Crossing the River Gates: The Rubicon's Flow

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, all rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. This is strictly for fan purposes only.

I do not own Fairy Tail, all rights belong to Hiro Mashima. This is strictly for fan purposes only.

Summary: Dimensional Magic has always been a thing of uncertainty. It always manages to do things at the most inconvenient of times. This time, dimensional magic has interfered with the climax of the Fourth Great Shinobi War. A significant rewrite of Crossing the River Gates.

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

- Theodore Roosevelt

Prologue: In Death's Dream

A bleak and incomprehensive nightmare was what he would describe as the event that would come to be known as the Fourth Shinobi World War escalated to such unholy proportions that he couldn't make sense of what was going on anymore.

Hatake Kakashi, General of the Third Division, watched in absolute shock as he saw the countless and overwhelming numbers of the clone army made up of Zetsus popped up from nowhere. By the time they had realized it, they were already surrounded and had to resort to survival tactics rather than offensive ones. At first, they stood up to the amassing Zetsu army that simply rushed at them blindly. They were relatively weak and had almost no fighting ability, but they made up for it in the form of sheer numbers.

The attacks would continue on at random intervals and the push became long and tedious. Every single time they tried to go through a line, it took days to get there. The Medical and Logistics division were already exhausted carrying and healing the injured as they pushed through the border of Hot Spring Country. Shizune's team was responsible in taking decommissioned and non-combatants alike from the field and they were also responsible in relaying supplies. As the battle progressed, Shizune's team would be constantly mobile, moving their supplies from one location to another all the while some traveled back to Lightning Country to obtain more aid and supplies.

Kakashi had noticed that as the war continued, morale was slowly being diminished. Slowly being consumed by this conflict, men and women were dying left and right, fathers, mothers, daughters, sons and siblings were dropping like flies as they pressed on. The Ambush team hadn't been lucky, only two members managed to survive the first battle with the undead. Sai was repositioned to another ambush team along with Kankurou. It was the most disastrous operation of the war to date coming from the alliance.

They were the first to encounter them. At first he had been cautious, wary of the army that Kabuto had resurrected. As they continued on, it became harder and harder to press on to where Madara's base of operations lie. When they finally DID get there, it was then that the nightmare finally appeared in full force.

The army of the living dead appeared before them, all of them were ninja renowned in their time, people that had made claims to fame because of their power and abilities and the danger that they possessed. It was as if it was taken from a page of a horror novel.

It took a lot of soldiers just to fight and restrain one. Nagato and Itachi in particular, were incredibly difficult to put down. They were immortal super soldiers. They had enough power to wipe out a single village or country. Kakashi bore witness to the nightmare that plagued them for weeks. It took the new Ambush Team, now comprised of Neji, Sai, Kankurou, Ino, Shino and Sakura, the same amount of time that they had to endure to locate Kabuto and trick him into ending the technique. Though Ino and Sakura had a hard time in inducing the Genjutsu to Kabuto who was by no means a fool when it came to illusions, they pulled it off and rescued Anko even if it almost killed all of them.

When they thought that the path was clear to final base, then HE appeared. Now clad with the Eternal Mangekyou, Sasuke gave that psychotic grin as he began running down from the mountain before stabbing the black and white Zetsu, who was holding him back from the frontlines. The Uchiha was impatient. He noticed how eager Sasuke was in decimating their forces and delivering a very devastating blow to a dwindling army. The boy was stopped midway in his run though, when Naruto had suddenly intercepted Sasuke out of nowhere in a flash of yellow light.

Wrapped in a yellow like aura, the blonde wordlessly stared at Sasuke as his Susanoo began to form.

A slip up from Killer Bee had him running from Turtle Island to the battlefield for days. Naruto had finished his training with Killer Bee who had no choice but to divulge the whole thing about the war to him and why he was being kept on the island. He went on his own, charging through the ranks like an indomitable force of nature, too fast and too powerful to stop.

It did not sit well with Naruto about the whole thing. So once and for all, he wanted to put an end to every ministration, every machination, every plan that Madara has had in store.

It was time to put a stop to this madness, once and for all.

Up into the side of Mountain's Graveyard, Uchiha Madara watched in silent anticipation as Naruto and Sasuke faced each other in battle. He sat on one of the rocks situated by the side as his army of Zetsus battled against the main force of the Shinobi Alliance.

Thanks to Kabuto and his army of undead zombies, the war became much easier to his side. With wiping out almost half of the alliance's fighting force and a few members of the army remaining. Kabuto had been a useful tool, the grey haired medic managed to incapacitate Tsunade, lured her into a state of shock and frustration when she saw her lover. A was momentarily taken aback by the former Raikage and was almost killed thus almost costing the alliance the entire campaign and ultimately resulting in Bee's capture. He was so useful that Madara was more than enough to become wary of the man, the former right hand man of Orochimaru knew a lot about him, he knew his secrets and with him gone, it would be a secret that he assured would not get out.

Madara had to admit though; Kabuto knew his way with screwing with people's minds. Many of the Shinobi Kabuto resurrected were connected deeply with certain people like the Raikage and Bee's father, or Dan and Tsunade. The man was so good in psychological warfare that the organization of the alliance easily crumbled to something so trivial like connections to a loved one.

He looked to the other side and saw the different divisions or what's left of them, were once more clashing with his army of Zetsus. The struggle was now in a stalemate, but Madara wasn't interested in it, he was much more interested between the two below.

The rapidly dwindling numbers of the army from both sides indicated that the war was on its last legs. A sign of things finally coming to an end, Madara watched as Naruto and Sasuke, Uchiha and Uzumaki, face off and triggered the climax of this war that would decide the fate of the entire world.

Madara smiled beneath his mask, a new age was dawning upon them and he would be the one to open the gates of this new world.

Edolas:

Faust looked over his majestic city in deep contemplation. It had been years since his son's disappearance, years of looking for a way for his kingdom to survive obtaining magic. The old king looked at his city, as questions began littering his mind while looking below the ignorant citizens of this grand and powerful kingdom.

How much more would the magic last in this world? How much magic would Anima obtain and convert it to power? How many years would it take powering the city?

As these questions continued to play into his mind, Faust turned his gaze from below the common folk to up above in the heavens, were a floating island lay still over his precious capital.

He scowled. His complacency turned into a silent but inconceivable rage.

The Exceed had always been a race of creatures internally born with magic. Therefore, they sought it fit to be considered as beings higher than anyone in this world. These creatures that are no better than the common house cat looked down upon them, they who had been providing magic to this dying world, judging them from such an arrogant location with their noses held high below them.

Faust would show them, they would show them that these creatures and their queen as nothing more than a farce. They weren't gods or angels, they are creatures born of luck due to their magic.

He gave a small yet sinister smile as he looked towards the heavens and saw the small speck that housed the Exceed.

Certainly, every magic in this world will belong to his kingdom and only to him. This is what it should be, for the dawn of a better world.

"Faust-sama, our mages had begun testing the Anima and they would like you to oversee the initial test results."

Faust turned his back towards one of his most loyal subjects, Erza Knightwalker, the Fairy Hunter. Sadistic and cruel, Knightwalker wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone that goes against the interests of the capital, or to put it bluntly, the interests of the king.

