I can't keep this story in Naasica's perspective indefinitely anymore, so sorry for the different perspectives if you don't like that kind of stuff.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I claim to.

Warning: I'm guessing if you're this far into it, you're in for the long haul. Sit back and enjoy the evilness that is Naasica.

Almighty Beta who is loved and appreciated: Cyndaquil123

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

"And the voice I heard that day,

Still it echoes on again,

It's just beyond my memory.

In my mind I'll shut the door

To all these intrusive thoughts,

I'm drowning out the noise!"

-Solitude by Sam Luff

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

(INTERLUDE)

The red-haired man knew The Darkness found him again.

He cursed as soon as he sensed the most vile, the most evil, and disgusting monster to have walked this realm of existence.

He wasn't ready to move on, but he had no choice.

The Darkness destroyed everything in its wake. Every friend the red-haired man had tried to make was murdered shortly afterward, and any home he thought to settle in was burned to ash.

He wondered if The Darkness was the first true evil.

It was vile enough to be.

Which made his goal of destroying it all the more important.

Uzumaki Rabu packed up his things and left before The Darkness reached him.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

(RETURNING TO TEAM SEVEN - THIRD PERSON POV)

Off his head went, and onto a pike Sakura found. She hoisted her prey up proudly, eyes sparkling like sunlight bouncing off the top of a lake. She turned to her two teammates, and they shared in her victory. Hinata politely clapped at Sakura's efficient kill, while Naruto grinned lopsidedly and praised her marksmanship.

The unease the blond felt about the massacre remained hidden in his heart. He didn't think it was fair, or right, but he wasn't certain it was wrong either. He was bothered by it, but he didn't know why or how.

He thought: They're humans. They have loved ones.

And he also thought: But I'm a shinobi now. Can I really care about this kind of stuff?

No one around him minded it.

So why did he?

Hinata was apathetic. Taking a life would never bother the girl, regardless of whose life she had to take. She was trained by her mother, and her mother instilled that belief deeply inside the heiress. Hinata was a tool for Konoha to use first, Hyūga second, and herself third.

She still believed in kindness and compassion, but those were things for herself and thusly were third on her priority. She was inordinately proud to see her other female teammate progress so rapidly. It took Hinata years to grow comfortable with corpses, but Sakura had already taken it a step further and mutilated the dead body in order to present it to the town.

Hinata thought Sakura was a truly impressive kunoichi. To see such development in such a short period of time was... remarkable.

The three Genin shared smiles among each other, basking in the victory of their first mission. It would have been hard to believe that only a scarce few months ago the pinkette was viewed as a distasteful outsider. If one were to look at the now, they'd only see comraidere and respect between the trio.

Their teacher looked on in the shadows, a crooked smile on her face.

Yes, she thought, nothing brings a team together better than death.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

The declaration of Gato's death was done by the team of child soldiers. Sakura proudly threw down the pike with Gato's head on it in the center of the village and she bellowed out that they were free from his reign.

This met with stunned silence, and then as the adults realized the head was real and Gato was truly dead there was a thunderous roar of approval. Naruto shouted at the villagers to come with them to Gato's mansion and raid it for food, clothes, and other necessities. It barely took ten minutes for nearly the entire village to do so.

They feasted like kings and queens that night, and the corpses of Gato's grunts were unceremoniously dumped into a bonfire. There was laughter, singing, dancing, and genuine tears of joy.

The sheer happiness of the village helped ease the ache in Naruto's heart. By the end of the night, the boy of sunshine had convinced himself that Sakura did the right thing.

How could it be wrong to help so many people? Naruto figured. While he wished he could have avoided killing more than necessary, he couldn't argue with end results.

The party went on for days, and the entire village gathered together to finish Tazuna's bridge.

It was completed within a week, and with encouragement from Hinata and Naruto, it was named Sakura Bridge.

She was the one who took the killing shot, after all.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

(NAASICA)

Returning to Konoha was wondrous. My cute little soldiers rushed into the gate, all smiles and shining eyes. They presented their paperwork to the sentry, and then off we went to the hokage's office to report.

Of course we would not always report to the hokage's office, but since this was the team's first mission outside of the village, Minato was anxious to hear all about it. I could tell they wanted to sprint directly to the office, but wisely chose not to leave me behind. As a team, we headed to the office, and as a team, we entered and presented ourselves.

