Naruto × One Piece: The Leopard's Shadow

Rob Lucci's final moments weren't supposed to end like this.

Blood pooled beneath him on the scorched planks of the Marine battleship. The sky above fractured with lightning as a storm engulfed the remnants of Enies Lobby. His leopard-human hybrid form had long since faded, leaving only the broken body of a man who'd dedicated his life to what he called "Dark Justice."

Straw Hat Luffy had done what no one else could. He'd broken the unbreakable.

Lucci coughed, crimson spraying from his lips. The rest of CP9 had retreated, but he couldn't move. His ribs shattered, internal organs hemorrhaging, the legendary assassin knew death approached. Yet his mind remained sharp, filled with rage.

"I can't die yet," he snarled to the empty deck. "My justice...is not finished."

A shadow fell across his face.

Lucci's eyes widened. A figure stood over him—neither human nor animal, but something else entirely. A being composed of swirling energy, with nine tails lashing behind it.

"What...are you?" Lucci managed through blood-stained teeth.

The fox-like entity tilted its head. "Someone who recognizes a kindred spirit."

"I'm...nothing like you," Lucci spat.

"No? We both know what it means to be a weapon. To be feared. To be alone." The creature's eyes—ancient, knowing—bored into him. "I've been watching you, Rob Lucci. Your strength. Your resolve. Your willingness to do what others cannot."

Lucci tried to laugh, but it came out as a wet gurgle. "Are you...death?"

"I am Kurama. The Nine-Tailed Fox. And no, I'm not your death—I'm offering you another path."

The world around them seemed to slow, the storm freezing in place.

"My world needs someone like you. Someone who understands power and its price. Someone who can reshape destiny."

"Why would I...help you?" Lucci's voice weakened.

"Because you're not finished yet. Because your justice demands completion." The fox's tails spread wide, encompassing Lucci's vision. "Die here, and you're nothing. Accept my offer, and you become something new. Something greater."

Lucci felt his consciousness slipping. He had seconds left, at most.

"What's the catch?" he whispered.

"You won't remember—not at first. You'll be born anew, grow again. But your instincts, your power, your soul—they'll remain. And when the time is right, you'll remember everything."

Lucci closed his eyes. To start again. To have another chance to prove his strength...

"I accept."

The fox grinned, showing rows of gleaming teeth. "Then let us begin."

The world exploded into light and chakra as Kurama's essence enveloped Rob Lucci's dying form. Across dimensions, across realities, the soul of the World Government's deadliest assassin was pulled into the vortex of a new existence.

The Nine-Tails had found its perfect vessel. Not just any child, but one with the soul of a predator.

In Konohagakure, Uzumaki Kushina screamed as her labor began.

Twelve years after the Nine-Tailed Fox's attack on Konoha, Uzumaki Naruto crouched on all fours atop the Hokage Monument, blue eyes narrowed against the morning sun. There was something wrong with him—something beyond being the village pariah or the container of the demon fox.

Something inside him hungered.

"Hey! Get down from there, you little menace!" A chunin's voice echoed from below.

Naruto grinned, revealing unusually sharp canines. The paint bucket beside him was nearly empty, his masterpiece complete—each Hokage face now decorated with garish colors and comical expressions.

"You'll have to catch me first!" he shouted, launching himself off the cliff face with inhuman agility.

The chunin gaped as the twelve-year-old boy seemed to vanish in mid-air, only to reappear on a rooftop three buildings away. "How did he—"

Naruto didn't understand it himself. His body just...moved. As if it remembered things he'd never learned. As if his muscles held secrets his mind didn't know.

He bounded across Konoha like a wild thing, each leap more daring than the last. He'd always been nimble, but lately, something was changing. His senses sharper. His reflexes faster. His dreams...darker.

Dreams of a place called Enies Lobby. Of battles against impossible foes. Of a power that turned his fingertips into weapons that could pierce stone.

Naruto skidded to a halt in an alley, catching his breath. He flexed his hand, studying his fingers. Normal. Just a kid's hands. But sometimes, when he was angry or scared, he could swear they changed. Hardened. Became something else.

"There he is!" More voices. More pursuers.

With a frustrated growl, Naruto darted back into the open, heading for the Academy. Iruka-sensei would be furious, but that was better than getting caught by ANBU.

He burst through the classroom door, colliding with Iruka himself.

"NARUTO!" The scarred chunin's face contorted with familiar anger. "What have you done now?!"

"Nothing!" Naruto lied, paint splattered across his orange jumpsuit betraying him instantly.

Iruka grabbed him by the collar. "The Hokage Monument is not your personal canvas!"

The classroom erupted in laughter. Naruto's face burned with humiliation and something deeper—a visceral rage that felt ancient and cold.

They mock me. They think I'm weak.

The thought came unbidden, in a voice that wasn't quite his own.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei," he muttered, not meaning it. As punishment, he was forced to sit at the front of the class for the day's lecture on chakra control.

Naruto fidgeted, bored out of his mind, until Iruka mentioned something that caught his attention.

"Some shinobi can channel their chakra to specific body parts, enhancing their physical capabilities. The most advanced can even transform their bodies temporarily."

Naruto sat up straight. Like my dreams.

"Sensei," he called out, interrupting. "Can someone make their fingers super strong? Like, strong enough to stab through things?"

The class went silent. Iruka raised an eyebrow.

"That's...an oddly specific question, Naruto. There are techniques that can harden parts of the body, yes. The Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist style concentrates chakra at their fingertips for precise strikes. Why do you ask?"

Naruto shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable with the attention. "Just wondering."

After class, instead of heading to detention, Naruto slipped away to his usual training ground—a secluded clearing in the forest. He stood in the center, staring at his hand.

"Concentrate," he whispered to himself. "Like in the dreams."

He focused his chakra—wild and untamed as it was—into his index finger. Nothing happened at first. Then, a flicker of something. A memory that wasn't his. A technique called...

"Shigan," he murmured.

His finger suddenly hardened, the nail sharpening to a point. With a yell of surprise and triumph, Naruto jabbed forward at a nearby tree.

His finger sank two inches into the bark.

"What the—" He yanked his hand back, staring in disbelief. His finger returned to normal, but the hole in the tree remained.

A cold sweat broke out across his body. This wasn't normal. This wasn't a jutsu taught at the Academy. This was something else.

"What's happening to me?" he whispered to the empty clearing.

Deep within his mindscape, behind the massive cage that held the Nine-Tailed Fox, something stirred. A shadow within a shadow. The ghost of a leopard man, watching through Kurama's eyes.

"He's beginning to remember," Kurama rumbled. "Sooner than expected."

The shadow said nothing, but its eyes—cold and calculating—gleamed with satisfaction.

The following morning, Naruto awoke to find his bedsheets shredded. His nails had elongated in his sleep, curved and sharp like claws. He stared at them in horror before they gradually retracted to normal fingernails.

"Gotta talk to the old man," he decided, referring to the Third Hokage. If anyone would know what was happening, it would be him.

But when Naruto arrived at the Hokage Tower, he found it in chaos. Shinobi rushed back and forth, voices raised in alarm.

"Missing-nin sighted at the border—" "Iruka-sensei is already pursuing—" "The forbidden scroll is gone—"

Naruto's stomach dropped. Iruka-sensei was in danger? Without thinking, he turned and sprinted toward the village gates, a protective fury surging through him.

He didn't question how he knew which way to go. His senses—heightened beyond normal human capacity—guided him through the forest. He could smell Iruka's scent on the breeze, mixed with blood and fear.

When he finally found his teacher, the scene before him froze him in his tracks.

Iruka was wounded, propped against a tree, facing a silver-haired man Naruto recognized as Mizuki, another Academy instructor. Between them lay a large scroll.

"You really thought you could stop me?" Mizuki was saying, a massive shuriken spinning in his hand. "I'll deliver both you and the forbidden scroll to Lord Orochimaru!"

"Mizuki, you don't understand what you're dealing with," Iruka gasped. "That scroll contains techniques that were sealed for a reason."

"Reasons that don't matter to me." Mizuki's face twisted with contempt. "Just like that monster you seem so fond of."

"Naruto is not a monster!"

"No? Shall I tell him the truth, then? About what he really is?"

Naruto stepped from the shadows, a growl building in his throat. "Tell me what?"

Both men's heads snapped toward him. Iruka's face paled.

"Naruto, run! Take the scroll and go!"

But Mizuki laughed. "Perfect timing! Do you know why everyone in the village hates you, Naruto? Why they whisper behind your back and warn their children to stay away?"

"Don't!" Iruka shouted.

"It's because you're the Nine-Tailed Fox! The demon that killed hundreds, including Iruka's parents! You're not human—you're a monster wearing a boy's skin!"

The words hit Naruto like physical blows, but instead of crumpling under their weight, something inside him shifted. A door long closed began to open.

I've been called worse than monster.

The thought came in that other voice, cold and assured.

Mizuki hurled the massive shuriken directly at Naruto's head. Time seemed to slow. The boy watched the weapon rotate as it approached, and instead of dodging, he raised one hand.

His fingers flashed out, hardening into the technique he'd discovered the day before.

"Shigan."

The tip of his index finger met the center of the shuriken with pinpoint accuracy. Metal shrieked against something harder than steel, and the weapon split in two, pieces falling harmlessly to either side of him.

Silence fell over the clearing.

"What..." Mizuki's confident smirk faltered. "What was that?"

Naruto stood perfectly still, head slightly bowed. When he looked up, his blue eyes had changed. They were sharper, colder, the eyes of a predator assessing prey.

"I don't know who this Orochimaru is," Naruto said, his voice deeper than it should have been. "But stealing from the village makes you a traitor."

He stepped forward, and Mizuki instinctively moved back.

"And traitors," Naruto continued, his fingers flexing, "deserve justice."

"Stay back!" Mizuki pulled another weapon, but his hands were trembling. "I'll kill you!"

Naruto disappeared.

One moment he stood at the edge of the clearing, the next he was behind Mizuki, moving with a speed no genin should possess.

"Shigan." His finger jabbed precisely at Mizuki's shoulder, puncturing through muscle and tendon.

The chunin screamed, dropping to one knee. "How—"

Naruto grabbed him by the throat, lifting him as if the grown man weighed nothing. "I don't know what's happening to me either," he said quietly. "But I'm not going to let you hurt Iruka-sensei."

With a casual flick of his wrist, he threw Mizuki against a tree trunk. The impact knocked the traitor unconscious.

Silence fell again, broken only by Iruka's labored breathing.

Naruto turned, his features gradually softening back to those of a twelve-year-old boy. "Iruka-sensei! Are you okay?"

Iruka stared at his student with a mixture of awe and fear. "Naruto... what was that technique?"

The boy looked down at his hands, now normal again. "I don't know. I've been having these weird dreams, and—" He stopped, remembering Mizuki's revelation. "Is it true? Am I really the Nine-Tailed Fox?"

Iruka's expression softened. "No, Naruto. You're its jailer, not the beast itself. You're the hero who keeps the village safe by containing it."

Relief washed over Naruto's face, but questions remained. If he wasn't the fox, then why could he do these strange things? Why did he sometimes feel like someone else was looking out through his eyes?

As ANBU arrived to secure Mizuki and the scroll, Iruka called Naruto over.

"I wasn't planning to do this until after the exam tomorrow, but I think you've more than earned it." He removed his own forehead protector and tied it around Naruto's head. "Congratulations. You're officially a genin of Konohagakure."

Naruto's eyes widened. "But the test—"

"You just took a different kind of test." Iruka smiled through his pain. "And passed with flying colors."

As they made their way back to the village, neither noticed the shadow that briefly passed over the moon—the silhouette of a man with a leopard's tail.

The morning of team assignments arrived with a giddy energy thrumming through Naruto's veins. He stood before his bathroom mirror, examining his reflection with newfound scrutiny.

The whisker marks on his cheeks seemed more pronounced today. His canines definitely sharper. And when he channeled chakra, his eyes took on that predatory gleam that both thrilled and terrified him.

"Who are you?" he whispered to his reflection.

No answer came, but he felt something stir inside him—not the fox that he now knew resided in his belly, but something else. Something that whispered of iron control and deadly precision.

He arrived at the Academy wearing Iruka's forehead protector proudly. The room fell silent as he entered, his classmates staring in disbelief.

"What's he doing here?" "This is for graduates only!" "There's no way he passed!"

Naruto ignored them, sliding into an empty seat. For the first time in his life, he didn't feel the need to prove himself through loud proclamations. Instead, he watched the room with quiet assessment, noting weaknesses, habits, potential threats.

That one favors his right leg. The girl by the window—her reflexes are slow. The Uchiha boy is the only real challenge here.

Again, thoughts that didn't feel entirely his own.

"Naruto? Is that really you?" Haruno Sakura approached, green eyes wide with confusion. She'd always dismissed him as the class clown, but something about his demeanor today gave her pause.

"Morning, Sakura-chan," he replied, smiling. He still had his crush on her—that hadn't changed—but the desperate need for her attention had somehow diminished overnight.

Before she could respond, the classroom door slid open and Iruka entered, his wounds from the previous night bandaged but still visible.

"Settle down, everyone," he called. "I'll now announce the team assignments for this year's genin."

Naruto half-listened as Iruka read through the list, until—

"Team Seven: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura..."

Naruto perked up. Sakura groaned.

"...and Uchiha Sasuke."

