:: Ascension ::
By Jarik Tentsu

Genre: Action/Adventure/Romance/Angst
Rating: PG-13, but may become R later – Violence, Possible Sex, Course Language, Dark Themes
Description: Naruto leaves Konoha because he has decided he can learn better from a different teacher...Kyuubi!? A new demonic enemy and unlikely allies. Naruto/Sakura, Kyuubi(female, human form)/Sasuke, Itachi/OC and more! NON YAOI/YURI
Beta Reader: Sepanto
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...unfortunately
Author's Note: Once again, sorry for the long wait. I'm not gonna make excuses cause no matter how busy I've been, the main reason I haven't updated was plain laziness. . But anyways, I should be getting more chapters out faster from now on. Sorry to all those ppl who had completely given up on this story, hopefull you're not too pissed off at me. P

Btw, I have a new Beta Reader, Sepanto.

Chapter 5

The Country of Earth was a quiet power. They kept to themselves and didn't join many alliances or wars however they were very powerful. The Hidden Village of Stone, Earth's Ninja Village, was very skilled and powerful. Earth also had a very powerful main army to accompany the nin, made up of fairly skilled swordsmen, archers, artillery and such.

Their ninja had some very powerful techniques. One could turn a person into stone just by touching him, another, could create 'golems' out of stone which were near invincible warriors that were controlled by chakra from the user of the jutsu. If one could master all of Stone's jutsus, they would become one of the most powerful warriors on the planet and didn't even need the use of jutsus from other villages due to the fact that Stone incorporated all aspects of Ninpou into their fighting style. Stealth, battlefield combat, assassination, power attacks, silent attacks, poisons, bodyguard techniques, strategy and a lot more.

And this made it the perfect target for the Akatsuki.

Itachi and Kisame climbed stealthily through the rocky forest terrain. They couldn't just waltz in like they had done with Konoha and Grass because security in Stone was nearly the best in the world and for some reason; the security had heightened in the last few months. Any stranger without a passport was immediately taken into custody and if they tried to resist, even verbally, they were executed on the spot.

It was a risky attack, to try to break into one of Stone's most protected vaults and steal the Scroll of Seals, but it was worth it. The rewards would be limitless.

Itachi made a gesture and they stopped moving. Footsteps were heard coming from down the road. Itachi and Kisame hid behind a tree and kept silent, they barely dared to breath. There was a pause, and then the footsteps continued moving, getting softer and softer as they went away. They both get to their feet again. That had been close-

SMASH!!!!

The tree behind them exploded as a stone fist smashed the wood. The two missing-nin jumped out of the way to avoid it. They looked up to see a large stone humanoid creature staring down at him with rock eyes. So this is a legendary golem technique...interesting... Itachi activated his sharingan and Kisame brought his samehada (shark skin) sword to bear.

"What is your business here, trespassers?" An icy voice came from behind them. Itachi shifted his gaze to see a Stone jounin looking at him. The resemblance between him and the golem were uncanny. Both were strong and both shared the same stony gaze.

"None of yours." Came Itachi's reply.

"Very well." Then he charged at the two. Itachi jumped out of the way just to be smashed on his back by the golem. He gasped as he smashed into the ground, his back burning with pain. He heard a shout as Kisame met the same fate. Activating his sharingan he rolled out of the way, to dodge another attack from the stone beast.

Surveying the scene with his new red eyes, he noticed how the technique worked. The golem was made up of more than one rock, being held together by chakra which was linked to the Stone-nin. The fact that it was made up of multiple rocks made it able to move around however, the chakra was directly linked to the stone nin, meaning that the stone nin probably was controlling the golem with his chakra, as opposed to the golem having its own thought and its own chakra. The concentration and multitasking ability required must've been enormous. The Stone-nin would have to fight in two bodies at once, one body needed to be controlled by chakra, which by itself took a fair bit of concentration too. But it also meant that the technique had a weakness.

From what he had seen so far, the Stone-nin had used both his body and the golem as a team. It would no doubt be easier to use two bodies in one battle rather than two bodies in two separate battles. It would be like writing a sentence on a scroll with one hand and making dinner with the other hand. It would be a lot harder to multitask if he was fighting a different person than the golem.

"Kisame, fight the Stone-nin, I'll fight the golem." Itachi said.

Kisame nodded and then attacked with his sword at the ninja's head, who dodged out of the way and threw a small throwing knife shuriken at Kisame, who also dodged out of the way only to bump into a hard rock. His eyes widened as he realized that he had knocked into the stone golem. The stone creature lifted a fist.

