Annnnnnndddd we're back! And with the 25th Chapter already! Jesus Christ guys, it's been a crazy ride so far, and this is awesome. We're rolling up on 200K words insanely quick, and we're already well over 150 Reviews and I can't even count how many views. This is crazy, when I started 'Immortalized', I never would have thought it'd pick up like this. Also, last thing before the chapter, I put up a new summary that I feel does a better job of painting the picture for my story, give it a quick read if you like. Anyways…

Chapter 25

Broken Hearts, Shattered Minds

Team Ten (plus one)'s journey though the elemental nations from the heart of Fire Country to Lightning Countries own beating lifeblood, Kumogakure no Sato. Or rather, one of the smaller outlying villages that was located near the large militarized village itself. The group of five had made relatively good time in their journey, completing the trip in just a few hours longer than Naruto's own trek that he'd made several months prior to the land hidden in the clouds. Their journey had been made in relative silence, with the blonde co-leader of the group not offering much input into the various conversations that were had.

All four members of the unchanged Team Ten had known Naruto for years, and while they hadn't spent too much time with him recently due to his always being away on assignment, they all had considered him a friend. This was in part why his change of heart was so alarming. Ino for one, while not necessarily unperturbed by his rude behavior, was definitely put off, the blonde man's current attitude clashing greatly with her own personality. It was honestly worrying, in her own semi-professional opinion, and she was concerned for her friend.

Gone was the once upbeat man that she had known for nearly as long as she could remember, replaced with the cold and unforgiving visage of a man that was a shell of his former self, despite the strength and authority he had gathered to himself in the meantime. It wasn't hard to see when the taller man had begun to break on a mental state, especially for someone like her, coming from a clan that was used to dealing with the human psyche. If she had to pick a place and time, it would have been when Konohamaru had been found, killed in a surprise attack from Kusa that sparked a war.

The platinum blonde glanced quickly to her left, briefly taking in the form of Naruto as he walked beside her, averting her gaze almost immediately as he inclined his head towards her. Yes, that was definitely when things had begun, and they had only gotten worse as time wore on, with every battle that the blonde shinobi fought wearing on him, up until the woman he loved was so roughly stolen from him. Ino wouldn't lie, she had been hurt when Tayuya died as well, the two had actually gotten on somewhat well together, even going on to become decent friends before her untimely demise.

Her death… it had turned the blonde into an emotional wreck, and though the mental specialist hadn't actually seen the bodies first hand, she'd heard the stories, read the reports. The death of his redheaded lover had turned the man into a ruthless fighter, someone who brutally destroyed his enemies in combat. It had been some time before Jiraiya had managed to pull the man from his sorrow, and then, just when it finally had appeared that he was recovering from all the tragedies that had befallen him, the unthinkable had happened. His Godfather too, had been slain, leaving him alone in an unforgiving world. It was a constant nightmare that the 'Hero of the Leaf' woke to every day.

"We're here." Ino was yanked from her thoughts on her impromptu teammate as her sensei Asuma spoke briefly, noting absentmindedly that Chouji was too busy eating to care, and Shikamaru seemed more concerned with the clouds above them, Naruto himself only giving a slight nod as he stamped out the cigarette he'd been chewing the butt of, before he led the small group inside of the moderately sized tavern that was to be their rendezvous.

As they entered, the first thing the group noticed was the complete lack of customers, which was odd considering the time of day it was. Perhaps it was different in Cloud, but back in their own home around this time the bars would be filled with both civilian and shinobi alike, all trying to escape from their problems, or even just to simply have a good time, whichever came first. The group made their way past the few patrons, moving to the stairs and the rooms that lie above. The modified Team Ten stopped briefly in front of the third door on the left, before once more Naruto moved to the front, knocking on the door in a very peculiar way.

One long tap, followed by three rapid ones, with two slightly longer ones shortly after. There was a brief moment of silence on both ends, before the slide on the door opened, revealing a pair of gorgeous eyes framed with yellow bangs, creamy skin all around. There were only two short words that were spoken in code, the first coming from Naruto with a following answer from the woman behind the door almost immediately, right before it was opened and the team was ushered inside. "Samui?"