Now Sakura cheered while Sasuke remained impassive. Naruto's gaze settled on the last Uchiha, assessing him not as a rival for Sakura's attention, but as a potential ally—or obstacle. The boy was skilled, certainly, but there was something brittle about him. Something easily exploited.

He's driven by hatred. Predictable.

"Your jōnin instructor will be Hatake Kakashi," Iruka concluded.

Hours later, Team Seven still waited in their empty classroom. Kakashi was extraordinarily late, and both Sakura and Sasuke had grown increasingly irritated.

Naruto, however, remained unnaturally still. He sat cross-legged on the desk, eyes closed, focusing on the strange energy he could feel flowing through his chakra pathways.

It wasn't just chakra. It was something else—something that felt like compressed strength, waiting to be unleashed.

"What are you doing, dobe?" Sasuke finally broke the silence, curiosity overcoming his aloof facade.

Naruto opened one eye. "Training."

"That's not training. You're just sitting there."

"There's more than one way to become stronger, Sasuke." The words came naturally, though Naruto had never thought such a thing before. "Sometimes the body must be still for the mind to advance."

Both Sasuke and Sakura stared at him as if he'd grown a second head.

"Since when do you talk like that?" Sakura demanded.

Naruto shrugged, not having an answer himself. Before he could try to explain, the classroom door finally slid open.

A silver-haired jōnin with a mask covering the lower half of his face and his forehead protector slanted over one eye peered in. "Team Seven? My first impression of you all is... you're boring."

Sakura bristled. Sasuke scowled. But Naruto studied the man, noting the deliberate slouch that concealed a warrior's stance, the visible eye that missed nothing despite its lazy appearance.

He's dangerous, that other voice assessed. Far more than he lets on.

"Meet me on the roof," Kakashi said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Sasuke and Sakura headed for the door, but Naruto had a different idea. He moved to the open window and, without hesitation, began scaling the outside wall of the building, fingers and toes finding impossible purchase on the smooth surface.

It felt natural, this ability to cling to vertical surfaces without using chakra. His body simply knew how.

He beat his teammates to the roof by a full minute, finding Kakashi leaning against the railing, nose buried in an orange book.

"Interesting route," the jōnin commented without looking up.

Naruto shrugged. "It was faster."

When all three genin were assembled, Kakashi closed his book. "Alright, let's introduce ourselves. Likes, dislikes, dreams for the future—that sort of thing."

"Why don't you go first, sensei?" Sakura suggested.

"Me? I'm Hatake Kakashi. Things I like and things I dislike... I don't feel like telling you that. Dreams for the future... never really thought about it. I have lots of hobbies."

Sakura muttered something about learning nothing, but Naruto was focused on what wasn't said. This man was a cipher, deliberately obscuring himself.

"Your turn, Pink."

Sakura straightened. "I'm Haruno Sakura. What I like—I mean, the person I like is..." She glanced at Sasuke, blushing. "My hobby is..." Another glance. "My dream is to..." A giggle and a third glance.

"And dislikes?" Kakashi prompted.

"Naruto!" she declared without hesitation.

Normally, such a rejection would have crushed him. But today, Naruto only felt a distant amusement tinged with pity. The girl had no idea what real strength looked like.

She'll learn, the voice whispered. Or she'll die.

The harsh thought startled him. Where had that come from?

"You next, Broody," Kakashi pointed to Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I dislike many things and don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality: I'm going to restore my clan and kill a certain someone."

Silence followed his declaration. Sakura looked smitten. Kakashi remained unreadable. But Naruto...Naruto felt a spark of recognition.

Vengeance. Purpose. The willingness to do whatever was necessary to achieve one's goals. These were concepts that resonated with something deep inside him.

"And finally, Whiskers," Kakashi gestured to Naruto.

All eyes turned to him, and for a moment, Naruto considered his usual spiel about becoming Hokage and making everyone acknowledge him. But the words felt hollow now, childish.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," he began, his voice steady. "I like ramen and people who are honest. I dislike traitors and those who threaten what's mine." The possessive word slipped out naturally. "As for my dream..."

He paused, genuinely uncertain. The desire to be Hokage still existed, but it was overshadowed by a newer, darker ambition that he couldn't quite articulate.

"My dream is to discover who I really am," he finally said. "And to become strong enough that no one can ever use me again."

Kakashi's visible eye widened slightly, the only indication of his surprise.

"Well, that was enlightening," the jōnin said after a moment. "Tomorrow, we'll have our first mission together."

"What kind of mission?" Sakura asked eagerly.

"A survival exercise." Kakashi's eye curved in what might have been a smile beneath his mask. "And fair warning: of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine will be accepted as genin. The rest will be sent back to the Academy."

Sakura gasped. Sasuke's fingers tightened on his knees.

"That's a failure rate of over sixty-six percent," Naruto observed calmly, surprising himself with the calculation.

"Precisely." Kakashi seemed pleased by the analysis. "Meet at Training Ground Seven at 5 AM. Oh, and don't eat breakfast. You'll throw up."

With that cheerful parting, he vanished in another swirl of leaves.

As Sakura fretted and Sasuke brooded, Naruto remained seated, lost in thought. Something about Kakashi's test bothered him—not the difficulty, but a sense that the jōnin wasn't being entirely forthcoming.

There's a hidden objective, the voice mused. A test beneath the test.

"Naruto, are you coming?" Sakura called, already heading for the stairs with Sasuke.

"I'll catch up," he replied, watching them go before turning his gaze to the Hokage Monument.

For twelve years, he'd looked up at those stone faces with childish awe and determination. Now, he found himself assessing them as symbols of power—power that could be challenged, perhaps even surpassed.

"Discover who I really am," he repeated to himself, flexing his fingers as they briefly sharpened into deadly points. "Starting now."

He leapt from the roof, landing in a crouch that no ordinary genin should have been capable of, and headed not for his apartment, but for the forest beyond the village walls.

He needed to train, to explore these new abilities emerging within him. And instinct told him that no one—not even his new sensei—should witness what he was about to discover.

In the shadows of Konoha, unseen by all, a lone ANBU with a cat mask observed the boy's departure, then vanished to report to the Hokage.

The strangest predator in the village was on the move, and no one knew what that might mean.

Dawn broke over Konoha like blood spilling across a battlefield, crimson and gold bleeding into the sky. Naruto stood at the edge of Training Ground Seven, early despite Kakashi's instructions. He'd spent most of the night in the forest, pushing his body to its limits, discovering abilities that left him both exhilarated and disturbed.

He could move faster than ever before. His strikes carried a precision that felt inhuman. And when he channeled chakra into his limbs, they hardened in ways that defied explanation—not quite the transformation jutsu taught at the Academy, but something more primal. More lethal.

Most disturbing of all were the fragments of memory that surfaced during his training: a man in a top hat and pigeon on his shoulder; a group called "CP9"; techniques with strange names like "Tekkai," "Soru," and "Rankyaku."

None of it made sense, yet all of it felt intimately familiar.

He'd also ignored Kakashi's advice about breakfast, consuming a protein-rich meal before dawn. The voice in his head—which he was beginning to think of as a separate entity—had been adamant.

Never enter battle at less than full strength. Only a fool handicaps himself before the fight begins.

Sasuke arrived next, casting a suspicious glance at Naruto before taking up position against a nearby tree. Sakura followed shortly after, yawning and immediately gravitating toward Sasuke while pointedly ignoring Naruto.

Hours passed. The sun climbed higher. Neither of his teammates spoke, and Naruto didn't feel inclined to break the silence. Instead, he closed his eyes, focusing on that strange energy circulating through his system.

It was like having two separate power sources: his usual chakra, wild and abundant thanks to the Nine-Tails, and this other force—denser, more controlled, almost like compressed physical energy waiting to be released.

"Sorry I'm late," Kakashi's voice finally broke the morning stillness. "A black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way around."

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura shouted.

Sasuke merely grunted his displeasure.

Naruto opened his eyes, studying their sensei with that predatory assessment that was becoming his default. "You're testing our patience," he observed. "Part of the exercise began the moment you gave us instructions yesterday."

Kakashi's visible eye widened slightly. "Interesting theory."

The jōnin produced two small bells from his pocket. "Your task is simple: take these bells from me before noon. Anyone who fails to get a bell gets tied to those posts while I eat lunch in front of them, and then gets sent back to the Academy."

"But there are only two bells," Sakura pointed out.

"How observant." Kakashi's eye curved in a mock smile. "That means at least one of you is definitely going back to the Academy."

Tension immediately filled the air. Sasuke's stance shifted subtly, more guarded. Sakura bit her lip, eyes darting between the bells and her crush.

But Naruto felt that cold amusement again, the part of him that was not quite himself assessing the situation with ruthless clarity.

He's pitting us against each other. The real test is whether we recognize the deception.

"You'll need to come at me with the intent to kill," Kakashi continued, tying the bells to his waist. "Otherwise, you have no chance of getting these."

"But you could get hurt!" Sakura protested.

Kakashi's dismissive laugh said more than words could about his opinion of that possibility.

"Begin when I say—"

Naruto moved before the sentence was complete, a blur of orange launching straight at Kakashi. His right index finger extended, hardened.

"Shigan!"

Kakashi barely managed to shift his head to the side, the jabbing finger missing his eye by millimeters. Surprise flashed across what was visible of his face as he leapt backward, putting distance between himself and the genin.

"I said wait until I say 'begin,'" he reprimanded, though his casual tone had vanished.

Naruto stood where Kakashi had been a moment before, arm still extended, blue eyes cold with calculation. "A real enemy won't announce when the battle starts, Kakashi-sensei. And neither will I."

With that, he vanished into the surrounding forest.

Sasuke and Sakura, momentarily stunned by Naruto's speed and unexpected attack, quickly scattered as well.

Kakashi reached up to touch his mask where Naruto's finger had grazed it. There was a small puncture in the fabric.

"That technique..." he murmured. "That wasn't Academy standard."

From his hiding spot in the dense canopy, Naruto observed Kakashi with heightened senses. He could smell his teammates' positions—Sasuke to the east, Sakura circling toward the south. More importantly, he could sense Kakashi's chakra, steady and controlled.

He's far stronger than he appears, the voice assessed. A frontal assault is pointless. We need the others.

For once, Naruto agreed with the voice. He needed to find Sasuke and Sakura, make them understand the true nature of this test.

Using a speed that would have shocked his Academy teachers, he darted through the trees until he located Sakura, crouched behind a bush and scanning the clearing anxiously.

"Sakura," he whispered, landing silently beside her.

She nearly screamed, only his hand clamping over her mouth prevented the noise. "Naruto! What are you—"

"Listen to me," he hissed, voice lower and more authoritative than she'd ever heard from him. "This test isn't what it seems. Think about it—when have you ever heard of a three-person genin team with only two members?"

Her brow furrowed. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying Kakashi is testing our ability to work as a team. The bells are a distraction, meant to divide us."

Sakura's eyes widened as the logic clicked into place. "But then why only two bells?"

"To see if we're willing to sacrifice individual success for the mission. It's about looking underneath the underneath." The phrase came naturally, though Naruto couldn't remember where he'd heard it before.

"We need to find Sasuke," she agreed, already rising.

"No need." Sasuke's voice came from above as he dropped from a branch. "I heard everything." His dark eyes fixed on Naruto with suspicious assessment. "Since when are you the strategic type, dobe?"

Naruto shrugged, unwilling to explain what he didn't understand himself. "Does it matter if I'm right?"

Sasuke considered this, then gave a curt nod. "What's the plan?"

The question surprised both Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke Uchiha, asking Naruto for a plan? But the last Uchiha's expression was deadly serious.

Something shifted in Naruto at that moment—a predatory precision taking over, the part of him that wasn't quite him moving to the forefront.

"Kakashi is jōnin-level, far beyond any of us individually," he began, voice clipped and efficient. "But he has weaknesses. His right side is slightly slower—an old injury, perhaps. And he's too confident, expects us to act like children."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "How do you know about his right side?"

"I watched him move," Naruto replied simply. "Now listen carefully. Here's what we're going to do..."

Kakashi stood in the center of the clearing, orange book in hand, apparently absorbed in its contents. But his senses remained alert, tracking the movements of his three potential students.

They were being unusually quiet. Especially Naruto, whose initial attack had been surprising not just in its timing, but its execution. That finger strike had been aimed at a precise killing point, with a technique Kakashi had never seen before.

Perhaps the fox's influence is stronger than we thought, he mused, turning a page.

A flicker of movement to his left caught his attention. Sasuke emerged from the trees, hands already forming seals.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

A massive sphere of flame roared toward Kakashi, who leapt aside with an eye-widening display of surprise. "A genin shouldn't have enough chakra for that technique!"

He landed in a crouch, only to find Sakura charging from his right, a kunai in each hand. Her form was textbook perfect—too perfect, too predictable. He easily ducked her first swing, caught her wrist on the second, and sent her tumbling with a gentle push.

"Is that all you've got?" he taunted. "I expected better from the top Academy students."

"Rankyaku!"

The unfamiliar word was punctuated by a slicing sound as Naruto emerged from above, his leg whipping through the air. A visible blade of compressed air shot from the kick, cutting a path directly toward Kakashi.

The jōnin's single visible eye widened in genuine shock as he was forced to substitute himself with a log at the last second. The air blade sliced clean through the wood, continuing on to carve a deep furrow in the earth.

"What kind of technique..." Kakashi muttered, reappearing several meters away, his book now closed and tucked away.

