If the wind wasn't violent before, it became a gale as Naruto flipped out of the vehicle. The king turned around and faced his belly with the ground, spreading his arms wide open and his eyes controlling his fall.
Far above him, the fourteen silently whirring retrieval vehicles hummed and waited, before…
The people of Hot Water country looked up as the sky darkened and the wind became frenzied, gaping and gasping in absolute horror as the sky slowly became dark with small red dots flooding out of the fourteen bigger red dots, all led by a red ringed eyed man with a black overcoat.
Their sky soon turned from calm blue to dangerous red and black.
Naruto's grin widened horrifically and his eyes widened, pulsing with command as he measured how far back his forces were from him. He nodded when his platinum rank inventor ordered for the bronze ranks to slow down and give their king space through the kingdoms radio wave; Naruto tucked in his body and flipped forward, his body steadily bursting into golden orange fire. The kings whiskers thickened and nine golden tails sprouted out from his tail bone, finally two golden orange triangles poofed two inches above his head, symbolizing fox tails. The red in his rinnegan eyes became more pronounced as he summoned his Kyuubi chakra.
He wanted to try something.
An ordinary rinnegan enhanced the holder's mental capabilities, allowing them to retain information in their heads, from jutsu to written knowledge, even after their eyes have been taken out. This did not mean that they were able to copy jutsu like the sharingan and it did not include simply using the Preta path to absorb the information through the senders chakra or even using the Naraka path to absorb information through the victims soul, but the rinnegan holder was able to think of ways to replicate the jutsu if he actively tried to with a high success rate.
Naruto had mutated, amplified rinnegan, and it helped in governing his vast kingdom.
That was not the extent the king could use his rinnegan.
The teen's body exploded with fire that started spinning in a deadly vortex around him. The ground was quickly approaching and the shinobi of the country were preparing to attack with kunai, senbon, arrows and chains but the king crossed his forearms and there was a ground shaking thud on the ground, throwing away shinobi.
There was a terrified scream that ripped out of the ninjas on the ground as a massive foot descended down from the sky and crushed them, a second foot joined in, kicking the Daimyos palace out of the ground and nine fiery tails joined in and smashed the building to pieces, killing the daimyo and his family.
The colossal, physically manifested nine tails beast roared to the sky and swiped its tail around. Naruto stood in its head and ordered it to move around, then his eyes flashed again and black armour gradually cursed obsidian armour crept up the beasts arms and covered its torso, then on its legs and feet. Red fire bloomed over the beast's body as it punched its arm through a large cluster of frantic shinobi, a red shirt flared over its body and black pants soon followed with obsidian black boots finishing it off. Toxic fire crackled on the Kyuubi chakras back and a black overcoat flared into sight, swishing around with the tails to cause even more destruction.
The great beast, completely controlled by Naruto, opened its giant maw and thundered to the sky.
RRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!
It snarled and continued its unstopped rampage as the kings ninjas dropped down at the border of the country and erected a barrier to stop any more people from running out, while several squads dispatched to take care of those that had already fled. The soldiers watched their king in total admiration and awe as his tailed beast stomped around in the very same clothes he was wearing, wreaking havoc and bringing painful death to those it looked at.
For a bronze rank to be able to say that he or she had seen their king in battle and could claim that they fought alongside him…
The inferno that burned in their hearts increased.
Inventors were not exactly unpopular in the kingdom, and a bronze rank inventor was not that popular at all but they could see that their division would get more applicants after the invasion because their king had graced them with his presence.
Summoning the Kyuubi cloak was not strange for the teen, even though it was the first time he was actually doing it since his rinnegan had granted him complete mastery over all forms of chakra, including but not limited to beast chakra, but he was incorporating the Uchiha chakra he had absorbed from Itachi and Obito, who were long since dead by now, and used it to form what Obito had called a 'Susanno'. Although it was more like half Kitsune, half Susanno at this point. A flashing purple sword appeared in the beast's right hand and it brought it down on a hot spring, absorbing it into the blade and sealing it away with a small explosion. It slashed about, making sure to avoid the main points the natural gas was coming from, before the beast dropped onto its knees in front of a group of fleeing Hot Water ninjas, Naruto leaped out from the Kyuubi's head and dropped down in front of the ninjas.
