Naruto: The Unwoven Threads of Fate

"MUKADE!" Naruto shouts the moment his eyes land on the missing nin. Mukade is on the other side of a thin bridge connecting a central platform in a circular chamber.

Mukade just smirks. The thin, almost frail ex-Suna shinobi is standing over some form of an alter. It is roughly in the shape of a square. On each corner of the square is a singular pillar that has been etched with a very intricate pattern. In the center of the square is what appears to be some kind of large stone eye that is shut.

Oh, it also has a kunai buried up to the hilt in it. That's slightly important.

"So you've all finally caught up with me." Mukade doesn't bother with yelling, the large open room they are all in carries his voice easily. He lowers himself down to a knee and grasps the hilt of the kunai with a single hand. "Such a shame."

"Mine!" A very, very faint voice that sounds vaguely familiar to everyone but Mukade wisps across on the wind. Because of it's soft volume, everyone present dismisses it as nothing. They have a much bigger problem in front of them.

"Mukade, you have to know that simply pulling out the kunai won't deactivate the seal." Yamato calmly says as he stays near the door. He's blocking the only escape route for their target to take. "It's impossible to remove the kunai without doing so."

"You are correct of course. The sealwork of the Fourth Hokage far outstrips anything I could hope to unravel." Mukade smirks as he adds his other hand to the handle and tightens his grip.

"Mine!" The faint wispy voice is heard once more but slightly louder. It's still not enough to pull attention to itself.

"Let's get him." Kiba growls out to Naruto. The hairs on the back of his neck are standing on end, bristling up in his agitation and the general lack of violence going on. "Come on, we broke his puppet already. We got this."

"Mine!"

"Hold up a sec." Naruto pauses for a fleeting moment, straining his hearing to the limit. "I could have sworn-"

"That's where you're all mistaken." Mukade cuts of Naruto's train of thought. "Who said I was going to dismantle it? I'm going to absorb it, and with it the power of the Leyline!"

Mukade begins to do the impossible. He slowly, painstakingly, starts to pull the kunai from it's stoney sheath.

"Naruto, Kiba! Stop him!" Yamato commands. He knows that he's too far away to do anything, the pair of boys are his only shot.

"Hell yeah!" Kiba springs forward at astonishing speeds only to see a blur of orange dart ahead of him. "Game on Naruto! One to stop him buys the loser lunch!"

"You're too late!" Mukade laughs villainously as the kunai is moments from being freed.

"Mine!" A green streak blows past Yamato, causing his hair to flutter in the slipstream behind whoever just sprinted in here at high speed. "Hey Yamato - MINE!"

"What?" The jonin elegantly says in total confusion at the recognizable voice he hasn't heard in years.

"MINE! Shit is that Sai?" The green blur asks as he passes the second Konoha shinobi.

"Since when do you know someone named Sai?" A dark blue smudge on the ground keeping hidden in the green blur's shadow asks conversationally, as if they weren't moving at such high speeds that a single misstep could wind them up with broken necks.

"Fuck off I have a life outside of Oto!" The green one snaps back. "MINE!"

"No you don't." The blandness in the blue smudge is blatantly obvious.

"Shut up! More important things! MINE MINE MINE - hey Kiba. Haven't seen you in a long time. You doing alright?"

"Uh…" Kiba intelligently sputters out as the two things rocket past him.

"More important things." The blue one speaks down to the green yet again.

"MINE MINE - sup Naruto how's things? Wait Naruto? What the hell are you doing here? Hold that thought - MINE MINE MINE!" The blurs are exactly even with Naruto as something happens that no one really is prepared for.

With a grin of absolute victory, Mukade pulls out the kunai.

Instantly a blinding white pillar of light soars up from the deep puncture wound in the stone eye. At first it's just a sliver, barely more than a finger's circumference. It held that shape for a fraction of a moment, then expanded at an alarming rate.

Mukade was swallowed in the light nearly instantly with success written all over his thin sunken face. In the next second the light grew to encompass the entire central platform. If it continues to expand at this rate, the blurs and Naruto have about two seconds before they fall victim to it.

"FUCK YOU I SAID IT WAS MINE!" The green one darts forward, disregarding the ominous vibrant light, but only made it a step.

"We can find another." The blue one says as he snags the back of the collar of the green one before reversing direction to safety.

It's at this moment, when the blurs reverse direction that they're still enough to make out. Yamato, Kiba, and Naruto's jaws all go slack in incomprehension. Right next to Naruto is two of Konoha's more infamous missing nin. Right next to Naruto is the pair of shinobi that fled to Orochimaru. Right next to Naruto is -

"NARUTO MOVE!" Sai, the only one not dumbfounded by the sudden appearance of Alvarcus and Sasuke, orders his teammate. Because right next to Naruto, and by extension Alvarcus and Sasuke, is the bright vibrant light.

