaled or broken bones could not be healed with the maximum amount that could be used on a person, which was about the amount of chakra used to make a standard Bushin Jutsu. But wounds like bruises and small scrapes and cuts were an easy fix for the ointment which had the chakra that was stored in the seal mixed into it.

"I need you lie down while I apply some healing cream to your bruises, can you do that?" Naruto asked in a calming voice.

The woman nodded and laid herself down on her back as Naruto uncorked the lid to his ointment, dabbing a little on his fingers he lightly rubbed them together so the chakra in the cream would activate. He began to gently rub the medical cream on the girl's stomach, which was the area with the most bruising. The young woman hissed in a bit of pain before the healing affects kicked in causing her to relax, in a few minutes the large black bruise that had been on her abdomen was gone. Naruto continued applying the cream to the various bruises before moving on to the cuts, using a disinfectant before using the cream. When it was done the blond wrapped the larger cuts in bandages, making sure all the wrappings were secured and covered as he allowed himself to feel a small amount of pride. If he were honest with himself he had far more respect for healers like Tsunade-baa-chan, rather than warriors like himself; after all it was easy to take a life and far harder to save a life.

"Can you stand?" Naruto asked as he held out his hand to the young girl, she hesitated for a moment before taking it and standing. The young woman let out a yelp of pain as she began to fall; Naruto wrapped an arm around her waist and gently lifted her up while being careful not to touch her bandaged areas. Naruto sighed, her legs were probably broken, "Would you like me to carry you?"

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 Kage Bushin with mental orders to destroy any and all evidence of the three of them ever being here, with a nod to its creator the clone 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."

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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 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 Doujutsu'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 awhile 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 Mizu No Kuni 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 hear," Ao began, "still back in my day…"

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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 Doujutsu 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 and 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… 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 favoring 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."

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Takane Nobata was a middle aged man with long black hair and coal black eyes, wearing the standard garb of a Kiri chunin. At the age of 11 he had graduated the academy, killing off the person he had spent his entire time with there, as was the standard graduation exam before the graduation was changed thanks to Zabuza. Over the years he kept average stats, with an average number of missions. He became a chunin after his sixth try in Iwa and continued on to become an average ninja, when the bloodline wars started he had stayed with the Mizukage. While he did not really care about the sides or 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 along side 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 using Shinsei Henge (True Transformation) a jutsu he had created using his SS class Kinjutsu (forbidden Jutsu) the Orokie No Jutsu (Sexy Jutsu) he had created a true transformation. Unlike the standard Henge of the academy which is considered by some to be a ninjutsu/Genjutsu hybrid that creates an illusion over ones form and could easily be dispelled. The Shinsei Henge was a true physical transformation, rather than applying a layer of chakra over the body to create an illusion; this creates a real physical body.

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 'Tekane's' face.

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"Alright he's in," Ao said as he observed the front gates come to a close, "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 destroyed an enemy base, they had done many raids on ninja teams and caravan's before. But because they lacked the numbers they had never been able to storm one of the strongholds the Mizukage Yagura created, mainly because no one could sneak in to disrupt it from the 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 Yoton Jutsu, 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 Shinsei Henge 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.

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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 Henge Naruto's true form came up. 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 Ero-Sennin it had been in self defense, 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 before hand 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 Kage Bushin who Henged into the ninja he had killed. 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's heads. Before they could hit the ground Naruto created a Kage Bushin, both the Naruto's appeared next to the dead shinobi and caught them while they were falling. Hiding them off to the side Naruto looked at the wench designed to close and open the gate, pushing it up the wheels began to turn as the gate opened.

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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 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.

"Taicho, 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."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto took a long chug out 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 missions above C rank, he didn't really count the Wave mission since it had originally been C rank and Kakashi and Sasuke had done most of the fighting; the only other mission that had been above C was his mission to Yuki and he had not killed anyone then. Despite that the mission had gone off without a hitch, he had given a nearly impeccable performance after the mission. Ao's team which was the one he would be assigned to unless needed elsewhere had even given 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 of course was why he was here. He had been unable to sleep and so had come to the small bar the base had to hopefully drink himself stupid, unfortunately he was having no such luck as Kyuubi just burned the alcohol out of his system.

As he was cursing the fox for all he was worth a voice spoke up behind him, "yen for your thoughts?"

