A/N: Note that Chapter 8 AND 9 uploaded.

- 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 - Demons and Monsters

What is a hero?

Whenever history speaks of 'Heroes,' it generally references people who never once considered themselves to be a hero when they earned the title.

A soldier in hostile territory throws himself on a grenade to protect his team. He did this to protect his comrades, not to be a hero.

A Queen debases herself and her body to keep the enemies of her Kingdom from laying waste to it through their own base lusts. She did this to protect her people, not to be a hero.

A samurai cried while plunging his blade into the heart of his liege, for crimes against the people. In his shame, he then turns his blade upon himself. He did this to protect his liege's vassals, not to be a hero.

So then, what makes a hero?

A hero is made when three conditions are met and he has the fortitude, the will, and the strength of character to do what is right. Never what is easy.

The right time, the right people, and the right place.

Racing through the woods at speeds he'd never known before, Naruto received numerous wounds both large and small as his sight turned to a pinpoint tunnel where he could barely see more than glimpses of anything but the path ahead and only glimpses of that path.

His newly controlled chakra raced and spun within his veins as it pulsed in time with his feet landing against a tree trunk before he blasted forward once more, leaving three to eight inch deep burned craters where-ever his feet landed.

The smell of smoke, fire, and blood scented in his nose and lungs as he blasted through the trees.

What seemed like hours to make the distance to the village was in fact less than ten minutes as he landed with a boom in the center of town, creating a two foot deep crater as his single tail thrashed angrily behind his back. Bright whitish-silver chakra pulsed in time with the tail's angry twitching as the tunnel-vision faded from Naruto's eyes to take in the scene before him.

Everything burned. The houses, the shops, even the chicken coops were alit with fire. The smoke hung heavy in the air, underlined with blood.

Lots of blood.

"NEEEE-CHAAAANNN!" a frantic voice screamed from inside the locked doors of the burning city hall.

Gawd... all bad guys must read a cliche-101 book or something.

Hmm….. That or authors maybe?

"Have you come to enjoy the Bar-B-Que?" a cheery, bloodthirsty voice asked behind him.

"YOU. You did this?" Naruto hissed, his anger burning coldly in his veins as he turned to face the speaker.

The demonic man standing behind him held a three-foot long blood-drenched cleaver in one hand and what appeared to be the remains of a woman's leg in the other as he tore a hunk of the raw meat off with his rows of elongated shark-like teeth.

"Of course," the sick freak said between bites.

"Right now Blaze is just waiting for the main course to finish cooking."

Neither Naruto, nor Hana needed the assistance of the pointed leg for reinforcement of his meaning.

"NEEEE-CHAAAANNN!" Inari's voice echoed with pain from the burning city hall.

"You will die." Naruto stated quietly as he glared at the man before him, his head tilted down as he glared through his sweat-drenched bangs.

"Hmm?"

"You will DIE!"

"Taju Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Hundreds of Naruto's filled the street even as the original cocked back and he charged the shocked monster, nailing him with a chakra enhanced punch straight to the jaw.

"Get the villagers out!" he commanded his clones even as he launched a kick towards his stumbling opponent.

"Hai!" hundreds of copies of the same voice echoed in a loud scream before they attacked the pile of debris blocking the entrance to city hall with a vengeance.

As much as he wanted to help his clones, first Naruto had a rabid dog that needed to be put down.

"How could you?!"

The giant cleaver struck out like a bludgeon for Naruto's shoulder and he only barely managed to lean away from the attack as he dropped slightly and twisted.

"Blaze does what he likes." The man stated angrily, his former cheer fading as the blonde chastised him.

'Ni-san... something smells... wrong'

"Blaze does NOT LIKE YOU!" the now identified Blaze raged as smoke started pouring from his eyes.

"Blaze does not let mortals HARM to Blaze like THAT!"

As his speech ended, his uncovered arms and legs all started to bulge before bursting into flames, followed quickly by his torso.

'Ni-san! It isn't human!'

"Blaze deals with puny human who dares STRIKE BLAZE!"

The ...thing's head exploded.

Literally, flesh and chunky stuff went flying and all.

From an outsider's perspective, it was kinda awesome. Gross. But awesome.

In the place where the mostly human head once sat, instead a fur-covered head vaguely resembling a jackal with an elongated snout grew in place of the previous head as it burned along with the rest of the monster's body.

A flaming wave exploded out from the demon in an arc, leveling half the town as the dog-like monster roared. Naruto was never more grateful to his clones than in that very moment, as they had the foresight to get all of the villagers the hell away from the battle about to erupt within the village.

