Chapter 38 - A Turning Point

No one really knows how it began, the bloodline purge that is. One only knows rumors and whispers that town folk spread around. Some say that Yagura himself suddenly woke up and decided to exterminate all living bloodline users because they posed a major threat to his leadership and regime. Some say that Yagura decided to purge every single bloodline shinobi after the Kaguya attack a few years ago.

One night the Kaguya Clan decided to simply attack the Mist Village, their own village to begin with. While most shinobi blamed them for being some blood crazed clan, Yagura persuaded his shinobi to the opposite.

Instead of accepting that the Kaguya Clan was, for lack of a better word, mental. Yagura spawn the theory that every skirmish and war was because of bloodlines. The bloodline would affect the shinobi turning them into nothing more than a beast looking for blood and flesh. The people in Kiri where then blinded by their pain and hatred for the Kaguya attack that they believed in their leader without question.

And thus began the bloodline purge. For years Yagura and his loyalist army composed of thousands of non-bloodline users started hunting down and killing every single bloodline user they found. That's the reason as to why Kiri was cut-off from the other great villages for so many years, they had some internal problems to deal with.

The bloodline users were forced to band together and leave the village if they wanted to survive. Terumi Mei rose through the ranks and became the indisputable leader of the rebel side of the army. Mei commands around four thousand shinobi who are fighting to regain back their home. But the worst part is that they are fighting people they once considered comrades, friends, lovers.

After years of skirmish, battles, blood and many deaths, Mei decided to turn towards the great shinobi villages to ask for aid to their cause. Mei decided to ask Konoha, the strongest of the five great villages for help. She was lucky that her prayers were answered and she was given eight hardened and strong shinobi to fight for her cause.

The dragons had just introduced themselves to the rebel leader, Terumi Mei. Everyone was geared up and ready for their travel and fight against Yagura's tyrant regime. With a small wave of hand every single shinobi blurred out of Konoha heading towards the Mist trees seemed like blurs as everyone was moving fast. Mei had already left for a few days and it wasn't good the leader to be absent for long periods of time.

Mei was leading the group. She was being flanked on the left by one of her body guards Chojuro and to her right, her right hand man, Ao. Mei was extremely pleased with the help she got and couldn't wait for the war to be over. Chojuro was a bit fearful. He could feel that they were powerful shinobi and could only hope that they didn't turn on them.

Ao was another story. He didn't trust them in any way what so ever. The little digression he had the dragon leader, silver, only seemed to increase it. Something didn't feel right with these dragons. The seven swordsman of the mist never needed any masks to cover their faces. All this secrecy was driving him mad.

Ao brought his right hand and made half the tiger seal. Ao focused chakra into his eye, the one covered by the black eye patch. His eyes suddenly glowed white and his veins bulged out slightly but everything was hidden by the patch. Ao gasped when he saw just what type of shinobi they were.

"They are monsters...every single one of them" Ao thought to himself gasping for air, trying to keep his cool and not alert them. Their chakra levels were through the roof. The member with the lowest amount of chakra was the purple dragon and even her had high-kage level reserves.

Ao nearly fainted when he noticed just the amount of chakra the leader of the dragons had. The silver dragon's chakra seemed different from the standard, his chakra was brighter than most and his reserves were on par with bijuu themselves. The silver dragon had more chakra than Hoshigaki Kisame, who was renowned as the tailless bijuu. Ao focused his byakugan in trying to see through the masks and find out the identity of these powerful shinobi.

"You know" Silver started "You already have something that belongs to Konoha...don't push your luck by trying to find our identity" Silver said in a monotone voice making Ao flinch.

"I don't know what you are referring to Silver-san" Ao replied as he regained his composure. Mei just listened to the conversation quietly.

"Don't play games with me" Silver warned "I know that you have a byakugan eye behind that eye patch" Silver explained and Ao's single eye widened. "Don't look so surprised. When we introduced ourselves I believe I explained that half of us are sensors. We realized what you had hidden beneath your eye patch the moment you turned it on" Silver explained and Ao was sweating at this point.

"Don't misunderstand us" Silver said in a calmer voice "We don't intend to remove your eye, but we wear masks for a purpose" Silver explained and Ao sighed in relief.

"I understand and appreciate it" Ao replied and Silver nodded turning to Mei.

"I believe it's best for us to be informed of your current situation" Silver said and Mei nodded gathering her thoughts.

"Currently we have around four thousand bloodline users in the rebel army. Yagura is the jinchuuriki of the Sanbi, he has full control over his bijuu and he controls the mist village along with near six thousand non-bloodline shinobi." Mei started.

"As you most likely know, water country is formed by multiple islands. The biggest island, located in the center of the country is where the mist village is. This island is surrounded by several other where there are several outposts. Our army is spread out between two islands which we managed to capture the strongholds" Mei explained.

"We can't push forward into the main island without taking over the other three remaining strongholds first and even then it will very difficult. Yagura has full control over his bijuu and can obliterate the army if we attack in numbers. However there isn't anyone strong enough to face Yagura on his own, not even me" Mei finished sadly. The rebel said had fought for years but nothing seemed to change.

"If your main problem is Yagura than with us he shouldn't be a problem" Silver started noticing the incredulous look on Mei's face. There was a reason as to why bijuu were so important to nations. They were the real army killers, the jinchuuriki when properly trained could wipe hundreds of shinobi in the blink on an eye and they were hard to kill.