He had no time to contemplate further as Sasuke launched another fireball, this one aimed not at Kakashi but at the ground before him, creating a blinding cloud of steam and smoke.

Through the haze, Sakura's voice rang out: "Now, Naruto!"

A blur of orange shot through the smoke, heading straight for Kakashi's bells. The jōnin pivoted, preparing to counter, when another Naruto—no, two more Narutos—converged from different directions.

Shadow Clones, Kakashi realized, impressed despite himself. That was a jōnin-level technique.

He dispatched the first clone with a swift kick, turned to block the second—only to realize too late that it was a diversion. The third Naruto had dropped low, fingers extended in that strange technique again.

"Shigan: Oren!"

Multiple finger strikes jabbed toward Kakashi's midsection with blinding speed. He managed to avoid most, but one caught him in the side, striking with enough force to make him wince.

The bells jingled as Naruto's other hand swiped at them—missing by millimeters as Kakashi twisted away.

But that, too, was part of the plan.

Sasuke dropped from above, hands grasping for the bells while Kakashi was occupied with Naruto. Simultaneously, Sakura emerged from the ground beneath—the earth jutsu clearly unpracticed but effective enough to put her fingers within reach of their target.

Kakashi found himself surrounded, attacked from three directions by genin moving with unexpected coordination. For a moment, he considered letting them succeed—they'd certainly grasped the concept of teamwork.

But he was still a jōnin, and they were still fresh Academy graduates. With a series of swift movements almost too fast to follow, he evaded all three, sending them sprawling in different directions.

"Much better," he acknowledged as they regrouped, breathing hard. "But time's almost up, and you still haven't—"

"Got them," Naruto announced quietly, holding up both bells.

Kakashi froze, hand moving instinctively to his waist. The bells were indeed gone.

"When did you—" He replayed the exchange in his mind. Naruto's multiple finger strikes, Sasuke's aerial assault, Sakura's emergence from below—all coordinated distractions. But when had the bells actually been taken?

"It wasn't during that last attack," Naruto explained, seeing Kakashi's confusion. "It was during the first, when you substituted away from my Rankyaku. The log you left behind had the bells for a fraction of a second before the jutsu completed."

Kakashi's eye widened further. That level of timing and precision...

"Impressive," he admitted. "But now comes the hard part. There are only two bells, and three of you. Who goes back to the Academy?"

Naruto looked at the bells in his palm, then at his teammates. Without hesitation, he tossed one to Sasuke and one to Sakura.

"I'll go back," he said simply.

Both of them stared at him in disbelief.

"But you're the one who got the bells," Sakura protested, surprising herself with her concern for the boy she'd always dismissed.

"And you figured out the real test," Sasuke added, uncharacteristically acknowledging Naruto's contribution.

Naruto shrugged. "Doesn't matter. The mission was successful. The team continues."

Kakashi studied the three genin with new interest. Never, in all the years he'd administered this test, had he seen such a clear demonstration of the principle he was trying to teach.

"You all... pass," he announced.

"What?" Sakura blinked in confusion.

"The purpose of this test was to evaluate your teamwork. Those who abandon the mission are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash." Kakashi's voice softened with an emotion none of them could quite identify. "Naruto understood that from the beginning, it seems."

"So we're officially genin now?" Sakura asked, excitement building.

Kakashi nodded. "Team Seven is now active. We'll begin missions tomorrow."

As Sakura celebrated and even Sasuke allowed himself a small, satisfied smirk, Kakashi's attention remained fixed on Naruto. The boy stood apart, expression unreadable, those unnaturally sharp blue eyes fixed on some distant point.

"Naruto," he called. "Those techniques you used. Where did you learn them?"

The young genin turned to him, and for a moment, Kakashi could have sworn he saw someone else looking out through those eyes—someone older, colder, calculated.

"I don't know," Naruto answered truthfully. "They just... came to me."

Kakashi made a mental note to discuss this with the Hokage as soon as possible. Something was happening with Uzumaki Naruto, something beyond the expected influence of the Nine-Tailed Fox. And judging by those lethal strikes the boy had demonstrated, it might not be something Konoha was prepared for.

As Team Seven dispersed for the day, Naruto took a detour through the village, mind wrestling with the events of the test. The techniques, the strategies, the cold assessment of Kakashi's weaknesses—none of it felt like him, yet all of it had come naturally.

He found himself at the base of the Hokage Monument, staring up at the stone faces. The childish impulse to deface them had vanished, replaced by a more complex emotion he couldn't quite name.

You're remembering, the voice in his head observed. Faster than expected.

"Remembering what?" Naruto whispered, glancing around to ensure no one could hear him apparently talking to himself.

Who you were. Who you are meant to be.

"And who is that?"

The voice didn't answer directly. Instead, images flashed through Naruto's mind: a dark-haired man in a suit, a leopard with humanoid features, bloody battles on unfamiliar seas.

Someone who understands true justice.

Naruto shook his head, trying to clear the visions. "I don't understand any of this."

You will. Soon.

A shadow fell across him, and Naruto turned to find the Third Hokage standing there, pipe in hand, aged eyes studying him with concern.

"Talking to yourself, Naruto?" the old man asked gently.

Naruto hesitated, then nodded. With anyone else, he might have lied, but this was the one person in Konoha who had always shown him kindness. "Something's happening to me, Old Man. Something strange."

The Hokage gestured to a nearby bench. "Tell me."

As the sun set over Konoha, Naruto described the past few days—the dreams, the voice, the techniques that came from nowhere. He left out the coldest, most violent thoughts, unwilling to frighten the one person who believed in him.

The Hokage listened without interruption, his weathered face giving nothing away. When Naruto finished, he puffed thoughtfully on his pipe before speaking.

"The seal that contains the Nine-Tails is complex, Naruto. It was designed not just to imprison the fox, but to gradually allow you access to its chakra. What you're experiencing may be an unexpected side effect of that process."

Naruto frowned. "It doesn't feel like the fox. It feels like... someone else."

"The human mind is as mysterious as any jutsu," the Hokage replied carefully. "Sometimes, under stress or during growth, we develop different aspects of ourselves—parts that seem foreign at first."

It was clear the old man didn't fully believe his own explanation, but neither did he seem to have a better one.

"Should I... stop using these techniques?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

The Hokage considered this. "Can you?"

Naruto thought about it—about the way his body moved with instinctive precision, about the surges of power that felt as natural as breathing. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "They feel like part of me now."

"Then use them, but cautiously. I'll have Kakashi keep a close eye on your development." The Hokage placed a gnarled hand on Naruto's shoulder. "You are not alone in this, Naruto. Remember that."

The boy nodded, grateful for the reassurance even as doubt lingered. The Hokage might believe this was related to the Nine-Tails, but Naruto knew better. The fox was a separate entity, a prisoner within him. This other presence was different—more integrated, as if it had always been part of his soul.

As the Hokage departed, Naruto remained on the bench, gazing at his reflection in a nearby puddle. For just a moment, the face that looked back at him wasn't his own—it was older, sharper, with a small beard and eyes that had seen too much death.

"Who are you?" he whispered again.

But the only answer was the evening wind, carrying hints of a storm to come.

The first month of missions for Team Seven passed in a blur of tedium. D-rank assignments—glorified chores, really—tested Naruto's patience more than his skills. Weeding gardens, finding lost pets, painting fences... none of it challenged the growing power he could feel coiling within him.

His teammates had noticed the change in him. Sakura stopped dismissing him outright, occasionally seeking his input during mission planning. Sasuke watched him with wary assessment, their rivalry evolving from childish competition to something more complex—a silent acknowledgment between predators.

And Kakashi... Kakashi observed everything with that lazy, half-lidded gaze that missed nothing.

"Again," the jōnin instructed as Team Seven trained in the forest clearing that had become their regular spot.

Naruto nodded, centering himself before extending his right leg. With a sharp, controlled movement, he kicked at the air.

"Rankyaku!"

A visible blade of compressed air shot forward, slicing through three training posts before dissipating. Each cut was clean, precise—the mark of perfect chakra control that should have been impossible for someone with Naruto's previously erratic abilities.

"Impressive," Kakashi acknowledged. "But you're still relying too much on raw power rather than finesse."

Naruto frowned. The criticism stung partly because it echoed the voice in his head, which constantly pushed for greater control, greater precision.

Power without control is meaningless, it would remind him. Any brute can destroy. True strength lies in the ability to strike exactly where and how you intend.

"I'm trying," Naruto muttered, both to Kakashi and the voice.

Sasuke, who had been practicing his own fire techniques nearby, approached with uncharacteristic directness. "Show me how you do that," he demanded, gesturing to the sliced posts.

Weeks ago, Naruto would have gloated or refused out of petty rivalry. Now, he merely nodded. "It's about compressing chakra at the point of contact, then releasing it in a controlled burst." He demonstrated the leg movement again, slower. "The challenge is maintaining the compression until the exact moment of release."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed in concentration as he attempted to mimic the movement. His kick produced a weak disturbance in the air, nothing close to Naruto's blade.

"Your chakra control is still developing," Naruto observed dispassionately. "Focus more here." He tapped his own thigh, indicating the chakra pathway.

The Uchiha bristled at first, then grudgingly adjusted his stance and tried again. This time, a faint ripple of distorted air extended from his kick.

"Better," Naruto acknowledged.

Kakashi watched this exchange with carefully concealed surprise. Not only was Naruto teaching a technique that no genin should know, but Sasuke was accepting instruction from the boy he'd previously dismissed as dead last. Something had fundamentally shifted in their dynamic.

"Alright, that's enough for today," Kakashi announced, closing his ever-present orange book. "Meet at the Hokage Tower tomorrow at 0800 for our next mission assignment."

As the team dispersed, Naruto lingered, feeling Kakashi's assessing gaze on him.

"Something on your mind, sensei?" he asked without turning.

"Several things," Kakashi admitted. "Primarily how a newly-minted genin knows techniques that aren't in any Konoha scroll I've ever seen."

Naruto finally turned, blue eyes sharp with that now-familiar predatory focus. "I told you and the Hokage already. I don't know where they come from. They just... are."

"And this voice you mentioned to the Third? Still hearing it?"

Naruto hesitated. The voice had become more persistent lately, sometimes slipping into his thoughts mid-conversation, offering observations or suggestions with cold efficiency.

"Yes," he admitted. "But it's not threatening or dangerous. It's more like... having a very strict teacher in my head."

Kakashi's visible eye curved in what might have been a smile. "Well, that's a novel description of potential mental instability."

"Do you think I'm unstable?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious rather than offended.

"I think you're changing," Kakashi replied carefully. "And change always carries risk. But so far, these changes seem to be making you a more effective shinobi, so I'm reserving judgment."

It was a fair assessment, and more honest than Naruto had expected. He nodded his thanks and turned to leave.

"Naruto," Kakashi called after him. "These techniques of yours—they're lethal. Against most opponents, they would be instantly fatal. Remember that power comes with responsibility."

Responsibility to whom? the voice in Naruto's head questioned. To the village that shunned you? To the system that made you a weapon?

"I understand, sensei," Naruto replied, ignoring the voice's cynicism. He did understand—perhaps better than Kakashi realized. He'd been practicing restraint far more than power, learning to pull his strikes just enough to disable rather than kill.

Because despite the cold pragmatism of the voice, Naruto Uzumaki still didn't want to be a killer.

The following morning, Team Seven assembled at the Hokage Tower, where the Third sat behind his desk reviewing mission scrolls. Iruka stood beside him, helping organize the assignments.

"Team Seven reporting for duty," Kakashi announced with his customary lackadaisical salute.

The Hokage looked up, his weathered face breaking into a smile as his gaze met Naruto's. "Ah, Team Seven. I believe you've completed enough D-rank missions to qualify for something more challenging."

Naruto perked up, genuine excitement breaking through his lately subdued demeanor. Beside him, Sakura straightened and even Sasuke showed a flicker of interest.

"I have a C-rank protection detail," the Hokage continued, selecting a scroll. "Escorting a bridge builder back to the Land of Waves and providing security until his project is complete."

"We accept," Kakashi said immediately, earning surprised glances from his students. The jōnin shrugged. "Field experience is valuable. And I believe my cute little genin are ready for a challenge."

Naruto's eyes narrowed imperceptibly. Kakashi's casual acceptance suggested an ulterior motive. Was this mission specifically selected for them? Perhaps a test of some kind?

Always look for the hidden objective, the voice advised. Nothing is ever as simple as it appears.

"Send in the client," the Hokage instructed an attending chunin.

Moments later, an elderly man with a salt-and-pepper beard staggered in, a bottle of sake clutched in one hand. He squinted at Team Seven with obvious skepticism.

"These are my protectors? They're just a bunch of kids!" He took a long swig from his bottle. "Especially that short one with the stupid face—he doesn't even look like a ninja!"

In the past, such an insult would have sent Naruto into a rage. Now, he merely assessed the man with cool detachment. Civilian. Late sixties. Slightly malnourished. Defensive posture indicating fear masked as bravado. Calluses on hands consistent with carpentry work.

Not a threat, the voice dismissed. But he's hiding something.

"My name is Tazuna," the man continued, oblivious to Naruto's analysis. "I'm a master bridge builder from the Land of Waves. I expect you to protect me with your lives until I complete my project!"

Kakashi nodded amiably. "That's the job. We'll depart in one hour. Pack for two weeks minimum."

As they left to prepare, Sakura fell into step beside Naruto. "You didn't react at all to what he said about you," she observed. "The old you would have tried to attack him or something."

