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Chapter no.73

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....

Yuki Haku vs. Tsuchi Kin vs. Kinuta Dosu

Haku stood at the center of the arena facing her two opponents. She

cursed her bad luck at being the one selected to have the three-way

match. What made it worse was that both of her opponents were from

the same team and would use every advantage they had to take her out.

This meant teamwork, they obviously knew each other's strengths and

weaknesses and would cover them flawlessly.

This would be a problem for almost anyone, anyone but Haku. The

reven-haired girl was strong, maybe even the strongest genin in Kiri. She

wouldn't have much of a problem dealing with the two Oto-nin before

her, but that didn't mean that she would underestimate them.

Haku was a beautiful fifteen year old girl with long black hair, pale skin,

and large brown eyes. Her frame was quite slender and she was fairly

short for her age. Haku also had a fairly developed C-cup bust. She wore

the standard Kirigakure pinstriped outfit which stopped just below her

knees. Over that she wore a green haori with white trimmings and a

brown sash around her waist. It was the outfit that she usually wore

when preforming her duties as a Kunoichi.

Haku carefully eyed her two opponents. It seemed that the one with

bandages covering his face was the offensive type and the girl was a

genjutsu type. Haku would need to be prepared for all areas of shinobi

arts in this match.

The proctor stepped forward and looked at each of the genin in the

arena, "Are all combatants ready for battle?" He received nods from the

lone shinobi and two kunoichi. "Then you may begin!" The proctor

jumped back to avoid getting in the way of those who would be fighting.

Haku quickly Shunshined away after Dosu had begun to charge her. She

had seen what he had done to that Kabuto boy before the first stage of

the chunin exams started. If she had to guess, she'd say it was a sound

based ninjutsu that damaged the inner ear and would affect her motor

skills and physical abilities. She would need to keep a distance from him

and rely on Ninjutsu and Bukijutsu.

She glanced at the girl behind Dosu and saw that she had pulled out

senbon with bells attached to it.

'Bells? Those aren't normal for a person using senbon...She's either going

to use the Shadow Senbon, which is unlikely, or she's planning a sound

based genjutsu. Judging from the name of her village and the skills of the

rest of her team...it's most likely the latter.'

Haku pulled out a few of her own senbon needles and threw them,

aiming for Kin's vital spots. The Oto kunoichi saw the Kiri-nin's senbon

flying at her and was forced to block with her own, causing the bells to

ring on her senbon.

'Two bells? There's my answer...those are for a sound based genjutsu.'

Haku thought, confirming her theory.

Haku noticed all of the surrounding water from the Suiton jutsus that the

Hokage's daughters had used in the previous matches. These were the

perfect conditions for her. She noticed That Dosu had begun to charge

her once again, she wouldn't deal with him yet. She would first need to

take out the girl as it was obvious that she was the weaker of the two.

Haku moved at speeds far above the level of a genin to move around

Dosu and rush at Kin. In the blink of an eye she had crossed halfway

around the stadium and appeared behind Kin. The Oto kunoichi quickly

turned around after she had sensed her enemy and brought up her

senbon with the attempt to stab Haku. The Kiri kunoichi however, had

drawn her own senbon and blocked the strike.

The Hyoton used slowly began making one handed seals, surprising

everyone in the audience, "Sensatsu Suisho (Thousand Flying Water

Needles of Death)." One thousand senbon made of water rose and formed

from the surrounding water and completely surrounded the two kunoichi.

A second after they were formed, they began to speed toward Haku and

Kin from all directions, leaving no means of escape.

Haku quickly Shunshined out of the way of the water senbon while Kin

could only stand their as her life flashed before her eyes. Haku looked

back at the kunoichi she was fighting only a moment ago to see a corpse

filled with hundreds of water senbon protruding from her dead body,

blood flowing out all across the floor.

Many of the remaining genin on the observation platform above them

gasped in horror as they saw the Oto kunoichi had been pierced by

hundreds of senbons made of water and her blood fly everywhere in a

shower of crimson. Very few of them had seen death before, let alone kill

someone with their own hands. And yet, this girl only a few years older

than them had done so without even showing a hint of remorse on her

face.

"KIN!" She heard the other Oto-nin scream in horror as he saw the lifeless

body of his teammate fall to the ground. Otogakure may not have

preached about friendship and comrades, but their team had been

together since they became genin. Zaku had already been crippled for life

and now his other teammate was killed by the girl in front of him.

"Is this the first time you've lost someone precious to you? It's only when

you're protecting someone precious to you that you become truly

strong...You could not protect her...You are not strong...You are weak."

Haku told Dosu emotionlessly, a hint of pity in her eyes. The may pity

him, but she will not give him mercy.

"AARRGGHH!" At these words Dosu charged Haku in a blind rage, intent

on ripping her limb from limb.

Haku did not respond visibly, she merely looked down and noticed that

the blood from the girl she killed had mixed in with the water which

spread it across the battlefield even further and produced more of it.

Using her body as a medium, she slowly started o freeze the water

around her and even extended the range to freeze even the bare arena

floor.

She made a few hand seals and crouched down on one knee to place her

middle and index finger onto the ice now covering the ground. "Hyoro no

Jutsu (Ice Prison Jutsu)." Medium sized pillars of ice rose from all of the

previous water sources and even spanned across the arena floor, erupting

from every part of the ground as they continued to rise until they reached

Dosu. The Oto-nin had a look of shock on his face before a pillar rose

from the ground underneath him, freezing him in the process.

Haku looked up at her handiwork and locked her eyes onto Dosu's

trapped form. She reached her hand out in front of her body in a manner

not unlike Gaara's and squeezed her hand. "Hyoton: Ice Funeral." The ice

surrounding Dosu became highly pressurized and crushed him, liquifying

his entire body within a single moment causing blood to erupt from that

particular ice pillar like a fountain.

At this sight most of the genin watching the match from above lost their

lunches, even some of the Jonin looked a bit green. Gaara and Naruto

were the only two to smile a bit at the sight.

After recovering from seeing a genin kill someone so efficiently, Genma

stepped forward. "Winner by death, Yuki Haku!"

Haku walked back up towards her team as if nothing had happened. As

soon as she was back on the platform on the other side of the room, all of

the Konoha genin began whispering amongst themselves. They were

probably as terrified of her as they were Gaara, maybe even more

because she didn't seem insane and was in perfect control of her actions.

Naruto did not care for what the other genin thought of her actions.

Naruto would have done the exact same thing had he not been matched

up against a Konoha genin.

What Naruto was staring at was the now frozen wasteland that was the

arena. It was beautiful, perhaps only second to the landscape that he had

created in the forest. Exactly half of the arena was covered in a thick

sheet of ice but was completely smooth and and untouched, while the

other side was littered with fairly large pillars of ice. It reminded Naruto

of what was once Yuki no Kuni.

Naruto inhaled the crisp, cold air that the arena had altered and smiled

as he remembered the last time he felt this sensation. It brought a

nostalgic feeling to his mind as he remembered the events revolving

around Koyuki and Yuki no Kuni. He would always remember his very

first mission outside of the village walls and the downward spiral of

events that occurred not too long after it began.

Naruto was forced back into reality as he heard the proctor's voice. "Will

Hyuga Neji and Portgas D. Naruto make your way down to the arena for

the final match!"

Chapter no.74

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....

Hyuga Neji vs. Portgas D. Naruto

Naruto had planned to let any Konoha-nin that he fought live as it would

only cause more trouble for him if he were to kill someone from his own

village, but he was seriously reconsidering his plan and thinking of just

incinerating the Hyuga in front of him. The boy would not stop preaching

about fate and the match hadn't even begun yet.

"I shall give you this chance to surrender Portgas, fate has already

decreed me the victor."

"I think I'll take my chances. I didn't wait all this time just to give up."

Naruto was getting tired of the boy's speeches.

"Very well, do not blame me should your fate meet its end."

Neji was done talking, he wanted to get this fight over with. There was

no way the genin in front of him stood a chance, he was the Hokage's

disowned son after all. Forced out of the family for being to weak. They

family situations weren't too different from each other, but he was too

blinded by his hatred of the main house of the Hyuga to see that.

Neji took his usual Juken stance and activated his byakugan while Naruto

took the stance of his Interceptor Fist. However he didn't end there. For

the first time in over three years he opened his right eye in front of his

classmates revealing not an empty eye socket like they all thought it was,

but a crimson three-tomoed sharingan.

Observation Platform

Almost everyone in the audience gasped at the sight of one of the most

revered kekkei genkai in Konoha.

Their was one thought going through everyone's minds, 'The

sharingan...but how does he have it?'

Ino and Sakura had both made it back to their teams and were greeted

with the sight before them. Sakura had already known about Naruto's eye

from when she had seen him in the Hokage's office several months ago,

but Ino on the other hand was shocked beyond belief. She was pretty

good friends with Satsuki, well they were on good terms, and the female

Uchiha had never told her about this.

"Asuma-sensei? How does Naruto have the sharingan? He isn't an Uchiha

is he?" Ino asked.

Most of the Konoha genin were now paying close attention to Asuma's

response, as they were just as confused as Ino was. The academy didn't

go into depth about kekkei genkai or how they were obtained, only that

certain shinobi possessed them.

Asuma sighed as he saw all of the genin's eyes on him, waiting for an

answer. "Kekkei Genkai come from genes that are passed down through

certain clans. Konoha has two dojutsu kekkei genkai, the sharingan and

the byakugan. There are many other kekkei genkais but these two are

two of the most prominent. Usually they are only passed down through

reproduction, however in the case of dojutsu they can be implanted into

another individual. This is the case with Kakashi's sharingan and most

likely the case with Naruto. As you know Naruto lost his eye several

years ago and it was removed, so it's likely that he had it transplanted not

too long after that accident. For anyone else they'd have to have their eye

ripped out to have one transplanted."

Asuma noticed Natsuki look down and tears build up from her eyes at the

mention of his accident, but he would push it to the side for now. He

looked to see the faces of the genin as they turned their heads back

toward the arena, telling him that they understood.

Arena Floor

Neji's eyes widened in shock for a moment before returning to normal. It

did not matter whether Portgas had a dojutsu or not. Fate had already

decided that he would win.

