Journey of the Maelstrom Rider

Chapter 3: Shattered Stone and High Voltage

Naruto was currently leaping through the trees towards the Hidden Leaf Village after his scrimmage with the fake Mizukage, he decided to forgo the use of the Machine Decader since he wanted to think about a few things along the way.

"That makes three Kages to have been kidnapped and replaced with puppets to try and trigger a war. Just who would be able to pull something like this off? I know that it isn't Sasuke since I could tell he struggled even to kill Danzo just by looking at him. I'd better get a move on,"

The blonde ninja soon found himself landing in a small clearing and was about to continue on his way when he heard footsteps approaching him from the front and saw someone enter the clearing. She's appears to be a Kunoichi with medium length hair with two silver hairpins tied to the back, and a fringe covering her right eye. She wears a black kimono with a white sash, black fingerless gloves, a white jacket with a high collar and blue rose-printed textures at the hem, black leg warmers, grey shinobi sandals and a black forehead protector around her neck.

"Who are you?" asked Naruto warily.

The woman stared at Naruto silently before speaking "My name is Malice and there is something I need to ask you,"

"Malice huh, which ninja village do you come from?"

"That is not important, I want to know what peace means to you,"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at that "Meaning of peace?"

"Since ancient times, war has continued without cessation and true peace has never been known. We'd be better off without the Five Kages who have proven completely incapable of bringing peace to this world. Still, why do you insist to help these Five Kages instead?"

"That is a rather strange question for you to be asking," Naruto frowned, he knows full well that the higher ups of the other villages are concealing the fact that the Kages are missing so he finds it suspicious that this Kunoichi somehow knows.

"Just answer me," Malice insisted.

"Well, I believe that true peace will come to this world one day. Granny Tsunade and Gaara also wish for peace as they've seen and experienced the negativity of war,"

"Then why is it that the fighting never stops? War will never end and one victim will be replaced with another,"

"I cannot ignore that there are people that wish to gain something for themselves even if it means that others will suffer, and I've met a lot of those guys ever since I graduated from the academy. But there are others like me that are willing to go up against them for the sake of protecting the ones close to us. It is why I wish to become Hokage; to find a way to stop the meaningless fighting and bring peace to everyone," said Naruto with eyes of determination.

Malice stared at Naruto silently "Do you really possess that kind of power? Let me be the one to test you,"

Music Start: Tekken 5 - Dark Resurrection; Into Nirvana

Malice took out a weapon resembling a giant syringe as she dashed towards Naruto and attempted to stab him with it. Naruto was almost taken by surprise but he dashed sideways to evade the incoming strike before retaliating with a roundhouse kick which Malice ducked underneath and jumped backwards whilst throwing a handful of shuriken. Naruto brought out a kunai and quickly deflected the projectiles before weaving through a set of handsigns "Wind Style: Air Bullets!" he took in a deep breath whilst concentrating chakra into his lungs before opening his mouth to spew bullets of air rapidly towards Malice with the Kunoichi weaving through a set of handsigns as well "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" she slammed a palm onto the ground, causing a solid wall of earth to rise before her and blocked the wind projectiles before sinking back to the ground.

Malice held her hand forward to make a seal matrix appear on the ground before her, Naruto analyzed the seal quickly to realize that it was a summoning seal matrix and got ready for whatever was going to appear. He was taken by surprise upon seeing an all too familiar puppet, especially when it rushed at him to engage in close combat and recognized the way it fought.

"That puppet and the way it fights like Granny Tsunade, could she be the one responsible for the kidnapping? I need to capture her!" thought Naruto, he ducked below a punch from the puppet and formed a Rasengan before ramming it into the torso to send the puppet flying and shatter into pieces upon crashing into a tree "Shadow Clone jutsu!" he created a large group of copies that rushed towards Malice.

"Earth Style: Float Ring Rock jutsu!" Malice used the earth to create large rock cubes to orbit around her, the cubes knocked many of the clones back then she launched them as bullets to take them out. Naruto moved back and quickly set up a counter to the jutsu "Rasengan Super Barrage!" he created shadow clones armed with Rasengan to charge at the rock cubes and smashed them to bits, Naruto channeled chakra to his shin guards to trigger the seals as he quickly dashed towards Malice and stepped to the side at the last minute when she tried to stab him with the syringe-like weapon before somersaulting overhead and creating a group of shadow clones to surround her.

One of the clones rushed forward and punched Malice in the face, the original Naruto stepped on the clone's back and launched himself into the air with a somersault, "Na...ru...to!" the remaining three clones all performed a kick simultaneously, sending the kunoichi into the air towards the original "Uzumaki Barrage!" Naruto landed a powerful axe kick, sending her crashing to the ground creating a crater. He approached only to see a puppet in the middle of the crater, revealing that a substitution jutsu had been used.

