"Hey Liok, I gotta ask. What's the matter with you today?" asked the 'bad' part of the writer duo.

"For your information, I'm absolutely fine! The fact that I'm writing this shows that I'm in perfect condition!" declared an inspired Liok. A ray of light appeared behind him, giving him a more heroic appearance. Drako only raised an eyebrow, before smiling with malice.

"The rookie and the veteran…" Not a second later Liok flinched, as if an ACME anvil had fallen on him.

"…I hate you." Liok said, seeing how his counterpart laughed malevolently.

"Well, let's get started already. I want to finish and go to sleep!" said the Madara look-a-like to his creator, who looked at him in confusion.

"But, it's only 1:44 am." he said, looking at his watch.

"Exactly genius!" Drako angrily screamed back. "We have catering at 10:30-oh you forgot." Draco transitioned seamlessly, seeing the paling horror-filled face of his "creator".

"Shit! I thought it was another day ... ah well save it for later, here come the people." He finished talking when he saw the ninjas were coming from different locations and could see Kushina was more relaxed, he could see so many versions of her where she was devastated by the death of her son that reached a point in which he wondered why she did not fall into madness (some fell but became stronger), only to realize that it was pure tenacity and hope.

Smiling a little, he left his chair in the direction of the redhead without noticing the look of understanding of his double. He stood in front of the Uzumaki matriarch, who looked up to see him and received a friendly hug along with the comfort.

"Don't worry, I assure you that your child is well." He spoke reassuringly and at the same time ignoring the pain he felt as Kushina returned the hug, trying to overcome their fear. Drako, who rested his head on his left fist could only say "You're such a marshmallow." However, if looked closely you could see a small smile on his face.

Separating himself from the redhead, he saw that she was completely calm again. He took her to his post, followed by the other occupants of the "adults" table. Returning to his post he was about to sit until he stopped before sitting down in his spot.

"I know what you're thinking Liok. I'm not against it, but do you even know where you're going to get it?" asked Drako, calling even more the attention of those present who did not know what was happening.

"Of course I do; from my or rather our multiverse, in this case universal "magic mirror" Liok proclaimed. Drako raised his eyebrows with surprise.

"I thought you were gonna leave that for later? You know, when things had quietened down a bit." Asked a confused Drako. This conversation only confused the present spectators who did not know what was happening.

"You know me, my mind changes at the drop of a hat. So are you going or am I going?" asked Liok.

"-sigh- Let me. If I go I can get it done quick and simple." Replied the long-haired boy, who got up from his chair and walked to one of the walls. A door appeared as if it had always been there and opened, showing an infinite blackness "You lot can keep reading without me...you're lucky that the marshmallow with legs has a bleeding heart." Drako muttered the last part to Kushina, who was confused by the "authors" words.

"While Drako goes for the goal, let's get back to the reading." Liok said throwing the book on the air, which I plan to the table of "the children" being held by Shino who without saying anything started the reading.

-Chapter 4-

Sunlight streamed through the canopy of leaves, glistening off the numerous dewdrops that had collected on them while a gentle breeze carried along the soft chirping songs of the birds' overhead. All in all, it was a very tranquil and cheery scene that would many people smile.

"Finally, something nice to start things off." Said a cheerful Tsunade, happy to see the scene starting on a higher note than where they'd left off. Everyone else present could only agree with her.

Naruto was not one of those people at this moment, his face locked in a completely emotionless expression as his bloodshot eyes refused to lift from the muddy ground he was trudging on, dried tear trail framing his cheeks. His movements were stiff and robotic, only truly moving thanks to others nudging him along every few minutes.

"Odd way to know if you're alive." said Kakashi watching the scene, but also watching his teacher's wife out of the corner of his eye. Kushina's eyes were locked on the screen, waiting to see a better scene.

"Definitely a better way than getting poked by a stick." Jiraiya griped. He remembered how Naruto had treated him whenever he was discovered by women and they beat him up. Those present smiled, knowing who the wise yet perverted toad was referring to.

"It's been almost three days; how long do you think he'll be like that?" Yugo asked Ruel while glancing back at the depressed teen. After his little tantrum, Naruto had all but shut down, only really reacting to the word around him when he needed to eat, use the restroom, or when something important/interesting was happening. Such as when Dally accidently buried himself via rocky avalanche when he tried to catch a wild gobbal for dinner.

"Pfffff! Oh kami that's ridiculous! Not being able to catch a simple animal!" Kiba burst out laughing at the thought of the scene. The others all agreed; it sounded like something that only Dallycould achieve (and Naruto in some cases).

Said old man sighed with a shake of his head. "To be honest Yugo, he may never recover. This isn't something like a friend passing away or a family home burning down. I would rather loose every ounce of gold I own than have to go through what that lad is experiencing."

"Not the words I would use, but I can definitely agree with Ruel-san." Might Guy stated seriously. This normally would have surprised the others (the rookie 10) but knowing what the current situation was they could only agree.

"Well maybe if someone had a little more tack, we could have eased the news on him a little easier instead of smashing him with it like a rampaging Bwork." Amalia said sourly, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Oh and I'd just love to hear how you intended to do that your highness." Ruel snarked back with a roll of his eyes.

"True, he could've been a little more sensitive with the subject." said Ino, who believed that the topic could have been easier to address.

"This may sound rude, but ... maybe it's better that way." Kakashi said, to the surprise of all but those who were at the same table. They just kept quiet but if you looked closely, both Kushina and Minato were trembling slightly.

"How could you say something so cruel Kakashi-sensei?! This is Naruto we're talking about! How could it possibly be a better option?!" Sakura shouted furiously at her teacher, who didn't seem affected by her screams. The others looked about ready to join Sakura in giving the Jounin of team 7 a tongue-lashing, with the exception Shikamaru who was leaning on his hands with a serious attitude and Shino, who was also thinking something similar to the Nara.