Naruto bent his head and ran at them, grabbing a discarded tanto from the ground as he passed a burning corpse. The ninjas saw him coming and the last bits of their courage seemed to appear, making them realize that it was a single person against well over thirty of them, all of whom were chunin and jounin.
They charged right back at him, brandishing their weapons and their fists in rage.
The kings grinned dropped into a small smirk and he slashed into the first person, skidding to a stop and throwing a straight kick into the torso of another shinobi, blasting him into three more ninjas. He dextrously leaped backwards, stabbing his smoky weapon into the head of a Kunoichi and dropping down behind her, driving his knee into her back and casting her into her comrades. Naruto twirled his sword in his hand and eyed the wary ninjas that surrounded him, humming under his breathe as his wild hair partly shaded his eyes. He bobbed his head silently and clenched the weapon in his hands tightly, crossing it behind him in a reverse and bending his knees in a ready stance; it was similar to the stance he had taught Satoshi, his head of Rescue and Support, to use with his bow staff.
The king's smirk widened and his dark eyes slowly narrowed.
The fire and small explosions that popped and burst around them sluggishly rolled to a stop, smoke stacks that billowed to the sky warbled as Naruto's eyes tapped into the Outer path, allowing him to see faster than any other human. He could see the dust in the air freeze in place as it finally set in. Even the still manifested nine tails stood still.
Naruto's eyes flashed around him, catching all twenty five ninjas that surrounded him, before it stopped on the man before him.
The ground cracked under his feet as he shot forward, driving his knee into the man's face, he turned around in the air and smashed his feet into the dead man's chest, throwing him to the person on the opposite side of the circle. He slashed his blade down, cutting open the man's shoulder to his heart, the small organ tore out of his chest and bashed a Kunoichi in the face. Naruto then held the katana in a reverse grip in front of him, grabbed his elbow with his right forearm with his other hand and bent his knees again.
The rinnegan king flashed around in a quick surge of fire.
The world started moving again and the king stopped in the very centre. He went through the motions of sheathing his sword on his hip and the How Water ninjas spat out blood from their mouths, crumpled down onto their knees and fell down face first with thin slits on their necks and through their hearts.
Naruto perched the blade on his right shoulder and tapped his ear and said. "Patch me over to division head Nirvana."
"Patching you over, sir." The soldier stammered and quickly connected the king to his division head. "Nirvana here, my lord."
"Clean this place up and start pumping as soon as possible. Transport as many tankers of natural gas back to the kingdom until the ground is dry and can't give anymore."
"Understood sir, I will start immediately." The nineteen year old girl said as she waved for ten squads of bronze ranks to follow her into the country, lifting off the ground with self-built propulsion fans that whirred under their boots and converging on the main spots the natural gas was pumped out from. The woman ordered for more soldiers to go to the five other spots and start building their 'Siphoning engine' that would drag the gas out of the ground and into tanks. The last thing she did was request for a Container Retrieval vehicle, a vehicle that was built specifically to transport explosive liquids. The gas would be refined over and over again and connected to the kingdoms gas line, which connected into houses. Some of the houses were now making use of solar energy, and more people were switching over to it as well, so the king didn't need to use the gas to power their individual generators, seeing as there was no individual generator (solar energy). When his inventors and his intelligence operatives found a more efficient resource for cooking, and other things, then gas would be converted into another material.
Back with Naruto, the king threw away the katana and began walking over the dead bodies around him. He tucked his hands into his overcoat pockets and kicked aside a smoking corpse that blocked his path. He walked into a group of bronze ranks and the soldiers dutifully dropped onto their right knees, bowing their heads and placing their hands on their hearts.
