Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin. Perhaps if I get into a sumo wrestling match I could own them...mmm eating nothing but fried foods to gain the weight and getting a Kingpin body to do it...na I can't pull it off.

"Talk" Character talking.

'Think' Character thinking.

Two-hundred years ago, during the Warring States Period, there was a certain clan that was struggling to survive. Their story wasn't that unusual, it was quite common back then for clans to lose someone due to bad luck. And this certain clan had been going through so much bad luck that they stopped using their clan name in order to save themselves from extinction.

On this particular night, it was steady and full of stars with not a cloud in the sky. In a flash a light appeared, and soon an object encased in pink-like energy descended at rapid speed. Beneath it was a large forest area that took over a mountain region yet once the rock collided with the earth, a massive explosion rocked the land and multiple trees were uprooted from the ground. A minor earthquake shook the ground and caused more trees to collapse until all that remained was the fire along the ground. When the flames died out and the area was safe enough to enter, a large crater was all that could be seen with a distinct pink light in the center of it all

A few days went by and yet the light of the flame could still be seen from even the lowest distance of the mountain region. Yet none dared to approach it due to rampant paranoia that it was a trap set by one of the many clans that wanted to kill you just because of your last name.

But there was one person that eventually felt brave enough to venture towards the flame along with a group of his friends, each of them dressed in kimonos and battle gear with headbands wrapped around their foreheads that bore no symbol. The long trek was egregious for them even though they were full time shinobi of a few decades, but they stayed in the leadership of a young man names Sutadasuto, and they were able to trek through and locate the flame. The damage to the region was astonishing as so many trees and wild life were outside the naked eye. The only thing present was the flame, the bright burning pink flame.

Sutadasuto was the first the brave towards the flame and was shocked to see that it was not a flame, but a rock covered in a flame like substances.

"What could that be?" He asked as he walked towards the rock and carefully reached out towards it. The flame instant shot towards Sutadasuto and contacted his right arm, bringing a loud scream from the young man as he grabbed his right hand in intense pain and falling onto his knees. The chakra then absorbed itself into the shinobi's skin making the pain go away instantly and confusing him. He would then regret that thought as he experienced the same pain on his back, yet he found it manageable after a minute passed.

"Sutadasuto-sama, you have something on your back." His friend said as he looked over his shoulders and saw that he had a light purple chakra-like flame jetting from his back. He was flustered by the sight of such a power yet for just as fast as he discovered this power it returned to his back. He looked flabbergasted as he returned to his feet and looked at his hand.

"Boys," Sutadasuto said as he looked towards his friends "I think we found something."

From that day Hoshigakure was born and Sutadasuto was declared the first Hoshikage. Of course with this being before Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha declared their alliance, absolutely no one thought much of them. They were just a small, insignificant group of shinobi who settled into one location to be economical.

No one, not even the Shodaime Hokage knew that this insignificant group started the star training that developed the special chakra they were known to use. But it was also well known that their village was known for having very low ranking of shinobi due to them having the highest death rate among the shinobi nations. It caused the Five Great Shinobi Nations and many other minor countries to look down upon them.

But many citizens of Hoshigakure still had dreams of becoming the sixth great nation and be awarded an official Hoshikage ranking. They said it was only a matter of time.

(Konohagakure - Present time)

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew that there would be fallout from what he did yesterday. One didn't simply usurp a clan head, especially one that came from the founding members of the village with some upstart that turned out to be one of Orochimaru's experiments. It also didn't help that he had been keeping him a secret for almost twenty years.

That was what his advisor was trying to discuss with him. Shikaku Nara, being the only one with the knowledge to see a situation from both sides would be the one to douse whatever fire was brewing within the shinobi council.

"Hokage-sama, as you might already know many members of the shinobi council are not exactly pleased by the sudden turn of events you brought us." That was an understatement. Tsume's temper had not yet been quelled, Yumi was even more snappish, and quite frankly Shikaku himself wasn't all too pleased. "They are concerned about what you have done behind our backs after all these years. To hide such a shinobi from us only to declare him a clan head with instant political prowess. How could you have concocted such a moment like that one?"

"What happened with the Senju Clan was something that needed to be done." Hiruzen said as he took a puff of his tobacco, but immediately fought against one of the many coughs that had been building up lately.

"Hokage-sama, you do understand that a lot of us are now worried, if not rightfully paranoid that the same thing could happen to us."

"Shikaku, I have no intentions of replacing you or anyone else." Hiruzen said before setting his pipe down. "Unlike the Senju clan, all of you have been placing members of your clan into the village's shinobi ranks. In the past two years alone, the Kurama Clan has sent twenty members into the academy. The Akimichi, five. Inuzuka, six. And so on and so forth. But Akisame has failed time, and time again to send members of his own clan to fill our roster and shut themselves off after the Nidaime Hokae died."

"And that is extremely troublesome, even if they didn't become shinobi they could at least try to fill the ranks." It would explain why Yamato would become the new leader of the clan, unlike Akisame he was the only person to be able to use the Mokuton kekkei genkai since Hashirama Senju. Perhaps some new blood was needed, it was highly unusual, but like the academy, change was needed. But there was something else that needed to be said. "But that is not the only reason is it? Why introduce Yamato at such a time when you had multiple years prior to at least let us be aware of his abilities."

Hiruzen leaned back in his chair, and looked at the Nara Clan leader. "That's because we were without a jinchuriki for ten years. It's no secret that Hashirama could control all nine of the tailed beasts on his own, and now that we have ours back, I have no intentions on allowing him to just leave. Yamato is simply the leash that could keep him in line should things go awry." He said, lying about his intentions. Naruto wasn't some weapon to be used and discarded, but it was believable enough to satisfy the council.

"Speaking of our jinchuriki I wanted to run something by you." Shikaku said with Hiruzen raising a curious eyebrow "I watched my son and him play shogi about a month ago. He put up a good fight, but lost."

"Something tells me that is not the end of your story." The Sandaime said.

"Naruto portrayed himself as the king and sacrificed himself entirely, yet he took the most pieces. He lost some pawns and a few key pieces yet he took the majority of Shikamaru's pawns, his key pieces and barely kept his queen." Shikaku said, finishing his story to let the Hokage mull it over.