Her fierce loyalty and efficiency towards the Royal Army earned her a fearful yet begrudging respect among her peers.

Faust turned his back from the balcony and wordlessly left the room as his most loyal knight remained genuflect.

As the king stepped into the room that housed Anima, he looked around his mages with his expectant gaze as he looked at the very core of the machine itself.

"What is it that you have to report?" He asked. He knew that the Anima was the perfect tool. The blasted Exceed had said so!

"One of our workers has found a strange anomaly in Anima's magic detecting radar, sire. It's picking up large bursts of magical power outside of the usual coordinates we have set up to gather magic from. It is quite a discovery. We have never seen such strong magical fluctuations that are attracting this strange phenomenon." The one that reported to him adjusted his glasses and looked at the chart showing large, sharp angles in graphs as he continued further, "We are currently attempting to track it down and see just how strong it is, your majesty, if we can get a lock on its coordinates, we could possibly extract enough magical power to last us for more than a hundred years!"

Faust's eyes widened at this sudden turn of events, he stood unresponsive for a few seconds before giving a small chuckle turning into full blown laughter as the news finally hit home.

"I see. Make sure we obtain it. I want that much magic as soon as possible." Faust mentioned as he watched in anticipation and glee for what was to come next.

Much like a child anxiously awaiting his gift, Faust looked on in intense fascination, in absolute excitement as he waited for the magic to appear into this world. In silent trepidation, Faust had hoped that everything would go smoothly. There was nothing the hand of Anima cannot reach, or at least, that's what they thought.

"Sir, we have a lock on of the coordinates that Anima has detected earlier, but it seems it is rather too far for us to fully extract that much energy for us."

Faust's excitement turned to anger as he gripped the railings as hard as he could.

"What do you mean Anima is too far to reach it? What kind of foolishness does this enact? There is nothing unreachable for the hand of Anima!"

The subordinate stopped in fear of the king's wrath, he watched as King Faust hurriedly went over to him as much as his frail body took. The King of Edolas growled in silent rage as he went over the man.

"I'm sorry, your highness, but it is exactly as what it says! The magic needed to absorb that much energy and the distance of the object requires magical energy to likes of which we don't currently have! I would daresay it would be impossible to…"

"SILENCE!" Faust commanded as he slammed his hand on to the wooden desk.

"Your majesty, I'm sorry to intrude, but indeed this man is right."

An arm placed on to Faust's shoulders as the mage said to him whilst holding the book.

"Indeed, it is impossible to transfer all of it. However, might I suggest something of a substitute to bringing it closer, milord?" The mage asked, to which the King calmed down and looked at the mage with that flat look of his.

"What do you have in mind?"

"A fractional transfer of putting such a level of magic in a different plane before doing it again for the actual extraction, granted, it would take us months to restore Anima to its same power as it is today, but it would assure us of near limitless magical energy for the city and the empire for years to come once we gain this much energy."

Faust grew impatient at this. He almost tasted the cusp of his plan when he heard of how much magic they would be able to extract only to find out that the place that had attracted Anima was too far and too impossible to extract all?

"I don't care. I just want that magic here." Was all Faust could say before as he turned back from the group. The King of Edolas walked away in dismay and was clearly upset. He had sunk his fangs too deep into this incident.

But it would not deter him, for it would only be a few months from now before he can fulfil his one wish.

To restore and create an order in the new world, with his kingdom at the helm.

Faust sat on his throne once more, with that complete look of disappointment etched on his face.

The man put a palm on his face before sighing and finally called for one of his elite soldiers.

"Knightwalker!"

And just on cue, the Fairy Hunter appeared just before him coming from the shadows that littered his empty hall.

"Gather your men and begin collecting magic from the outlawed curs that still use magic. Purge the lot of 'em and send their weapons to me once you are done."

The redhead bowed deeply and excused herself from his presence. Faust's hands were trembling in fists of pure rage at this. Such a foul mood deserved an equal appeasement.

With not but a silent room in his hall, Faust mumbled once more about his ambitions for the kingdom and all the power he will obtain to bring down those pompous and arrogant Exceed. They were no god, and he shall prove it, once and for all.

Mountains' Graveyard:

The clash of two long rivalling foes, connected together by a bond of mutual hatred, of ancient feuds tracing back to the origin of all ninjas, has finally taken center stage as the curtains open for a new dawn.

Naruto and Sasuke, brothers in arms yet pitted against one another. The cruelty of fate had never been clearer than the intertwined fates of these young men. Cursed for events out of their hands, taken into extremes of plunging both into an abyss of hatred created by ninjas of the past, one of them eventually had their sanity taken and driven off to the edge of the darkest and deepest pit.

They watched in trepidation and anxiety, as the last of the Uzumaki faced off against the apparent last of the Uchiha. Faced in this never ending struggle, the world watched as the skies gave way to dark grey clouds and wept.

The mourning of the world to the tragedy that would befall in this time would be forever carved into history, the day friends and brothers face off one another in a battle to the death.

Once the signs of battle between Naruto and Sasuke had commenced, Sakura had abandoned her post in order to go after the two in order to see through it in the end, in order to stop this madness once and for all.

"Wait, Sakura! Get back here!" Kankurou shouted at the girl as the leader of the Ambush squadron tried to get the kunoichi only to be stopped as soon as the pink haired girl shouted, "I'm sorry, I have somewhere to be! I'll accept whatever happens to me later!"

Kankurou cursed his luck and clicked his tongue, he looked over to his other members and saw that all of them had this longing expression towards the general direction to here Sakura went. The puppet master sighed at this, "Going out of formation would severely destroy our coordination, and I've been meaning to take down Uchiha Sasuke anyway, so it's best that we take him on as a group rather than alone."

The members of the Ambush Squadron all nodded at him.

Kakashi sought after them along with Gai, taking with him, the remaining members of Naruto's classmates and peers, Hinata, Shikamaru, Lee, Tenten and Kiba that were not selected for the squadron along with the Logistics officer, Shizune and the only surviving member of the first recon team, Anko.

With a wave of sand, Gaara had managed to push through the frontlines for Kakashi and the rest to go through.

"You have some place where you ought to be, go there and be Naruto's support. I am sure he is tormented by the fact that he is facing his blood brother. Go, I will provide you with the necessary cover. If Madara so happens to intervene, Naruto will have the necessary people to defend him at his most vulnerable."

Kakashi nodded at this as he and the rest followed suit.

Gaara watched as they charged through the enemy line in swift motion, all the while, he remained silent and motionless while standing on his sand cloud.

To his right, the Tsuchikage floated safely above the chaos as he said to Gaara, "Do not delude yourself, Kazekage-dono."

The old man looked below and unleashed a molecule crushing technique that destroyed several clones.

"I can see from your actions that you want to join them as well, do you wish not to go?"

Gaara could only give a small reply, "I have a duty here to protect and follow through with the words that Uzumaki Naruto left behind for me. Whereas the Commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces, I will be the one to wait for Uzumaki Naruto as a friend and will be the one to tell him to stand once more. That's what friends do."

The Tsuchikage simply grinned at this and asked the Fifth Kazekage, "How could a simple genin give so much faith, Kazekage-dono?"

