Chapter 33

Menma clinched the scroll shut and stared at the ground beneath his feet. What was this? Was it some kind of game to him? He snapped his fingers and an ANBU dropped from the shadows of the room, kneeling before him. "Bring my father and Kakashi." He said with finality.

Sasuke looked at him in question. "I'm going." He said, as if he were demanding it.

Menma shook his head and walked towards the window. "No, no I need you here."

"Menma, he's the strongest Jonin, who's stronger than him?" Mito asked, defending him.

"Kakashi is." He responded quickly. "I am sorry Sasuke, but you are not match for Naruto… I don't even think I am."

Sasuke stepped around Mito and made his way over to the blonde Kage. "We can take him together… you know we are strongest together."

Menma sighed and rubbed his head. "Yeah, but you have a personal vendetta that will cloud your judgement. I can't take you Sasuke. I need you here with Mito."

"Here with Mito!? I'm going too!" she yelled in anger as if him even suggesting she wasn't was some kind of insult.

Menma spun around. "Are you kidding? Mito, you're pregnant. You're not going anywhere."

"I don't have to fight him! I could just… talk to him…"

Menma just stared at her. She didn't yet understand. "Mito, he's not the same anymore. There will be no talking to him." His eyes held a finality to them that Mito had never seen before. "He took Sumire."

"So you really want to kill him?" She asked.

"You don't? That's your niece!" he yelled back at her. "You don't understand yet, because you haven't had your child."

"He's right." Came a new voice. Walking into the room, Minato held the hand of Kushina. "Mito, I understand how you feel… we all do." Kushina couldn't even make eye contact with anyone in the room. "Naruto has done the unforgivable... He's attack our home and taken Sumire… we cannot allow him to do any more damage."

Mito looked around at all of them, everyone else seemed so content with the decision. "Then, I'd rather not go anyway…" she said leaning back into Sasuke's chest.

"I am taking Kakashi and Tou-san." Menma said. "I don't know what he has planned, but it can't be good."

"What about the special guest?" Sasuke asked, peeking Kushina's interest.

Menma shook his head. "It says it's optional. I don't think it's neces-.."

"I'm going." Kushina interrupted, shocking everyone. Menma stared at her, shaking her head as if he were preparing to refuse. "Menma… please…"

Minato was looking at her with remorse. "Kushina… you can't save him."

"That's not why I want to go." She quickly said. "Minato… this is our fault. This is all our fault and we have to be the ones to fix it." Minato didn't reply as he refused to dispute her statement. He very much agreed with her, but he didn't want to let her know it was fine to blame herself.

"Kaa-san." Menma said, getting their attention. "You wouldn't stand a chance… I'm sorry for saying it, but Naruto is in a class of his own… And by the way she handled Sakura, Ino is far stronger than she was back then as well…"

"I am not weak Menma." She said in a threatening way. "I can handle myself."

Menma sighed in frustration and looked over to Minato, visually telling him he would leave the decision to him. Minato looked over to Kushina and noticed that look in her eyes. It was a look he hadn't seen in a while. He slowly nodded and turned back towards Menma. Menma got the message and finally relented. "Ok, Kaa-san." He said nodding towards her. "Just… just be careful."

Kushina shook her head in agreement, a fire in her eyes blazing with determination.

(2 days later)

An unnaturally placed earthen platform jutted out from the raging waters, far from the shore they had set out from. Naruto watched from the front of the boat as five other smaller platform jut out from the front of the platform and on the other side, a rectangular platform rose, this one with two throne like seats placed on it. The creator of the construct, an orange haired man with a weird series of markings on his face. "Will that be all Leader-sama?"

Naruto stepped forward. "Yes, that is fine. Jugo." He said jumping from the boat and onto the side of the rectangular formation. The other occupants of the boat headed up as well. They walked up to the respective platforms and began writing some kind of seals on the edges of the platform. Naruto and Ino sat on the thrones casually watching the others at work.

Ino was holding Sumire in her arms, rocking her to sleep. She looked over to Naruto who was now reading another book. In truth, worries clogged her mind. With five Kage now pining for their heads, she couldn't see Naruto's plan ending with them walking away in victory and failure in this case meant death. Was this some kind of suicide mission?

It made sense when she thought about it. She knew Naruto was not a big fan of life, and he admitted to her that he was not suicidal. Maybe, subliminally, this was some kind of plan to make his death a lot more likely. It wasn't an uncommon tactic among the people with his level of psychosis.

"Hey, babe?" she called out to him, turning back to Sumire to seem nonchalant. Naruto looked towards her in question. "What's the plan?"

Naruto just stared at her for a second. "I told you doll face. It's a surprise."

Ino wasn't content with that answer. "It doesn't feel like… whatever this is gonna work… Or like we'll even survive."

Naruto turned back to the people working on the seals. "Ino. Death cannot be a factor when proving a theory such as this."

"What theory?" she asked, finally looking over to him. Naruto dropped his book and looked out in the distance in thought.