"I see, what a sacrificial king style of thinking. That boy believes in his power enough to lead a charge to victory in both life and death." Hiruzen said with a troubled look on his face. Naruto's line of thinking was dangerous, if he was the leader in some sort of war he would sacrifice himself in order for his allies to survive.

Before he could continue his line of thinking his intercom went off. "Hokage-sama, Izumo Kamizuki is here to see you."

That caused both him and Shikaku to look at the intercom with disbelief. Pressing the button, Hiruzen spoke into it. "Rumi, I'm a little busy at the moment. Can't you have him wait?"

"I'm afraid not, he's very- Hey you can't run up the stairs, get back here!"

No more than thirty seconds later Izumo burst through the door. Hiruzen was about to berate the Chunin for interrupting his meeting when he noticed that Izumo looked like he ran all the way to the tower, he was out of breath, his skin pale and clammy, and he honestly looked like he saw a ghost. "Izumo...what is going on?"

"Hokage-sama, we have an issue at the entry point!" Izumo frantically said.

"What sort of issue are you talking about?" Shikaku demanded.

"We have three shinobi from Stone Country standing there, right now at this very second!"

"Did you say...Stone shinobi were at our gates?" Shikaku paled from the news.

"Only of the three of them, one claims to be from the Kamizuru Clan, and then there was this big guy in red armor. They are here to see you regarding a mission they are on."

Setting his pipe down, Hiruzen slowly cleared his throat and stood up from his desk. "Shikaku, make sure Rumi cancels all my appointments for the rest of the day. Do not have the situation escalate even further by having someone do something foolish like attacking them."

"Very well, Hokage-sama." Shikaku pinched the bridge of his nose. This day just got too troublesome for him once again.

Hiruzen left his office through the window, his eyes focused on the gates he frequently put Izumo and Kotetsu at. 'Onoki, just what are you up to?' He thought to himself about his fellow Kage. The two of them never met up in the field of battle, they never met in person, but he knew the Sandaime Tsuchikage's reputation as the great fence sitter, how he would consider both sides of an issue before picking one that would favor him. It also didn't help that he wasn't above using underhanded tactics like what caused the Tragedy of Yosuga Pass in Water Country.

Though what sort of plan Onoki could use with three shinobi were beyond him. If he had any attempts to try and sabotage his village, it failed before it even began. He harshly coughed into his long sleeve, his body wracking in agony from such a wet cough. Hiruzen managed to compose himself before arriving at the gate.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at the three Stone shinobi at the gate. He was obviously wary of them, and rightfully so. While young, he could tell that the three of them weren't pushovers. In fact, thanks to Jiraiya's spy network that he recognized them. Kurotsuchi and Suzumebachi Kamizuru were great-great-granddaughters of Ishikawa Kamizuru, the Shodaime Tsuchikage. Suzumebachi was well known for using her clans bee techniques, and was a forerunner in bringing back pride in her family name after their loss against the Aburame Clan. It was no wonder she was Jonin rank.

Then there was Kurotsuchi, the only granddaughter of Onoki. While she didn't use the bee techniques, she made up for it with her Yoton (Lava) kekkei genkai, and her being a near carbon copy of her grandfather. Displaying a powerful loyalty to her village, and having the utmost confidence in her skills, it was no wonder she was a powerful Jonin in her village.

Then there was their final companion, the angry young man glaring at him with hate in his eyes. He was known as the jinchuriki of the Gobi, and master of the Futton (Boil) kekkei genkai. He heard rumors that his taijutsu was second to none in all of Earth Country, as was his temper. Rarely did he leave his opponents alive when he fought. He deserved his Jonin rank.

"Kotetsu, has there any problems?" He asked his Chunin.

"No Hokage-sama, they have just been standing here." Kotetsu replied before clearing his throat. "Permission to leave and not be here?"

"Granted, go fetch your replacements." Kotetsu was all too happy to leave his post. "I am Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure. State your reasons for stepping onto my village."

Stepping forward, Kurotsuchi presented the elderly Kage with a scroll. "By the orders of the Sandaime Tsuchikage, the three of us have been tasked to deliver Lightning Lion's bounty to one Naruto Uzumaki."

"It takes three Jonin to deliver a single bounty?" Hiruzen skeptically asked.

"It's not just that." Suzumebachi said before pulling out another scroll from the inside of her battle kimono and offered it to the Hokage. "Tsuchikage-sama also gave us a second mission to give this to you. The bounty payment is to be personally handed over Uzumaki himself."

Taking the scroll, the Sandaime looked it over with suspicion. It didn't blow up or open up some sort deadly sealing portal that spat out scorpions. "I see, thank you Suzumebachi-san. But I'm afraid that you all came here for nothing. Naruto isn't here."

"Did he run off again, to join Kumogakure, or perhaps Mizugakure!?" Kurotsuchi bitterly spat out.

"He went off on a mission yesterday." Hiruzen pocketed the scroll. If they expected any information they would be sorely disappointed. "And he will not return for another two weeks." If all went well, but that went unsaid.

Han honestly didn't look too happy about that, in fact he openly growled in displeasure. Kurotsuchi gave the larger shinobi a sharp look that put an end to that. "We cannot return to our village until Uzumaki get his scroll." She said.

"Or until you read that scroll...Hokage-sama." Suzumebachi seconded.

At this point in his life, Hiruzen honestly thought he would be retired, his memoirs published, and watching his grandchildren graduating from the academy. But life threw him more curve balls than he cared to admit, and he was stuck dealing with this potentially volatile situation. "Then until you three finish your mission...I invite you to stay within my clan compound."

Kurotsuchi narrowed her eyes after hearing that. Basically the Hokage was offering them not only protection from a village that theirs fought against through all three Great Shinobi Wars from any shinobi that had a grudge against them. But also, that meant they were barely a step up from being political prisoners.

Hiruzen saw that look, it was not ideal, not for either of them. "I promise to not do anything underhanded, to you, or your companions. I offer you a safe place to rest your heads, and members of my clan to escort you around the village if you feel the need to do a little sightseeing. My only condition is that you three do not cause any trouble within my village. To do so...I honestly do not need to tell you what might happen."

