Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other series I might reference in my story.

Sorry I've been away a bit again! I was busy organising and then hosting a Dota 2 Tournament in my school last week, which took weeks to months of planning to execute! Glad that I was able to get it over with, now can finally have some time to myself! Without further ado, I present to you the next chapter!

Chapter 5: Divergence

Two days might seem like a rather short amount of time, but to shinobi who participate in high speed engagements where even a split second could decide the victor… two days was a luxury. Jiraiya, as per Naruto's instructions, had only needed a few hours in the middle of the night to apply the necessary seals at their respective locations. The fact that it was done at night and by Jiraiya, one of the best stealth specialist in the world, meant that nobody would have noticed.

With their preparations done by the first day, Tsunade had gone about her daily routine of getting drunk and gambling because in her own words 'there won't be time once I'm stuck behind that desk doing paperwork!' Not too long later, Jiraiya too had left on his daily adventures. By which it meant peeping on the bathhouses or getting laid with some prostitutes, highly likely it would be both.

Meanwhile, a certain blond-haired teen was taking advantage of having the room to himself to conduct a bit of his own research. With his eyes closed, he sat on the queen-sized bed in a meditative posture and clenched in his hands was the necklace that Tsunade had given him after their little bout.

'It seems I was right, this crystal… somehow its properties allows it to act as some sort of conduit and storage unit for large amounts of Force energy.' He could feel the Force being channelled through his body and into the crystal. 'If it could be absorbed into it… what about the reverse?'

Hesitating for a moment as he considered the effects this could have, he started out slow as he grasped a sliver of the Force energy contained within the crystal and tugged on it. It did not work out the way he planned.

"!"

Eyes snapping wide open in shock as a choked gasp escaped his throat, he could feel the Force flooding through every pore, every molecule of his being and beyond. If he had a mirror, he would be able to see that his entire body was overflowing with a shroud of blue energy and his eyes glowing an unearthly ethereal blue. Colours danced across his vision as the room slowly blurred out of focus before everything suddenly faded to black.

There was no light.

Thump

There was no ground beneath his feet.

Thump

He was just floating in a sea of darkness with nothing but his own heartbeat for company.

Thump

'Where… the hell am I?'

His thoughts did not stay within the confines of his own mind, instead they echoed throughout the darkness as if he had screamed them aloud for the entire world to hear. Before he could question himself again, a small iota of light burst into existence before quickly enveloping his vision and blinding him. By the time he opened his eyes again, he was greeted with not darkness but a room.

The room was dimly lit and sparse, just a table in the middle surrounded by worn and tired looking people, shinobi by the looks of them. He could see what this body he inhabited was seeing, hear what he heard but he could not control his actions.

'Naruto?' A voice called out to him.

He felt his head turn to acknowledge the speaker, and in turn felt his breath taken away by the sight before him. A woman, not just any woman but probably the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. Her sharp, piercing emerald eyes burnt with determination and her auburn hair highlighted in just the right manner by the dim lighting.

'What do you think of the plan? This was what my strategists came up with given the info that our spies managed to acquire, it isn't much but it's better than nothing.'

Even her voice was enchanting, he could feel his mouth opening but his vision blurred away before he could hear the words that escaped his own mouth.

'What… what was that? Who was she?'

Before he could ask any more questions, his vision shifted back into focus but he was at a different location this time.

A gentle sea breeze, the smell of the ocean and a light drizzle indicated he was near a large body of water this time and that it was raining gently. The skies were cloudy, making it so that he was unable to tell the time of the day.

He could feel himself panting, the ache in his muscles and the slight effect of exhaustion kicking in. And that was when he took another deep breath, and was hit by the smell of a familiar metallic tang that was usually associated with the stench of spilt blood.

'We're almost there… just one more fight.'

He could hear her voice, her tone carrying a hint of exhaustion as well but did not make it any less enticing. He did not turn to face her this time, choosing to fix his gaze ahead. For ahead of them stood a giant creature, with just one eyes exposed and a large spiked shell on its back. However what stood out the most were the three large armoured tails that moved through the air behind the creature.

Once again his vision blurred out just as he, the body he was in, was starting to speak.

'The Sanbi? What the hell?'

Just like a recurring dream, his vision snapped back into focus and he found himself yet in a different location.

The area was dark this time, the only light filtering in through holes punched through the ceiling of wherever he was. From the looks of the collapsing infrastructure and general state of the area, it seemed to be some kind of underground ruins or building.

The smell of blood was in the air again, this time he could tell where it was coming from as there were large puddles of blood around the area. Not to mention a person crucified to a wall on the opposite side of the room, a steady stream of blood flowing from her wounds.

In-between him and the person were a pair of shinobi, dressed in the familiar colours of a black cloak with red clouds. One was a silver-haired male wielding a large triple-bladed red scythe, the other a male with only his strangely-coloured eyes exposed.

'Looks like the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki decided to pay us a visit too, seems like this is my lucky day.' The masked male spoke, his voice deep and serious.

'So I can't sacrifice this heretic as well?! This fucking sucks!' The silver-haired one cursed aloud.

The shift was much faster this time, not even allowing the blond to get a single thought in before the next vision took place.

A busy street, bustling with people and the aroma of various delicacies filled the air. It definitely wasn't Konoha, he knew every street and alley like the back of his hand. A festival of some sort seemed to be taking place, there were stalls lining the road and the people were all dressed in yukatas.

He was leaning against the wall, dressed in a yukata of his own, and observing the crowd as they made their way through the cramped street. He was about to wonder what he was doing in this unknown village when a bump on his hip caught his attention followed by a voice, female again.

'Thanks for waiting up for me! I saw something I wanted to grab, fuck I haven't had these babies in a long time… Mmm! And they still taste just as great~ here try some too!' He felt his head turning in the direction of the voice.