"At ease." Naruto said and they got to their feet. He looked over their excited faces and couldn't help but smile back. He kept on walking till he crossed over the border, where the bronze soldiers there were just finishing off a few stragglers. They showed their respect by falling onto their knees again and the king wave for them to rise. He surveyed their work, laughing a little as they rushed about cleaning up the mess of dead bodies. "Are there any injured?"
"None, sir. We're just taking down the Hot springs and looting the money." A random bronze rank said with a salute. The soldier, even though there wasn't a silver or gold rank to take direct command as a squad captain, was appointed to lead their squad of five inventors.
Naruto nodded and passed them. "Have fun."
The king took his time walk to the hot spring at the far end of the village, close to the north entry into the country. The place was wrecked with the roof caved in and the walls charred black from fire; which reminded him, as he turned around, he looked at the kneeling Kyuubi in the distance and the beast sputtered, disappearing in a mild gust of fire. Naruto silently bobbed his head and shoved his armoured hands deeper into his overcoat pockets, his eyes glowed briefly and the broken, wooden door into the hot spring eased open, allowing him to enter. He closed the door behind him and walked past the empty receptionist's area, idly appreciating the décor, or what remained of it, of the hot springs. Naruto walked to the receptionist's desk and looked over the edge, pursing his lips when he didn't find anybody. Just a fall dripping with blood and a headless dead body.
He hummed and narrowed his eyes. "I could have sworn…" he muttered. He shrugged and a thick back book flew into his waiting hand. He scanned list of private hot springs and slowly ran his black armoured fingers down the list of the ones that had been book. The place was devoid of life, with blood spattered at the back of the receptionists chair where the body lay. He tapped the last private spring and memorized the number, before he tossed the book away and began his steady walk to the very end of the building to the only un-booked private spring.
He soon reached the room and the lock on the door exploded inwards with a mental command, he nudged his left toe forward to open the door and swung it closed behind him with a slight backwards kick, his hands still safely nestled in his pockets. He looked around at the partly pristine spring, with clean, sparkling, warm water bubbling in the tiled spring and a rack where towels can be hung to his immediate right, beside the door. The light glowed softly and was insulated from water splashed and the walls were tiled baby blue and soft purple to create a relaxing atmosphere. Naruto nodded as he looked around, not finding any dead body or blood, only a cracked wall and a corner of the roof dark with soot. He had chosen a room that most likely didn't have a dead body there.
He removed his right hand from his pocket and tapped his ear bud. "Patch me over to Naruko."
"Patching you over, my lord." There was a brief buzz of static as Naruto was connected to his sister. "Yo bro-I mean, my lord, Naruto."
Naruto felt like she was saluting and he sighed. "How is Chill?" he tried to move away from the subject of his sister deferring to his will.
The girl, all the way in Frigid country, Hidden Chill, sniffed behind her plain white mask and sat down on top of the main communications building of the hidden village, staring out at the white, snow covered hidden village with a sad sigh. "Boring as hell. Why did you let me come here?!"
"You're the one that wanted to be a soldier. New soldiers, irrespective of their ranks, are given slow missions before they are given better missions." Naruto laughed when his sister groaned pitifully. "Try and have fun over there, sis."
"Well I can't have fun here because everyone is so damn afraid of us." She crossed her legs and nodded her head when a silver rank dropped down beside her and leaped off, with wind blowing from his feet guiding him to another building. "They don't want anything to do with us." She huffed and crossed her arms sourly. "Why can't we just kill everyone and move onto the next village?"
"Because I want to keep my word. Besides, after this is all done and father is dead, there is still a Global Fighting Tournament; the more nations we have fighting, the more entertaining it will be." He smiled in amusement and turned around, walking backwards onto the hot water and balancing on it. "How about this? Any loser nation would be exterminated and you, dear sister, would oversee said extermination. Does that make you happy?"
The girl perked up and her smile glowed from under her mask. "Very happy. Thank you, bro-I mean, my lord Naruto. I really need to get used to saying it."
