The Rise of a Warlord

Chapter 1: Endgame

(I own nothing)

-X-

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

-X-

Coughing, Tsunade Senju awoke and opened her eyes, only to see the wet wooden boards below her as rain fell all around. The thick smell of smoke filtered through her nose and the crackling of burning timber filled the air.

Pushing herself up slowly, she winced as a blinding pain flared through her side and fell with a small scream.

Clutching at the pained area, she felt the sticky wet sensation below her fingers and pulled away, looking at the digits only to find them covered in her own blood.

With labored huffs, she fought through the pain and managed to sit up, half dragging and half sliding over to a small wooded wall not too far from her position. From there she was able to move the bloody cloth from her lower torso and found the bleeding stab wound dangerously close to her kidney.

Already feeling weak, she focused on her wound and began to heal it.

It didn't take too long, but with the pain in her side slowly numbing, she became aware of the various others that littered her body, far too many to heal but none that were life threatening.

Wiping blood off her her chin, she sighed and looked up at the blackened sky, ignoring the rain that fell to her face and stared at the glowing moon for a moment until she turned her gaze to her surroundings that had been her battleground not long before.

On two sides there were walls, the mansion she was now had a five story section on one side, a three story section in the center with the top being a large wooden deck, and the other side being the same as the first. It had been a beautiful place but now it was partly destroyed and burning in some places.

The rain hid it, but as she looked around, tears fell from her eyes as she slowly reached into the collar of her shirt and grabbed a simple green crystal necklace from between her large breasts, "You can rest easy now," she whispered before her voice broke, "I killed him for you Naruto,"

With tears in her eyes, she glared over to a broken section of wall that had been covered with burning wood while the surrounding floor and wall seemed to have been sprayed with blood that dripped down the painted wall.

The pile of burning wood that had fallen from the upper section of floor when she sent her opponent through the wall suddenly explodes outward without warning, sending splinters and amber flying as derbies was thrown in every direction.

She had covered herself with one arm as it happened and paled when she looked again, "No..."

Walking out of the hole was the man she hated more than anything, clothing destroyed and covered in horrible burns that still steamed and sizzled. His chest was bare and covered in wounds which were only made worse by the burning flesh, his head was now bald and scared but despite the pain he had to be in he smirked at her with solid black eyes and bloody, broken teeth behind busted and burnt lips .

"That hurt a lot you know," the male hummed as he walked over with a noticeable limp in his step, "It's been awhile since I was burned this badly,"

"No... no... no..." the busty blond cried, "Why won't you just stay dead you son of a bitch."

The man chuckled, "Because I still have things to do in this world princess,"

Tsunade, still crying, glared with a small sneer, "We've destroyed your little organization once, we'll hunt you and your pawns down and do it again if we have to,"

That made the man laugh wildly, "My organization? My pawns?" he repeated between laughs as he held his severely burnt sides, "You really are clueless, I'm not the leader, I never was... I'm nothing more than a pawn in the masters grand scheme. Every action was done on his order, everything right down to when I killed that blond you were humping."

The burned man walked over and knelt down, catching her punch as he got within range, "It's your fault really, you gave your little boy toy this necklace in the first place," he told her as he reached down between the valley of her cleavage and snatched the priceless jewel, snapping the simple string that held it around her neck.

"If you hadn't given him this then you'd still be on your hands and knees screaming as he plowed your slutty ass like the fucking whore you were for him. Funny thing was that your name was the last thing he said as I stabbed him through the heart, had it not been for that fucking ANBU unit I would've gotten this the last time."

The man batted her hand away as she tried to grab the necklace then kicked her aside.

"Hmm, it seems that some Konoha dogs are arriving." he muttered aloud before turning to the Kage, "It seems that our time is at it's end, farewell Princess, I look forward to seeing you in the future..." he stopped to chuckle as he pulled out a small knife, "That is, if you live long enough,"

The blonde's eyes widened as the blade was thrown down into her unprotected side and began to cough blood once again as she realized that the steel had been coated with poison.

Watching as the man seemed to vanish, Tsunade just laid on her side in the rain and started crying, slowly blacking out as the mental stress and poison became too much for her to handle. The last thing she heard was the voice of someone screaming for a medic.

-X-

"I have returned, my Master," the burned man spoke as he knelt on the floor with total disregard for his injuries, "and I've brought the jewel."

Sitting on a small pillow in the middle of a traditional dojo that had only a few candles and torches casting light along the walls was a man dressed in formal kimono whose body was hidden by the shadows as he sipped some type of drink from a large plate-like cup.