There's no hope for escape anymore, it expanded too rapidly and all three of the boys didn't pay enough attention to it. Naruto, because of his friends suddenly popping up, Alvarcus and Sasuke because they simply didn't deem it dangerous enough.

"Well shit." Two soft spoken words, that only Naruto and Sasuke hear, slip out of Alvarcus' mouth. "Sorry guys, this might hurt."

"Don't you fucking dare-" Sasuke didn't get to finish his sentence as he and Naruto are tossed ass over end from a gust of wind courtesy of Alvarcus's wind mask. It barely managed to toss them a few meters, but it kept them from being swallowed by the light. "ALVARCUS!"

His cry goes unheard. The expanding light has already engulfed Sasuke's best friend. Without concern for himself, the Last Uchiha sprints forward at his top speed. He doesn't care that he might die. He doesn't care that this could be the end of the Uchiha. He doesn't care that he won't get to fulfill his ambition. Right now, the only thing on his mind is saving Alvarcus.

"Sasuke wait!" Naruto springs into action, managing to clamp down on Sasuke's wrist with his hand. He had plans to stop him, keep Sasuke from potentially throwing his life away. He understands why he's doing this, but Naruto won't lose another person if he can stop it. But what Naruto didn't account for was Sasuke's strength.

Naruto expected Sasuke to be more similar to the last time their paths crossed. Sure, he knew and understood that being gone for all these years and being trained by Orochimaru means he improved, but it's different to actually experience it. Sasuke is, and forever shall be, a precise fighter. His aim is his forte, not his strength. However, he is not physically weak. So when Naruto grabbed him expecting the strength of a chunin and was met instead with the might of a jonin, he was pulled forward with him.

Straight into the light.

"That's… not good." Yamato blandly sums up the situation once the light fades, only moments after swallowing Sasuke and Naruto.

"It's at this moment that I'm glad I don't have your job." Kiba bluntly says as he moves to Yamato. "Have fun telling Tsunade about this."

"Yes." Sai intones as he also joins the rest of his team. "In the event that we can't get them back, which seems highly unlikely, the duty of the team leader is to notify the Hokage."

"They're not dead." Yamato counters both boys instantly. "Do you really think that any of them would die to a fancy light? Plus look, there's no bodies, no residual traces of them at all. Mukade was a missing nin, but he was not stupid. Call it a hunch, but I don't think that was a lethal light."

'For my sake I sincerely hope so.' Kabuto thinks to himself. He watched as Alvarcus and Sasuke charged in to steal the Hiraishin kunai at the last moment possible. He watched as they breezed right past the Konoha shinobi to capitalize on their shock. It was a good plan, run in, grab the kunai and run out as they were reeling from shock. Then he watched as everything went wrong. And now... 'You fear telling Tsunade she lost Naruto and had the problem of both missing nin Alvarcus and Sasuke solved. I, however, would have to tell Orochimaru that he lost both his next body and his son.'

In the Middle of… Somewhere

"Where the fuck am I?" I immediately take in all my surroundings.

I'm in a circular room that looks like it's seen better years. It's trashed, the stone wall seems to have crumbled. The once lush… uh… garden? I think that's what used to be a garden. Anyways, whatever the hell it was, it's totally ruined now.

~Would you like the good news first or the bad news?~

"Good." I instantly reply to Sureddo. "Definitely the good. I could use a pick me up before dealing with whatever the bad news is."

~Of course. The good news: We're still alive. That means whatever the light was isn't meant as an attack, so we dodge a kunai there. Imagine, us being defeated by something so petty.~

"I know right?" I start to take in more of my surroundings. Mainly I'm looking for a door or a way out of this room. "Done in by a freaking light. That's such a stupid way to die."

~The bad news: We're the only ones here.~

"Come again?" I freeze mid step. The implications of what Sureddo just said are vast. None of them are good either.

~Use your Sage Mode to sense if you must, but we're alone. No Kabuto, no Konoha shinobi, no Mukade, and no Sasuke.~

"Okay." Don't freak out yet. Freaking out won't help you here. God damn it man, you're a freaking high class shinobi! Something as simple as being separated from your companions doesn't mean jack shit to you! "Let's logic this out."

~This should be good.~

"What do we know?" I start pacing back and forth, the search for a door is put on hold for the moment. "First, I'm alone. Second, I'm not where I was. Okay, that means somehow I've been transported, moved, teleported, summoned, whatever the hell you want to call it. Simple. Let's not dwell on that for now. Third, I'm intact. That's good, that means all of my tools and skills are still at my fingertips. Fourth, there's an open door right there."