"Our group has four seal masters but above else" Silver trailed off and he motioned green to do a little show off. Green chuckled and clapped his hands together in the snake seal. A tree popped from the ground giving green another step to further his jump.

"M-Mokuton (Wood Release)" Mei whispered staring the green colored dragon. She couldn't see it but she knew he was laughing like crazy behind that mask. "I though only Senju Hashirama could use the mokuton" Mei said shocked by the events.

"Well...the green dragon can do it just as well as Hashirama could back in the day" Silver replied chuckling to himself.

"To think that Konoha had another Mokuton user in hiding" Mei said chuckling "Not to mention another Senju Clan member" Mei said in afterthought.

"As you see the Senju Clan is still strong and not some dying breed" Silver explained chuckling as he was also member of the Senju Clan but Mei didn't know that.

"Hai" Mei replied and everyone rushed even faster with renewed spirits.

## Few Days Later - Mist Country Boarder ##

"Here we are" Mei said as they arrived near the border. The last few days of travels were uneventful. "I advise some caution as we are about to enter the mist country and it's still controlled by Yagura" Mei warned and everyone nodded.

"I have a question" the purple dragon said and Mei motioned her to go on "Why didn't the Water Daimyo intercede when this civil war started?" Purple asked. "I mean...he should know that a divided village would weaken the entire country. It's just by luck that the other nations were still weak from the third shinobi war or they might considered conquering the mist" Purple stated.

"It was of no use when we tried to talk to the daimyo" Mei sadly said."This all began when the Kaguya Clan attacked. Their members were always bloodthirsty and they didn't seem sane. One day the Kaguya attacked the Mist Village, their own home to begin with. Some members of this clan had a special kekkei genkai that allowed them to manipulate bones" Mei said but Silver interrupted her.

"Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse)...I killed the last of the Kaguya's three years ago" Silver said sighing and Mei knew that killing was never easy but knowing that it be the end of a clan, it would be worse.

"Only a few members of this clan were able to the Dead Bone Pulse, but these few were extremely strong and very hard to kill. After the bloodbath, Yagura announced the bloodline purge with the Daimyo's support. And the rest is history" Mei concluded and Ao sighed.

"I wonder what kind of leader slaughters their own men. While I agree he should protect his own village at any cost... no one in their right mind would do something like this" Green said in afterthought.

"No one really knows why he chose to do it" Mei started "Yagura was always a good leader. He was kind and warm to his people and, even though he was a jinchuuriki, his village still loved him and chose him as their leader" Mei explained. She as well couldn't understand how someone could change like this but she guessed that pain can change a lot of things.

"Pain changes people" Silver said in a monotone voice. Kushina looked towards Naruto with concern. Naruto had told her that in the beginning, Konoha hated him but she didn't think they were physical towards him.

"Man...it's foggy" Green said.

"The fog is a natural defense of the Mist Country. Our shinobi are born in it and, as such, they are used to living in these conditions" Mei explained and Green nodded although he already knew that.

"This damn country is still foggy...even after so many years" Green thought.

SIZZLE

"TRAP" Silver yelled and everyone jumped away and landed together nearby.

BOOOOOM

The place where they were exploded blowing away the mist and creating a crater on the ground.

"Suiton: Mizurappa (Wild Water Wave)" Multiple voices shouted. Everyone looked to their sides to see a gigantic water wave coming to crush them all.

"BROWN" Silver yelled and Brown (Gaara) nodded. Sand started flowing from inside his seals and created a protective dome around them. The water crashed against the sand and did nothing but shake it a little bit from the impact. Once Brown had let the sand down a group of shinobi jumped in front of Mei and the Dragons.

"Looks like the information was right" the apparent leader of the group stated. "You really went to recruit more monsters to fight" the leader said scowling.

"How did they find out?" Ao asked confused.

"You most likely have a spy in your army" Silver stated getting ready for combat, his eyes glowing red behind his mask. The enemy had severely underestimated them. They had sent a mere ten member ambush squad against eleven trained shinobi.

"Katon - Goka Mekkyaku (Great Fire Annihilation)" Silver said as his hands blurred towards the horse seal. He unleashed a wall of flames against the opposition who scrambled to get away from the flames.

"Fuuton - Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough)" Purple said taking a deep breath and releasing a gust of wind powering up the flames speed and intensity.

"Attack Formation E" Silver stated and every dragon nodded going to their respective positions. Mei, Ao and Chojuro just watched from the sidelines Konoha's elite fighting force at work.

The opposing Kiri shinobi knew that they could never get away from the wall of flames. The range was simply far to great and even more once powered by a wind attack. "Suiton - Suijinheki (Water Wall)" The Kiri force shouted as they unleashed water from their mouths to counteract the fire.

Naruto's fire attack was simply too strong to be stopped by standard water defensive techniques. The fire easily evaporated the water and bypassed their defenses. Two unlucky Kiri shinobi were used as meat shields while the others took the opportunity to jump away.

"Sand Binding" Brown (Gaara) whispered as he crouched, placing his hands on the ground.

"Chain Style - Chain Forest" Red (Kushina) whispered crouching on the ground as well.