Beautiful doe-brown eyes that were accentuated by her eyelashes, a cute smirk on her face and a piece of mochi being held up to his mouth. What caught his attention the most was the lustrous red hair that framed her face and was tied up in a bun on the back of her head.

'It's this village's speciality! Now stop staring at me like a dumbass and eat the mochi already!'

The vision was already fading out as the mochi was being shoved into his mouth, the blond briefly mourned not being able to taste the delicacy while the next vision took its place.

A change of pace, he was in movement this time and a rather high-paced movement to be frank. He felt his body twist out of the way as his eyes caught the gleam of a well-polished blade pass just a few millimetres from his face.

His own blade coming up in retaliation, a fast curving upward stroke meant to disarm his opponent. The attack was dodged when the figure launched a single kunai from their free hand, knocking his blade off its path.

The battle ended there as both parties sheathed their swords, allowing him to glimpse the flowing locks of purple that drifted in the wind. However her facial features were a silhouette caused by the setting sun behind her.

'Looks like you finally got me to use something other than my katana in our spars… you've truly improved a lot Naruto.'

The setting sun was immediately phased out into a full moon, the training grounds into a ledge overlooking a large village filled with metal spires.

It was raining again. It wasn't a downpour but neither was it a drizzle, just a soft blanketing rain that fell over the entire village. It was quiet, with the exception of the sound of the raindrops hitting the roof of the building he was in.

'Master… I have done as you have instructed.'

He did not even hear the footsteps of the person that had approached him, her voice though muffled still denoted her as a female. His body stood still, observing the falling rain for a moment longer before turning on his heel to address the person who had spoken to him.

She was dressed in a black hooded waterproof cloak with the front open, revealing a bodysuit underneath over which lay a set of dark grey standard-issue ANBU armour. Her face was covered by a black porcelain mask, a crude skull design painted over it in what seemed like blood.

'Well done…'

It was the first time he spoke in the visions, but as usual it cut-off right as he was about to mention the masked person's identity. Naruto stood, floating in the darkness as he waited for the next onslaught of visions.

Seconds passed, then minutes. No more visions came, but he could feel a slow tugging within his gut. Like something calling out to him, he closed his eyes and reached out into the Force. He felt the tugging sensation get stronger the more he focused on channelling the Force until he suddenly felt a soft breeze caress his face.

He opened his eyes, finding himself standing atop a stone head. There were no lights nearby to light up the night, a few flashes of lightning across the sky every few seconds illuminated the area enough for him to see the man standing opposite him.

Hair as black as the night sky that spiked backwards, sharp facial features and dressed in the outfit of the ANBU units of Konoha. What truly gave away his identity were the pair of Sharingan that glared back at him, their ominous red glow piercing through the veil of darkness.

'So you have come… Naruto.'

'You know why Uchiha… give her back to me lest I make what Pein did to this village look like child's play.'

Lightning flashed across the sky once again as a dark chuckle echoed through the air, the Uchiha had his face clenched in his hand as he doubled over in laughter.

'Do you think I give a shit about this village?! They can burn for all I care! All I want… is to defeat you right here!'

His Sharingan leaving twin trails of red in the night as he blurred forward, chokutō leaving its sheath in an overhead slash. He made no attempt to move as the other male closed in on him, a slow exhale left his lips just as the blade closed in on his neck.

Naruto jerked back into reality at the last moment, his back colliding against the wooden headboard of the bed and his eyes dancing around the room as he struggled to catch his breath. The necklace in his hand now slightly warm to the touch, he could roughly sense that the amount of Force energy stored within the crystal had diminished by a slight amount.

Placing the necklace back into one of his sealing scrolls, the blond made his way into the bathroom and to the sink where he splashed some water onto his face. Taking a look into the mirror, he saw that nothing was out of the ordinary except his eyes maybe looked a little more blue than usual.

'What the hell was that… visions… of my future? All of them? Or are they all different paths…' Naruto mused to himself as he collapsed onto the bed, hands grasping the sides of his head.

'Who were those women… and the Akatsuki… well actually no surprise there as I will definitely be seeing them again. That must mean that lady crucified to the wall… she must be a Jinchuuriki too. And facing off against the Sanbi… I must be insane. Also what the hell was that last scene… was that an older Sasuke?'

All these thoughts raced through his mind as he tried to sort out the new information and process them, he groaned in frustration before pulling back his hand and slapping himself across the face. The shock and sharp sting allowing him to focus his train of thought.

'I can figure everything out later… Orochimaru takes priority first.'

One day later

Tsunade was glad that she was an experienced gambler, the ability to keep a poker face while walking towards her old teammate across an open field was extremely taxing. The pale-skinned shinobi was watching her with his patented all-knowing smirk on his lips, though the image was ruined by the heavily bandaged arms at his sides. Her gaze panned to the grey-haired youth at his side, a similar smirk to his master could be found on his face.

'Hard to believe there could be anyone just as sick and twisted as the snake himself, delusions of grandeur perhaps…'

The blond Sannin took her time to cross the field, her pace moderate and face nonchalant as if taking a leisurely afternoon stroll. The morning sun had just begun to creep into the sky, streaks of warm orange lights stretched across the open plains.

"…Orochimaru." She greeted once they were within earshot, coming to a stop just in front of the two Otogakure shinobi.

"Tsunade-hime~ I assume that you have reached a decision regarding our little barter?"

"That's why I'm here… can you really bring them back? And not as your bastardized puppets as well, I meant as free-willed, living, breathing humans."

The Snake Sannin's grin only widened upon hearing those words, he took her words as confirmation that she was indeed willing to perform the needed surgery on his arms.

"Of course dear Tsunade, I have not merely been idle in my time away from Konoha. The amount of knowledge and jutsu I have managed to amass over the years, there is nothing that is out of my reach."