Naruto glanced at her, surprised by the perceptiveness of her comment. "Would that have accomplished anything useful?"

She blinked, clearly not expecting such a pragmatic response. "Well, no, but—"

"Then why waste the energy?" He shrugged. "Besides, appearances can be deceiving. Let him underestimate us."

Sakura studied him with newfound curiosity. "You really have changed, Naruto. It's like you're a completely different person sometimes."

If only she knew how right she is, the voice commented sardonically.

One hour later, Team Seven assembled at Konoha's main gate, packs ready, weapons checked. Naruto had made some modifications to his usual orange jumpsuit, adding reinforced guards at his wrists and shins—subtle changes that wouldn't draw attention but would allow him to execute his techniques more effectively.

As they set out, Kakashi leading with Tazuna at his side, Naruto found himself automatically falling into a defensive formation—taking the rear guard position where his enhanced senses could monitor for pursuit.

The first day of travel passed uneventfully, though Naruto remained vigilant. Something about this mission felt wrong. Tazuna's nervousness, the way his eyes darted to shadows along the road, the slight tremor in his hands when discussing the bridge project—all of it suggested there was more to this assignment than a simple escort.

On the second day, Naruto's suspicions were confirmed.

They were walking along a forest path when Naruto's nose caught an unfamiliar scent—metal and blood and something acrid like poison. His head snapped up, eyes scanning their surroundings with heightened focus.

He spotted the puddle immediately—a small pool of water on a road that hadn't seen rain in weeks.

Without breaking stride, he moved closer to Sasuke and murmured, "Puddle. Two o'clock. Genjutsu."

Sasuke gave a nearly imperceptible nod, fingers casually shifting to his kunai pouch. Ahead of them, Kakashi's posture suggested he'd also noticed the anomaly but was choosing to see how his students would react.

They passed the puddle. Three steps. Four. Five.

The attack came with a splash and the rattle of chains. Two ninja erupted from the false puddle, gauntlets connected by a serrated chain that quickly wrapped around Kakashi.

"One down," one of the attackers rasped as they appeared to rip the jōnin to shreds.

Sakura screamed. Tazuna stumbled back in horror. But Naruto was already moving.

Demon Brothers of the Mist, the voice identified immediately. Chunin-level. Poison specialists. Target the gauntlets first.

Without consciously deciding to, Naruto activated a technique he'd only recently discovered during his private training sessions.

"Soru."

He vanished from sight, reappearing directly between the two assassins as they turned their attention toward Tazuna. With mechanical precision, his hardened fingers struck at the clasps connecting their chain, shattering the mechanism.

"What the—" The first assassin had no time to complete his exclamation as Naruto's elbow drove into his solar plexus with crushing force.

"Tekkai," Naruto murmured, his body hardening as the second assassin's poisoned gauntlet struck his shoulder, the claws breaking against what should have been soft flesh.

The assassin's eyes widened in shock. "How—"

"Shigan."

Naruto's finger pierced the man's shoulder, deliberately avoiding vital points but hitting a nerve cluster that rendered the entire arm useless. The assassin collapsed, clutching his deadened limb, only to meet Sasuke's fist as the Uchiha joined the fray.

Within seconds, both attackers lay unconscious on the forest floor.

Silence fell over the group. Sakura stood protectively before Tazuna, kunai raised. Sasuke was breathing hard, more from adrenaline than exertion. And Naruto...

Naruto stood perfectly still, examining the blood on his fingertip with detached curiosity. The last technique—Shigan—had been executed with perfect control, striking exactly where he'd intended. Progress.

"Well, that was educational," Kakashi remarked, stepping out from the trees where he'd been observing the entire exchange. "Good teamwork, all of you."

"You... you're alive!" Sakura exclaimed.

Kakashi gestured to a pile of splintered logs where his "body" had supposedly been torn apart. "Substitution jutsu. Basic Academy technique."

"You let us fight on purpose," Sasuke accused.

"I needed to see who their target was," Kakashi explained, his gaze shifting to Tazuna. "And now I know. Care to explain why two chunin-level missing-nin from Kirigakure are trying to kill a simple bridge builder, Tazuna-san?"

The old man paled, sweat beading on his brow. "I... I can explain."

As Tazuna launched into his tale of Gato's tyranny over the Land of Waves and the bridge that would free his people, Naruto half-listened, his attention focused on securing the unconscious assassins. He bound them efficiently with wire, movements automatic and practiced.

You've done this before, the voice observed. Many times.

"Not possible," Naruto muttered under his breath. "I've never left the village before."

I have.

The simple statement sent a chill down Naruto's spine. It confirmed what he'd begun to suspect—that the voice, the techniques, the memories that weren't his own...they belonged to someone else. Someone who had lived another life entirely.

He was so disturbed by this revelation that he almost missed Kakashi's question.

"...continue the mission under these circumstances? This is now at least B-rank, possibly A-rank depending on who else Gato has hired. Well, team? What do you think?"

Sasuke spoke first. "We should continue. We can handle it."

"I agree with Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, though her voice trembled slightly.

All eyes turned to Naruto. He considered the situation with cold logic that was becoming more natural by the day.

"The mission parameters have changed, but our capabilities are sufficient," he assessed. "These two were chunin-level at best. Even if Gato has jōnin-level missing-nin in his employ, with Kakashi-sensei's support, our success probability remains high."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the clinical analysis. "That's... one way to look at it."

"Plus," Naruto added, a flash of his old self breaking through, "we can't just abandon Tazuna's people when they need help."

Tazuna looked at the boy with new appreciation—and no small amount of confusion. This was the same kid he'd dismissed as having a stupid face?

"Very well," Kakashi decided. "We continue to Wave Country. But Tazuna-san, when this is over, we'll be having a serious discussion about mission classifications and appropriate fees."

As they resumed their journey, Sakura fell into step beside Naruto again. "Those techniques you used," she said quietly. "They're not standard jutsu, are they?"

Naruto shook his head. "No."

"Where did you learn them?"

He hesitated, then decided on a partial truth. "I didn't learn them. I remembered them."

"Remembered? From where?"

Naruto's expression darkened as fragments of strange memories flashed through his mind—a city of water, a tower of justice, a pigeon-headed man issuing orders.

"I wish I knew, Sakura. I really wish I knew."

Later that night, as they made camp near the coast where they would catch a boat to Wave Country the next morning, Naruto sat apart from the others, meditating. He'd found that stillness helped him process the foreign memories that increasingly surfaced in his mind.

He was so deep in concentration that he didn't notice Kakashi's approach until the jōnin spoke.

"Mind if I join you?"

Naruto opened his eyes, nodding. "Something wrong, sensei?"

Kakashi settled beside him, visible eye studying the boy with unusual intensity. "That's what I wanted to ask you. Those techniques you used today—they're not just unfamiliar to Konoha. They're unlike any jutsu I've ever seen."

"They don't feel like jutsu," Naruto admitted. "They're more... physical. Like my body is the weapon, not my chakra."

"And they come from these memories you mentioned to the Hokage? Memories that aren't yours?"

Naruto hesitated, then nodded. "They're becoming clearer. I see islands surrounded by oceans wider than anything in the Elemental Nations. I see buildings taller than the Hokage Tower. I see people with abilities that don't use chakra at all, but something else... something they call 'Devil Fruits.'"

Kakashi's eye widened slightly. "That sounds like..."

"Another world," Naruto finished. "I know how crazy it sounds. But these memories, these techniques—they're real. And they're becoming more a part of me every day."

The jōnin was silent for a long moment, processing this information. "Does the voice have a name?" he finally asked.

Naruto closed his eyes, directing the question inward. Do you have a name?

For once, the voice answered directly. Rob Lucci.

"He says his name is Rob Lucci," Naruto reported, opening his eyes.

Kakashi nodded as if this confirmed something. "And what does Rob Lucci want?"

It was a good question—one Naruto hadn't directly confronted before. What did this presence in his mind want? Why was it here?

Justice, the voice replied instantly. True justice. Not the weak compromise that passes for it in this world or the one I left.

"He says he wants justice," Naruto translated, though he felt there was more to it than that simple answer suggested.

Kakashi sighed, running a hand through his silver hair. "Well, that could be worse, I suppose. Just... be careful, Naruto. Power always comes with a price, and borrowed power doubly so."

As the jōnin moved away to check the perimeter, Naruto returned to his meditation, but with a new purpose. Instead of merely experiencing the memories that came, he actively sought them out, diving deeper into the mind of the man called Rob Lucci.

What he found both fascinated and disturbed him: images of a life dedicated to something called "Absolute Justice," a career built on assassination and interrogation, a belief system that placed law above all human considerations. He saw Lucci's induction into CP9 as a child, his first kill at age thirteen, the gradual hardening of his heart until emotion became foreign to him.

And he saw something else—a transformation far beyond what any jutsu could accomplish. A man becoming a leopard, becoming something between man and beast, wielding power that rivaled the greatest shinobi.

The power of the Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Leopard, Lucci's voice explained. In my world, there are fruits that grant abilities to those who eat them, at the cost of being forever cursed by the sea.

"Do I have this power?" Naruto asked aloud, forgetting momentarily that he was supposed to be keeping quiet.

No. Devil Fruit abilities don't transfer between lives. But you have something potentially greater—the Nine-Tails within you, and my knowledge of the Six Powers techniques. Combined, they could make you invincible.

Naruto considered this. The techniques he'd already accessed—Shigan, Rankyaku, Tekkai, Soru—were formidable enough. And there were others he'd glimpsed in Lucci's memories but hadn't yet attempted: Geppo, which allowed one to walk on air; Kami-e, which made the body flexible enough to avoid attacks; and combinations of these fundamentals that created even deadlier moves.

"Why are you helping me?" Naruto finally asked the question that had been bothering him most. "What do you get out of this?"

The answer came with a cold certainty that chilled Naruto to his core.

Because eventually, Uzumaki Naruto, you and I will become one. Not vessel and passenger, but a single entity with a unified purpose. And when that happens, this world will know true justice at last.

The declaration hung in Naruto's mind like a promise—or a threat. Before he could question further, Kakashi called for him to take his turn at watch.

As he moved to relieve Sasuke, Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that he was racing against time. The more of Lucci's techniques he mastered, the stronger the assassin's presence became in his mind. If this continued, which of them would ultimately control his body?

And more disturbingly... which of them did he want to win?

The crossing to Wave Country occurred under cover of thick fog, their boatman navigating without light to avoid Gato's patrols. As the small vessel slipped silently through the water, Naruto stood at the prow, enhanced senses penetrating the mist farther than any normal human could see.

"There," he murmured, pointing. "The bridge."

Gradually, an enormous structure emerged from the fog—Tazuna's creation, still unfinished but already impressive in scale. The bridge builder swelled with pride at their reactions.

"That's what Gato fears," he explained. "Once completed, this bridge will connect Wave to the mainland, breaking his shipping monopoly and freeing our people from his control."

"It's incredible," Sakura acknowledged, genuine awe in her voice.

Even Sasuke looked impressed, though he masked it quickly. "It's also an obvious target."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "The next attack will come soon after we reach shore. Probably someone stronger than the Demon Brothers."

Kakashi glanced sharply at him. "What makes you so certain?"

Experience, Lucci's voice supplied in Naruto's mind. Hierarchical criminal organizations operate similarly regardless of world. Gato will escalate methodically.

"It's what I would do," Naruto replied, not mentioning Lucci's input. "Start with mid-level operatives to test defenses, then send specialists based on the results."

Tazuna paled. "You think someone stronger is coming for me?"

"Almost certainly," Kakashi confirmed. "Which is why we'll be maintaining combat readiness from the moment we land."

True to Naruto's prediction, they hadn't traveled more than a mile from the shore when he sensed it—a flicker of trained killing intent, quickly suppressed but unmistakable to his heightened awareness.

"Down!" he shouted, tackling Tazuna to the ground as something massive whirled through the air where their heads had been moments before.

A enormous sword embedded itself in a tree trunk with a resounding thunk. Atop its hilt perched a tall, muscular figure—a man with bandages covering the lower half of his face and a slashed Kirigakure headband.

"Well, well," the man drawled, killing intent rolling off him in palpable waves. "Copy Ninja Kakashi. No wonder the Demon Brothers failed."

Kakashi stepped forward, posture deceptively casual though his hand had moved to his headband. "Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Mist. A-rank missing-nin from Kirigakure. This is unexpected."

"Protect Tazuna," Kakashi ordered his team without taking his eyes off Zabuza. "This opponent is on a different level."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura immediately formed a triangular defense around the bridge builder, weapons drawn. But while his teammates tensed with fear, Naruto felt something unexpected stirring within him—anticipation.

This one is strong, Lucci's voice assessed. A worthy test.

Zabuza laughed, the sound muffled by his bandages but no less menacing. "Hiding behind children, Kakashi? How the mighty have fallen."

"Don't underestimate my team," Kakashi replied, lifting his headband to reveal a spinning red eye with three tomoe—the Sharingan. "And don't underestimate me."

"The famous eye already? I'm honored." Zabuza's hands formed seals with practiced speed. "Let's see how well it works in the mist. Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

The already foggy air thickened dramatically, visibility dropping to near zero. Naruto could hear Tazuna's panicked breathing behind him, feel Sakura's hand trembling as she gripped her kunai.

"Eight points," Zabuza's disembodied voice echoed through the mist. "Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart. Which vital spot shall I choose?"

