Naruto Shippuden - part 27

Madara was frustrated.

It had been two weeks since his revival and things were not going the way that he had thought they would.

The spare Mangenkyo Sharingan that Zetsu had procured had been fully assimilated and was now evolved into a new Rinnegan. Madara was glad that his resurrection had no adverse effects on his body. It had taken decades for Hashirama's cells and chakra to fully merge with his own when he had integrated them and he had no wish to repeat that wait.

He had always thought it rather strange(though convenient) that the Mangenkyo's curse of blindness only affected their original wielder, but had eventually shrugged it off as being chakra related and not truly physical. Well, that was the case for Uchiha at least, he wasn't sure if the same applied to a non-Uchiha.

The eyes had not been a perfect match, which was understandable as they hadn't belonged to a member of his immediate family, but they had settled just fine in the end. No doubt it was the fact that he had already evolved an Eternal Mangenkyo once before, as well as the revitalising effect of Hashirama's cells that allowed it to happen without complication.

The real issue that was frustrating Madara was the fact that he couldn't make proper use of the eyes. The Gedō Mazō was not responding to his summons, nor could he find the slightest clue about the whereabouts of Uzumaki Naruto, who was the most likely person to have possession of it.

With only the Hachibi remaining outside the Gedō Mazō, things should have been simple. Attack Kumogakure and take it...very simple and straightforward. Unfortunately, that wouldn't do him any good without something to seal it into.

He certainly understood what Zetsu meant when he had said that Uzumaki had a penchant for wrecking plans. The original plan was so mangled as to be unrecognisable.

It rankled him severely that his greatest asset and most crucial piece of the Moon's Eye Plan was in the hands of the enemy. If Zetsu was to be believed then Uzumaki had been in a relationship with the Kyuubi before the demon had been sealed. Though Madara found the thought ludicrous, considering that the Bijuu were merely masses of chakra, he could not deny that it was sentient after his disastrous attempt at controlling it.

No doubt Uzumaki was planning to free the demon from the Gedō Mazō, which was something that Madara knew was a lost cause. Only the Rinnegan could do something like that and that wasn't even mentioning the fact that there was no way for a Bijuu to come out of the statue the same way that it had gone in.

If you poured a glass of water into a bucket of water, there was no way that you were ever going to get that exact same glass of water back.

Still, a clever enough man could make many uses of the Gedō Mazō and the longer that Uzumaki had it, the higher the chances that he would get some dangerous ideas. That was how Zetsu had come about after all. Which was another reason why it rankled him so much that he didn't have the Gedō Mazō anymore...he couldn't create any Zetsu clones. Though even Madara himself didn't know if anything could be done with the Gedō Mazō without the Rinnegan, he wasn't willing to chance it.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a damn thing that he could do about it right now. Madara had no skill with space-time manipulation and Naruto did. Clearly the blond nuisance had somehow blocked off any attempts at summoning the Gedō Mazō.

He was tempted to assault Konoha and possibly take some people hostage in order to force Uzumaki into revealing himself, but wasn't going to do it quite yet. For one thing, he found that kind of crude tactic distasteful and for another there was no guarantee that it would work. Uzumaki had proven himself devious and unpredictable so far...there was no telling what he would do in that case. He didn't seem like the type to allow himself to be blackmailed.

Left with no choice, Madara had adopted a stealthy, information gathering approach in his attempts to find his quarry. Causing chaos would only give his target more opportunity to move unseen, not to mention that he didn't want anyone trying to meddle in his plan now that it was so close to completion. It would be ideal if everyone could remain entirely ignorant of what was going on until it was too late. Regardless, Madara was certain that he would find Uzumaki soon enough. His sensing ability was second to none, both in range and precision and it was only a matter of time before Uzumaki blundered within range of his senses. In the meanwhile, he would simply search using more pedestrian methods, if you could call using the Animal Path bird summons to search from the skies 'pedestrian'.

He hated it. After decades of skulking in the dark, he was more than ready for a good old fashioned fight to the death.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was frustrated.

Failure after failure was all that he had been experiencing for the past two weeks.

The Gedō Mazō was a monstrosity that felt nothing but endless hunger. Hunger for the chakra that had once belonged to it. Naturally it wasn't keen on having it taken away.

Additionally, Xanna's chakra was gone, vanished into the mess of chakra belonging to the various other Bijuu. Oh, it was certainly there, comprising well over half of that chakra mass, but it was no longer distinct from the others. This meant that Xanna wouldn't be the same ever again.

That wasn't a problem for Naruto, he would just rip it all away and make Xanna more powerful than ever.

If he actually figured out how to do it that was. He couldn't pull it away with force and not even Fuinjutsu was working, leaving him utterly stumped. He could damage the Gedō Mazō if he was using Senjutsu, but the damn thing didn't react in the slightest and healed soon after.

Maybe I shouldn't have destroyed the Rinnegan, it seems to be the only thing that this statue responds to. Naruto mused to himself. At the very least, he hadn't discovered anything that it would respond to so far.

It wouldn't have done you any good. If those eyes retained Madara's chakra for so long, then they would not have revealed their secrets to you. Even if you had transplanted them to yourself, they would have fought against you and resisted your attempts to use them, especially with their rightful owner alive once again. That was no doubt the reason why the cripple was so weak, regenerating his legs should not have been an issue for a true Rinnegan user. His wife shot down.

You mean to tell me that a Rinnegan user is capable of regenerating themselves? Naruto asked in surprise.

Yes, I believe so. I remember the old sage being able to heal extremely fast and I've heard tales that claimed he had been able to regrow a whole arm during his battle with the Juubi. I've theorised that it was an advanced use of Yin-Yang Release to direct the chakra in such a manner. Xanna confirmed.

Naruto nodded to himself, as Xanna had inadvertantly answered another of his questions. If it had been true regeneration, then that would have meant that the sage would have been effectively immortal, but if it was a chakra technique of some sort, then it made sense.

Either way, he wasn't getting anywhere with the Gedō Mazō.

He had attempted several other things, but that too had been a failure.

Attempts to adapt his own chakra so that Xanna could make use of it did nothing. A demon simply could not survive on human chakra. A human most certainly could survive having demonic chakra going through their coils for a short while or much longer in the case of Jinchuuriki, but being demons, the Bijuu could make no use of human chakra. The main problem with human chakra was that it only replenished itself inside a human body. Even if he managed to adapt it for her, it would just get used up in a few minutes, unlike Bijuu chakra, which was effectively inexhaustible. Even the lesser Bijuu never truly ran out of chakra, they were merely far more limited in their maximum power output.

Trying to sustain her with raw natural energy also didn't work. Natural energy was little more than run off life force that was left behind by all living things. It was powerful but passive and it had nothing to do with chakra. Chakra users could absorb natural energy and balance it out with chakra to become sages, but natural energy only reacted to things with life in them. Xanna, being without a true body to call her own, was not alive in the physical sense and so wasn't able to make use of natural energy in its raw form.

Her spirit was latched onto him like a parasite and sustaining itself by sucking the life out of him exactly because of this lack of body. Without the titanic and inexhaustible chakra to sustain her, it had sought out an alternative.

