When a Maelstrom Goes West

Not much to say so I'll just get to it. Enjoy.

I don't own Naruto

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

'Attacks'

"Demon/Summon Talking"

*Actions or Sounds*

Kakashi and the others could help but stare up at amazement at the city they were heading towards. They were currently standing at the beginning of the eastern bridge connecting the mainland to Hoseki, it was just so different from Konoha that they couldn't help but admire it.

Seeing as part of the mission was reconnaissance they had ditched their standard shinobi attire and dressed as simple travellers/merchants. Kakashi had even ditched his mask in favour of a scarf that settled over his face. Hinata had contact lenses in as her pale eyes were rather rare except for Hyuuga and Kiba had blusher on to hide his fang marks. So far they had got this far unhindered but they were entering the capital of The West so they had to be careful.

What they didn't know, was they as soon as they stepped into The West they had been followed by Western ANBU through-out their whole journey.

Naruto sighed and set down another report. The number of probing attacks had grown in number, and they weren't performed but just Iwa either, a few Kumo squads had been seen and a number of Kiri ships have been sighted near the coastline.

Naruto rubbed his eyes for probably the tenth time in the last minute alone; he only looked back up when he felt a chakra signature enter his office. Kneeling on a knee before his desk was an ANBU captain, dictated by the Black beret he wore with the white stripe. He wore full black clothing, with standard ANBU styled pants, black sandals, short sleeved black t-shirt along with a black flak jacket peppered with pockets, and a half face mask with white markings detailing a snarling dragon. It was complemented by grey pouches for scrolls, kunai and shuriken, a tanto across his lower back and fingerless gloves that reach to his elbow along with grey almost back arm guards. This was the standard uniform for anyone in ANBU, the other levels of ninja had more relaxed taste in uniform but the same beret and flak jacket was present.

Naruto's eyes hardened immediately and he sat straight in his chair, "Report." He ordered in his 'Emperor' voice, dubbed loving by Injigo.

"Ten'no-sama, the 6 eastern shinobi have just crossed the eastern bridge and have entered the city. Your orders?" The ANBU spoke quick and to the point, still in his position kneeling on the floor.

"Keep following them for now, and wait to see what they're up to. If you so much as suspect any espionage being committed, apprehend them and bring them here. Understood?" Naruto ordered. The ANBU yelled a quick 'Hai' before disappearing in a black plume of smoke.

Naruto sighed deeply again before standing and walking to the balcony and stepped out into the fresh air. It wasn't long before he felt anther presence entre the room behind him. "And where have you been?" He questioned.

"Around." A voice answered simply. "I hear we're about to have guests."

"You hear correctly, 6 of them to be precise." They were both silent for a moment.

"You knew this would happen." The voice spoke, closer this time.

"Obviously. I would never be able to keep my past catching up to me. I just..." Naruto stopped abruptly and sighed again.

"You hoped it wouldn't be this soon?" The voice finished for him, now right next to him.

Naruto nodded mutely. "Will you stick around for the show?" He asked

"Of course I will." The voice chuckled, "I can't wait to see them eat their words."

Naruto chuckled as well.

Said group of guests were looking at a statue before them in solemn silence. It was made of simple bronze but what I depicted was what saddened them so. It appeared to be a memorial to the people lost in the war.

The centre piece was clearly a samurai by the armour he wore and the katana he held. He seemed to be shielding a child which could be seen hiding behind the man. A another man stood to the statues left, holding a pitchfork in the air and had his mouth open as if he was shouting something. And finally there was a man in the back. He was partially hidden by both the samurai and the farmer. All they could see was the military beret he wore and the half face mask, he was holding up a kunai in a ready position. It seemed that the west had shinobi as well, something to report then.

"Alright here's what we're going to do. We'll split up and gather any information we can and meet back here in 2 hours." Kakashi ordered, haven been given command of the mission. The others nodded and they all walked in different directions, never noticing the shadows themselves splitting to follow them.

