Chapter 10: Partners

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.

Blades clanged as two fighters danced around the training area, lightening fast slashes were made and dodged. Sweat flowed in streams as Naruto and Kentaro were having their last spar.

Ten months had passed since Naruto had begun his short tutelage under the sword master, and many times he had found himself tired, dirty and on the ground wondering just how an eighty year old man could kick a jounin's ass in a matter of minutes. The old man was a harder task master than even Jiraiya. During his stay, Naruto was forbidden to release his gravity seals and forced to wear weights on his arms and legs. Currently he had eighty pounds on his legs and sixty on his arms.

Kentaro had refused to teach Naruto a specific style; instead he had been advised by the old man to make his own kenjutsu style. Instead, Naruto was forced to train from dawn till dusk with only three breaks in between. Throughout his entire regime, he would perform diagonal slashes for an hour, then alternating with stabs for an hour and so on. The effects however were clearly evident as Naruto could now match the much older man. However with a lack of a proper style, Naruto was still at a disadvantage.

The battle remained at a stalemate till Kentaro touched his blade with a finger, causing his blade to start shimmering. Naruto in turn dropped his weights and reversed the grip on the sword in his left hand.

"Time to get serious Kentaro-sensei?"

Naruto's question was answered by a smirking Kentaro who burst forward with five illusions trailing behind him. Now that Naruto had fought the trickster, he knew that the Kentaro in the front wasn't real. The real Kentaro could anyone from the five. But before Kentaro could even reach his young student, Naruto found himself trapped in a fiery world. He found himself being lowered into a river of magma flowing beneath him. Recognizing this to be a genjutsu, Naruto tried to dispel it, only to find that he could move his body. Closing his eyes Naruto tried to stop his chakra flow. After what seemed like hours, he managed to dispel the jutsu. Naruto looked around to find his short term sensei; the entire clearing was devoid of activity.

Without any indication two hands shot up from the ground and tried to grab a hold of Naruto's legs. It was only out of reflex that Naruto managed to jump and back flip out of the way. Acrobatics was another thing Kentaro had forced Naruto to master. He still remembered how Kentaro had made him stand on a rope suspended twenty feet above the ground to build up his balance.

Before Kentaro could emerge from the ground Naruto did a few handseals and slammed his hands on the ground while shouting, "Earth Element: Swamp of the Underworld". Almost immediately the entire area near Kentaro turned into quicksand, sucking in the old swordsman. But that wasn't the only thing that the quicksand did, it also leached the chakra from the person trapped within.

Understanding that his chakra was being drained, Kentaro dissolved into mud and reappeared outside the quicksand, but not before loosing a fourth of his chakra. Now visibly panting, the man looked at his younger student before charging forward. The two fighters and four illusions resumed their dance as five figures watched from a distance. Naruto was using all of his speed and dexterity to avoid Kentaro's blows while Kentaro was using his experience and strength to block Naruto's strikes.

Naruto's twin swords flashed as he used the one in his right hand to block his sensei's swings and slashed at the man with the blade in his left hand. The two appeared to be at a stalemate, but any practiced shinobi could tell that the older man was tiring out, and as expected, a tired Kentaro was pushed towards a tree. With a twitch of Naruto's finger, a small spike shot out from the tree's shadow and impaled Kentaro just above his knee.

Before Kentaro could triumph over the pain that racked his body, he found a sword at his jugular.

"You lose sensei." Naruto said with a smirk on his face, his crimson eyes shining in the light of the early sun.

"This makes it four wins out of ten Naruto-san. You're improving, I must say, winning two consecutive matches against me is quiet a feat. There is nothing more I can teach you." Kentaro said.

Taking a hand offered by Naruto, Kentaro got to his feet and used what medical jutsu he knew to care of his stab wound. As both student and teacher watched, the wound closed under the green light. Wincing slightly Kentaro lifted his leg, before turning to Naruto, "It was a pleasure coaching you Naruto-san. It is very rare that I am able to teach someone so dedicated. Before you leave I want you to have this," Kentaro handed Naruto a scroll, "This scroll contains the location of a sword of legend. I had once tried to claim it, but unfortunately I lost to the beast that guards this treasure. Only three others know of this blade, two of which are powerful enough to claim it. Therefore you must hurry and not waste time…Now go."