Naruto turned around and came face to face with Mei; he gave her a somewhat pained smile and gestured for 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 defense or the few times me and Ero-Sensei ran into bandit camps."

Well there went that idea… wait, "Ero-Sensei?" Mei asked with an amused smile.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head as a sheepish expression passed over his face, "sorry… I meant my sensei, Jiraiya."

Mei's eyes actually widened in shock, "You mean the Jiraiya? Of the legendary three?" 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 sighed, "I have no idea why or even 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. Both of my parents were ninja, extremely powerful in their own right," that was part of the truth. But the biggest reason was because of Kyuubi, even if he had been given a choice there was no other profession he could have chosen because of that rather 'small' detail.

"So… you became a ninja because of your parents?" Mei asked.

"Partially…" Naruto looked at her, "I actually didn't even know who my parents were until a few months ago. But the Sandaime knew them; he would always tell me great stories about how my parents were such noble people who fought to protect their home. Of course I had no clue he was talking about them at the time…"

"Sounds like he manipulated you," Mei scowled; she had never liked people who would manipulate an innocent child. It sounded like something Yagura would do so he could get a powerful pawn under his sway.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure that whether he knew it or not he was indeed manipulating me to become a shinobi. Though I would never blame him for that, he was the Hokage after all so I assume he was mainly telling me of his own feelings." Naruto took another swig of sake, "I'm not well liked in my village so this was really the only option I had available anyway." Naruto blinked in surprise, why did he just tell her that? This was only the second time he had even talked with her, it's not like they were close or anything. He couldn't blame it on the sake since he was unable to get inebriated; perhaps it was the aura she gave off? Maybe her comforting presence? Or perhaps it was some other factor he had yet to deduce? He looked over at Mei who seemed to be interested in that comment, deciding there was no harm in letting her know a little more he started again. "Because of events that happened at my birth, events that I had no control over I have been hated all my life."

Mei frowned at that, "were your parent's traitors?" that was the only thing she could think of that would make the people of his village hate him. Though she did not think that was the case, especially if the Sandaime had hailed them as much as Naruto said he had. Of course he could have told Naruto that so he could manipulate him into becoming a shinobi.

Naruto shook his head, "no in fact my parents or at least one of my parents is considered the greatest hero the hidden leaf village has ever seen."

Mei looked at the young man in thought, there were very few heroes within Konoha during the time Naruto could have been born; at least ones who were not too old or too young to be his parent's. She looked at him closely, studying his profile as if she was trying to put together the pieces to a puzzle. Now that she thought about it he did remind her of someone she had seen in a textbook on the third great ninja war. The man who had been hailed as the one to end that war with a single Jutsu that had become so feared she doubted even Yagura would have fought him; an image came to her mind and a name clicked, she felt her eyes widened as she finally realized who his parents were, or rather who his father was.

"I see you figured it out," Naruto said as he saw the recognition in her eyes, "I would appreciate it if you didn't tell any one of my parentage… at least not yet."

"I can do that," Mei said after a bit of thought, he was after all he was trusting her with what had to be a fairly large secret. She knew it would cause a lot of problems not just for him but for her as well if word about Naruto's heritage got out. No doubt Iwa would be more than willing to join in the bloodline wars if they thought they could kill the son of the Kiroii Senkou.

"Thanks," Naruto said with a small smile.

Mei returned it as she looked at him, "so 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 your fighting?"

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 the 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 Namikaze you truly are an enigma I will enjoy figuring out.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto looked around at the other people who had also been called to Mei's office, 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 had later found out she could quite literally do.

Ao was also with them, he and the hunter Nin had gotten closer in the past five 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 Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū 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.

Naruto looked back at Mei who had an apprehensive look on her face, Naruto was not sure why this meeting had been called since they met every week on Wednesdays to hear reports and plan. All Naruto knew was that it was apparently important, most likely new Intel that could spell trouble for the rebels.

"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 five months they had managed to destroy ten enemy strongholds, cutting off valuable trade routes and isolating enemy forces allowing the bloodline side too 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 eye brows 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 awhile 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 these days, 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 Ero-Sensei 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. "You mean…"

"Yes," Naruto said in a firm voice, "it's time the world was reintroduced to the flash."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto stared out across the plain trying to see if the enemy had arrived, like always in Mizu No Kuni the area was extremely Misty giving everyone very low visibility. Looking to 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 from Mizu due to his travels. Because of how isolated Mizu No Kuni 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 too launch the kunai.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

Naruto smiled as he closed his eyes, he had known she was there for awhile now having gotten used to her presence. He let himself find comfort in her presence a little longer before answering, "Yes, this war has gone on long enough." Naruto turned around to face the busty red head and gave her a smile, "it would be selfish of me to not use one of my abilities just so my secret can remain secret."

