A/N: Important Notice: From this chapter forth, the chapters of The Toad Sages Apprentice will be written by Senju Naruto. I Understand that this may be disappointing to many of my fans. It was in the interest of seeing the story complete that I made the decision to hand over my first story. I just felt that I couldn't continue after such a long hiatus. I also felt the quality of the writing early on was so bad that should I decide to return to The Toad Sages Apprentice, I would have wanted to do a complete rewrite but at the same time I'm too lazy for that, lol.

Now without further word please enjoy Senju Naruto's continuation of my first Fan Fiction.

Chapter 98: Battlefield

(Allied Forces HQ)

"They did WHAT!?" screamed an outraged A.

"According to Jiraiya-sama, Naruto-san, Yugito, and Killer Bee left to go to join the third company's battlefield all at the same time." Mabui answered the enraged Raikage.

"What was Naruto thinking? I expected more out of him." Tsunade said more to herself more than anyone else, but the others still heard her.

"I got a better question. How were they able to slip past Jiraiya's vigilance?" A asked, still angered by what Naruto and Yugito did.

"According to Jiraiya-sama, they fooled him through the use of a Bunshin." Mabui answered.

"Figures; they would use Naruto's favourite technique to bypass Jiraiya-sama." Nara Shikaku said tiredly.

"I guess so, but something like this cannot go unwarranted. They ought to be punished." Tsunade said, despite not liking it, they had to do it.

"That's what Jiraiya-sama said in his message…he said he had already picked out the perfect punishment." Mabui said.

"What did that pervert pick?" Tsunade asked.

"He said that he wanted to use them for, and I quote, 'research' for his latest book." Mabui answered, putting up air quotation marks with her fingers when she said the word research.

"How is that punishment?" A asked, despite knowing about Jiraiya's pervert tendencies, he did not fully understand why Jiraiya would call being used for his books' research as punishment.

Tsunade seemed to trace A's line of thought, so she leaned into his ear and whispered something to him. Within seconds A's eyes had gone from being normal to being wide with disbelief over the fact that Jiraiya could be that perverted as to come up with a punishment like that.

"That's harsh…" A said in disbelief.

"Indeed." Tsunade said.

(Battlefield One – Darui's First Company)

The waves of Kaminari no Kuni's coast hit its sandy beaches with some power behind them. The water had been doing so for a while now, as if it could sense that there was a battle that was about to occur there, thus causing it to become impatient.

Currently standing on the shores of the beach was Darui, and behind him were the battalion he had to look out for, and also the ones he had to lead to a (hopefully) victory. They were his men. Men and woman from different nations coming together to fight a common foe; never in his wildest dreams did Darui ever picture something like this ever happening.

All of a sudden the water that had been rapidly crashing onto the beach stilled. This made Darui tense up as he could literally feel his skin crawl, it was a sign as far as he was concerned, one about something wrong happening pretty soon.

As if nature was proving Darui's intuition right, the water started to move again at a similar might like before, but this time something popped out of it. At first it looked like green seaweed, but the seaweed was soon revealed to be attached to something white, after that it was revealed that the white thing that the seaweed was attached to was a head. The head was soon joined by a neck. The neck was joined by a pair of shoulders and then a torso, before finally revealing the body of a complete white Zetsu.

It was not alone however; as it seemed that there were many more White Zetsu that had come with the first one that appeared. The white Zetsu kept rising out of the water like some sort of virus spreading throughout an organism. After a minute or so of this it all stopped.

The two armies looked at each other without moving a single muscle. The white Zetsu floated on top of the water and watched the allied shinobi with their ever present grins; while the allied shinobi forces that made up the first company glared at their would be opponents.

After a minute or so of staring between the two enemy frontiers Darui finally broke the silence when he said, "It's such a drab…I will launch the first shot. The rest of you follow after me!"

The army of men and woman that represented the great five nations plus the Land of Iron roared their support for their general, while also whipping out their kunai. Darui ran through a string of hand seals before he spread his arms out wide and then brought them back together and said, "Raiton: Kuropansa (Lightning Style: Black Panther)!"

Black lightning surged throughout his body before it seemingly leapt off his body and attacked the white Zetsu army. The jutsu fried them badly, and it was made worse by the fact that the white Zetsu army stood on top of water. Water is the best electrical conductor there is, hence why the Black Panther's effectiveness was more than doubled.

"Black Lightning?" questioned a Kumo shinobi in disbelief, having never ever seen something like it.

"Hai," another Kumo shinobi answered, "Darui-taichou is the only one that was commissioned by the previous Raikage to receive a lightning tattoo."

Back on the battlefield scores of white Zetsu cried out in pain as they were fried by the jutsu; but it only managed to get the Zetsu in the front lines. The other Zetsu were able to simply jump out of harm's way, thus dodging the Black Panther.

A Suna-born shinobi within the army of Darui's company looked up to the sky and shouted the obvious; "Look up into the sky!" as if the others had not seen this already.

They all threw the kunai that they had in their hands at the descending white Zetsu army. But within the army of white Zetsu was a surprise. A shinobi threw his kunai at the army of plant-like humanoids, but it was deflected by a shinobi wielding a kunai in his right hand, while he descended down onto the ground.

"Oh no…" the shinobi within the white Zetsu army said, "It's like my worst nightmare has come to life." He had black hair that was connected to his beard, which was of the same colour. He wore the standard Konoha-nin uniform, complete with a Jounin flak jacket and a white sash tied to his right pelvis that had the kanji for FIRE written on it.

Another shinobi that was next to him deflected a kunai that was thrown at him with one of his own and said to the other one, "It's like…no, this is the Great Ninja War." This shinobi also wore the same uniform as the first shinobi, with the only difference being that this shinobi was missing a sash on his get-up. He had long silver grey hair that went down to his rear end.

A second later both shinobi landed on solid ground for the first time since they had attacked the first company, but they were immediately greeted by the presence of Chōza Akimichi carrying his trusted staff with him.

"Asuma-san, Dan-san." The surprised Akimichi said.

"Chōza-san." said Asuma Sarutobi.

The two sides looked at each other for few seconds while battles erupted around them before Dan said, "I see now…you're all grown up now, Chōza."

Chōza immediately shook his head and said, "No Dan-san, I still have a lot more to grow."

At another part of the battlefield, a few shinobi threw a bunch of kunai at a solitary figure. Instead of dodging the kunai assault, the lone shinobi started spinning on the spot he stood upon, with his arms wide while he released chakra through all parts of his body, allowing it to encompass him in a dome-like formation while he also iterated, "Hakke-shō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation)!"

The move resulted in him deflecting all of the kunai while also showcasing that he was a Hyūga by blood, since the move he had just performed could only be done by Hyūga shinobi.