'Except healing your own arms.' She snorted in amusement at her own mental jab, outwardly she heaved a faked sigh of resignation. "You have yourself a deal snake... let me take a look at your arms."

Kabuto skilfully and carefully undid the bandages around his master's arms and gently held them out for the Slug Sannin to observe. Tsunade noted how strange his condition was, where both arms were rotting all the way up to the elbow joint where it abruptly stopped. Running a standard diagnostic technique over his arms revealed no further insight, not that she expected it to.

'If standard medical techniques could solve his problem then he wouldn't have bothered searching me out… all it states is that both arms have entered a state of necrosis. However every cell above the elbow is perfectly healthy… well as healthy as someone who experiments on himself can be.'

Deciding that there was no need to continue delaying their plan any longer, Tsunade placed a hand on her former teammate's upper arm and gently brushed her free hand against the grey-haired teen's hand.

"Ranshinshō (Body Pathway Derangement)…"

"Orochimaru-sama!"

"Tsunade you…!"

Both victims felt the effects straight away as their legs gave way from having their brain's electrical signals disrupted, crumpling to the ground in an undignified heap.

"Betrayed you? Oh please, we both know that you were going to betray me too the moment I healed your arms plus… it's the job of Konoha's Godaime Hokage to deal with our missing-nins. NOW!" Tsunade called out as she saw that both shinobi while paralyzed, were already starting to figure out how to deal with her technique.

Jiraiya appeared out of thin air, having been hiding nearby using his Transparency technique, and his hands were already pressed together in a handseal. A short while later, four walls made of violet flames burst into existence and trapping all of them in its confines.

"Looks familiar doesn't it, the Shishienjin (Four Violet Flames Formation) that you used to trap our sensei… will now be used to trap you instead." As the man spoke, his hands were already moving through another series of handseals before he slammed his palm against the ground.

"Doton: Yomi Numa (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)!"

The ground beneath and around the two paralyzed shinobi started to liquefy, the chakra-infused mud ensnaring their bodies and dragging them deeper into the newly formed swamp.

'Tsunade's technique is still wreaking havoc on my nervous system, making it harder to fight our way out of this swamp. Plus there are no objects nearby for us to perform a substitution technique with…' Orochimaru thought as he turned to his subordinate, who was recovering his motor skills at a much faster rate due to being an accomplished medical ninja. "Kabuto! Summoning technique now!"

Before the spectacled spy could respond, there was a soft whistling sound before a katana found itself lodged within his skull. The blade neatly sliding in between the eyes, piercing through the skull and lodging itself firmly into the brain of his right-hand man.

"That was easier than I thought it would be… well deception is the number one rule of being a shinobi."

Orochimaru turned away from the corpse to address who he assumed to be the owner of the katana, his eyes widened in surprise upon finding the familiar whiskered visage of Konoha's resident Jinchuuriki. He recalled the unexpected performance the boy displayed during the tournament against the Hyuuga prodigy, as well as several reports from his village's shinobi about how he had slaughtered a good number of his men.

"Naruto-kun… how could you do that to poor Kabuto."

"I don't think this is the time for you to be making jokes Orochimaru, there is nowhere for you to escape, nowhere for you to run… this is the end." Jiraiya said, his tone sombre and unnaturally serious.

"Kukuku… don't you know by now Jiraiya? I always have an escape plan-"

"Chakra Fūin: Seigen 100% (Chakra Seal: Restriction 100%)!"

The laughter died in the Snake Sannin's throat, he could feel his chakra network instantly lock up as if every single drop of his chakra was encased inside a transparent case. He could feel and visualise it, but it was out of his reach.

"You… you! What did you do?! My chakra!"

"Just a precaution, I'm not the dead-last dunce you still think I am. I've been chasing your tracks for years, my spy network spans out across the entire Elemental Nations, I've done more than my fair share of digging." Jiraiya chuckled as he walked to the edge of the swamp, crouching down so that he was eye level with the man who used to be his best friend.

"The location of your bases were probably the hardest thing to find… however details on your abilities and techniques were much easier to come by. Body manipulation, regeneration, the Kusanagi no Tsurugi you store in a seal at the back of your throat and let's not forget your little regurgitation trick. In addition to any new jutsu you discovered or invented, the solution strangely came from Naruto over there… just take away your chakra."

"That's right, it was my idea. The only problem was that we couldn't get close to you to place a seal on you physically nor could we predict where you would stand in this vast field. So I did, or rather made Jiraiya, do the next best thing. We covered the majority of the field in one large seal and before you think about it, yes that means none of us have access to our chakra now." The blond-haired teen smirked slightly at the dumbfounded look on his victim's face. 'Though I can still tap into the Force of course.'

"The difference is that all of us have fully functional arms, don't have our nervous system disrupted and neither are we stuck in a swamp." Tsunade added on, managing to work past her haemophobia after seeing the blood flowing down Kabuto's entry wound.

"…so what now Jiraiya. You finally caught me, after all these years. Are you going to kill me? Avenge Sarutobi-sensei? Wait I already know, you won't because of your philosophy~ what was it again? The cycle of hatred, that's it!" The Snake Sannin mocked, though its effects were drastically reduced by the fact it was only just his head above the mud level.

"Well I could just kill you, I doubt anybody would miss you…" Jiraiya mused as he scratched his chin as he glanced towards the sky, his gaze slowly moving back down to stare into a pair of reptilian eyes. "On the other hand… we also know you definitely had help smuggling your forces into Konoha and we would like to find out who."

The white-haired male did not bother to wait for a response as he walked across the hardened mud, knocking out the snake summoner before pulling his unconscious form out of the ground. To his right, the younger male shinobi could be seen retrieving his katana. One quick flick to rid the blade of blood and brain matter, he slid it back home into its sheath with a soft click.