"I agree with Kakashi-sensei." Shikamaru declared suddenly, surprising his companions out of their outrage.

"Say what?! Shikamaru, how could you say that?! That's just cruel!" Ino screamed at her teammate.

Shikamaru didn't even flinch at her outburst. "Maybe from a humanitarian point of view, but from a practical point of view? It's better to kill the hopes once and for all, than to find out later and make the blow even worse than it already is." The Nara said, once again surprising everyone present (except the adults and Shino) "It may be cruel, but it's for the best." the black-haired genius explained calmly.

"Would you two quit arguing already? You've been at each-others' throats all day." Eva cut in from her position at the front of the group with Dally and the talking map. "Besides, we have other things to worry about." She said while pointing ahead, getting everyone, even Naruto, to look to where she was gesturing towards and freeze.

"Did I just hear something about a talking map?" Minato said, curious about that contraption.

"Yep, and that's just the tip of the iceberg" an amused Liok commented.

Somehow, the entire area ahead of them had gone from lively, thriving, and beautiful to decaying and shadowed thanks to the unnatural amount of cloud cover, even having a literal line where it cuts off between the two. Situated in the middle of this horrible landscape was a small, bleak looking town with a large ominous castle. "That… is rather disturbing." The depressed blonde couldn't help but mutter, the natural energy in the area making him shiver from the mild tainted feeling it held.

"H-how could something like this happen." a dismayed Kurenai demanded.

"Well, I know of a few jutsus that are capable of causing something similar, but never as bad as that." said Minato, remembering his time in the war. He had seen techniques that seemed to be something from fantasy stories, but nothing like this.

"What could affect the environment this seriously?" asked an equally dismayed Jiraiya.

"Hmm…. Of the oh-so-many things that I've seen ... you know what, I'd be better if I showed you." Liok declared. He clapped his hands and the screen changed to show an island, only said island had a great defect/wonder. It was divided into two parts, one that looked like a raging inferno and the other seemed to be completely frozen in ice.

"Wh-what the hell is that place?!" asked a distraught Tsunade. Never in all her time living had she seen anything like what she was seeing now.

"Dear Kami. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'd have never believed it." said a surprised Neji when he saw the scene of chaos.

"This is incredible...Yet it's simply not natural…" Kushina breathed as she watched the scene more closely, unintentionally taking the words out of the mouth of the Nara who nodded in agreement.

"Too right, and you'd better believe it. I myself am actually capable of causing something like this effect." said Liok with a grim pride.

"Must have been one hell of a devastating technique to cause something like that. Surely it was a large group of people if they managed to do something of that size." Chouji said and the group could only agree with him, even the adults.

"Yes and no. If you guessed that it was a technique then correct, but the fact is this was not caused by a group of people, this was done by only two people in a fight." the owner of the place finished it completely, this only scared those present, who the hell are damn strong to alter the environment itself.

"Take note when I tell you that in the ninja world, there is only a select group of people who can do stuff like that. In fact, there are three people who are capable of doing something similar or worse; one is out there doing who knows what, the other is currently petrified, and the last is sealed on the moon." Said a joking/serious Liok, not wanting to mention the third being.

"Wait wait wait! you're telling me that Naruto can do something like that?! ...Wait...who are two others." asked a fearful Kiba. Liok just started to laugh like a crazy maniac, meanwhile the others were amazed Naruto, the guy whom they already knew as something of a powerhouse, was able to reform the environment itself.

"Hold on, how could Naruto possibly possess such power? It's true that he has the Kyuubi but still…" said Kakashi. As far as he knew, his student was nowhere near that powerful.

"Maybe right now, but in a few months if Naruto hadn't been petrified, he would have obtained all that power and more. If I remember correctly, enough power to be capable of destroying the moon or at least leave a serious crater." Liok's statement was even more impacting to those present. 'Technically I wouldn't say he reached the 'destroy' level, but seeing their expressions is priceless!' He thought to himself with a smirk.

"…and who is the other who has that much power?" Tsunade asked with dread. She did not want ninjas of that disastrous level of power out there running freely as if nothing could stop them.

"It's ironic, but you already know the other one perfectly. After all, he was the one responsible for Naruto ending up in the hospital in critical condition all those years ago." He commented to those present while watching Kushina surreptitiously, hoping she wouldn't have another violent reaction.

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura said in a whisper who by his surprise reclined more in the armchair, if she had been standing sure she would have fallen for such news.

"Wait, you're telling me that the Uchiha has that much power?!" asked a worried Shikamaru.

"Sasuke? As in the son of Mikoto?" Kushina asked in general for the whole group.

"Yes Kushina-sama, that Sasuke." Kakashi replied to his master's wife, but internally he was worried about how she would react to Naruto's fight with Sasuke at the Valley of the End.

"Before any more questions, I suggest we continue with the book. When we finish up, I will explain the current situation." Liok said, noting that if they continued with this train of thought they would not finish today. Add that to the fact that Drako had cut his link with him for some reason was not good, whatever was happening.

Amalia had a similar reaction once she placed her hand on one of the dead looking trees for a few seconds before recoiling. "Something is very wrong with this place, nature has been twisted here."

"And what comes to my head first is "how much" has been twisted?" Jiraiya asked seriously. Being a sage meant he was very close to nature and if something was affecting nature this bad, it was no wonder that he would feel disturbed.

"Oi map! Do we really have to pass through here to get to Oma Island?" Dally asked, unrolling the seemingly blank map until an orange smiley face appeared with a mischievous snicker.

"DA FUCK!" Kiba howled in shock. Most of those present found the object curious, but those who were more interested were adults.