When the Hyūga shinobi stopped spinning he came face to face with a man who stood still, decked out in Konoha shinobi garb, with the inclusion of a bandana on his head, and with his Byakugan flared.

Byakugan stared at Byakugan as Hyūga Hiashi stared at Hyūga Hizashi. The two brothers seeing each other for the first time in over a decade. To Hiashi, his brother looked the same, with the only physical change in Hizashi being that his eyes were now black and brown, instead of the common Hyūga white and grey.

To Hizashi, his elder brother just seemed to be older. That was a definite from his appearance.

"Brother…" Hizashi said with sorrow dripping from his voice.

Hiashi just continued to stare at Hizashi with a flared pair of Byakugan, choosing not to say a word.

"Forgive me…" Hizashi said, speaking once again after the silence between the two siblings, "As a member of the Branch Family, who should be protecting the Main family, I stand here now as your enemy. This must be my punishment for resenting the main family years ago. My body will not do what I tell it to do."

Hiashi once again chose to remain quiet, opting not to say a word to his brother just yet.

"As it is, my decision to choose death for the sake of the village has been negated…" Hizashi continued.

This made Hiashi remember the day Hizashi had chosen to sacrifice himself for the sake of the village. He remembered how Hizashi had asked him to tell Neji that he had not been killed simply because he was protecting the main family or the head of the family, but to protect Neji, his siblings, family and the land as well as the village. He asked Hiashi to tell Neji that he chose death by his own free will.

"This is the fate in store for me as a member of the branch family."

Finally, something Hizashi said seemed to strike a chord at Hiashi to force him to speak for the first time since their unfavourable reunion, "There is no such fate." Hiashi said while raising his palm facing forward at Hizashi.

"Your son has fought to demonstrate that! So has my daughter!" Hiashi said with firmness in his voice.

This raised a shocked expression out of Hizashi as he said to himself in thought, 'Neji…and Hinata-sama as well…'

(Meanwhile with the second company)

A white Zetsu was flung back by a powerful blast of chakra, causing said Zetsu to hit the ground hard. The perpetrator was none other than Neji Hyūga, who now stood at the battle field with his palm facing the fallen Zetsu.

"Damn…there's no end to this!" He said through gritted teeth, showcasing his frustration at the seemingly undiminishing army.

Immediately after saying that however a pair of white arms sprung from the ground, and the hands that were attached to the arms immediately clasped around Neji's ankles, immobilising his foot movement. As Neji struggled against the white hands that held him in place, another white Zetsu came from behind him. Neji saw it approaching, but he was incapable of movement right now, thus making him a sitting duck.

Right as it was about to strike, a powerful chakra blast hit that Zetsu and flung it to the side. Neji turned and saw that it was his cousin, Hinata that had saved his life. This allowed Neji the time to hit the ground below him with a chakra enhanced palm strike that sent the other Zetsu that had been holding Neji's ankles down further into the ground, thus eliminating it.

Hinata immediately rushed to stand behind Neji, with her back pressed to his while she said, "Are you alright, Neji-nii-san?"

"Hai…Thank you, Hinata." Neji replied

(Back with the Hyūga Brothers)

"It is no longer about the branch family protecting the main family now. We protect each other as comrades!" Hiashi declared with finality.

"So that time has actually come to pass?" Hizashi said to his brother before closing his eyes.

Still with his eyes closed, Hizashi said, "Then brother…" he said that before he opened his eyes again and said, "This is all the more reason, by your hand that I wish to…"

Hizashi never got to finish his statement as his body automatically moved on its own to attack his brother. Luckily though, Hiashi was prepared, and thus he was able to defend himself from his brother's palm strike with one of his own.

The result of the two palm strikes joining together resulted in a huge wind pressure spreading through the two brothers. It forced both of their long hair's to blow into the wind, with Hizashi's gown also billowing greatly because of the harsh winds; but despite this, both brother's managed to remain rooted in the middle, neither of them moving an inch.

(Meanwhile with Gaara's Fourth Company)

While Gaara's fourth company was in charge of the dessert warfare, there had still to be any warfare for them. Too bad that was about to change.

A few kilometres away from the fourth company, a barren desert would be what many would expect to see from so far out. But that was not the case. A pair of footprints appeared on the sand, soon followed by more footsteps that seemed to be headed forward. The strange thing was that there were no feet that appeared, just footprints that kept heading forward.

Finally though, they stopped, and soon enough the reason why these footprints kept appearing finally revealed itself. It was a man that was heavily bandaged from head to toe. So heavily bandaged was the man that many would consider him to be a mummy.

But this was no mummy…it was the resurrected form of the Nidaime Tsuchikage, Mu.

(Giant's Graveyard)

Back at Giant's Graveyard Kabuto was currently sitting in front of a board that had many lines that criss-crossed each other and it also contained many small, white pebbles. These pebbles represented all of the shinobi he had brought back to life – sort of – with the Edo Tensei.

"Mu is no longer moving. It seems as though he has been detected despite being known as the 'Null Man'." Kabuto said to himself.

Kabuto then played with a few more pebbles that were in his hand before he said, "It will soon be ripe for war. The real fight is just beginning. With this class of shinobi I anticipate big results…"

He then stared down at his board once more for a few seconds before he smirked to himself and said, "I'll let him do as he pleases after the Summoning Jutsu."

He then looked up to the sky, despite it not being visible in the hideout; and just smiled.

(Back With Mu in the Desert)

Mu had been standing still for a few minutes doing nothing. His immobile position was something he had not done out of his own free volition, and neither was what he did next.

Mu ran through a string of hand seals before he placed his left hand onto the ground. Nothing happened at first, but two seconds later the ground rumbled for a slit second or two before three wooden coffins rose out of the sand.

The coffins disappeared and in their place there were three new people.

Back at the hide out Kabuto said their names in manner of appearance.

"Nidaime Tsuchikage, Sandaime Raikage, Nidaime Mizukage, Yondaime Kazekage…too bad we don't have a Hokage. Still, four Kage from history are here." He then laughed inwardly before he said, "I'll just let the Kage and their progeny kill each other off."

Back with the Kage, the three new Kage all opened their eyes and took stock of their surroundings.

"Hmm, where am I?" asked the Sandaime Raikage.

The Mizukage, who was directly next to the Raikage, had an ever-present smile on his face as he said, "My, my…what a gathering of former enemies!"

He then scanned the two men that he knew to be the Nidaime Tsuchikage and the Sandaime Raikage before he turned his attention onto the Yondaime Kazekage and said, "Well, well…I don't know this guy."

The Kazekage just chose to keep quiet and not say who he was just yet.

"This is a foul jutsu of the Nidaime Hokage." said Mu, drawing his equals' attention towards him, "The dead are summoned back from the afterlife and then bound. You were summoned here by force."

