Chapter 48

Naruto batted away Yagura's water dragon with merely a wave of his hand. 

The sight had left Yagura's closest ninjas stunned before they all rushed him. 

Twenty against one were difficult odds for most. 

Against Naruto, the difficult odds would be for the twenty. 

A Yellow flash brighted the office space for half of a second and all the twenty shinobi found themselves on the floor, some writhing from the pain of broken bones, some already unconscious before they even landed. 

Naruto cracked his neck, as if just preparing for a warm up. 

Yagura seethed. 

No one disrespected Kiri in such a manner. He was just like those bloodline purrists he demanded killed. 

He drew the power of the three tails from him. 

"You made a mistake," He simply stated. 

Naruto shrugged. "I apologise if I interrupted your tea time."

That set Yagura off. 

With a speed unmatched by any in Kiri, he dashed forwards, air jutting out from behind him like a small hurricane. 

To Naruto, he may as well have crawled to him. 

He dodged the kick thrown at him by stepping to the side, making Yagura miss by the slightest of margins. 

It was enough for him to grab the smaller man's garment and reverse his momentum, tossing him out of the window with a responding crash. 

Kushina and Mei waited for him outside. 

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Naruto watched as Kushina and Mei battered around Yagura with their teamwork. The two veteran shinobi knew how to work around one another just by sparring a few times over the past few weeks. 

Against one of them, Yagura could have managed to hold his own. Against both, he was a practice dummy. 

Naruto watched and remained vigilant in case anything went wrong. 

He felt that something was off but he didn't know what it was. 

It was like the universe was warning him. 

And so, he kept himself free, allowing Kushina and Mei to do their work. 

He scanned the surroundings with his senses. 

Nothing. 

He glanced back at Yagura, who was being battered by Mei's lava attacks and restrained by Kushina's chains. 

The fight was almost over. 

Or so he thought. 

With one last desperate attempt at winning, Yagura unleashed his bijuu chakra…

…only to find that it did nothing against the chains. 

Uzumaki's were made to contain Bijuu's. 

He roared in defiance. 

"Fine!" he shouted. 

Before Naruto could think of what he meant, Yagura expanded, stretching the chains like taut and growing exponentially larger. Then he popped. 

It was from a mess of blood and gore that Isobu began to emerge. 

And yet even still, they had contingencies in place for the sudden escapes of bijuus. 

Kushina got out her Gedo Mazo statue and with a few hand signs, the emerging Isobu began to be sucked into the statue. 

"NOOO!!!" He screeched and with his senses, Naruto could tell that he was affected by a genjutsu to the level that could turn even Kurama mad. 

He did not like that. 

"Be free," he commanded, and like peeling off a leech from a host, Isobu's eyes began to clear.

But before Naruto could finish his jutsu, an all too familiar jutsu appeared behind Kushina. 

The head of a venus flytrap rose from the ground. 

Zetsu. 

With him, dashed three Akatsuki members. 

Kisame Hoshigaki. Itachi Uchiha. Kakuzu. 

All of them head straight towards Kushina.

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Casualties had come in at a rate where had Sakura been who she was when she came to Kiri, she'd have no business in keeping up. 

After spending that night with Naruto…along with multiple more the last two weeks, she kept up with ease. 

Her chakra capacity grew by leaps and bounds to the point where it wasn't even a comparison to the amount she had before. 

And to think that she was so upset all those long months ago with the capacity she had…she would have laughed at herself then. 

It was a good thing that Naruto came into her life, even though it was because of the bond he shared with his world's version of her. 

She made a promise when she'd learned of his story. She wanted to exceed that Sakura in every way possible. Considering that the ninja's in his world horrifically started at 13, she had a lot to catch up on. 

Now that she knows about the absolute cheat that was Naruto's seed…well liked her chances a lot better now. 

"All healed up," she said as she moved on to another crying patient. 

