Lines Drawn

Water splashed around Sakazuki's boots as he marched his way through the forward command camp he had set up on the coast of the god forsaken city he was stuck in.

As he approached his command center, the former harbormaster's office, he looked around him and saw the many faces of his marines, each with cold tired eyes and looks of fatigue on their face. Unlike the new troops that were fighting right now, the ones here in the base were the survivors of the first wave of the invasion, men and women who had been here fighting for an entire year against an enemy that most marines were untrained for. Marines were never trained or intended for long protracted conflicts and most of the time were only sent in for skirmishes or quick battles that were quickly decided using overwhelming force.

But war is what they had gotten in Ame, a long bloody conflict that had been born from a stew pot of pride on the part of that damnable Hanzo and, loathe as he was to admit it, Sakazuki himself.

The entire war had found its seeds planted when Hanzo the salamander, one of the most powerful pirates in the world, up there with Rogers, Newgate and Shiki, had found an abandoned Ame after the nobles left it. The damn pirate had managed to somehow do what none of the marines scientists could and got the heart of the city roaring again and turned the massive ghost city into an industrial powerhouse. Naturally the government had been ecstatic when Kairoseki shipments were made available to them and they could outfit all marines regardless of skill with a way to handle devil fruits, especially logias. So ecstatic were they that when Hanzo declared Ame a nation and himself king they had been willing to allow it and even give him a place on the reverie so long as he kept the flow of K-sek coming and didn't invade anyone else. This arrangement had worked fine until from what Sakazuki heard the world gov's last envoy returned telling everyone that Hanzo had demanded World Noble status for himself and his crew and that he was cutting off the flow of precious K-sek until then.

This of course was not something that could be allowed to go on and so the marines had been tasked with the mission of putting the screws to Hanzo in an effort to make him give up on his foolish fantasy. Ideally they could go back to the status quo since Hanzo actually ran Ame more efficiently that they had at first and he was able to keep everything under control without them having to waste a garrison force. Because of this desire the tone of the Ame "Conflict" had started off more that of a slow burn policing operation rather than an actual all-out war. Unfortunately it had been that way for too long and orders finally came down a year ago to put an end to Hanzo's reign.

Looking back on it Sakazuki would admit that he had allowed arrogance to cloud his mind when he requested command of the Ame forces from the fleet admiral. Sakazuki's plan had seemed so flawless at the time given what he thought he knew about warfare. The Ame engagement wasn't being won because there weren't enough soldiers to route the pirates out of all their hiding places in the labyrinthine city and get salamander back under control, so all they needed to solve the problem were enough men to flood the city, kill Hanzo's crew and break his spirit. From that train of thought Sakazuki confidently declared that with two full divisions, 30,000 soldiers total, he would be able to turn the quagmire around in less than a month.

After much consideration Fleet admiral Kong agreed and gave Sakazuki the fleet he requested along with a promotion from the rank of captain to Rear Admiral, coupled with the promise of a vice admiralty position should all go as planned.

Following a three week trip to Ame, Sakazuki began his operation with a tremendous level of success, leading the first wave of soldiers as they landed amidst a small skirmish between the local pirate rebels and the stationed marines. With Sakazuki's Magu Magu no Mi leading the charge the marines almost instantly pushed past the old stalemate lines and surged into the city. The pirates were little challenge, fleeing almost immediately after every skirmish and soon the entire force had been landed and was carving a warpath deeper and deeper into the nation sized city than any marine had even ventured as the pursued the fleeing rebels.

Within only two days Sakazuki and his men had carved their way 10 miles into Ame, halfway to the center, finally making it to the dedicated industrial ring of the city that made up its core. Unlike the gentle incline the marines had been fighting up since the coast the inner industrial sector abruptly rose at an almost fifteen degree angle and continued upwards as far as they could see with the overhead piping also moving and bending upwards.

Before they could continue however the rebels that had been fleeing the entire time made use of the terrain and for the first time since the attack began finally started fighting like soldiers under command of a legend.