"Mokuton (Wood Release) - Piercing Stakes" Green shouted and he clasped his hands together. Several trees sprouted from the ground and blurred towards the shinobi opposition. The Kiri shinobi tried to jump away but found themselves with their feet trapped. They looked to the ground to find sand and chains wrapped around their feet. The trees continued on their path and pierced most of shinobi killing them all almost instantly.

Mei, Ao and Chojuro had their jaws on the ground. These dragons had just decimated ten shinobi that weren't fresh and out of the academy. Yagura wouldn't send some lowly skilled shinobi against Mei, Ao and Chojuro. To kill these three it would require shinobi of above average skill.

"That was over way to quickly...I didn't even get to use my sword" Red (Kushina) pouted while Silver noticed one shinobi who managed to survive and jump away trying to get away.

"Deva Path - Bansho Ten'in" Silver said pointing his right hand palm towards the fleeing shinobi. Silver's eyes were glowing silver behind his mask. The shinobi froze mid air and started flying towards Silver who caught him by the throat and slammed him against the ground.

"Green, if you please" Silver said and Green nodded using a few trees to pin the Kiri shinobi to the ground. The Kiri shinobi was kneeling on the ground with trees attached to the legs and both arms.

"Y-you (pant) might as well (pant) kill me...I'll never talk" the Kiri shinobi panted trying to ready himself for possible torture. He himself was already bleeding from two punctures wounds because of the wood and had several burn marks. He wouldn't last much longer.

"You don't have too" Silver said walking towards the Kiri shinobi and placing his hand on top of his head. "Human Path" Silver said and everything the Kiri shinobi ever knew, learned and experienced flowed into Silver's mind.

"Is he a Yamanaka?" Mei wondered in thought as she watched Silver concentrate and enter the enemy's mind. They never knew of any Yamanaka that was this powerful much less with such chakra capacity.

"You do have a spy in your army. Yagura himself said so when he briefed this team to the ambush mission. Although he's way too low in the food chain to know any relevant information" Silver said before another thought came into his mind. "Let's even the plane field" Silver said taking a few steps back.

"Naraka Path" Silver said pointing his arm to an empty spot on the ground. Suddenly a massive head sprouted from the ground surrounded by purple flames. It was the King of Hell and Silver had summoned him.

"What the hell is that?" Ao yelled taking a step back making Chojuro grasp his sword.

"Silver...what are you doing?" Yellow (Minato) asked curious as to what his son was doing. "Is he going to heal the enemy shinobi?" Yellow thought. Suddenly a bright green light started glowing in the King of Hell's mouth and flew into the Kiri shinobi.

The Kiri shinobi's body started glowing and all of his wounds started healing. The flesh started mending itself together. His bones snapped to their proper location. Once the blood had been swiped away from his skin, the Kiri shinobi stood there perfectly healed.

"W-what?...How?...Why did you do this?" The Kiri shinobi asked completely confused as to what happened.

"Nothing you will remember" Silver said walking towards the Kiri shinobi and crouching in front of him. "Look into my eyes" Silver said with his mangekyou glowing behind his mask. The Kiri shinobi's eyes widened and he let out a gasp and he was drawn and frozen, staring into Silver's eyes.

"The Sharingan...that's how he placed Chojuro in a genjutsu with just a glance" Ao thought shocked by the revelation.

"Of course...long blonde hair, the eye contact, entering the another's mindscape, the fan on his back..." Mei thought to herself chuckling.

"You are a loyal shinobi to Terumi Mei. You don't hate the bloodline users. You infiltrated Yagura's army as a spy under Mei's orders. Understood?" Silver asked and the Kiri shinobi's simply nodded. His eyes were blank and dead. "Kotoamatsukami" Silver said completing his technique and making the Kiri shinobi blink slowly as his eyes regained their usual brown color.

Green released the wooden tentacles and the Kiri shinobi quickly rose. He walked calmly and kneeled before Mei. "What are your orders Mei-sama?" the Kiri shinobi said kneeling in front of her with his head lowered.

"What did you do?" Mei asked completely bewildered.

"This was my most powerful illusion. This illusion is so powerful that the victim doesn't even know he's being affected. It allows me to enter my opponent's mind and manipulate them by giving them false experiences, making it seem as if they were doing things of their own free will. It is regarded as a genjutsu of the highest class due to the victim being entirely unaware that they are being manipulated" Silver explained rising and Mei gulped.

"Though I can only apply it to weak minded people. Shinobi with strong minds can try and fight it. To them it would end as a clash of my mind against theirs" Silver explained and everyone let out a sigh of relief, minus Chojuro of course who was still shaking.

"You live to the expectation...Senju Naruto" Mei said with a amused tone making everyone freeze except Naruto who chuckled.

"How did you find out?" Naruto asked as he removed his silver mask. Blood red sharingan eyes looking towards Mei.

"That Yamanaka styled jutsu did throw me off but when I heard you saying 'look into my eyes' and that fan on your back, coupled with your blonde hair made it hard to be mistaken" Mei explained.

"It lasted longer than I thought it would" Naruto said chuckling while the rest of the dragons shook their heads.

"Tsunade-sensei is going to be pissed" Purple (Hinata) thought.

"So you Uchiha Madara's grandson" Ao said stepping forward and looking straight into Naruto's sharingan eyes.