"The dead?" asked a now confused Nidaime Mizukage, "What do you mean?"

"Have you forgotten?" Mu said, before walking up to the former leader of Kiri and said to his face, "I killed you myself. You died ages ago, Nidaime Mizukage."

The Mizukage looked confused for a second as he said, "Oh, back then…" that was before something clicked in his head, "Hey wait! You also died that day! In fact, I killed you!" he ended his little tirade by pointing an accusing finger at the Nidaime Tsuchikage.

"Is that so?" the former leader of Iwagakure replied, "Well no matter. Let me continue…where was I?" he said while looking around the gathered former Kage and asked, "Where is the Nidaime Hokage? He's the Jutsu user that resurrected us."

Mu looked up into the sky for a second before he said, "I detected someone several kilometres ahead. One with the same chakra as this new face…along with a huge army." He finalised while looking at the Yondaime Kazekage.

"No doubt you are…" spoke the Sandaime Raikage before his sentence was completed for him by the man he was talking to.

"I am the Yondaime Kazekage. My predecessors have told me all about your exploits." Said the only Yondaime among the gathering of Kage, finally revealing himself to the three men he shared a similar title with.

"So this means that the sand has continued through to the fourth, no, the fifth generation. It feels strange being in the future." said the Nidaime Mizukage.

The Nidaime Tsuchikage immediately replied to his, once, rival's comment about being in the future, "Listen, this is not the future. We're just relics from the past. And don't interrupt me or I'll kill you."

"But I was killed! And I killed you!" the Nidaime Mizukage replied, before he grabbed his rival's bandage wear, while Mu instinctively did the same.

"I was just telling you the story of the Nidaime Hokage who resurrected us…"

This made the former Mizukage let go of the former Tsuchikage with a small shock; it seemed as though what the Tsuchikage had said before was only penetrating his rivals head only now.

The Kazekage just folded his arms while looking at the former Kage and said, "The Nidaime Hokage was long dead by my time. But there was a shinobi who was capable of using the Edo Tensei. A shinobi named Orochimaru."

While the four men spoke amongst themselves, a single eye hovered above them, hidden behind a rock pillar, while the owner of said eye silently said to himself, "Four…and among them is…is father."

(Darui's Company)

Sounds of battle erupted all over the battlefield as dozens upon dozens of white Zetsu were strewn all over, dead. There were sounds of shuriken, kunai and swords clanging all over. The allied shinobi fought against the army of white Zetsu bravely, each shinobi aiming to taking out as many white Zetsu as he could. Fists were being thrown around by both shinobi and white Zetsu, each seeking to gain an advantage over the other.

"Chō Baika no Jutsu (Super Expansion Jutsu)" was heard all over the battlefield. A second later, the larger than life, form of one Chōza Akimichi was seen throughout the battlefield. Chōza then swung his staff, which had expanded with him, down on his enemies, taking down dozens of white Zetsu down in the process.

There was a huge dust cloud that was created thanks to the expanded Akimichi, and a second later Asuma and Dan burst from the dust cloud, running towards the allied shinobi, looking to take out as many as they could…at least that was what their reanimated bodies were programmed for, while they on the other hand, wanted the total opposite.

Down at the water another battle was about to ensue. Darui slowly walked up to his would-be opponents and looked at them in the face. These two were arguably the greatest shinobi Kumo had ever produced. They were stronger than even the likes of the Nidaime Hokage, and they wielded the great tools of the Rikudō Sennin.

They were the gold and silver brothers, Kinkaku and Ginkaku.

"This is pitiful…that we were caught in the jutsu of the Nidaime Hokage, someone whom we have beaten before, huh Kinkaku?" spoke the one with the silver hair.

Before Ginkaku could reply to his brother's statement, Darui interrupted them both and said, "My apologies for embarrassing you, Kinkaku-sama and Ginkaku-sama, once revered as the shining light of Kumo."

"Ginkaku," Kinkaku said, "look at his left shoulder."

Ginkaku did as his brother had told him to do and he looked at Darui's shoulder to see the infamous lightning tattoo the man had.

"It's the kid who's inherited the Sandaime Raikage's lightning. He seems to have some skill."

Darui just looked at the brothers calmly as he said, "I don't mean to disrespect you, but I will have to shame you some more. I may end up taking the shine out of your gold and silver…" before he rose to his fingers in his right hand and pointed it at the brother's, while a smile graced his face, and said, "with one strike of my Ranton (Storm Style)! Even though it's a drab."

Kinkaku and Ginkaku looked on at Darui as if they were trying to judge his character, before Ginkaku said, "I don't like the tone you're using towards your seniors. I'll shut you up!"

"It can't be helped." Kinkaku said to his brother, "It seems a lot of time has passed. No one knows about us anymore."

Darui just continued to look at Kumo's most dangerous partnership with determination etched onto his face. Just as he was about to act two more people joined the fray.

"Samui-san, Atsui." Darui said their names in great surprise.

The duo did not respond to Darui's call, instead Samui spoke to the two brothers that were ahead of them, "If you two truly are the Gold and Silver Brothers we have read about in scrolls, don't talk to me like we are comrades. It's not cool."

Atsui looked at his sister out of the corner of his eyes and said, "Well, well…for someone who's always cool, you're quite hot right now."

He had no idea how weird that sounded…calling your sister hot and all.

In any case, Atsui turned his attention back onto the gold and silver brothers and said, "I sense that you guys are pretty formidable."

Kinkaku just looked at the blonde man for a second before he smirked. The smirk then disappeared, as Kinkaku opened his mouth wide, and started eliciting gag-like sounds. Slowly, but surely, two white objects appeared from within him. The difference was that one was plain white, while another had a tuft of green that appeared out of the end of the other object.

Kinkaku grabbed the one that had a green tuft while Ginkaku grabbed the other one, and then they both proceeded to simultaneously pull the rods out of Kinkaku's mouth. A second later both brothers were holding onto what appeared to be special weapons. Kinkaku held what appeared to be a giant feather duster and he also had a golden glowing rope attached to his left arm, while Ginkaku held what appeared to be a gourd and a rectangular sword that had flame like swirls at each corner.

"Let's do this, Ginkaku." Kinkaku declared to his brother.

"Alright Kinkaku!" replied Ginkaku.

The on-lookers, Samui, Atsui and Darui, were shocked by what they saw.

"What is that?" Atsui asked out loud.

Samui's expression went from shock to understanding as she steeled her eyes and said, "No doubt about it, those are the ninja tools of the Gold and Silver Brothers that were described in the scroll! Four of the five ultimate ninja tools, which Kumo collected long ago."

She then proceeded to look at the golden rope and said, "The Kokinjo binds its victim and squeezes out the victim's spirit word!"