Unlike the cowards they had been earlier the pirate rebels suddenly dug themselves in like funguses and began using K-sek rounds to prevent Sakazuki from melting them. And with the terrain advantage they now held, Sakazuki's advance had been ground into a slow methodical crawl. Still though Sakazuki was undeterred and once he rallied his troops into a suppressive firing pattern they were able to keep the pirates in cover and began again to push their way up to the center of the city where he was certain Hanzo was hiding.

That changed though when he saw groups of pirates coming towards the battle lines from the center of the city carrying huge bundles with them. For a moment Sakazuki thought that the bastards had brought shoulder fire cannons in and were preparing a bombardment, a tactic he was ordered to refrain from lest it damage the precious infrastructure of Ame. He was therefore confused when the all but two people from each group ran forward with their bags acting as shields before they tossed them right in the firing lines and rabidly unloaded sand bags. It was an interesting strategy to give the pirates more cover than they had popping out from behind buildings but with as many troops as he had Sakazuki was certain it would fail, he could have ten men cover every sand bag fortification and keep the people in it from ever coming up. If he could put more fire downrange then the cover was practically pointless, he wondered what the hell the pirates were thinking

He got an answer when the remaining two rebels in each group ran to each sand bag and set up some kind of odd cannon like objects on tripods with metal guards at the front. Growling in anger at seeing them use the tactic he was forbidden from using he prepared to order his men to get in cover and let him deal with the cannons when he heard faints whines over sounds of the exchanging small arms fire.

Squinting back up at the sand bag entrenchments blocking his way he made out the cannon objects spinning just a second before a screeching buzz filled his ears and the front line of his soldiers began to fall to the ground under a hail of fire. Each of the sand bag positions was awash in the white glow of fired rounds as the odd cannon like objects belched out bullets at a rate that boggled Sakazuki's mind.

In an instant the suppressive march that had been pushing the pirates back was made into a killbox as rivers of lead, and to Sakazuki's horror K-sek rounds, began pounding on his lines. In moments everyone who wasn't dead abandoned their suppressive march and found cover behind anything they could while also dragging their injured comrades with them. Sakazuki did his best to remotely control his magma from behind cover and send it towards the lines but as soon as he did the guns would train on his attack and fill it with so much K-sek he would lose control of it.

He had even tried using haki to harden his body but without the ability to perform a full body black he was lacking both the coverage to handle that many rounds and the strength to hold them back for long. Whatever they were firing it somehow had far more stopping power that the muskets the marines used, despite having a smaller projectile.

Just as he was preparing to signal a retreat the firing abruptly stopped and Sakazuki layered his head with haki before taking a peak out from where he was hiding and saw a lone man walking down a street towards them.

He was a tall man by normal standards coming in at around six feet and had a long flowing mane of greying blonde hair going down his back. His face was covered by an intricate gas mask with two large filters pointing out the sides of it, rather than the single filter used by the other rebels. On his head covering all his hair except for his mane was tightly tied dark blue bandanna. And on his chest plain as day were the four raindrops that acted as the Jolly Roger for only one crew.

It only took a moment to realize who it was that was standing before them but by then it had been too late…

Honestly the next part always fogged into a blur when Sakazuki tried to remember it, clouded and caked with images of hundred meter salamanders made of living venom and the anguished cries of men and women around him. All Sakazuki could clearly recall were the final parting words that Hanzo had taunted him with, somehow cutting their way through the chaos and death and landing clearly on his ears.

"This is all your fault…"

Whether it was meant to be directed at the marines in general, act as a calculated mental attack on him, or was an earnest assessment of his skill as a commander Sakazuki didn't care. The fact of the matter was he had begun his assault with thirty thousand men and women at his command and in only a day the number had been cut down to ten thousand. There would have been almost eleven thousand to add to that number but Hanzo's own personal attacks ended anyone who couldn't flee in time, including all the wounded.

