38

Kisame – Guys! Guys! Where the hell are you?! We have a chapter to introduce here...! I can believe Itachi and the Nara aren't here yet… This thing can't work with me as the responsible one… That's just wrong! Sigh, oh well, at least this means I get to finally do the intro…! Huh? What's this? Some sort of note?

Shikamaru's Note – Kisame-san, Itachi-san and I are in a meeting with Phoenixsun and won't make it back before the start of the chapter, but do not worry, we got you covered. Just play the recording we left for you with this note.

Kisame – Recording? Is he talking about this…?

Itachi's recording – Here is PHD's chapter 38. Kisame, you are too slow.

Kisame – Son of a bi-…!

Assault on the Ice Fortress

Even having her own personal fire was proving ineffective here in Snow Country as Shion could not warm herself at all. Sitting there in a cave about an hour from Yukigakure, the priestess was seriously considering plunging her hands into the live flames in an effort to finally feel something in the tip of her fingers again. Glancing to the side, the girl could see her three companions next to a second fire as they hunched over a map that Sandayu-san had given them.

From where she was sitting, Shion could see the spiky haired boy squinting his eyes as he strained himself to look at the map. Naruto's eyesight had finally returned, albeit only partially. The young man had serious problems looking at things in bright places, as light still caused some degree of pain in his eyes, and he still could not use his dojutsu.

"By now, Sandayu-san should have made contact with his allies in the countryside." Shion heard Lee comment.

Shino nodded. "Yes, they will move towards the coastline as soon as possible." The Aburame said. "This should confuse them and, hopefully, it would draw some attention away from the movie crew." He commented as he pushed his sunglasses back. The priestess wondered how he could even see inside the cave with them on.

"So we move in at sunrise." Naruto stated as he looked over the map. "Let's go over the plan one more time before we…" The blond started to say but was interrupted as Shion moved towards their fire and sat next to him.

"Why are you waiting for the morning?" The girl asked, vaguely noticing that she felt quite a bit warmer sitting next to her fellow blond. "I thought you guys said that it was better to act at night… Less chance of people spotting you and all that…"

A slightly exasperated sigh escaped the spiky haired teen. "Usually that's the case, but here in Snow Country things work a bit different." He answered.

The priest gave the ninja a confused look.

Before the girl could ask for an explanation, Shino cut in. "Allow me to explain, Shion-sama." The Aburame offered. "While you are correct in assuming that stealth missions are easier to carry out at night, Kazahana Doto's stronghold is closed tight after sundown during this time of the year because of this land's extremely low temperature and recurrent snow storms." The brunette explains. "Thus, a tough location to break into is rendered nearly impenetrable at night." He added.

"Plus, it is very tough for us to move in the middle of a snow storm." Lee cut in. "None of us have any experience working in this terrain."

Shion nodded in understanding at the Leaf ninjas' explanation. The movie company had provided them with warmer cloths and even thick cloaks for the cold, but even inside a cave and next to a fire they could barely keep them warm, so the young woman could not imagine trying to brave a blizzard with just them.

"Anyway…! Back to the plan." Naruto called attention back to himself. "At first light, Shino will cause a distraction to the east of the fortress." The blond stated as he pointed at a spot in the map with his finger and his eyes looked at the Aburame. "Hit them hard and get out fast. You have to make to Point Two as soon as possible."

Shino simply nodded and pushed his sunglasses up.

"Lee, you will be in Point Two, west of the castle." Naruto said as he turned his gaze towards the Taijutsu user. "About twenty minutes after Shino starts his diversion, you have to make sure that Yuki forces see you, but don't engage them directly until Shino gets there, after that, it would be up to the two of you to make sure their attention stays there. Ensure they think that you guys are the real assault." The Uzumaki stated.

"Yosh!" Lee exclaimed. "Don't worry, Naruto-kun, we'll take care of it." He proclaimed.

The spiky haired boy nodded. "Between this and Sandayu's attack at the coast, it should be enough chaos for me to break into the fortress and rescue Sakura and everyone." All three genin nodded in agreement.

"Uhmm…" Shion cut it. "What about me? What am I doing during all of this?" The priestess asked.