"Begin!" The proctor announced.

Neji didn't need to hear twice as he rushed at Naruto. Naruto quickly

coated his arms with Busoshoku Haki so that Neji wouldn't be able to

close the tenketsu in them. Naruto had already seen Hinata's Juken, but

he could tell that Neji had surpassed her by leaps and bounds, there was

no comparison. He would have to keep his guard up if he wanted to even

they playing field with Taijutsu.

Neji laced his hands with chakra in order to initiate his Juken. He sent a

palm strike toward Naruto's chest, but the ravenette blocked by pushing

his arm away. This didn't stop Neji as he continued his fast paced palm

strikes with Naruto either avoiding it altogether or blocking. Neji couldn't

understand what the boy had done to his arms, they were pitch black and

the byakugan couldn't see through it. Neji sent a finger strike toward his

chest intent on hitting a vital organ. Naruto, seeing this, ducked below

the strike and swept Neji's legs out from under him. He wasn't going to

break apart without a finishing blow, so he sent a vertical chop straight

into Neji's gut forcing him to the ground.

Naruto jumped back a few yards to gain some distance. The Hyuga was

quite good and proving to be a match for him in pure Taijutsu alone.

Their specialized Taijutsu allowed them to strike directly at the chakra

networks, even blocking with your arms would render some of the

pathways there blocked. However, his Busoshoku Haki was similar to

very powerful armor that would prevent any of the strikes from reaching

his chakra network.

Neji immediately got off the ground and charged at Naruto once more.

He brought his leg out to sweep Naruto's feet out from under him, but the

sharingan user jumped into the air avoiding the kick. Neji wasn't done

yet as he used his momentum to spin and kicked out with his other leg,

aiming for Naruto's chest. Naruto raised an eyebrow at this, the Juken

usually only used a person't hands specifically the palms and the fingers.

He caught the kick with his hand, but was sent back a dozen feet. He

wasn't expecting so much force behind it.

Naruto was done playing around, the time for defense was over. He

switched his stance into one that could better utilize his Haki. This

Taijutsu style revolve around ferocious strikes using palm strikes and

kicks.

It was Naruto this time who charged Neji. The scarred boy was moving at

speeds that no genin could usually keep up with, but somehow Neji had

avoided a hard palm strike to the sternum. However, Naruto spun in mid-

air and delivered a talon-like kick to Neji's left arm sending him flying

into one of the ice pillars.

Naruto stayed behind a bit as the impact produced a cloud of mist that

slightly obscured his vision, though he could sense where the Hyuga was

with his Kenbunshoku Haki. He could see Neji kneeling on the ground

planning his next move. A moment later he dodged a barrage of shuriken

with only the slightest movements, not even bothering to move from

where he was standing.

Neji soon flew out of the mist with his arm drawn back. "Hakke Kusho

(Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm)!" Neji thrust his arm forward releasing a

high speed palm thrust forming a vacuum shell was sent towards Naruto.

With his sharingan he could easily predict the path of the strike and

maneuvered around it. After avoiding the strike, Naruto quickly jumped

behind the ice pillar to his left to figure out what the Hyuga prodigy was

planning. A moment later Neji landed it the middle of the ice covered

arena and stood completely still.

Naruto seeing as he wasn't going to get any of his answers this way

rushed at Neji once more.

"You are within my field of divination." Neji stated as he took and odd

Juken stance.

Naruto was only a few feet away when Neji moved in a maneuver that

even the sharingan had trouble tracking, once he found Neji again it was

too late. "Hakke Rokujuyon Sho (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)!"

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....

With those words he began to relentlessly attack Naruto with a secret

technique of the Hyuga clan.

"Two Palms!"

"Four Palms!"

"Eight Palms!"

"Sixteen Palms!"

"Thirty-Two Palms!"

"Sixty-Four Palms!"

Neji had succeeded in closing sixty-four of the chakra points all over

Naruto's body. This would render him completely handicapped for the

rest of the match, with the inability to mold chakra and hampering his

movements. However after the final strike was delivered 'Naruto' burst

into a flock of crows, surprising everyone in the room, even the Hokage.

That particular technique was only known to one person in the world.

The real Naruto stepped out from behind the ice pillar that he had first

hid behind and stood there taking in what Neji's technique had done.

"Karasu Bunshin (Crow Clone), it's an incredibly useful technique.

Completely unlike other types of bunshin, even the Kage Bunshin. That

was an impressive technique, one that should only be known to a single

child of the main house, after seeing it once I won't be caught up in it

again."

Naruto walked forward a few feet until he was in front of the ice pillar. "I

must thank that girl Haku for the change of scenery. Now I don't have to

go through the trouble of doing it myself." Naruto formed a few hand

seals, "Hyoton: Haryu Moko (Tearing Dragon Fierce Tiger)."

Every shinobi's eyes in the room went wide once more as they heard his

words, even his own team, but especially Haku who was speechless at the

moment.

The entire ice pillar behind Naruto turned into a giant tiger that rushed

through the sky and towards Neji with such ferocity that it may have

killed him if the jutsu hit. The mere creation of the massive beast caused

the temperature in the room to drop several degrees. Haku could only

contine to stare wide-eyed as even she didn't have any Hyoton jutsu

within her arsenal on that massive of a scale.

Neji silently cursed as he continued to dodge the large tiger that

continued to chase after him. It was the predator and he was the prey. No

matter how many times he dodged it, it wouldn't let up. In fact every

time he avoided the creature it only became faster. The young Hyuga

only had one jutsu that would be able to defend against the predator's

onslaught, he had been hoping to save it for the finals but it was the only

thing that would save him right now.

He stopped running and slowly began to spin until he picked speed,

"Hakkesho Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation)!" Chakra expelled from

every tenketsu of his body as he spun, creating an impenetrable blue

sphere. The ice tiger crashed into the sphere and slowly began to shatter

until it was completely destroyed.

Neji stopped his jutsu a moment later, panting from how much chakra he

had used. He would need to perfect the Kaiten later on so that he didn't

have to waste so much of his chakra on it. Neji looked up and saw that

he was on the complete other side of the room from where he was when

he began dodging that ice tiger.

He knew just how close he had come to defeat in that moment he stared

at the tiger's gaping jaws about to devour him whole. He would need to

end the match soon, he didn't have much chakra left. Enough left to use

the Hakkesho Kaiten once more, but that was it. Should he have to resort

to that, then he was done, defeated.

"You did well to defend agains such an attack Neji, you truly are a genius

of the Hyuga clan." Neji's eyes jerked up at the sudden voice and locked

onto the form of Naruto across the arena. "But will you be able to avoid

the next one?"

Neji's eyes widened as Naruto began going through hand seals, he got up

and quickly charged Naruto in an attempt to finish him off before he

completed the next jutsu. However, he was too late as Naruto landed on

his seal and thrust his arm out forming a black ether-like dragon from the

ice and snow behind him that flew into the air at high-speed. It's glowing

red eyes locked onto Neji and went in for the kill. "Hyoton: Kokuryu

Bofusetsu (Ice Release: Black Dragon Blizzard)!"

Neji knew he had to use the Hakkesho Kaiten once more in order to even

survive the massive dragon. He began to spin at a rapid speed, exerting

all of his chakra into this last jutsu. Even that was not enough as the

black ether-like dragon hit the Kaiten, but did not dissipate. Instead it

picked Neji's technique up while he was still spinning and launched him

into the air, impacting the ceiling as the dragon continued to rush him.

Neji had long since stopped the Kaiten and could only feel his body

screaming in pain as the dragon continued to pin him to the ceiling as

the ice dissipated against it from the force of the impact. The last thing

he remembered was the freezing feeling of the ice against his body before

he was pulled into the darkness.

The dragon vanished from existence as soon as Naruto felt that Neji had

lost consciousness. The Hyuga that was pinned to the ceiling slowly

began his free fall back down to earth before Naruto Shunshined into the

air and caught him, the natural heat of his body immediately causing

Neji's body to recover from hypothermia. He landed on the ground once

more and waited for the medical teams to come and take his opponent

away.

Chapter no.76

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....

Naruto looked up and saw that everyone in the room had a gobsmacked

expression on their face, including the Hokage. He could see Natsuki,

Narumi, and Satsuki all staring at him in pure awe and admiration. They

were soon brought back to reality as they heard the proctor clear his

throat.

"Winner by knock out, Portgas D. Naruto! With the final match over this

marks the end of the preliminary rounds. All of those who have one their

matches, please make your way down to the arena to decide the matches

for the final rounds!"

As Genma made his announcement to the chunin hopefuls, they slowly

began to make their way down the stairs until they were standing beside

Naruto in a single line.

Minato and Anko had made their way down to the arena floor as well.

The Yondaime Hokage stepped forward to start his speech to

congratulate everyone, "Congratulations to all of you for winning your

matches and making it to the third and final stage of the exam. I am

proud of all of the Konoha genin that have made it thus far and I'm sure

the Kage of your respective villages feel the same way." Minato let a

moment of silence pass before he continued.

"However, the final stage of the chunin exams will not be happening

now. Many important people such as the Kage of your villages, Daimyos,

and many potential clients will be attending the final tournament.

Therefore you have exactly one month to prepare for your matches. Time

will allow you to study your opponent's abilities in order to form a

strategy to deal with them and it will also give you a chance to improve

your own skills." Minato said.

"For now we will decide what the match-ups will be for the tournament.

Please take a piece of paper from the box that Anko-san is currently

holding. These pieces of paper will determine who you will fight in the

first round, so I hope you are all confident in your good luck."

One by one each of the genin walked up to the box and pulled out a

small piece of paper with a number on it. They presented their numbers

to Ibiki and were drawn onto the tournament grid where there number

was.

Match 1: Uzumaki-Namikaze Natsuki vs. Sabaku no Temari

Match 2: Uchiha Satsuki vs. Uzumaki-Namikaze Narumi

Match 3:Portgas D. Naruto vs. Uzumaki-Namikaze Nawaki

Match 4: Inuzuka Hana vs. Chojuro

Match 5: Suigetsu vs. Sabaku no Gaara

Match 6: Yuki Haku vs. Winner of Match 5

Naruto was grinning like a madman at the idea of Nawaki, the brat just

annoyed him to no end and this would be a perfect opportunity to show

his true strength.