"Hai sensei." Said Naruto, "Thank you for teaching me and making me worthy to wield these blades, I will cherish your teachings and make a style of legend by the time we meet again. Believe it!" he shouted.

"Hmmm…we'll see about that brat. Now get going if you want that sword."

With a nod, Naruto re-strapped the weights on his legs and arms and then walked over to where his blades were. With a flick of his wrist, the two blades vanished in a puff of smoke. With a one handed seal Naruto released his gravity seals and promptly vanished.

Kicking up a dust trail as ran off.

"The kid's learned sealing huh? I wonder where he got the time from."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto reappeared two kilometers north from the camp. He bent down slowly panting as he looked at the dust trail he left behind.

'Maybe it wasn't a good idea to show off. Ah well, nothing can be done about it now.'

After regaining his breath Naruto sat down on a patch of grass and opened the scroll given to him.

Naruto,

For many years hundreds of swordsmen have searched for the legendary blade, no one knows its name, but what we do know is that a man wielding this blade can match the biju in direct combat. Anyone who went in search of this blade never returned. The only exception to this was me and my grandfather and Orochimaru. Since I was never able to obtain the blade I gave its location to two people I felt worthy. They were Kisame of the hidden mist and Orochimaru of the hidden Leaf. Now, I give you the coordinates. I feel that you'll be the one to claim the blade, in all my years of life (I've had a long one) I've never seen a shinobi with so much potential such as you.

Before you go off in search of it, I want to warn you of a beast that guards this blade. It is a demon of that I am sure, for I have never seen a creature like it. It has the body of a lion but has wings like that of a bat protruding from its back. It is a vicious fighter and has some degree of control over the elements. Do not take him lightly.

I urge you Naruto, to go as fast as you can. Both Kisame and Orochimaru are not who they used to be and will use any means to attain the blade. You must get it before they do!

The blade is located in the ruins of a tower near the border of Sand and Stone country. Be safe.

Your proud sensei,

Kentaro

A small smile formed on Naruto's face as he finished reading the letter, Kentaro never expressed such emotions in front of him. He would only call Naruto, child or Naruto-san or rarely brat. It really made Naruto warm inside to know that his sensei was proud of him.

A look of determination set into Naruto's face as burnt the scroll with a bit of Fire manipulation and set off towards his destination.

A half an hour's journey later Naruto reached the docks. The scent of the open sea permeating his nose. For some reason the sea had always calmed him. As Naruto walked down the docks he noticed the odd assortment of people that called the sea their home. Dozens of fisherman were preparing to head out for their daily hunt, while small time businessmen prepared for customers whom they would ferry across the water to Fire Country.

Naruto made his way to such a man. He was a short fellow with spiky gray hair and dark sunglasses, wearing a tuxedo.

"Welcome young shinobi! I see you're in need of a ferry. Maybe I can help? Gatou Shipping Company is the finest of them all. I'll have a deluxe room ready for you. Only seven thousand ryo." Without waiting for a response the short man turned around and started swaggering towards his ship.

"Wait…" said Naruto, causing Gatou to stop and turn around, "I don't want your deluxe room. I'll give you a thousand ryo for it. It's the standard fair. Take it or leave it."

For a second a look of malice flashed behind Gatou's eyes before it disappeared and he said in a fake sweet voice instantly putting Naruto's senses into alert. "Of course sir, follow me."

Nervously Naruto fingered his kunai holster and slipped a kunai into the bandages in his right arm. Gatou showed him to the deck before he himself went below the deck to attend to some work. Not even five minutes had passed since the ship had left the docks before Gatou came up with twenty thugs behind him.

"Alright brat! You could have paid me the money and traveled to your home safely, but you had to be a wise guy didn't you? Now hand over everything you have." Said Gatou.