"Good work..." the man hummed darkly, "As always,"

The burned man lowered his head even further, "I live to serve, my Master,"

"Bring it to me,"

Softly moving over, still bowing low, the man held out the necklace with both hands and quickly retreated to his previous position without looking up once the item was taken.

The shadowed form of his master chuckled, "At long last, back it it's rightful place... but enough of that, send word to our agents, the time has come for our vision for this wrenched world to become reality."

-X-

All across the Elemental Nations, various politicians, military leaders, and merchant guilds received matching messages and smirked.

-X-

With a start, Tsunade woke up franticly looking around only to find herself in a white, sterile hospital room hooked up to many different machines. A small pulse of chakra alerted her that someone knew of her awakening and she quickly found herself being hounded by Shizune, her student and friend of many years.

"Tsunade-sama, thank goodness your awake!" the woman spoke franticly, "Everything's going wrong, we need you to retake control before things get any worse!"

Confused, the Hokage demanded to know what was going on.

"War, Tsunade-sama, the Fourth Great War has started,"

"Whose fighting!"

Shizune shook her head, "Take your pick, the entire world is at war! Iwa, Kumo, Suna, Kiri, even the smaller nations are taking up arms."

"What about the peace talks?"

"That's what caused it! Someone attacked and killed all the delegates and now everyone's throwing the blame around! Mifune has been in a coma for days and even the Land of Iron is getting ready!"

"How long was I out?"

"You've been in a coma for nearly four weeks,"

-X-

'How could things go so wrong?' the large chested Hokage thought to herself while looking over intelligence reports to get an idea of what happened while she was in the coma and what was now happening as a result.

Every Nation was gearing up for war, one of which was actually sanctioned by the various ruling lords such as the Fire Lord, Wind Lord, Earth Lord, and so on. As such, production of weaponry were doubled, if not tripled and even the forces of the other lords were being readied. It seemed that not only was this a shinobi war but a true world war.

Looking away from the scrolls, she rubbed her eyes and opened the desk drawer, only to find the corner of a small picture sticking out from the files, tucked between blank requisition forms and the forms that a ninja needed to fill out should he wish to retire.

Pulling it out carefully, the blond sniffed as her heart started beating painfully. She didn't know why she tortured herself like this, but despite the pain of loss which seemed to even outweighs the loss of Dan and her little brother, she just couldn't stop herself.

With a tear falling down her cheek, Tsunade smiled lightly and ran her fingers down the photo, 'Naruto... I wish you were still here, maybe then I'd know what to do.'

-X-

Sitting in the darkened dojo in the dead of night, the shadowed man sipped his drink while ignoring the admiring gazes of those kneeling before him. Sitting in front were seven figures covered in the heavy armor of the samurai with their katana laying by their knees while two others sat behind each armored figure dressed in light armor much like ANBU but still armed with a katana while masks hid their identity.

"My devoted supporters," the shadowed male hummed out as he set the drink down next to a ceramic bottle, "For years we have endeavored to mold the world to our vision. Exploiting the greed of man, the gluttony of fools, and the lust of ignorant power hungry politicians. We have all set forth, sacrificing our blood, our sweat, and our tears to remake this world, losing friend and family alike to realize this goal."

The man paused to study the gathered force who all looked at him with pure loyalty, "But their sacrifice... your sacrifice... will not be in vein, they will be immortalized for their efforts and will never be forgotten. Even as we speak, every nation in this world is preparing to fight a war in which they have no reason to partake in... we, as the sons and daughters of anarchy will bask in the warmth of the fire that is sure to engulf the world and take pride in the fact that there is nothing in this world that can stop it..."

A sharp flash of lightning lit up the windows with a bright white flash, revealing the smirking, whiskered face of their blond haired, blue eyed, master.

"LONG LIVE THE WARLORD!" all twenty-one figures chanted loudly, "ALL HAIL LORD UZUMAKI!"

Naruto chuckled softly, picking his cup/plate back up and taking a sip, lightning flashing while thunder rumbled menacingly in the background as the soldiers chanted a few more times before stopping as he made to speak one last time.

"My people... as our visions are brought forth, remember this, if war is deception, then peace is a lie."

It was a truth he'd learned all too well, a lesson taken to heart at the age of five by a impressionable, lonely little boy who would grow to be a liar with a silver tongue, a charismatic monster, a harbinger of war... a vengful monster whom was born of the village lies.

All at the age of five...

To be continued...

-X-

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