"Please, don't say it." Naruto pleaded and waiting patiently for the girl to reply. There was a wistful sigh on her end and she tied her waist length, red pony tails more securely, waving at a silver rank medic that passed her and dropped down to the ground, zipping straight to another communications tower.
"Fine." her bright purple eyes reflected from her masks eyeholes and she kept track of a Chill shinobi as he stalked up the building towards her. The people of the village were hiding out in their houses, so the streets were empty. The ninja walked past her and she ignored him as he entered the building; her silver armour, like every other full body armour crafted from the kingdom, was indestructible and her skin was also indestructible, as well as her bones. If he attacked her from behind he would be the one at a disadvantage. Plus, if the man was too overzealous and tried to attack her hunter ninja comrades in the building, he would be summarily dealt with. She discarded the man from her mind and continued speaking with her brother. "Tell me again why you want Minato junior in the kingdom?"
"He's father's child and he also hates him as much as we do, from what Sasori's investigation could gather. The bad thing is…he looks so much like father." His fists clenched at his sides and his jaw tightened.
Naruko did the same all the way in Chill. "I don't want that kid anywhere near me." then there was a small bump under her, like the building had coughed, but she ignored it.
"I want to say the same thing but I cant." His senses flared and the king slowly turned around on the warm, bubbling spring, meeting a pair of small, yellow eyes that were on a slight bulge on the tiled wall. "I have to go."
Naruko felt a tap on her shoulder and she looked up, furrowing her eyes when her eyes clashed against the sky blue eyes of the Head Hunter, Mora. He jerked his left thumb over his shoulder and she looked behind him, cocking her head to the side in question when she saw the same Chill shinobi on his knees and bound in tight ninja wire. His flak jacket was slashed open in the middle to show rows and rows of dead explosive tags. A suicide vest on a suicide bomber…and the silver ranked red head had allowed him to pass her. "Shit, damn it." she cursed, unknowingly into her ear piece. Naruto creased his forehead in worry and the girl hurriedly stood up, saying. "I'll talk to you later. Naruko, out."
The line went dead and Naruto placed his hands back into his overcoat pockets, looking at the pair of eyes with a raised eyebrow. Then it finally clicked in his mind. "Ah…you must be…Zetsu." The king said with a snap of his fingers, returning the hand to his pocket again. "I've heard a lot about you."
The plant man stayed quiet for a few moments before it fully slid out of the wall, standing on the water as well in his Akatsuki cloak. Naruto gave him a quick once over, noticing how half of his face was white and the other black, with a large Venus fly trap covering his head. "You are the King of the Sukai kingdom."
Naruto shrugged with a slanted smile. "Apparently I am."
The plant man began walking around Naruto and the king stood in place. "It's hard not to be offended when I look at you, King Naruto." His voice warped from light hearted and playful to deep and demonic.
Naruto turned his neck to look at Zetsu, his black with red rings rinnegan keeping careful track of the creature. "And why is that?"
Zetsu stopped before Naruto once again and continued. "For one so…young…to hold a power great enough to bend the heavens and destroy the earth…" Zetsu's head slowly tilted to the left and his yellow eyes narrowed. "To command an army that would leap into the jaws of death if it will please you…to wield respect and to instil fear into the hearts of the even most battle hardened human and non-human…"
Naruto shrugged again. "I am what they pushed me to be."
Zetsu scoffed and nodded. "I guess you're right. If your father had not cast you and your sister away, if your sister had not been killed…" Zetsu threw his arms apart, emphasizing the small, tell-tale signs of destruction in the once peaceful hot spring. "…All of this…wouldn't have happened."
Naruto smirked a little and stood silently, staring at Zetsu with his godly eyes. "Why are you here, Zetsu? Why have you been following me?" ever since he had dropped out of the flying vehicle he had sensed the plant man tailing him. It wasn't that hard for a high sensor like him. "And why aren't you dead?"