"Earth style: Bedrock Coffin!" large slabs of rocks rose into the air above Naruto and surrounded him before dropping with the intent to crush him underneath "Wind Style: Sonic Step!" Naruto's body radiated a clear aura before he disappeared in a blur, seconds before the rocks crashed down. There was a sudden sound of something being struck and Malice was seen flying out a nearby bush and tumbled along to the ground to a stop and Naruto reappeared before her with his arms crossed and a stern look on his face.

Music End

"So that is but a glimpse of your power," said Malice thoughtfully albeit bruised all over.

"Alright then, you'll be coming with me to the village and tell us where Granny Tsunade and the other Kages are," said Naruto.

"I think not…especially when I haven't achieved my goal. We will meet again at a later time," Malice before there was a bright flash of light which faded to reveal a broken puppet in her place, Naruto looked around for the kunoichi to find that he couldn't sense her presence any more.

"Tch, she must have planned a way of escape before encountering me since she figured that I would try to catch her the moment she summoned that puppet. Better head for the village and let Kakashi-sensei know what's going on," said Naruto thoughtfully before leaving the clearing and taking to the trees once more.

Later that night, Naruto was with Kakashi and Yamato at the Hokage Tower where the former was telling them everything which had happened at the Hidden Mist village and his encounter with the Kunoichi on his way back to the village.

"…and that's what happened," Naruto finished the verbal report.

"What do you make of this Kakashi-senpai?" asked Yamato.

Kakashi hummed in thought before speaking up "So far, Lady Tsunade, Gaara, and Mei Terumi have been confirmed to have been kidnapped with only two Kages remaining to be verified, and this kunoichi Naruto met proves that both are strongly connected. But there are still questions left unanswered,"

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto.

"Is the kunoichi doing this on her own or in a group? Did someone hire her to do this? These kinds of questions," Yamato pointed out to the blonde ninja.

"Well that Malice woman has all the answers, I'll make it a point to catch her the next time we bump into each other," said Naruto "Which of the Kages should I go to next?"

"Well…," Kakashi began to tell Naruto what needed to be known.

"…here I am," Naruto muttered to himself as he was currently in an underground tunnel lit up by lights hanging overhead and mining equipment scattered about "From what Kakashi-sensei and Cpt Yamato told, these are the Hollow Airways which lead to the Hidden Stone village. Apparently the Tsuchikage is a little old man by the name Onoki, they said he used to be feared as 'Onoki of the Two Scales' and is believed to be a real stubborn person. I better watch myself though, sensei said that Stone ninjas aren't so fond of Leaf ninjas especially after what my dad the Fourth Hokage did to them in the previous war,"

Naruto began his trek through the tunnels while making sure to watch out for traps, there were several wildlife in the area being bats, poisonous tarantulas and snakes which were larger than normal for him to watch out for. The blonde ninja took note of multiple Stone ninjas patrolling the area so he triggered the Incognito Seal to stealthily make his way through without being detected. He went through a passage and felt the ground before turning around to see a giant boulder rolling towards him, Naruto took off with the boulder pursuing him and getting closer with increasing speed so he leapt up to the ceiling and latched on to it with his chakra for it to roll past before dropping down to the ground with a sigh of relief. The blonde ninja soon found in a large cavern room and was halfway across when someone appeared before him to bar his way.

She happens to be a kunoichi with short black hair, donning the red Stone ninja uniform with the right sleeve missing and a lapel over her right leg. She also wears the Stone Ninja flak jacket, fishnet tights and a skirt over them, regular shinobi sandals and a pair of gloves.

"I knew I saw a little mouse sneaking around here. Who are you and what is a Leaf ninja doing around here?" asked the girl with a frown.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki and I'm here to see the Tsuchikage, who are you?" asked Naruto cautiously.

"The name's Kurotsuchi, what is it you want with gramps?" said the kunoichi.

Naruto blinked in surprise "Hang on, the Tsuchikage is your grandfather?"

"Obviously, now are you going to tell me what your business is or not?"

"I've come to check for myself if the Tsuchikage is being impersonated by someone or he's the real one," Naruto responded.

Kurotsuchi burst into laughter "That's why you came all this way? Nothing more than a fool's errand, and besides gramps gave orders for no one to get past this point,"

Naruto frowned in response "Look, this is a serious matter and I need to meet with the Tsuchikage one way or another,"

"Is that so?" asked Kurotsuchi with a smirk "Well, gramps also said that all intruders should be eliminated. So, I'm going to have some fun taking you down,"

"Somehow, I saw this coming from a mile away,"

Music Start: Blazblue Phase III Chronophantasma OST; Susanooh II

The two ninjas dashed up to each other to engage in close combat, both sides were constantly shifting offense and defense to gain an edge over the other. Kurotsuchi lashed out with a punch for Naruto to cross his arms to block the attack but was taken by surprise when he was sent flying backwards from the impact and skidded to a stop to stare at his opponent.