This is where I break his style! Itachi then unsheathed his sword and slashed at the ninja, who jumped out of the way of the obvious attack. Itachi gave a smirk as he noticed that the golem had a delayed reaction. It only attacked after the ninja had moved into safety, which gave Kisame enough time to roll out of the way.

Kisame gave a grin as he too caught onto Itachi's plan. They both moved into their stances and prepared to take the Stone-nin down.

The enemy ninja was clenching his teeth, undoubtedly understanding that he had lost the fight. He looked around for possible escape routes, but found none. Protocol had one solution for this situation.

He began to gather chakra in the stones of the golem's body. Rocks are hard, yet brittle. They are not very good at storing energy within their dense surface. The chakra inside built up at incredible rates. Of course, there was no reaction visibly, the golem didn't start to glow or anything like that, just stood stationary. He continued to pour chakra into the rocks.

"KISAME!! GET DOWN!!!" Itachi shouted, his sharingan eyes noticing the energy building up.

The two missing-nins dived behind another rock just to avoid the flying debris of small rocks being propelled at super high speeds. Following it was a burst of chakra, as hot as fire, incinerating anything flammable. If it hadn't been for Itachi's bloodline limit, they would both be dead. But now it was apparent why the leader of Akatsuki wanted the Scroll of Seals so badly. Just one of the Stone-nins was so powerful that they could fight two Akatsuki at once for some time. And there was no hesitation when the stone-nin had sacrificed himself to attempt to kill the enemy. They were obviously trained well. If this was the strength of one jounin, then how would they fare against Stone's strongest?

"Let's move." Kisame said.

Itachi gave a nod and they began moving to their destination, more quickly this time, no doubt setting off alarms as they moved, but now their goal was just to steal the Scroll and leave as quickly as possible. The Scroll of Seals was in a secluded place in the forest. They came out into a large opening with a temple in the middle. It should have been guarded by 4 elite Stone-nin, but the Uchiha could see none. He gave a frown, but kept his thoughts to himself.

They moved into the temple and were approached three Stone-nin. Itachi continued moving, unsheathing his katana and slashing hard. It cut cleanly through the Stone-nin's flesh as if it were a kitchen kife cutting through cheese. Blood splat over the ground as guts spilled out of the cut. He looked up to where Kisame had taken out the other two with one slash.

Something was definitely wrong. They had just met a nightmare of a ninja before and now the 'elites' were even weaker than some of the Chuunin in Konoha? What was wrong?

Kisame had similar thoughts too and was as confused as he was.

The two calmly walked towards the alter and looked at where the Scroll of Seals was...

...or should have been.

"Kuso! A trap!" Kisame cursed as Stone nin surrounded him. These were the pros; they showed no openings and no emotions. There was no easy escape.

The two missing nin pulled out their weapons and moved into position, back to back. They had underestimated this village. Badly.

Not only did the Stone village have really powerful Ninja, but they had plans in place for any situation. There were three possibilities: One, there was a traitor among the Akatsuki who had told Stone that Itachi and Kisame were coming, thus the Stone had formulated a trap to catch them. This was unlikely because even though Akatsuki were made of criminals, when it came to betrayal, Itachi knew none of them would do it. Second possibility was that the Stone had discovered them when they sneaked into the village or when the golem had self destructed. If so, it meant that the Stone ninja were VERY fast and effective. Third possibility was that this trap was permanent. They put out misinformation about the guards and the Scroll of Seals while having a trap awaiting any intruders. But did Stone really have the manpower to have such powerful ninjas waiting JUST to guard the scroll of seals?

An amused laughter was heard through the room. Itachi's Sharingan eyes moved to the owner of the laugh and widened in surprise.

Orochimaru, one of the three Sannin of Leaf, missing-nin, ex-Akatsuki and Snake user stood there, a smirk on his scarred face.

"What are you doing here, traitor." Itachi said in a low level, menacing voice. Traitor could have meant for leaf and for Atatsuki. Both were valid since Itachi also came from Leaf.

"More to the point, what are YOU doing here?" He said with a smirk and produced a large Scroll from behind his back making the Sharingan user narrow his blood red eyes. "Trying to steal this, are you?" The snake-man gave a cold laugh. "You aren't going to be able to get it. You can't escape this many Elite Stone-nin, especially with me and my handpicked bodyguards around. I was surprised when I heard that someone had entered this Temple, but I knew straight away that only Akatsuki could have penetrated the defences Earth has set up."