Han took that as a threat and narrowed his eyes at the old Kage, but he didn't speak his mind, he kept his head level as Kurotsuchi swallowed her pride and shook Hiruzen's hand. "We accept your offer Hokage-sama, thank you."

"This is the freakiest thing I have ever seen." Kotetsu said to himself from a very safe distance away.

The hidden Anbu agreed.

(Bear Country)

It took Team Seven several days of travel on pure shinobi speed to reach the borders of Bear Country. Their usual method of travel by tree jumping was negated due to the trees near the edge of fire Country's border having thin branches. Arriving at the broader of the country itself, the Genin were surprised to find a giant canyon that was far too long for them to jump over and was filled with a sickly yellow gas-like substance.

"Kakashi-sensei, what is all this?" Sakura asked. Being the smartest member within Team Seven, she knew a lot about some other countries thanks to the improvements within the academy. But she didn't know anything about Bear Country due to the literal lack of information.

Being the more experienced shinobi, Kakashi pointed to the canyon itself. Sakura watched as a random bird fly over the canyon and in a matter of seconds the creature passed out and fell into the gas. "That's the Devil's Ravine, it's filled with poisonous gas Sakura. Bear Country has always been hard for any typical shinobi village to attack due to a natural defense against enemies." He said with the boys looking side to side.

"Only a Kage could jump this gorge." Sasuke commented, even then that looked a bit doubtful. The Sandaime, while undoubtedly the strongest shinobi in the village, probably lost a step of two in his old age. He didn't know if the others would even be bothered to attack the village, if they could at all.

Picking up a random rock, Naruto frowned as he absentmindedly bounced it in his hand. Saizuchi, with all his knowledge didn't have much on Hoshigakure. Throwing it to try and determine the length of how deep the canyon was, he lost track of it in the poisonous mist. "I don't like this place."

"We got company." Kakashi alerted them.

The Genin of Team Seven looked to see several shinobi standing across the gorge from them. All had crossbows in their hands, one fired an arrow, missing them completely and embedding into one of the trees behind them. They saw a thick rope on the other end of the bolt and a shinobi suddenly darting across the ravine on the rope with impressive speeds.

As assailant then ran across the rope thus causing Team Seven to group up in a defensive position as the person jumped off the rope and landed in front of them. He wore a dark green gas mask with a tan hat covering the top of his head and sides of his ears. He wore a blue-purple flak jacket that had two scroll pouches near the left hip and were held together by straps on the right side and by the neck-guard, which surrounded the entire neck. He wore arm warmers that went from his hands to his biceps, beige pants with hip pouches, and black sandals connected to dark grey shin guards.

He attacked them with a kunai, Naruto intercepted him with one that dropped into his hand from his right sleeve. The black steel clashed together with a metallic clang as the both of them pushed them together. Naruto lashed out with a punch to the assailants belly, which was caught by the wrist, twisted his hips and threw the blonde over his shoulder.

Naruto flipped several times in the air, landed on his feet and immediately threw the kunai at his opponent. He blocked it and sent the kunai flying away, only for the blonde to channel chakra into the near invisible wire and redirected it to circle around their assailants arm. He, however, grabbed the wire and pulled Naruto over with a surprising amount of strength as light purple chakra coated his hand.

His surprise lasted for all of several seconds. When his opponent tried to plant his fist in his belly, Naruto caught his hand with crushing force. "Not bad, you almost caught me off guard."

The assailant looked at him through his emotionless gas mask. "You're not too bad yourself Leaf shinobi. I would have been disappointed if you couldn't defend yourself."

And just like that the small skirmish was over. Naruto cut the wire free from the attacker and returned the kunai back under his right sleeve. His opponent removed his gas mask and hat to reveal a young man with reddish-brown eyes and short smooth black hair that partly curled around his head and parts of his blue Hoshigakure forehead protector.

"It looks like you Konohagakure shinobi aren't all talk. My leader sent me here to escort you. My name is Sumaru." He greeted them.

If Kakashi was put off by the attack on them, he didn't show it. He wasn't about to retaliate on what would possibly be their allies for wanting to test his shinobi. If his Genin failed to fight off even one shinobi, he would have kicked their asses himself. "My name is Kakashi Hatake, I am the leader of Team Seven. We are here to negotiate with your village leader." He said, offering up the mission scroll.

Sumaru took the scroll and opened it. With his allies across the ravine he didn't have the luxury of time to read the entire thing, but he read enough to know that this was the mission his village leader sent to the Leaf. Closing the scroll, and returning it to the Jonin, he looked the Genin team over with some suspicion before jerking his head to the side. "Follow me and don't fall off the rope."

"That rope is far too low to the ravine. I'm not getting anywhere near that gas." Sasuke protested, something that both Sakura and Naruto could agree upon.

Rolling his eyes, Sumaru whistled on the other side, and gestured with his right hand. Another crossbow bolt flew from one of the shinobi holding their weapon, it went far above the ravine and struck the top of the nearest tree. "Better. Or do you want me to carry you as well?"

"I think were good, thanks." Sakura butted in before Sasuke could retort.

The trip towards the village was not a very long one from the gorge, it became more and more clear why this place was known to be a safe haven of natural defenses. Team Seven saw steep cliffs that could be flooded easily by rain due to the nature of the soil. The village itself was covered by dense forest that only had a mere row of steps to lead to the entry point yet not a single house present looked to be cheaply made.

While not much was known about Hoshigakure, research over dozens of years showed that it wasn't the most traditional shinobi village. They had the lowest military spending rate among the Five Great Nations combined, and many minor villages as well. That was obviously due to them having a weak economy due to their shinobi ranks having the highest death rates among most villages. The group of five walked past a few buildings that were mansion styled housing, but their eyes were glued to the one mansion that stood the tallest at three stories and had the kanji for star at the top. Naruto noticed that on the top floor was a telescope with two men writing down information with a third using it.

The escort was complete when they entered the large mansion. It honestly looked no different than the Hokage Tower, it looked very professional. When they got to the office Sumaru got onto one knee in front of the desk. "I have escorted the shinobi from Konohagakure, just as you asked." He said to the two adults before them.