"Man, she hits hard. Better watch myself," thought Naruto before crossing the middle and index fingers of both hands "Shadow Clone jutsu!" he created a group of clones to charge at the opponent while he hung back to come up with a new plan. Kurotsuchi scoffed in response as she took to deflecting the incoming attacks and countering with powerful strikes to dispel the clones with a hit each until there were none left and was about to taunt the original only to hear a puff of smoke and found Naruto standing right in front of her with an open hand stretched out to her stomach "Gotcha!" he channeled chakra into his hand and performed a powerful one-inch punch to send her flying and crashed into the cave wall.

"…not bad, and here I thought that the shinobi of the Leaf were losing their edge," said Kurotsuchi, wiping the blood dripping from her lips with a grin.

"I'd take that as a compliment if I wasn't in a hurry," said Naruto, retaking his combat stance.

"Then it's too bad that we're just getting started! Earth Style: Earth Flow Spears!" Kurotsuchi weaved through a set of handsigns and the ground rumbled slightly then spikes made out of stone protruded from the ground to skewer Naruto who leapt into the air towards the cave ceiling only for spikes to shoot out from there as well, he quickly created a shadow clone to throw in a different direction and threw a handful of shuriken towards Kurotsuchi who deflected them with a kunai in hand before attacking with the next jutsu "Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet!" a dragon-like head made out of stone emerged from the ground next to Kurotsuchi and began firing compressed balls of mud from its mouth at Naruto.

The blonde ninja sped through a set of handsigns to counter with a jutsu "Wind Style: Spinning Shield of Winds!" he unsheathed the Chakra Blade and channeled wind chakra through it before twirling in front of him like a propeller at high-speed to form a spinning circular shield of wind, the mud balls made contact with the wind shield and were reflected with twice the speed to destroy the earth dragon. Naruto was quick to notice that Kurotsuchi was nowhere to be seen when the ground before him burst open and said Kunoichi emerged in front of him with her left arm encased in stone "Earth Style: Stone Fist jutsu!" Naruto triggered the seals on his left arm guard and deflected the incoming strike with a burst of chakra from his armguard to make her stagger back. He seized the opportunity as he formed a blue spiraling sphere of energy on his right hand "Rasengan!" Kurotsuchi managed to move the stone fist in time to serve as a shield albeit it got destroyed and she was knocked back from the force of the attack.

"This guy's definitely no slouch, there's something familiar about him too," thought Kurotsuchi before snapping back into focus ad made her next move with a jutsu "Lava Style: Quicklime jutsu!" she began to spew large splotches of quicklime towards Naruto who was darting from left to right constantly to evade the incoming projectiles then she suddenly switched strategies "Water Style: Water Trumpet!" Kurotsuchi launches a large jet of water from her mouth through her cupped hands onto the quicklime on the ground to make it splash towards a surprised Naruto.

"So that's what she was aiming for, hope this works," thought Naruto before speeding through a set of handsigns "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" he took in a deep breath and unleashed an immensely powerful gust of wind from his mouth which blew the quicklime back and splashed on Kurotsuchi for it to rapidly harden to hold her in place.

Music End

"Looks like you win this round, just know that I hadn't gone all out on you," said Kurotsuchi with a scoff "You can find gramps further ahead into the tunnels,"

"Then I can pass?" asked Naruto.

"Considering the fact that I'm stuck like this, then it's obvious. But how sure are you that gramps is an impostor?"

"Not entirely sure, but I'll find out once I fight him,"

"You actually think you can beat gramps?" Kurotsuchi burst into laughter "Though he's an old man, gramps has been around even before the Third Shinobi World War. The thought of a kid like you beating him is just too funny!"

Naruto frowned in response "You'll never know unless you try, plus there's too much at stake here for me to lose!"

"Sure, whatever floats your boat. Just get a move on before I get out of this thing and go another round with you,"

"Whatever, I'm out of here," said Naruto before running out of the room, leaving the Stone kunoichi to her thoughts.