"YOU DIE NOW!"

Naruto barely withstood the demon's initial onslaught, as the cloth-shield held in front of him finished burning away, leaving him with only the half-finished cloak in his pouch, two leg-bracers, and a single arm-bracer.

'I'm getting some Kevlar damnit. This shit gets destroyed too...'

The blonde's frustrated thought was cut short as his chest exploded in a world of pain so potent white flashes blinked in his eyes before he crashed through a collapsed tannery and skidded to a stop.

'By Kami! Three broken ribs, I can't open my right eye, and I'm pretty sure my right arm might be broken... oh SHIT!'

A hairy, burning foot crashed into the ground where Naruto was trying to catch his breath less than a split second before and the blonde lost half of his bangs as the bloody cleaver sliced through the air in a slightly clumsy follow up attack.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Ten shadow clones popped up as a distraction while Naruto leapt away from the ...thing

Three of the clones hopped back while six of the reminding seven jumped in on the attack. The final clone followed a piece of advice given by Hana-chan after the fight with the Zabuza. He simply circled the ugly beast to figure out how it fought, what its weaknesses were.

Naruto himself was limply roof hopping the remnants of the buildings to the other side of town. Not only to get some distance from the beast, but to get the thing farther away from the villagers.

He had less than a three second head start when the first batches of memories reaching him. Metal melted before it touched the demon, wood burst into flame, the sand-based stones around it turned to glass.

'How is it not melting the very ground it's walking on?!' Naruto asked, reliving one of his more spectacular prank failures.

It's a fiction thing.

You really just have to get used to the Universe bending over backwards to let the bad guys do whatever they want.

'Really? Can I use that trick?'

No. Gotta just deal. Back to hoping I don't kill you.

'Shit this sucks.'

'Ni-san, there's a whole bunch of sand down the river from the bridge right?'

Naruto bit back a curse when the last three clones popped. Apparently the demon thought a Rasengan some sort of gentle courting ritual, and love-taps sure as hell aren't gonna stop that thing.

A flash of memory went through his head. 'When the glass burned him, it left a small wound.'

'Wait... The huge burning demon thing that's on FIRE, just tossed fireballs at my clones, has BURNING eyes, and smoke coming out of its nose is weak against fire? How insane is that?'

'Who cares if it WORKS?'

Whatever response he might have given his tenant-slash-sister vanished in scream of pain as a solid CHUNK of his shoulder vanished, complete with teeth marks and greenish venom just before the last clones memory popped into his head.

'Ni-san!'

The clone didn't even really have chance to evaluate for weaknesses before the first six clones went up in smoke. (Literally. Love that joke.) How could they have stalled the monstrosity for more than a few moments when the dog-looking beast spat a fireball from its mouth with absolutely NO warning. No gathering chakra. No hand-seals. Nothing. Just a fifteen foot round burning ball of fiery loogie.

The clone watched in silence from behind the bushes as the Beast make a deep sniffing sound before chasing the frustrated clone down.

'Okay. Super-honker. Should have guessed.'

The clone dodged well for a solid minute as the Beast seemed more interested in grabbing him then actually roasting him like the rest of the clones. The burning hands and legs were just added incentive.

A heavy bloodlust filled pressure started coming from the Beast as it gradually gained in speed, its reflexes sharpening with the flowing disgusting bloody-like chakra leaking from its pores.

In the end the clones efforts were in vain as the burning a hands managed to grab him, pulling the clone up for a deep sniff.

"Blaze knows this scent. Blaze has been looking for the little mortal! Blaze found you little mortal! Blaze cannot wait to feast on such power!"

Without any more warning the mighty jaws snapped out and ripped a chunk of the clone's now bloody shoulder right off, bones and all.

The clone actually felt happy when the Beasts hands tightening enough to pierce it, as it vanished in a puff of smoke.

The real Naruto fell stumbling to the ground as blood erupted from his wound, shock and confusion practically radiating from his body.

"Hana..." he panted out, reaching with his mind for the font of power his tenant provided as his own oppressive deadly chakra began leaking out.

Even as he took in his tenant's chakra and felt it flowing though his veins, the hissing in his left ear a testament to the fast healing wound, he felt Blaze's presence quickly approaching.

"More.." he ground out, bracing himself through grit teeth. A wave of pain erupted in his body as it became outlined in a silvery white. The pain intensified the most in his lower back before a second tail erupted in a spray of chakra and blood.

His eyes almost rolled into his head, but he fought down the pain as he took off for the sandy beach downriver from the bridge.