At the very least, Naruto had narrowed down his choices. He either needed to restore her chakra, or he needed to find her a body. Neither one was easily done...though he had considered giving up his own body so that Xanna could use it, but she wouldn't hear of it. For one thing, it would still run out of life force just as fast and end up with her dying and for another, she didn't want him dying either.

If he wanted her to live any longer than a few days, then he needed to find her a body forged of immortal essences, as that was the only kind of body capable of sustaining her demonic spirit. Those were unfortunately in very short supply.

He had dabbled with the idea of somehow replacing her as the mind within the Gedō Mazō, but to do that he would first need to remove or destroy the maddened spirit of the Juubi. That was something that had unfortunately proven quite impossible, as the Gedō Mazō resisted any attempts at tampering with it.

Sighing, he ran his fingers through his now grey streaked hair. He was running out of time and it was obvious that he would accomplish neither one nor the other fast enough. He could already feel himself withering away from the constant sapping of his life. He would need to absorb all the natural energy from the valley soon and then find another source to sustain them.

Fortunately, he had a target in mind already. It was even better because it would accomplish multiple goals. All he needed was to find a certain slippery bastard and...persuade...him to cooperate.

He was quite a bit weaker than he had been two weeks ago and even absorbing all the natural energy in this valley would not completely reverse that, which was why he needed that other surprise he had prepared. He had actually been tempted to use it on Madara, but Xanna had warned him away from it. The old Uchiha had been stupidly powerful even without the Rinnegan and they didn't even know for sure whether he had regained it or not.

And they had already received a rude wake up call about taking things too lightly. They weren't in any position to be underestimating the enemy, especially not when the enemy was a legendary figure.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tsunade made her way home, her back aching from the long day and wanting above all else to get a hot bath.

Some days ago, Jiraiya had informed her of the fact that Naruto had apparently decided to attack Amegakure. She had been confused until he mentioned learning that Naruto had gone there to kill the village leaders.

The fact that Jiraiya had already been going there with the intention of infiltrating Ame because he had learned that Akatsuki might be using it as a base gave a possible motive. It was a typically Naruto type move to charge brazenly at the enemy and kill them on their own territory, the only thing confusing about it was that the battle had apparently taken place quite a large distance away from the village.

She kept rolling her achy shoulder as she moved through the house, grumbling under her breath about her age.

When she was suddenly grabbed from behind, she instinctively tried to attack but had her motions stopped quickly enough to prevent any harm from being done. It was then that she noticed the claws on the hands.

"Naruto?" She asked with some exasperation.

"Who else?" He said with an audible smirk and began massaging her shoulders, having been spying on her before.

Tsunade relaxed slightly and allowed herself to enjoy the massage. She had always enjoyed these and they had in fact been one of the reasons why tolerating Naruto's perverse sense of humor was bearable.

"How did you sneak up on me so easily?" She asked after allowing herself to be led to a recliner.

"Chakra containment seal matrix in my coat, it keeps my chakra presence confined to a small space around me to prevent anyone from sensing me." Naruto explained without interrupting the massage. Xanna had warned him that Madara was a very powerful sensor, so it was crucial to keep hidden. He wasn't sure if he could have matched Madara as he was now even without being steadily drained of life. The seal had been tricky to create in such a way that it didn't cut off his ability to use chakra and it didn't really work in a fight, but it was great for stealth.

Tsunade put the thought of just how useful something like that would be for ANBU out of her mind for now. "And I suppose you also have a Hiraishin marker hidden somewhere in my house?"

"Of course."

They were silent for a while, before Tsunade felt the need to speak again. "I hear you've been busy lately, invading countries and killing village leaders."

"You've heard about that have you?" Naruto muttered.

"It's not like you were very stealthy about it, charging in like that." She replied dryly.

"True enough and that's actually connected to the reason that I'm here."

Tsunade frowned and finally turned to face him with her mouth already open to ask him for an elaboration, only for it to stay open in shock.

Naruto's previously bright golden hair now seemed dull and that wasn't even mentioning the grey that was streaked through it. There were also noticeable bags under his eyes and he looked tired. In addition to all that his skin also didn't look as healthy and youthful as it should, instead seeming to have lost quite a bit of its elasticity.

In short, he looked thirty years older than he should, perhaps even more considering the fact that he was an Uzumaki.

For someone that had always been practically blazing with life and vitality, it was a terribly jarring change.

"What happened to you?" She asked in a horrified whisper, laying her hand across his cheek.

Naruto proceeded to explain what had happened and how the situation had come about. He could have reversed his physical changes by absorbing the natural energy in the valley, but Tsunade would probably be more ameable to helping him if she saw what was happening to him. It was a bit of subtle manipulation, but he really needed her help on this.

In turn he also learned that Jiraiya had apparently believed that those three students of his had died long ago, which somewhat mollified his anger at the man. He was still going to punch him in the face though.

"So Xanna is now sealed inside you and is draining the life out of you, while you are trying to find a way to restore her?" Tsunade repeated.

Now that the shock had worn off she was able to note that he hadn't lost any muscle tone, which should have happened with the onset of old age. Clearly it only looked like aging.

"Pretty much yes. I can use a Senjutsu technique that I learned to reverse the damage, but it's only a temporary measure and it works best in places where natural energy is abundant."

"But why did you come to me for that?" She asked in confusion.

"I need you to tell me if you have any recent intelligence about Orochimaru's location."

"Orochimaru...but why would you...?...oh." She started out in confusion but then it came to her. "You're thinking of going to Ryuuchi Cave aren't you?"

"Yes...I've learned how to absorb natural energy to prolong my life and it's the only reason that I haven't been drained dry yet." He revealed only somewhat reluctantly. It was unfortunate that he had to reveal that, but Tsunade would have probably asked about it within the next two questions anyway.

"But that place is sacred to the snakes Naruto, just as Myobokuzan is sacred to the toads." She protested, setting aside the information that Naruto had apparently found some kind of immortality the way that her teammate had always wanted to.

"It's not like I'm going to destroy it, I just need the natural energy there to give me some more time. In a few hundred years, it'll be back to normal. If I don't do this then Xanna is going to die Tsunade, I can't let that happen." He implored earnestly. It wouldn't be impossible to find the snake Sannin without her help, but it would no doubt take a lot more time. Time which he didn't have.

Biting her lip, Tsunade made a decision...Orochimaru and by extension the snakes were enemies of Konoha anyway, so Naruto's well-being ranked considerably higher than them. "Last we heard of him, he was poking around Hot Water Country as if he was searching for something. He was reported to be moving towards the southeastern parts, closer to the coast."

"Thanks Tsunade." Naruto said and gave her a quick hug.

After they separated, Naruto spoke up again. "There is also one other thing that you should know..."

"What?" She asked warily, his tone telling her that it definitely wasn't good news.

"Uchiha Madara is alive again and he probably has the Rinnegan."

Tsunade stared at him for several long seconds before she was able to speak over her shock.

"What?" The question was delivered in an extremely flat tone.

Sighing, Naruto launched into another explanation, this time about the circumstances of the man's resurrection.