"Release!"

The chakra seal, as well as the tall violet walls that surrounded the field, vanished immediately upon the command being uttered by their creator. The man already having hog-tied their prisoner and painting the highest level chakra restriction seal he knew onto the back of his neck. Picking the bundled up missing-nin under his arm, he turned around to see the younger male looking at him.

"What?"

"Don't you have a safer way to transport him? He is an S-class missing-nin you know, better safe than sorry as they say."

"…that's a good point. Kuchiyose no jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"

Naruto watched in morbid fascination as a small toad appeared in a puff of smoke, wrapped its tongue around the tied-up Orochimaru and proceeded to swallow the man whole. The toad did not expand in size despite having a swallowed an adult male human, it disappeared after receiving instructions from its summoner.

"Huh… well that just happened."

"I know right! Toads are an extremely versatile summon race, being able to be used for battles, tracking, stealth and deliveries."

"Impressive, I didn't know how useful summons could be…"

"How about it kid? Can I sign you up to be the next Toad summoner?"

"Nah, I'd prefer something cooler."

"Did you just call the Toads lame?!"

"Hey don't put words in my mouth, I never said they were lame… I just want something more outstanding. Plus you and the Yondaime are already well-known as Toad summoners, I want something that will be unique to me."

"Well the Slugs only have one summoner, as opposed to the Toads and Snakes who both had two." Tsunade suggested, though her tone was clear that she was only half serious at most.

"Wow two of the Sannin propositioning me today, I'm honoured." He sarcastically replied, waving his hand in dismissal as he walked back in the direction of the town. "Like I said, I want something that solely represents me and me alone!"

Undisclosed location

With no windows of any sort, the room was enshrouded in shadows from the dim lighting that hung overhead. Not that it mattered as the weather always seemed to stay the same, rainfall day in and day out, and the sound of raindrops echoed throughout the silence of the room. At the far end of the room sat a man, his form hidden by the poor lighting and his ripple-patterned eyes were the only thing that pierced the gloom of the room.

"Tobi… or rather, Uchiha Madara. It's never something pleasant when you have to personally show up in my room… speak."

From the shadows of the corner of the room, a single crimson eye shone in the darkness.

"Oh you wound me, and here I thought you enjoyed our little talks."

"Get on with it Uchiha, I don't have time for your shenanigans."

"…Zetsu has brought news to me. Orochimaru of the Sannin, our former member, has been captured by Konoha."

The posture of the ripple-eyed man straightened as he heard the news, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"That is indeed troubling. That man knows too much about our organisation, if he were to disclose that information to barter for his life…"

"Not to mention that snake is still holding onto one of our rings, the sealing of the beasts would go much faster if we reacquired it. The issue is that he has many bases that he operated from, we can't spare the manpower to go on a wild goose chase just for that one ring."

"So what do you suggest?"

"I suppose that for someone of my… unique capabilities. Slipping in and out of whatever cell they had imprisoned him in would be of little consequence."

"You intend to work with him again?"

The question was neither genuine nor sarcastic, it seemed to be more of a statement than anything but the crimson-eyed man chose to dignify it with a response.

"Nagato, Nagato, Nagato… always thinking with your head in the clouds. The snake is more useful to us alive than dead, though of course that will change once he outlives his usefulness. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to see to my pet turtle… it has become rather rowdy as of late."

A second later and the man was left alone in the room once again.

Tanzaku-Gai Gate

"I told you already, just head back first without me. You have to get the snake bastard settled into his new cell anyway. And you have to go fill up whatever papers and stuff that is needed to apply as Hokage."

The group of Konoha shinobi stood at the entrance of the town, having settled their business there and were about to leave when the youngest member of their group suddenly requested a short leave of absence.

"Then why not take Shizune with you, she's free and is old enough to supervise you!"

Unfortunately the future Godaime Hokage was against it, having heard from her white-haired teammate about the Akatsuki and their attempt at capturing the blond.

"I specifically said I needed some alone time! Plus she probably misses Konoha after being away for so long, who am I to deny her that!"

"Konoha isn't going anywhere, she can consider it a short vacation before finally settling back in Konoha!"

"Stop making decisions for other people you old hag, she already spent years of her life following your drunk ass around!"

Jiraiya sighed as he had to physically restrain the Slug Sannin from attacking her fellow comrade, he turned to address the other blond.

"If you aren't back in Konoha within a week then I'll come searching for you… and here. That's a summoning contract seal, it allows you to summon a messenger Toad to deliver a message straight to me. I expect you to message me if you smell even a hint of Akatsuki involvement."

Stowing the scroll away in his own storage scroll, the blond gave a quick nod of acknowledgement.

"Thanks, I will probably be heading to the Land of Waves."

"I hope you work out whatever that has been bothering you, don't look so shocked kid. I am a spymaster after all."

Shaking himself out of his stupor, he gave a quick salute before taking off into the trees with a large leap. His momentum carrying him far into the canopy of the forest where he proceeded to tree-hop his way in the direction of the location where his team had taken their first legit mission. His hand moved to touch the front of his shirt, where he could feel the shape of the Shodaime's necklace resting beneath the fabric.

'I need to figure out what those visions meant… but more importantly what these crystals on the necklace are.'

'Ah that accursed necklace… we meet again.'

'Kyuubi, you've been quiet this past few days.'

'I was taking a nap, do you know how boring it is here in your mind meatbag. It's just a sewer, nothing else, just the sewer, the seal and me.'

'Well when you put it that way, it does sound pretty boring.'

'Boring is watching the sun rise in the east and set in the west, boring is strolling through a forest and wondering what to do, boring is watching the grass grow. This is so far past boring, that a new word should be invented for it.'

'…geez I'll try doing something about it then.'

'…that would be appreciated.'