Blaze arrived moments later, the sand blasting away to form a ten foot crater around him. Naruto's eyes narrowed at the new development since he wouldn't exactly be able to dump a pile of boiling hot sand on the bastard if his very chakra blew it away.

"Blaze found you puny human."

Naruto's glowing silvery eyes focused on the angry demon as his chakra-charged pair of silver-white tails whipped angrily behind him. A split-second later the two vanished and a sonic boom echoed from where they met, a whoosh of displaced air blasting away from the duo. Naruto's kill-cloth started glowing pure silver with Kyuubi's chakra as it blocked the monster's fist in the form of a shield.

A cruel, cold smirk appeared on Naruto's face when ugly puss-like green blood erupted from the demon's knuckles. Blaze's features on the other hand became even more enraged.

The two were now on even ground.

Naruto launched out with a cloth covered fist, slamming the angry beast hard across the snout before following up with a cloth-wrapped kick. As the Kyuubi-chakra charged more into the air, all of his clothes started to glow a heavy silver. Even the metal of his head-band shined with ethereal mercury.

Naruto ducked a powerful double-fist swing and kicked the beast hard in the shoulder, returning the wound onto his enemy as his cloth wrapped foot sharpened almost instinctively into a blade as it sliced through.

Blaze leapt away from the dangerous silver-haired shinobi even as his own wound started hissing similar to Naruto's.

"You ant! You monkey! Blaze will rip yOU APART!"

As he spoke, Blaze's disgusting chakra became even heavier in the air around them as his skin started to blacken and burn. Naruto noted a number of fish belly up in the river a feet away.

"Whoa."

A shadow clone of Kakashi landed next to Naruto, adding another curiosity of how the (usually) blonde boy actually knew that, and took in the scene.

Both Naruto and Hana were intrigued at just how relaxed Kakashi looked as he arrived on the scene, giving the utmost serene sense that he just happened to stroll upon the deadly battle by pure happenstance. His relaxed demeanor and encouraging eye-smile portraying for all the world how much of a coincidence his arrival most definitely was.

"Naruto-kun. Report?"

Naruto's silvery eyes never left Blaze's form even as the chakra began reaching unbearable levels while he responded in a clipped, professional tone miles away from his usual exuberance, "Not sure. Was attacking the town. Transformed. Bit my shadow clones shoulder off and the wound transferred. Susceptible to fire."

Kakashi's eyebrow raised at the last statement in an 'are you joking' look.

"NOW BLAZE EATS YOU."

Naruto created a clone to grab Kakashi and run an errand as he met the beast in mid-air above the crater, hiding a wince as he felt the bottoms of the foot he kicked with flash-burned right through his cloth protection and newly acquired shinobi sandals.

Easy come easy go.

He forced the Fox's chakra to harden and strengthen even more, despite feeling the healing in his foot slow to nearly a stop.

As he landed from bouncing away from Blaze, he took a defensive stance to wait for his clone to return from its mission.

- 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 -

Fighting had long since ended at the bridge, those present having frozen in unison when the pair of oppressive chakra's erupted one after the other. Zabuza backed off, expecting more Konoha reinforcements (and their jinchuriki to boot), while Kakashi and Kurenai signaled a semi-retreat for the team.

When 'Tazuna' screamed while grabbing his bleeding shoulder a few moments later before vanishing in a puff of smoke, the Konoha jonin knew something beyond Zabuza was happening.

Something distinctly Bad.

Suigetsu and Zabuza's eyes both narrowed towards the source of the oppressive chakra. Haku vanished from her fight with a number of rips and slashes littering his clothes from his fight with a worse-for-wear Hinata and Kiba.

"Is it HIM Zabuza-sama?" the faux Hunter-nin asked in the silence, his dark bangs hiding his eyes from everyone as he shivered slightly.

Zabuza grunted without answering, his eyes focused on the massive pair of chakra signatures racing their way.

"Just what sort of monster have you brought to this land?" Kakashi asked dangerously, his Sharingan eye spinning in anger. "What did you send after the people of this country? After my STUDENT?!"

As he met the jonin's angrily spinning eye, Zabuza found himself answering in a distracted tone despite himself. "The Yondaime Mizukage. Yagura. He's come for me at last."

"Don't LIE to me Zabuza," Kakashi hissed, his eye somehow spinning even faster as his emotionally charged force hypnosis fully took control of Zabuza's thoughts, "Yagua died nearly six months after your shitty coup. Who the hell have you set on MY STUDENT?!"

"The only person I have ever felt such chakra from that would come for me is Yagura." Zabuza's head jerked as he broke the genjutsu. "Tell me Kakashi, if what you say is true, who or what is after YOUR jinchuriki?"