Rubbing her forehead to relieve the mounting headache, Tsunadesighed and asked a very simple question. "So...what do we do?"

"You, Konoha and the other villages do nothing." Naruto said firmly. "I've already made this between the two of us by stealing the Gedō Mazō and Madara is probably too powerful at this point to fight directly and get any kind of acceptable results. I have everything that he wants except the Hachibi and he can't go after that without the Gedō Mazō. I'm not really sure how I'm going to get rid of the asshole quite yet, but i'd prefer to do it without fighting if possible.

"And you think that he's just going to wait until you're ready?" Tsunade asked incredulously.

"No, I fully expect him to try something, but he can't get to where I've got the Gedō Mazō stashed. He might try to attack those close to me in Konoha in an attempt to force me out into the open though. If that does happen and he comes to Konoha, then I want you to tell him the truth." Naruto said seriously.

"What truth?" She asked curiously, wondering what he was talking about.

"That no matter who he kills or threatens, I won't be provoked into the open."

"So even if he threatens Ayame, Hinata, Tenten or Sakura, you wouldn't come into the open?" She asked, not truly surprised. It was a very cold decision, but she knew that he couldn't help himself from making it. Coming out into the open would endanger Xanna and since she was already dying, he would clutch at her even more tightly.

"Actually, I was intending to kidnap those four and keep them safely hidden to prevent that particular scenario." Naruto admitted.

Rubbing her forehead again, this time in exasperation. She really should have seen that one coming. "Naruto, you can't just go kidnapping people like that."

"Sure I can, it's for their own good after all. If I don't do it some overpowered idiot with delusions of grandeur might try to take them hostage and it's common sense to never let the enemy have hostages." He said back airily.

Tsunade tried to argue with him about that, but his logic was actually quite sound. Despite being sound, it wasn't going to work though.

"Naruto, three of those girls are some of my best kunoichi and Ayame has a baby to take care of. You can't just go kidnapping them."

Ah yes, Ayame would have given birth by now. In his recent frenzy to save Xanna, he had forgotten all about that. He had been meaning to visit...but then Xanna had nearly been destroyed and every thought aside from saving her had fled his mind.

"Then give them a temporary vacation or send them on an extended 'mission' and I have no problems taking Ayame's husband and child along, there's plenty of space." Naruto reasoned.

"You know perfectly damn well that none of those three girls are going to want to run away and hide while you take care of things. As for Ayame...I'm going to make a wild guess that wherever you're thinking of taking them isn't exactly the height of civilization?"

"Well...no, more like a wilderness."

"Naruto, babies are fragile. There is a ridiculously large amount of things that could go wrong for a baby in the wild and most if it isn't obvious things. Something as insignificant as an insect bite could lead to a deadly disease." Tsunade said in exasperation.

"Right, so taking babies into the wilderness is a bad idea...but I'd still like to get Ayame out of here, even if it's just to a smaller village, at least until Madara is dealt with. I know that Hinata, Sakura and Tenten probably won't want to leave, but it wouldn't hurt to ask them."

Tsunade sighed and decided to let him ask at least. "Fine, I'll call them over here."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well Naruto, you're like a perverted old man now aren't you?" Sakura asked with a smirk, being able to crack jokes about her former teammate's new appearance once the initial shock and horror had worn off. It helped that he had assured them that it was reversible.

"Give me one night with you and I'll show you what this old man can do." Naruto retorted, smirking right back at her.

Sakura gaped at him for a moment before sighing and looking away with a blush. She should have known better than to try teasing the shameless pervert.

Hinata and Ayame who were sitting next to him on Tsunade's couch also both blushed slightly.

"So why did you want to talk to us Naruto?" Ayame asked, figuring that it had to be important.

"To make a long story very short, Uchiha Madara has been resurrected, more powerful than ever and he's looking for me and he might get impatient and decide to come after you in an effort to blackmail me. I'm here because I want to take all of you, plus Ayame's family, out of Konoha."

That led to another bit of digression while he had to explain yet again about the man's resurrection and why his powers had increased in order for them to understand.

"So you want us to just run and hide while you fight this guy all alone?" Tenten demanded, her pride insulted by the idea of it. She hadn't trained for years so that she could hide damnit!

Sakura was thinking in a similar direction, having endured Tsunade's crazy training exactly because she didn't want to be useless anymore.

Hinata, while not quite so forceful, also didn't want to be left behind while others fought in her stead.

"The fact of the matter is, that none of you girls are even close to being strong enough to fight this battle and if we're lucky it won't even affect you. Taking you out of the village would just be a precaution." Naruto explained.

"But what the rest of the village, wouldn't he come here anyway?" Hinata asked.

"Maybe, but I can't evacuate everyone and to be quite blunt, I don't care about the rest of the village all that much."

Oh there were certainly a few people among them that he would also be willing to evacuate, but all of them were veteran shinobi with many years of service under their belts. There was no way that they would leave, he didn't even need to ask them to know that.

"Well I'm not going to run away." Tenten declared sutbbornly, echoed by Sakura.

"Ah, my clan is still getting back on its feet and I don't want to abandon them now." Hinata said in her usual quiet tone, but there was a definite determination in it.

Neither of the three girls could blame Naruto for his apathy towards the fate of the rest of Konoha, but it was different for them. Despite the appaling display when Xanna's nature had been revealed, they still loved the village and weren't willing to abandon it.

"Well I guess I should have expected that, but what about you Ayame? Are you willing to stay here and risk your son's life?"

"That's a low blow Naruto." Ayame said with a frown. "Of course I don't want to risk little Haru-chan, but where would we go?"

Naruto looked unrepentant about his wording. He wasn't going to be sorry for speaking the truth. "Well, Tsunade has pointed out that the wilderness is no place for a baby, so I was thinking that you could stay in a small village or city until this whole thing blows over."

"That's nice and all, but Masaru-kun is a shinobi, so he can't just pack up and leave with me and even if he could, the Inuzuka fang markings are a bit too distinctive if hiding was the point."

"And I suppose you aren't willing to go without him?" Naruto said with a sigh. He knew she wouldn't, he was just asking for the sake of asking.

"You suppose correctly."

"Well then take these at least." He said, passing around kunai that he had marked with Hiraishin seals. He might have told Tsunade that he was planning to kidnap them, but he knew how much he would have hated it if someone tried to make arbitrary decisions about his life, which is why he had prepared those kunai. "Throw them if you need me to bail you out."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto stared with narrow eyes at the figure of Orochimaru and a redheaded young girl in the distance, almost ready to set things in motion.

He had absorbed all the natural energy in the valley of the wolf tribe and once again looked his proper age. Xanna had estimated that he now had just under a month before he ran out of life force to sustain them and it had already taken several days to locate the snake Sannin. He had hoped it would be more, but the valley had accumulated far less natural energy than Myobokuzan, probably because Xanna had destroyed it and it had taken time for life to take root again.

He had needed to move carefully and sniff the older sage out without giving himself away and then he had needed to move around the man in a large circle in order to get in front of him without detection. Fortunately, his coat was doing a good job of keeping his presence hidden, but that would only work for as long as he didn't flex his chakra too much. The seals weren't powerful enough to hold up to something like that.

