[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]

Third Person POV

The Land of Sea.

...

...

Utakata finally woke up with a strong headache and full-body pain, his gaze returning to the ceiling illuminated by some fire.

He was a little lost as his memories began to surface. "Hotaru!!" He immediately screamed, trying to get up forcefully.

"Could you stop screaming so suddenly... it's irritating..." A voice emerged beside him, and Utakata quickly looked in that direction, seeing a masked man leaning against the wall. It seemed they were in a cave.

"Who are you, where is Hotaru?!" he demanded immediately, but with memories of what happened before he lost consciousness coming back, despair followed. "I lost control... I hurt her..." This thought immediately came as he murmured, falling into desperate guilt.

"Are you talking about that girl?" The man said, and Utakata immediately looked to the side, seeing his student there, lying on the opposite side like him. "She's fine if that's what you're worried about." The masked man spoke calmly.

"..." Utakata made a great effort to get closer to her and see that she was fine and safe, just unconscious. He sighed in relief and now returned his attention to the strange masked man.

"What happened?" he asked with a furrowed brow; he felt at the mercy of this strange man.

"You lost control and killed some ninjas who were chasing you. I helped with that too; after all, I don't like your Mizukage very much. In the end, you lost control and started attacking anyone nearby. I had to act, so I gave you a beating." The masked man said, while Utakata looked at him strangely. After all, although he knew he had lost control... saying that this man beat him in that state was hard to believe.

"Believe it or not, it doesn't matter." The masked man seemed to read his mind. "Anyway, let's talk a bit." He said.

"What do you want... by the way, who are you?" Utakata asked.

"You've heard of me; I'm known as Light..." he said.

Utakata seemed to think for a bit and nodded. "Yes, you're a mercenary in the bingo book wanted by some rich men... for ruining their businesses..." he said.

Naruto, behind his mask, almost laughed at that. "You could say that... but it seems you haven't seen my new description in the bingo book yet..." he said and continued. "I had some issues with your Mizukage. I have a companion from the Kaguya clan, perhaps the last survivor. Your Kage thought it would be a good idea to send a ninja group like he did with you. Let's just say things didn't end well for him..." Naruto said, with the jinchuuriki raising an eyebrow.

"So you're an enemy of Kiri too and a member of the Kaguya clan... I heard they were all eliminated... so you could be a real survivor..." Utakata commented. "Now, tell me. What do you want with me?" he asked.

"I'm here for a job. I usually don't do this kind of thing without proof that you're a criminal or something, but I agreed to help you." Naruto began. "The rebels asked me to contact you and ask for your help..." Naruto said.

"Return to the Land of Water? I won't do that!" Utakata raised his voice a bit as it echoed through the cave.

"Well... I'm not going to force you... As I said, I'm just doing a job, but you know... I've heard that your Kage is controlled by a sharingan... and this is probably my enemy too... so I'm helping in the way I can... But if you still want to rid your homeland of that chaos happening there... You can do your part by helping to fight against the Mizukage..." Naruto said and simply stepped away from the wall and began to walk to another part of the cave.

"..." Utakata remained silent, watching the masked man leave without saying anything else... just absorbing his words in silence.

"If you want to eat, come to the other room. We'll be staying here for a while before leaving." The masked man said one last time before heading to the next room of the cave.

Utakata continued in silence, his gaze falling on his student, who still seemed unconscious.

"It seems your negotiation didn't go very well..." In the other room, Kimimaro commented while they prepared breakfast.

"You could put it that way..." Naruto admitted. "The man has no interest in returning to his country..." he felt that while talking to the jinchuuriki.

"What will we do now...?" Akame asked.

"We have nothing left here... Let's finish our things here and rest a little more before leaving this country," Naruto said. After all, they had no reason to stay here, just to inform the jinchuuriki's response.

They stayed there for a while, serving themselves with some game they had caught in the forest. It was at this moment that two people approached them, Utakata and Hotaru, who had also woken up. Naruto knew they had been talking for a while before coming here.

The girl seemed very cautious with them, while Utakata, despite the caution, looked at the group, studying them. "Are you just going to look, or are you going to eat?" Naruto simply said, interrupting his gaze, and Utakata nodded since he was hungry, and this group had done no harm when they could have easily done so.

Stolen novel; please report.

They ate in silence after that, not wanting to talk much, the same could be said for Naruto, Akame, and Kimimaro. This created a strange atmosphere for a while until Utakata himself decided to break the silence.

"You're from the Kaguya clan...?" he asked the white-haired man behind the mask.