"Hai hai, don't get your panties in a twist Gatou-chan" Slowly Naruto raised his hands above his head, concentrating on molding his chakra through his chakra coils and projecting it behind Gatou's men.

With almost inaudible poofs pf smoke, five Kage Bunshins appeared behind the thugs and disabled them by hitting the back of their necks. Before the remaining fifteen could react Naruto threw the kunai hidden in his bandages at Gatou's knee. The sound of a kunai piercing flesh was followed by a shrill girl like scream as Gatou fell to the ground nursing his leg. This caused a slight distraction among his thugs which was all the time the six copies of Naruto needed to dispatch them.

Almost on a whim Naruto went below the deck and came back up with two large duffel bags filled to the brim with ryo. Ignoring a sobbing Gatou, Naruto calmly sealed the bags into an empty scroll before slipping it into his jounin vest. Looking over the horizon Naruto saw that the ship had almost reached the Fire country docks. Almost as if nothing had happened, Naruto walked across the deck, paying no heed to the unconscious bodies of various thugs before looking back at Gatou.

"You probably don't have a deluxe cabin to begin with." He said in a deadpan. After getting no response the now eleven year old boy jumped off the deck and started running on water like it was a normal day occurrence to see an eleven year old boy perform such an act. Had Naruto glanced back even once, he would have seen a look of utter fury on Gatou's face as he muttered, "Konoha shinobi."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Three days had passed since Naruto had begun his journey towards the borders of Iwa and Suna, during the long marathon Naruto had crossed the gates of Konoha and was sorely tempted to stop for the afternoon and have a go at Ichiraku's, but was reminded of his sensei's warning and changed directions.

Three hours later….

Naruto had left Konoha two hours ago, now he was moving at a slower pace. After every hundred or so meters, Naruto would stop to lay down triple layered traps for anyone who might be interested in the sword.

A half an hour and hundreds of traps later Naruto had finally reached the place, it was an old ruin of what seemed to be like a huge tower. Debris littered the ground around it, and because it was at the sand country's border the entire tower was covered in dirt. What once might have been a beautiful piece of architecture had now been ravaged through time. A chill crept down Naruto's spine as he looked at the humongous structure in front of it. With a sense of foreboding Naruto crossed the entrance and entered the tower. In front of him was a large statue that had a crack in it, on either side of it were stairways spiraling up towards the tower. In front of the statue and in between the stairways was a circular platform with was glowing red.

Keeping his senses on high alert Naruto stepped on the platform…

WHOOOOSH

The eleven year old boy was thrown upward with the force of a jutsu…the damned platform was a super trampoline…the fear quickly gave way to excitement as the boy enjoyed the rush. Through the corner of his eyes he noticed several doors rush pass him. As soon as it had begun the joy ride stopped, the lack of inertia left Naruto suspended in mid air before he began to drop, it was only out of reflex that he managed to catch hold of a ledge and flip himself over. Now on top, Naruto looked down and saw the inside of the tower. To his right their was a huge clock like mechanism that seemed to still be in motion even though the tower was nothing but ruins. He looked down and saw that both the staircases lead to this particular point.

Bracing himself, Naruto turned and looked at the door. It was light blue with metallic bolts marking the boundaries. There were no hinges that gave any indication of how the door opened, tentatively, Naruto reached out and touched the door. Just as his fingers made contact with the wood, the entire scenery around him changed, immediately Naruto dropped into his fighting stance and looked over the room. The entire room was filled with treasure; gold coins glittered in dim torch lights. It seamed that he had been transported to another time altogether, the walls were brighter and free of grime and the door that was supposed to be in front of him was now facing his back. The only assumption was that somehow Naruto had been transported to the room behind the door he was trying to touch.

Taking a deep breath Naruto searched the room, his crimson eyes rested upon another door directly in front of him, being guarded by two huge headless statues holding their hands together as one would hold a sword, but where a sword should have been was empty blocks of wood. Each statue was ten feet long and seemed to tower above the young boy. As Naruto passed them by, he could not help but shake off the feeling that he was being judged by the two behemoths. Maybe it was his imagination, but the statues were starting to gain color, one was starting to bleed red and the other navy blue.