"Well, it is far from pointless. I'll tell you that much." With that answer, he stuck his nose back in the book. Ino got the hint he was finished talking of the matter. She didn't want to push for fear of him thinking she was beginning to question his plan. Instead, she went back to playing with Sumire.

Naruto read a line in the book over and over. His new piece of literature was something he was given from one of his soldiers. It was a book that delved much deeper into the concept of conflict and the theory of chaos and order. What was strange about the book was the fact that it held no author. By the way it was written, he'd have thought he had written it himself based on thoughts he had yet to conjure.

The wording of the book suggested a much darker understanding of the things in this world we view as precious. It was written in a nihilistic tone of course, but the words were undisputable. It essentially boiled down to ramblings about the classic tale of the benevolent King and the revolting band of misfits. What was different was that there was no clear protagonist. Unlike most books, the line of 'good' and 'evil' was so diluted it was almost nonexistent, leaving the decision of who to follow up to the reader. Strangely however, the antagonist was clear, but there was no protagonist.

For Naruto it brought forth the realization that there was no impartiality between making either connection. A crowd was quick to point out an individual as 'evil' when their ideals didn't exactly match up. Yet, when it came to picking a hero, no one could decide. It brought him to the realization that this entire scenario directly displayed that.

He was the clear antagonist. The undeniable evil that stained this world with his existence, no matter what his reasoning's were. He was no hero, not even for the people that followed him. He was simply someone who was willing to tilt the scale that balanced the peace with the chaos and they craved that. In truth, they were all vultures that he refused to empathize with. They had their own vendettas and hatreds with this world, but were too afraid to stand above the crowd and deliver the first blow.

The 'hero's' were of course the Kage who so expertly had their people clinging to their feet in prayer, treating them like gods. It sickened him in a way to see a man bow at another man's feet so willingly. It was disgraceful for many reasons. He couldn't grasp the concept of it, even though he himself had done the same thing for most of his adolescence.

The book described it as 'not a hierarchy of power, but a hierarchy of fearlessness'. In other words, a man will bow to a man who fears less than him, or appears to. A man who is willing to draw the attention of death and not care. These Kage were ruling as false kings, yet they didn't know the meaning of such a position and how rotten it truly was. Especially Menma, and it irked him so. His own family seeping into such a vindictive cycle. He refused to stand for it.

Standing to his feet, he watched all of the seal users had finished their tasks and were standing on the middle of the battle platform, chatting amongst each other, waiting for his orders. Seeing his movement, the crowd quieted almost instantly. Naruto stood at the edge of the long rectangular platform and eyed their work from a distance. "Very good job. You are all free to take your leave."

The men all nodded and jumped back down to the boats awaiting them down below. Naruto jumped down to the arena platform and inspected the seal personally, changing things as he saw fit. When he finished he jumped to each of the five other platforms and did the same thing. By the time he had finished, the day was coming to an end. He jumped back up to the throne pillar and retook his place next to Ino who had her body slung out across the armrests of her throne, feeding Sumire through a baby bottle.

"Everything good?" She asked him, kicking her shoes off and resting her feet on Naruto's armrest as he sat down.

Naruto nodded and sighed. "Yeah. Now we wait."

Ino looked up and smiled. "Not for long. Looks like our cargo is here." Naruto traced her eyes and looked up to see Deidara's clay dragon approaching, carrying the bound and gagged forms of each of the prizes.

Naruto stood to his feet and directed Deidara in where to place them. He had them all spaced out evenly along the rectangular platform in front of their thrones. Each of them chained down to the ground beneath them, facing the arena platform. Well, all but the one that was too young to even walk.

They were lined up based on their village. To Naruto's far left was the son of the Raikage, with a chain around his neck connected to the ground. The next slot held the Tsuchikage's childhood friend. The third slot, which was directly in front of Ino and him was left blank. The fourth slot held the Kazekage's nephew resting within his crib. The final slot had the Mizukage's fiancé slouched over on her knees with rope tightly securing her arms behind her back.

Step by step, Naruto went to each of the different slots and went through hand signs. He slammed his hands upon the ground behind them, causing their specific area to light up briefly before moving on to the next one. When he finished all of that, he retook his seat and sat with Ino, waiting for the fruition of this confusing plan to play out. A play he wasn't afraid to admit was a borrowed experiment. And so, they waited…

The next day, Menma, Kushina, Minato, and Kakashi navigated the waters towards the coordinates listed on the back of their scroll. The silver haired Jonin steering their boat. Everyone was fully armed and prepared for war. That's what it felt like at that moment. Like they were heading into war. Every wave that smacked into the side of their boat felt like a distant heartbeat that increased with the tension in the air.

Nobody was talking which increased the eeriness of the situation. Menma sat against the side of the boat, staring out into the foggy looking waters. Fear was gripping his heart and his mind ran wild with thoughts. What if this was some kind of trap? He was sure it wasn't by how honorable Naruto seemed to be even considering his actions. It would be the perfect opportunity for an ambush and that is exactly what he was expecting.

He was really trying to clear his head so that his judgement wasn't clouded during the battle. Out of the four of them on the boat, he was the only one that has never experienced war. Everyone else seemed so calm or at the least composed about the situation. It made sense considering their history with events of this magnitude, but a piece of him wanted to argue that they just truly didn't understand the threat that was his brother.