"Come to think of it, I recall that the Leaf got caught up in some crazy stuff like Sky Ninjas and the Terracotta Soldiers, and they managed to deal with them from what our spies told us. I get the feeling that blondie was in the middle of all of them. Better let gramps know to keep an eye out for him, especially since he looks a bit like the Yondaime,"

Naruto's fight with Kurotsuchi had definitely alerted the other Stone Shinobi so he was forced to fight his way through whilst using his Shadow Clones to serve as decoys and led them away, giving him the time needed to recharge his Incognito Seal and use once more for a much easier way towards his target. He soon arrived at the next large cavern room where someone stood alone and Naruto had a hunch that the person was who he was looking for.

He is a very short old man with a big red nose, a white moustache and beard, with bald head save for the remaining hair tied into a topknot with a yellow ribbon. He wears a green and yellow coat with a red collar over the Stone Shinobi uniform but with both sleeves of his shirt, and a pair of sandals with white socks.

"I'm guessing that you're Onoki, the Tsuchikage?" asked Naruto.

The old man frowned in response "Whoever you are, how dare you use my first name! you Leaf ninja need to learn some manners but it's no surprise since Tsunade is the Hokage,"

"You meet Tsunade-baachan before?"

"Of course I have, I knew her since she was a child before becoming a Sannin. What business do you have here with me, boy?" asked Onoki.

"I came here to find out if you're an impostor or not,"

Onoki quirked an eyebrow at that "And how exactly are you going to prove that?"

"Either you admit the truth or I force it out of you,"

Upon hearing this, Onoki began to floating into the air with his arms crossed and a frown on his face "A little boy like you actually dares face Onoki of the Two Scales? How naively foolish of you, just like your village," he formed a handsign to perform a jutsu "Earth Style: Earth Golem jutsu!" the place began to shake then large humanoid creature made of rock rose from the ground and towered over Naruto as Onoki sat atop its head "Time to teach you how to respect your elders!"

"Oh boy," Naruto muttered to himself as he got ready to fight.

Music Start: Kingdom Hearts II OST; Vim and Vigor

The golem reached out with its hands to grab Naruto who backflipped several times to maintain a distance between himself and the stone construct, knowing full well the consequences should he get caught. The blonde ninja took out several kunai with explosive tags attached to them and threw at the golem to cause a chain of explosions, the dust cleared to reveal hardly a crack on the golem with Naruto frowning at the lack of any damage.

"You're gonna have to do better than that brat, Earth Style: Earth Dragon!" Onoki created a dragon-like head to rise from the ground and rush forwards with jaws wide open to bite him, Naruto leapt into the air and quickly channeled chakra to the soles of his feet as columns of seals were seen glowing brightly on the shin guards then a blue circular platform made of chakra materialized beneath Naruto which he then stepped off to leap higher into the air "Wind Style: Air Bullets!" he took in a deep breath whilst concentrating chakra into his lungs before opening his mouth to spew bullets of air rapidly towards Onoki who had the golem cross its arms to block the air bullets "Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto created several clones to rush alongside him. The golem immediately lashed out by throwing punches to send some of the clones flying while grabbing others and crushing in its grips.

Onoki sensed movement from above and flew off the golem's head in time as Naruto slammed into where he once stood with a Rasengan in hand and frowned in failure of the surprise attack. Onoki sped through a set of handsigns to retaliate with a jutsu "Earth Style: Stone Fist jutsu!" he encased his hand in stone and flew towards Naruto with the fist reared back for a punch, the blonde ninja crossed his arms together and triggered the seals on the armguards to create a circular shield of blue chakra to block the incoming attack and used the impact to fling himself off the golem and landed on the ground with a skid.

"Not bad, making a unique usage of seals. It reminds me of that damn Yondaime," said Onoki, growling at the thought of said person with Naruto frowning mentally at the obvious dislike towards his father "Let's see you handle this, Earth Style: Rock Shuriken!" large rocks hovered around Onoki and took on the shape of spinning shuriken before launching them towards Naruto who unsheathed his Chakra Blade "Wind Style: Faithful Wind Blade!" he channeled wind energy into the blade to form a giant 10-foot condensed blade of wind formed along it, then proceeded to rapidly slice up the rock projectiles before they got any closer to damage him.

"I need to bring an end to this soon, time to bring out the big guns," Naruto took out the Decadriver and strapped it to his waist and took out his signature Rider Card "Henshin!" he inserted the card into the Decadriver and closed it as it then announced

[Kamen Ride: Decade!]

Multiple gray figures surrounded Naruto before converging into him as he transformed into Kamen Rider Decade.

Onoki watched the transformation with a look of interest "Quite a queer tool you have, I'd like to see how it would supposedly aid you in defeating me,"

"You're about to find out and it's not gonna be pleasant," Naruto dusted his hands before opening the Ride Booker and took out a Rider Card which he then inserted into the Decadriver and closed it.

[Kamen Ride: Hibiki!]