A pair of sapphire eyes turned towards the young woman. "You'll be staying here with a couple of clones until we get back." The Leaf nin answered.

"But…!" Shion was about to retort but a hard look from her fellow blond silenced her.

Taking the priestess silence as understanding, Naruto turned back to his teammates. "Now, let's get some sleep… I'll take the first watch." The young man stated.

As Lee and Shino got their stuff ready, Shion silently turned to look at the spiky haired teen that had his gaze towards the cave's exit and his back towards her. Inadvertently, the priestess hand moved towards the bell pinned to her coat as she continued to watch the blond boy.

The glow of the containers in front of him was hypnotic. Breathing deeply the current daimyo of Snow Country took it all in.

In front of the man stood dozens of giant containers filled with pure and refined chakra. It had taken a long time to be gathered up, some had been from volunteers, but most had been from their prisoners. Now, they stood there as the key for Doto's future.

"You certainly look like a man who is quite proud of himself." A voice said from behind.

Doto turned his gaze and smirked at the bearded man that was walking towards him. "Well, a good amount of credit has to be given to you, Yomi-dono." The daimyo said as the other man stopped next to him.

The lanky man simply smiled. "I am please that my expertises were of service, Doto-sama." He said.

Doto smirk widened as he turned back towards the container. Thinking back, he had been extremely lucky. He had originally planned to secure his niece much later down the line, but pretty much on a whim, he had decided to push it forwards and retrieve her during her shoot in Demon Country, and it had been during his scouting of the land that he had come in contact with Yomi.

The strange and abnormally pale man had some modest underground dealings within Demon Country and had earned a bit of a reputation due to his unorthodox experiment regarding chakra.

Before meeting Yomi, Yukigakure's chakra collection had been gathered drop by drop, but now, only a couple of months later, Doto had at his disposal almost enough chakra to carry out his plan. Instead of decades, his goal would now be reached in a matter of days, not to mention the bounds and leaps of advancement with their chakra armors, and all of it was thanks to the man in front of him.

"About the matter of my payment…" Yomi started to say. "I trust that…"

Doto gave his companion a side glance and answered before he could finish. "It has already been sent to your account… After all, I am a man of my word." The daimyo responded. "Though I do wonder what you are planning to do with all the money I have paid you." He inquired. "I mean, you now have enough money to buy a small army and take over Demon Country yourself."

The smile reappeared in the bearded man's face. "I assure you, any and all funding will go towards my research." He said.

The country's leader narrowed his eyes slightly. He had caught a fleeting glance of the pale man's research once. The sight of those strange worms wreathing in their container would have been enough to haunt a weaker man's dream.

"I too have to thank you for your patronage." Yomi added as his smile widened.

Scoffing, Doto turned his gaze back to the chakra containers. It did not matter what the lanky scientist was trying to accomplish with his little monsters and disturbing experiments. Soon, all of the ninja nations would to bow down to the power of Yukigakure, to the power of Kazahana Doto.

Just as the first ray of sunlight broke through the horizon, Naruto heard Shino's diversion going off in the distance and, twenty minutes later, he heard Lee's. From the sound of things, the Aburame had set off a series of perfectly timed explosion on his side for his diversion; meanwhile, on the other end of the fortress, the taijutsu user caused an avalanche.

Sure enough, whatever it was the his teammates had done, the plan seemed to be working as Naruto was able to reach the castle's outer wall without being spotted, and a single look over barricade revealed the chaos inside. Guards seemed unsure of what to do or where to go. Some were running to either side while other merely stood there and looked around in a frantic search for some guidance.

Needless to say, Naruto had not problem entering the castle.

If the blond was honest with himself, he would admit that he hated his role in the plan. Nothing against Shino's and Lee's skills, but Naruto knew that he was more offensively oriented than the former and more versatile than the latter. Unfortunately, the spiky haired boy's current condition regarding his eyes limited his usefulness and forced him to work indoors instead of outside. Perhaps he should have accepted Shino's offer and wore the Aburame's spare sunglasses.