(2 hours later)

After meeting back at the statue they walked to a nearby cafe to share their information, and plan on what to do next. "Right that's the last of it." Kakashi said as he finished writing on a scroll and proceeded to seal it on his forearm.

"What now?" Anko asked rather impatiently, nibbling on a plate of dango she had ordered.

"The smartest idea would be to try and see if we could get an audience with the emperor. It is the main reason for this mission anyway." Kurenai suggested.

"Why not just sneak in and force him to help us, he's probably just an old cripple who rose to power." Kiba wondered, never the one for diplomacy.

Hinata shook her head, "That would hinder our case rather than help it, besides that palace is probably the most defended place is this country." She reasoned.

Sakura nodded in agreement, "We do not need more enemies as it is. Should the west join in the war on Orochimaru's side we wouldn't survive to see the next month never mind becoming a vassal," Both girls ever the diplomats.

Kakashi looked between all the team members to gain their opinion on the matter before nodding in conclusion and signalled the waiter for another round of drinks.

There were many shinobi and samurai in the cafe with them; it seemed to be a popular place for them to relax, so when 5 shinobi with black berets and 3 samurai with red sashes entered together they weren't at all concerned. That however changed we they stopped and formed a perimeter around their table while waving off the waiter who had come to give them their drinks.

All noise in the cafe stopped as they watched the confrontation. "Konoha shinobi, by order of the Emperor you are under arrest on suspicion of espionage conducted against the Empire of the Golden Dragon. You will come with us willingly or you shall be subdued." One of the shinobi asked, this one had a white stripe on it beret compared to the all black of the others.

Kiba, unfortunately for the others looked like he wanted to fight his way out, however he was quelled when he received a glare from every single person in the cafe, and he realized just how out matched he was.

"Good choice," one of the shinobi muttered. No one was sure which but they understood the meaning behind it. They didn't have the upper hand here so it was better to co-operate for now.

They filed out of the cafe and were herded towards the palace at the top of the city. As they went past many passers stopped and looked at them, whispering between themselves. They were ignored however and soon the streets began to clear of civilians and began to fill with other shinobi and samurai, along with the occasional ashigaru.

They continued on, higher and higher, until they reached the ornate doors of the palace which was made of a black type of stone, it looked rather strong, made to beat back any attack on them. The door sentries opened the door for them as they neared and they walked seamlessly through. The entrance hall was very grand; the room itself was almost as large as the arena in the stadium back at Konoha. Large detailed columns held the ceiling up and were laid out as it to frame an imaginary path way through the room. Along the walls were pieces of art detailing this and that, for example a golden dragon fought alongside a suspiciously looking nine-tailed fox against an army larger than the city itself. Another depicted a grand battle between two sides, the size of the armies and colours suggested it was the same battle as before.

They were led to the side of the room where a big table sat where along with some more samurai stood waiting. Before they could even begin to protest, they were roughly restrained and the additional samurai set to work, discovering and then confiscating any hidden weapons on them. Once everyone had been checked their hands were bound together with ninja wire and they all felt a slap on their backs.

On a hunch Kakashi tried to access his chakra but found he couldn't even fell a glimmer of it no matter how hard he tried and his eye widened marginally. But that was it took for one of the shinobi to notice.

"Chakra seals. Surprised?" He said looking pointedly at Kakashi. He didn't need an answered to know he was. "Your village isn't the only one with knowledge of sealing." He continued cryptically.

Once that was all said and done, the white stripped shinobi nodded to the other shinobi, who bowed slightly before disappearing in black smoke, an apparent dismissal. The shinobi than led them through the palace halls with the samurai flanking them, making sure that they didn't do a runner. Not that would get far but that's not the point. Eventually after a lot of twists and turns they ended up at a single door in the entire hall way. The shinobi held up a hand and their party stopped before the man walked up to the door and knocked twice and slipped in moments later.

Naruto sat at his desk reading over a requisition order when there was a knock on the door. He didn't need the person on the other side of the door to state themselves; he had sensed them when they stepped a foot into the palace. With a withdrawn sigh, he place the order down and bid the man to enter, the ANBU captain did so moments later.