Naruto was engulfed in purple flames which died out to reveal him in a new form with the appearance of an Oni, possessing purple and silver armor depicting his muscular physique, a pair of silver horns at the top of his head and red lines decorated his face. Naruto has now become Kamen Rider Hibiki, he reached into the Ride Booker again to bring out another card and inserted into the Decadriver then closing it.

[Attack Ride: Ongekibou Rekka!]

Naruto reached to his back to bring out a pair of taiko drumsticks with the heads appearing as red Oni faces with silver horns and red sticks. Naruto rushed forwards and Onoki had the golem launch a punch with the ninja/rider moving to one side and parrying with the Rekka which unleashed a percussive wave and created multiple cracks along the arm.

"I see, so that's its weakness," said Naruto thoughtfully, now having a way to effectively strike back. This also made the Tsuchikage to be more vigilant as he performed the Rock Shuriken jutsu again and was about to launch them but Naruto had a counter ready as he held up the Rekka to ignite the tops with flames and creating torch-like weapons before swinging them to shoot fireballs, destroying the rock projectiles whilst continuing his charge.

"Earth Style: Earth Golem jutsu!" Onoki created more golems albeit smaller to attack Naruto and hold him back. Naruto took to striking the golems with the Rekka with each hit sounding like he was hitting taiko drums, he instinctively fell into a rhythm as he constantly struck from left to right then front with varying speeds like he was playing music before ending with a double thrust of both Rekka with the golems being shattered.

"I've had enough of this, time for you to disappear! Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling jutsu!" Onoki hovered a bit from the golem and held his palms close together as a white sphere of energy took then a structure in the form of a white translucent cube surrounded it and expanded rapidly in size before propelling it towards Naruto with the ninja/rider dashing sideways to evade it. Onoki wasn't giving in as he continued to launch more of the potentially deadly attack with Naruto repeatedly dodging them. the Tsuchikage was about to attack ag-

*CRACK*

"ARGH, MY BACK!" Onoki cried out in pain, Naruto would have winced in sympathy but he wasn't going to let this chance go as he dashed forward whilst taking out a Rider Card and inserting it into the Decadriver then closing with the device calling out.

[Final Attack Ride: H-H-Hibiki!]

He arrived right in front of Onoki as the Ongekiko appeared for him to grab and ram it into the Kage's torso for it to enlarge to the size of a large drum whilst holding him in place and Naruto took a stance "Ongeki Da; Kaen Renda no Kata!" he proceeded to beat the Ongekiko rapidly with the Rekka up to 30 times with the percussion waves pounding the Kage before ending it with a double strike and triggering an explosion afterwards and jumped off the crumbling golem.

Music End

Naruto turned around and watched as the battered form of Onoki flashed for a moment before revealing a puppet similar to the ones he fought previously. the blonde ninja undid his transformation with the Decadriver warping back to his ninja pouch when he heard someone speak up from behind.

"Guess you were right after all, gramps really was a fake," Naruto turned around to see Kurotsuchi standing behind him with her arms crossed and a frown on her face.

"Yeah, and I'm beginning to think that all of the Kages are fakes too," said Naruto thoughtfully.

Suddenly the puppet rose back up and spoke, surprising the duo "Fakes, you say? This was made with the chakra of the real Tsuchikage,"

"What do you mean and just what are your goals for doing all this?" asked Naruto.

"If you want to know so badly, then defeat the Raikage and I will tell you,"

"And where can I find him?"

"You will find him along Demon Way by the Hidden Cloud Village,"

Naruto frowned in response "Fine then, I'll take down the fake Raikage and find out where you're hiding and rescue the Five Kages,"

"Very well, I am so looking forward to meeting you," said the puppet before collapsing to the floor again.

"Going up against the Raikage is a pretty tall order, faker or no. Heard he's the fastest shinobi ever besides the Yellow Flash," Kurotsuchi pointed out, as much as she dislike the Hidden Leaf, she would at least be a bit courteous especially since he helped exposed an impersonator in her village.

"I know, but I don't really have that much of a choice since I need to find the Kages and stop the kidnapper before it's too late," said Naruto with his arms crossed.

"Well, I'll try to hold down the fort while you bring back gramps before the paperwork stacks up and possibly give him a backache from complaining…as usual,"

"Alright then, guess I'll be on my way," Naruto turned around and took off in a sprint to find his way out of the Hollow Airways and send info to Kakashi via a messenger toad to let him know of what happened and where he heading to next.

Naruto soon arrived at his next destination which is the Demon Way close to the Hidden Cloud village in the Land of Lightning. He was currently within the mountainous region and clouds were actually floating on ground level, the blonde ninja had to admit that the Hidden Cloud village lived up to the name literally.