~That's… oddly convenient.~

"Agreed." My eyes narrow behind my sunglasses. "Fifth, if that's an open door, I haven't been taken as a prisoner. Sixth, this might be a trap. No, scratch that. This is too farfetched to be a trap. Fuck this, we're not getting anywhere with this list bullshit."

~What do you suggest then, Alvarcus?~

"We're going to walk out the door and ask the first person we see a few questions. Civilly, unless provoked. Then…" A dark smile creeps onto my face.

~We show them exactly why taking us against our will is a mistake.~

Minutes Later

"I hate to repeat myself but, where the fuck am I?" I mutter to myself while staring out at a landscape I'd never thought to see again.

I suppose I should rephrase that last statement, replace landscape with cityscape. Countless tall skyscrapers are closely packed together. Dozens upon dozens of these monstrous like buildings litter the land for as far as the eye can see. Their so thick and tightly packed together that I can't see through the metropolis - it's the only thing I can call it - to see what kind of terrain I'm in. I can't even catch the faintest wisp of what surrounds the city. Is it sand? Dirt? Grasslands? Mountains? I haven't the faintest idea.

This sprawling city reminds me of a few places I've been to before. The scariest thing though, none of them exist in the world I'm in. They're all from my past, from the time before I became a badass. Could that light have -

~Might I suggest a higher vantage point before leaping to conclusions? Plus, in all of those sprawling cities that you've visited before you came here, weren't there multitudes of people? There is no one here. No one. Not a single person.~

"That's so weird." Sure enough, with a quick glance around, the tightly packed city of buildings is barren of life. The city is well maintained, don't get me wrong here, but there's simply no people. No businessmen hurriedly making their way to the next meeting. There's no civilians wandering around town, taking in the sights. There's no tourists gawking at the daunting skyscrapers. There's no homeless people hiding in the alleyways or begging for a meager bite of food. There's no life to this city. "I don't like this."

~Neither do I.~

The sound of wood and metal clanking breaks the sound of the wind whipping through the buildings.

"What the hell?" I whirl towards the noise, it came from above me. Three mostly metal humanoid figures are skittering down the side of the skyscraper I'm next to. "Okay, so one of them has three long metal claws for hands. The other has… is that supposed to be a hammer of some sort? Well it looks like it could be good at bludgeoning people, hammer hand it is. The last one, okay hold the fuck on. What the fuck is that? Some kind of cannon? Oh, and they're all flying. Good, they're probably puppets. That means there's shinobi around. Still in the right universe."

~Small victories, yes?~

"Yeah, small victories. Not sure I could handle being in a different universe." For the second time, nonetheless.

Three earth rattling slams accompany the trio of puppets as they land in a loose formation around me. The wall is to my back, one puppet off to my left, another my right, and one in front of me.

"I've always wanted to say this! Take me to your leader!" I eagerly blurt out with a stupid grin plastered on my face.

~I severely doubt that's going to work.~

Me too, but I want to see how they react. Besides, one of these times trying to talk things out will work. Right?

In response to my declaration, the cannon puppet raises his arm up. With an ominous hum, it begins preparing to fire upon me.

"I'm going to take that as a no. Good, I could use some practice fighting puppets." I fall into a combat stance, low center of gravity. Arms raised to block, defect, parry or fly through handsigns at a moment's notice. "Bring it. I'm feeling generous, the first attack is yours. Just remember, once you attack me I'll bring my full might down upon you all if I must."

The three puppets simultaneously tilt their heads. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was in confusion. It seems weird though, it doesn't appear to be my words that caused this but rather what they're looking at. They all seem to be staring unblinkingly at my forehead protector.

"Getting second thoughts now? Pity, I haven't had a good one man army fight in a while. Though three vs one is hardly a one man army fight but I'll take it." I cockily speak at them fully knowing they can't reply. Battle banter is not as fun when it's one sided. "Come on puppet users, surely you're not scared of little old me?"

It's at this moment that I'm proven wrong. The launcher hand puppet finally releases his payload. It's not even close to what I expected. It's not a cannon ball, nor a bullet, nor a spear, nor a barrage of kunai or senbon. Hell even a stream of shuriken wouldn't have caught me off guard. Instead of doing the usual puppet things, this one shot a concentrated beam of pure chakra at me.

"The fuck!?" I intelligently blurt out as I narrowly sidestep the beam of bright purple chakra. "That's not even elemental chakra! It's just chakra! No lightning, no fire, no water, no earth, no wind! Pure untainted chakra!"