She then looked at the sword in Ginkaku's possession and said, "The Shichiseiken severs and curses that spirit word."

She looked at the gourd next and said, "The Benihisago records the spirit word and seals the speaker within!"

She then looked at the giant feather duster last and said, "The Bashosen conjures up all five chakra natures: Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning and Earth!"

"Sorry to interrupt your lecture sis, but…" Atsui did not need to elaborate any further as white Zetsu sprung up from the water like whack-a-moles. They had work to do.

As the white Zetsu jumped into the air, looking to attack the three Kumo shinobi, Atsui said, "Let me handle this, Kumo-Ryū: Kaengiri (Cloud Style: Flame Slice)!"

Atsui swung his blade once, and almost instantly a flaming circle appeared around the three Kumo shinobi, burning the white Zetsu that were in the air, and some that were in the water.

"Those ninja tools look nasty," Atsui said, before he leapt off into the air, over his own wall of fire, and back onto the water surface, "but ultimately they're just mere tools! They're no match for our ninjutsu that are imbued with the fire within our hot souls!"

Atsui ran towards Kinkaku and Ginkaku with his sword raised high into the air, with Samui running behind him screaming at him to wait up.

"Atsui, wait! Stay cool until I finish!"

Darui scoffed at Atsui's hot headed attitude and ran after him and his sister.

"They talk too much…this is perfect." Ginkaku said with a smirk on his face.

Ginkaku then separated from his brother and said, "I'll take the one in the back!"

"Got it, Ginkaku." Kinkaku said, "Leave the others to me!"

"The nerve of that guy…avoiding someone like me, with a hot fighting spirit, to go for someone like Darui!"

Atsui then landed on the water, in front of a wall of white Zetsu that blocked his path towards Kinkaku, and started slicing the veritable army of white Zetsu as he edged closer to Kinkaku, all the while he said, "Did you think you could avoid my hot-spirited attack with a crowd of bodies!?"

Samui, who was running behind Atsui said, "Pay attention, Atsui! Stay cool and look around you!"

Unfortunately her warning came a bit too late however, as Kinkaku blew the flames that Atsui's sword away with the Bashosen, before he struck Atsui in the face with his Kokinjo shrouded left hand, eliciting a cry of pain from the young man as he stumbled backwards.

"That punch was pretty hot!" Atsui said out loud.

Atsui then proceeded to try a downward slash that was easily dodged by Kinkaku, and while Atsui stumbled forward, Kinkaku kicked him on his back, making the young man stumble forward even more. Samui came from a blind spot and tried to slice the reincarnated shinobi with her tantō, but the man's reflexes were too fast for her to get out of his counter in time when he turned around and backhanded her in her face with the Kokinjo bound left hand.

She silently cursed herself as the blow was struck on her face.

Darui, who had been surrounded by an army of white Zetsu, turned around and spoke to them, "Atsui, Samui! Are you alright?"

He was made to regret taking his eyes of the enemy as Ginkaku got the drop on him.

"Don't look away, Gaki!" Ginkaku shouted whilst he was in mid-air.

Too bad for him though, Darui was not the Raikage's right hand man for no reason, as he was able to turn around quickly and was able to meet Ginkaku's downward slash with the Shichiseiken, by raising his own Zanbatō.

Ginkaku jumped backwards at the same time as Darui, and as Ginkaku tried to slash Darui, the Kumo Jonin was able to manoeuvre himself away just in time to avoid the horizontal slash, too bad a white Zetsu was not so lucky, as it took the slash in Darui's place.

Immediately after cutting the white Zetsu in half, Ginkaku said, "Changes places, Kinkaku!"

"Right Ginkaku." Kinkaku replied.

Both brothers jumped into the air at the same time and switched places with one another.

Darui huffed a little as he said, "Can't I even stop one foe? Forgive me Samui-san, Atsui…"

Meanwhile Ginkaku looked at his new opponents with a smirk and said, "Whoa…I am your opponent this time!"

Atsui, who was holding his stomach and said, "That Kinkaku fellow packed a pretty hot punch! And this time it's Ginkaku, eh?"

Kinkaku just smirked and said, "Squeeze them! Kokinjo!"

The effect was almost instantaneous…Atsui's and Samui's mouth's started bulging, as if they wanted to puke something out. A second later a blue, speech bubble shaped substance escaped from both of their mouths.

"What is that?" asked a slightly scared Darui.

"The Kokinjo in my left hand squeezes out the spirit word of anyone that touches it!"

Almost instantly, Ginkaku rushed in on the brother sister duo and said, "Curse them, Shichiseiken!" while he swung the blade down on the blue substances that came out of Atsui's and Samui's mouths and severed them from the duo, while said duo just leapt backwards.

The two substances floated in the air in a swirling motion. Ginkaku took a look at his sword and saw the words 'HOT' and 'COOL' appear on the Shichiseiken.

Ginkaku then proceeded to smirk for the umpteenth time and shouted, "Record them! Benihisago!"

A strong wind draft made its presence known, and it started pulling the two substances out of the air and into the Benihisago. A second later the substances was sealed away into the gourd.

"Alright, my side is done, Kinkaku." Ginkaku said.

While Samui thought about what the brothers actions implied for her and Atsui, her brother did what he did best, and that was flap his mouth, "That's what you think, you jerks! It's our turn now!"

Before Atsui could say anything else, Samui quickly went behind him and closed his mouth for him by placing her hand on his mouth and said, "Didn't I tell you to let me finish? Now listen…don't say another word."

While Samui had a chat with her eccentric brother, Darui was busy making mince out of the white Zetsu army with his Zanbatō, but he still managed to say, "What do you mean?"

"A curse mark jutsu and a sealing jutsu have been used on us. Our spirit words have been taken hostage." She proceeded to let go of Atsui and walked to his side and continued explaining things to her brother and Darui, "The word we've uttered the most since out birth. If we say that word…we'll be sucked into that gourd and sealed away."

Ginkaku smirked as he said, "You know a lot, don't you?" he then closed the Shichiseiken and said, "It seems the passage of time has revealed a lot of things." He then proceeded to throw the Shichiseiken to his brother, who caught it with the Kokinjo bound left hand and then he opened it.

"The word we have said the most is now forbidden?" Darui did not like the sound of that one bit, "We're not playing some silly word game…so drab…"

Kinkaku pretended not to hear the man and just said to himself while looking at the words etched onto his Shichiseiken, "I see…"

He then closed the sword once again and said, "Bashosen! Scroll of fire!"

The Bashosen released a flaming wave that attacked all three of the Kumo shinobi, although Samui and Darui managed to get out of the way in time, Atsui was not so fortunate as the flames hit him head on, eliciting a loud cry of pain while he said, "H-hot!"