He himself had no idea how monstrously strong Naruto was until their last battle. Had his father not shown up when he did, Naruto would have killed him. They did not understand the magnitude of his strength yet. Of course with their own many accomplishments, they had confidence in their own abilities, but this was something else. Something much more overbearing than he was willing to admit.

That realization came to him during their fight. Naruto did much more than just handle him, he did it with ease. It was the first time he felt humbled in years. When he could finally match his father in a battle, a man who was marked as a 'flee on sight' shinobi in the bingo books, he figured he was on par with anyone he came up against. Well, this was a very different level altogether.

Finally, his eyes caught sight of a set of rock formations with boats surrounding the bottom. It would seem that they were the last to arrive which was strange considering the sun hadn't even risen yet. Staring up, they tried to get a feel for how high it was, but couldn't see past the mist. They pulled up next to the smaller pillar that held the symbol of Konoha on its side. The four of them nodded to each other and jumped up to the side of the platform and began running up.

When they finally made it to the top, they were too late to hear the protests of the others and a barrier shot up around them. They looked around to see the other Kage and their guests all bickering to themselves. Directly in front of them, the arena platform remained barren and further away, the platform containing the prizes.

Minato, Kushina, and Kakashi stared at Naruto who didn't seem to notice them at all as his book was still plastered in his face. Menma stared at the blonde who was holding his daughter in her arms.

"Hokage!" yelled a feminine voice off to their far right. "Nice of you to finally show up!"

Menma finally tore his gaze away from his daughter and looked over to the platform right next to them holding the Tsuchikage who had addressed him. "Tsuchikage-sama." He greeted with a nod.

"Maybe now we'll start this crap." Said a dry lazy voice on the other side of her.

Menma looked passed her and nodded to Darui, the Raikage. He then turned the other way and greeted the Kazekage Gaara who was to his right and Chojuro, the Mizukage on the end. "So, any idea what we're in for?" he asked them all.

"No! The piece of shit hasn't said a word since we got here!" yelled the Tsuchikage looking up to the higher platform. "As soon as I get out of this, I'm killing him."

"Then I guess this is just a race to see who can get to him first." The monotonous voice of the Kazekage replied.

Menma just stared up at Naruto wondering what it was he planned to do. He had everyone here, it seemed like everything was set up so what was he waiting on? "…Hey!" he yelled up, thinking maybe he just didn't notice them yet.

"Don't waste your breath. He won't respond." Chojuro informed him.

Minato stepped up next to him. "Tou-san… I can't feel her pull." He informed him.

"I know." The blonde man said. "Neither can I. He must be disrupting it somehow… even from such a short distance."

"What do you think about this seal?" he asked him, examining its unique green tinted glow.

Minato just shook his head. "I haven't seen anything like it in a long time." He said running a finger over it, noting how solid it felt.

"You can't do anything about it?" he asked hopefully.

Minato seemed a bit iffy about it. "I don't think I can risk it. Knowing Naruto, it wouldn't be as easy as tampering with its writing which isn't even visible… We should have planted kunai on the boat." Menma nodded his head in agreement.

"Make sure Kaa-san is holding up ok." He said as Minato nodded and stepped back to Kushina. Kakashi walked up next, looking much more tense than he's ever seen him.

"So what's the plan?" he asked him lowly, not wanting to be heard by the others. "We just wait?"

Menma shrugged his shoulders. "Seems like we don't have a choice." Kakashi nodded and fell into silence. For the next twenty to thirty minutes, the groups of shinobi all fell into silence awaiting whatever was to come.

Ino played with Sumire, trying to make her laugh. She looked over to Naruto wondering what he was waiting on. She got her answer when he finally looked away from his book and out to the sea. She giggled. "Is it so important to wait on the sun?" she asked.

Naruto shrugged, still looking at his book. "Gives them time to plan." He replied with amusement in his tone. Ino nodded and went back to playing with Sumire. Naruto continued reading his book, every now and then peeking over to the horizon, just waiting for the very first glimpse of light.

Sometime soon, the prizes began waking up, garnering the attention of their respective parties. Naruto watched all of their interactions in interest. It was a few minutes of very dramatic eye contact and whispered words of reassurance. When the time allowed it, there was also planning among the Kage for ways they could take him down. It was laughable watching them seemingly form these sudden alliances and it brought truth the saying 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'.

Friendship among individuals who believed they were the main protagonist was such a fickle thing. It wouldn't last much longer than he wanted it to. Looking up to the horizon again, there was a sliver of sunlight. He grinned beneath his mask and snapped his book shut.

Everyone turned their attention to him as he stood to his feet. He began pacing behind the prizes, ominously drawing their attention to their incentives. He still had yet to say anything, but he was walking as if this was the beginning. Finally, he stopped on the middle section originally reserved for his niece and stared out at the Kage and their parties. "…Good morning ladies and gentlemen… I welcome you. Your being here means you have accepted the rules and regulations of my game… That being said… Let's have some fun."