With a flash Naruto ran towards the door, before anything weird could happen.

This time the door transported him into an open corridor. Instead of walls the corridor was supported by pillars, tapestries fluttered around Naruto as he slowly made his way towards another door. The utter silence was getting to the little boy and the lack of any action was starting to make Naruto jumpy. Exactly opposite to Naruto was another door, this one was red in color; somehow Naruto new what was going to happen was going to be the test of all his skill and speed. As he neared the door, Naruto's gaze fell on the sculpture of a man holding a large time piece (the one in which there are two compartments and sand flows in between them) on his back. The weird thing about it was not the object that the man held, but that the entire statue was carved out of gold.

Tearing his eyes away from the strange piece of art, Naruto one again placed his hand on the door and found himself on a circular passage that lead to the top of the tower. With determined steps Naruto climbed the winding passage and climbed a few stairs to finally reach the top, he hadn't even noticed, but night had fallen. Naruto stepped into a circular arena; all around him were pillars depicting the sculptures of angels in agony. All the angels' eyes seemed to point towards a stone with a metallic object stuck in it. The full moon gave of an eerie light illuminating the blade.

Naruto had not taken two steps towards the blade when a shimmering portal appeared between him and the blade. A large creature jumped out of the portal and looked at Naruto with intelligent eyes.

'He's just like Kentaro-sensei said'

The thing had the face and body of a lion but it had long ears on the top of its head like a dog, which twitched every now and then. Its canines were the size of Naruto's hand. The tail was covered in some sort of armor and tip was shaped like that of a scorpion, and from the back of its front legs, protruded two short wings, like that of a bat.

The lion or whatever it was looked at Naruto with intelligent eyes, nothing could have prepared Naruto for what was about to happen.

"I'm sorry young one, but you will go no further." A rumbling voice echoed in Naruto's head.

"You…what are you? And how did you get into my head?" screamed Naruto.

"I am a wind rider, but this is no time for pleasantries…please turn back, it goes against my honor to kill a cub."

'He's just like me' Thought Naruto, before narrowing his eyes, "I haven't come all this way to turn back. I will claim that blade you guard."

"Very well then, I have no choice"

Without wasting another second the Wind rider opened its mouth and sent a jet of green goo towards Naruto who jumped out of the way, the ground below Naruto sizzled as the corrosive property of the acid took its effect. Naruto landed on the ground and shot towards the beast like a bullet. Naruto cocked back his arm in preparation for a punch but was snagged out of the air by a long armored tail. Landing back o his feet, Naruto noticed the tail shrink back to its original length. The beast circled Naruto, looking for an opening to strike,

'Damnit…can't use my shadow fist, if it hits my clone first with his claws, it'll just extend its tail and stab me.' Thought a frustrated Naruto, 'Hmm…the left flank is ope…'

Just as Naruto had thought those words, the wind rider moved to cover its left flank, 'Can it read…'

"Your mind…Naruto-kun. Yes, that's my special ability. That's the reason no one has ever managed to defeat me. I know your attacks before you even execute them. You cannot win."

"We'll see about that…you should never have told me about your ability."

Naruto closed his eyes and opened himself to the world of shadows and concentrated on his adversary. A rush of information filled his head, little details that he hadn't known before were made available to him. The beast was old, almost immortal. It could spew acid from its mouth and a single stab from his tail could kill a man in less than two seconds.

The beast, thinking that the boy had given up, lunged at him to give the child a painless death, only to find the boy gone.

Naruto, sensing the rider closing on him had simply teleported away. Clearing his mind of all thoughts, Naruto further opened himself to the world around him and opened his eyes which glowed crimson.

A growl from the beast told Naruto that his plan had succeeded. The beast could no longer sense his thoughts.

Man and beast rushed towards each other as they fought. Naruto easily dodged the slashes that were sent his way and the wind rider blocked all of Naruto's punches and kicks by extending his armored tail. Even though the fight was at a stalemate, Naruto's hands were beginning to throb after hitting armored hide.