"Naruto, good to see you again." The room itself was revealed to be quite large, with enough space for the eight people that now stood in the room to conduct their business, as they were only meeting here and nothing more, their actual base of operations would be somewhere else. Inside the room were three very familiar and friendly faces, to Naruto that is, those being the members of Team Samui. Omoi was off in a corner, his ever thoughtful look plastered across his face, while Karui stood opposite, polishing her katana, it seemed. The blonde leader of the team herself was standing in front of her Konoha counterpart, staring him dead in the eye with a slight smirk on her lips, though it faded into a frown as she took in Naruto's visage.

The man in question tore his gaze from the woman in front of him to size up the last person in the room, already knowing who he was by name without ever actually meeting the man. Darui was a fairly tall, dark-skinned man with a slightly bulbous nose, complete with a pair of black eyes that usually look bored, with shaggy white hair that had grown to cover his left eye. He wore a high-collared, sleeveless uniform with loose fitting pants, bandages on his wrists and the one-strap-over-one-shoulder flak jacket that had become the standard of a Kumogakure shinobi.

The monikered "Right Hand of the Raikage" also had several tattoos, the two most prominent and most meaningful on his upper arms. The stylized characters for 'water' and 'lightning' were proudly written on his right and left shoulders respectively, denoting his chakra's nature affinities, Water Release and Lightning Release, and if one were up-to-date on the small amount of information on the man, they would know that it also denoted to his Kekkai Genkai, the Strom Release, that came from mixing his two prior affinities. He carried a broad and foldable cleaver-like sword, strapped to his back, a master of Kenjutsu just like many of his home village.

To say that he was imposing wouldn't have been a far call, though the man dashed all thoughts that any of the Konoha-Nin might have had of this with his first words to the group. Waving his right hand above his head in greeting, a small smile gracing his lips as the laid back man let out a sigh, his soft, yet gruff voice carrying through the room easily. "Yo, you must be the Naruto I've heard so much about." He addressed the Jounin, walking up to stand in front of him, holding out his hand in a closed fist. "I'm Darui."

For the first time in a while, Naruto allowed a smirk to cross his face as he brought his own hand up, closing his fist tightly and bumped it against his counterparts, already knowing the small customary greeting that many of the Kumo Shinobi used. He took a deep breath and glanced around the room, noting that introductions were going around between both groups before he cleared his throat and got everyone's attention, his mind firmly set in a no-nonsense attitude, mission success being critical.

"Alright, so we heard you were having a snake problem?"

Naruto let out a small sigh as he raked his hand through his hair, glancing briefly over to the slightly shorter woman on his right as they walked down the street of the small town they were in. It had been nearly a week sense the team from Konoha had met with their counterparts in Kumo, going over a baseline strategy before they headed out the following morning. Their plan was actually more or less pretty simple, the two teams had conjoined and then split apart into various teams, each coming the landscape with a base of operations that was centered in Kumo itself.

The Operations team consisted of Darui and Asuma, the two main team leaders, and they had made a swift journey back to mainland Kumogakure, where they would run the investigation and provide constant feedback and updates to the Raikage. The next team created had consisted of Omoi and Ino, the formers combat capabilities complementing the latter's lack thereof nicely, while still maintaining enough maturity between the two to conduct a thorough investigation. This team would be covering the Northeast area of the modified trifecta that had been created.

The third team was a three man cell, unlike the other groups, made up of Shikamaru, Chouji, and Karui. This configuration ha d a heavy difference to close/mid-range combat, though with the tactical genius that was Shikamaru, it wouldn't be surprising if the team were able to pull off all the feats that were required of this mission. Besides that, the laid back and relaxed attitude of the two Konoha Chunin would also be in contrast to their Cloud counterpart, helping to keep the fiery woman grounded throughout their mission, though it did irk her that the Nara had been given operational command of the small unit. This group took the Southern area of the aforementioned map.

The final unit that would be covering the Northeastern section found itself composed of the only two remaining members of both teams, Naruto and Samui. The two blondes didn't mind, they both got along rather well, having worked together before and hung out as well outside of missions. Both shinobi and kunoichi were operating with a somewhat laid back attitude, yet at the same time were moving with just enough urgency to complete their task in the appropriate timeframe that was expected. The two Jounin were the epitome of professional in their mission mindsets.