Gaara's eyes merely trailed towards the dwindling armies of white Zetsus below as he replied, "You do not understand, Tsuchikage-dono. You have yet to meet one such as Uzumaki Naruto, perhaps if you do meet him, you will see why I'm so indebted to him."

As the battle waged forth for the last stand on Mountain's Graveyard, none of them noticed the dark clouds above were swirling in dark haze as thunder boomed and lightning crackled.

BOOM!

"Naruto…" Sasuke mumbled as he stared at his former teammate who was now shrouded in that yellow chakra of his. He moved too fast for his Sharingan to see as if watching mirages of the boy going around him in circles. It wasn't like it back then.

Back then, he was the superior one in speed. Back then, he took advantage of the fact that he was faster than the dobe.

But now, it was different, Naruto was the one who was slippery, almost impossible to touch or even nick. Not only that, he hits as hard as ever. To what seemed like an impenetrable wall of defence in Susanoo's favour, Naruto was able to bypass it and punch him right across the face that sent him flying from his recent position.

"You were always an eyesore." Sasuke mumbled as he got up, his eternal Mangekyou coming to life as he dusted himself off from the debris.

Naruto scowled at the man that he once called a brother. The moment that they finally met once more, was the moment that they would put this thing to rest.

"Are you done?" He asked. Sasuke merely scowled as the blonde crouched down, itching for this very moment.

"Talking is over. This time, I come for real. You don't know how much I would like to beat the crap out of you."

Their fists itching to punch one another, adamant in striking their opponent down, shook violently as they clashed once more, their punches echoed throughout the morose and desolate landscape. Its harrowing force sent shockwaves as former friends fought their battle. Letting all pent up anger and emotions fly off the handle.

Once the people from the Ambush team and Kakashi's team arrived on the spot, they saw clouds of smoke rising from multiple areas. Craters littered the ground, as the two fought their battle at an immense pace.

"Look at those two go… It's almost hard to detect even with the Sharingan." Kakashi muttered as he watched the saddening but awe striking event.

"So why are we just sitting around here? We need to take down the Uchiha as soon as possible!" Ever the captain of the Ambush Squadron, Kankurou began to unravel one of his scrolls when he felt a hand grasping for his shoulder

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

The puppet master turned his head to the side and slowly, he met the man wearing the orange mask, the one who claimed himself to be Uchiha Madara, patriarch of the Uchiha clan, betrayer of the Leaf.

"Bastard!" Kankurou was about to respond when Madara simply pushed him away with a repulsion blast.

"Shinra Tensei."

Kankurou was suddenly thrown off from his position and sent hurtling towards the mountain side and crashed to the Earth's wall. Everyone looked surprised at the sudden display of power coming from the man.

"Impossible! The only person to have that kind of repulsion technique is…" Kakashi was immediately cut off.

"Pain, am I correct? Granted it wasn't easy in obtaining this eye. I lost my left eye and right arm from Konan before I managed to kill her. I've grown much, much stronger than the last time you saw me, so do your worst, I am no doubt going to kill all of you."

The Konoha Ninja instantly backed away from the man as they each jumped out of range from him. Madara barely moved an inch as they seem to size him up considerably.

"You all know the timing of using his repulsion technique, correct?" Kakashi asked to which all of them nodded.

"Good, if any of us can give enough openings for any of us to make a clear shot, make sure you all make it count." Kakashi mentioned and once more, all of them nodded.

"Taking into account his phasing ability, I wouldn't be so sure of harming him entirely just like that. He's far too slippery for me capture." Shikamaru mentioned this as he scratched the back of his head, he grabbed a kunai tied with a long line of string and explosive notes and stretched it firmly from his hand.

"Genjutsu wouldn't work as well. He has the Sharingan so consider illusions out of our limited choices." Ino continued.

To this, Madara laughed slightly and took a small step forward.

"Do you honestly think that you can manage to land a hit on me with just you people? Do you think you can take me on now that I have the power of the Rikudo Sennin?" This time, Madara laughed out loud as for a full minute as the Konoha Shinobi watched in contempt.

"Don't speak so highly of yourselves." Madara's mood changed immediately from amused to serious as he stretched out both his arms at them.

"Know the difference between me and you lot." Madara's features darkened and started to build up the necessary chakra for a powerful enough Shinra Tensei to wipe them and the army at their backs that was slowly making its way towards them. Neji and Hinata's Byakugan instantly could tell the magnitude of the technique he was about to do and immediately told everyone to take down Madara immediately.

From the distance where Naruto and Sasuke fought, the blonde could immediately feel the spike of sudden killing intent. From what he could feel, the enormous chakra being gathered stopped him in his tracks and evaded Sasuke's oncoming swipe of his chokuto and countered with a powerful straight punch to his jaw sending him crashing to the mountain wall.

Naruto immediately turned around dashed his way towards the site where he could feel the spike of chakra forcing that felt like a balloon ready to burst when he finally noticed something.

The skies above had been looking restless for a long while. The clouds briskly moving in a fashion similar to the swirl in his jacket suddenly alarmed him when the spiking levels of chakra began bombarding his senses like hammers to a nail, Naruto staggered as he fell down, completely taken off guard by the sudden invasion of chakra pouring out from everywhere he could feel. The earth, the water and even the air he breathed felt like a large amount of condensed chakra at a single spot.

"Die, NARUTO!" Sasuke menacingly leapt at the blonde, drawing Kusanagi from his arms and used a reverse grip, over his head, thinking of stabbing the blonde straight to the heart.

Naruto looked back as he saw Sasuke about to strike him and braced himself to catch the blade as he shouted, "Don't count me out yet, bastard!"

"It's over!" Madara announced as he took a deep breath and let out a huge wave of repulsion against his opponents that could do nothing to take him down.

"CHOU SHINRA TENSEI (Ultimate Subjugation of the Omnipresent Being)" The strong gravitational force forced its way towards the group as the ground beneath the ancient man caved in and formed a crater. The trail of dust and debris soon raced all around the area lifting and hurtling anything away from Madara and lifted everything within sight at point blank range.

As Madara watched solemnly at the destruction that he caused, he had failed to notice that many of the ninja that stood at his front were not within point blank range.

Inside the very mountain itself, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Realm shook violently as a shrill cry escaped from its mouth. The earth trembled from the inhuman roar that escapedas its eyes began to shake. Down below, past where the cells of the First Hokage and Yamato are assimilated, the very root of the statue began to violently shake from the phenomenon.

In a matter of seconds, the swirling clouds of grey rapidly opened up and revealed a white luminous light while the force of Madara's Jutsu taking with it, a huge chunk of the alliance forces and the army of Zetsu clones, torn away and visibly battered by the forceful gravitational repulsion.

The earth suddenly trembled and Madara lost his balance for a moment, the man looked down and saw several fissures forming beneath him, spreading slowly but surely all around him. His eyes widened at the realization of the possible consequence of what might just happen.

Madara looked up and he saw trees and debris rising from the ground, going upwards towards that blinding white light, he could see people going up as well, being dragged to whatever that thing was.

Madara scowled beneath his porcelain mask. He saw the son of the Fourth Hokage being dragged upwards, towards that thing. With his hand outstretched he summoned forth another of the Rikudo Sennin's miraculous powers.

"Bansho Ten'in (Gathering of Creation)!"