Sighing a bit in defeat, the genin reeled his thought back to his mission. "Ok, let's do this… Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." The young man whispered before a dozen copies of himself manifested around him. "Ok guys, spread out and inform me as soon as you find any clue about their whereabouts." The blond commanded.

The group of clones nodded in understanding before fanning out in every direction.

Meanwhile, the real Naruto started his own search as well, dispatching any oblivious guard who had the misfortune of standing his path as he quickly moved through the castle. By now, Shino would have reunited with Lee, which mean that the two of them were probably engaging Snow's forces directly, and while the pair were great fighters, Yukigakure's technology was a wild card that they could not possible account for or plan around. So the quicker Naruto found Sakura and others, the less time the Snow ninjas would have to use some sort of device that would screw everything up.

As the genin continued to run through the stronghold's halls, he sensed that one of his clones dispelled himself as his memories rushed into his head. A grin appeared on the young man's face as he learned of the dungeon's location. Making a right at the next turn, Naruto rushed towards his captured teammates.

A pair of well aimed shuriken took care of the guard in charge of the elevator and a few seconds later the blond was descending towards the dungeon. "Sakura!" He called out a soon as the elevator stopped. "Neji…! Tenten!" He shouted as he started checking cell after cell.

"Naruto?!" The pink haired girl's voice answered a few cells ahead. "Is that you?" She asked.

Immediately, the spiky haired boy rushed towards the voice. "Sakura! Are you guys alright?!" He asked as he looked down at the two kunoichi sitting inside the cell with a weird, metallic device strap around their bodies and noticing that they both looked exhausted.

"You guys really did come after us…" The older girl commented as the blond broke the prison's lock and opened the door. "Thank you…" She added.

"What are those things?" Naruto asked, pointing at the strange devices attached to the two girls as he knelt in front of them.

"They're some sort of chakra absorption restraints." Sakura answered. "We can't mold chakra with these things on us."

Slowly, Naruto brought his hand up towards the Haruno and placed it on what he believed to be the device's lock. Already he could feel a small electric current coming from the object. "This might hurt." He said before gathering chakra in his and abruptly yanking the braces away from the girl.

There was a small electric discharge from the device, but nevertheless is gave way and came off the kunoichi's body.

"Better?" The young man asked, receiving a nod from his pink haired teammate as he turned towards the older genin and repeated the process. "Where's Neji?" The boy now asked.

Tenten rubbed her arms as the metal bindings fell off her body. "Behind you." She answered. "He was able to break free from the device… So the strapped a bunch more on him... And he has been unconscious since then." She revealed with her voice filled with worry.

Naruto turned around and, immediately, his sapphire eyes frowned at the sight in front of them. Neji lay down in on the floor of his cell completely out cold.

Quickly, the Uzumaki moved towards the opposing cell, busted the door open, and proceeded to tear all the restraints off the Hyuuga. Unfortunately, unlike the girls, the chunin did not wake up.

"Where are Lee and Shino?" It was Sakura's turn to ask as she and Tenten stood up and exited their cell while Naruto picked Neji up.

"They're outside keeping everyone busy." The blond responded as he started to lead his teammates towards the elevator.

As the machine started to ascend, the spiky haired boy received the memories of another one of his clones. "Do you know where they are keeping Yukie?" Tenten asked him at that moment.

A smirk appeared on the boy's face. "As a matter of fact, I just learned her location." He answered as the elevator reached its destination. As the girls exited the platform, Naruto created a new Shadow Clone and gave him Neji's body to carry. "My clone will lead you out while I go get her." The spiky haired boy said. "Just wait with Shion there until we get back." He added.

Those words got a reaction from the pink haired girl. "Wait…? Shion?! You brought the priestess with you?!" She asked in bewilderment.

Naruto fought the impulse to roll his eyes at his teammate's outburst and instead he merely shrugged his shoulders. "You try to get her to stay put." He simply said. Quickly, the young man ran off ahead before Sakura could say anything else.

Shion tapped her finger on her arm impatiently as she was forced to wait things out in the cave while the others were out there risking their lives. "You wouldn't happen to know how things are going." She asked her two bodyguards at the entrance of the cave.