Or at least, they would have been, had both of their brains actually been one-hundred percent focused on the task at hand. In reality, the Jounin representative of Kumo was worrying about and thinking on something quite different from their assigned task, perfectly content to let the blonde do the mule's work of the investigation. It wasn't as if she was truly slacking, her counterpart was simply much, much more observant that her in this sense, and with his clone technique it was much more likely that he would come across anything of use long before she would. So, she was content to think and look back on the issue that was nagging at her, though why that would be she couldn't fathom.

There was something off about her blonde friend, something that she couldn't quite place, but it was something that nevertheless bothered her. She knew Naruto, and for however brief the time was they had spent together, she felt that she knew him rather well. You don't sit on rooftops and talk for hours without learning a little bit about the other person. As they exited yet another town in the region and began making their way towards the next in their mission, Samui steeled herself and spoke to her fellow blonde, her stubborn nature now preventing her from letting this go.

"So, are we just going to keep walking in silence all day or are you going to tell me what's wrong?" The constant crunching of their sandals upon the light snow ceased almost immediately, a heavy silence blanketing the two now that they were far enough from the town. Naruto was only a few paces in front of her, but the woman could see that he was rigid, stock still in his actions, and had she been in front of him, the woman would notice that his piercing blue eyes were shut tightly to the world, no light escaping them as he calmed himself, speaking in a low voice, before he began to keep walking.

"There's nothing to talk about." It was a simple reply. One that was uncharacteristically cold from the man, despite the frigid air that surrounded them. The Jounin of Kumo was stunned for a brief moment, watching him walk away before she pulled herself from her stupor, walking forward and with a purpose, catching up to the man easily. Almost cautiously, she reached her arm out and forward, gently placing it on Naruto's shoulder, squeezing it softly like she had so long before. Her voice was a quiet, soft whisper on the wind between the two paused killers, her breath almost hitching as she spoke.

"Look, I won't pry about it, alright? You already know that if and when you decide you want to talk about it, I'll be right here ready to listen." Once more, the area was silent, the hero of one village standing with his back to the caring gaze of the other, neither moving for what seemed like an eternity, though in reality it was only mere moments. Then it happened, and it only cemented the concern into Samui's heart as it in turn dropped at Naruto's actions. He simply turned his head the smallest of amounts towards her, before shrugging her arm off and walking forward once more.

"I already told you, there's nothing to talk about." The elite Jounin paused here briefly, turning to completely look at his counterpart for a brief moment, motioning her to hurry up. "Now come on, this investigation won't finish itself, and I didn't come all the way here to leave empty handed." And with that, he turned, their conversation over for all intents and purposes, spinning on his heel and leaving a slightly irritate and frustrated Samui behind him as he went.

"…Not cool, Naruto." She fell in behind him, the two shinobi from different villages falling back into step as they moved across the frozen land, not making it more than thirty or so feet before they were once again halted, this time though not by each other, but by a small crow that landed on Naruto's now outstretched arm. Raising an eyebrow in brief question, the man undid the small scroll attached to its leg, scanning over its contents quickly, before he handed it to his female companion, allowing her to do the same.

No words needed to be spoken at that point, both of their minds were steady and their orders clear. It appeared as though Shikamaru's team had had the most luck out of all of them, stumbling upon what seemed to be the entrance to a base of sorts, the outlying architecture greatly resembling that of the late Orochimaru's. One blonde nodded to the other, before they shot into the thinning trees, chakra enhanced limbs carrying them swiftly through the leaves.

Now was not the time to linger.

The base itself was quite unassuming in stature, and if one didn't know exactly what they were to be looking for, it would have been quite easy to miss. As it was, Shikamaru and his team didn't actually find the place on purpose, stumbling onto its entrance in a freak of events following Chouji dropping a bag of chips, if one were able to believe it. In itself, the place looked eerily similar to the same base that Naruto himself had raided years ago while he had been in ANBU, the resemblance striking in nature. It was almost spooky, but then again, all of Orochimaru's old bases tended to have a similar layout, the man was nothing if not a man of routine.