"Why of course! See for yourself!" It said before its appearance morphed into that of an actual map, showing both the area they were in and the place they were headed into. "The only way to go is through the quaint little village of Forfut. Don't worry though, it's a nice place, real lively." As soon a she said this, the dead body of a ball shaped bat with tiny wings landed on the ground in front of them with a sickening *Splat*

"My definition of nice is another thing entirely." Neji commented watching the scene.

"Agreed." was the general opinion of most of the girls. They may be kunoichi's but that didn't mean it wasn't repulsive to see the scene.

The adults on the other hand had a thousand thoughts running through their minds. Years of fights, odd places and strange situations only made them react to this peculiar scene.

"Yeah… lively." Eva repeated sarcastically with a roll of her eyes as she marched forward. "Let's just get this over with."

"Hopefully we'll be able to get something to eat alt least. I'm starving." Dally said with as he held his grumbling stomach.

"No kidding, I could eat a whole gobbal." Yugo added in with Ruel nodding in agreement… after he discreetly ate an entire fish that he pulled out of his bag.

At that precise moment the brains and beauty of team 10 looked at their big-boned companion. When he noticed the looks he was receiving, he leaned away in confusion. "…What?" Chouji shouted/asked.

"That's more or less what you do when there's little food left. You always gorge it down behind our backs!" Ino growled strictly to her friend. The big-boned ninja was about to argue until "Don't even try to fuck with me! You know it's true!" the Yamanaka shouted, knowing exactly what he was gonna say.

"Then maybe you boys shouldn't have eaten all of our food at once. We told you to be more conservative, now look where it's left us." Amalia told the three off, wagging her finger in front of their faces for added emphasis. "You'll just have to deal with it till we get there."

"So typical of the men." all the women agreed, not even listening to the claims of protest from their friends/partners/husband.

"Fine, how about we just stop talking about food, it's making me hungrier." Ruel suggested, inadvertently causes Amalia to recoil as his fish-breath washed over her.

"By Sadida! When was the last time you brushed?!" She demanded between coughs as she pinched her nose shut and waved her hand in a fruitless attempt to dissipate the horrid stench. "It smells like something died and was left to rot in the sun for several weeks!"

"Oh quit being dramatic, it's not that bad." Ruel huffed, laughing internally as the simply action made the plant princess freak out even more. "I know, how about you tell us how the you and Evangeline first met."

Ino felt her inner investigator (read: gossiper) activate by listening to those words. What better way to encourage the state of mind as to know why a warrior and a princess are best friends.

"That's a little out of the blue, why the sudden interest?" The Cra asked, looking back at the old man with a raised eyebrow.

"Simple curiosity really," Ruel said with a shrug. "Most of us have been travelling together for almost a month now and we still barely know anything about each-other."

"So that's how long they've been together. Understandable, if we consider how they interact with each other." said Minato, who now understood why the group seemed a bit dysfunctional.

Mulling it over in her head for a few moments as she walked, Eva eventually gave a small nod as she conceded to his point. "Fair enough. Amalia and I have been companions since we were little. I was assigned as one of her ladies-in-waiting when just after she turned five." A nostalgic smile slowly worked its way across her lips. "In fact, the first time we met was when she had decided to try out dressmaking by herself."

As the elf-girl spoke, Amalia groaned loudly. "Ugh, not this story, it's soooo embarrassing."

Unfortunately for her, Eva just smirked wider while continuing to talk. "I stood outside her room for two hours with the royal tailors since she wanted the outfit to be a surprise. When she finally did show herself though, it took every single ounce of my etiquette training to keep a straight face at the ridiculous sight."

"Oh Kami, it must've been so bad~" An interested Ino giggled, followed by Sakura who was also paying attention to the talk of the Cra.

"Come on! It wasn't that bad, and I was only five for Sadida's sake."

"Amalia, it WAS that bad. That 'outfit' had so many flashy baubles and decorations on it that it might as well been a walking gift shop." The greenette opened her mouth to say something in her defense, but no words came out and she eventually just clicked her jaw shut and looked away with a huff as her cheeks turned slightly red. "Anyway, like I said it was my first day as a lady-in-waiting, I had no idea what to do when I saw her wearing that silly thing."

Just then, the screen changed the image to show the "dress" made by the Sadida princess. The reactions didn't take long to follow.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!" Kushina was the first person to burst out laughing when she saw the image, followed swiftly by Jiraiya and Tsunade. Then came Shizune and… well you can already get an idea of how things went from there.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAAA! HA HA ... HA..HA ... That's no dress, that's a desperate call of "Look at me! Here I am!"" The redhead wheezed, recovering the air. On the other side of the table the rookie ninjas were in stitches. Shino did not express himself in the same way as the others but if you looked closely you would see how his shoulders trembled, giving away that he was laughing. Hinata on the other hand only had the sleeves of his hands covering his mouth to "try" to disguise her laughter.

"OH KAMI! AND HERE I THOUGHT NARUTO'S JUMPSUIT WAS AN ABOMINATION OF FASHION! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ino roared with laughter.

"AAHAHAHAH! MY SIDES! THEY HURT SO MUCH! ROWR!" Kiba shouted, rolling on the floor and clutching the sides of the stomach, all the while laughing at the scene.

"OOOOH! BUT THAT DRESS SO YOUTHFUL!" Lee screamed.

"YOOOOSSSHHH! WE NEED SOMETHING EQUALLY YOUTHFULL FOR US MY DEAR STUDENT!" Gai also screamed. Student and teacher were about to jump up and do their amazing (read: horrifying) sunset of youth, if it weren't for the mass of strings making a comeback to tie them to their seats again. (They don't pay me enough for this man ... Wait a minute, they don't even pay me at all!)

After everyone had calmed down a bit, Shino was about to continue with the reading until a dark wooden door suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. This put a stop the leftover laughter to pay attention to what was about to happen. The door slowly opened to reveal an infinite void of darkness ... then Drako's head popped out with a blank expression.