He remembered assigning Nagato and Konan to take care of Zetsu, but he didn't want to blame them; from what they had told him, Zetsu was slippery. In turn, Zetsu gave Naruto a once over, looking at his red shirt with the gold inked words Sky King crossed over the torso, his ninja grade black pants, the black overcoat over the teen that barely touched the water and finally the impenetrable, black armour that covered his whole body, besides his head. Zetsu bowed his head and said. "I am here to formally request to join your forces."
"Is that right?" Naruto said and the plant man pushed down his irritation at the amusement in the teen's voice. "And what can you possibly do for me that I don't have someone that does it better?"
"I'm a skilled scout and an expert in infiltration; there is no space I cannot fit through and no information I cannot acquire."
"I have roughly six thousand spies under my command that were able to 'acquire' enough information to basically make my kingdom immune to grounder techniques and tactics and this happened under your nose for the past seven years." The king emphasized the large time period and motioned to Zetsu. "Being a spy does not only include 'acquiring' information when formally ordered," Naruto air quoted, shoving his hands back into his pockets. "Staying vigilant behind enemy forces, keeping your ears to the ground, your eyes wide open and recording everything you see. Try again, why would I require your services?"
"…I have been in existence for well over five hundred years. I have knowledge of techniques, strategies, jutsu and information from times better than the present."
"Then I can simply absorb your memories and take all that for myself." Naruto began walking to Zetsu and the creature instinctively began backing away. Three steps back and his whole body locked up, lifted off the ground and stayed in place as the rinnegan king got closer. "It is much easier to kill you, Zetsu."
"N-n-no-"
Naruto placed a finger over his lips and shook his head. An invisible pair of hands covered the creatures face and his voice became muffled. "I don't have the time to humour you anymore, Zetsu," he placed his right hand on the creatures head and his eyes darkened with glee. "Soul Eater."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
06:00PM
Makeshift camps of the Bronze ranked Sukai Inventors
Hidden Hot Springs
Hot Water country
As the video ended, Sakura chopped the Yondaime's youngest son at the back of his neck.
The pink haired girl sighed and placed her fists on her hips as Sai walked forward and hefted the unconscious boy onto his shoulder. The girl rubbed her wrist, Sai doing the same, and their bodies rippled and segmented silver armour began appearing on their arms and legs like scales. There was a small whoosh above them and they looked up, watching as a standard Retrieval vehicle landed on the ground before them with a soft thump, the trucks body shivered and threw off the illusion it had used to cloak itself, using the Konoha peoples panic to hide its presence; the Cinema Blimps were still within sight of the village but the imposing message that the king of the Sukai sent was clear to all.
Naruto was coming back and he was not happy.
A large group of Leaf ninjas did not believe the video, choosing to see it as an altered recording to make their Yondaime look bad, but the others, slightly smaller than the first group, were baying for Minato's blood, surrounding the Hokage tower and trying to gain entry, but repulsed by the Kage's guards and other loyal shinobi.
The back of the truck opened and Hamato Toshi, head of Intelligence and Interrogation, stomped down and stood aside, silently jerking his head into the truck and crossing his muscled arms. Sai first entered and dropped his teammate-or better yet, former teammate-on a seat, strapping him in securely.
He was flown to Hot Water country, a four minute flight if they took their time, which they did, arriving at 02:55PM but were told to keep the boy contained until Naruto was done dealing with matters that best concerned him.
The king was sitting in a makeshift command tent and ordering troops to march into Earth country. The plan was to have his Scouts and Supporter soldiers cut off all exits from the country and his Frontline soldiers to march in steadily, taking over key villages and working their way to Iwagakure, where they were to simply wait for his arrival. The next chain of commands he gave was concerning Iron country; a few of his grounder soldiers and his spies had requested to join in on the invasion. He was not against the idea, the soldiers were more than enough to handle the samurai country, but the king was picky when it came to strategy. The red head spent two long hours explaining and ordering his subordinates on how best to creep into Iron country and subdue the samurai.