However, knowing the habits of a dead man did nothing to put his mind at ease, and he was still on edge, though he was doing an amiable job of hiding it from his peers. It wouldn't do for someone of his reputation to be having second thoughts on an operation just because of his past. A shinobi was a tool of the Hokage, the swift and striking blade that would cut down all enemies of his village, sworn to defend it from all threats both foreign and domestic. This was his creed, this was his life. This was the life he had chosen, it would be going back on his own word to contradict himself, and if there was one thing that Uzumaki Naruto did, is was keep his word.

The man in question yanked himself from his thoughts, landing near silently beside the kneeling Shikamaru, Samui landing just as softly to his left as he approached the lazy genius. He took note that his team was the last ones to arrive, though by the looks of things, Omoi and Ino had only just beaten them. Kneeling next to his friend and subordinate, and after already creating a small mass of Kage Bunshin to secure the perimeter, Naruto pulled a scroll from his back pouch and began preparing a nullification seal while talking. "So, what's the situation?"

"Honestly, the whole thing's going to be a pain. Looks like we've found the main entrance, though knowing Orochimaru I'd guarantee there are other ways out, but after scouting we couldn't find any. This entrance is sealed up, but at the same time while I'm no seal master even I can tell it's just a detection one, nothing too nasty from the looks of it." The shadow-walker paused briefly, looking up to his teammate and de-facto leader now that Asuma was gone, before he sighed briefly and continued, laying it all on the table. "Naruto… I don't like this. The whole thing screams that it's a trap. It was way too easy to track whoever is doing this to here."

The clone that had been discretely inspecting the seal placed upon the large boulder covered entrance dispelled, granting the blonde shinobi of Konoha all the knowledge he needed to continue his own counter seal, speaking with confidence as he carefully and skillfully wrote out each and every individual Kanji that was necessary for what he had planned. "Yeah, I don't like it either. From the way the reports sounded, it was only a few discrete disappearances here and there, but once we showed up and began actively looking for the culprit, the attacks rapidly increased."

Naruto sighed, the writing now done for the seal he had crafted, clutching it in his hand tightly before he turned back to the Nara heir, speaking softly and conveying his plan. "I agree with you on one thing though, there's no doubt in my mind that this is a trap. And with that knowledge, I'm going to do the one thing they'd least expect us to do, if we knew it was a trap." With that revelation, the blonde stood, straightening his back as he did so and lightly pushed his way past Samui, the woman completely surprised by the turn of events. She gave him an incredulous look, her mouth slightly agape as he moved past her.

"You know it's a trap and you're just going to walk in the front door?" All she received was a nod from her friend and counterpart as he marched past her and up to the barrier, before she sighed and gave a slight shrug, only half listening as the man behind her muttered something along the lines of 'troublesome blondes' and how they never failed to make his life hell. Honestly, she couldn't have cared less at this point. The sooner this mission was over the sooner she could find out just what in the fuck had changed Naruto so drastically that he had gone from a clever thinker and strategist, to someone who was no cold and shut off, making his plans on the fly as he operated.

None of the shinobi watching the exchange were given any more time to lament on the fact that one of their powerhouses had just opted to open the literal front door of a knowingly hostile base as he raised his arm back and applied the seal he'd created to the door. The reaction of his seal itself wasn't anything to truly write home about, the small tag he had placed glowing briefly as it stuck to the boulder, blue lines of written Kanji exploding out from it in all directions as it countered and nullified all of the defensive seals that crisscrossed its surface, before finally a large crack split down the center of the rock itself, it falling in half to either side of the man.

There was no need to signal the rest of the modified teams that now approached him, and in that regard he was slightly grateful. Being in the well-oiled and effective ANBU Units for so long had been nice, but it was nice to not have to give an affirmative signal for literally every action that was passed. The Last Uzumaki began speaking with authority just after the last member of the investigation team had closed with him, his voice carrying and filled with the power and confidence of years of complete missions, both combat oriented and not. There was no room for debate in this, it wasn't a democracy, he'd forced his team into the lion's den and in doing so, he'd taken full responsibility for the mission.

