Blood and Water

Arc 1: The Escape

Chapter 1: Of blood and Sacrifice

Here it is; the winner of the poll by one vote, Blood and Water! I had hoped that the poll would attract more attention than it did, but I can't say I'm not pleased with the results, I kinda might have found myself favoring this story over the others, I liked all of them, but sometime around October I realized that this one was my favorite.

Chapter ten on Five Star Seals is still coming slowly; I wouldn't expect it until early February. Just an update. I'm also in a ferocious battle with myself over discontinuing Metal or not. What can I say; the story is kinda a buzz kill.

Oh, I can pretty much guarantee that over eighty percent of the viewers who read this will never want to go anywhere near this story after they finish this chapter. Just a seriously depressing hunch really. But if you find yourself hating this chapter, I suggest reading the third chapter, you can skip reading the second if you want, in a way, this will be two stories blended into one, it's all quite fun, in the third chapter, one character's attitude changes drastically from what it is in this chapter. So those who ignore this warning are going to miss out on the rest of the story when things do change back to somewhat close to the way they like it.

For those that have, will, and are planning to talk to me about the way I made Naruto in any of my stories, I like a Naruto that can be friendly one minute, and so cold you run away the next, but I really like writing a twisted, mangled, horrible Naruto, never as a bad guy kind of thing, but just twisted in ways so unimaginable it's fun.

I think you guys need to read this chapter and enjoy something dragged out of my psycho, bi-polar mind, so without further delay, from the mind of Bigsho, Blood and Water!

Naruto stared in disbelief at the man who stood before him, he was dead, he knew it, Sasuke had been dead to him for years, yet here he was, alive and breathing. Naruto's only thought was how is Sakura going to take this? and that thought was wildly buzzing in his head, along with all of the other things that his mind was slowly trying to digest, like what Tsunade was saying.

"…As well as being granted the title of Hokage when the Godiame retires; he is also given full pardon and enlisted as a jonin in Konoha until that time for the destruction of Orochimaru and the Sound village…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phone a second here, he just waltzes in the fucking door and we hand him the keys to the city on a silver fucking platter!" he said, staring coldly at the man who had just taken almost everything away from him, almost.

"Also, the Haruno clan has agreed to an arranged marriage between the Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura."

"Hey, now when do I get a say in who my fiancé marries, this is bullshit!" he said, looking at Tsunade with hurt and angry eyes.

"Sorry, but it says here that at five-thirty this afternoon, just twenty minutes after Sasuke arrived, she came into the office and had your marriage documents terminated. I truly am sorry Naruto, I know you love Sakura, but apparently she sees something in the man sitting before you. And as for the rest of his rewards; they were given to him by a panel of senior ninjas, including Homura and Danzo, so I had no control over what his fate would be, I'd have rather killed him, myself." Tsunade said, looking at the Uchiha with distaste. Sasuke smiled.

"I decline, their proposal, I know of Sakura's affliction, she cannot bear a child, and that is exactly what I need." Sasuke said coolly from his chair. "I shall see if the Yamanaka's will take me up on an offer of the same sort, Ino is capable of what my wife needs to be capable of."

At those last words, something outside the room shattered. Naruto ran outside to see what it was, he found Sakura, tears pooling in her eyes; she had been carrying a plate with an unopened bottle of sake on it, now the plate and it's payload were smashed and broken on the floor, sake and tears mixing together as they fell from her face.

"I'm so sorry Naruto…" was all she managed to say at the time.

That was three months ago.

He had kicked her out of his house for that, throwing her out of his life. He paid for it greatly.

Naruto now stood in a crowd of thousands, watching with solemn eyes, a shrunken, beaten down, version of himself, as someone he had once considered a friend stood upon the steps of the Hokage Tower, ready to take the hat and robes that had, not but four months earlier, been guaranteed to him when Tsunade retired.

His body had remained the same, but his mind had quickly slithered into itself to get away from the loss of everything he loved. He was a ninja though, and even in his state, he sensed the approach of a certain person who had stayed away for three months, Sakura.

"Hey Naruto…" she said, as if she didn't know how to talk to him again. "I…I tried to reinstate our marriage papers, but your administration blocked it, why?" she asked, trying to get close to him. He pushed her away.

"You had promised me… you said that you'd never let anything or anyone come between us." He croaked.

"I meant it sweetie, but…"

"No, you didn't. You knew that the moment Sasuke came back, I'd be nothing more to you than a dull kunai, a useless tool, there are no but's involved." He said coldly.