The killing intent saturating the area intensified, pressing down on them like physical weight. Sasuke, despite his Uchiha heritage, began to shake, the psychological pressure threatening to break him.

"Sasuke," Kakashi called without turning. "Don't worry. I'll protect you all with my life."

But it wasn't Sasuke who needed reassurance.

Standing perfectly still within their defensive formation, Naruto had closed his eyes, focusing entirely on his other senses. The mist dampened visibility, but to someone with Lucci's training, sight was merely one tool among many. He could hear the minute shifts in air pressure as Zabuza moved, smell the distinctive metallic tang of the missing-nin's sword.

He's coming, Lucci warned. Three o'clock. Moving fast.

Naruto's eyes snapped open. "Sensei! Between us!"

Kakashi whirled just as Zabuza materialized in the center of their formation, massive sword already swinging toward Tazuna. The jōnin intercepted with a kunai, metal shrieking against metal.

What happened next occurred so quickly that later, when recounting the battle, neither Sakura nor Tazuna could fully describe it.

Zabuza's sword locked with Kakashi's kunai. Their eyes met for a split second. Then Naruto—small, orange-clad Naruto—moved.

"Soru."

He vanished from his position, reappearing directly beneath the locked weapons. With cat-like flexibility that defied normal human limitations, he twisted upward between the two jōnin.

"Shigan: Oren!"

His fingers blurred, striking Zabuza's exposed midsection with multiple piercing thrusts. The missing-nin's eyes widened in shock as blood sprayed from the precision wounds—none fatal, but each striking nerve clusters and muscle groups with surgical accuracy.

Zabuza leapt back, creating distance, his free hand pressed against his bleeding abdomen. "What the hell—" His gaze fixed on Naruto with new wariness. "That wasn't a jutsu."

Naruto stood beside Kakashi now, his stance shifted subtly into something predatory and efficient—a posture no Academy student should know. His blue eyes had taken on that cold, calculating gleam that increasingly dominated his features during combat.

"You're right," he replied, voice deeper than it should have been. "It's something from beyond your limited understanding."

Let me show him, Lucci urged inside Naruto's mind, his presence pushing forward with unprecedented strength. Let me demonstrate true power.

The request resonated with something in Naruto—a desire to test his limits, to exert dominance over a worthy opponent. He found himself yielding control, allowing Lucci's battle instincts to rise to the surface.

His body language changed immediately. The last traces of childish awkwardness vanished, replaced by the lethal grace of a trained assassin. Even his facial expression transformed, features settling into a mask of cold authority that looked alien on his young face.

"Kakashi-sensei," he said without taking his eyes off Zabuza. "Allow me to assist you with this target."

Kakashi shot him a sharp glance, immediately recognizing the shift. This wasn't Naruto speaking—not entirely. But before he could intervene, Zabuza launched his counterattack.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

A massive dragon formed from the nearby lake, roaring toward them with destructive force. Kakashi's hands blurred through identical seals, creating his own water dragon to intercept. The two constructs collided in an explosive deluge.

Through the spray, Zabuza charged, sword raised for a killing blow aimed at Kakashi. But Naruto—or rather, Lucci controlling Naruto's body—was already moving to intercept.

"Tekkai: Go."

The hardening technique spread throughout his small frame as he stepped directly into the path of Zabuza's strike. The massive sword connected with his shoulder with enough force to cleave through normal flesh and bone.

Instead, it stopped as if striking steel.

Zabuza's eyes widened in disbelief. "Impossible..."

Taking advantage of the missing-nin's momentary shock, Naruto's leg swept upward.

"Rankyaku: Ran."

Multiple blades of compressed air shot from the kick, slicing toward Zabuza in a pattern too complex to fully dodge. The missing-nin managed to evade the worst, but several cuts opened across his chest and arms.

"Who the hell are you, kid?" Zabuza snarled, blood dripping from his new wounds.

Naruto's lips curved in a smile that belonged on an older, crueler face. When he spoke, his voice carried echoes of Lucci's deeper tones.

"I am justice."

From the sidelines, Sasuke and Sakura watched in stunned silence. This wasn't the Naruto they knew—not even the changed, more serious Naruto of recent weeks. This was someone else entirely, someone who moved and fought with the cold precision of a career killer.

Kakashi, recognizing the danger of the situation—both to Zabuza and potentially to Naruto himself—moved to intervene. "Naruto, stand down! That's an order!"

The command penetrated the fog of battle that had allowed Lucci's consciousness to dominate. Naruto blinked, confusion momentarily crossing his features as control shifted back.

Don't stop now, Lucci's voice urged. We can end him.

"No," Naruto whispered, shaking his head. "This isn't right."

The momentary internal struggle gave Zabuza an opening. He disengaged from Naruto and focused his attention back on Kakashi, hands forming new seals.

"Water Prison Jutsu!"

A sphere of water encased Kakashi before he could react, Zabuza's hand maintaining the prison from within. The missing-nin created a water clone with his free hand, sending it toward the genin and Tazuna.

"Run!" Kakashi ordered from within his liquid prison. "His water clone can't go far from his real body. Take Tazuna and escape!"

But Naruto, having regained control of himself, had no intention of running. He assessed the situation with the strategic clarity that was becoming second nature.

"Sasuke," he called, his voice his own again. "I need a distraction."

The Uchiha, who moments ago had been staring at Naruto as if he were a stranger, nodded sharply. Whatever had happened to his teammate, they were still shinobi of Konoha with a mission to complete.

"Sakura, guard Tazuna," Sasuke ordered, hands already forming seals. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

The massive sphere of flame shot toward Zabuza's water clone, instantly generating steam as fire met water. Using the cover, Naruto circled wide, approaching the real Zabuza from behind.

"Soru."

He crossed the distance to the shore in a heartbeat, appearing behind Zabuza. The missing-nin sensed him at the last second, turning his head.

"You again—"

"Shigan!"

Naruto's finger stabbed precisely at Zabuza's shoulder, striking the nerve cluster that controlled the arm maintaining the water prison. The missing-nin grunted in pain as his arm spasmed involuntarily, releasing the jutsu.

Kakashi fell free, immediately putting distance between himself and Zabuza. "Good work, Naruto," he acknowledged, though his assessing gaze suggested there would be questions later.

Zabuza, nursing his injured arm, glared at them with murderous intent. "You little brats—"

He never finished the sentence. Three senbon needles suddenly pierced his neck, striking with lethal precision. The Demon of the Mist collapsed, apparently lifeless.

A masked figure appeared on a nearby branch—a hunter-nin from Kirigakure, based on the porcelain mask.

"Thank you for weakening him," the masked ninja said, voice soft and androgynous. "I've been tracking Zabuza for weeks."

Kakashi approached cautiously, checking Zabuza's pulse. "No heartbeat. He's dead."

The hunter-nin bowed. "I'll dispose of the body. It contains many secrets my village would not want revealed."

Something about the scene struck Naruto as wrong. He could feel Lucci's suspicion mirroring his own.

Hunter-nin dispose of bodies on site, the assassin's voice noted. This one wants to take Zabuza away intact.

"Wait—" Naruto began, but the hunter-nin had already lifted Zabuza's body and vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Kakashi pulled his headband back down over his Sharingan eye. "Well, that was unexpected."

"Sensei," Naruto said quietly, "I think we've been deceived. That wasn't a real hunter-nin."

Kakashi nodded grimly. "I had the same thought. Those senbon... they struck pressure points that can induce a death-like state."

"You mean Zabuza is still alive?" Sakura gasped.

"Most likely. And he'll be back, probably within a week once he's recovered."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Then we should prepare."

"Indeed." Kakashi took a step forward, then swayed dangerously. "But first, I need to rest. Using the Sharingan takes a toll on me since I'm not an Uchiha."

As their sensei collapsed from chakra exhaustion, Tazuna finally found his voice. "My house isn't far. We can take him there to recover."

Naruto helped lift Kakashi onto Sasuke's back, his mind racing with implications. Another confrontation with Zabuza meant another opportunity for Lucci to emerge—and next time, he might not be able to regain control so easily.

The voice in his head had been growing stronger with each passing day, each new technique mastered, each battle fought. And during the brief period when Lucci had taken over against Zabuza, Naruto had felt the frightening extent of the assassin's abilities—and his ruthlessness.

We could have killed him, Lucci's voice reminded him as they trudged toward Tazuna's house. Easily. Permanently.

"That's not how we do things," Naruto whispered, ensuring none of his companions could hear.

It's how I've always done things, came the cold reply. And you're becoming more like me with each passing day.

The worst part was, Naruto couldn't entirely deny it. The old Naruto—loud, impulsive, desperate for acknowledgment—seemed increasingly distant, a childhood persona being steadily replaced by something colder and more efficient. Sometimes, when he caught his reflection in still water or polished metal, he barely recognized himself.

His whisker marks seemed deeper now, his canines sharper, his blue eyes holding a predatory gleam that never quite faded. And occasionally, just for a moment, he could swear he saw someone else looking back at him—a tall man with cold eyes and a small beard, dressed in a suit that belonged to another world entirely.

Rob Lucci was emerging, not just in Naruto's mind, but in his very flesh.

And despite everything, despite knowing he should fight this transformation, part of Naruto welcomed it. Because for the first time in his life, he felt truly powerful. Truly in control.

Even if that control was slowly, inexorably slipping away.

Tazuna's house proved to be a modest two-story structure near the shore, cozy despite the poverty evident throughout Wave Country. His daughter, Tsunami, welcomed them with warm hospitality, though her young son, Inari, regarded the shinobi with undisguised skepticism.

"You're all going to die," the boy declared after dinner on their first night. "No one can stand up to Gato."

"Inari!" Tsunami scolded. "These ninja are here to help your grandfather."

"It doesn't matter," the boy continued stubbornly. "Heroes don't exist in this world."

Normally, such a statement would have triggered Naruto's passionate defense of heroism and determination. But the boy who once shouted about becoming Hokage remained silent, studying Inari with analytical detachment.

The child speaks from experience, Lucci observed. He's lost someone to Gato's regime.

"What happened to your father?" Naruto asked quietly.

The question struck like a physical blow. Inari's eyes widened, then filled with tears before he fled the room. Tazuna sighed heavily.

"How did you know?" the bridge builder asked.

Naruto shrugged. "His anger is too personal to be abstract."

Tsunami excused herself to check on her son, while Tazuna explained Kaiza's story—a man who had become Inari's hero and surrogate father, only to be publicly executed by Gato as an example to the villagers.

"That's why the bridge is so important," Tazuna concluded. "It's not just about economy—it's about hope. About proving that resistance is possible."

From his futon in the corner where he was recovering, Kakashi spoke up. "While I sympathize with your situation, our priority remains your protection until the bridge is complete. To that end, I'll be training my team to prepare for Zabuza's return."

"Training?" Sakura perked up. "What kind of training?"

"The kind that might save your lives," Kakashi replied grimly. "We'll start tomorrow."

Dawn found Team Seven in a clearing near Tazuna's house. Kakashi stood before them with the aid of crutches, his body still recovering from chakra exhaustion.

"Today we'll be working on chakra control," he announced. "Specifically, climbing trees without using your hands."

He demonstrated by walking up a tree trunk using only his feet, chakra keeping him adhered to the surface. For Sakura and Sasuke, the exercise was novel. For Naruto, it was remedial.

"I've been doing this for weeks," he pointed out, demonstrating by walking up and then under a branch, hanging upside down with perfect control.

Kakashi nodded, unsurprised. "I suspected as much. Your chakra control has improved dramatically recently." His visible eye narrowed. "Almost as if you had... experienced guidance."

The implication was clear. Kakashi knew Lucci's influence extended beyond combat techniques.

"What should I do instead?" Naruto asked, ignoring the implied question.

"Water walking," Kakashi decided. "The lake near here will work. It's the next level of chakra control—instead of adhering to a solid surface, you must constantly adjust your chakra output to match the shifting surface of water."

While Sasuke and Sakura began their tree-climbing practice, Naruto followed Kakashi to the nearby lake. The jōnin demonstrated the technique, then left Naruto to practice while he supervised the others.

Alone at the lake's edge, Naruto placed one foot on the water's surface, carefully channeling chakra. The water held momentarily, then gave way, soaking his foot. He tried again with similar results.

You're thinking about it wrong, Lucci's voice advised. This isn't just about chakra control—it's about adaptability. In my world, we have a technique called "Moon Walk" that allows one to kick off the very air. The principle is similar.

"Show me," Naruto murmured, no longer bothered by speaking aloud to the voice in his head when alone.

Instantly, he felt Lucci's consciousness rise closer to the surface—not taking control as during the Zabuza fight, but guiding, demonstrating through shared proprioception how to distribute weight and energy.

Naruto stepped onto the water again, this time with a different approach. Rather than forcing chakra out in a steady stream, he released it in controlled pulses that matched the water's natural rhythm. His foot stayed dry, supported by the liquid surface.

Another step. And another. Within minutes, he was walking across the lake as if it were solid ground.

Good, Lucci acknowledged. Now try this.

Images flashed through Naruto's mind—a technique called "Geppo" that allowed one to kick off the air itself, creating temporary footholds in nothingness. It seemed impossible, yet Naruto could feel the memory-knowledge of how to execute it.

He leapt upward from the lake's surface, then, at the apex of his jump, kicked sharply at the empty air behind him. To his amazement, he felt resistance, as if the air had briefly solidified. The kick propelled him higher and forward, extending his jump far beyond normal human capability.