"Team seven, reporting back from our mission," I said, smiling at Minato.

"Welcome back. Success, I take it?"

"Overwhelmingly so."

Minato didn't expect anything less, so he glanced over at his son. "Anything special to report?"

"We saved the entire village of Wave," Naruto proudly declared, his chest puffing up.

Minato raised an eyebrow at that. I nudged Sakura's back and the pinkette immediately began to explain, "We were tasked with protecting a construction worker by the name of Tazuna. However, upon reaching the village we soon learned that they were deeply impoverished due to the tyrannical rule of a vile mon—man named Gato. We liberated the village from him and his ilk."

"And by liberated, we mean Sakura-chan liberated Gato's head from his body," Hinata said, tossing a warm look over at Sakura. "She was very professional, and clean."

Sakura blushed, reaching up and fiddling with the end of her hair. "Hinata-chan and Naruto-kun were both excellent, as well. They handled the mission like proper shinobi."

"Ah." Minato gave me a look.

Hmm. Would I be scolded tonight?

"I have taken the liberty of securing Gato's wealth, donating half to the village in an act of goodwill on Konoha's behalf, and taking the rest as reparation for the upgraded mission," I added, hoping that would appease Minato.

It did.

Sort of.

"I believe the village would be open to Konoha's good guidance," I suggested.

Ah. Now I was in the clear, judging by Minato's gaze.

He would always be the hokage first, a father second. Wave was in an excellent spot for fish trade, and to open up a port. If they retained their gratitude long enough for our honey pot team to work their magic, Konoha could have another vassal village that could bring in a good chunk of revenue.

Sakura and Hinata were firmly nodding their heads. Sakura added, "They really could use all the help we could send. Hokage-sama, will we send help to them?"

"Of course," Minato said with that winning smile.

Yeah. We'll help them, alright, I thought. Help them make the smart choice to serve us.

Minato cleared his throat. "Well, it certainly sounds like you all had an interesting first mission. Finish your written report, and take a few days off."

We saluted like the good little soldiers we were, and left.

As soon as we left the room Naruto brightly asked, "So what's for dinner?"

"Hmm. I'm not sure, what would you like?"

"Oyakodon!" he exclaimed. "Hey, do you guys wanna come over for dinner?"

"I'll come over after I report to Okaa-sama and Outo-sama," Hinata said with a sweet smile. "Sakura-chan, you'll come too, won't you?"

A conflicting look crossed over the pinkette's face, darkening her gaze. "Actually... yeah. I don't want to go home just yet."

"How come?" Naruto asked, tilting his head.

"Kaa-chan and Tou-chan have been acting really weird. It's... kind of awkward now," Sakura explained in a muted voice, her shoulders dropping. "Whenever I try to talk to them they just... kind of leave the room."

I suppose they probably think I'm using their daughter to spy on them, and they're afraid if they say the wrong thing I will take her away from them, I thought, recalling I had threatened Sakura's mother. They're pushing her away, though. They're pushing her further away... and straight to me.

With a gentle, motherly smile, I reached over to Sakura and pulled her into my embrace. "It is not uncommon for civilian born kunoichis to drift apart from their families due to differences. Civilians have a hard time coping with our lifestyle, and it must be hard on them to see you grow up into such a fine and powerful young lady."

Sakura hang her head and I went on in a cooing, soothing voice, "But you have us, Sakura-chan. You have me. Why don't you stay the night with us? I'm sure Itachi-chan will have lots of leftover baked goodies."

Both Hinata and Naruto shuffled closer to Sakura, each reaching out to touch her to try and comfort her. Naruto said, "Yeah, you can sleep in my room."

Sakura gave her friends a wobbly smile. "Really? Um, if it's okay then... please let me stay over."

"Of course, dear. Stay as long as you want," I told her.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

(KISAME)

"Hey, baby," came the soft purr of a familiar voice. Kisame didn't have to turn around to know who it belonged to.

"Hey, boo," he returned in good nature as Owari, the Black Angel, took a seat beside him. The two sat on a stone wall, overlooking a dark pit of spikes that Kisame's students were struggling to fight on. Since they couldn't stand on the tip point of the spikes, they had to run around vertically.

Naasica—er—Owari adjusted his Akatsuki cloak to allow him to sit more comfortably beside Kisame.