Kakashi didn't answer, sending a shadow clone racing to meet Naruto near the river.

"Is he really dead ?" Zabuza asked in the silence that followed, a fierce questioning look in his eyes.

"Swear it on my father's broken blade." Kakashi answered in a cryptic manner, his vision focused downriver.

That appeared to be enough for Zabuza though as he shouldered his blade and relaxed slightly, though still prepared to fight at a moment's notice.

Without removing his eyes from the direction of he ever growing source of malicious, bloodthirsty chakra, Zabuza addressed the pair of jonin whose attention was split between their three opponents and the area where Konoha's untrained jinchuriki seemed to be facing something out of their nightmares. "If what you say is true Kakashi of the Sharingan, then our battle is over. It is time for the Demon of the Bloody Mist to return home."

"Even as a missing-nin?" Kurenai asked for the side, her sight equally set downriver.

"Hm. I only left so they couldn't get their murderous hands on Haku and Suigetsu here."

"Zabuza-sama..." Haku whispered almost in awe, shocked to find the reason for their outlaw status had something to do with him, or, well, her.

Six sets of eyes narrowed as a figure came running in from the distance seconds before the remaining ninja saw the form running on all fours across the water, two tails flowing out behind it like streamers.

Moments later, the silver glowing form of Naruto's clone landed on a knee looking for all the world like an avenging angel come to extract justice as the silver eyes glowing from under his bangs pulsed in time with the twitching pair of tails behind him.

He rose warily, keeping his eyes on the three enemy ninja before making a grabbing motion in the direction of a tarp covered saw-horse holding a few boxes of grout.

'Balls' echoed in everyone's thoughts as Naruto's cloth grabbed the handle of Zabuza's masterfully hidden blade and pulled it back to the fierce looking boy.

"You used Kurikiribocho, one of the Seven Legendary Swords of the Mist, one of the fifteen most powerful swords in the known world as a SAW-HORSE?" Zabuza screamed as he neared an apoplectic seizure.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Despite himself, truly despite himself, Zabuza was actually starting to like this kid...

...the thought lasted just long enough for the little shit to turn and chunk his sword downriver in a huge arc.

"Give me ONE good reason why I shouldn't gut you for that Gaki..." the former and soon to be Mist jonin growled out.

"I'll give you two!" the clone stated confidently. The blonde copy then held up his hand with the victory sign while diving in the water to get away from the crazed jonin.

- 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 -

Even with his impressive healing factor, which normally healed scratches in seconds from how powerful it was, Naruto still looked like hell.

His clothes were in tatters, the only reason he remained PG-13 in dress was thanks to the weaving silver chakra flowing through and around his body. Blood ran freely down his jaw from a nasty clawed swing seconds before and the Beast managed to bite off a chunk of his calf after a badly placed kick.

He could feel his re-cracked ribs groan as he threw himself prostrate to dodge a nasty haymaker before he forced his pain-riddled body to kick straight up with both feet, nailing Blaze hard in the snout and throat while earning two more painful burns to his already blackened feet.

Over the last five minutes, which were some of the longest of Naruto's young life, he discovered quickly that for all his power Blaze fought like nothing more than a common thug.

No finesse. No fighting style. Just 'swing as hard as you can and smash it' type fighting.

From this fight onwards he would be eternally grateful for Kurenai-sensei's enforced lessons on dodging and taijutsu.

He let another wild swing pass inches from his head and returned with three swift jabs to the Beast's stomach before dodging a wild kick aimed for his side.

'How much energy does this guy HAVE. It's not human.'

In a brief moment of clarity before he sidestepped a shoulder-rush from his berserk opponent, he realized that this must be how people feel when fighting him.

*Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh*

Naruto grinned widely as he recognized that sound, planting his foot around Blaze's and shoving the stumbling Beast to the ground. It hurt like crazy and felt like his knee-cap tried to melt as he did it, but it bought him precious time to grab the giant cleaver as it landed a few feet away.

'Let's see if you really are a Legendary Sword!' Naruto thought triumphantly.

'How rude.'

Naruto didn't even notice the disgruntled statement as he swung the heavy-ass blade at the charging dog-man, slicing one of its arms clean off... without the normal spray of blood he would normally associate with such an action.

Instead, his opponent held a confused look for a moment before looking down at the bloody chakra that grew from its empty socket to form a second arm.

Blaze roared in anger again, so lost in his bloodlust he no longer had the higher brain functions necessary for speech.