Before his opponent could react, Naruto bit both his thumbs; the blood reacted with the seals placed on the thumbs themselves to form a red glow. Quick as a fox, Naruto dodged a stab and slammed his hands onto the ground.

The ground near his feet cracked as two curved hilts emerged from the ground, not waiting for the blades to emerge, Naruto grabbed the hilts and pulled his blades out, just in time to block the tail and slash at the creature's paw with the other sword. A thin red line appeared in the creature's paw as he gave off a low growl. The wind rider turned and ran towards the edge of the tower and jumped…mid fall it opened its front legs and began to glide, using the thermals from the desert winds the rider turned itself around and spit out a stream of acid.

In response Naruto rolled out of the way, attached a chakra string to the sword in his left arm and threw it towards the best, just as the sword was about to hit, Naruto sent a pulse of chakra towards the sword's hilt through the chakra strings and cut of the string of chakra.

An almighty boom rocked the tower as the shockwaves cause a few pillars to fall. Naruto saw the sword falling and pulled it back via a chakra string. Once again looking back towards the sky for any sign of his foe, Naruto saw the beast cover in armor. Its skin was no longer light brown, but silver and metallic. Large spikes of armor covered the creature's mane. The only spaces in the armor were for the wind rider's eyes, wings, claws and over sized teeth.

The beast reared back and flew straight towards Naruto his maw open wide as a stream of acid erupted straight towards Naruto, by the time Naruto had gotten over his shock the stream was to close to dodge by normal means.

In a flash blue marking formed on Naruto's skin as he felt fifteen times lighter. The weights on his arms and legs too fell on the ground.

"You are strong indeed if you forced me to use this form." The wind rider said.

"So are you. You may just be the strongest fighter I've face yet. Let's see for how long your armor holds out."

"Let's" Came the ready reply.

The beast landed on the ground with a thud, and charged towards Naruto, the boy instead over charging, simply smirked and vanished. Naruto reappeared behind the beast, as a shower of sparks erupted from its armor.

"Impressive" was all Naruto said, before he was forced to dodge the deadly scorpion tail.

The battle continued for an hour, both Naruto and the wind rider were panting. Deep scratches and bite marks could be seen on Naruto's hands and chest as his jounin vest had been torn apart. On the other hand deep lacerations and depressions could be seen on the creature's armor where Naruto had managed to cut through with his wind chakra or used small explosions.

"Arrrgh!!! Why won't you give up already?" shouted Naruto

"Why don't you" said the amused, but tired voice of the sentient beast.

"Take this, Hellfire element: Crimson Blades"

Naruto shot two blades of wind towards the beast and followed it by shooting two small fireballs from his hands. The fires increased in strength by combining with the wind, and also attained the cutting strength of the wind blade. The crimson blades made their way towards the lion like beast, who managed to avoid the first one but got nicked by the second one.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!" the mental scream was so loud that Naruto fell down on his knees.

The hellfire jutsu had gone passed the armor and hit skin. Naruto could not even imagine what pain his foe would be going through. As the boy watched, the silver sheen of the armor dimmed and the protective hide slowly melted away leaving some bruises and a scar on the beast's hind leg where the jutsu had nicked him. In a berserk state the creature began attacking Naruto relentlessly. The boy who was so fast that he couldn't even be seen was now hard pressed to dodge the strikes. This was how exhausted Naruto was. Finally a slash got through Naruto's defense and struck him on the face. Three deep gauges were etched into the cheeks of the young boy as he was flung towards the edge of the tower.

Hot blood dripped down his cheek as Naruto blinked through the haze that was clouding his vision. The boy could almost feel the pieces of skin dangling from the remnant if the left side of his face, he could practically feel the demon chakra working overtime to heal him. In a dazed state, Naruto saw the horrified look on the beast's face as it came to grips with what it had done. As his mind was still cloudy, Naruto placed his hand on the ground and muttered, "Shadow Element: Shadow Bind" sending half of his remaining chakra into the attack, chains made out of tendrils of shadow erupted around the wind rider and clamped down on him.