Kisame sometimes had a hard time of mentally referring to Naasica as Owari when she was in disguise. He knew it was good practice to prevent slip-ups in conversation, but it was still awkward to do. Especially when she acted like Naasica as Owari, like teasing him.

He glanced over at his friend. "What brings you here? Thought you were going to lay low until after Sasori and Guren completed their task."

"Zetsu said you found something interesting going on in Water."

Kisame wasn't surprised Naasica rushed straight back to Ame after his message. "Yeah... their daimyo is scrambling to get back some power. He's spending more money than he's got, taxing the living hell out of his citizens which is causing a lot of refugees to flee. We've got our people collecting those that are useful and providing them a good home in Ame."

"So? The country is falling to ruin like planned."

Kisame nodded. "Yeah, but here's the thing... Mei has the official reports, but I think they're rebuilding a village in Water."

"They're rebuilding Kirigakure?"

"Nah. That old shit hole is said to be haunted by ghosts."

Owari snorted. "Ghosts?"

Kisame chuckled. "Yeah, I know. If there were such thing as ghosts we'd be in for one hell of a time."

Owari patted Kisame's knee. "There, there. I'll protect you from the ghoo-oo-oosts."

Kisame slung an arm around Owari's shoulders. "I know false bravado when I see it. It's okay, boo, you can come to me when you're scared."

Owari shoved the arm off, laughing. "Alright. I'll go grab the reports from Mei."

"Eh... might want me to do that for yeh."

Owari tilted his head.

"She's been a bit feisty since she hasn't seen yah in so long," Kisame drawled out. "She might do something she'll regret later if she saw you unexpectedly."

"I didn't realize you cared. How sweet."

"More like pity at this point," Kisame admitted. "Unless you're going for a harem? Add her to conquests?"

"Maybe I will," Owari said after a moment. "But certainly not while I have to..." he gestured to the mask. "Henge can only go so far."

"But you've got..." Kisame tapped at his eye.

Owari shrugged. "Never used it during."

"What? Really?"

"Those I've been intimate with aren't supposed to know about it, so no."

Kisame scratched his chin. "That feels like such a waste. I'd offer, but I feel like you're the kind of person I would need a safe word for and I've decided I'm not brave enough to test it out."

Owari's shoulders trembled as he tried not to laugh at Kisame's flippant declaration. He leaned into his partner, and Kisame's grin stretched wider. He always loved being able to make Owari—or Naasica—really laugh.

He didn't think she—er—he had much chance for it at Konoha. Not sincerely, at least.

"Well," Owari said after a moment, "can you tell me anything?"

"Yeah. I'm 99% sure Orochimaru is there."

Owari stilled, his breath caught in his throat and surge of malicious bloodlust leaked from him. "Oh? Kisame, my dear, care to join a game with me?"

"Are we going to play with someone fun?"

"Of course."

Kisame's grin took a nastier turn. "How could I refuse such a fun date?"

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

(NAASICA)

As soon as I found out Orochimaru might have been in Water, I mentally prepared myself to have Mo "call me away" while I dealt with Orochimaru as Owari.

Unfortunately for me, Fate decided to be a little annoying.

Because that very morning that I returned from Amegakure, Minato called Obito, Kakashi, and I into his office for an emergency mission. At four hundred, the three of us shuffled out of my bed (I was a "heater", and both were feeling cold and decided to force their freezing toes, legs, and bodies into my nice and warm bed. The jerks.)

"As you are all aware, Kirigakure was destroyed from a civil war and Water has been left without a village for a while now," Minato began, voice still husky from having just woken up a little before us to receive the emergency message. "The Water daimyo has been trying to fill in this power vacuum by hiring missing-nin to perform the tasks that were once done by Kirigakure's shinobi. In order to meet the demands of the missing-nin he's had to exorbently tax his citizens, which has caused them to flee the country. Now officially, he is allowing them to leave. Unofficially, he has been using his missing-nin to forcibly bring them back... and kidnap citizens of other countries."

Oh, no... Don't tell me...

Obito let out a whistle. "Wow. What an idiot."

"To make matters worse, he's kidnapped several dozen Genin from Kusagakure now," Minato sighed. "Our ally has asked us to save their Genin, and we very obviously cannot allow this to continue."

"Of course. The less villages we have to compete against the better," Kakashi agreed.

"And, you know, I always like to help natural selection by getting rid of idiots," Obito said cheerfully.