Fortunately, he only needed the element of surprise to get the drop on the man. He most certainly couldn't afford to let him get away. The red haired, teenaged girl that was with Orochimaru was something of a surprise, but she didn't look like much of a fighter.

In preparation for this battle, he had already drained away all the natural energy in a large area, absorbing most of it, but keeping enough for Sage Mode.

Orochimaru seemed to notice the lack of natural energy soon after he entered the area where Naruto had taken it all and he actually seemed rather intrigued. He directed some questions to the girl at his side and she shook her head in the negative. This caused Orochimaru to frown thoughtfully before moving onwards again.

Having had enough spying, Naruto rapidly opened four of the eight gates and charged towards the man. Unlike the last time that he had opened them, pre-prepared seals activated and infused his chaotic chakra with a dose of Yin natured chakra, to calm it down and stabilise it.

The very instant that he opened the first gate, stealth was lost as the girl grabbed her head and screamed in sudden pain, then collapsed unconscious. This was apparently more than enough for Orochimaru to get an idea of what was going on as he speedily evacuated from his previous position.

Naruto didn't bother talking as he continued his assault on the snake Sannin. In spite of himself, Naruto was impressed. Orochimaru was managing to avoid getting completely pulverized despite his severe disadvantage, though he was utterly on the defensive. The snake Sannin's many years of experience and stolen Crystal Release bloodline proved invaluable in keeping himself from being overwhelmed by the faster, stronger Naruto. The blond was very glad that he had deprived his opponent of Sage Mode by draining away all the natural energy in the area beforehand, as this would have been far more troublesome if Orochimaru had managed to employ Senjutsu as well.

Unknown to Orochimaru, Naruto hadn't really expected to be able to bring down the man before he could manage some kind of slippery escape tactic.

What he did manage to do, was plant a Hiraishin beacon on the man during their scuffle, which he intended to use very soon to spring an unblockable surprise attack on the man.

The battle between them was unusually silent. Both combatants were prone to being rather wordy during battles, but the current situation allowed neither one of them that luxury. Naruto was working on a time limit and Orochimaru was pressed too hard to say a word.

The snake Sannin had no problem seeing that the battle was not going his way and intended to escape as soon as he could find the slightest chance to do so. Unfortunately for him, Naruto wasn't giving him that opening.

Making a slight gamble, Orochimaru used a medium powered wind Ninjutsu to blow Naruto a short distance away and immediately started a new chain of hand seals.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu(Summoning Technique)!"

Two large brown snakes rushed at Naruto, while Orochimaru used the opportunity to flee. By doing this, he missed the look of glee on the blond's face.

He had been hoping that Orochimaru would summon something, but hadn't been sure if he would do it. The summoned snakes were no threat at all, but they were an excellent way to get to Ryuuchi Cave. Naruto easily planted a Hiraishin mark on each of them and then injured them enough to send them back to their homes.

With a relieved sigh, Naruto closed the four gates that he had opened and walked back towards the red haired girl that Orochimaru had apparently abandoned without the slightest hesitation. She must have been useful to the man in some way if he was bringing her along with him. In the end, Naruto decided to take her with him.

He looked at his shaking hand with a scowl and clenched it into a fist. The circumstances of his constantly diminishing life force were maddening. Even this fifteen minute use of the gates had depleted him severely and his hair was already showing hints of grey. Sage Mode enhanced fortitude and his healing factor kept anything below five gates from damaging him but that didn't mean it wasn't costly. If he had really tried to use this against Madara like he had been thinking of doing, it would have ended very badly.

Apparently, the more he exerted himself, the faster Xanna drained him.

I warned you that this might happen! By opening the gates you've also widened the route through which I am leeching life force from you. In fifteen minutes I've taken the same amount of life force as if a week had passed. Xanna scolded. She hadn't approved of his plan for capturing Orochimaru, but hadn't been able to come up with anything better. They needed to do it quickly or else risk the man escaping, or even worse, staying out in the open long enough for Madara to find them.

And Orochimaru was simply too wily to go against with a handicap like that, even if the goal wasn't to defeat him outright. He wasn't sure if the snake Sannin himself would be at all useful, but there was a chance that he would be.

I know, but once I go to Ryuuchi Cave, I'll be able to get it all back and then some. He reasoned. Now for the potentially most dangerous part of the plan.

Upon saying that, Naruto placed four complex seal tags in a small square around him, sat down with the unconsciouss redhead in his lap and extended one chain to each of the seal tags. When that was done, he began channeling a large amount of chakra to the chains and a cubic Space-Time Barrier sprang up, a barrier that only he could cross with impunity thanks to the fact that he was keyed into it. Now all that was left to do was to wait for Madara to show up. If the old Uchiha had shown up during the battle, that would have been a disaster, but a planned meeting was something else.

I still don't think that this is a good idea. Xanna commented.

It's definitely not a safe idea, but we need to get a feel for him or else we'll be fighting blind. I don't know the first thing about Madara or what he's like, but he has plenty of intelligence on me.

It is far more likely that you will gain nothing from this and he will read you like a book and that isn't even mentioning the possibility of him attacking you on sight.The demoness argued back.

I know, but if he so much as twitches I'll teleport away. Don't worry my love, I know that I'm in no shape to be fighting him right now. Naruto soothed. Besides, he might not even show up for all we know. I'm only going to wait for ten minutes, so if he doesn't show up we at least know that he couldn't sense us here.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Madara had in fact sensed the massive chakra flare and was already flying towards that location at top speed.

Stealing the flight technique from the Nidaime Tsuchikage and his young apprentice had definitely been a smart move on his part. It was remarkable just how useful something like that could be.

He was only somewhat surprised to find Uzumaki waiting for him, having sensed that the fighting was over a few minutes ago.

"So we meet at last Uzumaki Naruto, former Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi." Madara spoke as he landed and assume a cross armed stance.

"Uchiha Madara, so it really was you that was resurrected, I wasn't a hundred percent sure about that until just now." Naruto said in answer, keeping a firm lock on the Hiraishin beacon in the valley.

"You've caused me a great deal of trouble Uzumaki."

"Not as much as you've caused me."

They just stared at each other for a minute, silently assessing each other.

Madara was tempted to attack and use the Human Path soul extraction to find out where the Gedō Mazō was, but he could see the tension in his blond adversary. The man would vanish in a Hiraishin teleportation the very moment that a single semi-hostile move was made and Madara knew that he wouldn't be able to overcome the barrier protecting him that fast. He wasn't sure what to make of the slight hints of grey in Uzumaki's hair, but he could guess that it was important.

On the other hand, Naruto would have sighed if Madara wasn't here. He had hoped that it wouldn't happen, but staring into the purple, ringed gaze of the old Uchiha, it was obvious that he had the Rinnegan again. He knew so little of its powers and wasn't sure how to combat it. He had thought to set a Fuinjutsu trap for Madara the same as he had done for Obito, but Xanna had told him not to bother. The Rinnegan would have allowed him to easily absorb all the chakra from the seals and escape, Yin-Yang suppression or not. She had been positive that the man would evolve the divine eyes again as long as he had a set of Mangenkyo. It hadn't been too hard for her to conclude that the merging of the two separate bloodlines of the Sage of Six Paths was the cause of this mess, though they still didn't know how Madara had come by that information.