So that means it's the third possibility since he only found out when I penetrated the temple. That means that Stone has a bigger army than anyone thought of. Itachi thought, his thoughts darkening. This is bad.

"What do you want?" Itachi said, with an emotionless expression.

"Join me. I can give you power after I take over the world. Lots of it. I will crush the other entire pitiful village as they attempt to fend my Empire off. But they won't succeed. You've already seen the standard of a strong Stone Jounin. And you have yet to see the might of Earth's main army. As well as all my missing-nin warriors. Anyone who stands in my way will be killed. It would be foolish to do so." Orochimaru said in the typical 'I'm an evil dude revealing my plot now'.

Itachi just smirked. "Pitiful." He said with a chuckle, Orochimaru hardened his gaze. "You cling to life desperately. Only reason you can even fight is because of that stupid forbidden technique of yours. Don't deny it; while you were in the Akatsuki, we helped you perfect it. You are weak. By the time my brother becomes a Jounin, he could kill you. So could that Kyuubi kid."

"Kill them." was Orochimaru's command.

"MANGEKYOU SHARINGAN!!" Several of the Stone-nin fell to the ground, screaming and clutching their heads. This was the REAL Mangekyou Sharingan. What he had used on Sasuke and even on Kakashi had been a weak, cut down version of the technique. But what he was using now was the fully powered version. Those that fell to the ground had suffered more pain and suffering than most had in a lifetime. They were affected by pain that wasn't affected by physical limitations.

They lost their minds.

Everything, conscious and subconscious. Without the subconscious to give out commands such as making the heart beat and such, their bodies just died away. This was the true power behind the Uchiha's most deadly technique which only Itachi perfected.

He had never let anyone see this technique and live. Those who lived only suffered from a milder version of Mangekyou Sharingan. Even at those lower levels, the technique appeared very powerful, but it was still down playing the real ability. Orochimaru had no doubt trained these ninja mentally, so they were able to continue after such mental pain without it leaving any trauma in their heads.

The element of surprise was indeed the best talent of a Ninja.

Orochimaru hadn't expected something like this. He was staring in shock as some of his best warriors fell without a fight. He clenched his fist. "Don't look at his eyes! Take him out."

But the damage had been done. If the Stone-nin had known about Itachi's true ability, they could have closed their eyes and fought, which would make it a completely different situation. But no matter how powerful they were, the real power of the Mangekyou Sharingan killed them before they could fight back. The two Akatsuki used the confusion to escape into the darkness, barely escaping the clutches Orochimaru.

Itachi had only one thought going through his mind. I failed... It was the closest he had ever been to death for a long time. He'd have to warn the rest of his group about Orochimaru. He was a lot stronger than he seemed...

Naruto ran down the path through the forest. The lush green of trees and bushes filled with all kinds of wildlife rushed passed him. Birds, animals, insects. Not disturbed by humanity. Something as beautiful and untouched as this landscape would never be found in a place even close to where humans occupied it. Undoubtedly in a few years, this place would be discovered, cut down and built into a large city which was beautiful in its own way.

Naruto hadn't realized how much he preferred this over Konoha. It wasn't that he didn't love Konoha or anything, he just felt like he 'fitted' in here. In Konoha, he felt like an outsider, always getting cold stares or being laughed at. Save for a few. Here, he felt like he was respected well. He had his 'family' of Blaze and Flame. It was a beautiful place which he had come to call 'home'.

Even though he ran on two feet; he resembled a fox, which seemed fitting for his 'condition'. Maybe that was why he preferred this place. Even though he was a human, he still had some of Kyuubi's fox instincts in him, which made him feel closer to nature.

Blaze ran happily with him, keeping up to the ninja's speed easily. Naruto's 'brother' was thoroughly enjoying himself. Jumping against the wind, letting it flow through his fur giving pleasurable sensations through its body. He had also begun looking up to Naruto as kin, as an older brother. And being like younger brothers are, they always wanted to be like their sibling. Blaze loved watching Naruto train, and even more so when he could join in. He wanted to grow up to become a fearless warrior like Naruto or Kyuubi.

Strangely enough, Blaze actually seemed closer to Naruto than Kyuubi while Flame was closer to Kyuubi. Both were female kitsunes and both had a younger person to take care of. They would instinctively have a friendship. The only difference was, Flame was very protective of Blaze while Kyuubi wanted to make Naruto a strong fighter, even if it meant that the blonde haired genin would get hurt along the way. She did care for her host, but did see the importance of being trained in harsher environments. Wars weren't caring, so training shouldn't be either. And in the end, they were both mature female hunters while Blaze and Naruto were still young.