When he and his ten thousand limped back to the shores he had sent a transmission to marine headquarters informing them of his failure. He was told that the situation was his to deal with and that they would be in touch though he could tell from the fleet admiral's tone that the dismissal wasn't done with faith in his abilities, but rather a need to put distance between him and the marine brass.

The worst thing about the incident was that it was so shameful that he wasn't even being punished. The "Massacre of Ame" as the garrison was calling it was blocked from leaving Ame and to the outside world the entire situation was under control. He had even kept his rank and the promise of promotion once the situation was dealt with which only made the entire thing seem worse.

And so he had stayed in this rained out hell hole for an entire year, holding the line along the coast and doing what he could to pressure the rebels while keeping the city intact, at least until he had received new orders last month…

"Sir Captain Doberman is waiting inside to speak with you sir." A young female marine saluted as Sakazuki reached the door to his command center.

Sakazuki shook his memories away and raised an eyebrow at hearing Doberman was back already but decided he would find out in a moment.

"At ease soldier." Sakazuki said as he crouched his massive frame down and entered the door leading to his command center and made his way to his office, mind again wandering.

Doberman was one of the new soldiers under his command that had been sent in the last few weeks along with the most amazing news he had heard in months. In preparation for Roger's execution the higher ups had decided to finally clean up the Ame situation and authorized total war giving Sakazuki license to shell the entire city in an effort to put an end to Hanzo. Hearing the news he had been ecstatic and tempted to launch another assault on the city proper but, he clamped down his desire for vengeance and decided that this time he would make no mistakes. He sent requests to command and was given another two divisions along with heavy artillery batteries and an array of new weapons from Marine R&D as well as five squads of Special Tactics And Reconnaissance troops. After two weeks of planning Sakazuki finally began his return to glory operation last night and other than an odd issue with a stowaway devilfruit user, who was promptly blown to hell, it had gone off flawlessly.

The enemy lines were falling back from the first surge and if all went according to plan the next surge two weeks from now would put them back at the industrial sector. Rather than rush in like he had in the past Sakazuki was taking extreme care to not over extend his troops and was waiting between advances to allow the recon teams to find out what kind of tricks Hanzo may be planning.

That was actually what Doberman was in charge of last he had seen of him. He and a small platoon had been shadowing STAR team bravo while they made their way along the upper pipes toward the center of the city looking for the rebel HQ and any traps around it.

The odd thing though was that mission was set to be a week long, four days if the star team went fast enough and the marines ran the whole way, but Doberman hadn't even been gone for more than a few hours.

As he made his way into his map slash meeting room he saw the reason Doberman had reported back. "What in God's name happened to you Doberman, you look like you've been put through a flaming wood chipper."

Before him, clipping out a perfect salute despite his no doubt painful injuries, was captain Doberman, covered from head to toe in ugly looking stiches and a menagerie of burns all across his body. "My apologies Rear Admiral but I was caught in a structural disaster when trying to pursue the killers of STAR team Bravo. We noticed fire coming out of a building and we…"

"What did you just say Doberman?" Sakazuki growled.

Doberman didn't need him to clarify any further and immediately knew what the Rear Admiral was most upset about. "Sir STAR team bravo was killed by unknown assailants earlier today. We saw a fire coming from the building the star team was in and went to investigate thinking it was a signal fire but when we made it up the fire had spread out of control and consumed the entire building. I lost several soldiers but we confirmed four bodies matching the size and features of Bravo team."

Sakazuki could feel the table start smoldering under his hands as he fought to keep his magma from coming to the surface. The STAR teams were a relatively new addition to the marine's military line up and they had been doing exceptionally in all their missions. Each team had a Devil Fruit user on it of respectable power and they were all trained to the level of a captain. None of Hanzo's troops should have been able to kill a full squad of them without being caught.

"Ohhhhhhhh what's this I hear about a lost STAR team Saki-kunnnnnnnnn?" sang a voice from the doorway that caused Sakazuki to finally lose it and set the table ablaze.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT BORSALINO?!" Sakazuki roared as he turned around and faced the most infuriating man he had ever met.