"Uh Liok, we may have a problem," He said dully.

"Now what did you do ya bastard?" Asked an exasperated Liok. Couldn't he perhaps have just a moment of tranquility in his life.

"Well...you see…I think I might've gone a little too far." the black-haired man admitted, still was not showing the rest of his body.

"How far did you go?" Liok asked tiredly, dreading the answer.

"About 10 years." Madara's look-a-like replied.

"I told you it was 4 years! 4! How is it possible that you go back 10?!" The exasperated author berated his colleague.

"You know as well as I do that this world is still in the middle of creation, so there are always chronological errors! -sigh- Look, can you work with this or not?" Drako asked, just as exasperated.

"Well ... now that I think about it, it works out better this way. Not exactly as I wanted, but what can ya do?" Liok said to himself. The spectators were confused about the conversation the two having. Minato was about to speak on behalf of everyone but was struck silent, when the rest of Drako's body emerged from the door.

His entire body was full of cuts and numerous kunai's were nailed in different parts of the body, especially near the legs. Before anyone could say something however, they noticed that he was holding something. And when they saw him completely ... they felt their legs weakening and their breathing went from stable to erratic; right there, holding hands with Draco, was Naruto.

Only in this case, a Naruto that couldn't have been older than six years old!

"N-Na-Naruto?" Stuttered Kushina, momentarily forgetting that anyone else was here, only focusing on the boy standing beside the Madara-lookalike. Apparently saying his name got the attention of the little boy, who turned his gaze in the direction of whoever had called his name. When he saw a crying red-haired lady standing next to a blond-haired man, he started pulling the hand of his guide to get his attention, which he did.

"I-is she?" the young Naruto asked with total shyness along with touches of emotion. Drako, seeing this, he got on his knees to look the boy in the eyes and just smiled.

"Yup, that's her alright." Drako said with a small smile. He didn't have to wait long before the boy let go his hand and run into the arms of the woman crying, not that Kushina had put up resistance; rather she opened her arms the instant he started approaching her.

"Kaa-san!" He screamed with tears in his eyes as he clutched the redheaded woman's clothes with all his strength. Kushina couldn't do anything to stop the identical waterfall of her own tears. At last, after what seemed like years, she was holding her cute baby in her arms. He was big, bigger than the first time she'd held him, but that still didn't take away the joy of finally having him in her arms.

But what really filled her heart with joy, were the words "kaa-san".

"Just- how did you-?" Jiraiya didn't get a chance to finish speaking before somehow, Drako submerged into Liok's body and disappeared.

"Let's just say that it recently occurred to us to bring little Naru here. Originally he was going to bring the 12-year-old version of him, but as you can see he brought the 6-year-old version instead." Liok explained while watching as Kushina cradled the little Naruto, who had fallen asleep from excitement and so much crying in his mother's arms. Minato was just sitting next to her humming along with his wife, but he was just as happy showing a few drops of tears in his eyes.

"That Drako guy is right; you are a marshmallow." Jiraiya said. In response to the happy scene, Liok did nothing apart from putting a smile on his lips. With a gentle movement of his hands he separated the chair from where the adults were sitting (thus creating a third armchair that It was located between the other two) where the family rested, reunited at last.

The others, mostly the adults and the girls, could only smile warmly upon seeing the heart-warming scene. The boys on the other hand did not know how to react; they knew they loved familial love, but to what extent could Naruto's loneliness be for his reunion with his parents to be like this. Shino decided that it was better to continue reading, in order to distract the curious looks and leave the family to their happy moment.

In response, Eva burst into a small fit of giggles while Amalia's cheeks turned even redder. "I told her my honest opinion, that she looked like a gobbal. She ignored me however and proceeded to wear the outfit all day as we went around the kingdom. For months, the people called her Princess Gobbal." She said before busting out in laughter, with everyone but Amalia and Naruto joining in seconds later though the whiskered blonde did smile lightly.

"I should have had them all thrown in the royal dungeons! See them laugh after that!" Amalia yelled in indignation, which only caused the gang to laugh louder. "Don't tempt me! I'll do the same to you!"

"Sounds like someone we know." Shikamaru and Chouji commented in sync, only to be smacked in the head by their female companion.

"I am not like that!" she snapped at the duo, only to have them look at her with deadpan expressions which caused her to back off slowly, this only amused the kids who could attest to that because of the attitude of the Yamanaka they did not doubt that if she was a princess and they told her that she would send them to the dungeon.

The group continued to talk as they walked, Ruel told of his times as a bounty hunter with Alibert, Yugo talked about growing up in his home town. Dally even managed to get Naruto to briefly chuckle when he described some of his misadventures before meeting them, such as when a Bwork stole all his kamas while dressed up as a princess.

"How in the name of Kami-sama is it possible to confuse a Bwork with a princess?!" said Tenten to see how on the screen changed to a cartoon scene of what was told by Dally.

"I think so many blows to the head left him with brain problems." Neji said flatly.

"Oooh but what a princess with so little youth!" Said a tearful Lee. His teammates could only sweat the big drop for that.

Eventually everyone had shared something about themselves except for the enigmatic ancient blonde teen, and while everyone was extremely curious about his past, nobody wanted to possibly push the blonde even deeper into depression by bringing it up.

Luckily for them, it was an unnecessary fear as Naruto surprisingly opted to speak without a prompt. "Guess it's my turn then, hmmm…" He rubbed his chin in thought. He was in a slightly better mood as the story telling helped distract him from his depression, if just for the moment.

"Well, there was my first official mission as a shinobi. It was supposed to be a simple escort and protection job for an old drunk bridge builder Tazuna-Jiji. Heh, almost failed that mission before we even left when I tried to pummel him into the ground for calling me short." He said with a dry wistful chuckle.