They were on their morning run. Naruto found it an easy task now. He didn't get any pains and got faster and further every day. Blaze loved joining in as well, 'training' with his 'adopted' brother.

They reached the end of their run to come to a halt in a clearing. Blaze fell to the ground with a thump, breathing heavily, his underside visibly rising and falling.

Naruto on the other hand wasn't panting at all, rather just taking a few large breaths and then moving back to his normal breath pace, not feeling exhausted at all, in fact, feeling pumped to start with the real training.

He started his work out. Push ups, pull ups, sit ups, calf raises, squats were just some of the exercises he did. He continued until his muscles felt like they would fall off after a good two hours.

After that, he lay back for a while, letting the pain all around his body subside then had some lunch, which was fairly light, consisting of some fruits and vegetables.

Then he continued his daily routine, moving into his taijutsu styles. Going through forms and routines, then practicing reflexes. At the end, Kyuubi would always teach him a few new techniques for his hand-to-hand combat.

Moving from there, they went to jutsus. Despite the fact Naruto believed they were useless, they started practicing all their techniques, starting from very simple Academy level jutsus like Buushin, which Kyuubi made him perfect, to some of the extremely powerful ones Kyuubi had taught him.

As the day neared the end they had dinner, which was heavy, meat mainly. Just before sleep, they would always go over strategies and tactics. As Kyuubi always said, even though Naruto had strokes of brilliances, usually, he was tactically weak.

Never use your most powerful attack in a fight. Try to take out the enemy as quickly and efficiently as possible without revealing techniques you can fall back later as a last resort. Kyuubi said. When traveling, never let your guard down. In fact, never let your guard down, period. But while on a mission or traveling, you have to be especially careful. Travel with your team, but the 'Naruto' traveling with them should be a powerful shadow clone. Another clone should be a kilometer or so in front of you, scouting the area. Another behind you, watching for stalkers. And a few scouring the bush for attackers. The real you should hide somewhere unseen. This gives you warning of an attack, and any attacks that may surprise you will only kill a shadow clone, which means they lose the advantage. Also remember, you're all about becoming Hokage and being all public eye and stuff. That's bad. If you're famous, then you can't surprise people. If someone saw Jiraiya or one of the legendary Sannin walking passed, they would choose a weaker target because they know they don't stand a chance. If they see a weakling, they attack and the weakling ends up to be super strong, then they could gain some valuable secrets.

Those were the types of things Naruto learnt during strategy. After many long debates, Naruto finally gave up his dream to become Hokage. Kyuubi had convinced him that the Hokage wasn't the best ninja in the village, rather the best leader in the village. Hokage's rarely fought, most of the time they sat in their offices planning attacks and doing admin work for the village. This definitely wouldn't interest Naruto and he finally gave in. It was a big moment in Naruto's life, his biggest dream he had was replaced by another one.

To be the best ninja he could be. To protect those that he wanted to. To destroy those that he wanted to.

To be able to say "I will beat you." And actually carry it out, no matter who the enemy was. To be able to protect his friends from any and all dangers they would face. To be one of the best ninja in the world, a ninja that was only acknowledged by those that mattered:

His friends, his teacher and himself.

.
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Shibuki, the leader of the Village of Falls, stood in front of the Great Tree. Situated in the middle of the forest of Falls, it towered over all the other trees, its trunk thicker than twenty houses and its leaves bigger than a person. Nothing would be able to cut or destroy the tree, no matter how powerful. No one knew how long the Great Tree had been in existence, all they knew was that once every hundred years, it produced an unknown substance dubbed the 'Hero Water'. This special liquid seemed to have the ability to increase the chakra of the drinker tenfold. No one knew why it did that and there was no one in Falls who was smart enough to actually work it out, but nevertheless, it was used by falls to protect the small village.

It had been a century since the last time the 'Hero Water' had been produced and thus, the tree had shown the signs of preparing to produce the water. When one of the children of the village had come to him running, saying that the tree was glowing, Shibuki had grabbed the first bottle he could find and come running.

Now he stood before the humungous tree with his two most trusted and most powerful warriors. They both looked slightly nervous but excited at the same time. It wasn't everyday that they got to witness the legendary tree producing the biggest secret of their village. It was indeed a life experience. Nevertheless, they kept to their duty and had their eyes looking for any possible signs of ambush. If someone got a hold of the 'Hero Water' then their enemy could crush them and their allies. It was definitely not something they were keen about.