Vice admiral Borsalino was one of a select few human beings on the planet that stood at eye level with Sakazuki and while that fact alone didn't contribute to his hatred of the man the fact that he matched his stature but none of his attitude certainly did. The man was the laziest most undisciplined soldier he had ever met, even when in a warzone he wore a perpetual look of disinterest and relaxedness. Add to that the fact that he was a higher rank that Sakazuki and all he could do to not try kill the man was burn nearby furniture.

Smiling in the doorway like he was looking at a child's temper tantrum Borsalino simply waved a dismissive hand at Sakazuki while the other rested in his pocket "Mah mah Saki-kun you're so louddddddd. There's no need for that kind of behavior ne, can't we both get along?"

Sakazuki ignored Borsalino's irritating mannerisms and turned back to Doberman "Leave captain, and I want a full report in my hands tomorrow about what happened to Bravo team, Dismissed." The room was quiet as Doberman left until he made it out the front and closed the door. "What are you doing here Borsalino? You weren't set to arrive for another two weeks."

Borsalino shrugged "The higher ups have decided to accelerate the timetable, they want to get a blitz going and start hitting all the big players as fast as they can before Roger's execution, which means Ame has to fall by weeks end."

"Yea and how exactly do you plan on making Hanzo fit in your little plan?" Sakazuki asked with barely contained rage, infuriated at the arrogance Borsalino was showing in assuming he could just decide to end the war. He had a new plan to deal with the situation and he would deal with it before the execution but a week… that was insane… it was madness… it was the same type of arrogance that had cost him a year ago. Even with the new weapons and Borsalino on his side the only way to deal with Hanzo himself would be slowly and carefully. Even Sakazuki was hesitant to fight the man head on and though Borsalino had the potential to make admiral one day, Hanzo was a legend.

"Oh don't worry about that Saki-kunnnnnn, I'm not all the higher ups sent. Ne clown san, come on in and show Saki what you've got."

The command post door opened revealing an irritated looking teenage… boy demon thing wearing a white lab coat. The lack of description for him in Sakazuki's mind came from the fact that, in addition to being paler than a ghost's ass cheek, the boy had two horns jutting out from his mane of black hair before curling in on themselves like a ram's. After looking at the boy for a bit longer he also saw that what he thought had been a lab coat was actually made of pinkish clouds or something similar given the fact that it was billowing around all over the place.

"For the thousandth time you overgrown marine mongrel my name is Caesar Clown, Chief Chemical Engineering Technician Caesar Clown and assistant to Doctor Vegapunk himself. Though I'm not surprised that someone like you wouldn't be able to remember something as simple as that, you frontline types are usually lacking in the head."

Sakazuki felt an instant knot of disgust work its way into his stomach as he listened to kid. It figured that he would get sent some egg head twerp with a world noble sized ego. He was willing to bet that Vegapunk had sent the brat off just to be rid of him.

Borsalino however took the boy's words with a smile on his face and instead looked back at Sakazuki's glaring visage, "Just like he said Saki-sannnnnn, this little kiddo is Vegapunk's apprentice and he brought us a ton of new toys. Even better than the tanks you got last week."

Forgetting his anger at the boy Sakazuki let a smile creep onto his face. Vegapunk's latest invention was certainly something to be proud of and it had made a difference since it showed up. He had actually made the request five months ago when he kept running into trouble from Hanzo's god damned spin cannons that the marines try and develop some kind of large moveable land ship. Luckily for him Vegapunk had a better mind for the scientific that he did and instead of the sailing ship on wheels Sakazuki proposed he had gotten imposing beasts of steel that more resembled trackless trains. They ran off some kind of liquid coal tar stuff that Vegapunk had also developed and shipped with them which allowed them to move around like trains but instead of needing rails they had their own tracks that spun with them! As if the freedom of motion wasn't enough of a selling point the armor on them made them into the perfect counter for Hanzo's little toys. Sakazuki had measured it himself when they arrived and the entire thing was plated in half inch steel, with extra quarter inch plates on the front. It was almost worth waiting so many months to see the looks on the rebels faced when he began deploying them for trials a few days ago, and the rebels learned that their mighty guns amounted to bug bites. "Is that so? Well if he's here bearing gifts maybe the kids isn't so bad, I'd love to see what the good doctor has to top last week."