The first was a tall male with a short crop of shaggy black hair and big brown eyes, his headband adorning the symbol of his village was wrapped around his forehead, though a little bit of his hair did fall over the left end of it. He wore a full beige purple uniform with grey knee pads and grey shinobi sandals that covered the bottom portion of his shins. Over his shirt, he wore a light purple flak jacket that was the same as Sumaru's.

But the second, and possibly most important person was the woman sitting before them as she was dressed in the traditional Kage robes with the ceremonial headpiece being purple with the kanji for star being red. She had long flowing violet hair and jade green eyes, her Hoshigakure headband was worn proudly around her head as she softly smiled at the group before her.

"Greetings shinobi from Konohagakure. My name is Natsuhi and I am the Godaime Hoshikage of Hoshigakure. The man beside me is my husband Hotarubi and the young man who escorted you is my son, Sumaru." She greeted them.

"Your son?" Naruto asked looking at the kneeling Sumaru. Huh, what were the odds that the sons of two Kages would fight each other?

"Excuse me, but I thought that only the five great villages could pass on the title of Kage?" Sakura asked. She felt a little flustered calling her out on her "title", but she couldn't exactly phantom someone saying they were a Kage what wasn't apart of the Five Great Shinobi Nations.

Natsuhi was far from being offended, instead she shared a small amount of history for their village. "While our village is small in terms of other shinobi villages, our advantage has always been the use of our unique star training regimen. But given the death rate that we have to deal with in terms of our ranks caused us to abandon it. If we kept that particular training, then I have no doubt that we would have the authority of electing the sixth official Kage."

"Kept?" Kakashi curiously asked.

"Yes, our star training has been a blessing, and gave us a unique set of skills in our field that I believe will be the envy of the shinobi world. We have taken the power that the star has provided us very far of the years but now we must embark on a new journey towards our current time of peace." Natsuhi coolly replied.

Kakashi lightly stroked his masked chin before remarking. "I take it that star you're talking about is a major target for outside shinobi to steal."

"Given the way in which our village is protected by numerous natural barriers, only a special caliber of shinobi could even make it through the terrain on their own in one piece." Hotarubi said.

Natsuhi turned towards her son, "Sumaru, would please escort the Genin around the village. Once they are stationed in their rooms I want you to return to the training ground. I will be discussing matters with their leader." She said with Sumaru nodding as he got up while Kakashi looked towards his students with the message heard loud and clear. Once the kids left the room the masked shinobi pulled out a scroll and laid it before the Godaime Hoshikage.

"I take it the loss of that training has had a profound effect on your village?" Kakashi said.

"Our Sandaime Hoshikage unfortunately passed on many years ago. But his dream was to see the abolishment of the star training many years prior. Through the power of my administration we were able to somewhat achieve that dream. But it has come at a great cost and we now lack the proper shinobi training to compete for missions and resources." Natsuhi calmly said.

Kakashi narrowed his lone eyebrow. He knew that the village leader was keeping something from him, and rightfully so. If a shinobi didn't show caution they wound up dead. And if nothing else Hoshigakure erred on the side of caution. He would play her game...for now. "Very well then. Shall we talk arrangements?"

(Meanwhile)

While Kakashi was beginning his discussions with the Hoshikage and her husband, Sumaru and Team Seven walked in a circle of four looking around at the area. They could see that each house had a location for star gazing, something of which was a local past time due to having a sky was full of stars. The young man then suggested that he take them to his favorite spot in the entire area. After walking under a small shrine and up a flight of steps did the conversation become a little more productive.

"So, your name is Omaru?" Naruto carelessly asked.

"It's Sumaru." He snapped in response. "It's another name for the star cluster pleiades. It's a tradition here that everyone in the village have a name that is in association with the stars."

"Why?" Sasuke bordly asked.

"It's just been tradition since the village was founded." Giving the last Uchiha a mild glare, he continued to talk. "Don't tell me your village doesn't have a tradition that we might think is stupid."

Ever being the peacemaker, Sakura intervened before Sasuke could offended as well. "But that is so cool, to be named after a star I mean." She said before a thought came to mind. "Say, if someone from you village dies, do you pick out a star from the night sky and name it?"

"We actually have a memorial near the Devil's Ravine that has all the names of the shinobi who died for the village. My mother took me there a few times to see the name of my grandfather." Sumaru said.

"So, is it weird to be the child of the village leader?" Sakura asked. "I mean, I can only imagine the pressure you were put under."

"I was very young when my mother became the Hoshikage, she is easily the strongest in the village after Akahoshi, our Yondaime Hoshikage died on a mission nearly six years ago." Sumaru said. "It was a little hard on me when it happened, even more when my mother put about to changing our village."

"Yes, this star training she mentioned." Naruto said, ignoring the name of Akahoshi, and instead glanced at several villagers that looked at them curiously before moving on after seeing Sumaru with them. "From what I heard regarding the mission, she is going to suspend it completely to make some sort of new shinobi system. Or did I get that completely wrong?"

"You're not wrong." Sumaru's voice grew strained when the subject came up. "The star training is the lifeblood of our village, every day since I was a kid, Akahoshi urged us all to commit to it. It made a great many of us strong, I personally became a Chunin at the age of thirteen because of it. But my mom...she wants to get rid of it completely, and has nearly succeeded."

"You don't seem happy about that." Sasuke replied.

"I'm not. In fact a lot of shinobi in the village aren't happy about it. We've used the star training for nearly two-hundred years, our shinobi have trained in gaining its unique chakra every single day. For my mother to suddenly severely limit the star training...it's gotten a lot of people upset."

"So you're all afraid of change, what sort of pussy are you?" Naruto bluntly said.

"What did you say?" Sumaru demanded.

"Whoa, Naruto hold on." Sakura got between them, waving her hands to try and deescalate the situation. "That's a little harsh isn't it? We're here as potential allies, any insult could be seen as an act of war."

"If the son of a village leader can't take some blunt words, then he's a bigger baby than I thought." The blonde glared at Sumaru. "Besides, this so-called star training can't be that great."

"Then how about I show you?" Sumaru snapped. Pointing towards the forest he said, "I'll show you what it means to be a shinobi of Hoshigakure, and why we don't need any outside help!"