Pinkett was on her shoulder now, no longer hidden underneath her blouse in front of the civilians. She'd missed her old qipao and was currently wearing a locally made dress. She liked it too but her red attire was so distinctly her that it was hard to not go back to it. 

Plus she liked the way Naruto looked at her when she wore it. Nostalgic. Admiration. Hungry. 

Sakura caught her thoughts from straying too far. 

Just in time to sense an attack coming from behind her. 

She gracefully dodged and gripped the offending hand that tried to end her life. 

She sometimes hated when Naruto was right. 

Because the hand she was holding belonged to none other than Ao, Mei's trusted advisor. 

Haku was there a moment later, waiting for the attack to come. Sakura had simply volunteered as bait, proving the skill necessary to do so. Haku had trusted her judgement. 

Now, the ice-wielder was defending her against her attacker with an expertise that was befitting one of Naruto's students. 

Ao, however, was no slouch either. 

Sakura did not worry though, for they had overprepared. 

The swing of Kubikiriboucho reigned from above as Ao found that he was pretty much hopeless in every way possible. 

Yet the veteran remained disciplined and kept a calm head. 

"I see that I've been seen through," he simply stated, almost in acceptance. 

"Should've been quieter," Zabuza muttered. 

"I didn't need your help," Haku snarled, showing emotion that was so rare on her. 

Zabuza ignored her and rested the butt of his sword on his shoulders. "That Hagoromo Naruto sure is terrifying if he could see through even this."

Ao narrowed his eyes. 

Despite their bad history, the two former duo fought against Ao with precision and teamwork only gained after years of working together. 

Sakura suspected that Haku probably hated every bit of it. 

Still though, Sakura was glad that Naruto's predictions came true. She knew not to take it for granted, for things may go south at any moment in time. She would do as she was taught–remain vigilant no matter when or where. 

Then, as if Kami had scoffed at her, the chakra flaring of three incredibly strong shinobi's entered her senses. 

From the tensing of Haku and Zabuza's posture, the detected it too. 

It was the presence of at least S-ranked individuals. 

It seemed that things were about to go sideways. 

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Naruto treated threats seriously. 

Threats to himself, he'd overcome. 

Threats to his friends, he'd defend them from. 

Threats to his mother?

The same mothers that he'd lost and just gained back?

He'd annihilate them. 

That was the rage that went through his mind as he dashed in front of the three S-ranked shinobi and caught Kisame's sword, Samehada, with his palm. 

Kisame laughed, as if he'd just witnessed someone do the dumbest thing he'd ever seen them do in his life. 

Quickly, Samehada drained him, and yet to Naruto, it felt as if it was a dog lapping up the waters of the ocean. No matter how hard it tried, it would never affect his massive reserves. 

Even still, he would take no chances against these threats. 

Three entire Akatsuki members have shown up in front of him. 

They will not escape him alive. 

At least, most of them. 

He'll try and capture Itachi if possible. 

"Deal with the Sanbi, Kushina, I will handle them," Naruto commanded. 

His voice left no room for argument as Kushina could only nod and scowl at the three. 

Itachi and Kakuzu dashed past him…or at least they tried to as they found themselves rooted to the spot. 

"That's Kisame Hoshigaki!" Mei warned, "He's an S-ranked. You can't take him and all of them at once!"

Mei tried to dash forwards and helped but she was also rooted to the spot due to another different reason.

Naruto breathed. 

And his chakra eclipsed the world. 

It was so dense that it filled the air, making it heavier and walking through it would be like wading through mucus. 

If Mei had been terrified of Naruto Hagoromo before, she would have been catatonic if she'd felt this from him when they first met. 

Even the three Akatsuki members looked like they'd just realised that they were the ones going into this fight as the underdog. The severe underdog.

They couldn't believe it. 

Not even their leader, Pain, came close to half of this man's presence. 

"You've made a mistake today, Akatsuki," Naruto said and his voice sent beads of sweat down the three's faces.