Suddenly the boy's look of irritation vanished and was replaced by one of excitement before he pulled out a small case and placed it on a table. "Actually Doctor Vegapunk has nothing to do with this batch. You're going to be using a Caesar Clown original."

When he opened the case it revealed two small canisters of swirling gas, one a lime green and the other a deep purple. Unlink the boy Sakazuki wasn't impressed. "I don't think toxic gas is going to be a good fit kid. Hanzo's crew is kitted with even better hazmat and filtration gear than we are and their captain can control poisons."

The gleam in Caesar's eyes grew even brighter as he held the green canister in his hands, "I'm aware, but there is something special about these little beauties. First being that they are not in fact poisons. The green vial contains a highly potent gas form of Fluoroantimonic acid. Since I'm going to assume you don't know what that is I'll enlighten you and say that it is currently the post potent acid compound that can be synthesized in our labs with a beautifully vicious ph of negative twenty five. It should be more than enough to deal with Hanzo's hazmat gear. Plus being a simple acid compound it is beyond Hanzo's ability to control and even more impressive it will most likely have the ability to nullify and break down the more complex poisons that Hanzo will use.

Sakazuki eyes narrowed as he stroked his chin, "If this stuff is as powerful as you say then how did you transport it. I thought you said it can dissolve anything."

Caesar's smile widened more before he smiled and shrugged. "Well the bulk of the shipment hasn't been mixed together yet and is being stored in inert containers but, you're right this canister here does contain a gas corrosive enough to dissolve the steel it's made of. The answer as to why my hand isn't melting is a large part of the reason why I'm here, but first to help assuage your fears about my precious gas being a dud allow me to demonstrate." With a beckoning wave Caesar walked out of the building as Borsalino and Sakazuki followed. The trio soon was standing before the edge of the camp and one of the piles of skyscraper rubble from the stowaway incident, miraculously still shielded from the rain by the overhanging pipes above. "This would be a perfect spot, now then watch and learn marine-san."

With a flick of his wrist Caesar uncapped the top of the canister and threw it into the rubble pile. For a moment nothing happened but soon a green miasma began to spill up through the gaps in the pile, leaving everything it touched dripping like hot candle wax and then collapsing into a puddle. Sakazuki had to admit that the boy's sciency description didn't do the stuff justice, with this in their arsenal the rebels wouldn't stand a chance. There's no way they could stay entrenched against something like this and even if they did it looked like the gas could simply dissolve whatever they were hiding in along with them. As the cloud continued drifting towards them though Sakazuki remembered the other reason he was hesitant to use gas warfare and began to inch his way backwards until he felt a large hand on his shoulder.

He looked over to see Borsalino with his eyes fixed toward the approaching cloud and looked back to see the boy in front of them with his hands out stretched. The cloud abruptly stopped approaching them and began to curl in on itself, mirroring the motion of Caesar's hands. He pulled out another canister like the one he had thrown and opened the top of it up while somehow coaxing the gas back inside it. "That marine-san is the answer to your storage question. I ate Gasu Gasu no mi and became a gas gas human. I will be assisting you during the attack and keeping the gas from turning on your troops while also making sure it stays pointed at the rebels, and of course making sure its pirate melting potency is up to my standards Shirorororororor!" Caesar said ending in a mad cackle

Sakazuki felt his grin return and become manic and he immediately took back everything he had been thinking about the kid. Forget Vegapunk, here was a mad dog brat willing to get his hands dirty for once and more than willing, hell downright eager, to do anything and everything to enforce justice. It was about time they got a scientist with a taste for viciousness.