To keep her safe, or more accurately to keep her out of trouble, Naruto and Shino had left a Shadow Clone and a Bug Clone respectively to guard her.

"It doesn't really work that way…" The blond answered.

"I can receive some general commands, but not an actual account of how the battle is faring." The brunette elaborated as he pushed his sunglasses up, exactly as the real Aburame would have done.

For her part, Shion simply groaned from her seat. The priestess hated being stuck in the cave like this, especially since, as long as she was trap here, she would be unable to accomplish the one thing that had led her to sneak on board that ship.

All of the sudden, the Aburame clone perked up. "What is it?" The spiky haired boy immediately asked.

"I am being called…" The brunette answered. "The battle might be tougher than we have expected…" He added.

A gasped escaped the blond girl at the clone's words as dread started to instantly well up in her.

"Then go." Naruto's Shadow Clone said in responds.

The Bug Clone regarded his comrade for a second. "Are you sure?" He asked.

A pair of sapphire colored eyes glanced at the priestess for a fraction of a second before turning back to the brunette. "Yes, go!" He exclaimed.

With a nod, the Aburame disintegrated into a swarm of bugs that immediately flew out of the cave.

The two blondes were left behind in awkward silence for several minutes until the Shion walked towards the spiky haired boy and sat next to him. "Everything is going to be fine… Right?" She asked, looking for reassurance.

Sighing a bit, the Shadow Clone sat down as well. "Yeah, I'm sure that everything is going to turn out alright." He said. "I've seen both of their strengths first handed… Well, the real Naruto has… But I know how strong they are, and those Yuki ninja don't stand a chance." The young man added as he offered the girl a smile.

"But… What about you…?" Shion then asked. "Is the real you going to be ok?"

A small scoff escaped the clone. "Of course! Do you even have to ask?" He responded. "The fact that I am standing here means that the real Naruto is doing just fine." The spiky haired teen revealed.

Nodding, Shion went quiet and the awkward silence returned to the cave.

"Hey, Shion…" The Naruto clone suddenly started. "Why did you sneak onto the ship?" He asked. "It's something that has been bugging Naruto all this time. Why would you put yourself in danger like this?"

The Demon Country priestess looked at the other blond but remained silent for several seconds before responding. "It's… It's because…" She started to say, but hesitated. "Do you… Promise not to tell anyone? Even the real Naruto?" She asked.

A short laugh escaped the clone. "Sure, I'll take it to my grave… Which in my case would be when I get dispelled." He said, deciding not to tell the girl about a particular feature of Shadow Clones like him.

Satisfied with the answer, Shion took a deep breath and begun to talk. "You see… I have this special… Power, I guess you can call it, which lets me see into future." The young woman revealed. "It might sound great out of context, but this ability is focus solely on seeing the death of people who are around me." She added.

Sapphire eyes widened at the revelation.

"At any moment, I can see someone in close proximity to me die and pretty soon the vision will come true… It has never failed… Until I met you… Or I should say the real you." Shion said as she looked straight into the clone's eyes. "A couple of months ago I saw a vision of a blond boy I didn't know dying to protect me… I did not think much of it at the time; because it had not been the first time that it happened… But night after night I kept having the same vision, yet that boy was nowhere to be found." She explained.

"And then you met Naruto at the movie set." The clone correctly guessed.

The priestess nodded. "That's why I acted the way I did towards Naruto… After years of visions of death, I had become numb about the whole thing, but with Naruto, after watching him die for months, everything became real again and I… Lashed out at him because of that… And I'm sorry about that." The young woman apologized as her gaze dropped. "Then, the vision came true. A part of the movie set came down towards me and was suppose to kill Naruto… Except, that it didn't… Naruto stopped it with that chakra avatar of his. Something he didn't have in my visions." She continued.

The clone remained quiet. He knew that the girl was not finished yet.

"At first I was ecstatic. Naruto was alright and, finally, one of my visions had failed… But almost immediately afterwards, I had a new vision." Shion said.

"Of Naruto dying again?" The spiky haired boy correctly deduced again.