"Right," Minato said after a moment. "I want the three of you to take care of this."

Fuck, I eloquently thought, my mind rapidly going through the scenarios.

I had planned on simply going there as Owari with the Akatsuki and taking care of the problem personally. I wanted time to truly make Orochimaru squeal like the disgusting pig he was. I wanted to rip him to shreds, put him back together again in all the wrong pieces, and do it again, and again, and again. I wanted to violate him in the most shameful and brutal way imaginable, and I wanted to break his mind before finally allowing death to take him.

While Obito and Kakashi put up with a lot of my sadism and anger, they would not allow me to continuously torture Orochimaru for however long I pleased.

Kisame would let me, I couldn't help but pout.

Not to mention I wouldn't be able to fight all out with Kakashi and Obito. Orochimaru would absolutely be prepared to go against my mokuton, but if I could use the Rinnegan then the victory would be assured.

What would Madara-sama do?

He would turn it around in his favor, whispered Owari.

Yes, you're right, I told him.

How can this be put in my favor?

What did I want out of this?

Priority one: Orochimaru's humiliating death.

Priority two: Water to not have a village, and more chaos between the other villages.

Priority three: Continue to convince my loved ones and students—

Oh, Owari and I thought as a delightfully cunning plan popped in our heads.

Yes, that would work, Owari thought.

I might lose my students, though, I pointed out.

Who cares if they go to sleep now? They'll come back like Kushina and Grandmother.

Yes, you're right. It does not matter in the slightest. As long as Naruto stays alive long enough the rest can take a little nap.

"Given the circumstances," I said quietly, projecting an air of somber thoughtfulness, "I believe that we should bring our Genin."

"What?" Minato asked, alarmed by this. Even Obito and Kakashi were giving me wide-eyed looks.

"Hear me out," I said. "I, of course, do not want them to fight with us, but... Let's be honest: we're going to need more hands to successfully transport out the children. We are not going in there with the sole purpose of rescue. We are going in there to eliminate the competition and enemy." A pause. "You all know I have my own network setup, and my reports tell me that... that Orochimaru is staying there."

It spoke volumes of how well disciplined everyone in that room was that no one obviously reacted to that horrible news. All the occupants inside that room went still as a tension so thick you could almost see it settled inside.

"How certain of this are you?" Minato asked, his voice quivering with barely contained anger.

I squared my shoulders. "95%."

"All the more reason we shouldn't—" Obito cut himself off as he paled, realizing what I was getting at. "Naascia!"

"You know I loved them," I snapped back hotly, forcing my eyes to water and my cheeks to flush with fake anger and shame. I played the perfect actress, adding a quiver in my voice. "But you have to think about this logically. If Orochimaru is there, the three of us can handle him. Adding more ANBU, or Jōnin, into the mix will only get in our way, and might overly intimidate Orochimaru to the point where he flees again. If we have our Genin, though, even if they won't be fighting him, just knowing that they are there and nearby might be enough to make him stay."

"You are asking to put your own students as bait," Minato said, his voice heavy.

"And you already thought about it, and you're already considering it," I pointed out, "otherwise you would have already said no."

Kakashi shifted his weight, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "They're good, but they aren't that good. There's a very good chance they could die."

"Then provide them with guards that Orochimaru can't detect," I said. "Because everyone here knows they will make the best bait we could ever offer. Orochimaru is dangerous. For the sake of Konoha, we cannot let him continue to roam free. For the sake... for the sake of all those he has already tortured, murdered, and violated, we cannot let him breathe another second."

"We could have the Genins be kidnapped, and an ANBU squad follow behind them," Kakashi said quietly. "As soon as we have Orochimaru trapped, we can have the ANBU extract the Genin."

"It still..." Obito trailed off as he thought. "I wish I could say we don't need them as bait, but... Orochimaru has already escaped the three of us before. He's absurdly slippery. Maybe if Sensei came along to mark him—"

"You know I can't," Minato said sadly. "If the three of you are leaving Konoha, I absolutely cannot."

"It's still so risky," I whispered, my shoulders hunching together. Both of my teammates reached out to touch me, to offer me comfort.

"You are a good kunoichi for suggesting it," Minato tried to reassure me. "The reality is, that this current world requires difficult choices. I believe... Emotionally I want to adamantly refuse you, but logically I cannot. Use the Genin as bait, but I'll be assigning both Alpha and Omega to their protection."