"Oh geez, not that mission." Groaned an exasperated Sakura; she still had bad memories of that mission. Looking back on it, she hated herself for being so freaking useless at that time. Back then she was just a damsel in distress who always needed to be rescued. But no longer...never again.

"What exactly happened on that mission Sakura?" The godaime asked her student, who suddenly became tense as well as her teacher.

"Well, let's just say that the mission turned out to be two ranks higher than it was supposed to be." Sakura explained, sweat pouring from her forehead. If her teacher found out what happened on that mission, there was no doubt that neither she nor Kakashi would live to see tomorrow.

"You said supposed to be. I'm guessing something unexpected happened." Ruel said, speeding up his stride slightly until he was walking right next to Naruto as they traversed across the dead craggily terrain.

"Right in one Jiji, turned out Tazuna's home Nami no Kuni had been taken over by this cruel midget businessman called Gato. The Teme was rapidly strangling the economy into nothing by monopolizing the fishing and shipping industries. Because of that, Tazuna lied about the difficulty of the mission when he paid Konoha for the protection detail and instead of a more experienced squad he got me and my teammates."

"You're telling me that you did that mission?! That was almost an A-rank?!" Tsunade roared at the remains of the team 7 furiously, who at this time looked like they wanted to be swallowed by the earth.

"M-mah mah! It wasn't that bad Tsunade-sama!" The cyclops said in a attempt to pacify the blonde, only to receive a fulminating look from the woman.

"Um, while it's fun and all to see Kakashi get scolded for his laziness, need I remind you there are people trying to sleep in here?" Liok interjected calmly pointing to the family in question, who had moved slightly due to the shouts of the Hokage. Tsunade snorted before giving one last look at both Kakashi and her student.

"You had a team? What was it like?" Yugo asked excitedly, once again enraptured by the story though now Amalia had joined him as she stood beside him with an identical expression on her face. Instead of answering verbally, Naruto reached inside his jacket and fished out an old battered photograph. Glancing at it briefly, a somber look settled across his face before he held it out while everyone huddled in for a look.

On it was a younger naruto, roughly 12-13, wearing a bright orange outfit with a large white puffy collar. The picture him was trading glares with a brooding raven-haired boy whose head looked like a duck's rear end. Standing between them was a girl with bubblegum pink hair and an awkward smile on her face while a masked silver-haired man leaned over the trio and ruffled the two boys' heads. "The Teme on the right is Sasuke, the pretty girl is Sakura-chan, and finally the guy behind us is Kakashi-sensei."

"He still has that picture?" Sakura asked herself with a smile. She remembered the easier times when both Sasuke and Naruto were still teammates and hadn't yet gone their separate ways. She had lost her copy of the picture during Pein's attack, so it was a little nostalgic to see that image again.

"Wow! This painting is so detailed! Its almost like I could walk right into it. You can't even feel the brushstrokes." Amalia said, running her fingers over the smooth surface of the photo in awe until Naruto pulled his arm back and put the picture away. "Whoever made that must have been an amazing artist."

"Wait, painting?" Shizune faintly asked, dismay plastered over her face.

"If they think that it's a painting, then…" Shino trailed off.

"… that means that things like electricity and radios no longer exist!" Exclaimed Kurenai.

"But…how?" asked a bewildered Minato.

"Let's just say catastrophes and their aftereffects are both incredible and hard to believe." replied an enigmatic looking Liok.

"Not really, watch this." Naruto said while once again reached into his jacket, this time pulling out a small scroll. Unrolling it to reveal a variety of small clusters of odd squiggly drawings, Naruto placed a finger on one of them causing it to release a small puff of smoke. When it cleared, he was holding what looked like a really blocky spyglass to the others with the kanji for 'The Peeper keeper 3,000' and 'Property of Jiraiya' on either side. "Smile," The blonde said as he pointed it at Amalia and Yugo and pushed the button.

"Ah, so he has the reliable old girl. That camera was a great help to me during my research time; so many hours of hard work and inspiration~" Jiraiya declared with an air of wisdom surrounding him. Maybe if he had been paying attention to his surroundings, he would have seen Tsunade's punch coming.

"Shino? Please continue before I try to kill him this time." The blonde Hokage growled through gritted teeth.

With a soft click, a piece of paper slid out the front of the device that he grabbed and started shaking it while sealing the camera back into the scroll. After a minute or so he stopped and held it out for them to see the fully developed image of Yugo and Amalia's confused faces. "Ta-da."

"Cool!" x2

Smiling lightly at the looks of wonder that crossed the group's faces as they looked over the photograph, Naruto waited a bit before continuing. "Anyway, we quickly learned the truth when we were attack by a pair of nukenin called the Oni Kyōdai barely a day after we left…"

"Wait a second- "

"Shino continue, quick!" Kakashi shouted frantically.

The next hour was filled with Naruto telling of the Wave mission. He described how his team had decided to continue on after the revealed falsification, mostly thanks to a combination of Tazuna guilt tripping them and the genin's stubborn nature. Then he told of Tazuna's plan to save his home and the first battle with Zabuza the Kirigakure no Kijin, where Kakashi had gotten caught and it was only thanks to Naruto's quick thinking that they got out of that fight alive while Zabuza fled with a false hunter-nin named Haku.

He even used a technique called the Henge no Jutsu to turn into the people he was mentioning for added affect. Their reaction to Zabuza and Haku were quite humorous, with Amalia shrieking in fear at the sight of the giant blade wielding man and Dally gushing over Haku's appearance until Naruto revealed that the ice user was a guy.

"Wait, you're telling me that beauty is a guy?!" The horrified Inuzuka cried.

"Honestly, I'm not sure. To this day it's still a mystery to me." Sakura admitted with a shrug. Jiraiya crossed his arms and gave a sagely nod.