"I'd never think of you like that…"

"Sakura, go away, and when I say that I mean go away and stay away, you've used this tool for the last time." He said and then he walked away.

Sakura went after him. "Naruto, I made a mistake! All right, I fucked up, everyone does, please forgive me, that's all I ask; I just want my Naruto back." She said.

Naruto looked at her despondently. "I wish I could believe that, but you made the choice to leave, I didn't, I was always there, you just let Sasuke go to your head again, am I really that imperceptible, and are you really that stupid, you've made your bed; now lay in it. I'm done with hoping that you'll return the love I have for you, I'm done hoping you'll open your eyes." He pulled his arm free, and walked away from the now stunned and crying Sakura.

Naruto had taken all he could of the ceremony, he packed his things and set his headband on the coffee table, he was leaving, and this time it wasn't for a two year training trip either. He was gone for good, Jiraiya, Lee, Gai, and Shino; all of them had died protecting a city that held no love for ninja, or for him for that matter, and to him, he could take their sacrifices and create a perfect ninja village, he wanted, no, he needed to do this; as much for them as for himself.

He finished packing and headed for the gate, hoping that there wouldn't be too many guards.

Keiho and her partner Gadoman stood by the gate silently. Gadoman grumbled; he'd rather be sitting in the park playing shogi with the other ninja his age. He wasn't nearly as old as the Third had been, but he was nearing the age. Keiho, on the other hand, was pissed.

She had been a member of Sasuke's year in the academy, and aside from Ino and Sakura, she was the biggest Sasuke fan of that class. Yet here she was guarding the gate with an old geezer while the hunk got the Hokage robes right from under the dead last's nose. It was a sight she didn't want to miss, and here she was missing it.

A man walked through the gates, heading south out of the village. Her attention snapped back to her duty.

"Name and reason for leaving?" She asked in a professional manner.

The man stopped and turned, in front of her stood the dead last, a frown marring his face. "I am Naruto Uzumaki, and my reason is simple, I'm leaving because I am the only one who can cause Sasuke enough hell to atone for what he has taken from me."

"What?" she asked, staring at the man with questioning eyes.

He pulled out a kunai and flicked it to the side, impaling itself in Gadoman's neck, a second followed within seconds and before Keiho could scream, she was dead, a kunai piercing her temple.

Naruto slipped quietly out the gates, no one saw, no one heard, and it would be hours until the shift change, and an hour after that before the Anbu checked out the kunai as his, and several minutes to determine his direction, by that time he'd have gotten far enough away that he wouldn't have to worry about them for a while.

He took a deep breath, he was a missing nin. He felt freer as a ninja than he had when he was a loyal dog of Konoha and its bullshit politics. He smiled as he took off into the trees, his only regret was the one of having to kill to escape the bonds of servitude that had once bound him.

Temari was sitting by her little fire that night, enjoying the night and dreading returning home. Back to being called the 'respectable' sister to both the Kazekage and the leader of the newly formed Puppeteer Corps; she hated it, but it was better than staying with the asshole that was about ready to take the office of Hokage.

A twig snapped outside of her camp and she became instantly alert.

A man emerged from the bushes to her left and stood, as if drunk on something; he then sat down by the fire and began warming up. Temari was too shocked by his actions to react properly, so she sat there for almost a full minute; her mouth opening and closing repeatedly.

"Who are…" she began, the man looked up and she gasped. Sitting by her fire was none other than the former Hokage-elect Naruto.

"Oh, Temari!" He exclaimed "How good it is to see you, after traveling in the woods all day one gets lonely, and cold, so when I saw your fire; I couldn't help myself, warmth and company are the strongest drugs a person can fall prey to." He said as he stuck his hands close to the fire.

She studied Naruto up and down, noting many things about him. He was quite handsome, but on closer inspection, he was thin and he had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. His hair was messed up and he was missing something. She looked him over again before she came up with the answer.

"Naruto, where's your headband?" she asked.

"I don't need it anymore." He replied

"Why, did you retire, aren't you a little young to do that?"

"Well, I kinda retired, it's more like I…" he didn't finish as a kunai shot it's way toward him, he caught it and flipped around behind Temari, pinning her and putting the kunai to her throat. She looked up to see seven Anbu standing in front of Naruto. One took a step forward.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted. "You make one move on me, I'll kill her, this is the diplomat from Suna, so back off or you're likely to start a war between Konoha and Suna!"

"We just have to explain that one of our missing nin killed her. " The Anbu said.