Oh they're going to have fun with that, I thought. Madara-sama won't be happy I have to sacrifice two of Konoha's ANBU, but...

Madara wanted the rest of the world to be in absolute chaos when he came back except for Konoha and Ame. Ame would be his troops to beat down the world, and Madara would get to play with Konoha.

He wanted me to keep Konoha strong so he wouldn't be bored.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

(MEI)

Mei loved Amegakure.

She loved the gentle rain, the beautiful buildings that stood tall, the smell and sound only Ame had.

She loved the people.

She loved the citizens. How kind, courteous, and devoted they were. Kirigakure's citizens were always scared, hateful, or cruel. Ame, though? Everyone here was so welcoming, so sweet.

When Owari had first brought her here she wondered if he really was an angel and had brought her to heaven.

Kirigakure must have been hell, then.

She was born in a village that hated her for simply existing. For having abilities she had no say in. Growing up, she was met with constant prejudice, and attempted assaults. She became a kunoichi, not because she wanted to, but because she had to in order to survive.

But she had childishly hoped that things would get better. That in time their Mizukage would snap out of his senses and put a stop to what was happening.

And then he ordered their deaths, and Mei had to watch her family be butchered before her eyes.

She fought valiantly to try and save herself, and others.

She was captured, though.

She would have died if not for Owari.

They all would have died if not for Owari.

He swooped in like a black angel and rescued so many of them. He brought them to Ame where they were safe, loved, and respected. Mei, like all of her fellow kekkei genkai users, were dumbfounded at the treatment they received in Amegakure. They were put back together by people with as many scars as them, and showed kindness they had never known.

Was it any surprise that Mei held Owari in high regards for this?

He could have simply ignored her after saving her. He could have dismissed her, or brushed her aside. He could have used her before discarding her.

But when she confessed her admiration and begged for—for—for anything he pulled her into a comforting hug and offered to train her.

He offered to make her stronger so that way she could protect her loved ones next time.

Mei loved Owari.

Mei loved Amegakure.

Mei loved her life now.

On that day, she sat outside underneath a balcony with her partner, Deidara, and the White Angel, Konan. Deidara and herself had only recently returned from escorting some of Amegakure's merchants to and from Kumogakure.

Konan was a lovely young woman that Mei adored like a sister. When Mei returned, Konan joined her for a quaint breakfast as Mei and Deidara told her what happened on their mission. Konan was always such an excellent listener, and she did so while she worked on her cross stitching—a hobby she was picking up.

But then something out of the ordinary happened. A Zetsu spore popped up in front of Mei and gave her a sealed scroll.

Mei instantly recognized the mark on the scroll to signify it came from her beloved Owari. She wasted no time in ripping open the scroll and reading the message he had given to her.

Mei finished reading the letter barely a minute later. She gave her partner a chilling smile, her eyes bright. "Owari has given us a delightful task."

Konan paused in her cross stitching to glance over. The White Angel of Amegakure rarely took missions, but there were times where she would join a duo if she wanted to stretch her wings.

And it sounded like whatever mission Owari had in mind for Mei and Deidara would be fun.

"Konoha will be using some of their Genin as bait for that disgusting snake," Mei explained with a sultry purr. "But that idiot hokage will be sending along entire squads of ANBU to protect them!"

Konan correctly guessed what Owari wanted. She wanted to smile, but didn't dare until it was confirmed. "Owari knows where two entire squads of Konohagakure's ANBU will be?"

"Yes," Mei chirped. "And he wants us to do a little trimming!"

Konan smiled. "Allow me to join you."

Mei beamed in response. "Of course, Konan-sama! You hate Konoha, don't you?"

"Hate is not befitting of an angel," Konan disagreed. "I am merely helping trim back the disease of this world until our God has delivered us from evil."

"Zealots," Deidara muttered then shrugged. "But it does look like a fun mission. When are we leaving?"

"Tonight."

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

Transitional chapter for that next big mission. I will do my bestest with the upcoming fight scenes. :')

Also, only have one more verse left on the new theme song. Any recommendations for a song that kind of describes Naasica?

Answer: POKEMON PLEASE LET ME BE A POKEMON TRAINER OH MY GOOOOOOOD that would be the greatest thing ever.

Question: You are a monarch. What kind of kingdom do you rule, and what is it especially known for?

Reviews are love!