The hammer hand puppet lunges forward with his hammer hoisted to the sky. With a mighty heave it brings down the pinnacle of blunt instruments towards my head.

"How the hell can that one fire pure chakra?" I continue speaking out loud as I dance away from the hammer as it smashes into the ground and leaves behind a spiderweb of cracks. "Not only does is have the correct parts and pieces to be capable of firing pure chakra - which itself is an ingenious feat that many puppet masters would kill for - but the user has enough chakra to pull that off? I'm almost impressed. I didn't think I'd run into a puppet master with a freaking stupid amount of chakra, puppet masters are finesse fighters."

The whirl of twin motors fires to life as the metal claws of the first puppet start to spin. We're not talking like a merry go round spin, we're talking like helicopter spin. They're moving so fast that the deadly blades are little more that blurs. It springs forward to intercept me, and it's at that moment that something clicks in my head.

"There's only one puppet user." I yank a kunai out of my pouch and hold on for dear life as the whirling metal blade spark against it. I'm holding it at bay, for now. "The three puppets herded me. The cannon was to test me, see how I'll react. The hammer was to force me to move towards the claws. The claws were supposed to shred me to ribbons. Simple, yet effective. However, it still isn't good enough."

I can hear the sound of the chakra cannon beginning to charge once more.

"I'm growing bored of this." Yes, I realize it's only been like five seconds. It's just, these puppets. They seem so formidable but they're not being used to their potential. Sure it was a good plan, but why even reveal yourselves in the first place if you have a freaking chakra cannon? Just blast me from long range and be done with it. I mean it's me so it wouldn't have worked but that's way better than showing yourselves like idiots. It's like they're being controlled by an average shinobi not a puppet master like I hoped. Then I could have had a challenge. "But I'll still make it interesting. I'll best each of these puppets at their own game. With moves I learned when I was twelve."

"You have a chakra cannon?" While still holding the claw puppet at bay as it grinds against my kunai, I turn my gaze onto the glowing arm of the cannon puppet. "Let's see how you stand up to this!"

Out of my back comes a long spindly mass of black threads. It's topped with a stark white mask. The long thread tentacle reaches high into the sky, standing heads and shoulders over everyone present. It looks down upon its prey, and a few sparks of pale blue electricity arc across it.

Both the mask and the cannon puppet unleash their attacks at the same time. Vibrant purple slams into pale blue and a battle of wills doesn't even have a chance to begin. The spear of lightning pierces straight down the center of the purple chakra, scattering it to the wind. False Darkness doesn't stop there, it keeps traveling up the beam of purple chakra until it spears straight through the cannon that it came from.

The puppet spasms as the residual shocks of the jutsu course through it, much like a human would but less severe, and it's missing it's weapon. And it's arm, it's been completely disintegrated by the ridiculously overpowered attack.

Then another bolt slams into it, completely destroying the puppet in one shot.

"And you. The hammer one. You excel in brute strength, you use it to make large sweeping attacks that are meant to herd people around. It's simply a bonus if you land a blow, not your primary function. Now come on and hit me, see what happens."

As if responding to my taunting, the hammer puppet closes the gap between us. With another mighty heave, it raises up it's hammer and brings it down with all it's might. This time I don't move out of the way. Instead, I casually lift up my arm and catch the hammer as it falls. To most people the blow would have been crippling, but I've taken hits from Kakuzu, Hidan, hell even Tsunade! This is nothing to me.

"My turn." Accompanying the words is a lashing kick from me that lands on the knee of the humanoid hammer puppet. With a hefty crack of metal and wood breaking, the joint is obliterated. With the same leg, I kick forward once more and blast straight through the chest of the puppet. Splinters of wood and metal shower the ground behind it from the sheer force.

"And lastly, the one trying to cut me to pieces." I turn my gaze back onto the whirling metal claws that I've kept at bay this whole time. "It's rather poetic, how you're about to be dismantled."

Five near invisible whips of wind are already coiled around it's body. With the ease of clenching my fist, I command my trusty wind blades to slice cleanly through the puppet. It falls to pieces across the ground, so many pieces that there's no way to tell what they all once formed.

"Well that was fun." I observe the carnage. It's sadly depressing how easy that was. I'm just coming off the high of fighting Kakuzu and Hidan and then I go against these stupid puppets? "Hardly worth my time."

~What next, Host?~

"I'm going to go for a walk and see what happens." I take my leave of the courtyard I'm in and start heading off in an aimless direction. "Something should happen eventually, right?"

~For some odd reason, I think you're going to regret those words.~