The shinobi walked forward and kneeled before Naruto as before, "Ten'no-sama I have brought the shinobi as you have requested if they were found gathering information. It is sealed into the grey haired one's forearm and I elected to let you deal with that. Your orders?" He reported without having to be asked.

Naruto nodded once to the shinobi, "You did well, bring them in but stay, after they are dealt with gather the council I will need to speak with them." He said before standing and walking to the balcony where his back was turned.

He heard shuffling behind him as the ANBU stood and then opened the door, footsteps followed soon after and eventually both stopped as the door closed and for a while all was quiet. "Why did you come here Konoha shinobi?" He asked, his voice cold and unforgiving.

When Kakashi entered the room he couldn't help but compare it the Hokage's back at Konoha and the similarities between the two but summed it up as a coincidence. When he gazed at the form of the emperor, that tingling feeling of familiarity at the back of his mind came to the forefront. And when his voice broke the silence that tingling became a roaring storm that he couldn't ignore, and it seemed the others felt it to. "Ten'no-sama we came as part of a delegation from Konoha to seek aid in the war against Orochimaru and the other shinobi nations that have allied with them." Kakashi spoke humbly.

"Does that include gathering information for your own purposes and, and I quote 'sneak in and force him to help us, he's probably just an old cripple who rose to power' hm? Not really helping your situation is it? Conspiring against a nation you want to help you." The emperor said, his back still turned, "Besides what would I get out of it that I do not already have, other than more bodies to bury?"

"We came to offer to become a vassal of your grand empire in return for protection." Hinata said.

The emperor chuckled, "My, you must really be desperate if even the Hyuuga are willing to let go of their independence." Hinata and the other immediately stiffened and the revelation that he knew. "Ha ha, yes I know who you are fools, you thought I didn't know?! You think that I wouldn't recognise the very people who hated me for simply existing?!" All the shinobi from Konoha froze at that proclamation.

"W-what." Kiba managed to stutter out.

The emperor whirled around to face them for the first time since they entered the room, "So tell me, why I shouldn't just let you BURN!" He growled looking into the eyes of his former compatriots for the first time in 8 years. Each had grown noticeably older between then and now, and the way they carried themselves just screamed shinobi, a stark difference from when he left. He guessed war would do that to you.

"Oh shit." The situation perfectly was summed up by Anko in two words.

"Kyuubi!" Kiba snarled and made to jump at Naruto regardless that he couldn't do anything with his hands tied and chakra sealed. He didn't get far however as the samurai standing behind him reacted faster and restrained him further before he could move a foot.

A large bellowing laugh echoed the room drawing their attention away from Naruto and towards corner of the room. In said corner lay a horse sized orange fox with glaring red eyes and...nine tails...fuck.

"Oh shit." The previous statement repeated, this time by Kurenai.

This caused the fox to release anther laugh at their horrified faces, "Ah that was good, I needed that. Thanks kit for letting me watch, now I'm hungry so I'll catch you later." He said as he stood and walked out the door, purposely displaying his nine dancing tails to the Konoha shinobi.

Once he left they turned back to Naruto with shocked looks on their faces, well Anko had a grin on but that's beside the point.

"Y-you're not...Kyuubi...?" Sakura managed to stutter out

"Halleluiah! Only took you 22 fucking years!" Naruto yelled throwing his hands in the air in apparent frustration.

"N-Nar-rut-o...I-" Kakashi was abruptly cut off.

"Save it Hatake." Naruto spat, "I've managed this far without you, I think I can manage a little longer." Naruto sighed and stretched to release some stress, "Heya Anko, how things?" Naruto asked with a smile on his face, turning to the only person in the room that he liked.

Anko smiled herself and shrugged, "Same old, I've suddenly got lots of prisoners to extract information from so there's that." She shuddered pleasurably.