In the midst of his laughing Caesar stopped when he felt a large hand wham him on the shoulder. He looked up and saw the smiling face of Sakazuki looking down at him, "I think you and I are going to be good friends kid."

Caesar smiled widely before he turned around and grabbed Sakazuki's hand and began pulling back towards the command center "If you like that just wait until you see my other new compound, I made it especially with Hanzo in mind Shirororororororo!"

Sakazuki only smiled wider.

'Oh yes kid… good friends indeed'

XxX

"I still can't believe that actually worked." Robin said as she and Konan slid down a large pipe just a few blocks from their hideout, their loot all still with them.

"I know Robin, I was certain that would be the end for us. Especially after I remembered you couldn't fly and started falling." Konan laughed before frowning "I'm sorry again for that. Me and Nagato can't really get hurt by falling and I kinda forgot about that for a minute."

Robin smiled and shook her head "Don't worry about it Konan-san, no one got hurt." She stopped smiling after she said that and thought back to the events that happened only an hour earlier.

Robin wasn't sure how she should be feeling after she had killed that man back there, and although she knew that it was kill those men or die themselves Robin still felt like her insides were tearing themselves apart. Looking at Konan didn't help any considering she was taking the entire situation with a smile on her face, but she still needed to know what to do.

"Hey Konan-san, how are you feeling about the whole… thing back there?" she awkwardly asked as soon as the two of them touched down on the ground of the city a few hundred yards from the hideout.

Konan stiffened for a moment before turning around with an eerily bright smile. "I'm fine Robin, there's nothing to talk about. We should keep this between us though, ok? I don't want Nagato to worry or anything."

Robin blinked owlishly at how Konan was suddenly acting before simply nodding "Umm sure Konan-san, no problem. Where do you want us to say we got all this stuff from though?"

Konan shrugged as they slid down the drainage canal walls and approached the door to the hideout. "Just say we found some supply crates with stuff in them."

Robin nodded to Konan as she opened the door to their improvised home. Instead of what they left though, the only thing that could be seen inside the room was an oppressive cloud of sweltering steam that obscured the entire room.

Both Robin's and Konan's mouths fell agape as they looked at the state of their home and the steam began to billow out of the open door letting them see what had caused it.

"Hey Robin-chan you're back. I was starting to get worried." Naruto's voice called out from the other side of the room drawing both girls' attention to the sight of him and Nagato reclining comfortably on a bench in nothing but their shorts.

"What in the world happened here?" Robin asked as she walked inside and dropped the loot she held by the side of the door.

"Nagato and I were working on a bunch of stuff he was showing me. Then we took a break and I realized that steam feels really nice so I made the room all steamy. What do ya think, pretty relaxing huh?"

"I'm not sure I see what the joy in getting all hot and sticky is Naruto-san." Konan coughed as she tossed her stuff down and waved an arm in front of her face to try and get the steam away from her. Rain water was one thing and if she folded her paper or made it slick it would flow right off but a steam sauna was another matter. Even if she wasn't made of paper all the time the feeling of hot steam soaking her made her uncomfortable, a product of her element she guessed.

"Gomen Konan" Nagato said before he pushed the steam out of the room with a few small bursts of his devil fruit. "You were taking a while so we thought we'd get comfortable."

"No Kidding Nagato. It feels like you two have been gone forever." Naruto said as he stood up and stretched.

Konan's eyes widened in alarm and she ran to Naruto's side "Naruto-kun you shouldn't be up yet, you're still hurt."

Naruto blinked a few times and looked confused "huh, your right. I felt like crap a few hours ago, but I guess that steam really hit the spot. I feel great, like I got recharged and stuff." He said finishing with a huge grin.

Everyone else looked at him skeptically until Nagato voiced their thoughts. "Do you really feel energetic Naruto-san? I'll admit I feel relaxed too but steams still water, it's mild but I still feel more relaxed and sleepy than energized."