"Yeah, well, you're forgetting who I am, I was in the Anbu for two years, I know how you act, how you are trained to kill, everything, I'll kill all of you and her, then make it look like you tried to assassinate her and she fought back, some of the jutsu I use have the same effects as her wind scythe jutsu, I can easily make it look like a failed assassination mission."

The Anbu stepped back. "He's right, let's retreat for now…"

The man didn't finish speaking as seven shuriken embedded themselves deep into the Anbu standing in front of Naruto.

"They never wanted to take action." Naruto said to her. "Besides, I wasn't going to harm you anyway, but now you know of what I am I can't exactly expect you to keep it from your brother, so, now I'm going to take drastic measures."

"Whoa, hey, missing nin, drastic measures, I don't like where this is going!" She said.

Naruto tied her hands and feet together; then threw her over his shoulder. "Me neither." He said as he gave a quick chop to the back of her neck, knocking her out. He then set up the camp to make it look like Temari had finished the Anbu with a wind jutsu before he left.

Temari woke with her hands untied, well almost. Her right hand was tied to a post. Her right was free to move as she wished, but the way she was positioned, she couldn't reach the knot to untie herself.

She scanned her surroundings. She lay on the bed in a small room, a chair stood just out of her reach, and in it sat her one time friend and ally gone missing nin, Naruto.

"Why are you doing this, and what are you going to do with me?" she asked.

"Ah, you're awake." He said, smiling. "Good, I can now explain, I left Konoha for two reasons, I had nothing there anymore, and I had become disgusted with the way it was run. Even if I had become Hokage, which at the time was likely, I wouldn't have been in control of anything, a panel of senior ninja would rule behind and above me, the Hokage is just a shield and figurehead, I think that is stupid, so I'm going to create my own ninja village, in a new land of unimaginable wealth and prosperity, for those who have died for a village that has been reduced to a shadow of what it once was. I believe that states my reason for doing what I have done, now, my choices on what to do with you. I have three; one, I could kill you; two, I could set you free, but you would have to follow my orders until we reach my destination; or three, I could hold you hostage and keep you as my prisoner for as long as I see fit." She glared at him. "In my opinion, the second is the best choice, but I know you too well, you'd try to escape and I'd be stuck chasing you so that the information I've told you could be kept secret."

She bit her lip. "I won't tell anyone." She promised.

Naruto sighed. "Temari, they'd interrogate you, torture you even, if they believe they could get anything on me out of you, what would Gaara say if he saw you sniveling like this?"

"Fuck Gaara right now! And fuck Kankuro too! I don't care what they think, I'm not just their sister, and I don't want to die here!" She shouted.

"You don't have to." Naruto said quietly. "Leave all of the shit behind, I will create a place for us to live, like Orochimaru did, it will start out small, but within a few years I'll have enough ninja to open myself to the world. Then, when Sasuke is least expecting it, The Village Hidden by the Ocean will rise out of the shadows and destroy him. That is my goal, that is all I live for now."

"A-are you mad?" Temari asked; staring at the man as if he was a complete lunatic. "Konoha is the strongest village in the Five Nations, not to mention it's allied with Suna, and we sand ninja are no pushovers either, besides, how are you going to amass a collection of ninja big enough to create a ninja village and be little more than a group of missing nin hiding in a bunker." She said, trying to convince her friend to give up the insane plan that he had come up with.

"No, I'm perfectly sane." Naruto said with a smile that assured he wasn't. "And as for how I'm going to do that, you delivered the report yourself. Mist has apparently had a bunch of ninja go renegade on them, I intend to track those ninja down and coerce them to join me."

"You mean the thirty ninja that went rogue last week?" she asked.

"Yes." He replied. "With their help I'll be able to start up a new village and slowly build up a force large enough to destroy Sasuke. Maybe I should also make use of the last of the Sound ninja and enlist them to help me fulfill my goal."

"You really are insane, getting help from Sound ninja, Naruto, open your eyes and see how far you have fallen." Temari said in a commanding voice.

Naruto got up and walked to the window, turning his back to her. He took in a breath and started speaking slowly.

"When Sakura was hurt on that mission, I lost hope in having a son, a piece of me died then, when Sasuke came back and took my job, my fiancé, my goal, and my dream. For each of those things, a part of my soul died, I'm an empty husk, unable to move beyond what drives me, and at the moment that drive tells me to kill Sasuke Uchiha or my friends in Konoha will regret it. This is the safest, but the slowest way of completing that goal, I will stage a betrayal to Konoha during a Chunin exam, just as Orochimaru did, I will succeed in killing the Hokage, just as Orochimaru did, but I am different from Orochimaru, as a man with nothing left to live for, I have no fear of death, as Orochimaru did. Now, will you join me, will I kill you, or will I keep you prisoner?"