Naruto grinned at her, "I bet." He turned back to the others, his cold apathetic mask slipping seamlessly into place, "Now what to do with you..." He said to himself he tapped his fingers against his leg in a random rhythm that he found helped him think. He nodded to himself as if coming to a decision. "Well it's your lucky day folks, I've decided that killing you, as nice as it would be, would just make more of a mess than I'm currently willing to clean so you get to stay in our premier holding cells right next to the T&I section so you can listen to their screams ALL~ night long. How does that sound?" He grinned at them, it wasn't the warm cheshire grin he used to give though, it was cold and unfeeling.

He suddenly clicked his fingers towards Kakashi. Said man was then brought to his knees by a swift kick to the back of his knees and found an arm wrapped tightly around his neck in a headlock. The others, bar Anko, tried to help but they were restrained in the same way immediately after. "Let's look at that arm shall we?" He said walking round the desk and towards Kakashi. He knelt when he got within reaching distance and stripped back Kakashi's left sleeve revealing the seal in his left arm.

Naruto inspected the seal for a few seconds looking for the 'key'. Kakashi shivered when he looked into his eyes, that analytical gaze reminded him so much for his sensei and his wife that it unnerved him seeing it in their previously sunny son. Naruto hummed to himself as he charged his index finger with chakra and pressed a specific point on the seal causing it to unravel before their eyes. Once it did the scroll sealed inside poofed into reality above it and was deftly caught by Naruto's swift hand.

He stood again waving a hand to the guards as he did so causing them to release let go the of leaf shinobi. As he walked back to his desk he opened and read through the scroll containing all the information that had acquired during their time in the city. "Not bad, good to see that your information gathering skills haven't slipped." He complimented before throwing the scroll over his shoulder as it burst into golden flames. "Not that it would serve you any good, but it's the thought that counts." He stared into the eyes of each shinobi before him, "Knows this, the West will not involve itself with the pettiness of the East, take that back to your council. Take them, I have nothing more to say." The guards bowed in acknowledgement and grabbed their wards before dragging them out the room.

Naruto held up a hand to the samurai guarding Anko and the man obediently stopped and stood back at a respectable distance. The others sent Anko worried looks but she ignored them. Naruto gestured towards a chair for Anko to take it, which she did. Naruto disappeared under the desk for a moment before popping up again, this time with two bottles of Sake and saucers to go with them. "Care for something to drink?" He asked, putting the items on the table.

Anko smiled but held up her bound hands with a shrug, "If you're willing to let me loose. Who knows how much trouble I'll cause?"

Naruto grinned good naturedly and held up a hand sign causing the wire to snap off Anko's wrists, who then rubbed them to get the feeling back. "So tell me, how are things really?" He asked filling the saucers with sake from one of the bottles.

Anko sighed, "Truthfully not well, after you left things have been getting harder since the villagers believe that they only need to be rid of me to achieve peace in the village no matter what I do. The fact that Orochimaru is pretty much the reason why we are in a war in the first place doesn't help." She explained after taking a sip of her drink. Naruto nodded in understanding. "I don't know what to do anymore, I'm slowly losing the few people that see me for me and I may love the village but it's not my home." She finished her sake and put down her saucer, which was quickly refilled.

The two sat in complacent silence for a while just drinking until both bottles were finished. Naruto stood and walked round the desk, "Let me have a look at that mark of yours." He said.

Anko tensed immediately and grabbed at her shoulder where mark was. But under the comforting gaze of Naruto she slowly relaxed and let him approach.

Naruto walked round behind Anko and drew back her coat exposing her seal to his eyes. For several tense minutes she sat there patiently as poked and prodded at the mark on her shoulder all the while mumbling underneath his breath.

After a minute or two of illegible mumbo jumbo, at least to Anko, Naruto stepped back and rubbed his chin. "I hate to say it but I see why they called him a genius…" He murmured as he walked over to a bookshelf along the wall.

"You can't remove it?" Anko said quietly, she sounded heartbroken.