The beast started to struggle, but went quiet upon hearing another whisper in the night, "Shadow Element: Mass Shadow Spikes"

A loud roar rang throughout the fading desert as four spikes erupted from below the wind riders legs and nailed him to the ground. Even moving a muscle caused the massive beast to be racked with tremendous pain.

The beast could make out the shadowy figure of its adversary waling towards him, as Naruto entered the moonlight, the wind rider's eyes widened, there was no sign of him being hit with a single blow except for three small lines on his left cheek. The bare chested boy sat near the beast and put his hand on the wind rider's snout. An involuntary whimper escaped the massive predator the chains and spikes around him disappeared. Both of Naruto's hands glowed green as he passed them over the creature, healing his many wounds.

"Why?" The single word resonated within Naruto's mind.

"You should already know, I'm no longer shielding myself from you"

The beast's eyes widened as the answer became known to him, "You respect me? For having regretted that last blow?"

"Hai."

Silence followed as the clouds parted and drops of rain fell on the ground. It must have been a freak weather disturbance, Rain in a desert? Come on!

"What's your name?" asked Naruto, "Everyone has a name…"

The wind rider raised his head, his yellow eyes bored into Naruto now not-glowing crimson ones. "My kin…they called me…Kain."

"Used to?" questioned Naruto, while running a hand through Kain's mane.

"Yes, long ago this blade's power called to me from my homeland. I along with my kin live where all the summoned animals dwell. I was the strongest of my tribe, the blade needed a protector and it sent its power across the worlds. For some reason…I responded. When I reached this place, the blade bound itself to me and trapped me in an alternate dimension. At first it would force me to fight any one who would come seeking it, but when I realized the true power that the blade held, I protected her with all my heart. Now that you have obtained the blade, I am free from her service. Now go…claim you prize, and then come back. I have something to tell you."

Nodding, Naruto got up and went towards the piece of rock in which the blade was embedded. Only the hilt and the lower part of the blade was visible. A single look at the size of the hilt told Naruto that the sword was meant to be wielded with two hands. Oddly though, the hilt was divided into two parts by a metal partition (imagine the hilt being divided into three equal parts. The first part, the part that is connected to the cross guard is separated cut off from the rest of the hilt by a metal barrier). The cross-guard was shaped like the brake of a motorcycle Naruto had once seen in some mangas.

Tentatively Naruto placed his hand on the upper part of the hilt, his fingers closing beneath the cross-guard. Following his intuition, the blond flicked his wrist to 'rev' up the blade. All of a sudden a red glow surrounded the rock, as the boulder was blasted into a million pieces. The blade pulsated with crimson energy as Naruto finally got to look at the entire sword. The freakin thing was bigger than he was. The sword measured roughly five and a half feet in length. The blade was abnormally large, rather than going straight, the tip of the blade curved slightly upwards. The blade was single edged and on its dull side there was a 'thing' that was raised slightly, and it seemed to be the source of the crimson energy. Experimentally, Naruto squeezed the 'brake' that was a part of the cross guard, and the raised portion of the blade fell down and merged seamlessly with the weapon.

'So I've finally got a person worthy enough to wield me in battle?' a soft voice spoke lovingly inside Naruto's head.

A projection of a beautiful woman dressed in red robes appeared before Naruto, the woman had dark straight dark hair that flowed past her shoulders and came to rest just above her cleavage. She had the perfect figure and exuded seductiveness, but her brown eyes held just a fraction of her unfathomable power. She moved towards Naruto, her dress hugging her figure as she approached the young hero.

"Hime…" muttered an awe-struck boy.

The woman stopped walking and giggled, the sound of her voice being music to Naruto's ears. 'That is not my name, but yes, you can call me that. But I see that you're not ready for my power yet. It seems that you still don't have the utmost confidence in your abilities. A shame really, I'll wait for the day when you need me most Naruto-kun. Until then…'

"No wait…" Naruto lunged forward and tried to stop the beautiful woman, but his hand passed right through the projection and the woman disappeared with a smile on her face. It was much later that Naruto realized, that the sword that he had held in his arm, too had vanished.