Up above, Naruto's peers and known superiors looked at the scene of what was to happen. Naruto was about to be pulled towards Madara when Anko suddenly began forming handseals.

With an outstretched hand, she let go a plethora of snakes from her sleeves and with them, tightly grasped Naruto by coiling their bodies to it.

"Oh no you don't, Sen'ei Jashu (Hidden Snake Hands)!"

The only surviving member of the recon team then pulled the blonde with all of her might as Naruto relinquished the Kyuubi's chakra back. The gravitational force of attraction missed when Anko changed Naruto's position and sent the boy to the very top.

The sudden bombardment of his senses felt like he was being tortured for several days. The unbearable pain somehow numbed his body down

Down below, the Gedo Mazo was finally unplugged from below and Madara could visibly see the head slowly making its appearance known. The madman growled at this as the heretic statue finally rose from its earthen prison.

"No! I won't let this happen! I won't waste my work that took almost a century!"

The earth soon gave way as the Gedo Mazo bulged from the ground and rose into the sky.

Madara reach far out into the distance where Gedo Mazo was, as finally, the white light above broth forth streams of it like cascading waterfalls it began to literally scoop up everything in it.

Madara then jumped, his only remaining piece was way up into the sky, far reaching than anyone else. Just then, like a whirlpool's vortex, the stream of light sucked everything to its epicentre. Leaving behind nothing as it sucked anything and everything it could reach.

And just like that, as to when the strange object appeared it disappeared just as abruptly.

Deep Forest:

The skies darkened all over Fiore on this day, where the clouds signalled forth a harrowing storm. As rain slowly begun to pelt the ever fertile lands, four people find themselves slowly waking up from a seemingly real nightmare.

"W-What happened?" A voice asked, from the tone of the voice, it became apparent that it was female. Perhaps already mature in terms of growth.

"Something from the sky sucked us in. It's most likely that whatever it is, it was meant as a transportation type of jutsu, the question is, where did it send us and more importantly where did it send the others?" The second one asked, low, calm and collected, judging from the tone, it was male.

"That's not the only thing I've noticed, Kakashi." The woman said as they stood up causing the bushes to rustle.

"What I'm more concerned about was that statue, Uchiha Sasuke and that masked man. They were sucked by that thing too if I recall." The woman said as Kakashi nodded.

"A worst case scenario would be if Naruto were sent with one or the other." Kakashi helpfully mentioned.

"You can alleviate your youthful selves from such thoughts!" Another voice shouted and this time, a man in green leaf green spandex and a green vest, to his waist was tied the symbol of the alliance, the mark of a united front. Orange leg warmers were placed on each of his leg and a pair of blue sandals was his footwear.

The two however, were more interested about the bundle of orange and black that he was carrying.

"Lucky us, we have Naruto for now, that means the war is still stalled." Anko mentioned and Kakashi nodded.

"Yes but who knows for how long? As it is now, with Naruto-kun knocked out like this, we can't possibly go searching for any of our students or Shizune let alone fight Uchiha Sasuke and Madara." Gai mentioned this with a frown and Anko asked a question, "What happened to him anyway?"

"I can't give out a full on diagnosis to Naruto's current condition, I'm not a medic nin like Sakura or Shizune, but if I have to guess, it would be sensory overload. The amount of chakra that I felt during that moment before being sucked was so enormous and the discharge that Madara was sending was no laughing matter either." Kakashi mentioned and then added helpfully, "The fact that Naruto was at the dead center of that vortex and the fact that he has a high sensory ability when he's in that form says a lot of what would have happened."

"So what do you propose we do?" Anko asked and Kakashi put his hands in his pockets.

"Since we're not in immediate danger, we'll just have to keep a low profile for now. We'll need a basic grasp as to where we landed. A small town should suffice enough for us to linger for a few days while Naruto is asleep. Once he recovers then we'll see what we can do from there. That is, if it's okay with you two since we can't possibly be moving with an incapacitated member on our side."

"Well you're the commander and it's better than nothing. I'll be the one to gather the needed info as to where we are then we can pan out from there. I'll also look if the villagers saw one of our brats or Shizune or on a worst case scenario, Sasuke or Madara. If by chance that either one of those two or both of them are in town, well, it's been nice knowing you, I'll come back within six hours, in the meantime, you guys stay put. If I don't come back by then, you'll know what to do." Anko said this and put her hands at the back of her head as she walked away. Kakashi stopped her for a moment there and reminded the only surviving member of the Recon team.

"Anko, no drastic measures, you got that? No unnecessary killing."

Anko turned her head to the copy ninja with a smirk and asked him, "What do you take me for?"

Kakashi shook his head with a sigh and turned to Gai, "Gai, we'll be discussing some escape plans on our own if Madara and or Sasuke are here and some ways to get in contact with our students. For the meantime, we'll be stuck with Anko gathering the necessary information while we set up camp."

Gai nodded and laid Naruto on the side of a tree. With a seal, Kakashi created a shadow clone and ordered it to gather some firewood and sticks to set up as a makeshift tent while the green clad Jounin collected huge leaves and clean water.

Kakashi gave a sigh as he sat by his blonde student.

"Its times like these that I wish Tenzou were with us. A shame that kouhai of mine was captured." Kakashi lamented briefly as he looked at the sky of dull grey clouds.

Another cloudy day, another name to mourn, somehow, Kakashi felt hopeless right now.

Some place else:

Slowly drifting into consciousness, his blurred vision began to regain their clarity as he looked up. The last thing he remembered was the hand of Kabuto reaching towards his face, Yamato confirmed that he was possibly rescued and felt a throbbing headache escape. The captain rose up and flinched slightly as a familiar voice was immediately within earshot when he groaned.

"He's awake!" A woman's voice and some of the people around him began to mumble.

"Yamato-taichou, thank goodness!" Shizune announced as he looked around. The ANBU captain saw Neji standing by a tree and Chouji by the side, to his right, he saw Shino and Sai who were sitting at the ground and looking at the scrolls, most likely doing an inventory check.

"Where…"

"We don't exactly know, Yamato-taichou, how we got here is a story crazy enough in itself. I would have asked that Neji-san or Shino-san to do some scouting for us but in our current situation, we can't afford it right now with you injured." Shizune mentioned this while running her glowing hand on Yamato to run a diagnosis. Tonton was sitting patiently by the Medic's side.

"Naruto… Was he captured?" Yamato asked and Shizune smiled and shook her head.

"No, Naruto wasn't captured when we last saw him. Anko-san made sure of it. I wouldn't say the same about you though."

Yamato was a bit embarrassed about that and looked down in a moment of shame, laughing awkwardly as he did so.

"Did we win?"

Shizune shook her head once more, "No, the war was a complete stalemate, the hard push to graveyard's mountain almost caused our commanding officers in disarray. Particularly Tsunade-sama, she was shaken up when Yakushi Kabuto summoned my deceased uncle."

Yamato scowled at this, "How is Hokage-sama doing?"

"She's doing fine, but the shock caused her to be restrained temporarily from the battlefield due to the psychological stress. Many things happened while you were accosted, but the final push to graveyard's mountain was what obliterated a huge chunk of the dwindling army. It's a miracle that Naruto's peers have managed to survive this long." Shizune mentioned and finished her diagnosis.