Naruto chuckled, "I never said that." He fingered over the bookcase looking for something specific. "He may be smart but he's no seal master. The problem with the seal is that fact that it's multi layered and removing them one by one would most likely kill you or permanently leave you a potato." He abruptly stopped and pull a small black book from the shelf and started flicking though it while walking back to Anko, "Adding to the fact that the bastard has left a little piece of his soul in the seal makes this more complicated. However I have the cumulative knowledge of two of the best seal masters to live so this is really a walk in the park. Well for me any way." Naruto stopped on a page in the book looked at it for a moment before flicking a few more pages on and pressing two fingers to the page. A puff of smoke later and a seal tag appeared in his grip. "Of course it doesn't help that the mark is a small piece of the seal," He handed the tag to her, "Put that on," closing the book he put it back on the shelf, "So it will take a small while to make my own array to remove it but in the end worth it." He smiled at that.

Anko looked up from where she just finished putting on the seal tag. "Honestly?" She asked hope entering her voice. Naruto smiled and nodded again. "But Jiraiy-" She started before being cut off.

"Jiraiya may be a seal master by normal standards, but not by Uzumaki ones. There are 10 levels in the standard seal index, in the Uzumaki one there are 18. There is a reason why we were so feared." Naruto politely corrected her. He turned to the only samurai in the room, "Take her to one of the guest rooms, and get her a change of clothes and something to eat."

The samurai bowed and left with Anko trailing behind, giving Naruto a warm hug as a thank you. When they left Naruto went and sat back at his desk, he stared at the wood for a moment, just tracing the patterns before he let his head rock forward and smash into the desk with a loud thud. Things hadn't gone the way he planned, he just wanted the East to leave his fledgling Empire alone until they were ready. He wasn't naïve, not anymore, he knew they'd come. They were like that, greedy and arrogant. But by then they would be ready, right now was a different matter.

By this point with all the thoughts running through his head, he never heard the door open and close. He only noticed that someone else was in the room was when a pair of slender arm wrapped themselves around him.

He instantly recognized the embrace of his wife and lent into it letting her familiar warmth calm his racing mind. She always seemed to know just when he needed her, and he never thanked her enough for it.

There was a knock on the door and with a sigh they reluctantly broke their embrace. A servant poked her head in a moment later, "The council is ready for you Ten'no-sama" She informed before her head disappeared behind the door again.

Naruto looked at Injigo as if someone had just killed a puppy in front of him getting an amused smile from her. "Go on, start sorting this mess out. Just remember that we will support you in any decision you make. Afterwards go meditate in the gardens for a while; I'll work on the paperwork you have left so you can gather your thoughts." She offered with a loving smile.

Naruto smiled back at her before leaning in a stealing a quick peck on the lips from her as he stood from his seat and then walked to the council chambers, leaving the Empress to finish what he had started.

The emperor entered to an almost silent room as usual, however contrary to the standard meetings there seemed to a thick tension in the air; it really wasn't hard to know why. Naruto sat at his assigned seat and rested his hands on interlocked fingers. "I'm guessing you are already of the situation that occurred earlier today." He received varying methods of confirmation, "Good. Opinions?" He asked to the room.

The once quiet chamber erupted into noise as each person tried to come up with a solution to the issue at hand as Naruto listened to each of them with different levels of interest. The two biggest supported ideas were: 1. Do nothing and continue as they were. 2. As word would no doubt spread of the Konoha ninja arriving, and fearing retaliation from the AKC, ordering a pre-emptive strike on the biggest members. Of course there were those in between but those were the most important. Neither of which appealing to Naruto. The noise eventually died down as they waited for their leader to make a decision.

Naruto sat straight in his chair and looked at the assembled councillors in the eyes, "Thank-you for your input but I've decided. While we won't do nothing, we won't be doing something as drastic as a pre-emptive strike." He spoke, "Shinzo, Magobei." Both men sat straighter in their seats, "I want our land borders and sea lanes reinforced and reserves on notice." They both nodded, "Shiko, I want our spies on full alert; I want to know if an attack is happening weeks before it does. Tokuhei, I want you as a first response so keep your men and women alert at all times. Kojuro we are going to partial mobilisation, make sure everything is in order. Everyone else make sure your respective sectors are ready for the fallout should the worst occur." He ordered once everyone understood what was happening and their jobs, he dismissed them with him following out in short order.