Ginkaku smirked victoriously as Atsui was absorbed into the Benihisago.

"Atsui!" Samui cried out her brother's name in pain after watching him disappear forever.

However, her moment of mourning seemed to be her undoing as Ginkaku came behind her and strangled her.

"There's an old saying that goes 'silence is golden'. The mouth is the source of calamity. Right, Ginkaku?"

"Yeah, Kinkaku." Replied Ginkaku, still strangling the girl, "This is what happens when you can't keep your mouth shut. Words are used to lie. They are merely tools for deceiving people."

Darui calmed down a little and said, "If you make fun of words, Bee will let you have it."

"Bee," Ginkaku said, "Never heard of him. Now, if you move, the girl dies. And I'm not lying."

Was that an attempted pun considering the situation? None-the-less everyone stilled themselves as they processed things and decided upon a course of action, none more so than Darui.

"I'm sorry, Samui-san." Darui said, with his Zanbatō facing down onto the water. Kinkaku tried to take advantage of this by jumping into the air and he tried to gut Darui down the middle, but the Jonin countered at the last second, and he ended up slicing off his left arm, which ironically contained the Kokinjo and the Shichiseiken.

Darui performed a spinning kick on the Kokinjo and ended up kicking it towards Kinkaku with the underpart of his foot, while he ran through a string of hand seals at the same time before ending with the snake seal and said, "Ranton: Reizā Sākasu (Storm Style: Laser Circus)!"

The effect was instantaneous as many blue plasma energy beams shot from Darui's hands and proceeded to go around Samui and strike Ginkaku thanks to its precision ability, while at the same time another beam hit Kinkaku in his right arm, forcing him to let go of the Benihisago.

"Urgh," Samui said as she jumped to Darui's side, "thank you."

"Urgh, God-damn, the bitch countered it." Ginkaku declared out loud to his brother, who joined him a second later, with no left arm, although it soon started growing back.

A part of Samui wanted to retort to the bitch remark, however, an even bigger part of her wanted to know what she had countered. And that was when it hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Be careful, Darui-san…keeping quiet for too long will cause the Benihisago to absorb you." Samui declared, much to both brothers' ire.

"So the whole 'silence is golden' thing is a farce." Darui declared as he went to pic up the Shichiseiken and the Benihisago that the brothers had not picked up yet.

"They also say, 'speech is silver'! Especially when spoken with a forked tongue! In this case, silence is taboo as well." Ginkaku declare before he started laughing out loud. Darui and Samui said nothing to each other, all they did was nod their heads and that was all that was needed to affirm that they were on the same wave length.

"Squeeze him! Kokinjo!" Samui declared out loud, catching both brothers off guard by her proclamation, but a second later they saw that Samui had possession of the Kokinjo. And just like how Atsui and Samui had puked out their spirit words, so did Kinkaku. While Ginkaku had his attention fixed on his brother, he did not notice Darui come out of a blind spot and when he did, it was too late.

"Curse him! Shichiseiken!" Darui declared as he cut Kinkaku's spirit word.

Ginkaku quickly punched Darui, only to have him explode in smoke and be replaced by a white Zetsu he had substituted with.

Darui then picked up the Benihisago that he had left with Samui, all the while Kinkaku panicked at having his spirit word held hostage.

"Record him! Benihisago!" Darui said as Kinkaku's spirit word was absorbed into the gourd.

"Help me, Ginkaku!" Kinkaku declared, but that was the biggest mistake he would ever make, for what the Shichiseiken had etched on its inner surface was the word 'Ginkaku', and Darui saw this and said, "Seal him! Benihisago!"

Ginkaku could only watch in abject horror as his brother was absorbed by one of the very weapons that they had used. How ironic.

Darui and Samui both watched the display for a second before they both fell on to one knee respectively and huffed, both feeling the chakra the weapons absorbed when used by normal shinobi.

Ginkaku was silent as he processed what had happened to his brother. Kinkaku was the only human he respected, and loved. Now that he was gone, he did not know what to do…it drove him insane!

Almost immediately red chakra started to appear around Ginkaku.

"Why you…"Ginkaku said as the chakra pooled on him, "How dare you!"

Immediately after that iteration Ginkaku's body was surrounded by a shroud of red chakra that was extremely foul. Ginkaku's sudden power up caused a huge torrent of water to get blown into the air, forming a column around him. It also caused the ocean to become extremely violent as it formed mini tsunami's that crashed on the battles that occurred on the shore line. One particular battle between a group of shinobi and a handful of white Zetsu resulted in the white Zetsu getting crushed by the tsunami while the shinobi managed to leap away to safety just in time.

When the column of water died down, it revealed glowing eyes that had their sights set on the forms of Samui and Darui as they tried to balance themselves on the violent waters. A gigantic tail made out of red and black chakra appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the beach, taking down dozens of shinobi, before it started sweeping across the beach, taking down even more shinobi, even though some were able to get away. The tail also crushed any and all white Zetsu that were in its way.

The water column finally died down to reveal a monstrous sight. Where there had once been Ginkaku, there was now a monster that looked very muscular, it was made out of red and black chakra commonly associated with stage two in Jinchuriki transformation and it had wild hair that was shrouded by the same chakra and it also had six tails that swished violently in the air.

All in all, Samui and Darui found the sight to be truly frightening.

"Oi! Oi! Oi! This is…" Darui said, recognising what the transformation was, after having seen Bee undergo it so many times.

Ginkaku looked at Darui, before he snorted out steam due to the corrosive chakra hitting the water that was still falling and said, "How dare you do that to Kinkaku…?!" he then proceeded to raw out loud.

Darui continued to stare at Ginkaku as he placed both hands on his knees and got ready to attack.

All around the battlefield there were varied reactions to this new development.

Tenten looked on in horror at the grotesque beast that stood in the water and asked herself, "What is that?"

Chōza Akimichi, who had just kicked away three white Zetsu, after he had undergone the Chō Baika no Jutsu (Super Expansion Technique) immediately turned his attention towards the ocean as he looked on with shock at seeing Ginkaku's transformation.

At another part of the battlefield Kakuzu held to shinobi by their necks, but upon sensing the foul chakra he immediately knew what was going on, "Been a while since I have seen Ginkaku like that…" he said smirking, "guess Kinkaku's a goner."

(Meanwhile with Naruto)

Back on the island that the Jinchuriki were being hidden away from the eyes of Uchiha Madara, Naruto was currently working on a new jutsu…sort of. Naruto was currently utilising his Nine Tails chakra mode, with both of his real hands placed in front of him as if he were supporting something, while he had two chakra arms that had sprung from his back that hovered over a small black ball.

"The red and blue chakra of your Tailed Beast chakra looks good. Go Naruto!" Bee said enthusiastically.