Only Naruto's extensive training with his kill-cloth and clones saved him from being skewered as the Beast threw its arm back and punched forward, the new appendage elongating and racing through where Naruto stood a split second before in the form of a pike.

The legendary blade evened out the battle slightly, but the longer the battle dragged on, the weaker Naruto felt and the stronger Blaze appeared to become. Naruto slashed, spun, kicked, and gave riposte with all the (albeit limited) skill he had. The stalemate held for near-on ten minutes, an eternity compared to normal shinobi battles.

Then Naruto made a mistake.

Roaring in happiness as the blonde misjudged a kick, Blaze grabbed the genin jinchuriki by the torso and arm while cocking his head back with the clear intention to bite Naruto's head right off.

'It's made of chakra Ni-san!' Hana screamed in his head, instantly conveying her idea.

"Chakra Absorption Seal!"

He grabbed the chakra-arm and sucked the angry tainted chakra spinning around him in a bubble as his and Kyuubi's chakra forcefully overrode the tainted bloody mess and cleansed it into a glowing white.

Naruto lit up the clearing like a lightbulb as the pure, untainted Yang energy flowed into and through his veins in equal parts pain and pleasure. So much burned through his coils from the Beast he felt like he wanted to explode.

But it felt so wonderful he honestly couldn't care less what happened.

The Yang energy was so pure, so strong; he became momentarily lost in absolute nirvana. It was ecstasy.

'Get rid of it Ni-san!'

With the force of a thunderclap Hana brought him back to the waking world as Blaze's open mouth and gleaming teeth were flying towards him in slow motion.

His opponent didn't even rate on the list of his concerns as he felt the blood being forced out of his very pores of his body by the pure energy before evaporating into the air. He could feel his chakra coils on the brink of collapse from the potent energy and with an almost hesitant, but steadfast, force of will began reversing his technique to expel almost all of the poisonous, wonderful, ecstasy creating energy.

The blast wave that came afterwards vaporized Blaze's body, previously inches from his own, in an instant. For fifty yards in all directions nothing stood. The trees that formed the forest he ran through continued to fly away into the distance. A two foot deep channel of water in the form of a spiral cut into the top of the river for a full five seconds before it dispersed.

*Grrrr...*

Crouching on all fours roughly ten yards away hunched a churning mass of living chakra the size of a house, four claw-like arms hanging limply on the ground even as more of the bloody chakra leaked through to repair them. A bloody crimson filled tail waved erratically behind the demon for a few seconds before the appendage rammed into the ground, causing little mounds of dirt to upend along its path as the tail raced on a collision course for the currently silver-haired shinobi.

'We can't handle that much Ni-san.'

'You got a better idea? I'm fresh out. It will only go after the team next. I WILL protect my comrades. I will never let them down.'

'Ni-san...'

Grabbing Zabuza's sword, Naruto pumped his and Kyuubi's chakra down the length of the blade and swung it hard at the ground the moment Blaze's tail would have arrived. The exploding ground gave the twins a moment's respite as the Beast pulled his tail back in a howl of what was distinctly pain.

Smirking, Naruto pumped even more chakra into the blade and charged.

By this point Blaze became so lost in its primal instincts it only understood a few things. One of those being that the huge sharp thing flying for him hurt. A lot.

Despite the fact that the eyes were formed of twin points of green cancerous looking fire, Naruto saw the fear begin settling in Blaze's gaze as he continued to swing the massive zanbatou. Each swing hacked away another chunk of the demon's chakra form even as the beast continued to swing razor-sharp blade like arms.

After a rather disappointing kenjutsu fight, since it was more just avoiding getting stabbed by the formless beast, Naruto leapt back to catch his breath even as the Beast hunched slightly to lean away from Kurikiribocho's massive form in an almost submissive gesture.

Naruto relaxed slightly, finally seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. By this point, despite the earlier massive recharge, his body was beginning to run on pure adrenaline.

Blaze's nose lifted into the air and sniffed.

A feral grin made of six-inch teeth filled its maw as it turned to the scent of weaker prey.

Upriver.

The bridge.

"I WON'T LET YOU HAVE MY FRIENDS!" Naruto screamed and reached for the Beast even as it crouched to leap off towards the bridge.

'Ni-san! No!'

"YOU CAN'T HAVE MY FRIENDS!"

"Chakra Purification Seal!"

The world exploded in white.

A split second later, Naruto realized something profoundly important.

He just didn't care.

- 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 -

The citizens of Wave, nearly three full miles from Ground Zero, could only look in awe as a massive white pillar of energy as thick as thousand year old tree poured into the sky and disappeared somewhere past the clouds.