"I want you to return the Gedō Mazō to me." Madara said evenly,

"That's going to be a problem, because I have a feeling that I'm going to need that thing if I want to restore my wife." Naruto answered and then continued with the main reason for this meeting. "Setting that aside for now, I have a proposition for you."

"Oh?" Madara said in interest.

"Give me a year to try and save her, then we can have our deathmatch to see who comes out on top. If you win, you get to finish your Moon's Eye Plan and if I win, I get to live out eternity with my wife without someone constantly trying to ruin it for us."

Naruto was trying to play on the Uchiha's pride and lust for battle against a challenging opponent, which was honestly one of the only things he knew about him. While he had every intention of fighting Madara and killing the man, he had no intention of making it a fair fight. When the battle took place, he wanted to have the odds stacked so heavily in his favor that it wouldn't even be funny. Either that or using some kind of dirty trick to get rid of him just like he had done for Obito.

If he failed to save Xanna...well, then he probably wasn't going to last a year in the first place.

"The Kyuubi is gone. As soon as it was absorbed into the statue, it was made part of the Juubi once again." Madara countered, though he was intrigued by the suggestion.

"Firstly, I'll thank you for not referring to my wife as if she was an object you shit." Naruto spoke in the same even tone as Madara, knowing that this was not the time to be anything but controlled. "Secondly, I'm not willing to believe that she's gone."

Madara narowed his eyes at the blond, his Rinnegan allowing him to see deeper than the flesh. He could see hints of red in his chakra, just barely visible in the vast amounts of blue that denoted Uzumaki's own chakra.

"I see, you've managed to save a small part of the demon and are somehow sustaining it at the cost of your life force." Madara said in realization, ignoring Naruto's first sentence entirely. It suddenly made sense why the blond had asked for a year, He was living on borrowed time and didn't want his quest to save the Kyuubi delayed by a need for secrecy.

Naruto said nothing, though his eyes did narrow at the continued disrespect to Xanna.

"You will fail, only the Rinnegan has the power to remove the chakra from the Gedō Mazō." Madara stated with finality, fully believing his own words. "Why not simply give me the statue and alllow me to cast the Eternal Tsukuyomi? In that perfect world, I could restore her to you." The Uchiha offered, referring to the Kyuubi as a female only as incentive to convince Naruto to agree.

"Unlike some people, I know better than to think escaping into an illusion is a good idea just because life is hard." Naruto said.

"What does it matter if it is an illusion if nobody knows it? For all you know, the world we currently live in is also an illusion. In the world that I would create, there would be no suffering and no losers. A world where everyone could have what they desired."

Well, this is certainly turning out a lot different than I expected. Xanna muttered. A philosophical discussion with a madman was very low on the list of things that she had expected out of this meeting.

Naruto was inclined to agree, having expected that he would need to teleport away by now. He wasn't even considering agreeing with the Uchiha, but he tried to discern some deeper meaning in the words, beyond just the obvious. There was something about the way that the older man had said that... it nagged at him.

No losers hmm? Wasn't he the loser everytime he went against Hashirama? Xanna said, her mind on the same track as her husband.

He was wasn't he? Naruto replied, with a smirk spreading across his face.

"So that's what this is all about is it? You're just butthurt because Hashirama beat you at everything, that's why you want to make your own world. You just don't want to be second best anymore." Naruto said, still smirking.

Madara's face didn't so much as twitch, but Naruto and Xanna still felt the anger that bubbled up insisde him at the words. Naruto had to hand it to the man, he had masterful self control. Too bad it didn't help him hide from Xanna's Negative Emotion Sensing. That particularly useful ability was sorely weakened by the loss of her chakra, but at such a small distance it still worked perfectly well.

"I'm not sure why I thought you'd be different from any other Uchiha to be honest. Just another sore loser that can't stand the fact that there was someone out there that was better than them. Damn, what a let down." The blond continued speaking, mock sorrow coloring his voice.

"Think what you wish Uzumaki, but my actions are for the betterment of the world. Humanity is unable to find peace on their own, so I will create a world where they cannot make war and you will not stop me" Madara declared.

Naruto ignored the temptation to reply to that. He very much suspected that Madara was the type to get bored of peace in short order and would have started a war in his little fantasy land just to amuse himself within a year.

Instead of that, he continued with his previous line of thought.

"I wonder if you had a thing for his wife too? Did Hashirama also get the woman you wanted?" Naruto said with a teasing tone, only for his eyes to widen in surprise at the feeling of deep bitterness that welled up in Madara. It was enough to get even through the Uchiha's self control as a dark glare formed on his face.

Knowing that a line had just been crossed, Naruto wasted no time teleporting away to safety, unwilling to test out if the Space-Time Barrier would hold up if Madara decided to attack.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back in the valley, Naruto set the unconscious redhead down on the ground and considered what he had just learned.

Somehow, I feel as if we should have expected this. Xanna mused.

No kidding. Naruto replied. The asshole just seems so asexual that you'd never think about the possibility of all this being over a woman.

Naruto couldn't be sure if Madara had only wanted Mito because Hashirama had her, or because he was genuinely interested in her, but it was rather pathetic either way. Madara was one of the most powerful men to have ever lived and as such could have accomplished much. Surely it was not beyond the realm of possibility to have found a woman that wasn't with Hashirama?

Not that Naruto had a whole lot of ground to stand on with that argument, considering his absolute devotion to Xanna. He knew that he certainly wouldn't be able to turn to someone else if Xanna had decided that she didn't want him.

But still...there were better ways of dealing with it than trying to enslave the world. If Madara and Hashirama had continued working together, they would almost certainly have been able to create a stable peace in the Elemental Nations, even if it was only temporary.

But no, Madara was too petty to take the fact that he wasn't the best, that he wasn't made Hokage, that he wasn't the stronger of the two...that he didn't get the girl. Aside from the last one, that was actually some pretty typical Uchiha shit, just magnified to ridiculous proportions because of Madara's power.

Neither he nor Xanna were really sure which of those rankled the old Uchiha the most, but it didn't matter in the end. Madara still needed to be taken care of and they still didn't know how to do it.

First things first though...Xanna had to be restored, or else there was no hope of winning this. Naruto couldn't fight a prolonged battle as long as he kept constantly weakening from Xanna's life draining.

His attempt at getting Madara to lay off for a year so that he could move freely and without fear of being hunted by the man had ended in semi-expected failure. Unfortunate, but neither shocking nor a critical setback. He would need to be more careful when moving outside the valley, but the situation hadn't really changed.

The redhead that he had more or less kidnapped chose that moment to stir.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Karin woke up slowly, pressing a hand to her head the whole time, glad that the pain was mostly gone.