"I don't blame you; those traps are always difficult to spot before it's too late." commented the pervert.

"What, did you fall for one once?" Asked a sleepy Kushina, who had been listening to everything regarding the conversation of her son's first mission, tightening her grip on Naru a little more. She turned after a moment to her right and saw that her husband had fallen asleep on her shoulder.

With a tiny smirk, she nonchalantly pushed him off the shoulder and let him fall to the floor face first. 'This is mother and son time, not mother, son and father time.' Kushina thought to herself, watching as her husband complained about being voted out of the hug.

"Oh nononononono!" The pervert quickly denied. He had a reputation to maintain after all and didn't want to remember such terrible things.

Following that was the meeting with Tazuna's family, the training in the woods where Naruto had to demonstrate the tree walking technique with some difficulty as his control was off for some reason, the talk with an unmasked Haku in the woods, and finally the last battle where Gato, Haku, and Zabuza died.

"Now you're telling me they learned to tree walk on a MISSION!" An angry Tsunade bellowed at Kakashi, who was hiding behind his chair shaking like a leaf.

"In my defense, I would like to emphasize that Tazuna lied to us about the mission ranking!" Kakashi desperately pleaded to his Kage.

"Excuses!" the Kage bellowed, throwing a punch at the poor jounin, who couldn't react in time to dodge the punch that sent him literally six feet under.

"Is that how it went down Sakura?" Ino asked her best friend, who seemed to find the ground quite interesting at the moment while Kakashi slowly pulled himself out of the ground.

"Y-yes." The Haruno girl half-answered, wishing that it was only what Naruto commented about the mission.

"With his arms to injured to use and nothing but a kunai in his mouth, Zabuza went right through the entire army of bandits, killing dozens of them before finally reaching that double-crossing midget and taking him out. He died soon after thanks to the wounds he had gotten, his last words being that he wished he would be able to join Haku in the afterlife. I know Haku felt the same as it started to snow moments later." Naruto said, finishing his tale just as they reached the outskirts of Forfut and night fell.

Those present did not know what to think (the adults) if he could be a renegade ninja, but there was also the fact of killing for his student ... sometimes the ninja world was so complicated that you never knew it was black and white, adults they could only see a grey, a very dark grey but at the end of everything a grey.

"That… That's so sad yet so sweet." Amalia said with a sniffle as she wiped her eyes.

"To perish in battle in a noble death! Especially when it is to protect your loved ones." Dally exclaimed while taking a dramatic pose until Eva smacked him on the back of the head.

"Not to be the one to break the mood and all, but am I the only one creeped out right now?" She asked while gesturing to their surroundings. The entire village was rundown, with most of the buildings looking on the verge of collapse. Meanwhile the villagers looked like walking corpses, with sickly greenish skin and blank lifeless eyes that stared at the group as they passed with creepy smiles.

"If I'm honest, I'd already be shaping chakra for a quick getaway." replied a sore Jiraiya who saw the scene and he could say that what he needed was a quick escape. Those present could fully agree and in case the place looked bad but the inhabitants were equally affected and began to sound alarms in the head of the ninjas.

"Now that you mention it," Ruel muttered as he adjusted his grasp on his shovel. "We shouldn't doddle. Let's hurry and find an inn, hopefully we'll be able to get something quick to eat before leaving in the morning."

"For once I'd prefer not to eat, just leave the place while I could." Chouji muttered. They could say what they want but he could plainly see something was wrong with the town.

"Yeah, I agreeEEEP!" Amalia yelped when she rounded a corner and found herself face to face with the creepiest little boy she'd ever seen. Stumbling back from the surprise, the greenette almost fell over before Naruto caught her.

"Easy there Happa-chan," He said while helping her back on her feet, missing the light blush that crossed her face at the close contact.

'Gross.'The members of teams 7 and 10 thought as one, not noticing the look of unease of the Hyuga girl.

'Stop thinking about when you snuggled with him! Stop thinking about it! STOP IT!' She mentally screamed at herself, memories of those moments playing around in her head. "T-thanks," She muttered quietly while avoiding eye contact.

Kushina, who had heard everything, could only smile. Her son may be stone, but apparently he would be far from lonely. Bringing Naru closer to her, she snuggled closer to the sofa to pay more attention to the story and to continue hugging her little son equally.

It didn't take long to find an inn, though food was out of the question as the only thing to be had was a horrible rotten slop called Mamaliga. To make matters worse, they were forced to spend the night after a thunder storm came in out of nowhere. So they rented two rooms, one for the boys and the other for the girls with everyone now fast asleep except for Naruto and Eva.

"Oh boy! I'm so proud of you right now Gaki!" Jiraiya was ecstatic to hear this little development, only to be silenced a few moments later by a blow to his head on account of a sandal. Following the direction of its trajectory, he discovered the owner. Needless to say, the death glare Kushina was giving him shut him right up.

Minato tried another attempt to embrace his wife, only for Kushina to send him a dirty look that said, "Don't you dare!". It goes without saying that Minato was a bit dismayed by his wife's attitude toward him; of course she was always a tomboy in that sense but she was being a little more possessive with their child than he expected.

"My information on the Uzumaki's is a little lacking for my own taste, but it may be a while before she lets this go. I recommend trying to approach her very carefully unless you want to lose a limb or three." Liok advised, watching as Minato looked at his wife, who seemed to be looking at him as if she were trying to measure if he was a threat or not. Disturbing if you asked him.

Said blondes were currently in the hallway, standing just outside their rooms. Naruto had reverted back into his depressed state, but he was still aware enough of his surroundings to notice the discomfort that would cross Eva's face every few minutes. "You okay Surudoi-chan?"

"Yeah, I just keep getting a strong feeling we're being watched." The elf-girl said, her grip on her bow tightening and relaxing as she tried to keep her cool. This wasn't to be however, as several heavy thuds above them immediately set her further on edge.