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 5'9" 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."

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 days getting use to the feel of using the space time jutsu. So with some luck or perhaps Kami on their side he would hopefully be able to pull it off and defeat the enemies that were now coming for the bloodline rebels.

It was about ten minutes later that he saw the first troops tying 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 head first 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. On the few occasions that moving in an open field couldn't be helped, it was always the best option to try to cross it as fast as possible.

It would do little good here.

"Enemy forces are approaching, ready the kunai!" Naruto yelled out his order. The people around Naruto instantly obeyed without question or hesitation, while he was not their leader and technically not even a member of their forces they felt inclined to listen to him. During the six months of constant war, Naruto had gained a charismatic presence that added to his ability to make people listen to and believe in him. Once the kunai were ready Naruto gave the signal.

"FIRE!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

To many of the shinobi it had happened too fast for them to follow, one minute they were running across the flat clearing to move closer to the enemy base so they could start launching their attack before the bloodline rebels had a chance to respond. The next minute they were forced to dodge and block a literal hail of kunai that began raining down on them. While this was not hard since the kunai were only in the hundreds and were spaced apart by about 15 meters, it had forced them to halt in their advance. When the kunai stopped coming many of the ninja paused to pick one up to see what it was, none of them had ever seen a kunai of this kind before.

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 ninja would drop, before it disappeared again and began attacking another area. The enemy had no idea what was happening, nor anytime to comprehend their untimely defeat as their forces were picked apart piecemeal.

Naruto flashed in front of a man who had grabbed one of the kunai, launching a Resengan into the man's stomach Naruto grabbed the kunai and put it in his pouch before he flashed again. 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 hard enough to send the man flying; 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, no sense in letting others grab them since they would not be able to use it anyway.

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 milliseconds, making it an extremely powerful technique. Not only that but he was able to keep track of everything that was happening within a fifteen meter radius from the kunai due to the sensor arrays in the Shikki, allowing him to flash anywhere within that range and take out his opponents. However it also had its draw backs, the jutsu took a 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, Ero-sensei had told Naruto that the first time his father had used the Hiraishin the man had passed out mere minutes afterwards.

Up in the area where Mei and the other shinobi who were waiting could not help but watch in a mixture of fear and awe as one man destroyed an entire army. To 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. In truth the entire thing lasted only a few minutes at the most, nearly the entire Mizukage force was either dead or merely unconscious.

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 Bijuu shroud making kunai, swords and even the standard Resengan 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.

"Who would have thought that I would have been able to witness 'that' jutsu first hand," Yagura mused absently as he looked at Naruto who merely glared at the man. "I presume you are the thorn in my side that appeared a few months back yes?" again Naruto said nothing causing Yagura to sigh, "a pity that you won't talk."

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

XXXXXXXXXXXX

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 the worst possible form. The intelligence had received had not mentioned anything about Yagura actually coming to the battle field himself, though in hind sight 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 jinchurikki said to have full control over his Bijuu, 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 battle field 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?"

"I'm going to help Naruto," Mei replied as she began running towards the battle that was now taking place.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto grunted as he took a hit that felt like it shattered his entire rib cage, he had in all honesty never felt someone hit that hard; of course he had only ever fought one other jinchurikki before but all Gaara had been able to do was turn into a giant Tanuki. Naruto flipped on his feet and began going through several hand signs.

"Raiton: Gian! (Lightning Release: False Darkness!)"

A large blast of lightning shot out of Naruto mouth 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 Bijuu 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 blonds head. Fortunately Naruto had trained extensively to fight at high speeds and dodged the blow, tilting his head to the side as he crouched down. A Rasengan appeared in both his hands before he shoved them into the Mizukage's stomach and chest, it seemed to have an effect as Naruto was able to put more chakra into it then when he used the Hiraishin. A scream tore itself through the cloaked Sanbi Jinchurikki's throat as his stomach and chest muscles were partly torn away before he was sent flying. The man managed to flip onto his feet and looked up at Naruto with a snarl, Naruto grimaced at seeing the man's muscles and flesh almost finished healing. He wondered if this was what it felt like for others when he just healed any injury he received. Oh I can just 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; even him. The Mizukage swallowed the condensed matter of chakra, becoming extremely heavy and causing the earth he was standing on to shatter.