"Big talk, but that's all it is. Talk, bring it on Omaru." Naruto said, much to Sumaru's annoyance.

"I didn't want this to happen!" Sakura exclaimed as both her teammate and their guide made their way towards the forest.

"I'm with Naruto on this one, he needs to be taken down a peg." Sasuke bordly shrugged his shoulders before following after them.

(Hoshikage Office - Meanwhile)

"So that's what's going on. You don't think the Sandaime Hoshikage died by natural causes." Kakashi displayed absolutely nothing on his lone eye as he heard the story of the Sandaime Hoshikage's sudden death.

"The position of Hoshikage has been no easy task to maintain and it all started fifteen years ago." Natsuhi said as she gripped the edge of her robe to hold in her grief. "The village was dealing with a crisis of illness and death. So many of our shinobi were dropping like flies and we didn't understand why until it was all traced back to the very foundation of our homeland."

"The star training." Kakashi pieced two and two together. "There must have been a serious side effect if you were willing to deny a power that could topple a hidden village...or so the rumors say."

"It's not about the number of shinobi we have in our ranks. It's the fact that we watched our friends bury their parents, siblings, and even children due to the chakra poisoning the meteorite causes." Natsuhi replied.

"It had its benefits. But we believe that the price it bears has long since been paid off." Hotarubi unconsciously patted his chest area.

"The Sandaime Hoshikage at first rejected the evidence, but eventually he could no longer avoid the issue and we were able to get him to discontinuing the star training. Then just a few months later he became ill and passed away not that long afterwards. Then Akahoshi..." Natsuhi spat out that name like it was the vilest poison. "His deputy advisor became our Yondaime and immediately reversed the decision to ban the star training."

"In fact he enforced the star training with an iron fist, or at least he tried to until he bled the village to its lowest point in it's two-hundred year old history. But then one day that would change as well." Hotarubi continued, making Kakashi looked at him in questioning. "Ten years ago he received this unique mission opportunity from a stranger of sorts. He gave a large sum of money as a down payment that provided sole funding for the village three years straight. The day he left was the last time we ever saw him or a few of his trusted men."

"He simply ran away?" Kakashi asked.

"We honestly don't know." Hotarubi frowned. "We looked high and low, but could never find him. And for his sake he better hope we never find him. We found proof that Akahoshi did kill the Sandaime Hoshikage out of selfishness, and in the end even more lives were lost due to the training's negative side effects."

"Eventually the council anointed me the new Hoshikage and I was able to do away with the training...for a while." Natsuhi honestly felt like she aged ten years after she said that. "Eventually I had to bring back the star training, but I limited the exposure to once a week, and have increased the training regiment for other areas that a shinobi needs to survive. But unfortunately, due to our isolation we hit a standstill."

"Which is why you reached out to us," Kakashi concluded. "But why us? Why not Sunagakure, or the other nations?"

"Honestly? It's because your village has been developing quite the reputation." Natsuhi replied with a slight smile. "In almost four months you have liberated three countries. The last one was...entertaining to watch."

Kakashi was extremely glad that Naruto wasn't here, he was getting a little irritated that people kept bringing up the fact he kissed Koyuki Kazahana. No one talked about him taking out Gato or even his role in ending the Janin Brothers. "If you're not using the star training, what exactly are you going to use it for?"

"We actually converted the star into a power cell that is able to give us the ability to create hospitals to finally take care of our sick." Hotarubi said, and sounding mighty proud about it. "We were able to open our first of a few years back with some technology we bought from Snow Country before Doto Kazahana went insane. The star provides enough energy to heal every member of the village for generations to come."

"Then what is my team here for exactly?" Cutting to the chase, Kakashi leaned forward intently. "Your traitorous Yondaime is either dead or in hiding. What exactly is going on?"

"While we do intend to work out a deal between our two villages. The main reason why we hired you and your team is to protect the star...and root out any of Akahoshi's remaining followers." Natsuhi said.

"We already have a few that are suspected of collaborating with Akahoshi, but lack definitive proof. If your team can do this, then we will form an alliance with Konohagakure." Hotarubi said.

"You're asking a lot out of us, especially when this is supposed to be a B-ranked mission." Kakashi dully said. "And what can you even offer our village? It sounds like we're getting the short end of the stick here."

"As I mentioned, we bought some technology from Snow Country a few years back. Combining it with the star, we managed to reverse the harmful side effects of our star training. And thanks to it, we have been able to heal more than just that, broken bones, deep lacerations, if we can get this into pill form it could become a new kind of soldier pill. A pill that would be exclusive only to your village." Natsuhi told him.

"And no drawbacks?"

"The test results are promising, instead of having enough nutrients to keep you fighting for three days, it has been increased to five. And the backlash isn't as bad as the old soldier pill, you'll still be brought to complete and utter exhaustion, but it would only take two days to get back on your feet instead of the week." Hotarubi said, and sounding quite satisfied if the smug look on his face was any indication.

"And you can actually make this happen?" Kakashi raised his lone eyebrow skeptically. It honestly was too good to be true.

"With your help of course. We need your village to perfect it with ingredients with the Nara Clan, herbs from the Yamanaka Clan, and text books revolving around medical ninjutsu that we are severely lacking."

"I will have to send this request over to the Sandaime, but if you both don't mind my team staying in the village for a while, I will be happy to say this could be the start of a beautiful alliance."

Hotarubi sighed out in relief. "I thank you for staying. Our village has taken a big step forward, and I will be damned if we go back to the dark ages again. Our children deserve to live longer than us."

"What exactly do you mean be that?" Kakashi asked. Sure, the life of a shinobi was not exactly the longest career one could have. The death rates were high, especially when war came about. But Hotarubi was talking like he would die any day now.

Natsuhi filled in for her husband. "The star training takes a heavy toll on the bodies of those who use it. We managed to catch our children early before any permanent damage was done. But for those like us who had been exposed to it longer..." She trailed off, a sad look coming to her jade green eyes. "Honestly we would just be happy to make it to fifty."

(Meanwhile)

"Oh Sumaru, you really shouldn't do this."

"I have to Hokuto, if these outsiders think they are such big shots, then they better have the skill to back it up." Sumaru hotly said.