"Now that I'm here, I should begin my search for the Raikage. I just hope that this won't turn out to be some kind of trap since I'm not seeing anyone around here. Better get a move on as the clock's ticking before chaos hits all the villages," said Naruto thoughtfully.

Naruto proceeded through the mountain trails and had to make sure to watch out for crumbling ledges along the way lest he ends up falling to the valleys below with death waiting for him down there. Things got a bit difficult due to the clouds obscuring his vision but a bit of wind jutsu quickly took care of that and he was back on his way, he was about to advance further when he came across someone familiar.

He is a tall dark-skinned man with shaggy white hair which covers his left eye. He wears a high-collared sleeveless uniform with loose fitting pants, bandages on the wrists and the one strap-over-one-shoulder flak jacket of a Cloud Shinobi. Naruto also took note of the black tattoos on his shoulders and the cleaver-like sword strapped to his back.

"Hey, your name is Darui right?" asked Naruto.

Said person nodded in affirmation before responding "That's my name, in spite of wondering why you're here, I would suggest not going through here any further as it's dangerous ahead,"

"Is the Raikage over there?"

"He's training as of now, and things will get hairy should you go near him,"

"I get it, but it's urgent that I meet him,"

Darui crossed his arms with a small frown "You don't seem to understand, when I said things would get hairy, I meant for me. If anyone interrupts the boss's training, he could go on a rampage,"

"But I need to confirm if he's the real Raikage or an impostor," Naruto insisted.

"Come on, are you pulling my leg?"

"I'm being serious, the Kages of the other nations have been kidnapped and had puppets impersonating them till I exposed them to the others. I need to make sure so I can figure out where the real Kages are," Naruto explained.

"If what you're saying is true, then I wonder…if you're strong enough to beat the supposedly fake Raikage," Darui took a stance as he prepared to fight.

Music Start: Tekken 5 - Dark Resurrection OST; Tiamat

Naruto started things off as he lunged at Darui with a jumping roundhouse kick with the latter ducking underneath the incoming attack and retaliated with a rising kick towards Naruto's exposed back, but the blonde ninja-maintained motion with a front roll to dodge before retaking his stance. Darui was the one to take to the offense this time as he rushed up to Naruto and attacked with a combo of punches and kicks with Naruto shifting to defense by deflecting the attacks although he was almost taken by surprise when Darui attack with a blast of lightning so he enshrouded his left arm with wind chakra and deflected it with a backhand.

"Alright then, Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto crossed the middle and index fingers of both hands to create a group of clones and looked only to be surprised to see Darui forming the same handsign and created a shadow clone to stand next to him and retorted "Don't think you're the only one capable of using the jutsu, although your usage surpasses mine," both of them simultaneously weaved through some handsigns to execute a jutsu "Lightning Style: Double Black Panthers!" they began generating black lightning from their bodies which takes on the form of panthers before remotely controlling them to attack Naruto's clones, taking them out swiftly.

"I don't think so, "Wind style: Gale Wolf!" he held an open palm out for a spiraling sphere of wind to take form, four wolves made out of the wind emerged from the sphere before charging towards the panthers upon a mental command from Naruto. The elemental beasts repeatedly clawed and bit at each other but eventually destroyed each other, Naruto reckoned that Darui's black lightning is rather strong to be able to hold against its elemental disadvantage, he quickly snapped back into focus upon seeing Darui draw out the cleaver sword and unfolded its blade before charging towards him so he unsheathed the Chakra Blade and held it in a reverse grip.

Both ninjas of differing villages clashed blades with great speed and from varying angles to get an edge over the other. They clashed in the middle once more, but Darui suddenly channeled lightning chakra through his cleaver sword and forced Naruto to let go of his Chakra Blade to avoid getting zapped, the blonde ninja was forced into a total defensive stance as he evaded the swipes from his opponent. Darui was about to press on the attack when he sensed something from behind and leapt into the air to see the Chakra Blade fly into Naruto's hand much to his surprise before attacking with a jutsu "Lightning Style: Wave of Inspiration!" he sheathed his cleaver sword and spewed a large wave of water with Naruto leaping into the air to evade it but then Darui formed handsigns while still spewing to infuse lightning into the water much to the blonde's surprise.

"Wind Style: Air Rider!" Naruto hovered in the air as he rode on a powerful wind current and was safely above the electrified water pooling on the ground "Wind Style: Dance of the Fujin!" he channeled wind chakra into the blade to take on the form of an elongated sword, he flew at Darui with a barrage of sword strikes mixed with twirls, spins and somersaults to drive the Cloud Ninja back from the pressuring assault.