"Are there any questions dealing with the rules of the final tournament?"

Minato asked after everyone had seen who they would be fighting.

Shikamaru raised his hand, "Will there only be one person who becomes

chunin since this is a tournament?"

"No, there are several different judges for the tournament, Kage included,

if someone is determined to have the skill and mindset of a chunin then

they will be promoted. However, fighting more matches in the

tournament will give you more opportunities to show the judges that you

are fit to be a chunin. There is also a chance that none of you will be

promoted to chunin, but from what I have seen that scenario is highly

unlikely. Are there any more questions?"

None of the genin before him raised their hands or looked uneasy.

"Very well then you are all dissmissed. Oh Naruto! Please meet me at the

Hokage Tower as soon as you have spoken with your teammates." Naruto

had expected this after showing a bit of what he could do in his match,

so he didn't voice his opinion.

Slowly all of the genin left the tower until only Team 11 and Team 7

remained. Obito turned to speak to his team, they needed to deal with

the time they had during the period before the third exam. "All of you

think about what you plan to do with your thirty day time period

overnight okay. Meet me at the usual training ground tomorrow morning

at 9:00 AM." He said as he disappeared from sight a moment after seeing

them all nod their heads.

Naruto thought a bit about what he needed to work on before making the

journey to the Hokage Tower, he would take the long way around so he

could prepare himself for his eventual meeting with the Hokage, and

most likely the rest of his family.

....

What are secrets really? Are they pieces of information that are not

meant to be known by others? Or are they just things that you'd like to

keep to yourself and only the people that you truly trust? Everybody had

a secret or two.

Secrets were the basis of the shinobi world. Every country kept secrets

from each other in order to benefit their own interest, whether it was to

keep their hidden village's strength at the top of the elemental nations or

to hide their own underground dealings. The world was a dark place. A

rotting wasteland where the sun would never shine, at least it would be

until someone decided to set the world aflame.

Naruto had many secrets, such as the fact that he knew the truth about

the Uchiha massacre or that the Kyuubi was really still being controlled

by Uchiha Madara on the night of his birth. Secrets were meant to stay in

the dark because should they come to light, the consequences would be

greater than any kind of benefit.

If either of these two secrets were to get out, the fallout would be

disastrous. If anyone were to find out about the Uchiha massacre then the

people of Konoha would lose faith in their village and their Hokage. They

would see him as a tyrant who ordered the execution of an entire clan

just because they no longer believed in the village's 'will of fire' and were

going to speak out against it. Those Uchiha children who were spared

would seek revenge for their losses, or betray the village altogether.

The second secret was just as dangerous, if not worse. If what Shisui had

said the night of the massacre was true, then the Kyuubi was most likely

still under the effects Madara'sKotoamatsukami. Naruto would need to

deal with that the first chance he had, only a the same jutsu would be

able to remove the effects. Should the people of the village find out that

the Kyuubi was under the effects of a sharingan that night, then the

Uchiha would be ostracized even more. Some may even call for the

complete extermination of the clan because they feared that what

happened all those years ago would happen again.

Naruto had no idea that theKotoamatsukamiwas so powerful. Should the

village find out that he possessed the very same jutsu that cost Konoha all

of those lives sixteen years ago, then he would most certainly have to

take counter measures to prevent his family from being knew that it was

the strongest genjutsu of the mangekyo sharingan, but to be able to

control the most powerful of the Bijuu for over half a century with it was

an amazing feat. Naruto had yet to reach that level of mastery with the

sharingan. He was capable of activating Shisui's mangekyo, but when he

did he still felt like there was a higher level to reach. It felt as if there

were a power just within his grasp, but he had to take one final leap to

reach it. Were his eyes telling him that he was capable of awakening the

rinnegan? He would continue that thought later.

People also might interpret that Natsuki and Nawaki are also under

Madara's control because they hold the Bijuu within them. Then they

would be treated like that of real jinchuriki instead of heroes who saved

the village. That brings up another theory that Naruto had. Yin and Yang

were never supposed to be separated, it was the law of nature. The only

reason that Naruto was able to completely split apart his chakra with his

perfect chakra control was because he still contained the other half

within his body. The Yin half of the Kyuubi was sealed inside Natsuki and

the Yang half was sealed within Nawaki. That being said they would

naruraly be drawn back to each other, the pull of the forces would be so

powerful that they would even break the seal holding them in the

process.

Naruto theorized that if one half of the Kyuubi was broken from Madara's

control thenit would instantly draw the other half back too it and merge

back into the complete form of the Bijuu. The extraction wouldn't kill the

Uzumaki-Namikaze that possessed the half that was still under

theKotoamatsukamibecause of their Uzumaki genes. The Uzumaki always

had incredibly strong life forces, which is why Kushina was able to

survive having the Kyuubi escape from her. Though it would be an

incredibly painful and exhausting process. If Naruto could help it he

would break the Yin half from Madara's control because it would be

easier to because it represented the Kyuubi's spirit half, as it was made of

Yin chakra.

It would probably be best to deal with this either after the chunin exams,

or during the invasion that would occur during the finals where Gaara

would transform into his full Bijuu state. Naruto couldn't wait to deal

with Shukaku, he had spent far too long in isolation and it had made him

even more bloodthirsty and insane. Naruto would have to remind him of

what he was like when he was just born. He would remind him of what

fear was.

But that would have to wait for another time, as Naruto was currently

sitting in front of Namikaze Minato the Yondaime Hokage. He was

obviously interested in uncovering all of Naruto's secrets. Though they

weren't the only ones in the Hokage's office. Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina

stood behind her husband, staring forlornly at Naruto, while Narumi and

Natsuki both sat to the side of the office on the couch. Both of the genin

had no idea why they were there, but there Kaa-san had requested that

they be there. Nawaki wasn't there as he had been moved to the hospital

for the night to recover from the injuries he received during his match.

Even Jiraiya was in the room sitting on the windowsill, Naruto had not

even glanced at the man since he arrived.

Naruto had not seen Jiraiya in years, nor did he want to. Naruto could

only describe the Toad Sage with one word, pathetic. He was strong, that

much Naruto was certain of, but it was his beliefs that made his entire

existence a joke in Naruto's eyes. He lived his entire life based on a

prophecy that the toads gave him decades ago. They told him that he was

meant to create peace by finding the child of prophecy. The sharingan

user never understood what made the toads so special that they could

hand out prophecies like they were pieces of candy.

It was one of these prophecies that drove the Uzumaki-Namikaze family

apart even further. Several years ago after he had awoken from his coma,

Naruto had thought that he would give his family a chance after seeing

how his family life couldn't even compare to how bad Aces was. After all,

Naruto's parents didn't actually try to kill him. However, it was not meant

to be as they had began to focus even more on his siblings' training after

Jiraiya had given yet another prophecy to Minato about the child of

prophecy and how they will either bring forward peace or lead the world

to ruin. That had been the final chance he gave his former family.

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....

The room was silent, eerily so. It was obvious that the only ones in the

room who knew what was going on were Minato and Jiraiya. Naruto

stared on impassively at the blonde Hokage, who matched his gaze.

Naruto had partially figured out why he was here. Minato wanted

answers about the Hyoton, but what confused him was Jiraiya's presence.

He had sensed the man watching from the shadow at the preliminary

matches, but he had assumed that Jiraiya would go off for some 'research'

at the hot springs. Jiraiya was the world's largest pervert and that

disgusted Naruto, he had even caught the man sneaking glances at

Kushina's figure every so often.

The only reason why Jiraiya would be here is if they wanted to speak

about something more than just his abilities. He had no doubt that they

would once again try to bring him back into their family, but he would

have none of that and they were probably starting to catch onto that idea

by now. No, there had to be more going on here than he realized.

"Congratulations on winning your preliminary match Naruto." Minato

had thought for a long time about how to start off the conversation with

his wayward son. If he had outright demanded answers from Naruto then

things would quickly turn out like they usually did with him. He wanted

Naruto to be able to open up to them and maybe they could fix their

estranged relationship from there. "To be able to overwhelm the prodigy

of the Hyuga clan so easily is quite an accomplishment, he was the rookie

of the year for the previous graduating class at the academy you know."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Naruto replied blandly. He had to restrain

himself from rolling his eyes, it was quite obvious as what Minato was

trying to accomplish. "But if that was all that this was about, may I ask

why I was the only one who was requested to be here? There were many

other genin who had won their matches, surely you would give them the

same treatment."

Minato sighed in exasperation. His son had never been interested in

exchanging pleasantries, Naruto always saw right through all of his

attempts to get closer to him.

"There are questions that need to be answered. Your abilities specifically

have come into question and we require answers to them."

Naruto raised an eyebrow a Minato's tone of voice. This obviously wasn't

just Minato's curiosity that brought him there, this was an interrogation.

"Why do you have the Hyoton bloodline? It isn't like some of the other

elemental bloodlines that have sprouted up in several different nations.

The Hyoton is exclusive to Kirigakure and the Yuki clan...You already

have a sharingan, Have you been experimenting on the rest of your body

too? If you have you're no better than Orochimaru!" Jiraiya stated coldly,

his voice rising in anger at the end.

Naruto gaze pierced through Jiraiya's very being. He knew the man was a

fool, but he certainly didn't expect the sage to jump to such a wild

conclusion. It was obvious that he had already decided that was what

Naruto had done, his hatred for Orochimaru ha blinded him to what was

around him. He was no better than that Anko woman who was screaming

for the Hokage to cancel the exams because she had fought her former

sensei in the forest.

"To come up with such foolish assumptions...are you sure your a sannin?

I had no idea that a shinobi of your stature had the thinking capacity of

an academy student." As Naruto spoke, Jiraiya could be seen losing his

composure as he got up from his seat on the windowsill to force some

answers from Naruto. He was forcefully restrained by Kushina'sKongo

Fusa (Adamantine Sealing Chains)so that Naruto could finish speaking.

"To answer your little interrogation...I do not have the Hyoton."

This earned raised eyebrows from everyone in the room.

"What do you mean? We clearly saw you use it during your match."

Minato asked, very confused as to what Naruto was trying to imply.