She had no idea what happened. One moment she was straining her Mind's Eye of the Kagura as far as she could, trying to locate the unknown thing that Orochimaru-sama had been looking for and the next an utterly enourmous chakra presence slams into her with all the gentleness of a meteor. She'd been so focused on trying to find even the slightest hint of chakra that the sudden appearance of a presence that powerful had hurt her quite badly. It didn't help that it had been rather close.

"Welcome back to the world of the conscious." A deep voice with a natural growl to it greeted pleasantly.

Karin's eyes snapped over to those of the blond seated a short distance away from her, feeling deeply unnerved by the gold-orange color of the slitted gaze. Even more unnerving was the fact that she couldn't sense any chakra from him, despite knowing that he had it.

She recognised him just fine and knew that he was probably the biggest chakra monster in the Elemental Nations, aside from the Bijuu. It made no sense that she could sense nothing from him.

She did sense a vast but suppressed chakra from the ugly looking dried up statue that was sitting in lotus position some distance away though.

"Where are we? Where is Orochimaru-sama? Why did you kidnap me?" Karin asked in rapid succession, fear getting the better of her.

"We are in a secret place, Orochimaru will be joining us soon and I took you with me because Orochimaru abandoned you after he escaped from me." Naruto replied, amusement coloring his tone.

He couldn't resist messing with her a bit though. "Now, may I know the name of my newest sex slave?"

Karin's jaw suddenly hung open in shock and she went ghostly pale. Without another thought, she jumped to her feet and ran away in blind terror, too frightened to consider the fact that she didn't know where she was or where she was going.

When a chain wrapped around her and started dragging her back, she started shrieking in fear and trying to escape the grip of the chain. She was too scared to even take note of the fact that she could now feel Naruto's chakra.

Her screaming was cut off when a large hand was placed over her mouth and she was dragged into the blond's lap. By this point, she had started crying because of her fear and continued trying to escape, though it was useless.

"Oi oi, shhhhhh. Calm down, it was just a joke. I'm not going to hurt you." Naruto said softly and soothingly, still holding her.

Karin managed to calm down slightly, her earlier terror reduced to hiccups and shivering when he removed his hand from her mouth and used it to pet her hair instead. The intimate contact was something she definitely wasn't used to, but was eventually able to relax a bit once it became apparent that there was nothing sexual about it.

"Sorry about that, I didn't think a kunoichi would be scared that easily." He murmured into her ear, feeling a bit bad about scaring her so badly. Weren't kunoichi supposed to be made of sterner stuff than that?

Now that she wasn't panicking anymore, she recalled that his bingo book entry had clearly noted that he had a propensity for dirty jokes and perverse humor. The memory of her freak out now caused her to be slightly embarrassed, she really should have remembered that.

Naruto, I think this girl is an Uzumaki. Xanna spoke up.

You sure? She doesn't look like much. Naruto replied dubiously.

Almost sure, most of your clan had red hair and her chakra feels vaguely similar to yours, though not even close to being as dense or powerful.

"Are you an Uzumaki by chance?" Naruto asked, causing Karin to stiffen again for a moment before she forced herself to relax .

She'd been warned by her parents before they died to never reveal her Uzumaki heritage, for fear of being hunted down, but according to the bingo book, the man holding her was also an Uzumaki, so it should be alright. Besides, now that she was so close, she could clearly sense his chakra and it was soothing. She got a sense of great power and focus from it, but not in the same way as Orochimaru. The general impression she got from him as a person was that of a man who, while easily driven enough to do terribly things, was also in principle a good person. Orochimaru only gave off a sense of power and drive without any kind of good in him.

"Y-yes, Uzumaki Karin." She said, hesitating only slightly at revealing that information.

"Well, Karin, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, but I'm sure you knew that already... I am after all the manliest of men, the baddest of asses and generally the most amazing person you will ever meet." Naruto said with over the top pompousness, causing her to giggle slightly and dispel the last of her fear.

It was hard to be afraid of someone that acted that ridiculous, not to mention that her powerful chakra sensing ability was telling her that she wasn't in any danger.

"Right, you'll be calling me big brother from now on." The blond Uzumaki declared with authority.

Karin gaped at him incredulously, unable to believe that someone she'd just met had declared himself her big brother without so much as a 'by your leave', even if they were distantly related.

"You can't just tell me to call you big brother right after we met!" She protested.

"Would you prefer to be a sex slave then?" Naruto responded with a snicker.

Karin flushed, becoming acutely aware of the fact that she was still sitting in his lap.

"Shut up!" She said back and punctuated it with a slap to his bare chest.

"You're already acting like a cute little sister! Don't worry Karin, big brother will take good care of you." Naruto laughed at her and mussed up her hair, squeezing her like a plushie the whole time. Her obvious irritation at the act made him laugh even more.

This strange tendency of yours to collect 'cute little sisters' and young girls in general is starting to become disturbing. Xanna spoke dryly in his head.

Oh come on, even you can't deny that this weird half-half hairstyle of hers is kind of cute. Combined with those glasses it makes her look like some kind of librarian that only got halfway into a rebellious streak. Naruto said back, continuing his scuffle with Karin the whole time.

I most certainly can deny it. Xanna asserted. This girl is an undignified mass of contradictions.

Well, we're keeping her around either way. There must be something useful about her if Orochimaru was keeping her around.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Orochimaru woke up, but gave no indication of it despite the agony burning a hole in his skull.

The snake Sannin made a quick appraisal of his situation, trying to give himself the maximum possible advantage before his captor realised that he was awake.

The grass he was lying on indicated that he was outside and the wind he could feel confirmed it. There was a distinct crackle of fire nearby, accompanied by chewing sounds. He still had access to his chakra, his limbs were not bound in any way nor could he detect any injuries.

In short, he was perfectly fine except for the pain in his head and his abductor was apparently having lunch. That didn't make a single damn bit of sense!

After escaping from Naruto(fighting the blond while he was hopped up on Senjutsu and had the gates opened had not been fun), he had made it quite a distance away before he suddenly blacked out. The only warning had been the slightest crinkle of paper and it was far too little to actually avoid whatever had struck him unconsciouss. He didn't even know what it was!

In point of fact, it had been a sealing tag that Naruto had teleported to him via the Hiraishin mark that Orochimaru had not discovered in time. The tag was set to activate in close proximity to any chakra that didn't belong to Naruto. It had activated instantly upon being teleported and knocked Orochimaru into unconsciousness. After that it had been easy to retrieve him.

Ah, the wonders of the Hyuuga cursed seal. That thing was proving to be remarkably useful. The seal that scrambled a person's nervous system and knocked them out was a thing of beauty and it had come from his research into the Caged Bird Seal.

"You can stop faking it now sleeping beauty, I know you're awake." The familiar voice of Naruto prompted.

Orochimaru gave it up as pointless and opened his eyes, fully expecting that Naruto would be on his feet and staring at him warily.

Instead of that, he saw the man sitting on a rock as if he didn't have a care in the world, snacking on some barbequed meat. Karin was seated on an adjacent rock, also munching on the meat, though she appeared to be having a lot more trouble chewing it. Not really surprising when you consider the difference in their teeth.

"Want some?" Naruto said as he extended a stick with meat on it to the befuddled snake Sannin.