Naruto scrunched his face up in thought and scratched his head as he tried to explain how he felt. "I get what you mean and I felt like that too, but at the same time being surrounded by all that felt like… like I feel when I lounge around back home under the sun. I don't know why but I feel a lot better than I did before."

Robin didn't look convinced and peeled off his bandages to look at his back only to drop her mouth in awe. The cuts on Naruto's back had gotten much smaller than they were when they left, going from what Nagato had called critical and in danger of infection, to hardly needing the stitches in them anymore.

Nagato and Konan came over and looked at his back as well and after seeing how mild the damage was Konan whacked Nagato on the shoulder. "You had us worried for nothing Nagato, his back looks great."

Nagato ignored the hit and the insult and simply stared in awe. "Naruto-san, how in the world is this possible? You had horrible black bruises and your wounds were inflamed and everything looked terrible just this morning."

Naruto merely shrugged at everyone's looks and grabbed his shirt before pulling it back on. "I dunno what to tell you guys, I always healed fast back home after a while relaxing and soaking up some sun, I guess steam must have counted or something." Ignoring how little of an explanation that was Naruto walked over to Nagato and patted him on the back. "Enough about me and my hydrodermical injuries though, Nagato made a ton of really weird cool stuff while you were gone."

A shared glance by everyone else at Naruto's attempted word choice was the last sign of concern the group had for him before they turned their attention to the far side of the room and saw a mound of metal contraptions.

Nagato smiled and gently shaking his head "It was really more you doing most of the work Naruto-san. Without your heat to boil the water and make the steam I couldn't have made any of it work. And if it weren't for your ability to weld things the rest wouldn't have been possible. You really have an awesome ability Naruto-san"

Robin and Konan had begun looking over the various things in the pile as Nagato spoke but Konan widened her eyes and looked back at them when welding was mentioned. "Are you serious Nagato, Naruto-san can weld metal?"

Nagato simply nodded and approached the largest object in the pile, which looked like a huge piano with pipes coming out of the top, and started pointing at spots all along it were little bits of metal looked like they had been melted and dripped. "It's all pretty solid too. We were even using the steam organ a bit before you two got back. You wanna try?"

Konan's mouth fell open as she ran up next to Nagato and pulled up a cover of metal from the organ he was touching. "You actually got an organ working! How… why… this is amazing. These were my favorite things to play with ever back before the war. Where did you even find one in this good of shape?"

Nagato started laughing "well actually you it's a funny story…"

"Eh what are you talking about funny for? You just kept it hidden in here the whole time remember. I don't really think that all that funny to be honest. Actually now that I think about it, it is pretty funny that you managed to hide that massive thing from someone for so long without them noticing." Naruto started laughing "OK I get it now, it is pretty funny that Konan didn't even notice a huge ol organ sitting in this tiny room with a tarp over it. Hehe she's so blind she wouldn't even see a meteorite coming at her. No no wait I got it she's so blind that if there was an elephant in the room she'd never notice. She's so blind that… mhmgmhmgmmmmmm!" his rant was silenced as a piece of paper flew at him and sealed itself over his face.

Konan meanwhile didn't even bother to turn and look at him as she kept inspecting every inch of the organ, looking for all the world as though she was completely disregarding what Naruto had said, other than the hand held towards him as it kept the paper stuck to his face even as he clawed at it. "Well what are we waiting for Nagato? I want to play something. How do you make the organ turn on?"

"Ummmm we need steam for it to work Konan."

"Ok fire up some steam and… oh right" she said turning behind her and relaxing her hand as the paper on Naruto's face let go of him and gently floated back to her. "Naruto-san, could you be nice and make some steam please?"

Naruto sat up from the ground and looked at her with a glare "why should I help you huh, you just attacked me and tried to kill me. Could you imagine how embarrassed id be if I got killed by a piece of paper, it would have been the end of my soon to be career!"

'And actually dying wouldn't be?' everyone else thought together.

Just as Naruto was about to begin another rant he was stopped when Robin walked up to the organ and began looking it over too. "I'd actually like to see it too Naruto-kun, I've never gotten to see something that ran off steam before."