Naruto sighed.'These two have been shinobi for decades and they still

can't figure anything out for themselves? This is the leader of the village

and Konoha's strongest shinobi?'

"What I mean is what I said. I cannot use the Hyoton...Think about the

condition of the arena when my match was held...it was covered in ice.

What I used was pure ice manipulation, using the pre-existing techniques

to form Hyoton techniques." Naruto stated. He was getting annoyed with

what he had already guesses would be a long night ahead of him.

Minato sighed in relief after learning that his son hadn't been using his

body for experiments like his sensei's old teammate. Now that he thought

about it, why did Jiraiya immediately think that he was the second

coming of Orochimaru?

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes once again. It seemed that he wasn't satisfied

with Naruto's answer.

"How would you even gain access to such powerful techniques. The only

ones who uses those kind of jutsu are the shinobi from Haru no Kuni and

no Konoha shinobi has set foot there in over a decade. The last one was

Kakashi when he rescued their princess when her uncle and shinobi there

staged a coup."

Naruto scoffed. This man was supposed to be Konoha's spymaster and yet

he couldn't even piece together such simple information. "Your

information is outdated Jiraiya...either that or your memory is failing

you. I don't blame you if it is the latter, it comes with advanced age after

all..." Kushina had to strengthen the hold of her chakra chains as Jiraiya

tried to break free and jump at her son.

"I was sent to Haru no Kuni by Hokage-sama over a month ago. It was

our first C-rank mission but it went south pretty fast. To keep the story

short, we found out that we were escorting Kazahana Koyuki, the rightful

heir to the throne of Haru no Kuni. I wound up killing the former Daimyo

and those shinobi who were key in staging the coup, freeing the country

from their grasp. Because of that Koyuki was made the new Daimyo and I

was given access to the shinobi library in Yukigakure for saving their

country, along with the Hyoton jutsu I copied with my sharingan."

Everyone's eyes widened after hearing that little piece of information,

after all the report Naruto's team had given the Hokage wasn't the whole

truth. Only Naruto knew the full extent of what really happened.

Natsuki and Narumi were shocked to hear that their Nii-san had killed

someone. They knew that shinobi had to do things like that, but the

concept was still just so foreign to them. They had only done simple

delivery and escort missions, minus their mission to Nami no Kuni. But

they were completely outclassed on that mission so Kakashi and Kushina

had done all of the work. They had never even come close to taking a

life, and yet their Nii-san had said that he killed several people without

even a hint of remorse present his face. Could they really call themselves

kunoichi just yet?

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....

Kushina looked a bit downcast after she had heard some of the story. She

wasnt even there to comfort her own son after his first kill. To all shinobi

and kunoichi, the first kill is always the hardest. It's the first step into

what the shinobi world is truly like, and to hear that he had already done

so broke her heart a little more. She really wanted her baby back, he was

so loud and energetic when he was just a few years old. He used to be

just like her. Now she can't even recognize him, both personality and

appearance wise.

Minato had gotten the answers he wanted and decided to move onto his

issues with what was going on in the final stage of the chunin exams in a

month.

"Naruto...the final stages of the chunin exams are only a month away

have you considered what you are going to do about training yet?"

Naruto was taken by surprised at this question. He hadn't thought they

would talk about his training schedule. He figured that one of them

wanted to help with his training in order to worm their way back into his

heart. He had already thought about what he still needed training in, not

that he would tell any of them that.

"Why does that concern you Hokage-sama? If you are concerned about

my performance then I can assure you that you won't be disappointed."

"That isn't really what I was getting at..." Minato sighed. "I am going to be

training Nawaki this month. Though all four of you have made it to the

final exams, he asked me to train him the day before the first exam if he

should make it to the final stage...Naruto...I can assure you that Nawaki

will be at least chunin level by the end of this month, and without ice in

the arena I don't know how long you'll be able to last against him."

Naruto had to stifle a laugh at how Minato had no idea of what he was

truly capable of. He didn't voice his opinion on the matter and kept his

neutral gaze on the man as he continued to speak.

"All of you will be representing the village in this tournament and I need

you to show our strength to the world...that's why I've asked Jiraiya-

sensei to train you over the next month. Narumi and Natsuki will be

receiving training from both Kushina-chan and Kakashi. I don't want you

to be left behind. I'm sure Obito will be busy with training Satsuki for the

exams because of her sharingan and I don't want you to get your hopes

up that you will be receiving the usual amount of attention that you

require.

'Really? He wants me to train with Jiraiya? The same Jiraiya who tried to

attack me a few moments ago and who accused me of being no different

than Orochimaru?...Who the hell is he kidding...I'd sooner accept training

from Ebisu than him.'Naruto could not believe that Minato had tried to

set him up for training with the pervert who was obviously enjoying

being wrapped up in Kushina's chains.

"No thank you Hokage-sama." Naruto replied in a bland tone.

This statement had everyone in the room gaping like a fish out of water.

Minato, Kushina, and Jiraiya had expected him to accept the training

instantly. Narumi and Natsuki had no idea what their parents were

planning, but as soon as they heard he was going to be trained by a

sannin they were going to ask to join the training so that they could

spend more time with him.

Natsuki really wanted to be near him whenever she could, she had even

considered stalking him a few times when she had seen him on the street

but that idea was quickly shot down. She really wanted to be near her

'Onii-sama' as she called him in her head, she just wanted to please him

however she could. She wanted to be his and his alone. She wanted to

train side by side with him and spar with him, but then she remembered

what had happened the last time they did. She may never get over the

fact that she put him into a coma.

Narumi needed help with summoning toads. She had already been able

to summon low level ones like Gamakichi, but they hadn't truly trained

in it or any of the other toad arts. Though that was only an excuse, she

secretly wanted to be with her Nii-san too. Every time she saw him she

was reminded of how bratty and stuck up she was in her younger years

and she hated that. She felt hot every time she looked at his finely

sculpted body and as if she needed a cold shower every time he looked

her in the eyes. She didn't understand why it was her own brother that

made her feel this way.

Minato looked at Naruto incredulously, "B-But why? Jiraiya-sensei is one

of the sannin, arguably one of the strongest shinobi in the

village...Anyone would jump at the chance to train under him and yet

you turn the offer down!"

Naruto did not react to the outburst of the village leader, "I am not just

anyone Hokage-sama. It would be detrimental to have someone who has

no idea what my fighting style is or what level I am at train me,

especially someone who clearly does not want to. He would obviously

force me to learn his jutsu and how he fights...as I shinobi I am already

set in my own way of fighting and therefore it would only take that much

longer for me to break away from my old style, not that I'd want to...I

refuse the training."

Some of those in the room calmed down after understanding his

situation, but Jiraiya had clearly taken it as a personal insult. "What is

that supposed to mean? Are you trying to say that your fighting style is

superior to mine?! I am a shinobi who is feared all throughout the

elemental nations and yet you, some snot-nosed genin thinks he's better

than me!..Why don't we settle this right now? A spar at one of the

training grounds right now! If you can last two minutes against me then I

won't bother training you!"

Many of those were surprised at Jiraiya's declaration, especially with how

much convincing it took Minato to get him to agree. Naruto's expression

had still not deterred from his apathetic gaze.

"I wouldn't want you to break a hip old man, you're still useful to this

village after all...though you really should start thinking about

retirement."

"You ungrateful little shit! Free me from these chains and I'll show you

just how old I really am!" Jiraiya had gotten tired of Naruto's teasing of

his age.

"I have no plans in participating in your little competition either. I'm a

busy person, did you really expect me to spend one more moment with

you than I really had to?...I've got nothing to prove to you Jiraiya, nor do

I care about your opinion of me." Naruto turned back towards Minato. "If

that will be all Hokage-sama the I will take my leave. I have not been

home in over five days after all." With those words said he began to walk

out the door.

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....

Minato raised his hand to stop his son from leaving, if he did he would

most likely not see his son until the day of the tournament. "Naruto

wait!...There is one more thing."

Naruto turned back around to face the Hokage. From the look on

Minato's face, he knew he would not like what the man was about to say.

It seemed that this conversation would need to draw on a bit longer.

Minato sighed, knowing his son wouldn't want to hear what he was about

to say. "I want you to retake to Uzumaki-Namikaze clan name...Konoha

needs to show its strength during these exams and the village's strength is

intertwined with the strength of their Kage...this includes their families."

The room noticeably dropped several degrees after Minato spoke those

words. Words that everyone in the room knew he would not listen to.

Even Jiraiya knew there was a reason why he changed his surname,

though he would never understand it.

In that moment Naruto remembered all of the pain that his family had

caused him over the years. Those words that he recalled Ace once saying

were right, people never forget.

"I refuse...and I am not part of your family anymore Hokage-

sama...perhaps I never was."

The words of the lone ravenette in the room broke the hearts of the

females in the room, they wanted him back the most.

"This isn't a request! I am ordering you as your Hokage, not your father!

You will take back the Uzumaki-Namikaze name and you will come back

home so your mother and sisters can be happy again! Do you understand

me!" Minato yelled as he stood up and slammed his fists against the desk.

Naruto's glare hardened, even going so far as to open his right eye and

activating his sharingan from its neutral state.

"No I will not." Naruto stated sternly, earning a glare from Minato. "You

may be able to give me orders when dealing with shinobi affairs, but this

is a clan matter. You cannot force me into a clan that I am not a part

of...also I may not have taken the name because I am partial to my

current one, but I am under the protection of the Uchiha clan."

This statement caught the attention of those in the room. They had

known he lived at the Uchiha compound with Satsuki, but they didn't

think that Mikoto would go so far as to put him under the clan's

protection.

Naruto continued, "You may be the Hokage but we both know that you

don't have the authority to interfere in clan matters." With those words

said, Naruto began to walk towards the door once more.

Minato looked down at his desk in defeat, tears welling up in his eyes,

never before had any of those in the room seen the hero of Konoha look

so weak and fragile. "...Will you at least tell me what the name 'Portgas'

means to you?"

Naruto stopped mid-step. Those words brought back all of the memories

behind the name.

Ace was never given the attention that his brother's were because of their

use of chakra. Kaguya hadn't always tried to kill her sons, only after she

began to perceive them as a threat and power corrupted her mind did she

turn to that solution. His situation wasn't too different from Naruto's, he

was cast aside for his brother's who had inherited all of their mother's

chakra related abilities. Their father had died when they were still young,

but he was the only one of his parents who could say that he loved Ace.