The person he was talking to in question was a lovely young woman that had fair skin with freckles on her cheeks, brown hair held in a high ponytail and indigo eyes. She wore a light pink blouse with a turquoise, red patterned dress over it. For her bottom attire she wore light pink chaps that revealed her thighs and brown sandals. She also wore the Hoshigakure forehead protector across her forehead proudly.

Standing next to her was a young boy. He had medium length dull purple hair, dull purple thick bushy eyebrows and had large brown pupil-less eye irides. He wore a sleeveless grey shirt, a pair of tan shorts, a belt that held two hip pouches and black sandals. "Sumaru will beat him easily. I would expect nothing from the next Hoshikage."

"Don't encourage him Mizura! Instead of being stubborn, we need to keep our minds open to newer possibility like the Godaime Hoshikage said!" Hokuto barked in annoyance.

In Konohagakure's corner Naruto was getting the same treatment, as he loosened himself up Sakura was protesting this entire fight. "Naruto, I beg you, I sincerely beg you to not go through with this. Wars have started over less than this."

"Omaru isn't going to go to his mother crying that I beat him up." The blonde dully said as he stretched out his legs. "He's either a) Going to get his ass kicked and sulk that I made him my bitch. Or b) Show me that he is more than just talk and fight me to a standstill. Or c) Beat me. I'm still thinking the first choice is most likely."

"Are you even listening to yourself? That's the worst thing I have ever heard, and that bombshell you dropped on us is still terrible!"

Sasuke only grunted in reply, sure it was odd about his teammate talking about Iwagakure with no spiteful tone, and what happened up to his departure filled in some blanks of why he acted the way he did, but it wasn't his problem. "I still say go for it, our mission is to help win some points over to our village. If it's to show them how inferior their skill are compared to ours, then so be it."

"But we're drawing a crowd, sensei is probably going to make us run laps until we puke."

"You need more stamina anyways." Naruto said before marching himself into the ring that would serve as their match. It was one of the many training grounds the shinobi of Hoshigakure used to train their mysterious chakra, but so far he wasn't impressed.

Hokuto seemed to have finished arguing with Sumaru and made her way to the middle of the field. It looked his she was going to be their referee. Raising her right arm she silence the crowd of fiftyish people who gathered to watch the fight. "Here's the rules. Both fighters are to stop only if the other is unconscious, can't fight anymore, or I step in and call off the match. You are to not cripple or kill each other, is that understood!?"

"Crystal." Naruto nodded.

"Yes dear." Sumaru sighed.

"Good, I want this match to be clean. Now fight and get it over with!"

Immediately Sumaru's hands flew into a hand seal that Team Seven recognize. "Ninja Art: Kujaku!" He said before his light purple chakra manifested in the form of a feather-shaped array behind him like a peacock's tail feathers. "Destroy!" The chakra feathers launched themselves at Naruto, turning into deadly projectile weapons.

The Mugenjin already in hand, Naruto lit the blade aflame with a simple spark from the scabbard before he began to deflect the twelve chakra tails. He watched as they smashed through the ground like it was nothing, his blade deflected them to the side with all his strength was put behind it. Who knew that this chakra was super dense? It was literally like fighting off multiple steel pipes at once.

Jumping back to disengage and back flipping several times to get some range, Naruto immediately sheathed his katana and brought his fingers into the familiar cross seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He yelled, creating five clones that popped into existence.

"You think a clone jutsu is going to work!? Ninja Art: Kujaku - Beast!" Sumaru's chakra feathers changed into the form of a dog with glowing yellow eyes. It may not have looked like much, but Sumaru sicced it on Naruto and his clones. It was faster than anticipated, it closed the distance within two seconds.

That was enough time for Naruto's clones to launch their creator into the air to avoid a direct hit. Even after disappearing into small clouds of smoke, Naruto threw his right arms out, and once again the kunai flew out from his sleeve and went sailing at Sumaru.

"This again!? How predictable!" Sumaru deflected the kunai and allowed the wire to wrap around his right arm once more.

"Get over here!" To the surprise of the spectators, Sumaru was yanked forward as the ninja wire was reeled back into Naruto's sleeve. The blonde raised his left arm to deliver a punch to his opponent's solar plexus.

"Wings!" Sumaru yelled before the punch landed. The dog quickly morphed back into his peacock feathers before surrounding both his arms and legs. To the surprise of Team Seven he flapped them to avoid the punch and literally fell back to the ground with Naruto trailing behind him. His plan was simple, he would dive to the ground at great speeds and flap his wings to fly upwards to have gravity slam his opponent into the ground.

"Oh no you don't!" Naruto wasn't Henya, he could never duplicate his unique fighting style where he starved himself to become lighter than air, and fly using wind chakra. But he didn't get dragged around by the Inuzuka's hounds for just D-rank pay, he worked on his own wind chakra to hover on the ground. It was not perfect, in fact it was still in its infant stages. But sometimes it took a single moment to test out a new technique, and that time was now.

Focusing wind chakra onto the soles of his feet, it felt as if he fell from a great height. It was probably the worse case of shin shock he had ever experienced in his life, but it stopped Sumaru dead in his tracks. Naruto pulled at the wire with his hands, and it cut into his gloves as he yanked the Star Chunin overhead and used gravity to throw Sumaru right into the unforgiving ground to create a human-sized crater.

Sumaru honestly couldn't believe that happened, looking over to his right he saw his right forearm bleeding profusely from the wire digging into it. Snapping out of his stupor, he grabbed the kunai that was attached to the wire and cut himself free before quickly rolling out of where he fell before Naruto would have literally stomped on him from above.

Gripping the kunai in fury, the son of the Godaime Hoshikage threw the weapon at the blonde, only for him to catch it in midair. "That is it, I'm finished playing around with you!" Putting his hands into the specific hand seal, Sumaru's chakra reached to disbelieving levels. "Ninja Art: Kujaku: Beast!" Again a giant dog formed out of the unique light purple chakra, however instead of a small version it was five times the size, it even snarled.

"About fucking time. I was getting real tired of all this dancing around." Naruto unsheathed the Mugenjin and lit the blade aflame once again. "I'm not going to mess around with you, Lets see how that technique of yours stands up to my ultimate attack."