Naruto ran his fingers through his shaggy hair and puffed out a tired breathe. He then sat up and looked at the light blue and red projections standing before his makeshift desk. Fifty spies based on the ground stood in neat rows, all of which were projections. "Do you all understand?"
"SIR, YES SIR!"
"Good. Nagato," he called and the rinnegan holder, using his Deva path, nodded as he heard his name. "Since you're the most senior, I want you to give me regular reports. Preferably by the hour if you can."
"Of course, my lord Naruto."
"Permission to speak, my lord." Fuu asked and Naruto waved for her to speak. "Will you be visiting Iron country any time soon." There was low murmuring of people behind her that also wanted to ask the question.
"Yes, but only after we march on Iwa." They seemed satisfied with his reply. "You are to enter Iron twelve hours after Iwa. Understood?"
"SIR, YES SIR!"
"Dismissed."
After that, the king had to deal with the problem his sister had caused by shirking her duties. He stood up and stretched, popping his shoulders and rolling his neck. He threw on his black overcoat, ignoring Saibougu as she recorded his every move, and stood before his desk with his arms crossed.
"Video call to division head Mora." He called to Saibougu and the cyborg bowed her head, lifting it back up to look at the ceiling. Blue static passed through her eyes for the briefest of moments before the head hunter was projected down from the light shining from the ceiling. The white masked man fell onto his knees and bowed his head, placing his hand over his heart.
"My lord Naruto."
"At ease." The man got back to his feet and placed his at his sides. Naruto held down a groan and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. "What did you say my sister did?"
"She was given orders to secure the roof of the main communications building of Chill but she allowed a Chill shinobi to pass by her. That shinobi was wearing an explosive tag vest underneath his jounin vest and if there was not a squad of Rescue soldier in the building to detect and freeze the explosion it would have spelt doom for all of your soldiers." Rescue soldiers of the Rescue and Support division were ninjas that specialized in detecting danger before it happened so as to contain it, or if it has already happened then they were to rescue those that could and couldn't be rescued. The main requirement before a Sukai citizen could become a Rescue soldier was to be a sensor, whether or to it is high or low. These soldiers also doubled up as Fire fighters for the kingdom because of their ability to sense and contain danger. Freezing explosive tags, especially after they had been activated, was not an easy task, even for a Rescue soldier, but there were a number of ways they could go about to doing it. Support, Rescue, Medics and Scouts were divisions of soldiers that had to be included in every military venture of the kingdom, whether they send a single person to join in or a whole squad; these ninjas were vital in missions.
Naruto rubbed his face and asked. "Let us start with the bomber; what measures have you taken concerning him?"
"First I requested for an Interrogation squad from the kingdom to interrogate the bomber as well as the Chill leader on whether or not he acted on his own or collaborated with other. Then I had the Intelligence soldiers destroy every other means of communication within and outside the country, as per your orders." Naruto kept his fingers on the bridge of his nose and nodded, remembering that he had ordered for all means of communication to be shut down. "Then I ordered silver rank Naruko to read the Sukai Forces Procedure and Command Act." It was the standard procedure book every soldier had to be well versed in. The book had been written by all ten soldier division heads and approved by Naruto, making sure to encompass every aspect of a soldier's life, as much as possible, as well as the punishment that would be given if a command was no completely obeyed. Originally, given the hurriedness behind Naruko's induction into the Sukai forces the girl had been glossed over the SFPC Act and would have been subsequently ordered to read and memorize all the rules written in it after the global invasion. The reason she was made to read the book was that, even though the division heads had full control of their respective divisions, under the consent of their King, Naruto, the king still created a law that no soldier was to be punished, or court marshalled, if they were not aware of the laws guiding their procedures and protocols. That was why the SFPC Act was taught in all four years of the Sukai Forces Academy, so no soldier would have any excuse that they weren't aware of the rules. Naruto nodded his head, realizing that the girl couldn't be conventionally court marshalled unless she was well versed in the rules written in the Act. If his memory served him well the punishment given to a Hunter ninja that had been told to keep watch for danger on an important grounder building with numerous other soldiers inside was two months suspension, a 'probation' drop in rank, which meant that they would temporarily drop her rank until she re-proved her rank, and lastly she would be made to work in the Filing and Recording section of the Hunter ninja division, where all bounties and missions were recorded.