"Why does everyone instantly says my gramps name?" Naruto rhetorically asked "I mean...Senju Hashirama and my father Namikaze Minato were legends on their own right" Naruto stated.

"Yes...but Madara outshone them" Ao simply replied.

"I tamed the nine bijuu and formed the village system/I killed a battalion of shinobi with a single jutsu" Hashirama and Minato both thought drawing circles on the ground while both red heads tried to comfort their husbands.

"What's your name?" Mei asked towards the kneeling shinobi.

"Han" Han replied.

"The ambush has failed since we had help from Konoha. You are to continued your spy work. Report every week or when you find pertinent news" Mei ordered.

"As you wish Mei-sama" Han answered and quickly turned to leave and report to his 'leader', Yagura.

"They were smart enough to ambush us in the border" Blue stated.

"Yagura is no fool. Even he knows that he can't face Konoha as of right now and ambushing us in the fire country territory could be a deadly mistake" Mei replied.

"Let's continue. We are close to our main base" Mei said and everyone nodded.

## Few Days Later ##

During the last few days everything changed in the mist country. Everyone in the rebel side was extremely pleased to see the help that Konoha had sent them. Senju Tsunade had even sent her own grandson, Senju Naruto to help. Not that the others dragons did nothing, but they needed a public face strong enough to boost the morale. And who anyone better than a member of both the Senju and Uchiha's Clan.

The rebels had come out on top of every single skirmish during the last few days. Due to Naruto, Yellow and Blue's space time techniques they were able to be present everywhere. Every battalion was gifted with kunais, each one keyed to either Naruto, Yellow or Blue.

So when the battalion was in trouble with their battle front they would throw the kunai into the middle of the enemy. Several flashes later and the skirmish was won. Coupling everything with Hinata's remarkable medical capabilities the war had shifted with the rebel getting the upper hand.

Slowly but surely, the rebel side began pushing the loyalists back on all fronts. It was time to start conquering the three remaining strongholds so that they could start pushing towards the mist village itself. Mei and Ao were standing in the middle of a room with several cartographic maps planning the resistance's next move.

"How is the approach looking?" Naruto asked as he came into the room.

"Not good at all. These forts were build to last and withstand heavy siege" Mei said sighing.

"I could blow it up from a distance" Naruto said and Ao looked at him like he grew a second head "What?" Naruto asked rhetorically "I'm the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko. I can send a tailed beast ball and blow the stronghold sky high" Naruto explained and Ao sweat dropped.

"I would like to have my village in one piece when we are done with this war thank you very much" Mei stated and Naruto chuckled.

"Each stronghold is built to be both a prison and a impenetrable castle. The walls are of hard stone and the gates are made of chakra reinforced wood" Mei explained.

"Can't we just climb the walls?" Naruto asked but Mei shook her head.

"Due to this country's climate, those walls have small layers of water making it very difficult to climb to ordinary shinobi, the chakra control required is very high. Besides they have sentries on every tower 24 hours a day. They would spot us a mile away" Mei answered nursing her head. Storming these strongholds was always a pain in the butt. They managed to get the last two by overwhelming them with numbers.

"How about we go from underneath with a few doton users?" Naruto asked but Mei shook her head once again.

"Then I'll go in alone and open the gates from the inside" Naruto said as he memorized the terrain from the map using his sharingan. "I don't need to climb walls to enter the fort" Naruto said and Mei raised an eyebrow.

"My space time techniques are on a whole new level. I can easily walk through walls and other barriers" Naruto explained and to demonstrate he started sinking into the ground and reappeared behind Mei.

"Send Yellow and Purple to the other strongholds while I take the main one. They are the best at stealth and should be able to sneak in easily" Naruto explained and Mei nodded.

"According to Han, Yagura is gathering the main army in the village. He seems to already be expecting for us to be able to conquer these strongholds before advancing" Mei said and Naruto nodded.

"Let's gear up for the siege" Naruto said and everyone left the room.

## Next Day ##

"Is everything ready?" Naruto asked Mei. Since she was the commander of the troops, it was her job to coordinate everything.

"The troops are ready to storm the stronghold once the gate is open. They are about five hundred meters away from it, shrouded by the mist" Mei explained and Naruto nodded.

"Yellow, Purple" Naruto called out "Get ready. Coordinate your siege with Ao and Chojuro" Naruto said and they both nodded. Naruto then turned to the rest of the dragons.

"Red, Green and Blue you are with the Ao's troops into storming Yellow's stronghold. Black and Brown, you are with Chojuro's troops" Naruto ordered and everyone nodded, walking away into their respective positions.

"Purple" Naruto called out and she walked towards him "I'm delivering you the closest I can to the castle" Naruto said and she nodded. Naruto discretely handed her a three pronged kunai. "You be careful alright and call me if you need" Naruto whispered in a gentle voice.

"Don't worry so much Naruto-kun" Purple replied taking the kunai and putting it in her pockets.

"Of course I worry" Naruto said and grabbed Purple by the waist flashing away.

"So she's Hyuuga Hinata...interesting" Mei concluded to herself once she caught a glimpse of the intimate moment between the Purple Dragon and Naruto. Just from that small glance she could see that they were very close and that Naruto held her safety above everything.