The part of the tree which was glowing suddenly became brighter. Any warrior there who could manipulate chakra could feel the intense life force of the tree exploding from it. It all began to focus in a single point where the bark was glowing yellow. The yellow turned to a bright, powerful red. Everyone was staring wide eyed and the air was tense.

Heavy winds began to pick up around the tree, generated by the intense chakra field around it. Plants around the tree began accelerated growth at an unbelievable rate, the chakra helping them. Small stems became trees in front of their very eyes. The most healthy looking trees they had ever seen, rich with green leaves and fruit.

The bark suddenly burst open and thick sap oozed out of the bark. The sap was full of rich chakra and he could try to contain it in the bottle, but according to all the scrolls that had been left behind for future leaders, explaining how to collect the 'Hero Water' said that the red sap was too powerful for a human body and the warrior's body would literally explode before it could even be used in a fight. So Shibuki waited, observing the next phase of the process that created the weapon known as 'Hero Water'.

The red liquid substance moved down the tree until it fell into a pond of pure water. It began to dissolve, mixing with the water. Strangely enough, the water didn't turn red; in fact, it seemed to turn even more pure and sparkled with brilliance. Shibuki stepped forward and put his hand into the water and then pulled it out. He flicked it at a plant, tiny droplets hitting its leaves and branches. In a magnificent display showing the power of the 'Hero Water', the plant grew massive in a few seconds, and then died. Very similar to how it affected warriors by giving them strength for a short time, but rewarding them with death afterwards.

He lowered the bottle into the water, which was already starting to lose its potency. The bottle itself was not a normal glass object. Fields of chakra kept the potency of the 'Hero Water' at its full potential so it could last 100 years without becoming useless and reverting back to ordinary water. No one knew how long ago the bottle had been created and by which leader it had been made. The bottle was nearly unbreakable, to prevent accidents by clumsy people and despite its appearance, was not an ordinary bottle.

The pure water filled the chakra reinforced glass bottle until it was full. Shibuki made sure it was as full as it could possibly be then carefully put the cork in. He gave a smile and lifted the bottle into the air into triumph…

…and then it disappeared…

Shibuki's eyes widened in surprise and horror. It had been taken!

A scream was heard behind him.

The leader of the Hidden Village of Falls spun around to see his two bodyguards being eaten by an unnaturally massive snake. Shibuki charged at the snake, but was hit back into the trunk of the Great Tree. His muscles felt like they were going to burst and pain coursed through his veins. He struggled to keep himself conscious. Who was strong enough to hit the strongest ninja in the village to near death with one hit?

He looked up to see two figures. His attacker had grey hair and glasses and his arms had a blue tint on them as chakra covered them. The grey haired man was standing in a stance, ready to protect the other figure who had a pale face and an evil smirk placed upon his lips. Recognition dawned upon Shibuki's face. He had seen that face somewhere before. The 5th Hokage had shown him a picture and warned him. Warned him of one of the three legendary sennin turned traitor, one of the worst threats of the time.

Orochimaru.

In Orochimaru's hand, the bottle of 'Hero Water' was held. All that power in the hands of someone evil. Shibuki shook his head, it would be hell. Orochimaru shouldn't be allowed to keep the bottle. Naruto had taught him about bravely. Not to be selfish but to think about the bigger picture. To charge into a fight knowing you would die to protect those you cared about. Those that trusted you.

Shibuki clenched his fist and looked down at the pool still full of half potent 'Hero Water'. It would not be as strong as the fully potent 'Hero Water', but there was a lot of it. If he gulped down as much as he could have, he would undoubtedly become very powerful and would be able to take down Orochimaru.

And share the same fate as his father.

Death.

He clenched his fist even tighter. It would be for a good cause. Saving the world, his allies, his village…

Those he cared about.

He gave a smirk, his eyes full of determination.

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, a daring smirk still plastered on his lips.

Shibuki dived into the pool of water and gulped down bucket loads, as much as he could before his stomach felt like it would burst then jumped out. Chakra burst around him, the power of it now shown by its visibility to the naked eye. The grey haired man tensed up a bit, but Orochimaru still held the same smirk, in fact he seemed amused.

I'll show him! Shibuki thought angrily as he charged forward at incredible speeds. He stopped his attack and jumped to the right as his first attack had been a feint. But his target had not reacted at all! Either his opponent was weaker than he thought or a lot, lot stronger. Shibuki shook his head and came in for his main attack. He gathered chakra into his fist and punched Orochimaru as hard as he could. As his fist made contacted he made the chakra explode. The result was a massive bang followed by a massive ball of flame and dust twenty metres wide.