'So getting back on topic, you seem to be familiar with this necklace.'

'Of course I would be familiar with that damned trinket, it belonged to the Shodaime Hokage who used its special properties to empower his Mokuton (Wood Release) techniques to be able to capture and calm me and my siblings.'

'The Shodaime could tap into the Force?!'

'No you idiotic meatbag! I just said that he could only augment his own abilities using the Force as his Mokuton techniques were alive in a sense, being trees after all. If I remember correctly though, he was able to bond his chakra network with the Force for a short duration… he called it Senjutsu.'

'Senjutsu huh…'

'Hmph, while I would call it presumptions of the man to have named his technique after the Sage himself. I cannot deny that it did give his combat prowess a huge boost, being able to utilise huge techniques that could change the geography of a location… without running out of chakra.'

'Sounds like an upgraded version of the Force battle trance, something to look into at a later date. For now we have to figure out what happened in the hotel room and what did those visions represent.'

A comfortable silence fell over the pair as the blond leapt through the trees at a blistering pace, only possible due to his usage of the Force to enhance his leg muscles. The omnipotent energy providing him with the ability to kick-off with more force as well as reduce the strain on his muscle tissues. He was mid-leap when his danger sense suddenly screamed out at him.

"!"

Twisting his body in mid-air with the aid of the Force, he barely dodged the wave of kunai that sailed past his body and slammed into the trunk of a tree further down. Landing in a crouch on a random tree branch, he reached out with the Force to track down his assailants.

'Four ahead of me, three to the right… another four to the left. Since the attack came from my left flank, it means that those four were responsible. Chakra signatures… low to non-existent? Wait… don't tell me it's just bandits…'

'Tear them limb from limb and hang their intestines from the branches!'

'Err how about no, they're just bandits. Though I am curious what they are doing out here, there isn't a trading route anywhere near this location.'

A few seconds later, the aforementioned bandits emerged through the brushes with weapons in hand as they glared up at him. Their clothes were in a rather poor state, their faces also seeming rather gaunt and weapons dulled and rusted.

'Are they even bandits? They look more like scavengers who got lost in the forest…'

'Tear them limb from limb-'

'No.'

Choosing to ignore the murder-happy chakra beast, Naruto stood up, crossed his arms and glared back at the bandits in return. His expression and cold, glacier-like gaze unnerved some of the weaker members but none of them chose to flee.

"Don't you know the rules of combat?"

His statement seemed to confuse the bandits below him, a rather scruffy looking one stepped forward and pointed his rusted blade at the Force-using shinobi.

"Aren't you a shinobi? You guys don't have rules!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, how could you not know the most important rule of combat?" Naruto mocked the man, unsheathing his katana and resting it on his shoulder with a smirk on his face.

"And w-what's that?"

The smirk turned into a full-blown grin.

"Don't mock the high ground."

The blond fell from the tree-tops, katana already slicing through the air and liberating its first victim of an arm. There was a slight pause as the man stared at the blood spraying out from the remaining stump of his right arm, then the screaming started.

The silvery metal of the blade glinted in the morning sun as he danced through the crowd of bandits, allowing the Force to flow through him and guide his actions. A small part of his mind noted how much easier it was to channel the energy, it just seemed to feel much more natural.

'Not that I'm complaining of course.'

Side-stepping a vertical blow, leaning back from a horizontal cut, pivoting on his foot around an attempted skewer. To a random passer-by it would look more like a well-choreographed fight scene or dance routine than an actual fight to the death. Deciding that he had wasted enough time showing off already, the blond dodged two more attacks before going on the offensive.

Moving forward in a blur of speed, his blade flashed downwards and carved a path of gore through the chest of the bandit in front of him. Within the next second, he was already running the length of his katana through the gut of the next bandit. Pulling the blade out, he flipped it into a reverse grip and thrust it out backwards under his arm. The tip of the katana effortlessly catching the oncoming man in the chest, effortlessly gliding in-between the ribs and puncturing his heart.

Seeing the blond in an awkward position spurred the remaining bandits into action as they rushed forward to capitalize on the opportunity, alas it did not work out well for them. Ducking under the first horizontal slash, Naruto yanked his katana out of its victim and using the momentum to thrust the butt of its handle into his attacker's throat. The man barely had a second to sputter before he was relieved of that need, his jugular having been sliced open in a clean cut.

Grasping the dying man by his shoulder, the blond spun around and launched the body at another group of bandits. The act caught them by surprise and the group of three stumbled back to avoid getting hit by the flying corpse, an opening that cost them their lives. The first man going down to a Force-enhanced knee to the face, shattering cartilage and driving the fragments straight into his brain. The second had barely recovered from the stumble when he found himself missing both arms, quickly followed by his head.

The third bandit turned to flee, he made it three steps before he felt something hard collide with his head and knocked him to the ground. As he was falling, he noticed that the object that had collided with him was the decapitated head of his comrade. He had a short moment to contemplate it before his own head was severed in the next second.

Naruto flicked his blade to the side, the blood casting a streak of red across the grass. He turned his impassive gaze onto the remaining four members, one of them being the initially disarmed man.

"S-stop! We surrender!"

"Please don't kill us!"

"I don't want to die!"

"My arm!"

Naruto regarded them for a moment before sighing and re-sheathing his katana, he rolled his eyes upon hearing their very audible sighs of relief. Schooling his expression, the blond walked up to them and noted how they flinched back in fear.

"So, I guess you guys learnt a lesson in not messing with shinobi today."

"We didn't even want to attack you, the boss made us do it!" One of the four blurted out, getting three nods of agreement from the rest.

"Boss?"

"The first one you killed."

"Oh… he didn't seem like the boss to me. Actually none of you even look like proper bandits, who are you anyway?"

