Chapter 5

Menma was casual around Naruto and felt like he had met a good friend in him, he was not worried since his grandma was in this region.

'I wonder how long he can last against Grandma.'

"I can last for a long time, Menma. I am the master of space and time so fighting me is the worst." Naruto commented as he sat on the edge of the pool with his legs submerged

Menma nodded as his eye lids twitched at the fact Naruto read his mind, "Don't do that again, it makes me really angry."

Naruto looked at the necklace that was similar to his except it had a lot of functions unlike his simple jade. It was flashing with red and Naruto ȧssumed it was a warning device.

His eyes scanned the tiny seals on the necklace and he was impressed by the craftsmanship.

"I apologize. I won't do it unless necessary, is that good enough."

"It is good enough." Menma said in neutral tone his voice seemed to have lost some ŀuster that Naruto noticed

"Why do you insist on causing massacres? The real answer, I can feel the killer intent and it's too much."

"Isn't it obvious, it's the image? People fear me more as the knowledge of deeds with details grow in the areas. The reputation saves me from people coming at me pointlessly as they know I will kill them slowly and even destroy their families plus their cities.

I grow from their fear. It makes me stronger and my enemy weaker." Menma explained as his eyes flashed with red from blue, he started breathing erratically

"Chill bro, there are no girls here to handle your ŀust." Naruto said as he tapped Menma, pushing him into the water to cool him down

The necklace had flashed deep red at that moment and Naruto had felt something really wrong.

"Menma, continue with your training and we will meet later." Naruto muttered while infusing his energy into the pool to help him calm down

Naruto watched for a moment before walking away, "Thanks for not attacking me, Grandma."

A woman with long red hair tied in a pony tail, wearing traditional clothes of the royalty, came into sight as Naruto left the view of the pool.

"Mito, I would have been tricked by your sweet ȧss voice if not for seeing Menma. Why are you doing this to him? No, what have you done to him?" Naruto felt really annoyed now that he had seen Menma's state of mind, he needed a leash to save his sanity

"Do you really believe it is my fault? Look back with your eyes, clearly. I know you can see deeper." Mito Uzumaki said as she looked towards Menma

Naruto looked at her then back at Menma, his eyes showed some symbols and they moved around his iris.

"My child needed such conditioning and even then I had to make that seal for him. He has been cursed from birth to become a force of destruction.

He used to be such a sweet child but then signs started appearing and his emotions started disappearing so I had to quickly take extreme actions." Mito explained in a calm tone and Naruto knew she was telling the part, where she enjoyed the fact Menma was like this but not to this extreme

Naruto nodded as he could see a problem inside of Menma's soul, it was turning dark and foul.

"Have you found any clue on how to cure the problem? What is the actual source?" Naruto asked as he couldn't find any information on this problem

"I have tried and even asked Kurama but there is no clue except that once every so thousand years, a vessel of destruction is born. Menma is not the first but he is the worst case since the others died in their childhood." Mito replied and showed him the scenes of destruction that might have been caused by little kids

Naruto analyzed the pictures and was surprised as the kids had destroyed an area of 100km's at an age of six without training.

"I will help. I am strong and once I can activate my six paths then I should have higher chance of finding a solution."

Mito nodded, she was interested in Naruto in many ways, "I am looking forward to that but I need you to be a true Uzumaki. Looking at you is truly an annoyance, your lack of fuinjutsu skills reeks from your appearance."

"Well then teach me, grandma?"

Mito smiled sweetly at him and Naruto felt that he had met his soul mate.

'We are so alike.' Naruto thought with a wide grin as he felt a deep attraction to this old fossil

Mito chuckled slightly at his words and sent a clone with Naruto while she went to sing for Menma as t helped him calm his nerves.

She had found that to be true a few years ago and made sure to sing for him at least once a week.