Yugito just watched the scene with a smile on her face as she just found the whole thing to be amusing.

"Here I go." Naruto said with determination, "Bijuu Rasen-" he never got to finish his sentence when he was suddenly hit with negative emotions so powerful that it made him loose his concentration and it made the jutsu he had been working on explode in his face, and it also dispelled his Nine Tails chakra mode and caused him to fall flat on his back.

It was like he could see where the negative emotions came from.

"Naru-kun, what's going on?" asked a concerned Yugito when she saw Naruto falling on his back.

Bee on the other hand did not even seem bothered by Naruto falling on his back and just said, "Didn't work, eh? You were so close. That's a shame. You lost your focus. You only have yourself to blame!"

Naruto ignored both of his Jinchuriki teammates on 'team Jinchuriki' and instead thought about what he had just experienced. He mentally saw where the negative emotons came from.

'What was the feeling I just felt?'

"That, you idiot, would be my chakra." The Kyuubi answered Naruto's question for him.

'What? How can it be your chakra when you're here inside me?'

"It is what it is…"

'What the fuck do you mean by that?'

"Urgh, do I have to spell everything out for you, ningen?" The Kyuubi asked in an annoyed tone.

'Nope, but if you wanna, please do.'

"Urgh…where do I begin? Okay…a few…decades ago I came across two Kumo shinobi that were put in charge of capturing me…naturally I devoured them and went on my merry way. The two brothers that I thought I had killed stayed in my stomach for two weeks, and they survived by ingesting my innards…bastards. Anyway I was forced to puke them out after having them in my stomach became unbearable…"

'Lemme guess, through their act of eating your innards they somehow gained the ability to use your chakra, right?'

"Well whaddya know…the ningen is not as dumb as I thought he was." The Kyuubi teased, making Naruto mentally scowl at the fox.

Naruto looked around at his surroundings and saw Yugito and Bee were both waving their hands in front of his face, hoping to snap him out of his state of revere. Naruto raised both his hands and grabbed each of their hands and put them down.

"Naru-kun, what's wrong?" Yugito asked in a loving, yet also concerned tone.

"What's wrong is that there's a war going on out there and we are just sitting here doing nothing while our comrades fight and die because they want to ensure that some mad man doesn't get his sticky mitts on us." Naruto said in a dead serious tone.

"Whoa Mr Nine, what brought this up?" Bee asked.

"What brought this up was the fact that I sensed an evil that only I can stop." Naruto said, still dead serious.

"And what would that be?" Yugito asked.

"A pseudo Jinchuriki." Naruto replied, "You know, I just realised now that this is really a war where people die…I can't allow that to happen, not as long as I am able to do something about it."

"So what do you want to do?" Yugito asked.

"We're leaving…screw what Baa-chan and the other Kage say…I'm not about to let my friend's die fighting for me when I know I can do something about it. We're leaving, for good this time. Take what you will need, because we are gone like the wind."

"About time, Mr Nine. I was beginning to wonder about your resolve. It seems you're truly serious." Killer Bee said smiling down at Naruto.

"You mean…" Naruto looked on shocked, understanding just what Bee was implying.

"That's right, I wanted you to give the go ahead. In order for us to go bust some heads." Bee replied.

Naruto looked down at his hands before he looked up into the heavens before his eyes became narrow, and he said, "Let's go."

"What about Jiraiya-sama?" Yugito asked.

"He'll just have to forgive me when we win the war." Naruto replied before he tapped Yugito and Killer Bee on their respective shoulders and then disappeared the next second.

(Back with the First Company)

Back with Darui and Samui, the odds were not looking good for them as they prepared to face of against the pseudo Jinchuriki.

"This is not good." Darui said.

Samui said nothing as they both stared at the roaring form of Ginkaku in his state of pure rage.

Darui did something comical and just smiled and laughed at the situation before he said, "I apologize." Rather pathetically.

"It's too late for that!" Samui and Ginkaku said at the same time.

Ginkaku then sent one of his tails flying towards the duo, but just as it was about to hit them, they both jumped out of the way by going airborne, but that seemed to be their undoing as the duo soon realised when another tail came at them at fast speeds whilst they were still airborne, but just as they were about to be hit by the tail, something yanked them out of the way, and the tail sailed by harmlessly.

When Samui and Darui landed on the water they noticed three more figures were there, with their backs turned to them, but they immediately recognised Yugito and Bee, but it took them a few seconds to guess that this was Naruto. They also saw that they had yellow chakra wrapped around them. They traced it back to Naruto a second before he let go of them.

Ginkaku looked at the new development with a keen look in his eyes, trying to gauge just how strong the new comers were.

"Samui-san, Darui-san…leave us." Naruto said still with his back facing the Kumo duo.

"Not that I'm not grateful for the save Naruto, but what are you doing here? No one summoned you through the Hiraishin no Jutsu." Darui asked.

"No one had to…I'm done sitting on the side-lines. If Madara wants me then he has to come deal with me personally."

"Darui, Samui, leave." Yugito said, speaking with her back turned as well

Darui looked at the ninja tools he and Samui had before he looked at Ginkaku and shook his head. The tools would not work on him since the Kokinjo would not be able to pierce through his (Ginkaku's) version two cloak. So he instead opted to say, "Let's go, Samui…good luck."

He and Samui jumped off to join other battles they could assist in.

Ginkaku looked at the trio before something clicked in his mind and he started laughing, "Hahahahahahahaha…you think you can defeat me with the Hiraishin no Jutsu, a jutsu created by the same man we killed."

"And yet here you are, trapped in the Edo Tensei, a jutsu created by the man that you and your brother had to work together in order to kill." Naruto retorted.

Ginkaku growled at Naruto for insulting him.

"Don't worry, I won't use the Hiraishin no Jutsu on you…I'll just beat you with my newly acquired power..." Naruto said confidently.

"What good will that do?" Ginkaku asked.

"I'm only doing it because a special fox that hates both you and your brother wants to see me pummel you badly before I seal you away." Naruto declared. In his mindscape, the Kyuubi grinned viciously, really looking forward to seeing Naruto kick Ginkaku's ass.

(Giant's Graveyard)

Right outside the giant's graveyard stood Madara, with the gunbai strapped onto his back and his white mask that resembled a Sharingan donned on his face. Madara stood atop the infamous Gedō Mazō. Next to him were the five Jinchuriki that Kabuto had brought back to life, but each Jinchuriki had a new edition to their appearance. Their eyes were now completely different from what they once where before, with their right eye now resembling a Sharingan, while their left eye resembled a Rinnegan.

"According to Zetsu's intel from one of his spores stuck watching the Kage, Naruto has an ability to sense negative emotions, the same sensory ability of Uzumaki Mito when using the Kyuubi's chakra. It won't be long until he joins the war, with the other two closely behind him." Madara said to himself.