"He was the only retired shinobi in our group, so he was in charge. We… we used to be part of a larger bandit force but it got disbanded after the fall of Gato and his business with him."

"…"

'…'

"Did you say Gato… like Gato that died in Nami no Kuni after betraying Momochi Zabuza and then killed by said man he betrayed?"

The bandits blinked in unison and turned to face each other before turning back and looking at the blond again.

"Yeah… but how did you know that though?"

"I was there? Duh?"

"We don't remember seeing you there though… I'm pretty sure I would remember seeing someone as scary as you on that bridge." Another of the four spoke up this time, also getting three nods of agreement from the rest.

"…"

'Not a word fox.'

Tuning out the deep, rumbling laughter in his head, he mentally sighed before raising his hand and holding it up to where his original height was.

"I was about this tall, bright golden-hair and wearing an orange jumpsuit."

"THAT WAS YOU?!"

This time it was all four of the bandits that screamed out, including the disarmed one.

"Yes, that WAS me. As you can see, I am no longer that person."

As if they could sense the growing irritation within the ninja before them, the four wisely chose to keep their mouths shut and just give a quick nod of acknowledgement. Naruto eyed the four of them as he struggled to decide what he should do next, he came up with several options.

'I could kill them, nobody will miss them anyway. I could escort them back to the nearest town… which will probably be Nami no Kuni. I could also just leave them here, they aren't my responsibility anyway…'

'Tear them-'

'NO!'

"Are… are you gonna let us go? We promise to leave the townsfolk alone!"

"Now that's the million ryo question isn't it… but I have a better idea…" Naruto mused to himself as he recalled a particular aspect of his powers that he had yet to really tap into.

Taking a deep breath, he reached out with his powers and latched onto the Force energy that were bound to the bandits, he poured the entirety of his willpower through the link. Physically he saw their eyes dull physically as the Mind-Trick took hold, this particular ability allowed him to manipulate weak-minded individuals into doing his bidding.

"You are no longer bandits that served in Gato's forces, instead you were travellers who had been ambushed by a band of bandits. Fortunate circumstances occurred and you were rescued by me on my way to Nami no Kuni. You insisted on paying me back by offering to be my informants within the country…"

Satisfied with the precise orders he had given, he snapped his fingers and brought the group out of their Force-induced slump. The four of them blinked their eyes in unison as they took in their surroundings again, before smiling and giving a curt bow in his direction.

"Shinobi-sama, once again we would like to thank you for saving us from those bandits! We would be glad to serve as your eyes and ears within Nami no Kuni!"

'Wow that worked better than I thought it would!'

'Hmph, I still think ripping them apart would have been the better option… still this power of yours will definitely come in handy. Especially if you were to establish your own information network like that perverted meatbag.'

'Exactly what I was thinking, information is power and power is everything in this world...'

The remainder of his trek through the forest towards his destination was slow-going, having to match his pace to the malnourished and injured men he had 'rescued' made the pace almost unbearable. To make the most of the time he had, he gave out instructions to each of them about which jobs they were to apply for. One was to become a fisherman, another to be a bartender, the third an innkeeper's assistant or helper and the final person was to attempt to find a job in the Mayor's office.

Thankfully the 'conversation' with his new employees seemed to make the time pass faster and the group soon found themselves staring up at the entrance of the stone bridge that Tazuna had built.

'Great Naruto Bridge'

'…I can't believe they actually named this bridge after me.'

'I know, I can't believe it either… what a horrendous name!'

Choosing to ignore the voice in his head once again, Naruto gestured for his men to move forward and begin their respective job-hunts.

"How will we contact you with the information we have gathered?"

"You don't, I will be the one contacting you."

"Hai shinobi-sama… do you have a name that we can address you by?"

"…just call me Boss for now."

"Roger that boss!"

The group saluted him sloppily before dispersing into the village, Naruto himself instead choosing to head towards the residence of the people he had saved on his first C-rank mission.

'I need an alias, a cover name for when I'm doing my information gathering.'

'You can't use Kyuubi, I forbid it!'

'I…I wasn't even thinking about using your name! That's way too obvious you idiot!'

'Did you just call me, the greatest of the Bijū (Tailed-Beasts), an idiot?! I have lived far longer than you or any another puny meatbag in this land, my wisdom blazes like a beacon across the sea of ignorance that is your race!'

'If you are that wise oh great Kyuubi, then you would realise that the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi using the name of his Bijū as an alias would be a terrible idea!'

Their bickering continued until Naruto found himself standing in front of a familiar cottage-styled house away from the rest of the village. He briefly noted that it looked the same as before, though it has only been a few months after all. He hesitated for a second before rapping his knuckles against the wooden door before taking a step back, he could hear some shuffling noises behind the door before it opened to reveal the lady of the house.

"Tsunami-san, it has been a while!"

"…I'm sorry do I know you?"

'HAHAHAHAHA!'

He immediately suppressed the urge to sigh, though he could not prevent the strained smile from twitching across his lips.

"It's me Naruto, part of the shinobi squad that saved your father and your country?"

"Naruto?! You look so different! To the point that I couldn't even recognise you, you seemed to have matured a lot in the few months since your team left. Hmm…" Tsunami hummed as she looked the young teen over. "Though the whisker-like birthmarks on your cheeks should have clued me in… glad you decided to change your wardrobe!"

"Hai, a lot has happened since then. Do you mind if I come in before we continue this conversation?"

"Oh my, where are my manners?! Of course, do make yourself at home while I get you something to drink. Any preference?"

"Just water will be fine, thank you."

The young mother busied herself with preparing a few plates as well as filling a glass cup with water, which she soon returned with along with a plate of biscuits. He once again thanked her before downing the glass of water in one gulp.

"Ah that hit the spot! So where is Inari and that old drunk of a father of yours?"