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5 years ago:

His grandmother was sitting by the side on another boulder watching him, as he had trouble concentrating he asked in placating tone, "Grandma could you sing for me, I find your voice soothing and it helps me calm down."

His grandma was flattered at his complement and said in a tone showing her fondness for the child, "Of course my child anything you ask will be granted and I am happy that you find my singing to be of value. It's one of my hobbies and it helps when you are appreciated."

The child smiled at her with joy and thanked her for agreeing to his request, the song he requested was one he loved more than any as it resonated with his soul. He closed his eyes at concentrated on the beautiful melody that echoed out through the valley with his soul and appreciated its beauty.

(Blue Bird)

"You say if you could fly, you'd never come back down

You only have eyes for that blue, blue sky

You've yet to learn what sadness is

And are just now grasping what pain is like

Even the feeling I have for you

As you awaken from a dream into an unknown world

Spread your wings and take flight

You say if you could fly, you'd never come back down

You aimed for those white, white clouds

You know if you can just make it through, you'll find what you seek

So keep trying to break free, to that blue, blue sky

That blue, blue sky

That blue, blue sky

With a sound like all politeness was gone,

Look, you're so sick of looking at that cage that you're throwing it away

Without ever looking back again

That throbbing beat takes your breath away

And you kick open that window and take off

You said that if you ran, you would obtain it

You're tempted by that distant, distant voice

It grasps your far too dazzling hand

Until you pursue that blue, blue sky

I understand that you are falling, but continue to follow the light

You search for those white, white clouds

If you break through, you'll know you'll find it

So try until you break free to that blue, blue sky

That blue, blue sky

That blue, blue sky"

As the voice sung the lyrics the child could feel his soul resonating and felt his instincts calm down. He was lost in his world guided by the song and could see the path that he had been seeking, what his dreams spoke off.

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Ino:

In the clan house of the Yamanaka clan within a corner region by the garden was the room of one Ino Yamanaka. She was one of the top potentials and had been chosen by Kurenai Yuhi, also known as The Dream Fairy, to be her disciple. This was good news for her but it had been trashed as she had not seen her hubby attend.

Ino dressed in red tank top with a purple jacket that had many dangers hiding within along with hot pants and Shinobi combat boots that reached her knees from the back which looked really stylish, the way she preferred her things. She was pacing her room while muttering curses in annoyance, "How dare that bastard not attend even when I had told him to. I wanted him to see me shine and praise me but he had to up and vanish. Fucking damn.., pieces of trash tell me where he is."

There were five Shinobi in front of her on their knees, "Young Miss, we do not have the information about such details and it's impossible to get it, you should know who his master is."

When Ino heard what he had to say, her anger erupted and she whipped him using her custom made weapon for her use. It was weapon of rank 7 with many specifications and one she especially adored, it caused immense pain to anyone it hit even if the damage wasn't a lot. "You bastards what's your use, if you can only answer with negatives. Get out of my site before I turn you into vegetables."

The servant disappeared in haste leaving Ino who had calmed down after inflicting pain and hearing the screams. She went towards the garden to relax and help her cool down, there she remembered how she had met him for the first time in the same place.

Menma had been sitting there staring into the pond when she had been informed by her mother that guests had arrived and she should spend time with him. When she had arrived in the garden he had not reacted to her presence even when she talked to him, so she had tried to push him into the water. That had turned out to be bad idea as he had reacted instantly and smashed her deep into the pond, she was known for her sadistic tendencies but she felt her heart beat at the intensity in his eyes.

She had felt pain from his hold and he had let her go after a few seconds, and in his blank voice he had told her not to disturb him. But she had not given up as he didn't scare her and finally caught his attention but had gotten bruised from the attempts, slowly they had gotten know each other and she had found herself attracted to his charm, even when most feared HIM she would always be on his side that was what she had told him. HE had laughed with genuine feelings for the first time in front of her and said that he would protect her until the day she died or dared to betray his friendship, which he said with intense bloodlust to remind her who he she was dealing with.