Music End

Darui leapt back and took a more relaxed stance "You're pretty good,"

Naruto hovered in the air with the jutsu still active "I'd say the same for you, but you aren't showing your full power,"

"So, you noticed huh?"

"Pretty much, which was why I also held back. I prefer that you fight seriously so I would respond in kind, makes the fight far more worthwhile,"

"No, that's enough. Just go on through," said Darui nonchalantly.

Naruto blinked in confusion "That's it, you're just going to let me go?"

"Well I did try to stop you to an extent, but you've proven to be tougher than I thought. Since I've done by part of the job, I don't need to do anything else,"

"You know, you kinda remind me of a guy I know back in my village. Very lazy but also very smart," said Naruto with a deadpanned expression.

"I'll take that as a compliment, just know that I'm not gonna lift a finger to help you when the boss gets angry," Darui crossed his arms as he said this.

"I don't expect you to," Naruto ran past Darui who placed his hands into his pockets and watched the blonde ninja leave.

"To think this was the same guy who pleaded for the Uchiha, was it really worth casting one's pride as a shinobi for a Missing Nin who killed their most recent Hokage?" thought Darui.

Naruto was now reaching to the mountaintops where he made use of the many platforms built into the mountains and cliffs to get across the deep valleys below him. He almost got ambushed by a trio of giant mountain bears but was able to take care of the beasts by knocking them out with chakra enhanced punches and kicks to certain vulnerable spots before moving on. It didn't take him very long to locate the person he was seeking as he landed on a very large platform built to the side of a mountain.

He is a dark-skinned man with a muscular build and blond hair combed back along with a small moustache and goatee. He has fuma shuriken tattoos on both of his shoulders, large golden vambraces on his wrists. He wears a gold belt around his waist with a boar's face engraved in the center, black pants with torn ends, Cloud Nin shinguards, and a pair of black shinobi sandals. All these combined gives him the appearance of a professional wrestler.

"What is it, Leaf Ninja? What do you want from me?" asked A the Raikage.

"There's something which I wish to confirm concerning you," said Naruto.

A scowled at the statement "I am in the middle of training; I do not have the time to be answering questions!"

"At this point, I don't to even ask if you're the real Raikage or not,"

"What you mean by that? Watch your tongue boy!"

"Like hell, I'm gonna rip out that disguise by beating you!" said Naruto with determination.

"How could a boy like you think you can defeat me?" A stared at the blonde ninja with a skeptical glare.

"I need to beat you to find out where the real Kages are being kept prisoner, I don't have time to waste!"

"Boy, it is time I show you just how terrifying my anger can be!" A's body was suddenly wrapped in lightning chakra and Naruto was taken by surprise as he sensed the Raikage's chakra level suddenly skyrocket.

Music Start: Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2; Gatebreaker

"From what Kakashi-sensei and Captain Yamato told me, the Raikage has massive reserves of chakra, and can take in some serious punishment while dealing damage no one can walk away from. He's the reason why Sasuke was so banged up back then. And Kurotsuchi said that he's extremely fast. I'll need to start off strong, hope there's a Rider that can give me an edge," thought Naruto before reaching into the ninja pouch to take out the Decadriver and strapped it to his waist and took out his signature Rider Card "Henshin!" he inserted the card into the Decadriver and closed it as it then announced.

[Kamen Ride: Decade!]

He transformed into Kamen Rider Decade and dusted his hands before taking a combative stance, he hardly blinked and crossed his arms the moment the Raikage disappeared from his sight "Lightning Straight!" A reappeared with fist already stretched out in a punch with Naruto having blocked it in time but the force actually sent him stumbling back and hitting the railings of the platform hard enough to dent it. Instincts had him immediately take out a card and insert it into the Decadriver before closing with the device calling out.

[Attack Ride: Barrier!]

"Guillotine Drop!" A was already above Naruto and descending towards him with an obviously powerful axe kick, he was almost upon him when a circular shield of magenta pixelated energy appeared in between them and deflected the Raikage's attack before knocking him back but Naruto has swiftly inserted another card into the Decadriver.

[Attack Ride: Invisible!]

A looked up to see Naruto turned invisible and frowned as he couldn't sense the ninja/rider's chakra as well as hear his footsteps, suddenly felt a strike to the ribs then another to the torso, more unseen attacks continued to strike the Raikage but they weren't dealing the expected damage due to the lightning defending him from the attacks and so stood there with barely a flinch before suddenly spinning round and lashing out with a jab which made contact with something and there was a grunt of pain before there was a shimmer in the air and Naruto reappeared with a hand on his chest. In spite of the armor, the power behind that jab was nothing to scoff at, next thing he knew was that A reappeared from behind to grab him and perform a powerful suplex to slam him to the ground with the mountain shaking from the impact.