Or at least that was his intention, a second later Sasuke's voice said, "Great, I can't wait to kill him and then destroy Konoha."

Sasuke walked out of the cave followed by Sakura. While Sasuke's look remained the same as always, the girl had to change hers. She wore black pants with a red t-shirt and black flack vest on top, along with a pair of black sandals. Her Konoha headband was gone, and she just had a pink hair clip instead of her headband.

"Ah, Sasuke…" Madara said, feigning surprise, "It seems that this girl is just as useful as the last one, although I hope she isn't as weak as the other girl."

"I don't care…what I do care about is getting my hands on the Dobe." Sasuke spoke, looking up at Madara's form standing on top of the Gedō Mazō, next to five other individuals.

"So you have already said." Madara said.

"What is this?" Sakura asked, pointing at the giant statue.

"This is the statue where all of the Bijuu are sealed in, and the people next to me are the former Jinchuriki that housed these great beasts." Madara replied smugly.

"The former Jinchuriki…but aren't they supposed to be dead?" Sakura asked in surprise.

Madara said nothing as he just let the Gedō Mazō dispel. And he and the former Jinchuriki landed down on the ground. Madara then turned and looked at Sakura in the eyes before he said, "Tell me if they look alive to you."

Sakura shifted her gaze from Madara to the five Jinchuriki and she gasped upon seeing them and realising what they were.

"Edo Tensei…" was all she could say, even though that was not the only surprising thing. It turned out that each Jinchuriki had a Sharingan and a Rinnegan. Having still been a Konoha shinobi when Pain attacked Konoha, she remembered the Rinnegan all too well.

"Let's go." Madara said, snapping her out of her state of being dazed and they all proceeded to run into the forest ahead of them as they prepared to enter the war.

(Back with Naruto)

Naruto looked at Ginkaku for a while before he turned towards Yugito and Bee and said, "Let me handle this alone, you two will be more valuable elsewhere."

"You sure?" Yugito asked.

"Absolutely." Naruto said, giving her the thumbs up.

"Kick his ass." Yugito said before she jumped off to join the fighting that was happening on the beach.

"Same from me, Kick his meat." Bee said before he also jumped off into battle.

Naruto then turned towards Ginkaku and looked at him with a smirk on his face, and said, "It's just you and me, precious. Now bring it!"

Ginkaku roared out loudly before he sent two tails towards Naruto, hoping to squash him like a bug. Naruto stood still and waited for the tails to come and hit him. At the last second e raised his hands and deflected them as if he was parrying a simple punch.

Ginkaku saw this and it angered him even more. He sent more tails to attack Naruto at once, but the blonde parried them all with the back of his hands, not even moving from his spot in top of the water.

Ginkaku then sent all six tails to attack Naruto at once, but the blonde just parried them with ease before he was forced to duck low in order to avoid being punched by Ginkaku who had used the last tail barrage to distract Naruto, hoping to get in close enough to deliver a haymaker, but it did not work.

Naruto threw out a punch that connected with Ginkaku's stomach, making him bend over the blonde's fist. Before Naruto gave him a spinning kick to the face that sent him tumbling backwards across the water's surface.

Ginkaku got up pretty quickly though, angrier than before. He spotted Naruto still standing on the very same spot on top of the water. Ginkaku released a loud roar before he charged at Naruto at speeds so fast that only a Kage level shinobi could follow and keep up with.

Naruto saw Ginkaku coming straight at him and waited, although at the last second Ginkaku jumped into the air before he fired a small ball of red chakra from his mouth. Immediately upon hitting the water, the chakra dispersed into a large dome that cause its own mini tsunami. Ginkaku landed on the water and just smirked at seeing no sight of Naruto. Although he soon lost it (his smirk).

Naruto appeared behind the former Kumo shinobi with a rasengan in his hand, but one with a major difference. Instead of there just being one rasengan there was instead one giant rasengan surrounded by four smaller, or regular sized ones. All in all it looked like a planet that had four moons.

"Planetary Rasengan!" Naruto cried out as he smashed his jutsu into Ginkaku's back.

The name was kind of ironic.

Ginkaku was sent flying after he was hit by the S-rank technique. It sent him flying back in further into the ocean at very fast speeds. Naruto then said, "Lemme test something."

Naruto ran so fast that it seemed like he had disappeared from this realm, only to re-emerge in front of Ginkaku before he kicked him so hard that he went high into the air, before Naruto dispatched some chakra arms to go and grab hold of Ginkaku as he flew into the air, while he kneaded another rasengan with a chakra arm, before he placed on his back and went on all fours right around the same time that he pulled Ginkaku down to meet the Rasengan that was on his back head on.

"Rasenkyugan (Absorbing Rasengan)!" Naruto cried out.

And just as its name stated, Ginkaku was thrown into a rasengan that sucked him in before it exploded sending him flying away once more, only to get grabbed by a chakra arm once again as Naruto pulled him back into another technique.

"Rasenrangan!" was the cry that Naruto emitted as Ginkaku was hit by eight normal rasengans before he went flying away once again, this time Naruto did nothing as he watched Ginkaku fly away and tumble across the face of the ocean, creating big waves along the way.

Naruto stood still and watched as Ginkaku got up slowly and stood on his feet, only for him to fall down on all fours as if he was crushed by an invisible weight. Ginkaku's Jinchuriki form slowly started to disappear before it was replaced by his normal body, but it had a small difference. Shiki were visible from all over Ginkaku's body.

Naruto just smiled when he saw that his plan had worked…his constant rasengan barrage allowed him to pierce through Ginkaku's jinchuriki cloak and allowed him to place a gravity seal on him that would make even Kage level shinobi buckle under pressure.

"What…what did you do to me?" Ginkaku screamed out.

Naruto said nothing as first, choosing to just disappear and reappear a second later next to Ginkaku, much to the latter's shock, and then he (Naruto) placed a hand on his (Ginkaku) chest and only then did he speak, "Nothing that concerns you."

Ginkaku wanted to thrash around but found that he couldn't. Ginkaku's world went black a few seconds later, and then his body started to wilt away, before a dead Kumo shinobi took its (Ginkaku's body) spot. This signified the end on the Edo Tensei form of Ginkaku. The dead body then fell into the ocean.

Naruto let his chakra mode fade away before it was replaced by his Senjutsu chakra. He used the sensing ability that Senjutsu granted him to scan throughout as vast a distance as he could.

He saw how all of his comrades were dying, being destroyed by both white Zetsu and Edo Tensei shinobi. He could practically hear them scream out in pain before they were taken down. It made him mad.

Naruto let his sage mode fade, only for it to be replaced by his Nine Tails chakra mode once again before he held out his fingers in a cross before he uttered, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Mass Shadow Clone Technique). Okay guys, you know what to do."