"Same designated teams as before. Split and take a passage, I'll be sending a Kage Bunshin with you that will disperse in the case of an emergency. Move through the base taking whatever you deem necessary to mission completion, destroy the rest. Rendezvous here no later than twenty minutes from now." There was brief moment of silence as just for a second, Naruto's old ANBU persona of Lynx shined through from the shadows. It wasn't off-putting, on the contrary it was nice to have a definite leader in charge for a change, someone with the knowledge and experience to back up their plan. The Uzumaki Heir glanced around to the faces in the room briefly, making sure to get a nod from each and every one as his clones appeared next to them.

He spoke then, a single word that sprung each group into action as they all moved in unison, each team blazing their own trail down one of the three labyrinth like passages. "Move!" Naruto was no longer concerned with the actions of his team. They were picked for the mission for a reason, and he would trust in that, the cobalt eyed killer knew they were capable. And besides that, there was something here that was more sinister at play, something that pertained to only him. It was something that did warrant his immediate attention, but for some reason he had no idea what it was, not even the slightest clue as to what was truly at play.

But this mission, he'd been noticing things, at first thinking that maybe his mind was playing tricks on him, but now that Naruto was in the base itself he was sure of it. The passage he was moving along, it was a carbon copy of the one he'd blasted through so many years before with an ANBU team consisting of Boar and Tiger, though at the time the mission had had a double purpose of serving as his Captain-Class entrance test. That had been the same mission where he had captured Tayuya, the woman he'd one day come to love though at the time he had no idea of it.

But that was merely the thing that had cemented his thoughts that something was definitely off about this mission, the first had been much more subtle, though it had still thrown him off. It had only been a few days prior, he and Samui were investigating one of the disappearances, when while walking down the street a child had slammed into Naruto's leg, falling on his back in the process. The blonde from Konoha had of course reached down to help the kid up, but he saw something that had frozen him cold. Around the boy's neck was a long, blue scarf. One that was strikingly similar to the one he wore around his own waist as a sash in memory of his fallen pseudo-brother.

Naruto wasn't a fool, he knew it wasn't the same one, but still, the resemblance was scary. There had been other things throughout the mission that were throwing him off as well. A particular flute melody here, an odd scent there, it was all reminding him of three people, his three largest failures, a monument to his past sins. It was unsettling, to say the least. It was these small things that had set him on edge this entire time, from the start of the mission to now, as he raced through the compound he was almost mortified of what he might find waiting for him at the end of the hallway.

But then, all too suddenly, his and Samui's mad dash down the path was ended as the Last Uzumaki blew open the door at the end of the hall, kicking it down to reveal a very large and open area, almost reminiscent of an arena. But that wasn't the end of his mild surprise, which would be that the rest of his team looking at him with equally bewildered faces as they too emerged from separate passages, all respectively from the ones they'd traversed into in the first place. There was no time for idle chatter though, as laughter began emanating from one side of the room, the one cloaked in shadow, causing all the ninja in the room, both Kumo and Konoha alike, to look at the cause.

Emerging from the shadows and walking out into the light was a what appeared to be a man of average height, dressed in a long and loose fitting maroon robe, with dark yellow, red, and purple eyes that covered the hood making it look almost like a serpentine head. However, the investigation team wasn't given long to look over the hood as it was abruptly thrown back, revealing the head of the man that had once been known as Yakushi Kabuto, though whether or not he could still be referred to that name was uncertain.

His body was fully converted, changed somehow, his appearance having becoming starkly similar to Orochimaru's, so much so that for a brief moment, Naruto himself was concerned he was actually fighting the deceased Snake Sannin himself, before he corrected his mistake. In addition to the changes to his skin, Kabuto's eyes had become yellow with slitted pupils, around which were his former master's characteristic purple markings, once more making him look something like a serpent. A long, white snake was coiled around his abdomen, almost looking to be fused with his body itself.

None of this was particularly worrisome to Naruto, though. No, what was the most concerning to him was the man's head, or rather, the chakra he could sense emanating from it, and the small physical details that could only have meant one thing, if his time studying the various Senjutsu Arts was of any merit. Kabuto had somehow unlocked the ability to take in and mold natural charka within himself, no doubt learning it from the snakes at the famed Ryuchi Cave, the snake equivalent of Mt. Myōboku. There were only a few noticeable physical alterations, the markings around his eyes, the four horns on the back of his head, and brille that covered his inner eyes.