Temari was silent for a moment, staring at the hopelessly wrecked person standing in front of her. He turned, and she slumped in defeat, there was no getting around him.

"Fine, for the time being, I am yours to command."

Naruto smiled. "Good." He said as he looked out the window again. "Because now I can untie you so you can help me with the fifteen Anbu waiting outside the building."

"Great, you sure attract a lot of unwanted attention don't you?"

He laughed. "Yeah, I suppose I do."

He bent down and untied her; he gave her fan back and jumped out the window.

The Anbu had been stationed around the hotel for about two hours when a loud whoop and a blond streak shot out of the window, impaling the Anbu captain with a kunai. He turned and flung another at an Anbu posted in the same tree, the Anbu blocked it easily with his sword.

"Naruto," He said, taking off his mask, it was Shikamaru, "I know what this has done to you, I know, but don't leave, Sasuke has asked us to bring you in alive, not kill you, most of us in Konoha would disobey that order in a heartbeat anyway."

"The reason he doesn't want me to die out here is because in killing me, he can gain the Mangekyo Sharingan, Either way, fighting back or succumbing and going back to the village, I die, so I'll take my chances, I'll avoid killing you, but the other Anbu better know that the only reason they're surviving is because you are here." Naruto shouted, loud enough so that the Anbu surrounding their location could hear what was said.

At that moment three more Anbu dashed at him from the left, Naruto dove forward, spinning around and launching six kunai. Three sliced open the first Anbu's left leg, cutting important nerves and easily ending the ninja's career, the next two pierced both eyes of the second, the sixth kunai sped toward the third Anbu's chest, but to avoid the attack, the woman turned, the kunai impacted deep into her right shoulder, shattering her shoulder blade as it penetrated all the way to the handle.

Naruto sighed, looking at Shikamaru. "I think we know what the outcome will be if more attack, call back your men."

"It's too late, they're already dead." Temari said as she jumped into the tree beside Naruto, balancing her fan between the ground and two of her fingers, one positioned to where she could open the fan as easy as flicking a switch.

Shikamaru grew wide-eyed when she landed. "T-Temari? What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"I've decided to take the high road in life, it didn't help that until a few minutes ago I was held prisoner here." She said "It seems to me that being able to do what I want, when I want isn't such a bad idea, why didn't I become a missing nin sooner."

Shikamaru looked at her incredulously. "You're telling me you've decided to run away from your village? And with the person who took you prisoner yesterday, are you really Temari, or am I seeing things?"

"No Shikamaru, I'm really here, and our plans, they can't continue with me like this, I'm sorry, but killing your soldiers makes this either an act of war against Konoha, or Suna, whichever way you want to look at it, or me going rogue, what would you have me do?"

Shikamaru slumped "So it's over, well, this news must reach the Rukodiame, I hope he lets me continue to follow you, because next time it might be someone a little less merciful than me." He placed his mask on his face and retreated quickly. Leaving Naruto and Temari in the tree.

Temari balled up her fists. "Damn you Naruto Uzumaki." She hissed. "I have lost everything now, I was planning on marrying him the next time I came to Konoha, Gaara was going to be there, and Shikamaru and I would be the go betweens for Konoha and Suna. We might have always been traveling, but we didn't care, now that life is gone from me, it's out of my grasp now, and it's your fault."

Naruto sighed "Would you have preferred it if I had kept you tied up. I know what you were going through, a very good friend of mine had the same problem, I saved you from that."

Temari punched him square in the face, sending him into the trunk of the tree. "So you knew; who cares! I gave up my only chance to be happy to get out of that now!" she growled, watching as the clone disappeared and Naruto jumped down from a higher branch.

"There will be more chances for happiness where we are going Temari, don't be impatient, when bad things happen, something good will come to counter it." He said, smiling at her. She collapsed in tears.

"But he was all I had." She sobbed.

"And now your last bond is broken, you are free of Temari and can now create yourself anew, it was the whole reason I stopped by your fire, I knew you would, in time, be like me, or did you not know that at one point and time, the Nara clan was talking about a marriage with the Hyuga clan, both parties, that means your precious Shikamaru, agreed." He said to her.

She stopped sobbing and looked at him with something kindred to hate in her eyes.

He stood and walked away, leaving her to stew in her anger for a while.