"That's good."
"I tried not to be lenient with her, by your orders, my lord Naruto."
"You did well. What other punishment would be given to her?"
"Border patrol duty for a month but that will be after the invasion."
"Very good." Naruto nodded and said. "Tell her I would speak to her later."
"Of course, my lord." And Naruto cut the connection.
The king sighed and sat down on his desk; he had the undisputed authority to free his sister from whatever punishment that waited for her but she had personally asked for him not to interfere and only issue orders as the king.
Power in the Sukai kingdom was highly centralized, all of which went back to the sixteen rinnegan king sitting on the throne. Any decree he made was unquestioned and obeyed to the letter, no matter how harsh it seemed, but thankfully so far all Naruto's laws were fair… to the people of the Sukai kingdom. This wasn't to say that the people in his kingdom were submissive to any authority over them but rather they were submissive and deathly loyal to the throne, only obeying the division heads, Soldier and Civilian, and other delegated leader because they were personally appointed by Naruto. These people didn't have power unless Naruto gave them power and he only gave them power when they he saw them as deserving. It helped that his people regarded the rinnegan king as a powerful deity.
That was the system in the Sukai kingdom; Naruto could order his subordinates to flash promote Naruko Platinum rank and they would do so without question, another reason besides it being an order from their king was that they also saw Naruko as a powerful person, albeit not as much as their king but they placed her on a pedestal even above the division ranks. The girl knew this too and she had pleaded to her brother, the king, not to do that.
Naruto rubbed his face and hopped off the desk, proceeding out of his tent. He smirked as he saw dozens of small camp fires speckled around his tent with bronze ranks sitting around the fires, eating ration packs of food and laughing at stories few of them told. His soldiers were still in their uniform of red shirts, black pants, bronze shoulder plates, bronze forearm guards, bronze shin guards and bronze boots, ready to defend their king if any enemy tried to attack. The red head stuck his hands into his pockets and looked over the mumbling soldiers sitting around warm fires and caught sight of the Retrieval vehicles parked in a row at the far back in front of the sparse Hot Water forest, there a few vehicle drivers used water jutsu to spray down the sides of blood and the inventors double checked the engines.
Naruto started walking forward, nodding his head in reply to greetings and smiling a little at the bronze ranks that shot to their feet and snapped into crisp salutes. He manoeuvred through the camps and his personal maid followed behind him with the camera recording his every move. He briefly stopped as he passed the last fire and scanned the vehicles, the drivers and inventors there lined up beside their respective vehicles and saluted their king. Naruto waved for them to relax with his right hand, still looking around with his red ringed rinnegan eyes, until he spotted a tall man in Platinum rank armour standing beside the vehicle to the far left in a submissive stance. Naruto walked to Hamato, head of Intelligence and Interrogation, and nodded for the man to speak.
"The retrieval mission to Konoha was successful, lord Naruto."
Naruto smirked as he looked at the two younger teens kneeling beside Hamato, both were silver rank and they had their heads lowered, right hands over their hearts. "I can see that." he spoke to the thirteen year old silver ranks. "At ease." They got to their feet and placed their hands behind them, puffing out their chests. "How was your stay in Konoha?"
"Mildly eventful, sir." Sai answered and Naruto idly nodded, looking over them.
"Sai, were you able to take care of the renegade ROOT ninjas?"
"Yes sir, but I left Yamato Tenzo, like you ordered."
"And Kakashi?"
"He is currently occupied with keeping assassins from reaching the Yondaime." The black haired boy stoically said.
"I take it the video has split Konoha." Naruto said.
"As you predicted, sir." Hamato replied with a humble bow, the other two soldiers followed.
"Sakura." He said and the girl straightened up abruptly.