## Northern Stronghold ##

It was a very dark night. The many clouds that there were, covered the whole sky, blocking the stars and the small light coming from the moon. Night was the ally of the shinobi. The shinobi were trained assassins, sound was their enemy, the darkness their friend. The only thing visible were the torches on the stronghold and a pair of blood red eyes glowing in the dark as they scanned the surroundings.

Mei shivered as she looked towards Naruto. It was so dark that is was difficult to see in much detail anything coming from Naruto but she could clearly see his eyes. Those blood red eyes with three tomoes shining and swirling in the night. Those eyes that seemed to belong to demons. Those eyes were scanning everything as if looking for pray, those eyes...belonged to hunters.

Naruto, Mei were standing just outside of the stronghold with one thousand shinobi behind them. They were about to siege the biggest and strongest of the five strongholds. This one was different from the other from the fact that it was not only bigger but house more shinobi inside. Unlike the others were the shinobi just took shifts, this stronghold actually house living quarters and had full time shinobi working and guarding it.

"The other must have already began their attack. I'm moving into position" Naruto said and Mei nodded. Naruto swirled away and Mei turned to her troops and let them know to get ready.

Naruto reappeared outside of the stronghold's walls. He leaned against the wall being shrouded by the darkness and enveloped by the shadows of the night. One of benefits of the sharingan was night vision. Naruto could see at night just as he could see during the day. The fact that his vision was black and white with only chakra having color didn't seem to bother him much.

Naruto did a quick head count and counted ten sentries. Fours were standing inside for tall towers overlooking the plains in front of them, while the remaining six guards were patrolling the walls. Naruto pondered what to do, should he kill the sentries and then go for the gate, or simply bypass them all and open the gates without them even knowing.

Naruto opted for the first. If he took the sentries and then opened the gates, the army would be able to approach the stronghold and enter it without being detected. Yagura's men wouldn't know what happened until the rebels were already inside the castle and then it would be too late.

Naruto quickly formed a mental plan. He swirled away and appeared in each tower just behind the enemies. Naruto covered the enemy's mouth with his hand. The enemy shinobi's eyes widened when he saw a black spear appear from Naruto's other hand going for his neck. He quickly killed them, stabbing them in the throat so that they couldn't scream and alert anyone. With the main sentries gone, he made his way to kill the wall guards.

Using the sentry tower as a vantage point, Naruto quickly scanned the inside of the stronghold. He was lucky. The only guards seemed to be at the towers and outer walls. Inside everything was quiet as most shinobi were most likely still sleeping and some few getting ready for a shift change.

Naruto threw a single three pronged kunai into the air and watched it sail through the air. As the kunai sailed, Naruto flashed towards the kunai and appeared in a yellow flash mid air. The guards only saw a small glint as several shurikens came flying towards them killing them swiftly. Naruto quickly disposed of the bodies by burying them using a small earth jutsu because otherwise using a fire jutsu could alert the enemy.

Once the enemies had been dealt, Naruto stealthily entered the inside houses of the stronghold. Naruto thanked the heavens by being a sensor thus allowing him to find enemies more easily. After all, while the sharingan was an excellent weapon it didn't allow him to see through walls like the byakugan could.

Naruto walked through the corridors but used the ceiling. One of the things that Jiraiya had taught him is that people very rarely look up. Naruto quietly chuckled when he saw a patrol of two shinobi just walk by without even detecting him. Naruto saw some lights coming from one of the rooms of the hall.

Naruto used his kamui and phased through the walls. He ended up in the medical ward of the room. Keeping inside of the wall he noticed that were a few guards in the room which didn't make sense to him unless the medics were prisoners and working against their will. Couple that with a heavy atmosphere and the smell of fear and Naruto was certain of that. Naruto made a single shadow clone and positioned him behind the other guard as Naruto wouldn't be able to take one out without the other noticing it.

THUMP

Every medic inside the ward turned around to see both guards plummet to the ground. They were shocked to see a blonde man with sharingan eyes standing in the middle of the room. Every medic took a step back thinking they were about to suffer the same fate as the guards.

"I can get you all out of here" Naruto said looking at them. There about ten medics all dressed in the standard white garb. "We are about to storm this stronghold and in the mist of the fight you might get killed" Naruto explained and one medic took a step forward.

"Thank you for saving us" The woman said. She had an apparent normal face with dark hair and pitch black eyes. "My name is Nao" Nao said and Naruto nodded. Naruto created a shadow clone and gathered all of the medics in one small group. In a single flash of yellow everyone had left. Naruto made a few shadow clones and had the henged into the medics and the two guards to make sure that if someone appeared they wouldn't suspect anything.

## Outside with Mei ##

Mei was startled by the sudden yellow flash that appeared right next to her. Mei turned to see the new coming and noticed it was Naruto and what appeared to be ten medics.

"They were prisoners being forced as medics. I'm just a clone that was sent to deliver them. Boss is almost at the gate" Naruto said and Mei nodded as Naruto dispelled in smoke.

"Show them to the medical stations" Mei ordered and the medics were lead towards the medical tents. No one ever noticed the small smirk on Nao's face and the glow of red with black markings appearing in her eyes.

## Back in the Stronghold ##

Once Naruto had left the medical ward he continued through the long corridor until he found the exit that lead to the outer ring of the stronghold. Naruto looked forward and spotted the gate a bit far away. He contemplated what method he would use to open gate was it didn't seem particularly easy.