The gardens of the palace were special in the way that they were made. As there was no real space to put them on an island city, Naruto compromised. At the centre of the palace sat a room, originally it was a very small room, no bigger than a cleaning cupboard, and so Naruto used his favourite tool. Seals. First he used them to make the room bigger, about the size of two arenas back in Konoha. Then he made seals to make the ceiling transparent to let the sun light in and other seals to generate a small breeze throughout the room. Afterwards it was child's play to add flower beds and other such commodities creating a beautiful and relaxing garden in the centre of the palace.

That is where we find our emperor at the moment. He sat in the seiza position on a mat in his own little corner of the garden, incense burned in front of him to create a nice calming aroma. He had been in this position for over an hour now and he was still no closer to solving his predicament then he was when it first arose, and it frustrated him greatly.

A strange pop echoed through the small clearing that he sat in causing him to open his eyes. He tilted his head downwards and noticed a small grey dragon with a serpent like body and a grey noodle moustache sitting in front of him sipping on a cup of tea, another sat closer to Naruto steaming slightly, clearly intended for him. "Kashikoi-sama? What are you doing here?" He asked confused. Kashikoi was one of eight dragon elders, the leader to be specific. The dragon elders while not overly powerful were incredibly wise having lived for centuries. Together they had taught him about the world that he couldn't learn from people or scrolls and books. But most importantly they taught him about the sage powers. A rather large boost to his already substantial capabilities but that really didn't really matter to him.

The small dragon gestured to the cup of tea before him and Naruto took the hint, taking the small cup he drank from the cup as he waited for the dragon before him to speak.

After a moment or two he finally did. "I could sense your trouble thoughts through the bond that we share my Gakusei." He spoke in a deep voice, it was gravely and hardened with experience from untold generations, yet kind and inviting, "Now what seems to be the issue?" He asked

Naruto sighed in reassignment and began explaining what had occurred in the past few hours. While he did so Kashikoi waited patiently for him to finish. "...I just don't know what to do right now in regards to Konoha, the rest of the EN is simple, all except of that Kami damned place." He finished with a growl.

Kashikoi waited still as Naruto took another sip of his tea, "It seems as though you still have yet to come to terms with your feelings regarding your birth place."

"You're wrong! I hate that place; they have done nothing but hate me just for existing!" He yelled defensively.

"And yet..." He said

Naruto slumped forward, decorum forgotten, "And yet there are people there I still care about: Tsunade, Shika and Shino, Shizune. The Ichiraku's to name a few, they're still there and it's their home too. Jiji died for the village, and so did my parents. I just can't let the past go, no matter how much you or others tell me." He said sadly. "I can't forgive, but I want to forget. I want to be better than them. Better than they'll ever be."

"And you are. Look at what you have created," He gestured around him, "With just a few seals and a bit of ingenuity you have created such a beautiful and peaceful place. But letting an entire village die because they were scared of what they didn't understand makes you no better than them, because you are scared of the feelings you don't understand either. You want to hate them, yet you cannot bring yourself to do so." He took a sip of what remained of his tea, "Show them that you are better than them by proving that you don't let your demons control you as they thought you did. Show me that you can finally bring peace to this war torn world by becoming at peace with yourself." He spoke passionately.

Naruto looked down at his lap and closed his eyes in thought. When he opened them again Kashikoi was gone along with the cups of tea, and although he cursed the small dragon for disappearing on him he was grateful for finally clear up his chaotic emotions. Standing up he smothered the incense and walked out the gardens heading to the first place where he could fix the problem.

He had some planning to do.

(End)

So that's done, again another filler chapter but I promise that the next one will start picking things up again.

If you haven't noticed it's the end of summer meaning the school year will be starting soon, which means that new chapters will have to be written when I have free time, and looking back on last year. That's not a lot. Well no matter I shall endevor to keep writing both this and TRT as often as I can so you can look forward to new chapters.

Bye!

-Red

Translations

Ten'no – Emperor

Kashikoi - Wise

Gakusei - Student