Shibuki jumped back at a safe distance away from the explosion, breathing heavily. Pain filled his muscles as the side effects of the chakra became apparently. He felt everything inside him begin to die. He gave a wry smile. He was definitely going to die, but at least he had killed one of the most feared men of his time…

He gave a smile thinking of his family, friends, villagers…Naruto…

His smile began to fade, replaced by a face of pure horror. The dust had cleared to reveal an untouched Orochimaru whose smirk had become even bigger.

"H-How?!" Shibuki stammered in disbelief and dismay.

The grey haired man gave a chuckle. "Boy, that 'Hero Water' of yours increases your chakra by tenfold. Orochimaru's original chakra is a few hundred times your chakra and a he's a better ninja than you. Chakra only counts for a small portion of your fighting strength. In other words, you are going to die and the world will be ours-I mean his." Kabuto quickly corrected himself at Orochimaru's glare.

"NEVER!" Shibuki screamed. "As long as I have courage, I can beat you. That's what Naruto told me." He said and then charged forward.

"Naruto eh?" Kabuto said with a smirk. "You must be pretty stupid, to believe a weakling like him." Then at unbelievable speeds, Shibuki found himself halted, a kunai held by Kabuto in his chest. Blood began to spread as it was absorbed by Shibuki's clothes. Kabuto pulled out the kunai and wiped the blood of it and put it in his pouch.

Orochimaru gave a nod, acknowledging Kabuto's good work, and then turned around to face the leader of this operation who had silently come upon the three ninja of which only two were remaining. "Keep all other villages from finding out about the change in government here." He said slowly with a warped smile. "Tell any messengers the newfound secrecy here is because of the 'Hero Water' appearing at the tree again. Any spies, kill them. Set this place up as a fortress and start training. This place is very close to Leaf."

"Orochimaru-sama." The leader said and then disappeared into the trees.

"Kabuto." The grey haired nin stepped forward with a bow. "You're in charge of the next operation. Gather a team of scientists and find out how this 'Hero Water' is made. Make me an artificial substitute that is easy and cheap to make. Use any means necessary without interfering with my grander plan."

"Yes Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto said. He smirked at this, imagine if every ninja under Orochimaru had enough 'Hero Water' to last them a fight. It would kill them, but it would mean they would become an excellent suicidal army that would destroy any other army while the effects of the water were in effect.

Kabuto was about to leave when he saw some blood fall down Orochimaru's face. Orochimaru seemed to notice too. His master gave an angry snarl. "In my previous state, this would have never have happened. Blast Sarutobi! Even after I've switched bodies, his damn jutsu still affects me!" Orochimaru said.

"Orochimaru-sama, even though your physical attributes have been restored, your chakra systems are yet to-" Kabuto tried to explain.

"Shut up fool! Of course I know why I am considerably weaker now! Now go and start the operation!" Orochimaru ordered looking pretty pissed off.

Kabuto took a deep breath. Sometimes he wondered why he was serving someone weaker than him. But then again, it didn't only take strength to take over the world or to get an army to follow you. Respect was better than fear and Orochimaru had a lot of respect from his subordinates. If Kabuto was to take over, he would only have fear to control his army, which would make them uncontrollable. No, he'd have to serve Orochimaru, but at least when the war was over he would get excellent rewards. He gave a small grin at this.

"Yes Orochimaru-sama."

.
.

We're going to town. Unexpected, blunt and stated.

"NANI!?!?!?!" Naruto exclaimed definitely not expecting Kyuubi to say something like that out of the blue.

I want to work on kenjutsu work. We need a bokken for that. Even though we could make one, it would be better for you to just buy a better made one. Maybe a cheap katana as well. Kyuubi explained.

"Swordsmanship? Why would I need to do that? Kenjutsu is outdated and useless! I don't know why it was made up in the first place!" Naruto said crudely.

History lesson. Kyuubi said which was followed by a groan. Shut up a listen. Hundreds of years ago, the main method of combat was swords and archery. Battles usually had thousands of people on each side, most of which died. The smaller clans didn't stand a chance against the bigger ones just by brute force. That's where ninja came in. They were originally trained for assassinations and ambushes. To be able to take out entire armies before the enemy knew what was going on. For a while, ninja became deadly and were feared, but as times went on, the bigger enemies also trained ninja for defense and offence, eliminating their use. So scientists on both side researched the manipulation of chakra to a higher extent and found out that by manipulating it in certain ways, deadly techniques could be made. This is where jutsus came from.