Naruto opened his mouth to respond and glared at Konan before he sighed and walked up to the device. "Fine, but I'm only doing this cause Robin-chan wants me to."

Konan stopped looking over the organ and watched Naruto curiously to try and get a glimpse of exactly what his devil fruit did. She knew from what Nagato had said that it had something to do with heat but the fact that he was welding meant it must have been really really extreme heat.

She got her answer when Naruto put his hand on the water tank of the organ and his arm dissolved into a medley of reds oranges and yellows and wrapped around the whole tank, heating it so much that even the keys she was touching started warming up. Konan gasped as she pulled her hands back from the keys and looked at Naruto's arm with wide fear filled eyes. Naruto formed his hand back to normal and Nagato was next to her in a second looking over her hands for any sign of burns. When he didn't immediately see any he lightly tapped on the organ himself and found it was warm but not scalding. "Phew you scared me for a second Konan, I though Naruto-san accidentally burned you."

"I didn't did I? I thought I kept the heat nice and even and low." Naruto asked with a frown of concern as he took a step towards her.

Konan flinched back for a second before she stopped herself and closed her eyes. A deep breath later she opened them and smiled up at the two boys and shook her head at Naruto. "Gomen Naruto-san, you didn't burn me I just got startled that's all. I wasn't expecting you to be able to change your body like that."

Naruto blinked for a moment before he accepted the reason and smiled brightly "Oh yea, it is pretty surprising isn't it. Hehe my bad, I should have warned you. "Alert alert total awesomeness incoming please be prepared" or something right? Anyway sorry about scaring you like that, on the bright side though the organ is all filled up if you want to give it a try, I call next though!"

"Ehem, I think I should go next Naruto-san I was the one who acted as the brains for all the repairs."

"In the sense of fairness Nagato-san I feel I should be the one to go next. Both of you have had a turn already."

"Oh yea? Well that may be Robin-chan but I need to be there to show you the ropes and help you figure out how the instrument works, it's a carefully crafted piece of engineering after all."

As their debate continued and the dissonant sound of Konan mashing keys and letting loose whistling roars of steam filled the air none of them noticed two figures by the door run off into the night…

Towards the center of the city.

XxX

AN:

I'm…

I'm…

I'm so very very sorry everyone!

It's been so long since I updated and I can't begin to apologize for it. The only remotely mitigating factor is that fact that this is the third write of this chapter that I've made over the years and I lost the last two to file corruption. The rest of the delay has been writer's block, writer's block, writer's block, the unshakable feeling that I'm really really bad at this whole writing thing, and then writer's block to top it off.

No more though!

The plot has been mapped out and I've decided that I want to see this story continue on and that if I keep second guessing myself it will never happen so from now on I'm going to focus less on worrying about how good my writing is and instead just write.

…

…

…

That said I still need to get better at this so anything anyone notices that doesn't make sense, or any scene that doesn't seem to work please let me know. Really just tell me anything you would change other than the plot. Anything mechanic related though is completely and utterly fair game and is appreciated greatly.

Also I apologize that this chapter didn't really have much in the way of action or anything like, its mostly world building stuff for chapter seven and a bit of a writer's block sledge hammer.

Luckily the next chapter will be the resurgence of the war and the kids will finally get involved in it in earnest.

Also last point, I need some scientific suspension of disbelief as far as the acid gas goes. Yes I know that Fluoroantimonic acid doesn't have a stable gas form, yes I know it most certainly wouldn't be green, and yes I know acids couldn't actually dissolve something like a building in real time. I only added the actual acid name because I though a real world tie in would be fun. In the interest of the story though think of actual Fluoroantimonic acid that injected steroids, ate a bottle of steroids and then drank the steroid filled blood of every other super acid in the world… and was green, because it's not real acid if it isn't green am I right?

Ok I'm done talking now.

~~~~~CHAPTER 5 FIN~~~~~

Thank you for reading, please review if you would be so kind and feel free to pm me about anything.