"I did it!" he exclaimed, genuine excitement breaking through his lately subdued demeanor.

Of course, Lucci's voice replied with cold satisfaction. Your body is adapting to my techniques faster than anticipated. Soon, nothing in this world will stand against us.

The plural pronoun gave Naruto pause. He landed on the lake's surface, standing still as ripples spread outward from his feet.

"What exactly is happening to me?" he asked quietly. "Am I becoming you, or are you becoming me?"

For once, Lucci had no immediate answer. When the response finally came, it held a note of rare uncertainty.

I'm not sure. This... merger was unexpected. The fox entity offered me continuation, not assimilation. Yet here we are, increasingly intertwined.

"And that doesn't bother you?" Naruto pressed.

Should it? I died in my world, Uzumaki Naruto. Whatever this existence is—shared consciousness, reincarnation, possession—it's preferable to oblivion.

Naruto considered this perspective. "But if we continue merging, which of us will remain in the end? You? Me? Some combination?"

Does it matter? We are becoming something greater than either of us alone. Your compassion tempers my ruthlessness. My experience enhances your potential. Together, we could reshape this world.

The proposition was seductive in its logic. Naruto had always craved acknowledgment, respect, power to protect what he valued. Lucci offered a path to all of these things—albeit one stained with blood and shadow.

Their philosophical discussion was interrupted by a subtle shift in the air—the feeling of being watched. Naruto's head snapped up, enhanced senses scanning the tree line.

"I know you're there," he called. "Show yourself."

A figure emerged from the forest—the masked hunter-nin who had "killed" Zabuza. Up close, Naruto could see the ninja was slim and graceful, likely close to his own age despite their deadly skill.

"Impressive," the masked figure said. "Most shinobi never sense my presence."

Naruto shifted into a combat stance, his body automatically hardening with a partial Tekkai. "Are you here to finish what Zabuza started?"

The hunter-nin raised empty hands in a placating gesture. "If I wanted to attack, I wouldn't have revealed myself. I'm merely... curious."

"About what?"

"About you." The masked head tilted slightly. "Those techniques you used against Zabuza-sama. They're unlike anything I've seen before."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Zabuza-sama? So you are his accomplice."

"I am his tool," the ninja corrected, voice softening. "As he is Gato's, for now."

Interesting choice of words, Lucci noted. This one has been thoroughly indoctrinated—shaped from childhood to serve, much like CP9 recruits.

"What's your name?" Naruto asked, maintaining his guard but sensing no immediate threat.

A pause, then: "Haku."

"Why are you here, Haku? Really?"

The masked ninja seemed to consider the question carefully. "Perhaps... to understand what I witnessed. Or perhaps to warn you."

"Warn me?"

"Zabuza-sama underestimated you before. He won't make that mistake again." Haku stepped closer, voice dropping to a near whisper. "And next time, I will be fighting alongside him."

The statement was delivered without malice—a simple declaration of fact. Yet Naruto sensed something beneath the professional detachment, an emotion he couldn't quite identify.

"Are you warning me because you want us to flee?" he asked. "Or because you hope for a worthy battle?"

Haku's laugh was soft and surprisingly gentle. "Perceptive. I'm not entirely sure myself." The masked figure studied him for a moment. "You are... different from other shinobi I've encountered. There's something old in your eyes, despite your youth."

This one sees too much, Lucci cautioned. A dangerous opponent.

"I could say the same about you," Naruto countered, ignoring Lucci's warning. "Why serve someone like Zabuza? You don't strike me as a natural killer."

"We all kill for our precious people," Haku replied. "I exist to make Zabuza-sama's dreams reality. That is my purpose." The masked head tilted again. "What is yours, Uzumaki Naruto?"

The use of his full name confirmed Haku had researched him since their first encounter.

"I'm still figuring that out," Naruto admitted.

"Aren't we all." Haku stepped back, preparing to leave. "I look forward to our next meeting, though I regret it must be as enemies."

"It doesn't have to be," Naruto found himself saying. "Gato will betray Zabuza eventually. Men like him always do."

Haku paused. "Perhaps. But loyalty isn't something one discards when convenient." With that, the hunter-nin vanished in a swirl of mist, leaving Naruto alone on the lake's surface.

You should have attacked while they revealed themselves, Lucci criticized. A wasted opportunity.

"No," Naruto replied firmly. "There was more to learn from that conversation than any fight could teach us."

He resumed his training, pushing himself to master Geppo completely before returning to Tazuna's house. By the time he joined the others for dinner, he could "walk" on air for brief periods, combining the technique with his water-walking skills to seemingly defy gravity.

Kakashi watched his progress with an unreadable expression. After the meal, when the others had retired, the jōnin pulled Naruto aside.

"That wasn't a standard chakra control exercise you were practicing today," he observed quietly.

Naruto saw no point in denying it. "No. It's called Geppo—a technique from Lucci's world."

"And how often does this... Lucci... speak to you now?"

"Almost constantly," Naruto admitted. "His presence is growing stronger every day."

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed with concern. "Is he trying to take control, like during the fight with Zabuza?"

Naruto considered the question carefully. "Not exactly. It's more like... we're merging. His memories becoming mine. His skills becoming mine. His way of thinking..."

"That's what concerns me most," Kakashi interrupted. "From what little you've shared about him, this Rob Lucci was an assassin with a ruthless moral code very different from Konoha's values."

"He believes in justice," Naruto defended, though even as he spoke, he recognized how much his perspective had shifted to align with Lucci's.

"Whose justice?" Kakashi challenged. "By what standards? At what cost?"

Those were questions Naruto had been avoiding, partly because he feared the answers.

"I don't know," he finally admitted. "But I can't deny that his techniques, his knowledge, have made me stronger than I ever could have been on my own."

Kakashi sighed, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Power isn't everything, Naruto. What matters is how you use it, and why." He paused, choosing his next words carefully. "When we return to Konoha, I want you to speak with someone—a specialist in mental techniques. There might be a way to... stabilize this situation."

He wants to remove me, Lucci observed coldly. To take away the power you've gained.

The thought sent a chill through Naruto. As disconcerting as Lucci's presence could be, the idea of losing the abilities he'd gained, the clarity of purpose he'd found, was somehow worse.

"I'll think about it," he replied noncommittally.

Kakashi clearly wanted to press the issue but seemed to recognize it would be counterproductive. "Just remember who you are, Naruto. Don't let anyone—especially a voice in your head—make you forget that."

As Kakashi hobbled back to his room, Naruto remained on the porch, staring out at the moonlit waves. Who was he, really? The village pariah? The Nine-Tails jinchūriki? The reincarnation of an assassin from another world? All of these, and something else entirely?

Identity is fluid, Lucci's voice murmured. What matters is strength and conviction.

For once, Naruto couldn't disagree.

The remaining days before Zabuza's expected return were filled with intensive training. Naruto pushed himself relentlessly, mastering techniques that blended Lucci's Six Powers with his own chakra abilities, creating hybrid moves that neither world had seen before.

He discovered that by combining Geppo with shadow clones, he could create aerial attack formations that confused and overwhelmed opponents. By channeling the Nine-Tails' chakra into Tekkai, he could achieve a level of physical invulnerability that surpassed even Lucci's original capabilities.

Most disturbing—and exhilarating—was his development of a new version of Shigan that incorporated wind-nature chakra, creating a finger strike that could penetrate almost any defense, including the water barriers Haku had demonstrated during their brief encounter.

Throughout it all, the fusion of Naruto and Lucci continued, memories and attitudes blending until it became increasingly difficult to distinguish where one ended and the other began. Naruto's speech patterns grew more measured, his movements more precise. The childish dream of becoming Hokage for acknowledgment evolved into a colder ambition—to reshape the shinobi world according to his emerging sense of justice.

The only aspect of himself he actively fought to preserve was his compassion. Where Lucci would discard the weak and terminate the disloyal without hesitation, Naruto insisted on finding other solutions. It was a constant internal battle, but one he was determined not to lose.

On the sixth day after their arrival in Wave, Kakashi declared himself recovered enough for active duty.

"Zabuza will make his move soon," he announced during their morning briefing. "Most likely at the bridge, where Tazuna is most exposed. Naruto, I want you to stay behind and guard Tsunami and Inari while the rest of us escort Tazuna."

Naruto frowned. "With respect, sensei, you'll need me if both Zabuza and Haku attack."

"Haku?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"The fake hunter-nin. We... had a conversation."

Kakashi's eye narrowed. "You encountered the enemy and didn't report it?"

"I'm reporting it now," Naruto replied coolly. "Haku serves Zabuza out of personal loyalty, not financial motivation. They'll be a formidable team."

He's trying to separate us from the main battle, Lucci observed. He fears what we might do—or become—in the heat of combat.

"All the more reason for you to protect the family," Kakashi insisted. "If Zabuza is smart, he'll send men to take hostages while we're occupied at the bridge."

The logic was sound, even if the underlying motive was suspect. Naruto nodded his acceptance. "Understood."

As predicted, the next morning brought a thick mist rolling in from the sea—perfect cover for Zabuza's preferred assassination techniques. Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura departed with Tazuna for the bridge, leaving Naruto to guard the house.

He sat cross-legged on the roof, senses extended to their maximum range, monitoring for any approach. Inside, Tsunami prepared breakfast while Inari sulked at the table, still unconvinced that the ninja could protect them from Gato's regime.

The attack, when it came, was almost disappointingly predictable.

Two mercenaries emerged from the tree line, swords drawn, moving with the clumsy confidence of bullies accustomed to terrifying unarmed civilians.

"That's the bridge builder's house," one said to the other. "Remember, Gato wants the woman as a hostage. The kid we can kill if he gets in the way."

Naruto watched from above, undetected, studying their movements with cold assessment.

Low-level thugs, Lucci dismissed. Not even worth using proper techniques on.

For once, Naruto agreed completely. These weren't missing-nin or trained killers—just hired muscle carrying out orders without conviction. As they approached the front door, he decided to make his presence known.

"Looking for someone?" he called, standing upright on the roof peak.

Both men startled, looking up. "It's just a kid," the taller one sneered. "One of those ninja brats."

"Kill him," the other ordered. "Then we grab the woman."

They rushed the house, apparently dismissing Naruto as a negligible threat. It was the last mistake they would make that day.

He dropped between them and the door, landing lightly on the balls of his feet. Without wasting motion, he struck—not with Lucci's techniques, which would have been lethal, but with precisely calculated blows to nerve clusters that sent both men crumpling to the ground, paralyzed but conscious.

"W-what did you do to us?" the shorter mercenary gasped, eyes wide with fear as his body refused to respond to his commands.

"Temporary nerve paralysis," Naruto explained, his voice eerily adult as he bound them with wire. "You'll recover in a few hours. Just in time to witness Gato's downfall."

A crash from inside the house caught his attention. He spun to find Inari standing in the doorway, a small crossbow in his trembling hands. The boy had apparently intended to fight the mercenaries himself.

"I... I was coming to help," the child stammered, lowering the weapon as he saw the subdued attackers.

Something in the boy's determined expression, despite his obvious fear, struck a chord in Naruto—a reminder of his own childhood courage before Lucci's influence had begun reshaping him.

"That was brave," he acknowledged, a genuine smile softening his features momentarily. "But now I need you to be smart. Watch these two while I check on your mother."

Inari nodded, straightening with newfound purpose.

Once assured that Tsunami was safe, Naruto faced a decision. Kakashi's orders had been clear—stay and guard the house. But if mercenaries had been sent here, it meant the attack on the bridge was already underway. His team could be fighting for their lives at this very moment.

You know what to do, Lucci's voice urged. The primary mission is to protect the bridge builder. The family is secure now.

"I can't leave them undefended," Naruto argued aloud.

Create shadow clones. Three should be sufficient against any additional mercenaries Gato might send.

It was a reasonable solution. Naruto formed the familiar hand seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu."

Three perfect copies of himself appeared, each with enough chakra and combat knowledge to handle any normal threat. With the house secured, he turned toward the bridge, a sense of urgency building within him.

"Soru."

He vanished in a burst of speed, moving faster than any genin should be capable of. As Wave Country's misty landscape blurred around him, Naruto felt Lucci's battle instincts rising to the surface, preparing for what was to come.

This time, he didn't resist the transformation. Whatever waited at the bridge, he would need all the power he could muster.

Even if that power came with a price he wasn't yet ready to acknowledge.

The mist thickened as Naruto approached the bridge, carrying the metallic tang of blood and the unmistakable crackle of chakra discharge. Battle had already been joined—and from the sounds echoing through the fog, his team was struggling.

He paused at the bridge's edge, extending his senses to assess the situation before charging in. Through the swirling vapor, he detected multiple chakra signatures: Kakashi and Zabuza engaged in what appeared to be a lethal dance near the center span; Sakura standing guard over Tazuna towards the mainland side; and Sasuke...

Sasuke's chakra flickered weakly inside what seemed to be a dome of ice, his life force ebbing with each passing moment.

The hunter-nin, Lucci assessed. Using an ice-based bloodline limit, most likely. Rare and extremely dangerous.

Naruto weighed his options with cold efficiency. Kakashi could handle Zabuza—their previous encounter had demonstrated the Copy Ninja's superiority once his initial surprise had passed. Sakura and Tazuna were safe for the moment. But Sasuke was in immediate peril.

Decision made, he moved.

"Soru."