"You know, I've always wondered if those words are spellbound or something. Because every time someone says that, something bad always happens." Ino thought to herself out loud, the others present could agree with her.

"Looks like it was for good reason." Naruto stated just as several dozen humanoid creatures with pitch black skin and skull like faces burst through the windows and ceiling. "Wake up the others! I'll keep them busy!" Without giving her a chance to respond, Naruto charged right at the group of monsters.

"What are those things?" Kurenai asked the owner of the place, who simply gestured to the screen as if silently saying 'Just wait and see.'

Ducking under the wild swing of the nearest one, he returned the favor with a strong punch to the creature's torso, launching both it and the dozen or so behind it right back out the window they came from. Naruto then spun around and punted another one right through the ceiling while clotheslining two others.

'Wow, these things are so… slow, and weak.' Naruto couldn't help but think as he calmed down, even looking a little bored as he continued to swat the things away like they were flies. These things were barely moving at genin speeds, their attacks were incredibly easy to predict and avoid, and the few that did land felt like they were coming from a child compared to what he had to deal with in the past.

"Well...there goes all the excitement" said Tenten with a pout. She'd expected to see Naruto get into an epic fight as did the others, only to see nothing but a one-sided beatdown.

"From the point of view of a ninja it may seem lacking, but from the side of a civilian on the other hand..." Liok said to those present, who widened their eyes (minus the Nara and Aburame heirs). The adults knew from experience what he was referring to.

"Well, that must be a pain in the ass." Tsunade commented, wiping her hands of imaginary dust and leaving a traumatized (and brutally beaten) Kakashi on the floor.

"NO! EVANGELINE!" That boredom swiftly turned to worry however when he heard Amalia scream from across the building. Bulldozing his way through the horde of enemies, Naruto rounded the corner just in time to see an unconscious Eva get abducted by an unknown caped man in a twirl of cloth as Yugo, Ruel, Dally, and Amalia were being kept back by more of the zombie creatures.

"How was she knocked out so fast?" Neji asked in confusion. He couldn't believe that the Cra warrior was defeated so easily.

"Magic." Was all Liok said; he didn't want to bother explaining every damn detail ... Drako was already affecting him ... shit.

"Who the heck is the emo anyway." Asked Kiba, pointing to Vampyro. Liok took a moment to answer, thinking what the best way was to respond.

"A contender for the title of king of the emos." He eventually said with a chuckle.

"Cursed ghouls, get out of the way!" Ruel yelled battering an entire swath away with his shovel. "We don't have time for this, that Vampyro guy is getting away!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it! Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled as he put his hands into an odd cross sign as a massive amount of smoke erupted everywhere. When it cleared, both the ghouls and the group stopped cold at the sight before them. The entire building was filled to the brim with copies of the ancient ninja, each one cracking their knuckles in a threatening manner. "Charge!"

"Well, this is going to be interesting." Jiraiya declared with a grin.

"I suppose that's one word you could use for it." Shikamaru said with a smirk from his current position, lying down on the floor.

"Hai Boss!" x a lot

It was a bad day to be a ghoul.

"Tell me about it." Neji muttered, shivering slightly while remembering the Chunnin exams when he fought with Naruto.

-Moments later, Ominous Castle-

"Brilliant name~" Tsunade drawled while drinking her second bottle of sake that "coincidentally" was one of the best and most expensive drinks in the whole country, all with the excuse of wanting to lower the headache caused by hearing about the first C-RANK mission of her grandson figure.

In a twirl of black cloth, Vampyro and Eva appeared inside a large chamber within the darkly decorated chamber. With a casual flick of his hand, his cloak set the Cra's unconscious form into the middle of a ritual platform that swiftly lit up with purplish black energy. Said energy then proceeded to make her slowly float off the ground as pitch black markings began to slowly worm their way across her form.

"And here I thought Orochimaru was obsessed with crazy rituals." Jiraiya declared with distaste in in his voice, a sentiment shared by his teammate.

"Soon, soon my love you will have a new body all of your own." He said in a loving tone as he held up one fist up to his face, revealing a demonic looking black ring stylized like a bat with a round glowing purple gem. As he spoke, a small silhouette of a face appeared with a soft feminine giggle.

"Ugh, talk about bad jewellery." Said a disturbed Ino upon see the ring, Sakura nodding in agreement.

"Yes, once the transfer is complete. Then the two of us shall rule over this world together forever my dear Vampyo." The ring said with a dark chuckle, one that Vampyro quickly joined in with.

"That doesn't sound like something in your head." Chouji commented to his friends as teachers, who were thinking along the same lines.

* BOOOOM! *

"Mama's home!" Kushina giggled, back to her usual self for the first time since her cute and helpless(?) son had returned.

"What was that!?" The ring yelled as an explosion suddenly caused the entire castle to shake, swiftly followed by several smaller ones in various different directions.

"Probably those idiots we ditched back at that worthless inn. Don't worry Shadofang, I'll deal with them." Vampyro said confidently, giving the gem a gentle kiss before turning towards the large entranceway as it was blown off it hinges. Smiling widely, he began to prepare his grand entrance…

"Typical villain." Said everyone present with a flat face. Like every bad guy in a bad movie they always had to prepare their grand entrance.

…only to freeze when he found himself up against not only the group from before but also a literal army of angry whiskered blondes wielding everything from unusual knives to chunks of stone to even some of his ghouls as makeshift flails. Heck the only thing that wasn't being used was the kitchen sink. Wait nevermind, one of the clones near the back just hefted it onto their shoulder after bashing a ghoul with it.

The laughter was certainly not lacking, but then again, who wouldn't laugh at the simply incredible sight of an army kicking the ass of one guy. Whoever said Naruto wasn't prepared for everything, was clearly an idiot.