"Inari decided to apprentice himself under my father, they should both be helping one of the townsfolk construct a shed. I believe they will both be back for lunch in a few hours, will you be staying long?"

"About that, is it alright if I trouble you to allow me to stay here for a few days? It's completely fine if I can't! I can look for an Inn in town if it's too much trouble…" Naruto trailed off when he realised that the woman opposite him had held up a hand to get his attention.

"Naruto, after everything you've done for us. Allowing you to stay in our house for a few days is the least we could do to repay you!"

"You named a bridge after me…"

"Ahahaha… my father thought it would be an apt name for it. And most of the folks agreed with it, so that's how the bridge got named after you." Tsunami laughed sheepishly at the memory.

"I… see. So how has the country been since we left, any issues?"

"We're doing fine, great as a matter of fact! After the men had run the bandits out of town, we ransacked Gato's mansion and broke into his vault. Using his fortune, we improved the infrastructure and economy of our town by fixing up the buildings and constructing a new port!"

Naruto was wide-eyed as he listened to the woman recount the various ways they had improved the once rundown village, he could not believe how much his actions had helped in shaping this land's future. He glanced down as he clenched his fist, a small smile on his face.

'All because we had the power to induce a change in this country…'

"So how have you been? And the rest of your team too of course! Speaking of which, where are they? Why are you here alone?"

"Err I'll answer that last question first. I'm actually here on a short vacation I guess, a lot of stuff happened recently so I felt like I needed a break. So I decided to drop by since Nami no Kuni is still relatively close-by, plus I get to see all of you again!"

Taking a breath, the blond gave a more summarised version as answers to her questions.

"Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura are fine. They are all back in the village, probably training or doing whatever it is they do during their down time. As for me…"

His mind flashed back to all the events that had happened in the past few months. His fall into the chasm, his discovery of the Force, the Chunnin Exams, the battle against the one-tailed beast Shukaku, against Akatsuki and then Orochimaru. Not to mention he also learnt who his parents were, recruited the Godaime Hokage and had a crazy set of visions.

"…pretty good. Can't complain. Though I have been looking forward to some peace and quiet, is there any where like that around here?"

"Well… whenever I want to get away from everything, the end of the pier is my destination. It stretches far enough out into the great river that separates us from the mainland, nobody should disturb you there and you'll only be surrounded by the calm flow of the river."

"Sounds exactly like what I need, I think I shall take my leave for now. I'll be back in time for lunch and hopefully to catch up with the rest of your family!" Naruto said as he leapt to his feet and made his way towards the door, he paused for a moment before bringing his fingers into a cross-shape.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone technique)!"

Several puffs of smoke later, there were three more copies of the blond standing in the room.

"Feel free to ask them to run any errands that you might require and if anything urgent crops up, just inform one of my clones and it will come to fetch me."

"Oh my, how thoughtful of you~ I will see to it that they will be put to good use. I shall see you at lunch then."

He acknowledged with a thumbs up as he left the house, easily managing to locate the pier as it was a sturdy walkway made of wood that extended out from the shoreline. About a minute of walking was enough for him to reach the end of it and as Tsunami had mentioned, there was nothing but water around him. He settled himself into a comfortable position before taking the crystal necklace off and held it in the palm of his hand.

"I guess this is as good a place as any…"

Closing his eyes, he remembered the talk he had with Jiraiya the night before.

"Let me get this straight… you want to learn how to meditate properly?"

To say that the Toad Sannin was stumped would be an understatement, his impatient and rather headstrong godson wanted to learn how to sit completely still and do nothing. While that technically wasn't what meditation was, the thought of the young male doing such a thing seemed ludicrous to him. The scowl on the blond's face showed his disapproval of the perception that the older male had of him.

"Yes I wanted to learn how to meditate, you getting deaf in your old age?"

"Now no need to get snarky with me, I was just surprised… why are you asking me anyway?"

"Well I actually asked Tsunade first but she told me she didn't have the slightest clue, instead she told me to ask and I quote 'that perverted old sage' and that you would have tons of experience in it."

Jiraiya grunted in acknowledgement of that fact, Tsunade was one of the few people he had explained the intricacies of learning Sage Mode to. And one of the stages of training involved meditating for long hours of time in various precarious situations, thus making him one of the world's premier experts on meditation.

"Well she isn't wrong but tell me, not that I'm unwilling to teach you, but why would you want to learn how to meditate. It doesn't seem like something you would be interested in or benefit you."

One thing to note would be that nobody knew of Naruto's connection to the Force, he had decided to honour one of the most important rules of being a shinobi. Deception. As a result, those that had witnessed his powers in action were told that it was a Kekkei Genkai (Bloodline Limit) he had unlocked during his month of training before the Chunnin Exam finals. He had explained it off as having the ability to manipulate wind without the use of handseals to focus his chakra.

"To hone my new Kekkei Genkai."

"Ah that makes sense… well alright, I expect you to listen attentively as it's a rather lengthy explanation and I don't want to have to repeat it again. First you have to…"

Pushing a deep breath out, Naruto begin the steps that the white-haired Sannin had taught him.

He straightened his posture and took several regulated breaths, each one done through his nose only and focused on driving everything out of his mind. Focusing his mind only upon the sensation of each breath entering and leaving his body, he slowly but surely found a calm settle over his mind. Once he had successfully cleared his cluttered thoughts, his attention was focused solely onto reaching out into the Force.

To compare the sensation to something more mundane, it would be like the great river that surrounded him at the moment. The Force was present in and around everything and everyone, it was like the gentle ebb and flow of the river. Channelling the Force through one's body was like narrowing the mouth of the river, the same volume of water travelling through a smaller opening would cause the speed to pick up.

'Except this crystal seems to act as some sort of vortex of Force energy, its presence is like a sinkhole that formed in the bottom of a river and is pulling the water into it.'