"Fine by me, I'm going to grind you into ground!" Sumaru bolted forward, his chakra dog becoming the spear of his attack.

"Bold words! The Final Secret Sword:-" Fire began to circle around the Mugenjin, and the area skyrocketed fifty degrees. The grass began to burn around him and the spectators began to back away.

Before their attacks could connect, Mizura, the young man who was encouraging Sumaru to take Naruto on began to cough. His body convulsed as he clutched his chest and fell to the ground in agony.

"Mizura!? Sumaru the fight's over, stop!" Hokuto screamed at the top of her lungs.

The restraint both shinobi showed was quite remarkable, one second they were dead set on beating the hell out of each other. The second they canceled their attacks, The flames died away on Naruto's side, and Sumaru completely dispersed his technique. "Hokuto, what's going on!?" He said, running towards his downed comrade.

"He just collapsed." Hokuto knelt next to the young shinobi. Her fingertips glowed the same light purple chakra and placed it upon his chest. Mizura began to breathe easier. "I think it's from the star training. Sumaru, we need to take him to the hospital now!"

"Is there anything we can do?" Sakura asked as she knelt next to him. "I've had medical training, I can help."

"He needs special treatment." Sumaru showed his colors by barking orders to the people watching. "Go inform the Hoshikage about what happened to Mizura, you go get the groundskeepers we need this place back up to snuff by tomorrow, go inform the hospital to expect us."

The fiftyish spectators who watched what would have been an epic fight immediately disengaged. The shinobi who were in the crowd went to do what was needed to be done, the civilians returned to what they needed to do for the day.

Sumaru looked at the members of Team Seven. "Sasuke, is there any way I can trust you to carry Mizura to the hospital?"

"He won't get a scratch until we get there." Sasuke promised.

"Good, Sakura you and Hokuto stay close by. He's a priority case, if something looks off, stabilize him." He then turned towards Naruto. "And you...stay by me, we'll clear the way to the hospital."

"Very well, mission save the kid is on the way." Naruto's respect went up one peg that day, Sumaru was...not that much of an asshole. "Lead the way Sumaru."

(Later that day)

Long after the fight ended, two Star Jonin were busy fixing up the damaged caused to the training field. One of them was a man with long chin length black hair and dark-colored eyes. He wore a purple forehead protector on his forehead and a blue-purple flak jacket with a black long sleeve shirt underneath it. He also wore a black pair of shorts and sandals.

The second was bald man with thick black eyebrows and dark-colored eyes. He wore a purple forehead protector on his forehead and a purple-blue flak jacket. He wore a black t-shirt under his flak jacket and short black arm sleeves on his lower arms. He also wore a pair of black pants with two knee guards and sandals.

"Grr I hate this...I really hate this." The bald shinobi growled as he shoveled some dirt into the hole that Sumaru was in. With each bit of dirt he packed in, he grew more and more agitated.

"Calm down Yotaka, getting mad over grunt work won't help anyone." The long haired shinobi said.

"Shut the hell up Shiso!" Yotaka threw his shovel away in fury. "This is bullshit and you know it! We were Akahoshi's best shinobi, his bodyguards. And now look at us, we're reduced to grunt work that even a Genin doesn't want to do!"

"Yotaka, listen, there is nothing we could do. Akahoshi told us to stay behind when he went off to do that business. I honestly don't know what it was, but he trusted us to watch over the village in his stead." Shiso tried to calm his partner down.

"Is it!? Look at it Shiso, when that bitch took charge we decreased in power. The star training...we're only allowed to access it once a week for an hour. I can feel myself growing weaker with each passing month. Our Yondaime would be rolling in his grave."

"You don't know Akahoshi is dead." Shiso exclaimed. "He took twenty of our best guys with him on that mission of his. Perhaps it's still going on and he could come back any moment now."

"Na, sorry boys. But your former leader is dead. I heard he got his head cut off. And his guards, the men he took with him...mmm their bodies aren't buried, in fact they have been turned inside out and studied." An unfamiliar voice caused the both of them to turn towards the tree line only to find nothing.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Yotaka demanded.

"How about you make us?"

"We will! Don't underestimate the shinobi of Hoshigakure!" Yotaka placed his hands into the specific hand seal to use his villages special techniques, but he felt sharp steel along his neck, and pointing at Shiso was an umbrella of all things.

"Ho ho ho...funny, you can't exactly use your fancy jutsu with your throat sliced open, or a needle stabbed through your friends brain." Shura pressed a switch on his umbrella and a thin, sharp needle pressed against Shiso's temple. "And if you somehow don't die, you won't get away from my squad."

Shiso's eyes widened frantically as he saw the figures of Monju, Toki, Hokushin, and Nagare literally appear in the trees around them. Surrounded, and outnumbered, they didn't stand a chance. "How...how did you get into the village?"

Monju gave the two shinobi a cruel smirk. "Why it was your Yondaime of course."

"After joining our little organization, he pledged his loyalty by telling our leader how to infiltrate your precious village." Hokushin scoffed at the question. "We may be a bunch of late comers, but we're not in the dark unlike you."

"Yea, we're supposed to be comrades after all. But it seems you've been left out of the loop." Shura released his hold on the two shinobi. "And you're just in luck, our leader, the wisest man you could ever meet felt it necessary to reconnect with your village."

Rubbing his neck, Yotaka glared at the shinobi opposite of them. "After what you said about our comrades? Do you really think we would trust you?"

"Don't get me wrong, I never did a thing with their bodies, just saw the aftermath once we joined up." Shura replied with a wave of his hand. "It's nothing personal on our part, besides we learned a lot about your secret methods. Why with such power you could easily become the sixth great shinobi nation."

Both Shiso and Yotaka became less hostile, their highly earned skills being praised swelled their egos. The two of them were still suspicious though, and sweet honey words weren't going to make them trust the six strangers.

Shura knew this, he even anticipated this. So wrapping his arms around their shoulders, he said. "Anyone should be able to see that your village is mighty. I mean, my leader praised Akahoshi's skills, if he was still alive today, I bet he could have taken on one of the Kage's and even absorbed some of the minor countries to make Hoshigakure bigger."