Temari sat in her sorrow and anger for almost an hour before everything finally sunk in, the man she had wanted to marry, had planned with him to marry, had consented in a marriage with another woman.

Her sorrow was replaced with rage in an instant and she screamed at the screamed away everything

Her sorrow.

Her anger.

Her pain.

She screamed until she became hoarse, but the emotions were still there, under the surface, ready to explode at any moment.

Naruto had heard her scream and waited for her to return. He waited patiently for almost thirty minutes before she walked into the hotel room.

"I've made up my mind." She said, sitting on the bed. "I will devote myself to destroying Sasuke, I'll help you, but on one condition, I get to kill Shikamaru Nara." She pulled out a kunai and cut her finger, dripping her blood onto the floor in front of Naruto. "This blood is my sacrifice, I will be forever your servant, a slave to your will, do you accept my offer."

Naruto looked at her. "Yes. We should leave, prepare yourself for the next time you meet Shikamaru, his time of reckoning will be then."

"So you'll let me kill him?" she asked enthusiastically.

Naruto smiled. "I'll let you; I wouldn't have stopped you from chasing after him, although I would have followed you to guarantee your return. Now, how do you feel about finding the Sound ninja now?"

Temari smiled. "It sounds like a fine idea; why not get Rock and Mist as well?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to smile. "That sounds like the best plan you've come up with in a while."

Temari didn't show anything outwardly, but inside she flinched. "I'd be careful, one more remark like that could get you killed Naruto Uzumaki." She said to him coldly.

His grin didn't falter. "Don't worry Temari, I now when to stop, unlike a certain Nara punk."

She kept her rage in check. He was only joking around, trying to make her angry.

Well god damn it, it was working.

A month later

A slightly wild looking Naruto stood in front of a bunker, to his side was Temari, looking just as wild. Both had been running all over the Five Nations looking for this place.

And they had finally arrived at the Sound village's current base.

"Master, are you sure this is the place?" Temari asked, staring into the depths

Naruto focused on a certain point, and watched the rhythmic breathing of the two ninja hiding in the wreckage of the entrance. "Yes Temari, we are here, be prepared, I am here to make an alliance with them, but that doesn't mean they won't try and harm you."

"Don't be worried for me master, I'll be perfectly fine. I am just a tool now, after all."

"Temari, I have talked to you about this attitude for several weeks, you are not just a tool, you're good company as well, and I'll miss the fun little conversations we have during meals."

"You mean the one's where you bring up my past and I berate you for it for several hours, master?"

Naruto chuckled, looking up into the sky, then down to the worn boots on his feet. "Yes, you like those conversations too, don't you."

"They are always enlightening, master."

"And why is that?"

"Because, in this whole month, I have never used the same insult more than once, master."

"Yes, and the number of insults thrown at me has been exactly one thousand, seven hundred, seventy two. I hope we can add more to that number tonight."

"I don't know master; I'm running out of insults, most of these I got from my younger brothers."

Naruto looked down at his boots again, holding his hand up, he signaled for permission to enter.

The ninja in the bunker froze and Naruto realized he had signaled to them Leaf style, he grumbled and pulled a white sheet from his pack, waving it like a flag.

The ninja quickly made a hand signal for 'enter' and stepped aside.

Naruto smiled, he could finally begin, with this small step, he would be setting of a chain of events that would lead to the destruction of Sasuke.

Even if Konoha had to be destroyed in the process, it would be worth it.

He took that step, and entered the base, holding his hands high for the Sound ninja to see, as did Temari, the ninja allowed them entrance, but kept a wary eye on them, but that was okay, Naruto thought to himself, they don't have to trust me, they just have to work for me, with a smile, he took off the cloak he now wore, as did Temari, and stepped into the depths.

Okay, Naruto came off kind of Orochimaru-ish, and that might scare people a little bit, but trust me, things will be a lot different in the upcoming chapters, I know I could have went into more detail, but I got impatient and wrote this in like six hours altogether, I hope I've done a good Temari, you don't really see much of her personality on the show, so I think I done a decent job, but I want to know how you think, the anger and all that other stuff could have been better written, at least, by someone better than me probably, but I didn't do that bad, did I? Any who, on the two names, Keiho means 'alarm' and Gadoman means 'guard', in the end, the names aren't really all that great, but they were needed, so here they are. That reminds me, I'm pretty much creating a village from nothing, so there will be a lot of original jutsu and characters. But that was to be expected, hope you enjoyed, please review. Pretty please.

Till next time.

Bigsho.