After many years, normal kenjutsu became useless. What was the use of slicing off someone's head if you could just use a fire element jutsu on him and nine of his comrades at the same time? Ninja became the main method of warfare as samurai seemed to only be on the battle field to die. Naruto looked skeptic but Kyuubi continued.Nevertheless, I did say normal kenjutsu. When people mix up kenjutsu and chakra techniques, you can get a very dangerous warrior. I mentioned before that the most powerful ninja try to avoid chakra consuming techniques, but relying on taijutsu all the time can be hard. However, having a very powerful katana, enhanced by chakra and blending your taijutsu, ninjutsu and kenjutsu together, you can become a powerful warrior. The examiner of the preliminaries was definitely a sword user, I could tell. Sasuke's brother, Itachi also uses swords and he's one of the most dangerous men alive.

Naruto yawned. "How do you know so much about human history anyway?"

I used to study a lot. Kyuubi replied dryly. So anyway, prepare to leave for Tenka.

"Tenka?"

The town you fool. Kyuubi snapped. "Oh and Blaze, I can see you, you can't come. A human settlement is no place for a young kit." He said using Naruto's voice.

"Awww." Blaze wined as the kit came out from the bushes where he'd been hiding. "Why can't I come?"

Naruto grinned and grabbed Blaze and started stroking the young fox. "Hey Kyuu-chan! Why can't he come?"

"Because, Naruto, most humans would kill a fox on sight. Especially if it was seen in town." Kyuubi said harshly through Naruto. "Wouldn't want to end up like the rest of your family, would you Blaze?"

Kyuubi immediately regretted it. Blaze stiffened and he looked hurt and sad. The kit wandered off, his ears low and his body shaking.

"Now why the hell did you say the last part, damned fox!?" Naruto asked angrily. "You probably wouldn't know shit about losing a family you love. So stop bringing it up in front of Blaze! Stupid nine-tails…"

Kyuubi remained silent.

If only you knew, Naruto…if only you knew…

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"Today you will be going on an A rank mission." Tsunade said calmly.

There was a few murmurs and excited glances exchanged before the ninja standing in front of her.

"No employer, we're doing his for Konoha. For the mission Teams 7, 8 and 10 will be working as one team. Three jounins, six chuunin and one genin – 10 ninja overall." Ino went a bit red at the last part, being the only genin there. Tsunade continued. "Orochimaru's forces have become a lot more powerful. He is preparing to strike at Ka, one of Fire's cities situated in the north. You are to defend against the attack and neutralize as many enemies as possible. Try to take a few prisoner if you can as well. You will also have approximately one hundred third-class swordsmen and archers. They aren't professionals, but can be of use still."

"From our what our intel has gathered, Orochimaru will be striking with fifteen ninja of weaker skill and about one hundred and fifty swordsmen of unknown skill. This may seem like a lot, but we also have the advantage of knowing the terrain and being in defense. However, our intel has also gathered that Orochimaru has made a 'secret weapon' of sorts which he will be using in this battle. Be wary. Good luck." Tsunade said and gave a small bow.

"Yes Hokage-sama!" Everyone chorused.

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"RAMEN!!!" Naruto shouted in joy, all previous anger at Kyuubi forgotten.

They had arrived in the town of Tenka. It was fairly small, though still bigger than Konoha, which was just a ninja village. It was filled with merchants and such, all trying to interest travelers going to Stone.

Naruto sat down on the stool at the bar, wolfing down his ramen by the mouthful. It was no where as good as the ramen back at Konoha, but after so many months without ramen, it tasted like the best thing in his life.

Nevertheless, Naruto had changed. Even though he was very enthusiastic about his ramen, he still made quick checks for poison as Kyuubi had taught him, at the same time scanning the shop briefly with his kunai in easily accessible positions, his mind racing, inventing various scenarios of using the terrain to his advantage. And all of this was done while he was gulping down bowls of ramen at a time.

Everyone in the store was sweatdropping at the young stranger's appetite.

"Another one please." Naruto said, a big grin upon his face which caused some people to nearly faint.

"Umm sir, we're out. You've eaten all our stock. We don't even have enough ingredients to make more." The owner said in awe.

This caused a disappointed groan from Naruto and a few angry remarks by other customers.

"Ah. Ramen, the most beautiful thing in life." Naruto said grinning as he walked out of the store.