Naruto could feel the surrounding energies slowly being siphoned into the crystal, albeit at a relatively slow pace. He did not tap into the reservoir of power stored within the crystal this time, he kept his probing on the surface level of the necklace.

After a few minutes of analysing the crystal, the blond gave up with a sigh as there was not much information he could infer from it. The only new piece of information he gleamed from his digging was that the crystal had chakra stored within it as well, it seemed to have absorbed it from its previous owners.

'I should probably ask Tsunade for more details on the previous owners of this necklace besides herself and her grandfather. Now for those visions… you saw them too right Kyuubi?'

'I did.'

The beast's voice was rather subdued, a rare occurrence for sure, as it was also dealing with something it has not seen nor experienced in its years of existence. It did not need its host to verbalise the question that was on the forefront of his mind.

'The only logical guess is that you glimpsed into the future, or several futures, during the time when you had overcharged yourself with the crystal's power.'

'The future… good, which means we both arrived at the same conclusion as unlikely or absurd as it sounds. Now, what does it mean?'

'You are going to meet a bunch of other meatbags. Oh and fight my three-tailed sibling as well, you better win or I will never hear the end of it from him!'

'That information was already obvious from the start! I meant stuff that we probably missed the first time through.'

'You are truly helpless without my guidance you poor meatbag… the Sanbi was last sealed inside the leader of the water village. The dying female meatbag was wearing a Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud) forehead protector. The red-haired meatbag was in a village you did not recognise. The spar seemed to be in one of your village's training grounds. The metal towers and rainfall would indicate Amegakure (Hidden Rain).'

'So what does that mean? I'm going to travel a lot?'

The tailed-beast sighed in response, the kid seemed to have gotten smarter in comparison with his previous self but not by a lot.

'It means you pathetic meatbag, will know that your destiny will involve the Elemental Nations as a whole. Granted we take that the visions were one chain of events and not separate futures, you know that you will need to visit Kirigakure (Hidden Mist) in the future.'

Naruto frowned as he recalled the conversation he had with Kakashi during the Wave mission, it was during the week-long wait for Zabuza to recover. The topic was about Zabuza and why he had abandoned his village, it was one of the rare times that the blond had been left in a contemplative mood.

'The Sanbi was sealed inside the Yondaime Mizukage, who had suddenly turned into a tyrant and ordered the destruction of all Kekkei Genkai clans. Zabuza attempted to overthrow him but failed, thus leading to his escape from his village… Kakashi mentioned that Kirigakure was now embroiled in a civil war between the Mizukage's forces and the rebels that opposed him. Granted that I was in a shady looking location and confronting the Sanbi, it must mean that I supported the rebels' faction.'

'Looks like you have a working brain in there after all.'

'That means that in the future, I will have to procure a means as to leave the village for an unknown length of time so that I can travel to Kirigakure… tsk, easier said than done.'

Somewhere, a certain white-haired Sannin sneezed.

'Ah we'll cross that bridge once we come to it. For now we know the crystal was powerful enough to induce Force visions, but can I control it like how the Shodaime did and augment my combat prowess.'

'There is a huge risk that you would leave yourself exposed if you were to experience a vision in the middle of combat.'

'True…'

Naruto sighed aloud as he placed the necklace back around his neck.

'What now…?'

Deciding that he had some time left before he had to make his way back to the house, the blond hopped onto the surface of the water and took off in a certain direction. A few minutes later he found himself back at a familiar site, the graves of his former enemies that had inspired him to become a better shinobi. He closed his eyes to pay his respects before turning his gaze towards the true reason for this particular visit, the massive blade buried into the ground as a grave marker.

Grabbing the sword by the handle, he yanked it out of the dirt with a little help from the Force and gave it a few practice swings. A frown crossed his face as he realised the massive butcher blade did not fit his style of fighting. Instead he unfurled a storage scroll and sealed the Kubikiribōchō (Decapitating Carving Knife) with a puff of smoke, it would definitely come in handy for his future trip to Kirigakure.

Naruto paused for a moment as he was about to walk off, his eyes glanced back at the graves of two people who had changed the way he perceived strength. A pragmatic, bloodthirsty swordsman and the gentle, kind soul of his apprentice.

"When people are protecting something truly precious to them, that's when they can become as strong as they must be!"

'Haku… while I may not have found something precious to me yet, I won't let that get in the way of becoming stronger. I promise that I will take down the Mizukage for your sake, as well as Zabuza's, so that no more children will have to go through what you did.'

"Honestly never thought I'd leave to see the day where this happened, I guess the gods must be smiling down upon me today."

The deep, gruff voice belonged to none other than Morino Ibiki, the Tokubetsu Jounin in charge of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force. The man was not easily impressed or shocked, but the sight before him was definitely something that warranted an exception.

The unconscious body of one Orochimaru of the Sannin locked behind bars of their maximum security cell located below the ANBU headquarters.

"You're not the only one…" Jiraiya replied solemnly. "For years I chased after him, trying to take him down and bring him to justice for all the wrongs he has committed. And now… here he is."

"It must be a rather surreal feeling I assume."

"Guess you could say that… anyway I'm off. Tsunade needed my help with getting up to date with the happenings in Konoha, what with being away from the village for years."

Jiraiya bid farewell to the heavily-scarred male as he walked down the corridor, tossing one last parting remark as his form vanished from view.

"Oh yes Ibiki, do remember to activate those maximum strength Chakra seals that I engraved into the surfaces of the cell. Better to be safe than sorry in case anyone manages to slip in here!"

Yes! Finally done with this chapter! While not heavy on the action scenes, I still think it's one of my better chapters to date. Also I can finally start diverging away from canon, this is when things really start kicking off!

As always, do leave a review for feedback as I do appreciate them!