"Sanbiko Imari! (Three tails Menacing ball!)"

"Fuck!" Naruto swore as a large blast of pure energy was launched at him, Naruto threw one of the Hiraishin kunai he had been sure to gather as he fought. Just as the attack was about to hit Naruto flashed out of the way, catching the kunai before he landed on the ground. Naruto looked to where he had been, the attack had been and saw that it had torn a 50 foot diameter trench through the spot and it looked like it continued on for miles. Naruto was glad that he had been on the opposite side of the rebels or they would have been annihilated.

"I'm beginning to hate that jutsu!"

Naruto turned to see Yagura glaring at him; not deigning to speak Naruto got into his fighting stance again. Yagura chuckled before coming at him full force, channeling Kyuubi's chakra into his fist Naruto began to meet the man blow for blow as the fight continued. Unfortunately Yagura could use more tails than Naruto who could only use one and the punches were beginning to hurt, however there was really not that much that Naruto could do. Jutsu were for the most part useless, the only thing that worked was the Resengan and Naruto while not having used a lot of chakra would not be able to make many more; the strain of using the Hiraishin so much today without being well trained in it had taken a large toll on his body.

Naruto ducked under a swipe sent his way, 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 another, larger Rasengan at the man.

"Oodoma Rasengan! (Big Ball Resengan!)"

There was a large explosion and Yagura was sent flying back, rolling to the ground a few times before coming to a stop. Naruto was hunched over panting as the man got up again; he noticed that the wounds while still healing were more extensive. Naruto cursed, he needed to use a stronger jutsu; if only he had some way to distract his Jinchurikki opponent he may be able to use 'that' jutsu.

"Yoton: Lava Bullet!"

Several bullets of molting magma shot at Yagura, impacting and making him stumble forward as he screamed out in pain from the lava melting the skin off his back.

Naruto looked over to see Mei Terumi running towards him with a worried yet determined expression, unfortunately the blond also noticed Yagura's eyes catch onto Mei's form. Both Naruto and Yagura disappeared, Mei suddenly found herself being thrown to the side as Naruto pushed her away from Yagura. Ducking under a punch Naruto shoved another Rasengan at his opponent, wincing as his arms felt the strain of the attack as it drilled into his opponent's ribs. As Yagura was thrown away Naruto ran towards Mei, "are… you alright?" he asked as he offered her a hand.

"I think I should be the one asking that," Mei said as she accepted the help up, "I hope you have a plan for beating him because I'm drawing a blank."

"… Maybe," Naruto breathed, "how long… can you hold him off for?"

"Ten minutes at the most," Mei said looking to where Yagura was getting back up.

"That should… be more than enough… time," Naruto said, "be careful when you fight him."

"I will," Mei said as she charged towards Yagura and began doing hand seals.

"Futton: Skilled Mist! (Boil Release Skilled Mist!)"

As Mei began to launch Yoton and Futton jutsu at Yagura, making sure to keep her distance Naruto created a clone; holding out his hand Naruto formed a Resengan. The clone began to channel wind chakra into the spinning maelstrom of destruction, I'm only going to have one shot at this, I need to make it count! The Resengan began to turn pure white as four points appeared swirling around its outer edge, making the jutsu look like a four point shuriken. A loud screeching sound began to fill the air as the jutsu became complete, he looked over at Mei who had several bruises but for the most part looked ok.

"MEI! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Mei jumped away from Yagura as Naruto channeled a concentrated dose of chakra to his feet, shooting off with such force that the landscape literally buckled and cracked when Naruto kicked off. Speeding towards Yagura Naruto thrust out his hand.

"Fuuton: Rasenshuriken! (Wind Release: Spiral Ball Shuriken!)"

Yagura had no time to react as the jutsu hit him head on, tearing through the Bijuu cloak like it was mere paper as he was lifted into the air. A large dome 80 feet in diameter appeared around him as millions upon millions of wind blades sliced into the Jinchurikki at the cellular level, had the dome not blocked out sound, Naruto and Mei were sure they would have heard screaming seeing as Yagura's mouth was open in a silent yell. Finally the dome vanished and Yagura's body fell to the ground, a second later there was a large burst of light as the chakra from the Bijuu escaped. At first Naruto was worried, he did not have the energy to fight any more and he doubted that Mei could stand up to a Bijuu. Luck seemed to be with them as the Bijuu did not have the energy to reform and dispersed, most likely heading to another location where it could regain its strength.