Naruto crossed the length of the bridge in a heartbeat, materializing beside the massive ice dome that imprisoned his teammate. Inside, he glimpsed a horrifying scene: Sasuke, body riddled with senbon needles, struggling to stand as Haku, moving between mirrors like a ghost, continued the assault.

Without hesitation, Naruto enacted the next stage of Lucci's techniques.

"Geppo."

He kicked off the air itself, launching upward before delivering a powerful axe kick to the top of the ice dome.

"Rankyaku: Amane!"

The bird-shaped blade of compressed air sliced clean through the topmost mirror, shattering it completely. Naruto dropped through the opening, landing in a crouch beside Sasuke.

"You're late, dobe," the Uchiha managed through bloodied lips, somehow maintaining his arrogant facade despite his grievous injuries.

"Traffic," Naruto replied dryly, scanning their opponent.

Haku's masked face turned toward him from within one of the remaining mirrors. "So you came after all. I hoped you might choose a different path."

"I protect what's mine," Naruto replied, the possessive terminology slipping out naturally again. He helped Sasuke to his feet, noting with concern the boy's labored breathing. "These mirrors... what are they?"

"My kekkei genkai," Haku explained, voice tinged with sadness. "The Crystal Ice Mirrors allow me to move at speeds no ordinary ninja can match. You cannot escape, and you cannot win."

To demonstrate, Haku unleashed another barrage of senbon from multiple mirrors simultaneously, the needles converging from all directions.

"Tekkai."

Naruto's body hardened to steel-like density, the senbon bouncing harmlessly off his skin. Meanwhile, he pulled Sasuke behind him, shielding his injured teammate with his own body.

Haku paused, clearly surprised by this defense. "Interesting. But even your hardening technique has limits, and your friend is already near death."

"Why are you doing this?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious despite the dire situation. "You don't seem to enjoy killing."

"I am Zabuza-sama's tool," Haku repeated the explanation from their earlier meeting. "Where he points, I strike."

A waste of potential, Lucci's voice assessed coldly. This one has exceptional abilities but lacks the will to use them properly.

For once, Naruto found himself disagreeing with Lucci's assessment. There was something admirable about Haku's dedication, misguided though it might be.

"There has to be another way," he tried. "Gato will betray Zabuza once he's served his purpose. You must know that."

"Perhaps," Haku acknowledged. "But that doesn't change my duty in this moment."

With that, the masked nin vanished, appearing in a different mirror before launching another attack—this one even faster and more precisely aimed at vital points.

"Kami-e."

Naruto's body seemed to flutter like paper in the wind, bending in impossible ways to avoid the majority of the senbon. A few still struck, but not in critical areas. Behind him, however, Sasuke collapsed again, his reserves depleted.

We need to end this, Lucci urged. The Uchiha won't survive much longer.

Naruto nodded grimly. "I know."

He gathered chakra, preparing to unleash one of his most devastating techniques—a combination of Rankyaku and the Nine-Tails' power that could shatter all the mirrors at once. But before he could release it, something unexpected happened.

Sasuke moved.

Despite his injuries, despite being on the verge of unconsciousness, the Uchiha lunged forward, intercepting a barrage of senbon meant for Naruto. The needles struck him in the chest and neck, driving him backward into Naruto's arms.

"Why?" Naruto demanded, catching his fallen teammate.

Sasuke's eyes, now red with a single tomoe in each—the awakened Sharingan—met his. "My body... just moved on its own," he whispered. "I swore... I wouldn't die until I killed my brother. But you..." A faint smile curved his bloodied lips. "Don't die too, usuratonkachi."

With those words, Sasuke went limp, his newly awakened Sharingan fading as his eyes closed.

Something broke inside Naruto at that moment—a dam holding back emotions he'd been increasingly suppressing under Lucci's influence. Rage, grief, and a primal protectiveness surged through him like a tidal wave.

"Is this the first time you've seen a comrade die in battle?" Haku asked softly from within a mirror. "This is the way of shinobi."

"He's not dead," Naruto growled, gently laying Sasuke down. "And neither am I."

He straightened, and for the first time since Lucci's presence had manifested, his eyes began to glow red—not with the Sharingan, but with the Nine-Tails' power.

Interesting, Lucci's voice commented, sounding closer to the surface than ever before. Let's see what happens when my techniques are enhanced by the fox's chakra.

The red energy swirled around Naruto, forming a visible aura that began reshaping itself—not into the fox-like silhouette that had manifested in moments of extreme emotion before, but into something new. Something hybrid.

The chakra cloak elongated, forming what appeared to be a tail—but not a fox's bushy tail. This appendage was longer, more sinuous, spotted like a leopard's. His fingernails extended into claws, sharper and more precise than the Nine-Tails' influence alone would create. His whisker marks deepened, but his canines remained controlled, more feline than vulpine.

"What are you?" Haku whispered, genuine fear in his voice for the first time.

When Naruto spoke, his voice carried dual tones—his own and a deeper, colder voice that seemed to echo from another world. "I am the justice you've never faced."

With a roar that was half human, half beast, he launched himself at the nearest mirror.

"Shigan: Madara!"

His fingers struck the ice mirror with such force that it didn't merely crack—it exploded into thousands of glittering shards. He moved to the next, and the next, destroying Haku's fortress with methodical fury.

The masked nin attempted to counterattack, launching senbon from the remaining mirrors, but Naruto's movements had accelerated beyond normal perception.

"Soru: Tekkai!"

He became a blur of hardened flesh and focused chakra, simultaneously untouchable and unstoppable. Within seconds, only one ice mirror remained—the one containing Haku himself.

"You've lost," Naruto declared, the strange dual voice sending chills through those who heard it. "Surrender, and I may let you live."

You show mercy when you should show strength, Lucci criticized. Finish him.

"No," Naruto replied aloud, momentarily confusing Haku. "There's been enough death today."

The masked nin studied him for a long moment, then stepped out of the final mirror, which dissolved behind him.

"You've won," Haku acknowledged, reaching up to remove his mask. The face beneath was delicately beautiful, androgynous, and sorrowful. "I have failed as Zabuza-sama's tool. Kill me."

The request caught Naruto off-guard. "What?"

"A broken tool has no purpose," Haku explained with chilling serenity. "If I cannot defeat you, I am worthless to Zabuza-sama. Death would be a mercy."

Before Naruto could respond, a surge of chakra from elsewhere on the bridge caught his attention. Kakashi was preparing some kind of high-powered technique—the sound of chirping birds filled the misty air.

Haku sensed it too. His eyes widened. "Zabuza-sama is in danger."

Without warning, the ice-user vanished in a blur of movement—not toward escape, but toward the source of the chakra disturbance. Toward certain death.

He means to sacrifice himself, Lucci realized. To intercept Kakashi's attack.

"No!" Naruto shouted, his strange hybrid transformation still active as he pursued Haku across the bridge. "Soru: Maximum!"

He pushed the speed technique beyond anything he'd attempted before, the world blurring around him until he caught up with Haku just as the ice-user prepared to intercept Kakashi's lightning-wrapped hand—the assassination technique known as Chidori.

Time seemed to slow as Naruto made his choice. With perfect precision, he struck Haku from behind, a non-lethal blow to the base of the skull that rendered the ice-user unconscious instantly. As Haku collapsed, Naruto spun to face Kakashi and Zabuza, his hybrid chakra cloak still swirling around him.

"Naruto?!" Kakashi's visible eye widened in shock, his Chidori still active and now pointed at his own student. "What have you—"

"I saved him," Naruto interrupted, the dual-toned voice sending a visible shiver through his sensei. "From you and from himself."

Zabuza, pinned against the bridge railing by Kakashi's ninken summons, stared at the transformed genin with a mixture of disbelief and grudging respect. "The boy who stopped my sword with his bare body... what are you?"

Before Naruto could answer, slow clapping echoed through the mist.

"Well, well, what a disappointing show," a new voice drawled. "The so-called Demon of the Mist, defeated by Konoha trash."

The mist parted to reveal a short man in an expensive suit standing at the far end of the bridge. Behind him stretched a small army of mercenaries and thugs, all armed and smirking with anticipation.

"Gato," Zabuza growled, recognizing his employer. "What are you doing here?"

The shipping magnate adjusted his sunglasses with a smug smile. "Making a business decision. Hiring ninja is expensive, especially failures like you. It's much more cost-effective to let you weaken my enemies, then finish everyone off myself." He gestured to his assembled forces. "My men might not have fancy jutsu, but they understand simple math. There are fifty of them and only four of you still standing."

Predictable, Lucci's voice observed. The weak always betray when they think victory is assured.

"He's right," Naruto murmured to Kakashi, his chakra cloak gradually receding as he brought his emotions back under control. "Just as I warned Haku."

Kakashi's Chidori dissipated as he reassessed the situation. "This changes things."

Zabuza laughed bitterly. "So it does. It seems our battle is postponed, Kakashi." He turned his gaze to Naruto. "Release me from these dogs. Gato is my target now."

Kakashi hesitated, then signaled his ninken to stand down. The summons disappeared in puffs of smoke, freeing the bandaged missing-nin.

"Give me a kunai," Zabuza demanded, his own arms badly damaged from Kakashi's earlier attacks. "I can't wield Kubikiribōchō, but I can still kill that little parasite."

Naruto reached into his pouch and produced a kunai, which he tossed to Zabuza. The missing-nin caught it in his mouth, eyes narrowing with murderous intent.

"Wait," Naruto said before Zabuza could charge. "Let me help you."

The Demon of the Mist raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Gato's treachery affects us all," Naruto explained, his voice returning to normal as the last of the Nine-Tails' visible chakra receded. "And I have a technique that might be useful against that many opponents."

Zabuza studied him for a moment, then nodded slightly. "Show me, kid."

Naruto stepped forward, standing beside the feared missing-nin as they faced Gato's mercenary army together. With deliberate focus, he began channeling chakra through his legs, preparing a technique he'd been developing but hadn't yet used in combat.

"Rankyaku: Gaichou."

He leapt upward, using Geppo to gain height, then spun in midair, releasing a massive, bird-shaped blade of compressed air that carved a path directly through the center of Gato's forces. Men screamed as the invisible cutting edge sliced through them, creating a corridor of fallen bodies leading straight to Gato himself.

Zabuza didn't waste the opportunity. With the kunai clenched between his teeth, he charged through the opening Naruto had created, a demon in human form making his final run. Mercenaries tried to intercept him, driving swords and spears into his back and sides, but nothing stopped his momentum.

Gato's smug expression transformed into terror as Zabuza reached him, the businessman backing away until he hit the bridge railing.

"Wait! I can pay you double what—"

The kunai silenced him, severing his carotid artery with surgical precision. Gato's last words gurgled into bloody froth as he collapsed.

Zabuza, riddled with weapons and mortally wounded, staggered and fell to his knees. His mission complete, the last of his strength leaving him.

The remaining mercenaries, seeing their employer dead and their ranks decimated, hesitated. Then, fueled by greed and anger, they surged forward.

"They're still coming," Kakashi observed grimly, preparing for another fight despite his depleted chakra.

"I'm not finished," Naruto replied, his voice taking on that dual quality again as Lucci's influence rose closer to the surface.

He squared his stance, muscles tensing as he prepared the most devastating of Lucci's Six Powers techniques—one he'd practiced but never unleashed at full strength.

"Rokuogan."

The air between his fists compressed to a point of impossible density, then exploded outward in an invisible shockwave. The effect was catastrophic. Mercenaries in the direct path were thrown backward with such force that bones shattered and internal organs ruptured. Those on the periphery were knocked unconscious by the pressure wave alone.

When the dust settled, not a single mercenary remained standing. The bridge fell silent except for the moans of the wounded and the lapping of waves against the pilings below.

Naruto swayed slightly, the tremendous exertion of the technique taking its toll even on his enhanced stamina. Kakashi moved to his side, supporting him with a steady hand.

"What was that?" the jōnin asked quietly, a new wariness in his gaze.

"The ultimate technique of the Six Powers," Naruto explained wearily. "Rokuogan. It damages the target internally, bypassing external defenses."

"That's not a jutsu," Kakashi observed. "That's something else entirely."

Before Naruto could respond, a weak voice called his name. He turned to find Zabuza, still clinging to life despite his grievous wounds, gesturing him closer.

Naruto approached the dying missing-nin, kneeling beside him with unexpected respect.

"Kid," Zabuza rasped, blood trickling from beneath his bandages. "Haku... is he...?"

"Alive," Naruto assured him. "Unconscious, but unharmed."

Relief flickered in Zabuza's eyes. "Good. That's... good." He coughed, more blood staining the bridge beneath him. "Listen... there's something in you... something old. Something like me."

Naruto stilled, surprised by the missing-nin's perception.

"Whatever it is," Zabuza continued, "don't let it consume you. Remain... yourself."

Coming from the infamous Demon of the Mist, the advice was unexpected. Naruto nodded slowly. "I'll try."

"Take care of Haku," Zabuza managed, his voice fading. "He deserves... better than this life."

With those words, Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist, closed his eyes for the final time.

Naruto remained kneeling beside him for a long moment, processing both the battle and its aftermath. When he finally stood, he found Sakura approaching cautiously, supporting a weakened but conscious Sasuke.

"Naruto?" she called, uncertainty in her voice. "Is it over?"

He nodded, moving to help support Sasuke's other side. "It's over. Gato is dead. His men are defeated or fled."