His first thought upon being attacked was that Naruto was after revenge for being attacked a few months ago, but now he was wondering if perhaps the blond had sought him out for an alliance now that he was a missing-nin. Though, if that was the case then this was the strangest way to go about it that he had ever heard of.

"I think I would rather know what is going on first." The pale man said, warily getting to his feet. The complete lack of concern that Naruto was demonstrating was making him nervous. Nobody was that confident around him unless they were completely insane or they were in a position of absolute power, and despite his odd quirks, Naruto was not that kind of insane.

"Well, if you'd like to know about recent events, then all you need to do is look at yourself in the mirror...or in the pool of water to be precise, since we don't have a mirror handy." Naruto said and ate the piece of meat that he had been offering to Orochimaru earlier.

Keeping a wary eye on the far too confident blond, Orochimaru moved towards a nearby body of water and looked into it. His own face looked back at him, but there was now a little something added to his forehead.

A chillingly familiar design that he recalled seeing on many a Hyuuga branch house member, though not exactly the same. Instead of two intersecting lines forming a cross, it had four intersecting lines forming an eight pointed snowflake. Other than that, it was exactly the same.

"What is this?! What have you done?!" Orochimaru hissed out furiously, glaring at the now smirking blond with as much malice as he was able to muster. In his anger, he didn't notice the seal on his forehead throb painfully in warning. He was just considering how to attack Naruto when his ability to think was taken away.

A sudden blaze of white hot agony that reduced his vision into a haze of darkness erupted in his head. The pain was so terrible that all else was obliterated, his senses completely shut down and all perception of time lost, leaving only unending agony.

And then it was over.

Orochimaru lay on the ground, gasping for air and feeling his throat ache from screaming that he did not remember. After finally managing to use his shuddering limbs to force himself on his knees, he looked at the blond again, now with a grim expression on his face. Next to him, Karin was looking more than a little disturbed by the short torture session.

"What have I done? I've placed an enhanced and perfected Hyuuga Caged Bird Seal on you and made you my bitch. The seal is stuck to you so firmly that not even switching bodies will help you escape from it. Additionally it lets me know your intentions and even your thoughts if I focus on it hard enough, so don't go thinking that you can get out of this by stabbing me in the back. If even that isn't enough to dissuade you, then keep in mind that if you succeed in killing me, the seal will kill you. " Naruto explained coldly.

"Why have I done this? Because my wife is slowly dying and taking me with her. Your knowledge might be useful in helping me save her, but you can't be trusted, so I used that seal as a safeguard to make certain that you can't betray me." He might not like that seal, but he was perfectly willing to use anything and everything at his disposal if it would save Xanna. It wasn't the kind of thing that you could use on a large amount of people, because being constantly informed of their intentions would be maddening, but it was excellent for keeping a leash on a single individual.

The mind linking part of the Reaper Death Seal had proven to be incredibly useful in the creation of that particular cursed seal.

Orochimaru didn't really know how to respond to that, but he did note that Naruto was looking older than he should. His mind was still addled from the pain inflicted on him and dawning horror as his new situation sunk in, so he wasn't really able to react much.

"Your wife?" He asked, having been unaware the the blond was married, nor could he figure out how her dying could be affecting him.

"The Kyuubi."

"Ah..." For once, Orochimaru was rendered stunned speechless.

"But we'll talk about that later. Right now I'm going to Ryuuchi Cave and stealing all the natural energy they have and possibly wiping them out if they protest too much."

Before Orochimaru could even look properly surprised, Naruto used the seal to knock him out again. He didn't need the pale Sannin trying anything while he was gone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto stared into the serpentine eyes of the White Snake Sage, the great serpent doing the same to him.

After his unannounced arrival, he had swiftly been attacked. The snakes were fast and strong, innately more powerful than either the slugs or toads due to their nature as predators, but they were also incapable of using Ninjutsu like the toads due to their lack of hands, nor did they have any odd abilities such as the slugs and their ability to divide themselves. All they had was speed, strength and the poison in their fangs, none of which was of any use against someone like Naruto. Poison was usually one of the only things that his healing factor had trouble with, but Senjutsu imparted a powerful defence against it and Xanna had enough chakra left to burn out small amounts of poison.

Naruto was a small target, but far stronger than any of the snakes, even Manda. That and his chains meant that he had no real trouble fending them off. He had killed several but had never been the first to attack. Manda had found himself slain before the White Snake Sage had called them off and told them to stop attacking.

Now he was surrounded by most of the surviving snake clan, who watched him warily as he met the leader of the snakes.

"Why are you here despoiler? We have heard of what you've done to the toads...have you come to do the same here?" The great snake asked in the hissing tone that was natural for its species.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the name that the snake had called him, as well as at the fact that they apparently kept some sort of correspondence with the toads.

"Well aren't you clever...yes I've come to take the natural energy of this place." He confirmed.

"Have you not taken enough from the toads to satisfy you?" The White Snake asked, a distinct note of anger in its voice.

"Normally it would have been but the situation has changed, now enough talking. Either you let me finish what I've come here to do or attack me. Either way, I will get what I need from this place." The blond demanded.

The White Snake peered closely at the intruder in their realm, noting the hints of grey in his hair and somewhat older appearance. He looked older than he should, the cause of which the White Snake couldn't discern, but it only underlined the only possible purpose for his coming here.

All the serpents present were willing to fight even though they could tell that this foe was beyond them, but the White Snake knew that they needed to survive in order to pass on the word.

That which the toad elders had feared had come to pass.

"We cannot stop you, Take what you've come here for and get out."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"...and now that I've taken all that natural energy from Ryuuchi Cave I have about two months before I die unless I find more natural energy to absorb." Naruto finished explaining everything that had happened to Orochimaru and Karin. He couldn't expect the snake Sannin to be capable of helping him if he didn't have all the relevant information after all.

Orochimaru scowled, utterly detesting his current situation. To think that he, Orochimaru of the Sannin, would be reduced to an unwilling assistant in Naruto's plans to save his demonic wife...he couldn't even find words to describe how much he loathed it.

Even calling himself an unwilling assistant was generous. Slave would be more accurate.

"Don't scowl so much princess, if we find a way to save Xanna then I'll remove the seal and I'll even teach you how to absorb natural energy to boost your life force as payment for helping me. The seal is only a safeguard because you're a slimy bastard that can't be trusted." Naruto said, assigning Sasuke's old nickname to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru perked up at that, having been utterly fascinated to see Naruto come back from Ryuuchi Cave looking stronger and more vital than ever, all hints of age and weakness gone from him. For something like that, he would have cheerfully set fire to an orphanage. Naruto had always seemed like a very straight up guy and this was clearly more important to him than anything. Perhaps there were upsides to this situation after all.

...It wasn't as if he had a whole lot of choice in the end anyway.

"Umm, what about me...onii-chan?." Karin said, mumbling out the last part with a blush. Naruto had been ridiculously insistent about being called big brother and would retaliate somehow(often in a perverse manner) every time that she failed to call him that. Upon seeing her reluctance, he had even changed it from 'nii-san' to the more childish 'onii-chan', just to tease her.