"Well, well, well. It's finally happened! Years of planning, research, and so many deaths went into this single moment, and it's finally here!" The crazed man trailed off for a moment, watching idly as the shinobi on the other side of the room continued to stare him down, their bodies tensed and their guards on high. "Tell me, Uzumaki Naruto…" his name was said with mirth and spat out like venom, the white scaled man continuing. "Did you like all the little gifts I left you around the towns?"

The man questioned grit his teeth, his jaw tightening as his right hand clenched and relaxed, wanting nothing more than to drive a Kaze no Karitoriki into this man's heart at that very moment, but there was still something off, something so very wrong about this situation and he just couldn't place it. "So the scarf, the melodies, and the drinks I saw at the bar, all that was you, then. And I'm to assume that all these disappearances were to draw me out here as well?" Naruto was cut off as the man abruptly raised his arm out in a placating and silencing manner, cutting him off as he began to speak on his own, walking closer to the man on the opposite side yet stopping several yards away as he did so.

"Yes, yes! But don't guess at everything… that takes all the fun out of it. I've always been fond of the old ninja tales… an over-excitable villain revealing their whole plot to the hero just before the final showdown, so why don't you humor me here." Kabuto licked his lips rapidly, repeating the motion over and over again, once again making himself look like the serpent he'd become as he began telling his tale. It was ironic, really, as he went through his story, the spy of many identities had no idea which was his own, and had eventually latched onto the one person that had given his life true purpose, only to have that man ripped away from him a mere few years later.

But it wasn't over, and for whatever reason, Naruto felt almost compelled to let the man finish his tirade, even going as far as to tell Shikamaru to stand down when the man had begun to formulate a plan to apprehend the hostile. The white snake in front of him however, had taken no notice, instead opting to continue his tale, eventually reaching the part when Naruto and Jiraiya had led the final assault on Otogakure so many years prior, killing his master in the process and eliminating his purpose for living. But it had been a double edged sword, because in the death of one purpose, another had been given life, his new mission and goal being to kill Jiraiya and avenge Orochimaru.

But once more, disaster had befallen the wayward student of the Snake Sage, when the gallant Toad Summoner had fallen at the hands of Pain in Amegakure. It was at this point in time that Samui was unable to contain the small, slight gasp that escaped her lips, she hadn't known about Jiraiya's death, it had been kept a somewhat large village secret, people not speaking of it outside the walls itself, this serving both to maintain Konoha's image, and also out of respect for the man himself. The latter was stupid though, it wasn't what the man would have wanted to be remembered as, but there wasn't much he could do about it now.

And then, just like that, Kabuto's journey had changed once more, what better way to avenge his master and savior, than to kill the last remaining familial tie of the one who had slain him? The student of one Sannin would kill the student of the other, this had become his new purpose in life, one which he was finally going to fulfill today. All of his life's work was coming together, he was going to prove his worth here and take the life of the so called 'Hero of the Leaf', but it was going to be done in a way that was sick to all those in the room but he himself.

Before Kabuto could finish his final, culminating statement though, Naruto's arms blurred to his chest, flashing through hand seals faster than the eye could follow, catching even his allies off guard as he moved. And then, just when it appeared he would be launching an attack towards the man who had seemingly sworn to destroy him, he did the craziest thing and spun on his heel, driving his hand into the ground and releasing his chakra, a wall of clear liquid bursting from the ground in a perfect line, shooting up into the sealing as he called out the name of his technique. "Kekkie Fuuinjutsu: Shintō Shinai Ekitai Kabe! (Barrier Sealing Technique: Impenetrable Liquid Wall!)".

Upon seeing the questioning looks of his teammates, but being unable to hear them due to the all-encompassing barrier technique that now separated them he let out a small, sly grin. "Sorry, this is my fight. I'm gonna have to ask you to sit this one out." Naruto was cut off once more, though this time it was by the mad, cackling laughter of the crazed man on the opposite end of the room, the blonde turning back to face him as he ranted and raved about how he 'knew that was what he was going to do', or something similar. That wasn't good, if that was true, then this guy probably had a really good grasp on his techniques, meaning he wasn't going to be holding back from the beginning.