The gate had heavy weights and it would require at least three people to open it. Mei was right when she said that the gate was reinforced with chakra as Naruto could see small traces of it running through the wood. Naruto wanted to open the gate without making noise because it would make the rebels approach easier.

"No other way" Naruto said as he swirled away and arrived near the gate. Naruto placed his hand on the wood and a large array started crawling from his hands and spreading through the wood. By the design it was a standard explosive tag but magnified a few times. Naruto finished the seal and pumped chakra to charge it up.

Naruto swirled away to safety and braced himself. Naruto made a singled hand seal and the gate started to glow.

BOOOOMMMM

The gate explode with the wooden doors being blasted away from the stronghold. Every single shinobi inside the stronghold was woken for the sound of the explosion and surely, moments later a loud siren started echoing through the night. That was enough sign for Mei to order her troops to move forward.

"Charge" Mei yelled as she and all of her troops suddenly jumped out of the mist and started running full speed towards the castle. Not even five seconds later and the stronghold was being swarmed by one thousand fully armed shinobi. Loud explosion and the sound of metal clashing was heard through all of the stronghold.

"Mei" Naruto said as he jumped from the walls and rendezvoused with Mei. "Take a few hundred shinobi. Circle the castle and infiltrate from the back gate" Naruto said and Mei got confused.

"There is no back gate" Mei stated.

"I made one" Naruto seriously said and Mei's eye twitched. "It's a small hole. You can fix it later" Naruto explained and Mei sighed.

"Platoon A to D come with me" Mei ordered and circled the castle and stormed it from behind, sandwiching the enemy behind two fronts.

"Well, well, well" Naruto heard and turned to meet on Kiri shinobi who seemed to be unaffected by the pandemonium running through the base. "We meet at last...Senju Naruto" the shinobi said.

"And you are?" Naruto asked looking intently at the man. He wore the standard Kiri with the flak jacket, and pin-striped leg and arm-guards.

"Were are my manners. My name is Toshio and one of newer members of the seven swordsman of the mist" Toshio said as he took out a sword from behind his back. It was one big cleaver to make it simple.

"I see" Naruto said channeling chakra to his wrist seals and his old chokuto popped into existence.

"I always thought that the Senju Clan was overrated. After all the "strongest" clan was decimated during the first and second shinobi war while the "weakest" ones lasted" Toshio taunted but the taunt was met with a emotionless and serious face. "Show me what you are worth Senju Naruto, Konoha no Raijin, son of the Kiroi Senko and grandson of Uchiha Madara" Toshio yelled running towards Naruto with his cleaver held up high.

Naruto quickly analyzed the enemy with his sharingan and could see that he was nothing than a mere jounin with standard chakra reserves. "I guess the swordsman title went over his head" Naruto thought to himself and thanked the heavens for him having Hinata. Otherwise he would go all god on other people.

Toshio brought down is giant cleaver trying to split Naruto on half but only caught Naruto's afterimage. Toshio only knew he missed when his sword hit the ground. Toshio turned around and use the flat side of his sword to block a horizontal slash from Naruto.

"Chidori Nagashi" Naruto said and his sword and hands sparkled with electricity. By both swords being made with metal, Naruto's electric attack got transferred toward Toshio and made him spasm. He jumped up and back with his hands smoking.

Toshio placed the sword on his back and started going through hand seals. One particular jutsu that Naruto knew all too well. "Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist Jutsu)" Toshio said and the grounds where they were fighting became all covered in mist.

"This is the end brat" Toshio said as he disappeared inside the mist. Naruto just shook his head and stayed relaxed in the same place. Why bother moving at all when you can't see half a inch ahead of him. Naruto quickly knew that Toshio was an amateur at the art of silent killing. Naruto could hear him breathing for the love of god.

Naruto was getting bored by the fight and decided to end it when Toshio made his move. "DIE" Toshio yelled as he appeared behind Naruto with his cleaver getting ready to cut Naruto in half. And cut he did, or so he thought as he watched the blade pass through Naruto and exit at the other end.

"WHAT ARE YOU?" Toshio yelled. Naruto turned around and locked eyes with him. Toshio stared at his mangekyou blazing and he never knew that it was the last thing he would ever see.

"Your end...though I won't kill you. You seem pretty high up in the food chain so you might know some valuable information" Naruto said as his mangekyou glowed. Toshio was completely absorbed into Naruto's eyes in matter of seconds. "Let's get this over with" Naruto said and blurred towards the corridors and halls killing everyone that got in his way.

"Katon - Goka Mekkyaku (Great Fire Annihilation)"

"Raiton - Rairyuudan (Lightning Dragon)"

"Suiton - Suiryudan no Jutsu (Water Dragon)" Naruto unleashed jutsu after jutsu decimating everything in front of him. No one could stop his onslaught of jutsu. From gigantic walls of flames to water and lightning dragons. The siege on the stronghold was brief and swift. In a mere hour the stronghold had been conquered.

## With Ao, Red, Green, Blue and Yellow ##

The attack on the other stronghold had also been swift and efficient. Yellow (Minato) had successfully infiltrated the stronghold and proceeded to slam a big rasengan against the wooden gates. Once the gates were down Yellow's forces swarmed the castle and quickly captured it with the use of the hirashin and some high level water jutsus.