"And that... transformation?" Sasuke asked weakly, dark eyes studying Naruto with new intensity. "What was that?"

Naruto hesitated, unsure how to explain something he didn't fully understand himself.

Tell them nothing, Lucci advised. Power revealed is power diminished.

But these were his teammates, the people who'd fought beside him, who'd trusted him with their lives. They deserved some version of the truth.

"It's complicated," he finally said. "Part Nine-Tails, part... something else. I'm still figuring it out."

Sasuke seemed dissatisfied with the vague answer, but too exhausted to press further. Sakura looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but Kakashi intervened.

"We'll discuss everything back in Konoha," the jōnin decided, his tone making it clear this wasn't a suggestion. "For now, let's get Tazuna home and tend to our wounded."

As they gathered their forces—Kakashi carrying Haku's unconscious form, Naruto and Sakura supporting Sasuke, and Tazuna leading the way back to his house—Naruto felt something shift within him.

The battle on the bridge had changed everything. He'd unleashed power beyond what any genin should possess, combined Lucci's techniques with the Nine-Tails' chakra in ways neither was meant to be used, and in doing so, had accelerated the fusion of their identities.

We were magnificent, Lucci's voice observed with rare approval. Imagine what we could accomplish in Konoha, with proper resources and authority.

Naruto didn't reply, but he couldn't deny the appeal of the thought. For the first time, he'd felt truly in control of his destiny—not a vessel for the fox, not a pariah tolerated by the village, but a force to be reckoned with. Someone who could protect what was his and enforce his own vision of justice.

The implications both thrilled and terrified him.

As Wave Country's mist began to lift, revealing blue skies above, Naruto Uzumaki walked the path back to Tazuna's house with his team, outwardly the same genin who had left Konoha weeks earlier.

Inwardly, he was becoming something else entirely—something neither his village nor the world of shinobi was prepared for.

A predator had awakened, and it would not be easily caged again.

The remainder of their time in Wave Country passed in a blur of recovery and reconstruction. With Gato dead and his organization scattered, the bridge project accelerated. Locals who had been too terrified to work before now volunteered eagerly, hope returning to the impoverished nation.

Haku regained consciousness the day after the battle, initially panicking upon learning of Zabuza's death. It had taken all of Naruto's persuasive abilities—abilities that were becoming increasingly sophisticated under Lucci's influence—to prevent the ice-user from taking his own life.

"Zabuza's final request was for me to protect you," Naruto had explained, sitting beside Haku's futon in one of Tazuna's spare rooms. "Would you dishonor his sacrifice by throwing away the life he saved?"

The argument had struck home. Haku had fallen silent, tears streaming down his pale face, before finally nodding his acceptance. "What happens to me now?"

It was a question Kakashi had been wrestling with as well. As a missing-nin from Kirigakure, Haku should technically be either executed or returned to his village of origin. But given his unique abilities and circumstances, other options existed.

"Come to Konoha with us," Naruto had suggested. "Your kekkei genkai would be valued there, not feared."

Kakashi had been surprisingly supportive of the idea, though he warned that the final decision would rest with the Hokage. For now, Haku was considered a ward of Team Seven, neither prisoner nor ally, but something in between.

As for Naruto himself, the aftermath of the bridge battle had brought new challenges. The hybrid transformation—combining Lucci's physical techniques with the Nine-Tails' chakra—had accelerated the merging of their consciousness. Memories that weren't his own now surfaced with increasing frequency and clarity: training sessions in a facility called "Enies Lobby," assassination missions conducted across a world of islands and oceans, conversations with teammates who used abilities no shinobi had ever seen.

More disturbing were the emotional changes. Naruto found himself growing colder, more calculating in his assessments of others. Where once he'd sought acknowledgment from everyone around him, he now viewed most with a detached appraisal of their utility. Only his closest bonds—his teammates, the Hokage, Iruka—remained untouched by this growing emotional distance.

It's simply efficiency, Lucci's voice assured him during their internal conversations. Emotional attachment to the masses is a weakness that clouds judgment.

As the days passed, Naruto found himself arguing less with these assessments. The line between his thoughts and Lucci's was blurring, creating something new that was neither fully Naruto nor fully the CP9 assassin.

On the morning of their departure, Tazuna gathered the entire village at the newly completed bridge for a dedication ceremony.

"This structure represents more than a connection to the mainland," the bridge builder announced, his voice carrying across the assembled crowd. "It represents our connection to hope, to freedom, and to the future." He turned to Team Seven, standing nearby with Haku slightly apart from them. "And we owe it all to the brave ninja of Konoha who stood with us when no one else would."

Cheers erupted from the villagers. Inari, standing at his grandfather's side, beamed with particular pride at Naruto, who had become something of a hero to the boy after saving his mother from Gato's mercenaries.

"We've decided to name it 'The Great Naruto Bridge,'" Tazuna continued, "after the young man who showed us that heroes do exist, and that one person can change the world."

The announcement caught Naruto by surprise. He had expected to feel pride, vindication, perhaps even the old childish excitement at finally being acknowledged. Instead, he felt a strange detachment, as if the honor were being bestowed upon someone he used to know rather than himself.

Names and monuments mean nothing, Lucci's voice commented. Only actions endure.

"Thank you," Naruto responded to Tazuna's announcement with a polite bow, his face a careful mask of appropriate gratitude rather than his old exuberant grin. "I hope the bridge serves your people well."

Beside him, Sakura frowned slightly at his subdued reaction, while Sasuke, still recovering from his injuries, studied him with narrowed eyes. Even Kakashi seemed concerned by Naruto's increasingly formal demeanor.

As they departed, the villagers lined the bridge to see them off, waving and shouting farewells. Naruto walked at the rear of their small group, Haku beside him, both silent amidst the celebration.

"Does it bother you?" Haku finally asked as the sounds of the village faded behind them. "Being celebrated for killing?"

Naruto considered the question carefully. "They're not celebrating the deaths. They're celebrating their freedom."

"Achieved through death," Haku pointed out.

"Yes," Naruto acknowledged. "Just as your freedom was achieved through Zabuza's death."

Haku flinched slightly but didn't argue the point. After a moment, he asked, "This voice you mentioned—the presence inside you that isn't the Nine-Tails. Does it... speak to you often?"

Naruto glanced sharply at him. He hadn't discussed Lucci's existence with anyone except Kakashi and the Hokage. "How did you know about that?"

"During our battle, when your chakra changed, I saw... something. A shadow behind your eyes, watching through them. Something old and predatory." Haku shivered slightly at the memory. "What is it?"

Tell him nothing, Lucci advised immediately. This one is too perceptive. Too dangerous.

But Naruto found himself wanting to explain, if only to organize his own thoughts on the matter. "His name is Rob Lucci. He was... an enforcer of justice in another world. When he died, somehow his spirit, his memories, became part of me."

"Another world?" Haku's eyes widened. "Is such a thing possible?"

"Apparently," Naruto replied dryly. "I don't understand it fully myself. But his techniques—the ones I used against you and Zabuza—they're not jutsu. They're something called 'Six Powers,' physical abilities developed without chakra."

Haku absorbed this with the quiet thoughtfulness that characterized him. "And is he... taking over? Or are you?"

It was the question Naruto had been avoiding even in his own mind. "Neither," he finally said. "We're becoming something new. Something that isn't fully either of us."

"Is that what you want?" Haku pressed.

Naruto fell silent, unwilling or unable to answer. Ahead of them, Kakashi called for a brief rest, saving him from further introspection.

The journey back to Konoha took three days, during which Naruto continued his training in moments of privacy. He had mastered all six of Lucci's basic techniques now—Geppo, Tekkai, Shigan, Soru, Rankyaku, and Kami-e—and was beginning to develop hybrid applications that incorporated chakra in ways Lucci had never attempted in his original world.

At night, while the others slept, he would sometimes find a clearing and practice under the moonlight, pushing his body to new limits. On the final night before reaching Konoha, he achieved something remarkable—a partial physical transformation that mimicked aspects of Lucci's leopard form without requiring a Devil Fruit.

By channeling the Nine-Tails' chakra in precise patterns while simultaneously using Lucci's body-hardening techniques, he managed to manifest leopard-like claws, enhanced muscles, and even the beginnings of spotted markings on his forearms. The transformation was temporary and exhausting, but it represented a breakthrough in combining the two power systems.

Impressive, Lucci acknowledged when Naruto finally released the transformation, collapsing to his knees from the effort. In my world, such hybridization was impossible without a Zoan-type Devil Fruit. Your chakra system offers... interesting possibilities.

"It nearly drained me completely," Naruto pointed out, breathing heavily.

With practice, the efficiency will improve. Continue developing this technique.

Before Naruto could respond, a soft voice interrupted from the edge of the clearing.

"So it's true," Haku said, stepping into the moonlight. "You're becoming something new."

Naruto rose to his feet, muscles trembling with exhaustion. "You should be sleeping."

"As should you." Haku approached cautiously. "That transformation... it wasn't the Nine-Tails, was it?"

"No. Something of my own creation." Naruto flexed his fingers, still feeling phantom sensations of the claws that had extended from them moments before. "A combination of Lucci's knowledge and my chakra."

Haku studied him with those perceptive eyes. "Be careful, Naruto-san. Power gained too quickly can be... intoxicating."

"Speaking from experience?" Naruto asked, noting the honorific Haku had begun using with him—a subtle acknowledgment of a hierarchy that hadn't existed between them before.

"Perhaps." The ice-user's expression darkened with memory. "When my kekkei genkai first awakened, I felt invincible. Special. Then my father tried to kill me for it, and I learned that power makes you either a weapon or a target—sometimes both."

The observation was uncomfortably astute. Naruto was beginning to understand that his growing abilities would inevitably change how both allies and enemies perceived him. The village that had ignored him might soon fear him instead.

Would that be better or worse than his previous existence?

Better, Lucci's voice asserted without hesitation. Fear commands respect. Fear ensures compliance. Fear is the foundation of true justice.

But even as Lucci's assessment resonated with part of him, another part—the core of Naruto Uzumaki that still burned beneath the assassin's influence—rejected it.

"I don't want to be feared," he admitted to Haku. "Not by those who matter."

Haku smiled sadly. "Then you will need to be very careful with your choices in the days to come, Naruto-san. Because the path you're walking leads naturally to fear."

With that cryptic warning, the ice-user returned to their camp, leaving Naruto alone with his thoughts—and Lucci's—under the watchful moon.

The gates of Konoha appeared before them the following afternoon, the massive wooden doors a welcome sight after weeks away. As they approached, Naruto noted the subtle tensing in Haku's posture, the wariness of an enemy ninja entering a foreign stronghold.

"Stay close to me," he instructed quietly. "Let Kakashi-sensei do the talking."

Haku nodded, falling into step directly behind Naruto as they reached the gate checkpoint.

"Team Seven, returning from mission with an additional party," Kakashi reported to the chunin guards, presenting his identification and mission scroll.

"Additional party?" one of the guards questioned, eyeing Haku suspiciously.

"A kekkei genkai user from Kirigakure seeking asylum," Kakashi explained smoothly. "The Hokage has been notified of the situation."

After a moment of consultation, the guards waved them through, though not without continued suspicious glances at Haku. News of their arrival spread quickly, with civilians and off-duty shinobi watching their procession through the village with undisguised curiosity.

"The Hokage will want a full report immediately," Kakashi informed them as they approached the administrative district. "Sakura, get Sasuke to the hospital for a proper examination of his injuries. Naruto, you'll accompany me and Haku to the Hokage Tower."

Sasuke, who had been unusually quiet throughout their journey home, finally spoke up. "I want to hear what happened on the bridge." His dark eyes fixed on Naruto. "The full story."

"Another time," Kakashi replied firmly. "Medical attention first."

Reluctantly, Sasuke allowed Sakura to lead him toward the hospital, though the calculating look he cast back at Naruto suggested the conversation was merely postponed, not forgotten.

The Hokage was waiting for them in his office, pipe in hand, aged eyes taking in their appearance with careful assessment. His gaze lingered particularly on Naruto, noting the subtle changes in his posture, expression, and bearing.

"Welcome back, Team Seven," he greeted, then nodded to their guest. "And welcome to Konoha, young man. I understand you are Haku, formerly in service to Momochi Zabuza."

Haku bowed deeply. "Yes, Hokage-sama. I am grateful for your consideration of my situation."

The formality and poise impressed the Hokage, who gestured for them all to sit. "Kakashi has sent preliminary reports via his ninken summons, but I'd like to hear the full account now."

For the next hour, Kakashi detailed their mission, with occasional input from Naruto. The jōnin was thorough but diplomatic, particularly when describing Naruto's unusual techniques and transformations. He mentioned Naruto's dual chakra signature during the bridge battle but avoided explicitly connecting it to Lucci's influence.

The Hokage listened without interruption, occasionally puffing on his pipe, his weathered face giving little away. When Kakashi finished, he turned his full attention to Haku.

"And what are your intentions now, young man? With Zabuza gone, what path do you intend to follow?"

Haku hesitated, then spoke with quiet dignity. "I seek purpose, Hokage-sama. For most of my life, my purpose was to serve as Zabuza-sama's tool. Without him, I am... adrift."

"And if Konoha offered you sanctuary?" the Hokage pressed. "What would you offer in return?"

"My loyalty," Haku replied without hesitation. "My abilities. My knowledge of Kirigakure and its techniques. Everything I am."

The Hokage studied him carefully, then nodded. "We will continue this discussion later.