The medic turned her head towards Chouji, who was visibly the most physically able boy to do what she had in mind.

"Chouji-kun, please help Yamato-taichou up until we can get to the nearest town. Once there, I want Sai-kun and Shino-kun to gather some information on our location so that we can get back to the main force. Neji-kun, please help us locate the nearest route to a village that would accommodate us." Shizune said and she took command, Yamato protested at first saying he was alright but Tsunade's apprentice scowled at him.

"No. You're currently suffering from muscle atrophy, it's been months since you moved, you're lucky that you managed to survive for this long, Yamato-san."

Yamato had a small bead of sweat appearing at the back of his head and accepted the orders given to Chouji.

"Good grief, I missed out on a whole lot of events. I wish Sakura and the others are faring well." Yamato mentioned this while Chouji carried the man.

"We're just going to have to trust them to make it out of this. I just wish none of them would end up with either Madara or Uchiha Sasuke, especially Naruto." Neji said this while his Byakugan was activated. Sai and Shino nodded at this as they began their trek.

Sai spoke out the worst case scenario, "But given the circumstances, the probability of Naruto ending up with either of those two is high enough as it is. We all ended up separated and jumbled with circumstances unknown. If anything else, this puts both the alliance and Akatsuki in a precarious position."

"Can you tell me what happened as to why we got here?" Yamato asked this while being carried by the Akimichi. Shizune then began explaining the final push on Mountains' Graveyard and the eventual vortex that occurred soon after when Naruto and Sasuke began their bout.

Needless to say, Yamato had a lot to take in with that. The seemingly city wide vortex that swallowed them like a vacuum would certainly be unheard off. Such a wide scale time and space jutsu would certainly have required the chakra levels of the tailed beasts!

"We don't know what caused the transfer yet, but rest assured that it wasn't Madara's doing. The Gedo Mazo was pulled from the ground when the vortex began sucking everything like a whirlpool."

"Then that would explain how I managed to get out of that statue's root…" Yamato said this and was surprised by the fact that the reason why he was even alive was through an unknown incident. It was then that he, like the rest of the group, thought about one question that lingered in their heads.

What could have done this?

In another place:

Shikamaru sighed and couldn't believe his luck. Just when he thought that everything couldn't have gone more troublesome, this situation bit him back hard.

"I really need to keep my thoughts out of recognizing foreshadows, it really just sinks me deeper and deeper into anything I wouldn't want to get involved in." Shikamaru mentioned this as Kiba scoffed at his remark, "Would you like some cheese with that whine?"

Shikamaru only groaned at this and turned to his back and saw Sakura, Hinata, Ino and Tenten on his group. Being with a girl was tough, but being with multiple girls was hell.

"Shikamaru, do you have any idea to where we are exactly? You're the Fourth Division General's right hand man! You should have a map in your equipment!" Ino said rather impatiently. All of them were getting impatient, rather. It wasn't the fact they were lost, but the fact that any of their teammates would have end up with Sasuke and Madara. They were witnesses to the battle; they saw just what happened before Madara let out that powerful repulsion wave.

"For the last time, Ino, I'm trying to find out where we are! I've been checking the map every hour on the hour! There isn't something that would tell us where we are right now! We'll get there when we get there!" Shikamaru said in frustration as Kiba was snickering at his side.

"Shikamaru-san, might I suggest that we split up then? Therefore we could cover more ground!" Lee suggested and Shikamaru shook his head.

"I can't take that risk. Right now, Sasuke or Madara might be close. That's why we need to move fast. Once we get into a village preferably, a town with a sizeable military or something of the like, we can use it as a hiding place until we have an idea as to where we are and how we are going to get in contact with the others. If any of us breaks from the group then the probability of being killed by either one of them would significantly increase, at least with a group we can have a slightly higher percentage of winning or even taking Sasuke down. You should all understand the situation we're in here." Shikamaru explained as they finally decided to take a rest, no doubt weary from what happened earlier.

"So what's going to happen to us then?" Tenten asked, she had been the calmest member of this little group for a while, most likely because her division was the one that suffered the most number of casualties so far. That included Chouji's father, but Chouji only cried after their encounters when he heard the news. Shikamaru could do nothing but stay by his best friend's side that day. Tenten was the luckiest member to be alive that day. Shikamaru stated it rather honestly as what to expect.

"I can't say for sure. We lucked out when many of our strongest peers aren't with us, Naruto and Neji are in who knows where, the same can be said to Sai and Shino. But no matter what it takes, we'll make through this alive. But we should all be patient and trust me while we move. Hinata and Kiba should be good for lookouts if Madara and Sasuke are close. The closer we are to town, the better."

Sakura then suggested to the group, "That being the case, if we are going to the nearest town, then it's best to gather enough information if any of the villagers saw any of our friends or teachers. If the worst case scenario were to occur such as Madara or Sasuke, then we're required to evacuate and head for the opposite direction for now, is that what you're saying?"

Shikamaru nodded, "That's right. We can't possibly take them on with this much fighting force. We'd be killed. This is a reminder especially to you Sakura, I know you feel that Sasuke is your responsibility but don't be an idiot. Your reckless act put everyone including yourself in danger. If Naruto hadn't come in time, you wouldn't be standing here."

Sakura suddenly looked gloomy as Ino and Hinata comforted her.

"I'm sorry. You didn't have to rub it in." She said while looking down as f her puppy was kicked.

Ino looked back at Shikamaru and shouted at the pineapple head, "Shikamaru! You didn't have to be so blunt about it!"

Kiba chuckled for a moment as Shikamaru looked exasperated while saying, "Please don't tell me it's going to be like this for the whole trip."

Kiba wanted to add something rather snide as a remark when a sudden invasion of a familiar scent drew him in. His eyes suddenly twitched as Akamaru barked in confirmation.

Shikamaru scowled and asked the Inuzuka, "What is it?"

"I smell blood and it's coming from three o' clock."

"Hinata…"

"I'm already on it." The Hyuuga girl mentioned as she activated her doujutsu once more and zoomed in to where Kiba pointed out.

"I see two people, one is down while the other is standing up, and something is approaching them. I can't fairly describe it since I've never seen a creature like it from anywhere."

"Yosh! Then we must save these people and show this creature our springtime of youth!"

Tenten shook her head and scolded her teammate, "Lee! Don't be hasty! If you remember what Shikamaru said, we're on the run as well! We can't just be sidetracked like this!"

Shikamaru however, had a different idea, "No, this couldn't have come at a better time. If those two are from the local folk then we won't have to search for a town anymore. Lee and Kiba, you two are the fastest members in our group; you two intercept that thing before it comes into contact with the civilians. Tenten and Hinata will provide long range support and surprise attacks while you two face it head on…"

"… Don't forget Akamaru!" Kiba interjected and Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Of course, we can't forget about Akamaru. Ino and Sakura, You two should take those people to safety while I try to pin it down. Let's move out."

With that, all of them nodded and jumped to the treetops.

With Anko:

Anko, being Orochimaru's former apprentice, had a knack for taking in information of the most minor detail. When she finally made it to the nearest town, she was careful not to be noticed by anyone and decided to do a simple Henge of a plain looking woman when she was inside.