## With Chojuro, Black, Brown and Purple ##

While Purple (Hinata) didn't any fancy space time techniques she didn't require them to be an extremely effective shinobi. Just with her byakugan and her extremely accurate aim, coupling that with deadly poisons she was a force to be reckoned with. Though Purple was supposed to infiltrate the castle she took a...different approach.

Purple simply approached the gates from the outside, without no one even noticing her, and simply punched the gates. The wooden gates that were supposed to withstand heavy siege were simply blown from their hinges and crashed into the back of the stronghold.

"That's one scary woman" Chojuro shakily said while black (Mito) laughed. Mito did taught Tsunade the basics of super strength though Tsunade managed to refined it to a whole new level. With Brown's sand and Black's shields the life losses were slim to none. Purple lead the attack and they decimated the enemy in a matter of hours.

## Next Day ##

Mei, Ao, Chojuro and most of the dragons were gathered at the main stronghold, the one Naruto and Mei conquered. The castle had a cheerful ambient. This was the most they ever achieved in almost two years of fighting.

"We did one hell of a progress today" Mei said and her troops cheered. Just a few more days and everything would be over. "We have Naruto and his dragons to thank for" Mei said.

"You don't ha-

BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

A massive explosion echoed through the grounds making everything shake from the power. Naruto and the dragons quickly made their way towards the surveillance towers and they managed to see the location of the explosion, not to far way.

"That's the medical stations" Mei stated while Naruto realized that Hinata was there doing what she could to heal the injured.

"HINATA" Naruto yelled and started running since he couldn't sense her marker anymore. The rest of the dragons and Mei run towards the location of the explosion as well.

## Medical Camps - Few Minutes Earlier ##

Purple was working at the main tent healing the injured. The loss of life during the siege was minimal but there was always injured shinobi. Hinata was a very good healer and extremely skilled in the mystical palm. Apparently the better your chakra control was, the more efficient was the technique.

"The bones are in their proper place...give it a few days and you will back to new" Purple said and the shinobi thanked her. Hinata quickly finished the remaining patients and went for check up routine on all of them before she decided to leave.

"Takumi-san" Purple said as she entered the room of the head doctor "I'm leav-" Purple was saying but stopped when she saw Takumi's body on the ground in a pool on his own blood. Purple quickly rushed him only to find out he was assassinated if his slit throat was anything to go by.

Hinata activated her byakugan just in time to see a hail of kunais and shurikens being thrown at her. "Kaiten" Purple said and started spinning in a blue dome of chakra and blocking every single projectile that was thrown at her.

"Would you look at that?" Nao rhetorically asked as she jumped down from her hiding spot, landing in front of purple smirking "A get to kill a Hyuuga" Nao said grinning.

"Nao...why are doi-" Hinata was about to ask what was going on when she looked to Nao's eyes. They were blood red with three black tomoes. "Sharingan...how is that possible?" Purple whispered with her mind running a mile per second.

"You can't be an Uchiha...it is not possible. The only remaining Uchihas are Naruto, Sasuke and that Tobi fellow" Purple explained not mentioning Minato's name.

"I don't know anything about that" Nao said chuckling as her sharingan started spinning gaining a completely new appearance. What was once the standard sharingan now looked like a vortex and giving the fact that the sharingan was spinning, it gave the effect of drawing Purple to her eyes.

"A mangekyou" Purple said as she broke the trance from looking at her eyes.

"Yes dear. A eternal mangekyou sharingan...you stand no chance" Nao said as she smirked. Nao blurred through hand seals and took a deep breath. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Great Fireball technique)" Nao said and released a fireball towards Purple.

Purple jumped away to avoid and the whole medical tent went up in flames, making it nothing more than a battlefield. "Suiton - Suijinheki (Water Wall)" Purple said mid air and released and small water wall to block the flames that decimated the tent.

"Suiton - Suiryudan no Jutsu (Water Dragon)" Purple said as she used the water she expelled from her mouth and formed a water dragon. The dragon rocketed towards Nao but it was countered by a fire dragon that nullified her attack.

"You not bad for a medic" Nao taunted as the steam began to spread, lessening its thickness. Purple dashed towards Nao who smirked and got ready to face the Hyuuga in battle. While Nao knew that you should never face a Hyuuga in taijutsu she was an Uchiha. Purple and Nao met half way and began exchanging multiple punches and kicks. They were just trying to get a feel for their opponent.

"Let's up this shall we" Nao said as her eyes began to glow. Hinata had no choice but to disable her byakugan. If Hinata had her byakugan active, there was no way she could avert from looking at the sharingan.

"Amaterasu" Nao said and Hinata erupted in black flames. Nao smirked but quickly dropped it when Hinata burst it water.

"Tsutenkyaku (Heavenly Foot of Pain)" Purple said as came down from the sky with her leg raised, ready to strike. Nao's eyes widened when she the chakra build up in her leg and had no choice. Nao's eyes glowed once again, she jumped up and back, coiling herself as a purple ethereal ribcage appeared around her.

Hinata's heel connected and the ground erupted from the attack. Nao was blasted backwards and crashed into the ground making her Susanoo crack. "You really are something else...if I didn't have this you would have won" Nao said as her Susanoo started reforming and completely erased the cracks.

"Susanoo" Purple stated as the dust cleared.

"How do you know this power?" Nao curiously asked.