Once more, the blond girl nodded, but then hesitated a moment before starting again. "The thing about my vision is that… They not only show the death of people around me… But they always die… Protecting me." She divulged with obvious guilt in her voice. "But this new vision was not about me… Instead, he would die in a snowy field protecting Kazahana Koyuki." She said.

Again, the priestess words left the clone astonished as the picture finally started to become clear.

"When we found out that Fujikaze Yukie was actually Kazahana Koyuki and Naruto stated that he was going to follow them here, to Snow Country, I realized that the vision was in route of becoming true." She said. "But that's when I realized that I wasn't in the vision… It was just Naruto and Yukie… So I thought that me being here, next to him, could somehow protect him from this fate… I just… I just don't want Naruto to die…" Shion finally admitted as tears threatened to fall down her amethyst colored eyes.

The Shadow Clone could not help but smile as he lifted one of his hands and patted the priestess head. "Don't worry… Getting out of situations that were supposed to kill him is what Naruto does best." He reassured her.

Shino panted as he jumped out of his opponent's range. So far, their plan had been going pretty well. Despite the Snow shinobi's strange gear, the Aburame and the taijutsu user had been able to fight them off reasonably well. That, however, changed by the arrival of two new adversaries with more advanced armor.

Jumping again, the bug user saw several kunai come down where he had been standing. Instantly, the blue marbles attached to them exploded into a torrent of ice spikes. "Are you going to keep running away from me?" A pink haired kunoichi asked with a smirk on her face.

Behind his glasses, the Aburame's eyes narrowed. Kakuyoku Fubuki, his current opponent, had put him completely in the defensive, sending attack after attack. It had even forced the young man to recall the bugs he had left guarding Shion. The worst part was that the Leaf genin was not overly familiar with Ice Release and he was still practicing the use of Fire nature chakra.

"What? You are not a talker?" Fubuki asked with a fake pout. "Those two over there haven't shut up since they started fighting." The woman commented as she signaled to the other end of the battlefield.

Sure enough, Lee and his own opponent, Fuyukuma Mizore, continuously charged at each other shouting stuff like "I'm going to win!" and "I'm going to beat you!" Over and over again.

It seemed that the older genin had found his own way to fight against the Yuki nin by simply powering through with sheer force and speed. "Well, it's not much of a conversation." Shino commented.

In the brief moment of distraction, the Snow kunoichi quickly formed a series of hand seals. "Hyoro no Jutsu!" She exclaimed as she slam her hands on the snow.

Acting on instinct, Shino jumped again right before a column of ice sprouted from the floor. Unfortunately, the ice grew too quickly and it managed to encase one of the Leaf ninja's feet before he could get away.

"Got you!" Fubuki exclaimed as she threw a new barrage of kunai at the captured boy.

However, as soon as the blade's touched the genin, they simply flew right pass through as the body disintegrated into a swarm of bugs.

"What?!" The kunoichi shouted as she started looking around. "When did he…? Where is he now?" She asked.

Suddenly, Shino and a clone jumped out of the snow on opposite sides of the woman, both with a kunai on their hand.

Fubuki brought her arms ups to block the attack with her armor and pushed the boy and his copy back. A growled escaped the woman as she prepared a new attack. "Hyoton: Tsubame Fubuki!" She exclaimed before a barrage of ice in the shape of swallows shot out of the ground and flew towards the pair of brunettes.

Shino and his clone ran in different directions, forcing the kunoichi to choose between the two targets. The woman decided on the boy to the left and commanded her frozen flyers to chase after him and come crashing down on the young man.

Once more, Shino simply crumbled into bugs.

Cursing under her breath as her frustration grew, the Ice ninja ordered the ice swallows to become airborne again and chase after the real Leaf shinobi. However, before her attack could reach him, the insects from the clone had already made their way back to their master and formed a barrier to protect him from the barrage. "Damn it! Fight me!" Fubuki roared as she sent more kunai and ice swallows at the Aburame's direction.

For his part, Shino continued to dodge the attacks as best as he could and use his bugs as a shield when he could not. "Kiba would hate what I am doing, but…" The young man thought to himself as he leaped out the range of another ice spike explosion.