The Last Uzumaki took a deep breath as he closed his eyes for a brief moment, drawing the natural energy of the cave complex inside him, the dirt, trees, grass, and even the animals that walked the dirt above all granting him a small portion of their energy. He pulled it all inside of him, mixing it, molding it with the immense and vast ocean of chakra that he already had, his arms crossed in front of him in complete concentration as he focused on his technique, finally opening his eyes to reveal the orange pigmentation and bar-like iris's that denoted his own master of the Toad Style of Senjutsu.

It was only because of his increased sense that he was able to feel the ground below him shaking and trembling as something, or rather three something forced their way through the earth itself, exploding out of the ground and coming to rest in front of Kabuto. Naruto's eyes visibly widened at this, there was only one technique that he knew of that utilized coffins in any portion of it, and suddenly everything that he had been experiencing for the last week all came together and made sense, the scarf, the flute, the alcohol, everything. He swallowed, the lump in his throat catching and his hold over his Sage Mode wavering before it fell completely.

So, that's what this was, he was to face the monument to his own sins. He… Naruto didn't know if he could do this, Kabuto had definitely done his research, that was more than true. But he was given no more time to lament on it, no more time to think on it as each coffin burst open, the left one, then the right, and finally the one in the center, and like the blonde shinobi had guessed they each held the embodiment of each one of his greatest failures.

The first appearance had short spiky brown hair, black eyes, and a small chip in his tooth. Atop his forehead was a beaten and battered Hitai-Ite, a long blue scarf that he'd worn when he was alive falling around his neck. His other clothes were simple, consisting of grey shorts and a yellow shirt with a red Konoha symbol printed on it. A pale green jacket with a dark green stripe down the middle covering his upper body. The second person to show was easily the largest of the three, being the only adult male in the group, and was built accordingly.

The now revived man was tall with fair skin. He had a wart on the left side of his nose and waist-length, spiky white hair that he had tied back into a pony tail, with two shoulder-length bangs framing his face while alive. There were two red lines under his eyes which extended, going all the way to the bottom of his face. He was donned in his usual attire which consisted of a green short shirt kimono and matching pants, under which he wore mesh armor that was visible at his wrists and ankles. He also wore hand guards, a black belt, traditional wooden sandals, and a red haori with two yellow circles on each side. But the most notable aspect was the man's horned Hitai-Ite, which bore the symbol for 'Oil'.

But the third and final member of the dead trio that emerged from her coffin was the most shocking to the blonde, though each and every one of them had pained him to see them so. She wasn't dressed in the clothes that he had last seen her in though, which was odd considering that the other two were. No, the woman he had once loved was dressed in the clothing that was little more than rags that she had worn while a kunoichi of Oto, a black shirt under a tan tunic with elbow-length sleeves that bore the symbol of the Sound Four on the hem, and black skin-tight shorts.

She wore black arm-warmers, black shinobi sandals with calf-length leg warmers covered by bandages, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around her waist. To keep her wild red hair out of the way, the woman also wore a black hat with pipe-like stripes and bandaged sides, keeping her bangs in place while the rest is pushed back behind her ears to trail down her back. In life, she had brown eyes that were accentuated by her eyelashes extending into the corners of her eyes and was usually sporting an impassive expression on her face, though now hers and the other reincarnated men's eyes were a cold a soulless black. But despite all that, and even the time that had passed, her voice still reached out and caressed Naruto's ears.

"Shithead?"

Author's Note:

And that's the end of this chapter! Please don't hate me for what is to come, I promise that it all has a purpose and it isn't just to be cruel and angsty, it all serves a higher purpose, you'll see. Anyways, bit of a shorter chapter, but I didn't feel the need to drag it out on and on for no reason. Also, last bit I need to pass, I'm going on vacation! I'll be gone for about two or three weeks, give or take, and while I will still be writing a little bit, don't expect a crazy amount of updates. Anyways…

That's all I got. Out.