"Ohohoho, this guy! Th-that's a classi-hi-hi-hic!" Jiraiya guffawed, remembering when his pupil had done something similar on a mission they took during his training trip, only that time he was using a frying pan, a cooking pot and a dildo...that was a really strange mission. He never did figure out how his godson had got ahold of the last object, but it was still funny to see the target they had to catch get beaten into unconsciousness by a dildo of all things. No doubt that guy's pride and dignity went straight down the drain.

Speaking of which, the vampire rip-off gapped in horror as he saw the complete and total ruin that used to be his castle. "What…what have you done to my ho-AAAHG!" He was cut off as one of the blondes appeared right in front of him and socked him hard in the face.

"You know, I'm normally a really nice guy." Naruto said as he punched Vampyro again as he was trying to get up.

"Right, nice, and I don't have the shittiest luck in the world!" Tsunade snarked, reaching for her fifth bottle.

"But unfortunately for you not only did you happen to catch me in a really, REALLY bad mood, but you also decided to kidnap Surudoi-chan." This time the blonde hit him with a heavy drop kick and embedded him several inches into the stone floor.

"The chair! Go with the chair!" Shouted one of the spectators. Guess who it was.

"So guess what that means?"

"Wha… wha… wha…" Vampyro failed to say anything coherent as his slowly pulled his bruised face out of the granite. Grabbing him by the collar and hoisting him up to eye level, Naruto grinned wildly while holding up his clenched fist.

"That's it Naru-chan, defend your girl!" Kushina cheered, not noticing (or ignoring, depends on the case) the sullen look of the Hyuga girl and the sour look of the eight-team teacher to see her student.

"It means you just volunteered to be my stress relief punching bag. And between you and me, I have a lot of kuso to get off my chest."

"Damn, I'd hate to be in that guys shoes right now." Kiba said quietly, slightly intimidated by the downright feral expression on the blonde's usually-grinning face.

"Amen, -sigh- troublesome." The Nara genius concurred.

"…mercy?" Vampyro begged meekly before he almost pissed himself from the blonde's next three words.

"What is that?"

"AAAHHHH!"

What followed was a beating so thorough and brutal, no words could properly describe just it, especially after the clones joined in while the others freed Eva from the dark ritual she was being put through. It only ended twenty minutes later when Shadofang was accidentally dislodged from Vampyro's finger and released a large wave of purple light with a scream.

"Wow. Just, wow." said Kurenai, so stunned at the sight of the beating that she had no other words to say. Those present were much the same except Jiraiya, Tsunade, Minato and Kushina, whom were laughing like hell at the 'fight'. Jiraiya in particular kept having flashbacks to the one that involved a certain toy.

When it cleared, Vampyro was gone and in his place was a mildly bruised up redheaded man that was groaning in pain while all the ghouls gradually turned into miraculously unharmed regular civilians who looked around the place in confusion. At the same time, the dark gloomy atmosphere that had been encompassing the entire town dissipated within seconds, and life seemed to return to the land.

"I knew there were objects and artefacts out there that could alter the surrounding area, but this is whole 'nother level." Jiraiya commented, eyes wide with surprise.

"Remember what I said earlier? You are barely scraping the tip of the iceberg." Liok reminded the wise pervert, who at the moment had so many questions stewing in his head but stayed quiet when Liok raised his hand saying, "Wait until later."

Completely lost at what was going on, Naruto dispelled his clones and scooped up the ring with a confused look. "What the hell just happened?"

-Finish-

"Well, this was a very…interesting chapter." said Shikamaru.

"Yes, and now I want some damn answers." Tsunade said casting a look at Liok, because she did not want to remain in the dark about these terraforming ninjas (ninjas of an equal or superior level to Madara and Hashirama).

"Fair enough I suppose. But before that, I think it's time for lunch, or breakfast in little Naru-chan's case." He responded, pointing to the mother and son couple. Apparently Naruto had finally woken up and the two had separated from the group to have a talk.

"…then jiji and the weird guys in masks were covered in paint and totally naked in the middle of the square! I didn't get ramen for a month but it was totally worth it…except for the ramen." The small and enthusiastic Naruto explained to his mother, who was laughing up a storm thanks to hearing of her son's prank on the hokage.

"Hahahahaaa! Oh what I would give to be to see the old man's face at that time!" exclaimed an euphoric Kushina. Her laughter then redoubled when her son took pulled a small picture out of his pocket, showing both the hokage and his ANBUS painted bright pink and completely naked, their decency spared only by the paint covering their private parts. In short, they were ridiculous.

The couple was interrupted by the arrival of a third party: Minato, who had tried and failed to approach his son to try and socialize with him but hadn't been able to before now due to his wife, who had cut off all interaction as soon as it was attempted.

"Hey Naruto, do you know who I am?" Minato asked, taking care of how to act as his wife began to grip his son in a hug, not missing the look of malice his beloved wife was giving him. If Liok was right and he wasn't careful, his wife would likely end up hitting him and hard.

"Ummm no, but you look a lot like one of the guys in the pictures hanging in the old man's office." The boy said, thinking deeply where he had seen this man.

"Well, I am your father." Minato said, pointing to himself with a big smile.

"Seriously?!" shouted the little blond. Not only had he just met his mother but now his father too?! It was a great day...he just hoped this wasn't one of those dreams where the same thing happened just to wake up alone.

"Yes Naru-chan, this is your father, but tou-san is going away for now because he has something important to do. Isn't that right dear~" Kushina asked her husband with so much sweetness that even Liok shuddered, and he was on the other side of the room.

"Y-Yes dear, but we will talk later okay Naruto?" the trembling Kage said to his son, who was oblivious to how his mother seemed to want to jump to his father and finish it right there.

-End Chapter