Anko made sure that she remained hidden in plain sight as she went inside the town. As she looked around, she noticed several different things that she had never seen before. First was the attire of many of the civilians, while many of the attires that were far too different from what she had seen during her trips, they were wearing shirts pants and footwear that weren't present in any other nation she had seen so far. The structures were far different, too symmetrical and too small scale for a bustling town such as this. The designs on the buildings weren't something she had seen during her travels outside Fire Country especially the creatures that were sculpted at the center of the town. A winged man (woman?) she couldn't tell by the robe that the human wore, it was too big and too loose. The statue carried with it a jug and had been turned over with its shoulder as water cascaded down its mouth.

After seeing it for a few seconds, she yet again resumed her reconnaissance and went to the most common area where gossip and old wives' tales abound, the market.

When she did get there, she scowled as she noticed one glaring problem that she could have noticed earlier.

The signs placed over a fresh batch of produce, they had almost the same characters as some of the signboards that were placed in other parts of the town, she had disregarded those signs earlier as she noticed they were metallic and many had rusts so she simply assumed that the writing was ineligible. But that would be impossible. The writing system doesn't exist anywhere within the Elemental Countries!

But perhaps the biggest shock to her was when she asked a question to one of the villagers.

"Excuse me. I'm new to this town and I've been lost for some time, may I inquire as to what the name of this town is and what country are we in?"

One of the women, seemingly middle aged, looked at the other before saying, "My dear, this is Clover Town in the Kingdom of Fiore, from where exactly did you come from that you had to question what country we're in?"

Anko scratched the back of her head at this and looked rather sheepish, "I'm a traveller you see. I like to go places and see a lot of new things. I don't exactly have a permanent place to stay."

The women seemed to look convinced at this and then asked further, "Well, where were you born then, dear?"

"From a relatively big village named Konoha. I don't suppose you know of that place, right?"

The women shook their heads at this, "I'm sorry, dear, but we don't know this Konoha village that you're talking about, maybe perhaps in the far eastern regions of the continent, but not here."

Anko now had to take a deep breath and calm down. There was no way Konoha isn't an unknown village, it was a village part of the alliance! One of the major villages that kept the stability of power within the Elemental Countries! To not know of the Leaf or at least Fire Country is preposterous!

"I see, thank you for your time then ladies, you've been very much helpful." Anko bowed for a moment and turned her back from the two women who mumbled to each other.

"What a nice young woman. From what I can gather, bowing with gratitude is a gesture that came from the far-east."

"Yes, I most certainly remember it being that way. But I must ask why would a woman like her be travelling alone?"

"She must know something about magic then. Why else would someone from so far away be able to survive the creatures that exist outside these walls?"

"But she barely looks the type, if I do say so; she looks much like a common housewife."

"That indeed."

Anko turned to a corner and dispelled her jutsu quickly as she jumped up to the rooftops and made a beeline back into the forest whilst barely being visible. The signs of the stuff that brought alarm bells ringing in her head was swirling in a mass of paranoia that she wanted Kakashi to know immediately, even if he might just consider her insane, these things that she saw with very own eyes, the statues, the architecture, the designs, the writing system, and the damn town itself. All of it kept telling her that they weren't in the Elemental Countries anymore.

She dashed to the forest at blinding speeds, this urgent news was what mattered right now, if by any chance that her conclusion to this was real, she would utterly freak out, even if it was so farfetched and so out of the box even with the evidence and signs presented to her, her mind would simply not allow the idea to creep through her thoughts and accept it for what it was. She didn't like it. She utterly denied it saying such a thing would be impossible to do that there was simply no way for it to happen.

In another place:

Fear was an emotion easy to grasp, easy to understand, and chaotic enough to bring out all sorts of different emotions. Anger, hate, mortification, apprehensiveness, despair, and even fear itself manifests into a jumble of emotions that explode like dynamite.

Mirajane stared up at her brother, driven out of control by attempting to take over a powerful monster's soul. In between them stood Lisana, her younger sister, the youngest of all three siblings, standing between her and their beloved brother whose form was being taken over by the king of beasts.

"Brother! It's me, Lisana! Please, try to remember!" She shouted as the scarlet beast approached. Its purple eyes seemingly shone a little and smoke billowed out of its mouth as the dark clouds now gave in to rain once more.

"Please, brother, seeing you like this is hurting us… Please try to regain control!"

The beast however, would have none of it. It growled as it walked towards them, saliva dripping out of its mouth, looking famished as it gazed at the two humans. Without as much as a word, it gave a loud and deafening roar and went after them, without any hesitation at all.

"Dynamic Entry!"

A green streak passed by the two girls, looking as much as a comet as it smashed on to the face of the King of Beasts, sending it flying and crashing to the ground at a good twenty feet.

By now, the person's features came to view as a boy wearing a green jumpsuit, along with a similarly coloured green vest and a pair of orange leg warmers on the boy's lower thighs. His hands were wrapped around very long straps of bandages reaching just below his elbows, a bowl haircut a pair of big doe eyes and the thickest pair of eyebrows anyone has ever seen.

"Foul beast that which harms unarmed civilians! Prepare yourself with my burning passion and youth!"

Lisana and Mira looked stunned for a moment before they looked at each other. The boy certainly had a very peculiar way of talking, matching his appearance to boot. But this was something the boy shouldn't have messed around with; he shouldn't have jumped into the situation!

"What are you doing?" Lisana exclaimed as she walked up to the Green clad chuunin who looked rather dumbfounded by her reaction, wasn't it obvious that he just saved her?

"That beast is my brother! He's gone berserk because of the take over magic! Please don't do any unnecessary harm to him because of this!" Lisana shouted, but it was significantly ignored when Elfman rose from his position and charged at them once more.

Lee was once more prepared to take a stance when a person with wild chestnut brown hair, tattoo markings on both his cheeks wearing a black long sleeve underneath a green flack jacket and equally dark pants, to his side was a dog, a very big one at that, as swift as the boy with the facial tattoos popped up from the bushes and ran wildly around the beast, slashing and tearing through the man's seemingly near impervious hide.

"What the hell is up with that dude's skin? Damn thing is as tough as steel!" Kiba shouted indefinitely as both he and Akamaru jumped at the side of Lee while the monster remained agitated.

The monster was about to charge again until it sensed danger coming from the treetops and a flurry of knives flew down from the heavens and descended upon him. Acting on instinct, the monster backpedalled and tried to avoid any and all sharp projectiles that planted themselves to the ground. Until another person, this time a girl with long flowing blue hair, pale skin as white as snow and equally pale lavender eyes wearing a dark long sleeved shirt with a red spiral design by the shoulder and equally black pants and a green flack jacket, appeared from behind with palms wide open and pushing it direct at the monster's back.

"Jyuuken (Gentle Fist)!"

With two strikes, the girl and the monster were now at opposite directions until it collapsed.

"You girls alright?" a boy whose hair was held back to a ponytail looking like a pineapple mentioned as he stepped just behind Kiba and Lee asked the two girls who were on the ground looking quite shocked.

"Please, stop whatever you're doing to my brother! He isn't himself! He lost control of his magic when he attempted to take an S-class monster!" Lisana pleaded to the group and Shikamaru stopped in his train of thought at this.

"S-class? A brother losing control over his ability? Shit, this is going to be difficult." Shikamaru complained and scratched the back of his head for this.