Kimimaro simply raised his hand, and a bone spike emerged from his palm. "Yes," he said.

"You fled from Kiri like me then..." he commented.

"Yes, but I can't make a difference like a Jinchuuriki..." Kimimaro replied, knowing where Utakata was going with this.

"You don't know what Utakata-Sensei went through to think he should do something with the Land of Water!" The girl beside the jinchuuriki said fiercely.

"It's all right... As I said... you have no obligation to go back, and I won't force you..." Naruto spoke calmly. "But you have to keep in mind that you will be hunted for the rest of your life... the question I ask is, are you willing to run for the rest of your life or end your enemy once and for all? Do you plan to live this life forever?" Naruto asked.

The place fell silent, with Utakata not responding but merely thinking while looking at the fire. It was a lot for him to absorb. At one moment, he was being chased by dozens of ninjas, and in the next, he was in a cave discussing his future, pondering whether he would be a cowardly fugitive or return to that hell to fight.

"Utakata..." Saiken was one of the gentlest Bijuus; he could see the conflict within his new home's owner... Utakata even heard his bijuu murmuring his name inside him, but he shook his head.

"Sensei..." Hotaru murmured.

"Let's go out for a bit," he requested and simply got up and started to leave, with Hotaru following him closely.

"Let them go..." The three stayed there for a while, preparing to leave the country.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the sea near the country, someone emerged from the water at that moment, standing on the surface while looking at the horizon.

A white creature came out of the water beside him, "The jinchuuriki is there," White Zetsu said.

"I see..." the man said.

"Be careful, Kisame... There was a huge explosion likely caused by a bijuu dama yesterday... This will be your first job as Akatsuki..." Zetsu said, and Kisame smiled with his shark teeth.

"Don't worry about it, I know very well how to handle people with large amounts of chakra," he said as he began to walk in that direction.

Naruto stayed in the cave until midday and finally decided to leave. "Let's go," he announced as the other two companions began to leave, organizing everything in their scrolls.

When he exited the cave, he found Utakata and Hotaru waiting for them. "I thought you had already left..." Naruto lied as he approached, not knowing what they were doing there.

"What kind of ingratitude would it be if I didn't come to say goodbye? My student told me what happened, and although I didn't believe what you said before, I am surprised by what happened... despite not knowing how you managed to fight me equally..." he admitted, sighing.

"I'm just doing my job, it was a coincidence to find you at such a critical moment..." Naruto said and began to walk away.

"I'm going with you." Utakata said, and Naruto stopped, looking quite surprised by this.

"I thought you didn't want to go back to your country..." Naruto commented while his companions remained silent.

"Yes, I didn't want to, but I thought about what you said. I believe I can make a difference... after all, Kiri is still my home..." He admitted, while Naruto nodded.

"Then let's return to the Land of Water. Pack your things before we head north." He requested, and the group began to leave shortly after, now with two new members, going openly without needing any disguise while heading towards the sea.

Everything seemed calm until Naruto sensed something ahead. "We're going to be attacked! Prepare yourselves!" He immediately alerted, while no one could see anything at first, but then an attack came from the direction of the coast. They could already see the sea at this moment, and a torrent of water appeared, beginning to devastate the forest in front of them, with the ground and trees being drilled by the water behaving like a drill.

Immediately everyone began to get out of the attack's range, unable to use anything to defend themselves except to dodge. While Naruto was out of range in the air, Akame and Kimimaro dodged to the side, and Utakata grabbed his apprentice.

The forest continued to be destroyed for a while as the attack passed them, moving forward. "Let's see who attacked us." Naruto demanded, and everyone started following him as he saw a man in front of the crater that started from the beach and went into the forest. If one could call him a man, after all, he looked like a shark.

"That's Kisame!" Utakata landed near Naruto and frowned, while the shark-man just smiled at them, with a huge sword on his back.

"I don't know him." Naruto said, after all, he had never heard of this guy.

"He's one of the Mist's swordsmen... He killed the last master of his sword and took his place with the same sword. The Mizukage approved all these actions a little before I left the village..." Utakata commented, and Naruto nodded, looking at the man.

"Seems like he became a rogue ninja..." Naruto commented, after all, Kisame was wearing an outfit he didn't recognize, with a black background and red clouds.

"What happened, and why is he here..." Utakata commented, not understanding either.

"What an honor that my name is already famous around here..." Kisame commented with a smile, looking at them. "Anyway, I'm here to hunt you..." He said, grabbing his sword, Samehada.

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