The slightly white-glowing shockwave passed through their town only seconds before reaching their hiding place, banishing the flames burning through their town in an instant. Wounds vanished and sickness faded in the path of the shockwave, leaving the formerly beaten, malnourished, and bloody group fully revitalized.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" the otherworldly shout of agonized pain reached them the next second, only one of those present actually recognizing the voice.

'NEE-CHAN!'

A muffled shout that Kakashi and Kiba heard clearly was their only warning that something horrible was about to happen in Naruto's battle.

"YOU CAN'T HAVE MY FRIENDS!"

Those seemingly closest to the blast radius could only stare in shock and concern at the massive dome of chakra as it grew to unheard of proportions. The chakra needed to create such a thing alone was almost incomprehensible. When it exploded outwards none of the gathered shinobi even bothered trying to dodge since it really wouldn't matter. Less then a split second afterwards a second dome of white energy appeared with a hole in the top and the gathered shinobi breathed a sigh of relief as the volatile energy blasted skyward.

Then the screaming started.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"NARUTO-KUN!" Hinata cried in unison with another, already leaping towards the edge of the bridge before Kurenai managed to snag her ankle while the exact same scene replayed with Haku and Suigetsu. Kakashi and Zabuza's eyes met with faint looked of amusement overlaying their concern; Kakashi for his student and the son of his sensei, one of his only living precious people; Zabuza for his most precious possession.

Kurikiribocho was in the middle of THAT!

In an ever expanding ring, heads turned towards Wave Country and eyes narrowed; some in anger, some in hope, some in fear. Their reactions were as varied as the rainbow, but there could be no doubt the power was felt.

Hidden deep in her Temple, a Priestess screamed in time with the boy.

Deep in Tea Country, a blonde haired, (very) well endowed woman almost choked on her sake as every slot machine in the casino (even those without a single person standing within five feet of them) spun to jackpot and started dumping their loads. Her head spun towards Wave a split second later with narrowed eyes.

On the outskirts of said Tea Country, following a report from one of his most reliable informants, a giggling older looking man was fully enjoying himself. Simultaneously groping enjoying a beautiful girl, that probably wasn't even legal, while throwing back a small cup of sake, his spy network barely a thought in his mind. Until a whoosh of ….something passed through him and his stomach revolted, nearly forcing his intake onto the ground. The …child in his lap suddenly held so much less appeal and he noticed a distinct bulge on her stomach that he swore he didn't remember seeing before. Then he made the mistake of looking into her desperate, shamed eyes for a split second. As his entire being revolted against itself, the white-haired man's harrowed eyes turned towards Wave Country.

High on a plateau overlooking his domain, a gruff looking giant of a man shoved another broken slave towards the pit as he eagerly searched his newest stock for another spirited being that had yet to be broken. He paused while reaching for a girl who couldn't have been older than nineteen and hissed angrily, his head spinning to face Wave even as his arm latched on to the doomed girl. Her screams in the coming hours would give haunting tribute to the suffering the rest of the prisoners would be forced to bear.

Within his island fortress, a man screamed in anger and frustration as his camera's followed Experiment 1129's trail. Whatever that energy was it managed to destroy almost two decades of work as almost half of his precious pets returned to their human states; including the now fleeing Experiment 1129. Dismissing the useless girl as a lost cause, he turned his camera's north-west towards Wave Country, curious as to the strange wave that recently passed through.

Similar scenes of anger, happiness, disgust, and more occurred for nearly five hundred miles around Ground Zero.

- 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 -

The twins barely even noticed as the grayish features of the landscape faded into a small café, where they sat seiza across from their sensei. Two small pitchers, sugar, lemons, and three featureless cups lay before them.

"What is chakra?"

'The combination of spiritual and physical energy sensei.'

"How do you know this?" Sensei asked in his normally monotone voice as Naruto tried to figure out why it didn't bore him to death.

"Isn't that what the Academy books said Hana-chan?"

'Yes.'

"I see. After what you have seen, after what I have shown you, would you agree?"

After a full minute, the both shook their heads no. Chakra, or at least energy of some sort, was everywhere. How could it be a combination of two energies when it came in so many different colors, strengths, types, and thicknesses?

Even inanimate objects at least held Yin.

"What if I said what you were taught is correct?"

"But that doesn't make any sense Sensei," Naruto pouted, annoyed, "Chakra is like…. in everything. How could a door of all things create spiritual and physical chakra?"

"Did they ever say that the balance was even?"

Naruto cocked his head to the side, completely not getting the direction the man was leading.