Upon hearing the aforementioned word, Hinata quickly jumped away from the scene and went over to their side.

"I'm sorry to say this folks, looks like we aren't exterminating monsters anytime soon. So instead of elimination, we're going to subdue that thing until this guy's jutsu ends." Shikamaru stated as the rest all had a frown on their faces. It was obvious that this would be far more difficult than it was originally planned.

"I'm revising my strategy now. Since Kage Nui (Shadow Needles) wouldn't work well with that guy in restraining, we've got no choice but to nick it down with non-lethal force until Ino manages to probe that thing's mind."

Kiba voiced his opinion on the matter. "Are you nuts? If that thing's an S-Class, then consider yourself dead! It's hard enough to put that thing down, now you want us to restrain it? I knew there was something wrong about this."

"What will you have me do then?" Tenten then appeared to Shikamaru's side as the brunette gave the necessary instructions, "Keep that thing away and corner it enough to let Ino use her jutsu. I'll provide mid-range support and I'll try to immobilize that thing long enough for Ino to use her jutsu."

A girl with pink hair then appeared to their side, wearing the same outfit as that of the pineapple headed chuunin that was giving out commands.

"Then I'll be Lee-san's back up. I'll do most of the distractions while Lee-san blitzes." Sakura said as she wore her black gloves and palmed her right fist.

"Hinata, can you tell me how much chakra that thing has?" Shikamaru asked, he needed an estimate as to how long can his Shadow Needles take hold and Ino was already gathering chakra for her jutsu.

The girl with the white eyes nodded and looked at the monster intently as she said to the pineapple head, "The chakra build up indicates that it's Jounin level, from what I can see, the chakra is acting like a fuel to maintain the transformation. You can probably bind that thing for a few seconds before Ino-san's jutsu takes effect."

Shikamaru cursed.

"This is going to be such a drag. Ino, you better stay put and be sure to time your jutsu well. Remember that we're trying to restore his psyche back. Whatever that guy's ability is, it's interfering with his mental processes, you're the best bet to end this." Shikamaru mentioned this as he grabbed something from his pouch.

"Who are you people, why are you wearing such similar uniforms? Are you… Are you from the council?" Lisana asked nervous that these people were part of the magic council sent to Fairy Tail for another issued warning.

"Can't you tell by our headbands? We're part of the Shinobi Alliance! What are you doing here, anyway? It's dangerous to go out of towns when war is happening! Do you want to get killed?" Kiba asked, as the monster soon growled and crouched down, studying the group and looking for an opening.

"What do you mean there's a war? The Kingdom of Fiore isn't at war with any nation right now!" Lisana objected and many of the ninja soon stopped dead in their tracks as it entered into their heads.

The elemental nations do not use the word 'kingdom' to describe a land of autonomous governance; that would fall into the criteria of a country. Another thing that bothered them was that in all of their studies of history and geography within the Elemental Countries, there is no country named Fiore settled within the map.

It was then that the King of Beasts saw its chance, it instantly moved like a speeding bullet towards them rampaging like a wild bull. Akamaru had Lisana and Mirajane ride him and put them at a much more comfortable zone to where the battle wouldn't affect the two mages. Because from the looks of things, everything was about to get even more devastating.

"Fiore? Where in the goddamn map is that?" Kiba asked with a curse as they jumped up and separated when the monster charged at them.

Shikamaru simply shrugged at this as he finally grabbed what he was searching for from his pouch and unleashed a hail of shuriken at the beast that were merely deflected by its skin.

"Unbelievable, no amount of projectile weapons would work on it. The skin is barely even scratched." Shikamaru then landed to a tree branch while Sakura and Lee faced the monster head on.

"Sakura-san, I'm counting on your strength to keep him busy!" Lee said this and crouched down; unlocking the leg weights placed on his leg and unfurled them. Without Gai around, he would have to decide on his own weather or not he should go all out. Lee realised long ago, that Gai-sensei wouldn't be around all the time to tell him what to do. That he was aware and he knew sometimes, that he just had to disobey Gai's rule for what was truly needed.

With a mighty cry Lee tossed the heavy objects straight to the beast who looked dumbfounded as much as anyone who saw their weights as weapons. Nevertheless, its instincts told it to dodge and quickly felt two minor tremors on the ground. It looked back and saw the two leg weights created small craters around it to signify how much weight Lee was carrying before a kick had collided with its cheek sending it flying to the opposite side. Lee then appeared at the monster's back and gave a powerful spinning kick.

"Konoha Senpuu (Leaf Whirlwind)!"

The monster was forced to turn around by that powerful kick as it staggered from the blow. Regaining its footing, it swung its mighty arm around thus forcing Rock Lee to halt his attack and jump back, giving the monster enough time to shatter the ground with its immense strength and staggered Lee back. Seeing the perfect opportunity, it charged at Lee with a deafening roar and blinding speed and like a crimson streak, instantly closed the gap between it and the green clad chuunin, a fist held back as he was about to strike Lee.

"If it's power we're talking about, I'm not going to lose!" Sakura shouted as she appeared right next to Lee with a simple Body Flicker and her own fist reeled back, when the monster let go of the punch, Sakura did so as well, gathering enough chakra and building it in her right hand as she collided her Oukashou (Cherry Blossom Impact) directly at the monster's fist.

SMASH!

The result was a reverberating impact all around them as the local fowls that live in the area, flew up at the sudden disturbance. The force sent both Sakura and the beast flying from the epicentre of the event forcing Lee to jump back and landed right beside Sakura who gained her footing and creating a minor trench when she skidded on the ground.

"Didn't Hinata strike that thing's tenketsu points? It should be paralyzed right about now!"

As if on cue, Hinata had jumped into the fray once more, her hands ready to strike the monster down as it felt a bit disoriented from the attack, it turned around and saw Hinata dashing at him but sidestepped instead once its eyes were on her. Another hail of knives then bombarded the area around the beast, which dodged while his skin deflected the knives.

It tilted its head to the side as it finally noticed that the knives couldn't scratch him, if this was what the amount of damage that these people could do then he had nothing to fear.

"Don't let go of your breath just yet!" Tenten stated as she clasped her hand together for a weird hand gesture and soon enough, the handles from the knives started glowing.

Thanks to the mind of the beast, it could not have predicted any sooner that Tenten didn't just throw knives into the field, she threw exploding projectiles. With that brilliant flash of light, the area exploded several times while the impact made the earth tremble slightly as smoke billowed out from the center of the explosion.

While the smoke was impeding the monster's vision, Hinata's certainly wasn't. With that necessary cover, she instantly closed in on the target and held out her middle and index fingers out and began performing one of her clan's most prized techniques.

"Hakke Rokujuuyonsho (Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Strikes)!"

It was then that Hinata's hand flowed like quick silver, gracefully and dangerously weaving her fingers like an intricate web, driving them to every tenketsu point that she could see, her attack while unlike Neji who was faster and drove his fingers like lightning to a pole and struck hard like a sword piercing an armour, Hinata was more graceful, more refined and more controlled but just as dangerous. When Hinata was about to finish her attack with double palm strike, the monster gave an inhuman roar as Hinata began closing every tenketsu point in its body before she ended it with a double palm strike that forced it out of the smoke.