The friendship had grown with her personality matching his with both being sadistic in their approaches and being cruel when opportunity appeared. But today was supposed to be the day they met after two months but he was still not here. She was looking in to the pond contemplating what he was doing and what she should do now, when she heard a bird approaching. She received a message which said Sorry for not attending and that he was busy with something important. The message made her happy at the thought that he at least cared for her but when she realized that the wench had tagged along with him, she started another fit at being left behind.

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Neji Hyuga:

Neji Hyuga the nephew of the head of the Hyuga clan, diligent in all aspects of life and all rounded talented in combat and the Hyuga arts. Only surpassed by his cousin Hinata who had extra help from the Uzumaki clan which disturbed the balance they had, as they were close in strength with him being stronger physically with more stamina while she had better flexibility and speed. The Uzumaki destroyed that balance and she surpassed him within months, as was proven in the tournament where she ranked fourth while he had lost to the heir to Yamanaka clan, Ino in a close fight.

He had ended up fighting for 6th place which was still bringing honor to the clan, as they were the only ones with two members on the list. The loss had motivated him and he scavenged for information on mind attacks along with Genjutsu to cover the weakness, as unlike him Hinata had seals and showed knowledge on the subject which was explainable as she was taught by the head.

Three years had gone by and he was confident to take down Ino but Hinata had been absent for months, so he couldn't compare their strengths. Today had been the opening ceremony for the start of the year, he had witnessed some potential in the new comers other than the clansmen especially the Sakura girl whom Lee had shown romantic feelings for. Lee had left them to accompany her.

While he was contemplating on his thoughts and sitting on the bench on the campus he heard Tenten, "Are you jealous that you don't have someone to go on a date with."

She implied in a joking tone but he played along and said, "No need, I have you by my side." That got her blushing like he had expected, she was hard to read for strangers but he had been around her long enough to know she liked him but he wasn't sure of his feelings and wanted to test it against time.

'I need proof that it is actually love and not just a fleeting thing.' Neji was just serious like that.

As today was there free day, Neji decided why not go on a date to which Tenten agreed. They walked towards the mission center to go catch an ȧssignment to deal with outside the walls, as they needed some timely action. They looked through the ones available for second years and chose a search and destroy ȧssignment which was some place far off from the city.

The destination was around 1000 km which was very far from the capital for normal people but nothing much for chakra born. The duo decided to go with chakra enhancement as they didn't want the threat to have caused to damage t the surrounding, with small adjustment as they didn't want to tire out their bodies they hit mach 10 and arrived at the location within six minutes.

They had stopped 10 km before the area where they was supposed to go towards, and slowly walked to the location wary of any threat. Neji had has byakugan activated and had armed with his bow to shoot down any threat while Tenten had twin blades unsheathed.

Through his extended vision which he could focus to see at max 20 km in one direction for now, he saw the village located near the mountain and that a slaughter had started. He informed Tenten and they hurried along the path when he could see clearly Neji started shooting chakra amped arrows at full strength on enemies far away from the citizens.

While Neji was shooting down the enemies, Tenten took to close combat in order to avoid hurting the populace. She rushed forwards with her swords and danced around them while slashing their bodies apart. Many of the inhabitants had already died to the hands of the bandits, while Neji was shooting at the enemies he saw someone trying to sneak attack him and retaliated by shooting in the direction.

Neji had expected to kill but unexpectedly the foe deflected the attack expertly and continued charging towards him along with throwing shuriken and Kunai to distract him. But Neji did not scramble back and shot a charged shot that exploded in the direction, the arrow had hurt the enemy but he still survived and Neji decided to capture him. As Neji hit his chakra points disabling him, the foe started squirming and died, when he checked Neji found poison.

While Neji was handling the chakra born outside the village, Tenten had come under attack by 5 of them. She stopped holding back her speed and strength to avoid the risk of failure; she went faster than before and attacked the one closest with the surprise movement.