After Whitebeard's death, Ace moved away from home and lived in

isolation. Away from his mother, away from the Otsutsuki, and away

from his brothers. Ace didn't hat Hagoromo or Hamura, no he loved them

like any brother would. But their mother had prohibited him from

interacting with them. She feared that they would lead the world into

war once more. As a goddess, she could not let that happen.

Chakra was not a power that humans were meant to wield, she never

wanted Ace to get involved with chakra because of what may happen

should his brothers grow too strong for her to control. She was secretly

spending this time trying to figure out how to retrieve her chakra from

her sons, but to no avail. She feared what the future would hold if more

humans became able to use chakra. The world would be locked into a

fate of constant war once more.

Ace didn't know any of this however. He didn't need her, he didn't need

anyone. Or at least that was what he had thought for a time. That was

what he thought until Otsutsuki Ace met a woman named Portgas D.

Rouge. It was a chance encounter, Ace had thought nothing of the

woman until she started visiting him everyday. She had seen the sadness

and loneliness within him and decided that she would give him the

happiness that he had never had.

Rouge had given everything that Ace had never received from Kaguya,

maternal love, understanding, affection, and so much more. She gave him

a place that he could truly call home. However, it was not meant to last.

Kaguya had finally realized that Hagoromo and Hamura were threats to

her reign of tyranny and had decided to take back the chakra that was

rightfully hers. She needed to find Ace too. She had loved him more than

anything and only focused on Hagoromo and Hamura to make sure they

didn't try to overthrow her because of their abilities with chakra. Ace was

the only one she truly loved and she would bring him back to her at all

costs.

However, she had found out that another woman had been taking care of

Ace and had become something of a mother figure to Ace. Her Ace! She

would not let some other woman try to steal her place as her child's

mother. She was a god and he belonged to her and her alone.

The events from there onward were what would mark the turning point

of Kaguya's rule. When Kaguya found Rogue she killed her in a rage of

jealousy for daring to steal the one son that she still loved, however it

was this action that made her lose Ace indefinitely. The murder of his

mother and the death of Sabo not long after were the main reasons why

Ace turned on Kaguya and decided to seek out the chakra fruits. He had

decided to give up the Otsutsuki surname and change it to Portgas to

honor the woman who was a mother to him when his own blood was not.

Naruto couldn't help but see the parallels between Ace and himself,

Rouge and Mikoto. It was as if history was repeating itself. He would not

it come around full circle though, he wouldn't let anyone ever lay a hand

on Mikoto. Even if he had to burn down the entire world to do so, he

would keep her safe.

"The name Portgas represents what a real family should be like...Hokage-

sama, Kushina-sama, you may say that you want me back now, but

where were you when I really needed you?...When I had nothing but

hatred and loneliness consuming me?...Now you expect me to just accept

you back into my life because you're sorry?...Do not fool yourselves, you

mean as much to me as the civilians on the street...You two are nothing

more than my sperm donor and incubator." With those final words said

Naruto left the room, leaving behind those whose hopes he clearly just

shattered.

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....

Minato wasn't doing anything to hold the tears back anymore, as they fell

from his eyes and soaked the paperwork below. Kushina had released her

chains and was now sobbing into her hands on her knees, her legs had

given out just as Naruto said his parting words. He had made it perfectly

clear that he didn't see them as parents, nor would he ever.

Natsuki was hugging her knees as she cried into them. Naruto had only

reminded her just how far away he was from the rest of them. If he didn't

even see their mother and father as parents, the what exactly was she to

him? Narumi was stronger than this, she knew it. She was able to hold

back her emotions, but on the inside she was a wreck. She would never

be forgiven.

Jiraiya could only look at the family with pity in his eyes. He could not

see why they were so obsessed with making Naruto part of their family

again. It was obvious to him that particular ship sailed a long time ago.

It would be a long night for the Uzumaki-Namikaze family.

Uchiha Household

Naruto had just walked through the Uchiha compound and had been

congratulated by all of the Uchiha children who now lived there.

Apparently the announcements for the chunin exam tournament had

already been relayed to the village. He must have been at the Hokage

Tower longer than he thought.

All of the Uchiha now lived at the compound. Just after the massacre,

they were placed in the orphanage for a small amount of time because

Mikoto was deemed mentally unfit to take care of them, the only reason

she was able to stay with Satsuki was because Naruto was there too and

she was old enough to take care of herself. However, Mikoto recovered

fairly fast thanks to Naruto's constant comfort and had gotten all of the

children out of the orphanage. They were still fairly young, but Mikoto

had taught them how to take care of themselves and they were given

apartments in the district to live in. No matter how great of a mother

Mikoto was, she couldn't take care of so many children at once.

Naruto was standing in the doorway to the living room, staring on with a

look of amusement on his face. Following his line of sight, Satsuki and

Haku could be seen talking quite animatedly about what had gone on

during the preliminary matches.

"-I loved when you used your Hyoton to turn that shinobi from Oto into

liquid! It was so beautiful!...I wish I could do things like that." Satsuki

ended with a cute pout on her face.

Haku sweatdropped at the girl's actions. This was strange right? "U-Um

people are usually terrified of me after I do something like that...you're a

strange one aren't you Satsuki-san?"

Satsuki shrugged, "Eh I have to deal with seeing people have their flesh

melted off their bones on a daily basis, something like what you did

seems pretty tame to me."

A shiver ran down Haku's spine, which was odd since she was a Hyoton

user. Her body was always naturally cold, in fact she couldn't remember

the last time she felt any kind of warmth.

"You're team worries me Satsuki-san."

"What! I love my team there the best! We've all been friends forever!"

Satsuki whined childishly.

"Ah that's why I came here actually. I wanted to speak to Portgas-san, but

it seems he's not here at the moment...I could always come back at

another time if it is inconvenient for you or your mother." Haku offered

politely.

Naruto had expected the girl to come by at some point. From what he

knew Hyoton was quite rare, even in the Yuki clan. Very few of them

awakened it but they all excelled in the use of Suiton and Futon, the two

base components of Hyoton. That being said, seeing someone who used

such powerful ice techniques in Konoha of all places must have interested

the girl greatly.

Naruto was more willing to answer her as opposed to the Hokage and his

family. She had reason to be curious while they only demanded answers

about his abilities. He was still a bit irritated about everything that had

gone down since the preliminaries ended. The elder ravenette decided it

was time to make his presence known.

"Oh? You were looking for little old me Haku-chan?" Naruto teased from

his spot in the doorway.

The sudden voice cause both female genin in the room to jerk their heads

toward the door. Satsuki's smile grew a little wider at the sight of her Nii-

san and rushed over to engulf him in a hug, she had wanted to go out

and celebrate their victories after the second stage ended but that

opportunity was taken away from her by the Hokage. She would make

sure to ask him about that later.

The reaction that Naruto found amusing was Haku's. The girl's face

turned beet red when she caught sight of him. Many people called him

shameless and improper for walking around half-naked all of the time,

but he did enjoy when girls had reactions like this. She seemed so cute

and innocent blushing up a storm and trying to look away, nobody would

even suspect that she killed two people only a few hours ago.

"I didn't expect you to come and see me so soon." Naruto told her, after

which he turned to Satsuki. "Satsuki, why don't you go to the kitchen and

help Mikoto-chan with dinner. I'm sure Haku wants to have a private

discussion."

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....

The female Uchiha nodded and headed towards the kitchen to help her

Kaa-chan. Something had seemed different about her lately, her mother

had seemed much happier. Happier than she had ever seen the woman

before. She even started training again, it still amazed her how strong her

Kaa-chan was after all this time. Still...something was going on and she

would figure it out. Satsuki already knew that the woman had feelings for

her Nii-san and honestly she was a bit jealous of how beautiful her

mother was. She wouldn't let her get too far ahead.

"Okay were all alone Haku...I have an idea of why you came here, but

why don't you tell me anyway." Naruto asked as he sat down across from

the pale-skinned beauty on the couch.

Haku looked a bit nervous as she began to speak, "U-Um I watched you

preliminary match and...I was wondering if you were a Yuki just like me?

They are the only ones I know of that posses the Hyoton bloodline."

Naruto chuckled a little to himself causing Haku to gaze at him curiously.

"Sorry about that. I had just finished having the same conversation with

the Hokage. Now I don't want this conversation to drag on as long as that

one did, so I'll get straight to the point. Have you ever heard of

Yukigakure?"

"Hm...I've heard that was a village in what used to be Yuki no Kuni, but it

still hasn't been renamed after all of the snow was melted. I don't know

much about them other than that." Haku stated.

Naruto nodded, getting the answer he expected. "That's understandable,

they are a minor village who haven't been on the radar much over the

years. They are well known for ice manipulation jutsu, and that is exactly

what I did. I learned quite a bit from the time I spent there over the

course of a mission."

Haku was visibly downcast at his answer. She had really hoped that he

was a Yuki. The clan was slowly starting to die out, as of now there were

only a little over twenty members left. Still...he used such powerful

Hyoton jutsu, stronger than most of the ones that she knew. Maybe he

could give her some help? She still had trouble fully controlling her

bloodline, that's why she usually ended up killing her opponents and why

her body was always at such a cold temperature.

However right now she didn't feel cold. In fact, she could feel quite a lot

of heat emanating from the man in front her. It was strange, she found

the warmth comforting and inviting it was as if she was drawn to him.

What could possibly be happening to her?

"Um would you mind helping me out with training this month Portgas-

san? I still don't have much control over it...that's why my body is always

so cold...but for some reason...right now I even feel warm." Haku said, as

much to herself as she did to Naruto.

Naruto concentrated and could feel the cold temperatures that were

spread throughout her body. He would have to fix that. Naruto got up

from his seat on the couch and walked over until he was standing in front

of Haku, earning a curious look from her. Soon enough, that look of

confusion morphed into one of shock as he cupped her cheek and steam

was produced from his mere touch.

"Naruto, just call me Naruto."