"Give it up boy, you lack the power and speed to face me," said A sternly.

Naruto groaned as he got back to his feet and glared at the Raikage through the helmet "So I need to be faster than you huh? Then I got just the thing," he reached into the Ride Booker and took out a Rider Card to insert into the Decadriver before closing it.

[Kamen Ride: Kabuto!]

Cyan honeycomb particles of energy spread out from the Decadriver as Naruto now dons a new armor being red, sleek and designed in resemblance of a rhinoceros beetle. Naruto was now Kamen Rider Kabuto with the blonde ninja/rider taking out another card and inserting into the driver.

[Attack Ride: Clock Up!]

Wanting to put an end to this farce of a fight, A rushed up to Naruto and launched a punch to the face with the intent to destroy the helmet only for the fist to phase right through him. This surprised the Raikage but it soon turned into annoyance as the other strikes following after it continued to phase through Naruto. He increased the output of his Lightning Chakra Mode for his next attack "Elbow Bolt!" he thrust his elbow with maximum force but Naruto stepped to the side and landed a punch to the gut which actually damaged A who stumbled back in shock.

"You may be able to move at lightning speed, but as Kabuto…I can move at near lightspeeds!" Naruto proceeded to blitz A from all direction with pummeling punches and kicks with the latter stumbling back and forth from every strike. A tried to increase his speed but was unable to even keep up, Naruto was soon standing behind A with his back towards him and holding a card in between his middle and index finger "Time to end this," he inserted the card into the Decadriver and closed it.

[Final Attack Ride: K-K-Kabuto!]

White lightning flowed from the belt buckle to the horn and then to his right leg which he used to perform a 360-roundhouse kick which slammed into A in the head and triggered an explosion with Naruto simply standing there unbothered by it.

Music End

Naruto turned around while reverting to his default form as Decade and watched the Raikage's battered flash briefly to reveal yet another puppet, confirming the last of his suspicions "So that makes five, meaning that all of the Kages had been captured,"

The puppet rose and spoke to him like the others before it "So, you were able to defeat all of the Five Kages. Quite an unbelievable feat,"

"Enough games Malice, I already know that it's you," said Naruto, undoing the transformation with the Decadriver warping back into the ninja pouch "How are you even able to have these puppets impersonate the Kages and their skills?"

"That would be because of my Reflective Spirit jutsu," Malice explained through the puppet "It is a forbidden jutsu where I imbue the puppets with chakra I extracted from a subject and create a likeness matching the original in both appearance and quality of their chakra,"

"That explains why the Sensory ninja couldn't tell the difference, no wonder why it's classified as a forbidden jutsu,"

"For the Kages to have been defeated by you, perhaps they aren't as powerful as I thought," said Malice musingly.

"Where are they?" Naruto demanded, there was a puff of smoke and a scroll laid on the ground at his feet.

"Inside the scroll is a map leading to my hidden mansion where they're kept. Come and rescue them if you can," said Malice before the puppet disappeared in a flash.

"You better believe that I can Malice! I'm gonna find you and put a stop to this once and for all!" Naruto picked up the scroll before proceeding to make his way out of the place so he could return to the Hidden Leaf village and make preparations to storm the hideout and rescue the Kages after taking down Malice.

This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto arrived close to the Hidden Stone village to seek out the Tsuchikage and find out if he was the real deal or an imitation. He ended up facing Kurotsuchi who's the granddaughter of the Kage and managed to come out on top before going to meet the target and revealing that he was yet another puppet. The blonde ninja's next stop was at the Hidden Cloud village to look for the Raikage, he met the Kage's right hand man being Darui who's rather laidback and didn't even wish to fight that much. Naruto went to face the Raikage and had trouble due to the Kage being one of the fastest besides the Yellow Flash but was able to beat him in the end. Now the time has come for Naruto to meet with the instigator of all this and rescue the Five Kages before it's too late and everything falls into chaos in the Elemental Nations.

To those who haven't noticed, I made it that A the Raikage didn't lose his hand in the fight as he was more rational at the time. And before anyone complains, I researched repeatedly to learn and confirm that the Raikage moves at lightning speeds and Minato's Hirashin helps him move at lightspeeds, therefore Naruto using Kabuto's Clock Up to move at near lightspeed makes him faster than the Raikage.

The next chapter marks the end of the Fake Kages arc and Naruto begins his journey to the other worlds.

Quick question though, would you want Naruto to take up photography and travel on his own or make use of a studio while travelling with others? Respond in the reviews or PMs.

This is Hussbek from Ghana.

Signing out and hoping that you all stay alive.