"Perhaps this may help," Sensei stated as he touched one pitcher then the other, "Let the first pitcher represent your spiritual chakra and the second be your physical chakra. If I were to pour just a little of the first and fill the remainder of my cup with the second, what would the combination primarily be?"

"Physical." 'Physical' the twins said in unison.

"And the reverse is the same. What is in the cup now?"

"Nothing," Naruto said without hesitation.

"Truly?"

The blonde blinked and cocked his head to the side again.

"Air."

"Correct. What if I was to remove the air that none remained within the cup? What then would be within?"

"Nothing." Naruto stated again, more confidently.

"And what is nothing?"

"Urg… huh?"

"You have given a name to a concrete item which is currently within the cup when I have removed everything else. Nothing. Since nothing exists, doesn't that mean it should be something?"

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, but refused to rise to the obvious teasing.

"I tease not. What you are not seeing within the cup because it is not there would be called the chakra of the Void. That which is the absence of all things. True order. The purest essence of Yin. The only thing which can exist within the Void is thought. Souls. That with no tangible, physical form."

"Wow. Really?"

"Truly. Nothingness is a concept that simply cannot exist. Something must occupy all space, everywhere. It is because everything in the world, in the Universe is intimately connected even if only the tiniest of most minuscule connection exists."

"Huh… I guess I can see that. Sort of how when you touched us, everything seemed to glow, not just the things around us."

"Correct."

"Why are you telling us all of this?"

"Because to understand the simplicity of the energy behind the Universe, you must first understand its complexity."

"That makes NO sense." Naruto dead-panned.

"Perhaps it would be easier if you recalled how the world looked when you last saw through my eyes. There is only chi and lack of chi. Ki and Void. Chi, Ki, or Chakra, whatever you name it, can be manipulated however you might desire as you are not actually manipulating anything. The energy of the universe does not grow, it does not shrink. It does not change. It simply is. It exists. Like you. Like me.

"Just because you burn a piece of paper, do not the ashes remain? In truth, nothing has changed. So to is chakra the same. It is Yin. It is Yang. It is both and neither."

"How does that help us weird-Sensei?"

"If it is all the same and how it is put together is meaningless, can you not create fire as simply as water? A burst of wind as simply as a burst of lightning?"

"Do not let the ignorant teachings of your village set your 'knowledge' in stone. Chakra may be as varied as the stars in type, color, shape, thickness, and strength, but it is also just as simple as the sun and the moon. One lives in light, the other in darkness, yet both can be found on opposite sides of the same coin.

"What about the dog-guy?" Naruto asked curiously, a smile crossing his face as he remembered the sense of pure euphoria from the strange white energy.

"We will discuss Blaze when we meet in person. Rest now young mukyu, your body is still healing."

"My body? What happened?"

'You purified his chakra ni-san…' his fraternal twin spoke quietly, her eyes shadowed and hidden behind her long crimson tresses.

"So?"

'You used your body to do it.'

"Oh."

"So what happened?"

'I don't know…' she trailed off before fading from view, surprising the blonde even as the grayness closed in.

- 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 -

Nearly five minutes later, which felt like five hours to the anxious shinobi standing on the almost completed bridge, the dome of chakra finally receded and vanished.

The gathered ninja were already moving, leaping off the bridge to run on the water's surface.

"S Formation." Kakashi's sharp command called out, causing Kiba and Sasuke to stumble and nearly hit the water, "We don't know whether Naruto won or lost his battle and his opponent was something not even I'm sure I would be capable of handling one on one. When we are fifty yards from the blast center, all Genin are to stop and wait for instructions."

The team looked to Kurenai for confirmation, since she was their team leader, but she only nodded.

Hinata and Sasuke looked extremely displeased.

Sasuke's face was practically enraged, but his fellow genin completely misunderstood the expression on his face.

For the first time since the day team's were assigned, Sasuke felt something burning a hole in his chest that he hadn't even noticed he'd lost.

Jealousy.

It burned white-hot and caused his very fingertips to tingle as he raged at just how far ahead of him their blonde team-mate still managed to be.

'Why does HE get such POWER? I am the last Uchiha! I NEED that power! How will I ever kill Itachi if I can't keep up with the class dobe!'

Flowing innocuously in Sasuke's blood as it had been for over a month now, a single seal-covered grain of sand broke.

'I'll kill him. I'll kill the dobe and take that power for myself. I'll kill them all if I have to!'

With a distinct growl and a frown on his face as he fought back his most negative emotions, Sasuke continued to run after his team-mate; feeling distinctly left behind once again.

The assembled ninja honestly weren't sure what to expect when they arrived at the edge of the smoking hot crater slowly filling with water from the river and nearby sea.