He knew of them. 

That meant that he was prepared in some way. 

That meant that their chances of triumphing…no surviving against this monster was even lower than they realised. 

As if handling a disobedient child, Naruto turned his gaze from them.

This was normally when the three would destroy the one who dared to take eyes off of them, even for a millisecond, much less three full ones. It was like there were ninja wires that surrounded them, and a single twitch of their muscles would end their life. 

Naruto gazed at the rampaging Isobu, who Kushina was trying hard to contain. 

Mei almost shook at what she saw next. 

"Isobu," Naruto commanded and like an obedient dog, voice ringing out like the gong of a bell. The giant bijuu's attention snapped towards him, the madness in his eyes like an illusion washed away by a storm of power. "Be still"

And the three-tails listened. 

Naruto turned back to the Akatsuki. 

Kisame, who was closest to him, watched in horror as Samehada, his beloved legendary sword of the mist, slowly turned to stone. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. 

That was what broke his stupor. 

He leapt away, like a rat making a daring escape from the jaws of a tiger. 

He tried to save the situation, to use his most powerful form to gain an advantage. He wasn't called the no-tailed beast for a reason. 

But when he landed a distance away, he found that his legs were no longer under him. 

They were gone.

Just like that. 

He screamed in agony but with the experience of an S-ranked, he turned to Itachi and swore at his partner. "Anytime now!" 

Itachi, however, remained frozen. 

From the widening of his eyes, Kisame knew that he was trying to put their foe in his fabled Tsukuyomi, a place of infinite dreams and a place where the Uchiha had all the control in the world to break a person's mind. 

It was a jutsu that terrified even him.

And yet, as he watched Itachi slowly shake his head in disbelief. 

He could barely believe his eyes. 

They were Akatuki. 

S-rank missing-nin that were each powerful enough to topple an entire nation if they wanted to. 

And yet they stumbled upon an opponent who made them look like children. 

Kisame knew the story behind big fishes in small ponds being blind to the dangers of the ocean. He was a shark contractor for Kami's sake. And yet this…threat…this predator…where the fuck had he come from?

Itachi and Kakuzu focused.

They may be going against a force of nature. But they were still veterans. They would at least try and survive. 

Itachi blazed his hand signs, but chillingly, mid way through, Naruto appeared in front of him. The man's bandaged hand clamped Itachi's together just as he was on the tiger sign. 

Itachi froze once more, though his face remained stoic. 

Yet his mask cracked when the blonde haired mad said his next words. 

"I have no room for love to people who commit mass genocide, no matter the reason, but I've made a promise to your mother. Be glad for her love for you," Naruto said. 

He tapped Itachi on the forehead and he was out like a light. There was none of his powerful abilities. No amaterasu, no Susanoo, no Izanami.

Like a child being put to sleep, he slumbered with all but a gesture. 

He disappeared into thin air just a moment later. 

They were fucked. 

Kisame knew it.

His sword was broken. His legs were gone. 

And Kakuzu was a coward who would abandon them.

They were fucked. Truly and Utterly. 

So their final plan of escape had to be called and they had to retreat in shame. 

"Zetsu!" Kakuzu cried out, panicked as Naruto was turning his blindfolded gaze towards him. 

The venus fly trap of a man appeared from the ground, two of them behind each Kisame and Kakuzu, prepared to pull them back safely. 

Yet he, too, turned as still as a statue the moment he appeared. 

Kisame cursed, even their last hope was fucked. 

"Child of Kaguya, you are unworthy of this world, and much less of my gaze," the whisker-marked man said, "be gone from my sight."

With a force that turned both into flattened pancakes, the Zetsu clones disintegrated into the air, leaving nothing but a red mist and a disc of human flesh and bone. 

Naruto gazed behind him once more, and Kisame followed his line of sight. What he saw was utterly ridiculous. 

They were almost using the same technique as the Akatsuki were when sealing the beasts. 