"Sir."
"Your last report said Tsunade Senju has taken an interest in your training."
"Yes, sir. She has been giving me pointers on medical ninjutsu and combat training."
"Hopefully that hasn't ruined your personal training." Each grounder spy was sent a training scroll. Sakura and Sai received theirs a year before they became genin. The girl nodded curtly and Naruto looked past them into the back of the truck. He unintentionally ground his teeth as he saw a boy with large bright blue eyes silently stare at him. The king rolled his neck, making a horrific popping sound, as he waved for the soldiers to leave him. The division heads and the two Sukai spies bowed and left, the silver ranks to join in the conversation going on in a random camp fire and the platinum rank to meet his division head comrade.
Naruto stomped up the ramp of the truck and stood over the heavily restrained boy strapped into a seat. The red heads jaw tightened powerfully and his fists cracked from inside his pockets as he looked down at the boy, his face clean of any emotion but inside him was a whirlwind of fiery rage that bubbled and spat violently, threatening to spill out of his body and destroy the country. Junior dropped his head and looked down, fighting to keep the tears from falling from his eyes. His almost identical resemblance to his father had once again ruined his first impression; he had hoped that his first time meeting his brother, if he ever met his brother, would be a happy affair.
Naruto grunted and muttered. "My first instinct is to crush you into nonexistence."
Minato junior stayed silent, the only sound being the rhythmic breathing coming from the thirteen year old Konoha genin. He struggled to keep his heart in one piece.
"But I won't." The king said and breathed out heavily, wrenching his eyes from the boy's blonde hair. Junior heard feet stomping on the metal floor of the vehicle and a breathe huff as a body sat down on the seat beside him. Naruto relaxed into the seat and crossed his ankles and laced his fingers together. He lazily turned his head to Junior, who still had his head down, and said. "My spies report that you resent father."
The blondes head snapped to his older brother and his eyes enlarged at the evil smirk on Naruto's face. He mutely bobbed his head up and down.
"Will you be willing to…kill those he loves…?" Naruto slowly asked and his smile began to grow. Darkness flooded his eyes.
Junior bobbed his head again. "I will."
"Before that…your name…I don't like it."
"I'll change it, I swear." Junior hurriedly said, his eyes frantic and panicked. Naruto flashed a smirk and waited. "What of…" he trailed off and looked around for any clue for a new name, any name. The king noticed his indecision and he motioned for the boy to relax.
"Take your time." He got up and his eyes briefly glowed, the straps and seals restraining the boy broke off. The king walked past and the boy quickly scampered after his big brother. "I want you and your team to kill Kakashi. Can you do that?" he looked over his shoulder as he stomped down the ramp. Killing his father's last student would break Minato even more.
The blonde boy, who was for now nameless, nodded. "Yes, Lord Brother."
Naruto barely stopped himself from faltering at the title. A snarl flashed across his face but he cleaned it off. He nodded and allowed it to slide. "Good. I will have five frontline squads and a medic squad accompany you, Sakura and Sai back to Konoha, but they are only to keep other ninjas away from you three while you take care of Kakashi."
"Thank you, Lord Brother." Naruto felt rage shoot through his body at the title as it was said again but he again allowed it to slide; he didn't intend to split his power with his brother, that privilege was only for his twin but that it looked like Naruko intentionally wanted to stay away from being the queen. He would give the option to the boy to either join his Sukai force or he would allocate an apartment in the kingdom for him to live in with their mother. He did not have the connection he had with his sister, not even a little, but a part of his mind kept whispering that he couldn't, for the life of him, blame the boy for looking like their father or even being their fathers son. It would definitely take time to get passed looking at his father's face reflected off his brothers and especially being called 'Lord Brother'.
"Do not disappoint me."
"I swear on my life."
An hour before sunrise, the next day, Naruto stationed frontline soldiers and a few inventors in Hot Water to finish up the natural gas drain before he moved the others to other nations, while he flew in a Retrieval vehicle to Iwagakure.