The unexpected increase in power was a success and she cleaved the enemy from the center, which enraged the others. The enemies did not seem to work in any kind of organized team as such she could see glaring holes in their formation. She danced though the battlefield killing them off and dodging any move they used directing them toward others. When she was about to finish the last enemy her danger seal activated and she reacted by going through her limits and held up a shield charged with all of chakra she could muster.

What had hit her was giant fireball that incinerated everything in its path except her and behind her; it carried on damaging the surroundings which meant there could be landslide as the mountain had received heavy damage. She looked towards the direction of the attack but could not see anything.

Neji reached her place with worry on his face; he had witnessed his friend almost dying which had his heart bursting out of his throat. He had hatefully concentrated his vision on the enemy but could not identify them from the facials but fortunately he saw a sign on one of the men.

He hugged Tenten in worry looking over her as she was feeling faint from expending so much chakra in such quick succession, when he saw the enemy retreat. After half an hour with the survivors tucked in safety, they decided to turn in the ȧssignment and inform the Academy about the bandits as there seemed to be something more going on.

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When Tenten had been combat, a black haired man had been watching her fight and had felt immense anger flowing through as he watched and could not handle it which led to him attacking Tenten with the fire attack. But what the children didn't know was that the attack had been messed with, as a blond man had hit the black haired man stopping him from adding more power.

The blond had barked at him in annoyance, "Are you fuċkɨnġ stupid Kyo, can't you even control your hatred for just long enough for the plan to succeed. You are not even near the target of your hatred and you have already lost it. Don't harm the important people for now as it would ring warning bells in Konoha and if I think you might repeat this incident, I rip you to pieces."

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In the city of Utopia, Ino who had calmed her nerves was wandering the streets, heading towards the meeting place that her group had communicated. She had planned to meet her friends Shikamaru and Choji who were celebrating at the barbecue joint as she was free. On the way she was passing by the store that sold games and saw an advert with Menma's face on and decided to check it out.

She found that they had cards of his deeds in the tournament from 3 years ago and decided to get them. She commanded the owner to give them to her, but the owner rejected with his voice shaking in fear. As the day was a festive day she decided to play nice and just controlled his mind so that he gave the cards to her. Before leaving she left some gold coins and altered his memory that he believed the cards burned by accident.

Ino stashed the cards in her spatial bracelet while going towards her destination but unexpectedly she came across miss goody two shoes Kusano. She wanted to curse at this inauspicious day and looked towards Kusano like she wanted her to disappear. Kusano stood in front of her and glared at her, "Ino Yamanaka I saw what you did to the poor man and I want you to return what you stole. This goes against the spirit of fairness, so comply otherwise you will pay the price."

Ino looked at her astonishment, "Are you right in the head Kusano, it's just some cards. I haven't done anything harmful to him; you do realize I could kill him and still not receive any punishment. So get out of my way, I am busy to deal with your bullshit."

Kusano took the verbal well without any affect and decided that she should act forcefully as Ino was too stubborn to surrender. She applied her power and controlled roots to entangle from underground but she dodged, Kusano stopped the attack and healed the damage after that she went for close combat.

"Kusano you bitch stop this madness, have you lost it…" While dodging a hit Ino screamed at her but she seemed to have become stupid. Fortunately Tsunade had been accompanying her and stopped before the fight got messy, Ino glared hatefully at Kusano and left towards the party.

On the other hand Kusano was getting a hearing for making a scene about something so small, she tried to argue that it was morally wrong to take advantage of the weak that relied on them for protection and went against the code set by their forefather. But her mother ignored her philosophical ramblings, as this could cause problem between the clans which would be way worse than what Ino had done. Kusano seemed to realize her mistakes and apologized for going overboard but in heart she had gotten another target to change along with HIM.