"Well, what can you do?" The blond asked.

"I'm a very powerful chakra sensor and I know some medical Ninjutsu." Karin answered.

"That might come in handy to see if anything is happening with the Gedō Mazō." Naruto said approvingly. "And the medical Ninjutsu bit reminds me of another thing...Orochimaru, do you know any other way to increase a person's life force."

The snake Sannin frowned, instantly remembering the potency of the Shodai Hokage's cells. "Maybe, if we had some of Senju Hashirama's cells, but since we don't it isn't really-"

He was interrupted when a severed arm was thrown at him.

"One human arm, made of Senju Hashirama's cells." Probably at least. It was unlikely to be anything else considering the fact that pieces of it turned into trees if chakra was added.

Orochimaru blinked at the severed appendage in surprise before shrugging it off. He wasn't sure where the blond had gotten it, but apparently everyone wanted a piece of the Shodai.

"I'll need some equipment from one of my laboratories."

"We'll each make a shadow clone and have them get it. It's too dangerous to go in person with Madara skulking around."

Orochimaru nodded. That made sense. The idea of Uchiha Madara being alive again, now sporting a Rinnegan and quite possible also Mokuton, intending to enslave the world in an eternal illusion was enough to creep even him out.

That would completely derail his plans to become immortal and discover the truth of the world after all.

"Aside from helping me figure out a way to save Xanna, you will also teach me the Edo Tensei. There are secrets about that technique that I must know."

Orochimaru nodded both in resignation and intrigue. Resignation, because he knew that he couldn't really protest and intrigue, because he was wondering what kind of secrets the blond was talking about.

"Anything else?" The snake Sannin asked wearily. He hated the situation, but he could find no way out of it at the moment. The seal throbbed in warning on his forehead every time that he had so much as a malicious thought or plotted escape, clearly showing that Naruto was aware of it. As things stood right now, there was no choice but to go along with it. The level of pain that the seal could inflict on him was ungodly and not something that could be fought off with pure willpower. He would either need to see it through to the end or wait for an opportunity to get out of it.

"Well...I still want that tongue extension technique."

Orochimaru barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Uzumaki was turning out to be like an even more perverted and far more ruthless Jiraiya, a disturbing thought to be sure. "Fine, I'll teach it to you."

"Good, now lets get to work."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

OMAKE: Back by popular request, the continuing adventures of Hokage Naruto.

The village of Konoha before dawn was a quiet place for the most part. Only the occasional, industrious shinobi broke the quiet with a very early start to their day.

"YOSH! GOOD MORNING COMRADES!"

Today was not one of those peaceful days, because today was the beginning of an experimental new training regimen implemented by the Rokudaime Hokage, or as he demanded to be called 'Supreme Master Leader'.

Today, in a training field that was in a perfect spot to see the stone face of Konoha's newest Hokage leering menacingly down at the village(Naruto had insisted that they carve that particular expression into the mountain), a large crowd of Jounin was gathered, many of them still looking rather sleepy.

"OUR MOST YOUTHFUL SUPREME MASTER LEADER HAS PLACED ME AND MY YOUTHFUL ASSISTANT ROCK LEE IN CHARGE OF INCREASING THE LEVEL OF PHYSICAL FITNESS IN THE VILLAGE!" Maito Gai bellowed at ear splitting volume. All the better to get the blood pumping this early in the morning!

The unenthusiastic crowd grumbled, groaned, sighed and generally expressed their displeasure without actually saying anything.

As if in answer to their discontent, Naruto crashed into the spot right next to Gai with the grace of a meteor.

"What are you all whining about?! You should be happy that I'm investing so much effort into kicking all your asses into gear. You've all been getting too damn comfortable with where you are." Naruto growled at them with a clenched fist, a blue chakra aura flaring to life around him.

"YOSH NARUTO! You are blazing with the fires of youth! I will have them run one thousand laps around the village as a warm up and then we will work up a youthful sweat in the high gravity training field!" Gai screamed out, inspired by the youth he could see flaring around the leader of Konoha.

"That's not youthful enough! Have them do warm ups in high gravity as well, or else they will never be youthful enough!" Naruto screamed back, deliberately egging the man on.

"Such hot blooded passion! Gai-sensei, we should run TWO thousand laps in high gravity!" Rock Lee agreed most enthusiastically.

"By the Log you're right! How unyouthful of me to think a mere one thousand laps was enough! We will run THREE thousand laps in order to fire up our youth! Truly it was a glorious day when Tsunade-sama appointed someone as youthful as Naruto to be Hokage...I mean as the Supreme Master Leader!"

"But three thousand laps?! We'll die!" A random Jounin protested.

The pre-dawn darkness was suddenly stained crimson and an inexplicable wind picked up, causing. his hair and coat to flap violently in the wind. An air of menace radiated from Naruto, his eyes glowed like twin fires in the dark, under which a maw full of razor teeth gleamed and the rest of his face was hidden in shadow.

"What was that?"

The words were said with such menace that all those present could swear that Naruto had somehow managed to distill killing intent into a liquid and made them drink it.

"Nothing Supreme Master Leader sir! We'll be glad to run three thousand laps or until we die! Whichever comes first!" The same Jounin as before said, his eyes rolled back into his head and sweating out a waterfall.

"YOSH! Naruto, your burning fires of youth are already being spread!" Lee screamed, completely missing the feeling of utter doom that had descended on the land for a moment.

"Yes Lee, now go and teach them the meaning of hard work!" Naruto replied to the younger green beast.

"Naruto!"

"Gai-sensei!

"Lee!"

The three of them went into a three way manhug that caused irreparable brain damage for all the rank and file Jounin that saw it. The beach sunset that appeared behind them, despite the fact that it wasn't even dawn yet and that they weren't anywhere close to a beach only made it worse, as did the jaws of a gigantic fox as it leered at them from behind the false sun.

The group of shinobi that would likely soon be hostitalised for extreme exhaustion and muscle damage ran off right after that, nearly zombified from the sight.

Looking at their retreating backs, Naruto released maniacal laughter fit for a god of the void, using chakra enhancement to make it echo across the skies. Incidentally, this also woke up the rest of the village...most of them soaked in terror sweat.

"So, is there any reason that there weren't any kunoichi in that group?" Kurenai asked as she and Anko dropped down next to Naruto, having been watching the spectacle from a tree. Both of them still found it hard to think of Naruto as an authority figure, due to the fact that they were older than him and because they'd had some very kinky sex with him.

The fact that he only insisted on being treated as a superior by people that he didn't like also helped.

"Yep, I didn't want to subject any women to that particular insanity." Naruto admitted.

"That's kind of hypocritical." Kurenai said critically, thinking that he was discriminating against women.

"Well, I'm kind of a hypocrite." Naruto repllied airily, as if there was nothing wrong with that.

Kurenai sweatdropped and Anko guffawed at the strange response.

"Besides that, training in high gravity would also cause breasts to sag horribly and I simply couldn't bring myself to do that. It's just too horrible to imagine." Naruto added just as Kurenai was about to say something else.

That shut up her quite quick, as she definitely didn't want her boobs being stretched down to her belly button.