The Sanbi had just been done getting sucked into a miniature Gedo Mazo statue.

He turned back to Kakuzu who split himself apart to use his vast amounts of jutsu. 

Kisame watched as he tried to flail against infinity. 

"Five hearts," Naruto said, "Five deaths."

"I cannot die, I am IMMORTAL," Kakuzu screeched, crazed in the face of death. 

An energy ball appeared in Naruto's hand. One that glowed and looked like a million strings of chakra compacted into a single point. 

Then wind began to gather, attaching itself into what would be Kakuzu's doom. 

"Rasenshuriken," Naruto said as he casually tossed a ball into one of Kakuzu's hearts. 

It shredded apart any and all jutsu Kakuzu used to block it, and followed when he tried to run. The resulting impact was devastating as it was absolute. 

Four more of the nightmarish jutsu flew to the other hearts and the results were just the same. 

In the end, not even a speck of dust was left of Kakuzu. 

And he was next. 

Eerie blindfolded eyes turned to him like the judgement of Kami himself. Kisame already knew he was going to hell from the life he'd lived. He'd spent so long trying to escape death that when it came, he wasn't ready. 

They hadn't been sent to battle today. 

They were sent to an execution. 

Naruto turned to Mei, who watched his so-called 'battle' with a dazed expression. 

Kisame could not blame her, for he, too, would have done the same in her place. 

"He is a missing-nin of Kiri," Naruto said, "He is yours to do as you please."

That snapped her out of her daze. 

"I'm sorry?" She asked before his words registered in her mind. "Ah I see."

She shakily walked towards the freshly amputated body of Kisame. 

He sneered at her. 

She drowned him in lava. 

That was his end. Painful and terrible. 

He would accept it as he travelled to the beyond. 

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Ao could not handle Haku's ice mirrors, nor Zabuza's sword. 

But most of all, he could not handle her. The pink haired kunoichi who seemed far too different than when she initially came here. 

She was fast, agile and ridiculously strong. 

Her punches had to be evaded. 

He found out the hard way as he was missing an arm that tried to block one of her strikes. 

She was ruthless and fierce. 

She would have overwhelmed him even without the assistance of the other two shinobi. 

It was a mission failure. 

"Zetsu!" He called out.

…Yet nothing came. 

And the fist of Sakura Haruno turned his skull into mist. 

Zabuza gaped at the display, unable to hide his raised eyebrows. 

'Monsters, monsters everywhere,' he thought, feeling a bit lightheaded. 

The kunoichi could not yet be considered an S-rank threat but she looked like a fiercer and younger Tsunade, soon to be polished from her rough edges. 

Haku, who knew the source of Sakura's strength, could not help but be a bit jealous of the fact but she kept her composure throughout her onslaught. 

She knew first hand how dangerous Sakura Haruno was in their spars. As she was now? She was fatal in every way possible. 

"We're done here," She simply stated, brushing the blood from her fist. 

As per Naruto's instructions, no matter what happened, they were to sit their rears here, and Haku would rather face the entirety of Kiri alone than go against Naruto-sama's orders. 

Zabuza disappeared without saying another word. 

Sakura stayed still and tried to use her senses to the utmost of her ability, trying to figure out what was going on outside the confines of the medical tent. 

She believed in her mentor, and now, lover, but she couldn't help but worry. 

She didn't have to try hard at all as Naruto's presence expanded.

She gasped involuntarily. She'd never seen Naruto go all out, and she wasn't even sure that this was even the extent of his abilities. 

Yet it was like the sun had descended upon Kiri. 

Such was his presence. 

She was sure that every shinobi fighting today could feel it too, and react just as Haku was right now, tensing up and shivering. 

In the few minutes to come, the three large presences she felt initially flickered out one by one as if they were candle lights blown out by a gust of wind. 

She needn't have worried. 

Naruto could do more than handle himself. 

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