She couldn't believe what she was feeling. Warmth, true warmth. Not just

less cold, but she could actually feel heat. Haku felt as if she were in

heaven right now, she melted into his touch and nuzzled even closer into

his arm. She never wanted to leave his side. "Naruto-sama..." Haku

whispered softly as she began to wonder if this was only a dream.

Naruto smiled at the girl's actions. He could easily tell that she longed for

the one thing that she could never have, warmth. For normal people such

feelings couldn't be understood, it was a good thing that Naruto wasn't

normal in any sense of the word. She longed for the heat just as Naruto

longed for the cold. The fire and ice melding with each other produced a

plethora of steam that filled the room in a manner of seconds.

Naruto thought about Haku's request. He had no reason not to help her,

and with the newly formed alliance between Konoha and Kiri it would

eventually benefit them in the end. Especially with the invasion that

Suna and Oto were planning...but he just didn't have the time.

"I'm sorry Haku...but I have my own training to do over the month..."

This earned a disappointed whimper from the girl in his arms. "Though I

can at least give you the information I have on Hyoton and perhaps some

of the techniques I've learned...A better understanding of Hyoton should

help you with controlling your ice better, which would help you in

regaining control of your body."

Haku looked up and smiled softly at the older teen holding her in his

arms. She had never felt so complete before in all her life.

Chapter no.82

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....

Later That Night

Naruto was idly stroking Mikoto's hair as she laid on his chest. He had

always had a fascination with her long, silky, obsidian hair and had taken

a liking to playing with it whenever he could.

Naruto was exhausted, it had been a long day. He had to sit through

hours of watching boring fights during the preliminaries of the chunin

exams then deal with the stress that the interrogation from the Hokage

and his family gave him. He also had to have his talk with Haku, but he

actually enjoyed her company.

Naruto had just wanted to go to bed after this excruciatingly long day,

but apparently Mikoto had missed him. A lot. And he would never pass

up the opportunity to pleasure the woman he loved. After putting up the

silencing seal they had gone at it for hours. Though this wasn't just

pleasing for her, nothing could pleasure him the way Mikoto's body did.

Nothing felt as perfect as she did wrapped around him. He loved her.

As Mikoto purred from Naruto's petting, his thoughts drifted to what

Obito had said to the team earlier in the day. There was not much that

Obito would be able to help him improve on during the time that they

had, so he would skip out on the training he was offering.

Naruto then remembered what Minato had said during their little talk.

Natsuki and Narumi would be trained by Kushina and Kakashi, and

Nawaki would be trained by Minato. Now that Naruto thought about it,

Jiraiya would now probably train the boy when Minato had to attend to

his Hokage duties. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, the Uzumaki-

Namikaze siblings would definitely be stepping up their game in the next

thirty days. Naruto would need to do the same.

Though he wanted to spend each and every waking moment with Mikoto

during his time off, he knew that she wouldn't want him to neglect his

training just for her. He had much to prepare for, the chunin exams, the

Suna/Oto invasion, freeing the Kyuubi from Madara's control, and he

couldn't let anyone else know about these things or else they would

become suspicious about how he obtained such information.

There was also that feeling in his eye that he had been curious about.

When Naruto activated the mangekyo it was as if the eye was pleading,

no begging him to go further. To pass the limits he currently had and to

gain what only the Otsutsuki had before him. The only problem was

Naruto didn't know how to surpass those limits. That was a problem for

another time however, for now he would train in the arts of the phoenix.

His summons had wanted him to train in there jutsu for a long time now,

but Naruto just couldn't afford an extended trip away from Konoha at the

time. Now would be the perfect opportunity.

He would certainly have a nice surprise for all those who would be

watching the chunin exams.

"Ne Mikoto-chan?"

"Hm? What is it Naruto-kun? I don't think I can go another round just

yet, you were quite...thorough during the last one. I need a little more

time to recover." Mikoto teased.

This earned a snicker from Naruto, "No, not that. I'll probably gone for

the rest of the month for training."

Mikoto looked up at him with a sad smile on her face. They hadn't been

able to spend much time together recently, Naruto had been occupied

with the chunin exams and missions. Now he had to leave for training

then he would have to participate in the tournament.

"My summons have been wanting me to come to their realm for a while

now, to train in their secret arts. Now is the first real opportunity I have

to do this." Naruto noticed the sad look on his lover's face and went to

comfort her. "Don't worry Mikoto-chan. After the chunin exam

tournament, I'll be all yours."

Mikoto smile turned into a mischievous one as she sat up and straddled

Naruto. "Well then we'll just have to make the most of tonight now won't

we?"

She leaned down and slammed her lips onto Naruto's. Oh yes, this would

be a very long night and most likely morning ahead of Naruto.

Training Ground 11 - 9:00 AM

Naruto, Satsuki, and Hana all sat leaning against a tree at training ground

11. They began to wonder why they still bothered showing up at the time

their sensei specified when he was always late.

Naruto was dead tired. Even with his incredible stamina that came from

being an Uzumaki he couldn't help but be exhausted after what Mikoto

had put him through last night. They had only finished their fun a few

hours ago when they felt Satsuki starting to wake up. Mikoto was both

easy and hard to please. She loved his very touch, but once he started she

wouldn't ever let him stop. Not to mention how...experimental she was. If

Naruto had been a pervert like so many men in Konoha are, then he

would've gotten a nosebleed just by recalling the memories.

Naruto was using the time he knew his sensei would give them to catch

up on his missed sleep. Naruto previously had a habit of falling asleep

everywhere he went, especially during his time at the academy. Some

had called it narcolepsy, but it only ever happened when he was very

bored. Some people had even thought he was a Nara at one point. He'd

broken that habit during the three years of training that he had done on

his own in the cave, but that didn't mean he didn't ever get tired.

It seemed luck wasn't on Naruto's side this morning as Obito arrived only

five minutes late.

'Really? This is the one time that he shows up close to the appointed

time...whatever, I'll just get my rest at Mt. Silver.'

Obito looked down at his genin team with pride shinning in his eyes. His

team had been the only one from Konoha to have all of its members

reach the final stage. He knew that it was too soon for the rookie teams

to enter the exams, especially with how they had been training them.

Kushina and Kurenai both mothered their genin, so they weren't pushed

passed their limits. Kakashi and Asuma were both too lazy to get any real

training done. He could only snicker as he remembered the horrified

faces of them when they saw how ruthless his team was.

The only members of the rookie 13 who made it to the finals were his

team and the Hokage's children. Hell, not even a single member of Gai's

team had made it passed the preliminaries. Naruto had even completely

outclassed the Hyuga prodigy on his team. Even though they passed, the

Hokage's children barely won their matches. Nawaki and Narumi both

struggled against their opponents and came out with a win at the last

second. Natsuki was slightly better, but the Hyuga heiress did prove to be

a challenge for her. In any case they would still need more training to

come out on top.

"Okay my cute little genin!" This earned a groan from the three other

occupants of the training ground. "First I would like to congratulate all of

you for making it to the final stage of the chunin exams on your first

time. I didn't even make it this far until a year after I became a genin.

And I'm glad you showed your former classmates how hard you've been

training because it's obvious they have not."

Obito paused for a minute to let everything sink in before he continued

speaking. "Next is where it gets a little complicated. Because of my duties

as the liaison between Konoha and Kiri, I have been tasked with taking

care of the Mizukage and his bodyguards when they arrive here in the

village. I'm also required to be one of Minato-sensei's bodyguards during

the final exams. Because of that I must be present for debriefings and

preparations."

Obito sighed as he continued, "Due to everything that's going on, I will

only have time to train one of you...the other two of you are welcome to

come to me for advise but I won't have the time to give you any hands on

training...I told you yesterday to consdider what you needed to improve

in and what you wanted to learn. So what have you decided? Who will

be the one to receive training from me?"

The three genin looked at each other for a moment before Naruto

decided to break the silence. He knew that he did not need any help from

there sensei while Satsuki and Hana would surely benefit from it.

"I have already made arrangements to be summoned to Mt. Silver and be

trained in the secret arts of my summons. Sorry sensei but I won't be in

need of any help with the time that we have."

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....

Naruto received a nod of understanding from Obito before Hana spoke

up.

"Actually sensei...my Kaa-san has already agreed to help me train for the

finals. She wasn't very happy about the condition that I put Kiba and

Akamaru in, but she understand that I did it to put him in his place. The

clan only needs strong alpha males, and it became obvious that Kiba was

not. I'll be training in my clan techniques and hopefully gaining better

control of my elemental affinity."

Obito had thought this might happen. The Inuzuka clan needed someone

strong to lead their pack, and with Kiba being defeated by his sister

wouldn't bode well for his standing in the clan.

Satsuki was the last one to voice her plans, "Actually I could use help

with my training sensei. I still need to fully mature my sharingan and I

still need to master my main elemental affinity. Neither my Kaa-chan or

Naruto-nii can help me with my Raiton affinity because they don't use

it..."

Well at least one of his students still needed his help. Obito was glad that

he had Kakashi help develop his lightning nature and teach him some of

his personal techniques. It had certainly come in handy with all of the

Suiton users there were in Mizu no Kuni and now he would be able to

pass his knowledge down to his student.

"Well then, I will be training Satsuki until the finals. Do you have any

issues with that Naruto, Hana?" Obito asked, not wanting to make it seem

like he was playing favorites like how many other of the jonin-sensei

usually did. He didn't want either of his other students to feel as if he was

being unfair or neglectful.

Both of the said genin shook their heads. They had clearly stated that

they would be preoccupied with their own training to receive any from

him. Satsuki was the one who he could really train to her full potential.

She was a sharingan user, possessed a small Katon nature and a high

Raiton nature. He was the only one who could help her as she was right

now. They both knew that.

Though Obito was curious as to what Kind of training Naruto would

receive from the phoenix. From what he had seen they were incredibly

powerful. The elder Uchiha had witnessed Jiraiya's toad techniques and

collaboration jutsu many times. If Naruto were to learn phoenix related

techniques, he could become something to be feared.

Obito smiled at the the two of them before grabbing onto Satsuki's

shoulder. "We'll be off then. I'll see the two of you at the finals. I look

forward to seeing just how much you improve."Not a moment later the

two Uchiha were sucked into a vortex, leaving Hana and Naruto alone at

the training ground.

The two genin urned towards each other as the wind began to pick up.