"Stop running, you coward!" The kunoichi screamed. Suddenly, the pink haired woman stopped moving as her armor seized up. "What…?" She was about to ask when sparks and smoke started to come out her armor. "What is happening?!"

Shino walked calmly towards his bewildered and helpless opponent. "That would be my doing." The genin revealed as bugs started to come out of the woman's armor. "I had no effective way to fight your Ice release, so my best option was to attack your armor… I planted those bugs when I attacked you directly earlier." The young man stated. "I had to stall for time until they did their work."

Fubuki managed to give her opponent a look of fear mixed with hatred before brunette send a kunai with a explosive tag at her. The moment the weapon and the pinkette's armor touched, they exploded and she disappeared in fire and smoke.

The Aburame watched what was left of his opponent for a couple of seconds before pushing his sunglasses up and turning towards the direction of his teammate's fight.

Lee's bandages had come loose on his right arm. "Daisan Seimon Kai!" The taijutsu user shouted before his skin turned dark red. "Tsuchi no Fuin!" He added as his right arm started to glow. With impressive speed, especially considering all the snow, the Leaf nin charged at his opponent. "Konoha Oame!" Lee exclaimed as he jumped at the Snow ninja and sent a flurry of punches at the man.

Mizore brought his armored arms up to protect himself, but soon enough the man's protection gave way to the younger ninja's onslaught, which buried the Snow ninja deep into the frozen ground from where he would never get back out.

"I told you that I was going to win." Lee pointed as he panted before he started to make his way towards his teammates. "What do we do now, Shino-kun?" He asked.

"We do not know if Naruto has found the others yet…" The Aburame answered. "We need to keep their attention here so that he…" The genin's words were cut short by the sudden sound of clapping.

A man in Yukigakure armor applauded as he walked towards the two Leaf ninja. "I have to admit, I am quite surprised. I never expected Fubuki and Mizore to be done in by a couple of brats." The lilac haired man commented. "But now is time to get serious." He added as he did a hand seal.

Immediately, the snow around the two boys seemingly came alive.

Koyuki sat anxiously in her room. There had been a lot of noise not too long ago, but now everything had gone silent again, which for some reason made her very nervous.

All of the sudden, people outside the door were shouting. "Hey! Who goes there?!" Someone exclaimed.

There were more sounds of running and struggling until a voice called out again. "Yukie, if you're in there, move away from the door!"

Koyuki gasped as she recognized the voice that call out her actress name, but she could not possible believe that she was hearing it, let alone in here.

Despite the girl's disbelief, an unconscious Yukigakure guardsman came busting through the door and, in its threshold, stood the spiky haired blond from the Leaf village. "Na… Naruto…?" The princess asked still unsure of what she was seeing.

The blond gave the young woman a confused look. "Geez, you look like you are seeing a ghost." Naruto commented. "Is it that hard to believe that I would cross an entire sea to come rescue you?" He added with a smirk.

Shaking her head to try and regain her composure, Koyuki stood up and walked towards the genin. "But why? You were only hired to protect me in the movie set… Not to launch an entire rescue operation." She said.

The smirk on the boy's face softened into smile. "I told you already… You are my favorite actress in all the ninja nations… I wasn't going to let some crazy uncle take you hostage just like that." Naruto revealed. "No matter what happens, I'm going to protect you from him." He declared as he extended one of his hands.

Standing in front of the confident young man, the actress felt tears swelling up on her eyes. Ever since her initial escape from Snow Country all those years back, the princess had done the utmost not to rely on others in any significant way, but, after all that she had gone through in the last couple of days, hearing the spiky haired boy make a statement like that overwhelmed her in a profound emotional. "Thank… Thank you." She said as she grabbed hold of the genin.

"Let's go, Yukie." Naruto said.

"Koyuki… Call me, Koyuki." The older girl said with a smile.

The pair started to make their way out of the fortress, running pass the guard that had been taken out in the blonde's wake, until they reached the grand hall. "I am hurt that you are leaving like this, Koyuki…" Kazahana Doto said as he entered from the other end of the room.

A gasped escaped the young woman at seeing her uncle for the first time since he betrayed her father.

