Naruto:Blast to the Past

Chapter 41: The Long Road Ahead

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
"Hmm…."- Bijuu

Chapter 41:
The Long Road Ahead

Dodai stumbled back in shock when he saw two of his fellow Kumo ninja fall to the ground in front of the entrance of the tent, unconscious. But what shocked him even more was who had just done it.

Naruto stared at the man calmly in his Sage Mode as the two clones behind him dispelled. Sasuke stood next to him with his normal Sharingan activated, one hand on his hips.

"It's nice to see you again, bendy guy," Naruto began with a smile. Even after all this time, he hadn't forgotten the man that had fought side by side with him in the Fourth Shinobi War. Even if they were now technically enemies, Naruto could tell that he wasn't a bad guy. He was just a very dedicated shinobi, something the blond could respect.

As for Dodai, sweat trickled down his cheek as he looked at Naruto. He hadn't forgotten the blond either. But how could he? The boy had stop their forces in the last war. And just last night he had crushed an entire combined force of Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri. The man knew that he didn't stand a chance against him. But Dodai didn't hesitate as he got into a defensive stance.

"What are you doing here? What do you want?"

"We're only here to talk," Naruto answered truthfully, looking at the other person resting on the bed behind Dodai. "That is, if you've calmed down, Raikage."

The Sandaime Raikage t'ched as he tried to stand up. But he hadn't recovered yet from the damage that his body had sustained due to the Bijudama last night.

"You have guts, boy," the Raikage began, "to think that you would sneak into my camp in the middle of the day."

"Don't be dramatic," Naruto said with a smile. "It's only dawn."

Dodai didn't know how the blond boy could possibly think that that was any better.

After things had calmed down, the three separate forces that had composed the army had gone their separate ways. Or the survivors had anyway. After seeing their Raikage down, the Kumo force hadn't known what to do until Dodai took over, instructing his fellow shinobi to recover their leader before heading back to the Land of Lightning as quickly as possible where they had set up camp near the border. It wasn't all too safe since the Konoha army had still been close to them at the time. But they had still needed to give their Raikage some medical attention.

And that was what brought them to the present, another confrontation suddenly looming. Honestly speaking, Dodai didn't like their chances if things did end up going into a fight. They would most surely be massacred.

But Naruto smiled as he said, "Well. This is the third time that I've whooped your ass. But you still end up getting back up. You're one tough bastard, that's for sure."

"Patronizing me won't get you anywhere, boy," the Raikage said in return. "So I suggest you kill me already and be done with it."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in amusement at that. "Kill you? Why would I kill you?"

Now, the Raikage was confused. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

Naruto chuckled as he shrugged. "True enough, you did bring a lot of pain to a lot of people I care about. But you yourself were just a puppet in the end. Not only that, but I believe that I can reason with you a lot better than I could have with Danzo."

Dodai spoke up here, "Danzo? How do you know of him?" His eyes then widened. "Did you-"

"Yeah, I killed him," Naruto answered truthfully. "At this point, all his operations and Root are done with. I'm sure that the Hokage will end up taking over his resources, so you don't have to worry about him anymore."