They had been friends forever, before Naruto had even met Satsuki and

Mikoto. Which is what made this a bit harder for the two of them. Hana

couldn't find the words she wanted to say, so Naruto took the lead.

"The two of us have been friends for a long time haven't we Hana?"

Hana smiled at how sincere and sad he sounded. "Over seven years

now...I can still remember the first day we met...you were my first real

friend Naruto."

"And you were mine Hana...should the two of us both win our first

matches...then we'll end up fighting each other..." Naruto looked away,

his long hair swaying in the wind.

"Yeah...I know..." Hana really didn't want to fight her best friend, but she

wouldn't back out of this.

Naruto looked at her with a smirk on his face, "Should it come to that, I

want you to go all out. No holding back...I intend to grow even stronger

during this time period we have with training...I suggest you do the

same. I want you to give me the fight I've always wanted. Show me how

much you'll improve until then."

A second later, Naruto was covered in a shroud of blue and orange flames

and was gone once the flames had dispersed, signaling he had been

reversed summoned to his summoning realm.

"I'll give you just that Naruto...I'll show you just how far I've come since

we met." Hana spoke to herself as the wind carried he voice away.

Chapter no.84

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....

Mt. Silver

Naruto gazed across the vast landscape that was set ablaze by the holy

flames of the phoenix. He was once again, at the peak of the tallest

mountain within the phoenix clan's territory. They had the most land out

of all the summoning clans by far because of their strength and their

reign as the longest summons in existence. This was mainly because of

their inability to become extinct. Once they died they would simply rise

from their ashes as they were reborn once again.

He had only been here a handful of times before, but it was impossible to

forget. Naruto continued up towards where the den of the clan leader

was as the flames made way for him, recognizing him as their master. He

nodded his head to some of the smaller phoenixes and newly reborn

ones. Such things were beautiful to him. Here there was no life and

death, there was no pain and misery. Here everyone lived their lives to

the fullest and then repeated the process. Naruto would agree that these

were the perfect summons for him.

As Naruto walked up the peak a majority of the volcanoes erupted

simultaneously, causing avalanches of molten lava and clouds of super-

heated ash to come rushing down the mountain. Naruto was not fazed.

Such thing was a common occurrence here and neither of these things

could harm Naruto anyways, he was fire itself.

He simply channeled chakra to his feet and walked on the oceans of

molten lava as if they were water. To outsiders this sight of burning

earth, tsunamis of lava, and raining of ash would strike fear into their

hearts and crush all of their hopes and dreams as they journeyed through

the apocalyptic scene, but Naruto actually enjoyed the scenery. To him it

were as if he were walking on a sandy beach and watching the sunset.

Naruto stopped as he reached the main room within the den and stood

before the towering phoenix who was seated on his throne. The mighty

phoenix had been waiting for his summoners arrival. This was the first

time that they had ever had a summoner, this would also be the last as it

was unlikely for any other human to be able to set foot on their sacred

land. As this would be the only time they would have a summoner, they

wanted to pass down their arts to him to carry on their pride and help

him master his own as well.

The phoenix before Naruto was now in his true form. Dranzer's feathers

were midnight black with hints of red outlining them, the gold armor

coating his wings, chest, and head was now much thinner. His white

mane flowed down to his mid-back and his eyes were much fiercer than

before. The leader of the phoenix clan gave off a feeling of pure power

and authority. The phoenix preferred to keep his feathers red when in the

presence of the rest of the clan, as to not expose them to his

overwhelming aura, but he knew his summoner could withstand his

presence.

"You wished for my presence here Dranzer?" Naruto asked. Normally the

king of the phoenix would have made a point for someone to show

respect in front of him, but he knew his summoner's tendencies all to

well. The boy did not show respect for anyone, he refused to use titles

when he did not have to and would not bow to anybody. It was rare to

find a being with as strong of a will as his.

"It is about time you've returned Naruto. I had wanted to start your

training in our secret arts over a month ago."The ruler of phoenixes

stated. Naruto had kept him waiting for quite a while as the boy was kept

quite busy with his shinobi duties. Dranzer wasn't know to be the most

patient or understanding of their species.

"I apologize Dranzer, but as of now I will have an entire month to begin

my training before I must return to my village." Naruto was ready to

begin, he had not wanted to wait this long either but outside

circumstances had forced him to do such. He needed to get stronger that

much was obvious. While he was strong for a genin, or even a chunin,

there were still people much stronger than him. He had no illusions that

he would still be defeated by the likes of Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Minato,

and others like them.

He was not yet at Ace's level and knew that he would not be for a long

time. It was hard to train his flames, even with the cave he had

underneath the Naka Shrine. Many of the techniques he wanted to

perfect were far too destructive and would attract unwanted attention.

Here he could train to his heart's content without having anybody ask too

many questions.

"Good, there is much that I have to teach you before I die and am reborn.

When such a time comes Marco will take my place as the clan head."This

did not surprise Naruto. Marco was his familiar and knew just how strong

the blue phoenix was. He was only second to Dranzer and had still not

even come close to reaching his full potential yet.

"However there is still some time before such a thing happens, but it

would be best to dive headfirst into your training."The old phoenix spoke.

The phoenix clan had many different techniques as there were many

different types of phoenix, they had existed for thousands of years and

gone through many adaptations to the world. In fact, what many people

know as dragons are really phoenixes that have gone through evolution

so that they may protect the heavens above the skies and to guard the

moon and what it holds at its core."We shall start with your senjutsu

training, you have yet to master it even after years of training in the art.

This may be because you need an atmosphere that is rich in nature

chakra to fully be able to surpass your limits in the art. You have an

advantage in that you don't need to remain completely motionless

because you can passively absorb nature chakra, as you are made of one

of the components that forms nature. This is what we will start off our

training in."

Naruto nodded. He knew that with how intense Dranzer's training

methods were, he would not be getting much rest over the month. Would

he end up regretting his decision to come here? Too late for such

thoughts now, he would need absolute focus if he wanted to pass the

strength of all those in the tournament and all those outside as well. He

would not let anyone suppress the flames that were his will. The will of

fire shall rise from the ashes once more.

Chapter no.85

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....

Chunin Exam Arena - One Month Later

Konoha had been bristling with business over the past month. Many

people from outside of Konoha had come from outside the village walls

to watch the chunin exam tournament. Business was booming because of

the influx of visitors, more visitors meant more profit which would

benefit the village in the end. The chunin exams were always a main

attraction and would bring not only visitors, but more clients as well.

The stadium was packed full of people. There were almost no seats

available and it was filled to the brim with shinobi and civilians alike.

Many of which were running about trying o make their last minute bets,

hoping to win some extra cash based on who they thought was sure to

win it all. Many of the civilians had placed their bets on the Hokage's

children, knowing that their Hokage wouldn't let them participate

without training them to the full extent of his ability.

The streets had been bustling with activity hours ago, but now they were

quiet as a mouse. Many of the shops had even closed early so they could

watch the tournament as well. Everyone and anyone was now in the

stadium waiting for the exams to start.

Many of the most prominent people in Hi no Kuni were at the event.

Even VIPs who were from other countries had travelled all this way to

attend. Konoha was one of the strongest of the great nations alongside

Kumo and Iwa.

If someone were to look at the Kage Box then they would see several

prominent figures of the shinobi world. The first one that would be

noticed was the Yondaime Hakage, Namikaze Minato who was wearing

the traditional Hokage robes that had been passed down since the reign

of the Shodaime Hokage. To his left was a much shorter man that had the

appearance of a child. This was the Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura, who

wore a mesh shirt with a green scarf wrapped around his neck. He also

had on a green sash around his waist and adorned the Mizukage's

traditional hat. To Minato's right was the Yondaime Kazekage, Rasa. He

too adorned his traditional Kage robes.

Behind the three Kage were several notable figures. To those from

Konoha, they would easily be able to recognize Jiraiya of the sannin and

Uchiha Obito. Next to them were a beautiful redhead, Terumi Mei, and a

man with an eyepatch covering his right eye, Ao. The Suna bodyguards

wore large cloaks so they were unrecognizable.

It was rare to see more than two Kages to come to an event like this, as

many of the leaders of the great nations did not get along with one

another.

All of the chunin hopefuls stood in the middle of the coliseum floor

where the entire stadium could see them. They were the main reason for

all of the commotion that had been happening the past few weeks.

Everyone had come to see the prowess of the new generation. Most of

those in the audience had come to see the Hokage's three children or one

of the few remaining Uchiha in particular. Most people had bet on one of

them. Whatever the case, they were all there to represent their village

and show off its strength.

They had trained to their limits and beyond over the past month. Each

and every one of them could say that they had greatly improved

themselves in preparation for these matches. All of them stood before

Genma just as he was about to announce the rules and start the first

match. However, most of the genin representing Konoha were focused on

one person, Portgas D. Naruto.

Naruto stood in the middle of the line that the genin were made to stand

in. He maintained his usual impassive expression while his hands

remained in his pockets as he waited for Genma to start the proceedings.

Naruto had changed greatly over the past month. One change that had

surprised everyone who was familiar with him was that he actually

decided to wear clothes. He hadn't worn a shirt in months!

Naruto's appearance had changed a great deal. He now wore a short-

sleeved gray trench-coat that reaches just below his knees with the

Uchiha clan crest on the back. Underneath is a skin-tight, black, form-

fitting shirt. He has also opted to wear pants instead of his usual shorts.

His pants are black in color and reach down to his black combat boots, as

opposed to normal shinobi pants which only reach down to the calves.

His hitai-ate can still be seen being used as a belt buckle. A black chokuto

can be seen strapped to his back, however only the handle is visible

because he has chosen to wear in under his trench-coat. The majority of

his right arm is wrapped up in bandages and black gloves are worn on

each of his hands. He's opted to not wear his usual orange cowboy hat,

revealing his new short hairstyle that is somewhat reminiscent of Obito's

Naruto was done hiding behind someone else's appearance. This was who

he was. During his time training and all of the meditation needed to

become one with nature, Naruto had realized that he had been emulating

Ace. Though their beliefs were similar, they were not the same person.