There was a chorus of, "Yosh!" that occurred throughout the ocean before all of the Kage Bunshin, that numbered close to one hundred, either jumped away to a different location, or they used the Hiraishin no jutsu to take themselves to kunai that were on different battle fields.

Those on the beach that were fighting stopped fighting and turned to look at the spectacle of all of the Kage Bunshin leaving. Yugito just shook her head at the display, but there was a smile on her face, while Bee did not even bother to stop fighting as he just cut his way through dozens of white Zetsu.

In the end though, there were only two Naruto's that remained. They both sped onto the beach before stopping in front of Yugito and Samui.

"Yugi-chan, it's time to go now." Yugito just nodded her head in agreement.

"Wait!" Samui said, "Where are you going?"

"I sensed a huge chakra presence a few kilometres in to the forest, and it was a composition of chakra's I have felt before…only team Jinchuriki can stop these guys." Naruto said.

"You do know that Raikage-sama will flip once he hears about you basically committing insubordination, right?" Samui asked.

"True, but rules were meant to be broken…any we're gone." Naruto said, while his clone simply turned and went straight towards a Kumo shinobi, before he drew his sword and sliced the shinobi in half.

"What?!" The few that saw this act exclaimed in shock, not really believing that Naruto just killed a fellow shinobi.

"What indeed." said the clone as it watched the Kumo shinobi turn into a white Zetsu, "Nice Henge…too bad it can't deceive my new sensing ability!"

Everyone aside from Naruto stood shocked at the turn of events. Naruto's clone then started hacking shinobi at will, and more and more people watched as the shinobi became white Zetsu.

The original Naruto just grabbed Yugito and jumped towards Bee's location.

"Let's go, Bee." Naruto said.

"Lead the way Naruto, we'll show these fools how we roll." Bee replied.

Team Jinchuriki then vanished via the Hiraishin no jutsu.

(At HQ)

"What?!" A screeched in anger.

"Bee-san, Naruto-san and Yugito left the island and joined the battle against Ginkaku." Mabui said.

"Wait until I get my hands on them! They'll all…" A never got to finish his speech as Mabui interrupted once again, "Sorry, Raikage-sama, but we just received word that Naruto has deployed a battalion of Kage Bunshin to assist with the fighting. Also according to the information we are receiving, it seems that the white creatures known as Zetsu seem to have a transformation ability that only Naruto can detect."

"I don't care if only he can detect them!" A raged on.

A then proceeded to stand up and walked towards the door, only to stop when Tsunade said, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to give that brat a piece of my mind."

"Well you could just do it via Inoichi-san's telepathic abilities." Mei said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

A just grunted at her in indignation before he said, "Whatever, Inoichi-san, set it up."

Inoichi nodded before he put his hand in a half ram seal before he said, "Raikage-sama, it's ready."

The Raikage just put his hand on Inoichi's forehead before he mentally intoned, 'Naruto, you bastard! What do you think you are doing?'

(With Naruto)

Naruto, Yugito and be had been tree hopping from one tree to the next, heading off in a northern direction. Naruto was currently mentally preparing himself for his imminent fight against Sasuke and Madara. He was sure that He was not the only one to pick up a new trick or two in the process. All of a sudden his head was pierced by A's booming voice.

'Naruto, you bastard! What do you think you are doing?'

'Hey watch what you say you old tart!' Naruto retorted.

'Listen here gaki, I am gonna come there and I am gonna rip you a new one, do you understand me?'

'Look, there has obviously gotta be a reason for you to scream at me either than to tell me you're gonna kill me, so what is it?'

'Disrespectful brat. What do you think you and the other two Jinchuriki are doing…we're fighting this war so as to protect you, and yet you willingly throw yourself at Madara. What kind of idiot are you?'

'The kind that doesn't let his friends fight his battles for him…if Madara wants me, then he has me. It would be pointless if you guys died trying to protect me, I would not be able to live with myself. Madara might as well just take me to use me in his Mugen Tsukuyomi.'

'You baka, you really don't understand what's going on here, do you?'

'No, I do! I understand that the longer I wait in the side-lines, the more friends I lose. Now as a Kage you might be able to accept that, but I can't…I won't allow my comrades to die because of something you think is justifiable. Sending people to their deaths is wrong.'

'You know, for a second I actually believed that you could be an even greater ninja than your father…but all I see now are the ramblings of an idiot with no grasp of what is really going on here!'

'And all I hear is the ramblings of a cowardly old fool!' Naruto shouted mentally.

Silence soon followed between the two after that, Naruto continued to subconsciously tree jump with Yugito and Bee with him. The conversation was playing in not only their minds, but in the minds of the other Kage, except Gaara, considering he as in the field.

After a few seconds a new voice permitted into the conversation, 'Naruto, where are you headed to right now?'

It was Shikaku's voice.

'I was able to sense chakra signatures I recognised as those of Sakura and Sasuke, along with Madara's as well. We're going after them'

More silence soon followed that proclamation, before yet another voice entered the conversation, 'Naruto, I was of the same mind set as the Raikage up until a few minutes ago.' Tsunade's mental voice rang through everyone's heads, 'It changed however, when I remembered the type of person you are. You do not quit, you always strive to win, no matter the odds…and most importantly, you always fight for what you believe in. So I will tell you this right now…fight for me…fight for Yugito, fight for be, for all the Kage. Fight for your friends, and most importantly, fight for the freedom of the world!'

Naruto could not help but smile at that. Finally there was a Kage that understood him; well it took them long enough.

'You got it, Baa-chan' Naruto thought.

He then proceeded to tree hop with more vigour than before. Yugito also sped up just so she could keep up with him.

(Back at HQ)

"Tsunade what do you think you're doing?" A asked in rage.

"What does it look like to you?"

"You just…"

A never got to finish his sentence before Tsunade cut in and said, "Naruto and his team are all Kage level shinobi. They are Jinchuriki to boot…besides there's no way anyone here, not even you, could stop Naruto when he sets out to do something. Naruto fights for his beliefs. All he needs to go the extra mile is a little encouragement, and I just offered it."

A said nothing before he just stood up from the spot that he, Shikaku and Tsunade were all kneeling on in order to talk to Naruto. He walked back to his chair and sat down in it before he said, "You better hope that they win."

Mabui just gasped in shock at seeing the Raikage, a man whose stubborn attitude was so great that not even the great Bijuu themselves could hope to match, just relented and let Naruto go. Wow, guess there truly was a first time for everything.

End Chapter

In case you missed the A.N at the start, this chapter and all chapters of the Toad Sages Apprentice, from this point, will be written by Senju Naruto.

As for my other fics, Nightfall will be updated within the next week, then I will work on a chapter of A Price for Peace.