"Sakura, don't let it regain its footing!" Shikamaru commanded as he began pulling out some ninja wire while he jumped from tree to tree.

"On it!" Sakura said and jumped up and prepared for another Oukashou when they noticed that it was decreasing in size. Hinata's attack had considerably reduced the monster's fighting power. Lisana and Mirajane, who had noticed this, became dangerously aware of what was happening.

"No, stop! You're going to kill him!" Mira finally shouted but was ignored, instead a hand was placed firmly on her shoulder by a blonde haired girl who said to them, "No, don't worry; we know what we're doing."

"How can you say that? Elfman's magic is running out! Don't continue this further!" Lisana shouted and Ino shook her head.

"Just watch and don't interrupt, you want your brother back do you?"

It was then that the two nodded and Ino gave them a reassuring smile, "Then put your trust in us."

With that said Sakura crashed to the ground and created a massive crater that caused multiple fissures all around her as some of the rocks from underground wedged upwards.

Elfman staggered, as the pain was too much to handle, the soul of the King of Beasts was slowly starting to lose its grip on him, although weakening, it was still strong, but that didn't meant that he wasn't now aware of what was happening to his body.

"Kiba, do it!"

Shikamaru commanded as he began weaving his hands and formed a seal and the shadow beneath him began to rise up.

"Ninpo: Kage Nui (Ninja Art: Shadow Needles)!"

"Gijuu Ninpo: Shikyaku no Jutsu (Beast Mimicry Ninja Art: Four Legs techniques)!"

Kiba and Akamaru then dashed around the battlefield as they surrounded the beast that was already staggering, both man and beast ran around Elfman in circles as they chipped away at some of the monster's skin. With that done, Akamaru and Kiba scattered away and began cutting some of the ninja wire that Shikamaru had set up. The tensioned wire snapped and lashed all around as Shikamaru's shadow needles caught it whilst making their way towards Elfman.

The possessed man was soon entangled by one of the needles as the wire that came along with it, trapped him instantly. With its strength barely being cut down and the tensioned wires vaguely keeping him in place, Shikamaru's hand struggled in maintaining the Shadow Sewing and hurriedly shouted to Ino, "Ino! Stop this guy right now, I can't hold him off for long!"

"I'm already on it! Ninpo: Shin Hakuran no Jutsu (Ninja Art: Extensive Mind Reading Skill)!" A second later, Ino's body went limp and she fell to the ground. Lisana caught the woman and Elfman's struggling suddenly came to a halt.

"W-What happened?" Mira asked and Lee was the one who answered her question, "I cannot say for certain as to what it is that is taking place right now, but know that our friend is helping your brother gain back his reasoning."

Shikamaru sighed at this and his jutsu began to hold. The shadow user turned around to the girls and asked them something that they had trouble understanding from what the short haired girl said, "Care to repeat on where exactly we are, miss?"

Lisana nodded in an absentminded fashion as she began telling them about Fiore, the history, the people and the guilds that make up most of these 'mages' that use the power of 'magic'.

"Hey, Shikamaru, I normally don't curse this out loud, but can you allow me just this once?" Kiba asked and Shikamaru waved him off, "I'm not your mother, Kiba."

"Okay."

With that, Kiba screamed from the top his lungs and cursed like a sailor.

"SON OF A FUCKING BITCH! THIS IS THE MOST FUCKED UP SITUATION WE'VE HAD SINCE THE WHOLE WAR! HOW IN THE FUCKING HELL DID WE END UP IN THIS SHITTY SITUATION?"

"Wow, look at him go. He's worse than Mira-nee when she has her period." Lisana mentioned as Mirajane was beat red at that and protested to her younger sister, "I DO NOT ACT LIKE THAT AND I DON'T SWEAR LIKE A FUCKING SAILOR!"

"I see what you mean." Sakura said with a strained smile on her face while the others were chuckling.

"So what now?" Lisana asked, as she looked at the others, Tenten was the one to answer.

"Now, we wait. We wait until Ino sorts out any jumbled mental processes your brother is suffering from."

"Who exactly are you people?" Mirajane asked as she noticed how experienced these people were in fighting, they all had impeccable timing in their attacks, openings were quickly covered by each other, they take any given opportunity and abuse it to the point that it gave way for multiple ones.

She had never seen people like them; they were good, too good for any freelancing mage. It was as if they were professionals or to be more precise, veterans.

"People who aren't from around here, we came to this place because of some freak accident that sent some of us in different directions. We're currently looking for them while avoiding a certain person." Shikamaru helpfully inquired as Mira asked, "Okay, so if you were sent here by accident, what was dog boy over there talking about when he was screaming his soul out into the wild?"

"Hey!"

Shikamaru sighed at this and glared at Kiba who simply took a step back and sighed, looks like he would be fabricating more lies ahead. Sighing, the general of the fourth division merely looked out at the setting sun while its orange glow slowly disappeared.

Oshibana Town:

A man slurred by the back alleyways that night, intending to go back to the place where his guild was located in the outskirts of town. Being a member for a Dark Guild usually didn't involve that much on job offerings. Mostly because the jobs were being screened by the Magic Council in Era, many of the unofficial missions posted into their wall may be high paying, but those missions took a lot of guts and skill to accomplish. He's surprised that many dark guilds still exist because of the magic council and how many high paying jobs were offered to these Dark Guilds. Perhaps this was the work of the Balam Alliance, he didn't know. But the fact that he could still bring food to his table even if he was associated with a Dark Guild was enough.

Rounding up to a corner, he was suddenly stopped when someone held his shoulder, he turned around, and felt a powerful shove that sent him to the wall, pinning him while a sharp stinging pain forced him to yelp and look at his right shoulder.

The man quickly sobered up as he saw the sword impaling him by his shoulder and a pair of red eyes with three commas swirling about the iris, stared at him with nothing but apathy.

"You will tell me just where I am right now." The boy spoke, as he suggested this words while the three tomoe in his eyes kept spinning, putting the drunken man in a trance by this person's hypnotic magic.

As the person spoke and as Uchiha Sasuke obtained the necessary information he needed, he pulled Kusanagi out of the man's shoulders as he looked down, "I was spared…"

"Who said anything about sparing you?" Sasuke mentioned and in one fluid motion, swung his Kusanagi sideways. The man stood for a moment in shock as Sasuke swung his sword to rid itself of the blood before sheathing it back into its metallic scabbard. A line soon appeared by the man's neck and soon, it began to stretch to the other end, until finally, his head fell off and a sudden geyser of blood erupted from the neck and sprayed upwards before the head fell down on the ground and tumbled as did his body.

Sasuke left with not but an apathetic look on his face, going out of town and quickly making his way towards this 'guild' that this man was building. He needed to gather information, and this would be the best place for him to see the ins and outs of this new world and how he should get back he also needed to see if a certain blonde made his way here as well, killing that person would mean that the only wall that was standing between him and Konoha would be destroyed.

He had sworn to kill Uzumaki Naruto and he will follow through it even if it costs him his life.

To be continued…

Here's basically the total overhaul of "Crossing the River Gates". I lost all of my data in that thing when I was reformatting so I had to give up in gathering it and decided to write this in favour over my first and honestly? I find this better than the first.

Tell me what you think I'll see to it if I can continue it.