The padded footsteps of Kain were heard as the massive beast reached Naruto, "That woman has a mind of her own. You should be proud that she even chose you." Rumbled Kain, compared to that woman's voice, Kain's tone almost gave him a headache, and for the first time Naruto noticed how huge the beast was, the wind rider was three and a four feet tall and seven feet long from snout to tail.

"Listen Naruto, usually when a human gains the respect of a summoned animal, they are usually given the summoning contract for that species. However, my clan had decided long ago to never bind themselves to a summoner, therefore whenever an individual human gains the respect of a wind rider, he or she makes the human their partner. It is a two way bond, the wind rider can summon the human to his/her world whenever they are in trouble, similarly, the human too can summon their partner whenever they need them, and by defeating me in a straight and honorable fight…you Uzumaki Naruto, have gained my respect. If you will have me, I'd like to be your partner."

The blond stood stunned, he had received too many shocks in too little time. First he had fought an hour long battle with a beast not of this world, then when he had finally claimed his prize, the spirit of the sword had said that he wasn't ready for her power and subsequently disappeared, then the beast he had defeated earlier wanted to be his partner. It was too much!

After a minute, Naruto managed to clear his head and gave Kain his answer, "Hai, I would like that Kain-san."

"Very well then," came the relieved voice of Kain, "I shall perform the bonding ceremony."

Without giving out any intention, Kain lunged at Naruto and managed to catch him by surprise, during the second that it took for Naruto to orient himself, Kain had already stung Naruto in the heart with his tail.

An icy feeling made its way inside Naruto, who only stared in shock as the kanji for wind tattooed itself right above Naruto's heart. Finally exhausted, the eleven year old boy fell on the ground, not even noticing his kage bunshins popping out of existence.

"Might as well carry him someplace safe." Said the lion like creature before managing to swing Naruto onto his back and jumping off the edge of the tower, gliding towards the sand country.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Five figures reached the top of the tower a minute after Naruto had departed, and upon noticing the absence of the blade, the one gayish man leading the group screamed to heavens, "Curse you!!"

For two long hours Orochimaru and his elite guards had been hard pressed to avoid the traps. Set around the blaster tower, it wasn't that the traps were exceedingly well made, but they were so god damn many of them! The group could barely move twenty steps forward before being assaulted by kunais, pebbles, shurikens and even cow dung! As if Tayuya's foul mouth wasn't enough, the group had to deal with foul smells as well!

But nooo….that wasn't it. When the group had finally made it to the tower, they had to go through the long staircase and pass through a maze of doors before Sakon had accidentally fallen off the ledge only to fly past them moments later. How should have the great Orochimaru known that there was a super trampoline right in plain sight!

The fates still hadn't had their fill though, just as the group had reached the final door, they were assaulted by two short blondes that kept absorbing their attacks by turning into shadows! It was only when Orochimaru succeeded in blinding one of them with some of the cow dung he had on his robes that they managed to defeat the duo, only to find out that they were kage bunshins! And on top of that the bloody sword was missing.

With a sigh, Orochimaru turned towards the three male members of his group. His long tongue came out, licking his lips. Atleast he still had Jiroubu, Kidoumaru and Sakon to play with…"Kukukuku"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N: How was it?? I've been waiting to write this chapter since I wrote the first word of the story, and refused to post it until I got everything just right. The scene at the end is meant to lighten up the mood and should not be taken seriously, I know Orochimaru is tougher than this, I just wanted to poke fun at the poor pedophilic bastard.

I've never said it before, but I expect a good amount of reviews for this chapter (not that I don't already) cuz I've spent a hell lot of time on it.

The main plot of the story actually starts from the next chapter.

For those who want have a a look at the sword, here's the link: be warned, once you have a look a the sword, you'll get to know its name and it'll spoil the surprise.

PS: A cookie to the first reviewer who tells me the name of the tower I used in this chapter. I'll give you a hint…its part of a PS2 action game ;)

Next time: Konoha and an Apprentice