Naruto closed his eyes as he fell to the ground, breathing 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 had taken on his body, as well as an intense pain in his arm. He looked at his arm and grimaced, it had thousands of tiny cuts on it much like what Yagura had albeit on a smaller scale. They were already beginning to heal as Kyuubi' chakra went to work, still the jutsu hurt like a bitch to use and he had hoped that he would not need it again until he found a way to throw it. He opened his eyes when he felt his headed being lifted up and put on something soft, what he saw was Mei smiling at him as she began to stroke his hair.

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked.

"Shouldn't I be asking that?" she questioned as she looked him up and down. His clothes were completely ripped leaving him with his pants which were now shorts and his combat boots, "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 battle field was a sight of absolute destruction, the techniques used having literally reformed the landscape. She looked over at the large crater Naruto's jutsu created, she had never seen such a destructive technique; even her Yoton attacks didn't do that much damage. Looking back at Naruto she smiled, enigma indeed…

XXXXXXXXXXXX

It had been six months 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 the Mizu Daimyo, Kiri was beginning to get under way to returning to its former glory.

Of course it also helped that a certain blond shinobi had decided to stay and help Kiri get back on its feet, creating a literal army of Kage Bushin which he used to help Mei and the others in their repairs. Word had begun to reach many of the outlying cities in Mizu No Kuni about Naruto's amazing feet in defeating an entire army with a single jutsu and battling the former Mizukage right afterwards, many people 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 not doubt reach the other nations despite the isolation this one had from the rest of the elemental countries. When it did he had no doubt that he would face several issues, namely Iwa 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 good bye 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 whats 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.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"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 Ero-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," Jiraiya continued.

"Yes Ero-Sensei, I used the Hiraishin to defeat the Mizukage's forces," Naruto looked at his sensei irritably.

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

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

Jiraiya was torn between being worried and being impressed, after all his apprentice had just won a war and became a hero. "Your just like your father you know that gaki?" he asked with a smile as he decided to go with pride. "Always thinking about others before yourself, with that selfless attitude of yours."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Naruto said with a smirk.

They continued walking in comfortable silence for awhile before Jiraiya spoke again, "by the way nice job on bagging the hot Mizukage, I am impressed!"

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks for a second forcing Jiraiya to stop and turn to him, "that was supposed to be a private moment between me and Mei-chan, Ero-Sensei." Jiraiya shivered at the tone of voice having heard it before on another blond when he tried to sneak a peek on Kushina. The beating he had received from that was almost worse than the time he was nearly killed for peeking on Tsunade. He quickly began to stumble back from the angry blond as he raised his hands in front of his face defensively.

"N-Now listen Naruto, I-"

"Oodoma Resengan! (Big Ball Resengan)"

BOOM!

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile in the Mizukage's office Mei was sitting in her chair looking out at the village with a large smile on her face, thinking back to her small make out session with Naruto; she hoped when he visited they could do it again, maybe when he comes back we can go to those hot springs and have other kinds of fun… she thought with a blush. As she shifted in her seat she noticed something fall out of her dress, picking it up she recognized it as a letter. Opening it up she put the letter on her desk she began to read:

Dear Mei-chan,

During our time together I feel we have grown closer than most people do and would like to start a relationship with you. Before we can however there are several things you need to know; at the bottom of this letter is a containment seal containing information I feel will be important to our future. Inside this seal is the information I want to give you. Look it up under article D, Claus 36.

Love,

Naruto

Mei smiled at warm feelings Naruto's letter evoked and could not help but feel curious about what he wanted her to know. Unsealing the content of the containment seal she picked up a book and read the title, Konoha Clan Charter and Laws. Blinking in surprise at the title she shrugged before looking for the section Naruto wanted her to read.

BOOM!

Mei looked up startled when a loud explosion rocked the building, she saw a large ball of energy that she recognized from Naruto's fight with Yagura. Figuring that Naruto's sensei had just done something perverted she shrugged as if nothing had happened she turned back to the law book she was reading.