His words struck home, Akahoshi was one of the most powerful shinobi in the village until his disappearance. Leaning closer, Shura continued to speak to them. "But not anymore once you gained a new Hoshikage. She has been making you weaker...and spitting on Akahoshi's legacy." He turned to whisper to Yotaka. "I don't know about you, but I would be outraged. Especially when you're reduced to this."

"Yea...you're right." Yotaka growled, his temper flaring at his status in the village.

Shura then turned and spoke so Shiso. "After being nothing more than a stooge for some woman who doesn't know what she is doing. Don't you suppose it's time for...a change in leadership?"

"Yes...yes...Akahoshi still has allies in the village. If we gather them together and get the star we could take over!" Shiso exclaimed. "That bitch suspected us for killing the Sandaime, well it seems we need to repeat history."

Shura inwardly smirked, phase one was a success.

(Hoshigakure Hospital – Meanwhile)

"He's stable, thanks to you all getting him here early we stopped anything that could have been permanent." Clad in a white coat, a light purple uniform, a silver-haired doctor walked into the room holding Mizura.

The young man himself was laying in the bed strapped to a machine that monitored his vitals. A hospital respirator covering his face as strange device was hovering over his chest radiating a light purple energy. His body was remarkably skinny and his torso covered in dark purple marks.

"What exactly happened? One second he was fine, but then the other he was knocking on death's door." Sasuke asked.

"It's the after effects of the star training. Mizura took it like the rest of us, but he was much younger than us." Hokuto said to the members of Team Seven. Looking at the young boy sadly she watched as his chest rose and fell. "It made him sick and ravaged his body, and sometimes he relapses if exposed to too much of the stars power. Sumaru's mother did manage to save him, but it isn't full proof. He, like many others needs weekly treatment to stabilize the stars energy inside him."

"To those greatly effected, their torsos are scarred with those purple markings." Sumaru finished for his girlfriend, lightly flexing his bandaged right arm he continued. "To those affected with this...condition," And he stressed to even call it that. "It shows that their life force has been damaged."

"Which is why we need this alliance Sumaru." Hokuto said. "Konohagakure can offer more to us in regards of medicine than we have had in the two-hundred years since our village was founded. The machines we got are just a bandage to a wound that needs to be closed."

"We just need a little more time, that's all!" Sumaru protested, showing that this wasn't the first time they had this conversation.

"No you don't." Sakura stood up from her seat to look at him. "Your friend is in bad shape and needs more advanced treatment. Our shinobi can help."

"And it's not really up to you either, it's up to your Hoshikage." Naruto butted in. "If our sensei reaches an agreement with her, it's done. You have no right to complain. And get the hell over it."

The doctor looked between the two shinobi, both glaring daggers at each other he wisely backed out of the room to inform the Hoshikage of Mizura's development. He was so not getting paid enough to deal with two irate shinobi from opposing sides.

(Hoshigakure – A week and a half later)

After Mizura recovered, Team Seven stayed within the village. During the second day Natsuhi politely asked Kakashi and his Genin to demonstrate some abilities that were foreign to them, but wouldn't compromise any secrets from the village itself. It was something the Copycat Ninja agreed to.

Sakura showed them exactly what sort of medical training their village had. She showed them all alternative methods to heal their bodies with careful mixtures of balms and creams from the local plant that were unknown to them. Sasuke himself decided to teach them exactly how shurikenjutsu was done. Thanks to his clan, and the insane amounts of training, he could manipulate them with ease using ninja wire and advanced sciences on how to curve them in midair. As for Naruto, it came down to more advanced chakra exercises that he picked up during his travels that weren't Konohagakure exclusive. Currently everyone was hating him for trying to balance on a kunai with one finger, on the upside Sakura did help teach volunteers how to fix up said wounds.

Of course Kakashi kept an eye out for those both Natsuhi and Hotarubi had as suspects. And so far the people who were learning something from his Genin of all people were split right down the middle. Half were receptive, but the other barely looked like they were holding in their contempt. Their names were documented in order to be investigated.

Unfortunately, most of the people on said list were meeting in an underground location within the village. It was specifically made by Akahoshi himself years before he assassinated the Sandaime Hoshikage, many of the tunnels connecting to the forest outside, others to a few homes in the basements.

That was where twenty-five individuals were sitting at a table, a small jutsu that produced the stars light in the middle of them showed who were exactly at the meeting. This wasn't all of them, not even close, but it was enough to get the word out to those still loyal to their old leader.

"Yotaka, it has been years since we last met. I thought you said it was all over." One of the kunoichi remarked.

"I was wrong, Akahoshi's dream is not dead. Not by a long shot." Yotaka gestured towards Shura, the members of the Shinobazu and the Watari Ninja. "These are our leaders allies, men who actually see the value in us unlike Natsuhi."

"She really thinks she can stop the star training? As if!" Shiso bellowed, drawing a rise out of the people with him. "We all lost people to become stronger. Brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers, even our own children. And for her to stop it...it's like spitting on their legacies. Do they not matter to you?"

"They do matter! I lost my wife to the star training!"

"I lost my only child!"

"My uncle died to become stronger!"

"And so did my sister!"

Shura held in a chuckle. Hearing his so-called allies getting worked up over the useless deaths of their loved ones was amusing to him, but he had to play the part of a caring ally. "My friends, my heart goes out to you and to those you have lost." He raised his hands to stop the conversation for now. "And without definitive action they will forever be lost while the Godaime is still in office. I say no more!"

Toki only shook in head as his leader talked, he had them right where he wanted them. The poor fools didn't realize they were just being lead around the nose like a bunch of suckers.

"And I say we do it tonight. Everyone, rouse your allies! Tell them it's time to take back your village! The time for the reign of the Godaime Hoshikage ends tonight!" Shura once again held in a chuckle when the shinobi cheered. The fools, they didn't know the second phase of his plan was finally complete.

Armageddon: Hello readers...I am late getting this out, I'm only a little sorry about it, but just like life stuff happens, and you got to deal with it. And my deal was getting my laptop back to working again with my own bare hands. Bow to the techno wizard that is me!...Or just give me a good review, that's all this humble author asks.