Said crater, well over two or three hundred feet in width and at least twenty feet deep certainly wasn't it.

With their do-jutsus active, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Hinata were the first to see the body floating face-down on top of the rising water, it wasn't like they could miss the three tails hanging limply in the water lit up like Christmas. Hinata especially focused in on the bared derriere like a hawk on a particularly delectable looking mouse. The two genin were shocked at the burst of speed Kakashi displayed to just appear next to what they knew was their team-mate.

"It's Naruto-kun!" Hinata confirmed loudly, her eyes seeing the three limp, bleeding silver tails underneath the water's surface.

Sasuke's jealous rage dried in his throat when Kakashi flipped the unconscious Naruto over. The entire front half of his body looked more akin to a side of beef slow-cooked on the grill than a human. Flashes of silvery white chakra could be seen through his ribs as his tenant forced his lungs to move. Even as Kakashi gently lifted Naruto bridal style and prepared to leap back the waiting group, a half gallon of water was ejected from Naruto's mouth and a couple of holes in his trachea.

As Kakashi leapt to the edge of the new alcove, the fate of Zabuza's fabled sword became apparent. The white-hot energy managed to melt the blade on to the very muscles of his hand.

"Oh Boss..." a somber voice stated, mimicking the collective feelings of those gathered as they stared at the barely alive human brisket.

Of course, this also threw them all on guard for a split second until they realized it was just the single clone Naruto created earlier, two slightly glowing tails swaying behind him.

"What the hell happened out here?" one of them asked quietly as the speaker, Kiba stared out at the destruction in awe.

"Boss fought some kind of demon," the clone said tiredly, squeezing the river water out of the remains of its clothes.

"That was another jinchuriki?" Kakashi questioned, staring at the clone intently.

"I don't ...think so. The guy… thing… it was just... Evil? I think... I think it was a REAL demon."

The clone couldn't hold in its shudder at the memory.

"Boss didn't make any more clones, but whatever he did...?... Well I know WHAT he did, I just don't understand how he did it. Anyway, I got the memory-bounce just before he grabbed the thing."

"So the thing is gone," the white-gray haired jonin asked, being the only one to see the dog...man...thing out of the group.

"Boss blew away its body, but the... Demon was made entirely of chakra. Like the stories about the bjuu. Only… weird."

"The dobe fought a bjuu?" Sasuke asked, sarcasm as thick as mud laced in his tone.

"No? Maybe? I don't know, but demon is the best phrase I can think of for it." The clone stated with a shrug, eying the massive crater as it slowly filled with water.

"Demon is indeed the correct phrase young mukyu, though I assure you that was no bjuu." A monotone voice spoke to the clone in the silence of his mind.

"Ahhh!" The clone jumped and looked around wildly before speaking again. "Weird-Sensei?" the clone spoke to the side, cocking his head to listen to the voice that the others couldn't.

"Indeed. I intended to reveal myself at a much later time, but it appears the shifts are already occurring. Inform young Hatake that 'the leaves must swirl'. Afterwards, everyone should leave. The young oni's death will surely draw more of his kin. The curious if nothing else. We will speak more at a later time."

"...lright Naruto?" Kurenai-sensei's voice caught his attention from only inches away. Apparently he zoned out more than he thought.

"Yeah. Weird-Sensei was just telling me that is was a demon, but not a bjuu." The clone said, his eyes tracking the area where he lost saw the monstrous creature.

Kakashi's one visible eye narrowed. "And this... Weird-Sensei? Who is he?"

"No clue. He shows up randomly in boss's dreams sometimes." The clone said with a shrug, not even noticing his pink-haired team-mate edging away slightly in nervousness. "Anyway, he said something weirder than normal before telling me we should get the hell out of here before that thing's family comes calling?"

Sakura let out an annoyed sigh since she knew she couldn't pummel the clone. "Which was...?" she prompted, an ominous tone in her voice.

"Oh. Right." the clone turned towards Kakashi. "He said to tell you 'the leaves must swirl'. Whatever that means."

"Diamond formation," Kakashi snapped out after his eye widened for a split second. His mask was back in place before he finished speaking. "We're getting out of here now. Rendezvous back at Tazuna's house. Sasuke, Hinata. Your eyes. Kiba, channel a full dose for both you and Akamaru. Shino, spread everything not necessary."

"Move out NOW!" he snapped when the genin looked to Kurenai for instructions, though she gave then a sharp nod.

When an unknown element tells you there's a village destroying Kage-level threat in the area you act.

Whether you believe it or not.

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