"I know all about the Susanoo and his weakness" Purple stated while Nao took it as an offense to her eyes.

"The Susanoo has no weakness, it's our ultimate defense" Nao said as her chakra flared.

"I beg to differ" Purple said crouching on the ground and going through hand seals. "Hijutsu - Mugen no Ame (Secret Technique: Endless Rain )" Purple said crouching on the ground. Soon enough clouds started gathering and rain started to fall.

"The Susanoo's weakness is himself. The Susanoo is created of pure chakra and as such can be absorbed" Purple explained and Nao's eyes widened when her Susanoo began to show signs of starting to melt. However Nao would have nothing of that and funneled more chakra into her eyes, making the Susanoo regain his balance.

"You rain is useless" Nao said laughing while Hinata shook her head inwardly.

"The Susanoo already eats lot of chakra, by using my rain I'm making you double the amount required to stabilize it. The bigger the Susanoo the more chakra it eats. And your chakra reserves are the standard kage level...you won't last much longer" Purple thought to herself analyzing the battlefield.

Purple suddenly dashed towards Nao who smirked and braced herself. Nao's Susanoo swung her purple ethereal sabre. Purple simply crouched on the ground, making the blade fly by harmlessly above her head. Purple quickly rose from the ground and in a burst of speed she arrived near Nao. Purple cocked her fist back and smashed it against the shield, cracking it.

Nao was pissed as she was pushed back by a medic of all people. Nao pushed more chakra into the Susanoo and it began expanding covering the ribs and starting to form some humanoid form. Nao rose from the ground and her Susanoo started swinging the sabre wildly trying to hit the elusive Purple Dragon.

"Suiton - " Purple started going through hand seals but was stopped by a burst of black flames right on top of her mask. Purple quickly stopped channeling chakra into her mask and it fell to the ground reveling the face of one Hyuuga Hinata.

"So I was fighting Hyuuga Hinata. Now it all makes sense" Nao stated shaking her head "No other Hyuuga could give me the headache you are giving" Nao said getting ready to strike once again.

"While she's using the Susanoo she's restrained to only using that sabre" Hinata thought crouching and absorbing the chakra she stole from Nao's Susanoo. "Dokugiri (Poison Mist)" Hinata said and took a deep breath and released a cloud of purple looking smoke into the area.

"Shit" Nao said cursing her luck and taking a deep breath. Nao began swinging the sword wildly trying to the rid of the damn poison mist.

"Suiton - Teppoudama (Water Bullet)"

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone)" Hinata shouted from multiple directions. Hundreds of water bullets and shurikens rained down of Nao's Susanoo who buckled from the pressure. Nao was pushing more and more chakra into her shield trying to sustain it to block all the incoming projectiles.

Hinata appeared right in front of Nao and smashed her fist into her Susanoo making visible cracks appear on the shell. Nao was thrown backwards and crashed into the ground. Nao coughed and held her head in pain just as she saw Hinata coming down from the sky once again.

"Tsutenkyaku (Heavenly Foot of Pain)" Hinata said and smashed her heel into Nao's Susanoo cracking everything and making a huge crater appear. Hinata jumped back and crouched on the ground taking a deep breaths.

"You bitch" Nao said appearing from the dust cloud nursing her bleeding arm, also taking deep breaths. Nao locked eyes with Hinata and said "Petrifying Gaze"(1). Hinata was drawn into Nao's eyes as they began to spin forming a vortex and petrifying Hinata in place.

Hinata was frozen in place but it wasn't a genjutsu. She didn't know what it was but once she looked into her mangekyou, Hinata was suddenly frozen in place. "Now die" Nao sweetly said dashing towards Hinata with a kunai raised. Nao smiled as she buried the kunai in her chest killing her.

Hinata exploded in smoke and another Hinata rose from the water. Nao turned just in time to see a chakra pumped fist smashing into her face. Nao was thrown into the ground and Hinata knew she was going to stay down for good this time.

"Beaten by (pant) some medic...pathetic" Nao said spitting out blood "If I'm going down I'm taking you with me" Nao said and started laughing as she was making half a tiger sign. Hinata's eyes widened when she saw explosive tags spread around all the camp. Apparently Nao's primary objective was the destruction of the medical camp.

"DIE" Nao yelled and Hinata crouched on the ground and started spinning.

"Suiton - Kaiten" Hinata said. Hinata was enveloped in a blue dome of charka with water spinning around her as well. Hinata tried to make her Kaiten as flatter as possible so that she could better dissipate the energy of the explosion.

BOOOOMMMMMM

The whole area exploded and became covered in flames. Hinata held on during the explosion, keeping her rotation up as far as she could. Hinata was forced to drop the rotation mid spin and was blasted away, although not taking the full damage from the explosion.

The flames lit up the sky due to the magnitude of the explosion. Once the flames had died down and the dust started to clear everything was gone. The medical tents, the patients and doctors inside. Everything was vaporized. Hinata rose from the ground, she was a complete mess. She had light burns around her arms and hands, her clothes were singed and half of chest plate armor was destroyed.

Hinata sat on the ground taking deep breaths and trying to fight off unconsciousness when she a blonde blur. She smiled knowing very well who that blur was. It was her knight in shining armor. Well...not shining per say but it was close enough.

"Naruto-kun" Hinata said closing her eyes and embracing unconsciousness.