That's pathetic…Ramen is all you think about…pfft... Kyuubi snorted.You're going to have to keep a lower profile if we are to come here more. Remember, ninja are people who don't stand out in a crowd and are without personality. If someone from Konoha comes here and asks for a boy who loves ramen, it's obvious who they'll think of.

Aww, Kyuu-chan, you're no fun. Naruto thought back with a grin.

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"Weapons such as these are not meant for kids." The old man who owned the weapon shop said bluntly.

Naruto was attempting to purchase a bokken and a katana. The katana was a fairly cheap one made by an unknown blacksmith and while it may not last very well and would chip easily, it was good enough for training. However, when he had gone to the old man and asked to buy it, even though he did have the money, the old man had refused to sell a 'dangerous' weapon to an 'unskilled' and 'irresponsible' child who was 'obviously' trying to just 'show it off to his friends'.

"Hey old man! I'll let you know I'm a shino-" Naruto started but was cut off.

DISCRETION!!! Don't tell him you're a shinobi! Tell him your from a Samurai clan and your parents want you to learn kenjutsu! Kyuubi said in his mind.

"I'll have you know my parents are Samurai and they want me to learn the noble art of kenjutsu for traditional reasons!" Naruto said in a very 'dignified' tone.

The old man raised an eyebrow. "Well it's good to know SOME people are still keeping their traditions. And here I thought most Samurai clans either just left their traditions alone or became Ninja. Never did like 'em ninja…never were as graceful as the Samurai…" He trailed off. "Well anyway, if you have the money and are doing it for a noble reason such as restoring the Samurai traditions, I guess I'll sell it to you."

Naruto paid for it and then held it in his hand. It felt strange to carry a katana as he was used to carrying lighter weapons. Kunai as his primary and secondary weapons and Hira Shuriken (Shaken/Ninja Stars) as his tertiary weapons. He held the bokken and katana then walked out of the shop.

"Hey kid! What's your name?" The old man said.

Hmm…use the family name of Takami, a small Samurai family that lives in the Country of Fire. If he tries to research into you, he won't find anything that suggests you lied. Pick a first name, quick.

"My name is Akira Takami." Naruto replied confidently.

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"Orochimaru-sama. I have completed your task." Kabuto said with a smirk.

"Really? That was fairly fast. You impress me even known Kabuto. Give me a demonstration." The pale faced man said.

Kabuto pulled out a flask that contained a liquid that just looked like plain water. "Here it is Orochimaru-sama. A successful chemical copy of the famed 'Hero Water'. It appears that there's a chemical compound in the drink that reacts with the blood in a persons body. The result is a small amount of hostile chakra energy that flows through the chakra stream. This chakra doesn't actually add to ones chakra per say, rather, it systematically opens each of the 8 gate chakra limiters that are usually opened during the technique "Primary Lotus". Due to the fact that it is hostile chakra, the own chakra of the person who has recently had the 'Hero Water' added to their system will slowly destroy the hostile chakra, so the more that is drunken, the more gates are opened. It takes 3mL of the substance to open all 8 gates, but it still needs to be mixed with a dilute, such as water. It's safest to drink where 99 of the solution is water and only 1 is the compound, otherwise it is digested to quickly and the sudden burst of hostile chakra actually destroys the meridians in ones body. The water slows the digestion process so it can slowly be added into the blood stream. Since it opens the 8th gate, it's very doubtful one could survive."

"Interesting." Orochimaru said with a hint of amusement. "It is disappointing that the effect of using Primary Lotus and drinking the Hero Water cannot overlap, otherwise we could make even a weak shinobi stronger than Jiraiya or Tsunade."

Kabuto nodded. "You are correct. Since they both essentially do exactly the same thing, doing both will just destroy your body."

"Well I guess it can't be helped." Orochimaru said. "I want you to mass produce this for our small army heading towards Ka. We can test how effective this really is in battle there. You may tell the soldiers about the side effect of their drinks. We can see who really is loyal and who's not."

"Yes sir!" Kabuto said. "One more thing, I was thinking of 'absorbing' a neighboring country to Stone. It's a small piece of land, but in a good tactical position. It poses no threat and has no ninja force of its own and has a very small defense army that's just made up of a few old Samurai who have settled down and have probably never even seen a battle. It doesn't have much economical power, so no one would really care about defending it. It only really has one city that could be taken by about ten of our Ninja, although I would suggest sending five backup, just incase."

"The name of this country and city?"

"Tenka, of the Country of Sky."

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