"I take it that's your uncle…" Naruto said, receiving a nod of confirmation as a responds as he put himself between the princess and the usurper.

Doto was a large, broadly built man, with long dark hair and a square face. He wore a ornate robe, fitting of the station he stole.

Having learned what the man in front of him had done from Sandayu, the spiky haired boy did not waste any time and started to form hand seals. "Don't worry, Koyuki, he won't be able to hurt you again... Kakougan Kangoku no Jutsu." He said before slamming his hand onto the floor.

Immediately, four walls sprout out around the daimyo, trapping him. "Well, Leaf shinobi are more aggressive than I remember." The man casually commented from inside his prison before the granite walls suddenly started to crack.

Soon enough, all four broke and crumble down into dust. However, the sight that greeted Doto through the cloud was that of the young ninja and his clone coming at him with their attack ready. One blonde's hand was on fire while the other blond carried a sphere of chakra.

"Houyoku!"

"Rasengan!"

The pair called out as they slammed their jutsus onto the older man. The explosion that followed was strong enough to dispel the Shadow Clone and push the real Naruto back.

Koyuki herself had to cover her face to protect her from all the dust that was blown in every direction.

"That's some impressive chakra you have there, young man." Doto's voice commented from inside the cloud of smoke.

As the dust settle, the actress gasped at the sight of her uncle completely unharmed after a direct hit by the blond. The only thing that the attack had caused was to burn away the usurper's robe and revealing the high-tech black armor that he man wore underneath.

"So those are the armors Sandayu-san was talking about…" Naruto observed. "Let's see if they live up to the hype… Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" He called, breathing a fireball at the man across the room.

From within the flames, the silhouette of Kazahana Doto continued to stand tall. The mere sight of it caused Koyuki to take a step back in fear.

"It's a shame to waste that chakra." The daimyo said as he extended one of his arms and a device shot out from his wrist and through the flames, impaling itself on the Leaf genin's body before he could dodge it.

Naruto glanced down at the devise that dug into his body. "This is the same thing you put on Sakura and the other… To drain their chakra…" The blond commented through gritted teeth. "But you'll find that I am a far tougher prey to capture!" He declared. Chakra started to visibly leak out of the young man and, for a brief second, Koyuki could have sworn she saw a flash of orange in the blonde's eyes before the device seemingly short-circuited and fell off.

"My… That is impressive." Doto stated. "Tell me, what is your name, young man?" He asked as he started to walk forward.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto." The Leaf nin answered. "And I'm the guy who is about to kick your ass!" He declared.

Both ninja and daimyo charge at each other with weapon and armored fist ready. However, before they could clash, the spiky haired boy was shot from all side of the room.

"No!" The princess screamed as she watched the machines that had targeted her protector returned to their hiding place inside the castle walls. Immediately, Koyuki rushed towards the blond who had fallen onto the floor. "Naruto… Naruto… Answer me!" She begged, but the blond merely continued to writhe in pain with five of the chakra draining devices attached to his body.

Hyoro no Jutsu – Ice Prison Jutsu

Hyoton: Tsubame Fubuki – Ice Release: Swallow Blizzard

Daisan Seimon Kai – Third Gate of Life Open

Tsuchi no Fuin – Earth Seal (Made up)

Konoha Oame – Heavy Leaf Rain (Made up)

Kakougan Kangoku no Jutsu – Granite Prison Jutsu (Made up)

Houyoku – Phoenix Wingbeat (Made up)

Goukakyuu no Jutsu – Great Fireball Jutsu

Kisame – Grrr…

Itachi – Are you still angry about the intro?

Kisame – I'm not talking to you.

Itachi – It's funny how you think that's a punishment for me.

Shikamaru – Huh? I don't recall this chapter feeling so rushed…

Itachi – Yeah, that's because it was originally more paced out, but Phoenixsun wants to wrap things up soon, so…

Shikamure – So breakneck speed pacing… Troublesome.

Itachi – Pretty much… Anyways, thanks to those of you that review the previous chapter and I hope to see all you again next time for PHD's chapter 39: Seven Color Dream.