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Ino arrived at her destination finally before she went crazy at the thought that someone might have put a curse on her and cursed at the unseen power for the incidents. Arriving at the room reserved for their group, she found her lazy ȧss and fat nugget sitting there waiting for her patiently as they could.

They exchanged greeting and ordered some food while discussing the days finding's. Shikamaru in his usual lazy tone while lying on his side said, "I was selected by Danzo to be his disciple and Choji here was chosen by Orochimaru to part of his collection, just so you know as you most likely forget to listen again."

Ino was surprised at their masters whom were known for their power and ruthlessness except for Orochimaru everyone knew he was a collector but when he heard the last part, "Shut it Shika, I don't want your sarcasm. The day has been trouble already so share the juicy bits already that you promised."

Shikamaru took his seat properly, "No need to have your pȧntɨės in a bunch but looking at your expression I will just share what I know, so calm down. So listen carefully as you might I have heard the war might be on the horizon and my father has said its matter of time for it to start, though it might not start within these years but there have been ominous signs which have the ȧduŀts worried. I have nothing else to add other than that we should increase our training, as when we become chunin they might deploy us on missions and in war nobody is going to care which clan we belong to." He ended his words with an ominous tone showing how serious he believed the situation was getting.

While Shikamaru was talking, Choji had started eating in anxiety at the grim picture his mind was painting. On the other hand Ino was like part of a different world, as she showed excitement and said she will get to see her hubby on the battlefield at last. Which had the boys staring at her like she was crazy but then they remembered who she was, and just shook their head in disbelief at how she had become so insane when they spent their childhood together?

Her obsession with that guy was unhealthy and could lead to her death but she didn't listen and they had to compromise but after getting to know him some what they had changed their opinion a bit though still believing, it was dangerous hanging around HIM. HE looked for trouble and she liked causing problems that might be why she had been attracted, was what Shikamaru had understood. Even then girls were really too troublesome and he wished she would not cause any more headaches for him.

While Shikamaru showed finesse by not talking anymore, Choji opened his mouth and caused a problem, "You know Ino you should give upon HIM already, it's not like it would work and too much effort needs to be put to get his attention. That's very dangerous and I believe Kusano would be a better for him, as she might reeducate him for the better..." Shikamaru was shaking in fear and whispering to Choji to shut up but his body had stopped listening to him and he realized that they were deep shit; he just prayed that she would be merciful.

Ino was absolutely livid at the moment and felt liking killing everything, "You fat turd, who allowed you to flap those useless lips. Shut up and both of you follow me, I have to take out my anger on something durable today." The trio left the place with the boys crying along the path with their bodies not listening to them while being led by Ino towards her private playground.

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Yulan Continent:

In one of the most dangerous places of the Yulan continent known as the Dark Forest existed a being of unknown origin to majority of the beings of the planet. He was mysterious and never left his home for million years unless it was important.

The forest was infested with rats and the man was the leader of the clan, Beirut. He was a magical beast that had attained the power to transform into human form and rule over a territory.

Beirut was a tall man with long black hair and beard with small but sharp eyes. He wore a black suite and looked very classy as a man of his level.

He would usually play with his grandsons, cultivate or spend time in his study learning the mysteries of life but since yesterday he had been distracted.

Beirut was sitting alone as he thought about what he had sensed on the Shinobi continent.

'Is it an outsider?

Is it someone from old times?

Is it someone sent to spy on the Necropolis?

Is he a servant of a Sovereign or just an unrelated child?' Beirut mused as he got up and decided to meet the child that had entered the Yulan Plane from outside when the barrier had not been broken

'Or is it the Otsutsuki?'

"I hope that little girl won't make trouble again." Beirut muttered with a smile as he remembered the red haired little girl like it was just yesterday, which was since it was bȧrėly 40 years ago and he had lived millions.

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A.n Hope you enjoy and comment. This story is supposed to be long and slow.

The song Queen by Loren Gray and pretty little psycho by porcelain black