Due to the time spent living Ace's life their personalities and identities

had merged in Naruto's mind and it became hard to distinguish who he

really was, that was the one thing that was holding him back. After

realizing this, he spent countless hours separating the two personalities

and he finally succeeded. This was who Naruto truly was.

Large blushes could be seen on the faces of the Kunoichi on the arena

floor, even Hana and Temari. For some reason now that he was fully

clothed, there was a feel of mystery and charm to him. Something that

woman seemed to be drawn to.

It was now that Genma decided to make his announcements. Seals had

been previously placed all over the stadium floor and walls so that the

audience could hear everything that was said by the proctor and the

contestants competing.

"Welcome to the chunin exam finals! My name is Shiranui Genma and I

will be the proctor for these exams."

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....

"Welcome to the chunin exam finals! My name is Shiranui Genma and I

will be the proctor for these exams."

He said as much to the genin as to the audience. "Every genin here today

had worked hard to get to this point of their careers and have already

made their respective villages proud by doing so...However you are here

today to show the strength of you village and which of you has what it

takes to become chunin!" The crowd cheered as they knew the matches

would be starting any moment now. "So without further ado we will now

begin the matches for the tournament!"

Uzumaki-Namikaze Natsuki vs. Sabaku no Temari

Genma walked over to where the proctor judged the match from and

looked at the lineup. "The first match will be Uzumaki-Namikaze Natsuki

versus Sabaku no Temari! Will those two please make their way to the

center of the arena. All other contestants, please make your way up to

the contestant's booth to observe the match." All of the other genin

walked towards the stairs up to their booth, leaving only Natsuki and

Temari behind.

Temari's appearance had not changed much over the month, she still

wore her usual battle dress that was made for purposes such as this.

Natsuki however changed into a more revealing attire, which many of

the men in Konoha were pleased to see. She wore a small black tank top

that ended just above her stomach, underneath was a short-sleeved mesh

shirt. She had on a short blue skirt, black shinobi sandals, and knee-

length tights. She wore her beautiful scarlet hair down as usual and her

katana was positioned at her waist.

Genma looked between the two kunoichi before speaking, "The same

rules apply here that were applied during the preliminary rounds. I trust

you remember them?" He received nods from both girls. "First match of

the chunin exam finals, Uzumaki-Namikaze Natsuki vs. Sabaku no

Temari. Begin!" He yelled as he swung his hand down from above his

head to signal the start of the match.

Natsuki immediately reached down to her waist and unsheathed her

katana. She locked eyes with the Suna-nin who had unstrapped her fan

from her back and they charged at each other. Normally one wouldn't use

a war fan in combat against a sword, but it seemed as if Temari had no

other choice. The girls traded slash after slash in an attempt to gain the

edge in this fight. Natsuki brought out her katana into a stab, but it was

easily blocked by Temari. The Suna kunoichi then brought her fan back,

intent on slamming it into Natsuki's side, but the girl managed to bring

her sword up in time to lessen the blow.

Natsuki was sent flying across the field until she flipped in mid-air and

drove her feet into the ground, slowing her down until she stopped

completely. She looked up and saw that Temari had already opened her

fan until all three stars were showing. She silently cursed to herself. She

had been trying to stop Temari from creating any distance between them

so she couldn't use her Futon jutsu, but it seemed as if she was too late.

"Kamaitachi no Jutsu (Wind Scythe Jutsu)!"With a single swing of her

fan, Temari created a giant air current which collided with one another

resulting in a large vacuum pocket. Natsuki knew that if she was hit by

this jutsu she would be assaulted by countless wind blades and the tide of

the battle would turn in her favor. She would not let that happen. She

wouldn't be beaten so easily.

Natsuki quickly sheathed he sword and weaved a few hand seals and

began molding chakra in her lungs."Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire

Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)!"Natsuki expelled a single stream of fire

from her mouth that took the form of a fairly large orb and soon engulfed

the oncoming Futon Jutsu. The wind only served to accelerate the flames

as they became hotter and moved at faster speeds toward Temari.

The blonde kunoichi cursed as she channeled chakra to her feet and

jumped far to her right as the flames shot right passed her. She looked

over to her opponent and saw her panting fairly hard.

Natsuki had found out that she had three elemental affinities, Futon,

Raiton, and Suiton. She had gotten her Suiton affinity from her mother

and her Raiton and Futon affinities from her father. She didn't have a

Katon affinity but Kakashi had taught he some Katon jutsu anyways

because she was up against a Futon user in her first match. Because she

didn't have an affinity for it, Katon jutsus took much more chakra than

any of her other elements.

Temari couldn't waste too much chakra right now, so she would have to

resort to other methods. She pulled out three kunai with exploding tags

attached from her weapons pouch and through them at the still form of

Natsuki. Natsuki was forced to dodge the kunai as they impacted the

ground, but she hadn't noticed the exploding tags attached and was

blown away a good distance by the explosion.

She slowly got up, slightly ragged from the impact of the blast, and

quickly unsheathed her sword to block the shuriken that were coming at

her. Natsuki quickly rushed at Temari once more. Temari was quickly on

the defense because she didn't want to waste to much charka here in a

fight such as this one. Natsuki was wildly slashing at Temari, not giving

her a chance to break free from the clash or gain any distance between

them. Finally Natsuki managed to get inside her guard and slashed her

across the stomach. It was a shallow slash, but she still managed to draw

first blood.

Natsuki jumped back and went through a few more hand seals."Suiton:

Teppodama (Water Release: Gunshot)!"She sent three large, condensed

balls of water towards Temari, who easily dodged. The fast moving

projectiles continued and impacted the ground next to her, leaving only

small cracks.

Natsuki was about to fire more of the same jutsu at her, but Temari

quickly raised her arm. "Proctor, I forfeit. It's obvious my Futon jutsu

won't do me any good here and I don't have many other techniques

besides that." Genma quickly nodded his head, accepting the answer and

stepped forward.

"Winner by forfeit, Uzumaki-Namikaze Natsuki!"

The crowd erupted in a roar as they continued to cheer on one of the

favorites of the tournament. Temari turned around and walked up the

stairs towards the contestant's booth, leaving a confused Natsuki behind.

She had thought the fight would have kept on going, Temari obviosly had

plenty of chakra left and didn't even look tired in the slightest. She stared

on for a few moments before making her way up to the booth as well.

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Kage Booth

"That fight was a bit disappointing don't you think?" Yagura asked the

other Kage. "Both of them were daughters of Kage and yet neither of

them showed qualities befitting of a chunin."

"Ah yes that's true. My daughter is more specialized in Futon, but it

appears as if she needs more training to combat her weaknesses." Rasa

stated, but he was commending Temari inwardly for not wasting too

much chakra on a match that would not have mattered either way. All

that mattered was the invasion that would start during Gaara's match at

the end of the tournament.

Minato frowned, he thought he had taught his children better than to

fight straight on from the very start and to judge you opponents first, but

he was still glad that she had won. She would have time to prove that she

is chunin material later on in the finals. "I'm sure Natsuki will show more

of her potential in the oncoming matches."

"Oh one of the remaining Uchiha and your other daughter are fighting

next Hokage-dono. I'm looking forward to this matchup very much. It

should prove to be quite interesting." Rasa stated.

Minato hoped that Narumi would be okay. Satsuki had proved to be quite

ruthless in the preliminary rounds and hoped that she would not

permanently cripple Narumi if she had the chance. No, he knew that

wouldn't happen. Narumi had been personally trained by him, Kushina,

Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Tsunade in the past. There was no way that she

could lose.

Combatant Booth

Naruto was standing on one end of the booth with Satsuki and Hana by

his sides. Narumi was only standing a few feet away because she wanted

to be near her Nii-san and she also wanted to hear what he had to say.

"That match was a bit dull...I honestly expected much more from both of

them." Naruto said, he was obviously expecting a more exciting match.

"Don't worry Nii-san! I won't disappoint you. I'll show you just how much

I learned during my training with Obito-sensei!" Satsuki said as she heard

the proctor call for her and Narumi to come down to the arena.

A moment later the female Uchiha and the Hokage's daughter both left

the booth, with Narumi giving one last glance at Naruto before she

followed Satsuki down the stairs.

Hana had been curious about something for a while. "Ne Naruto? When

did you learn Kenjutsu? I thought you said that you weren't a usual user

of Bukijutsu?"

Naruto nodded, he expected her or Satsuki would ask. He had learned

Kenjutsu extensively under Shisui's training, but wanted to focus more on

other aspects of his shinobi training. Then after he adopted part of Ace's

personality, he chose not to focus on weapons at all. Ace had never used

weapons and didn't have much of a like for them. Those opinions

transferred on to Naruto and he eventually dropped his Kenjutsu training.

This past month of training he had picked up the art once again after

remembering how useful it was.

"I guess you could say I'm an old hand at it. I haven't picked up a sword

in years, but I've gotten back into my training over the past month."

Naruto said as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Hana noticed

this and found it odd. Naruto was always serious and would only act

sincerely to Mikoto or Satsuki, but she hadn't seen him like this in years.

It was...strange.

Uchiha Satsuki vs. Uzumaki-Namikaze Narumi

The second match of Uchiha Satsuki and Uzumaki-Namikaze Narumi will

now begin!" He yelled before heShunshinedout of the way.

Satsuki quickly activated her sharingan as Narumi took the Uzumaki

Taijutsu stance and charged at her. Satsuki would not be drawn into her

pace of the battle. She quickly sweep kicked Narumi and followed up

with a kick to her side, effectively sending her a dozen feet away.

Satsuki made a quickShunshinand reappeared next to one of the trees on

the edge of the arena. She needed to plan out her moves carefully. This

exam wasn't just about overpowering your opponent, you needed to show

strategy and be able to think on your feet. That's why Nii-san said he was

disappointed with the last fight, all they did was rush at each other and

throw their jutsus around carelessly.

Narumi got up a moment later and looked around the battlefield, unable

to find her opponent. She wanted to fight this girl for a long time, she

had stolen her place as Naruto-kun's imouto. In all honesty she was

jealous of the place that Satsuki held in Naruto's heart. But now she

finally gets the chance to fight her and she runs away.

She calmed herself down and tried to focus onto Satsuki's chakra

signature. She had to spread out her senses quite a bit in order to find

her, but she finally managed to do it.

Narumi quicklyShunshinedacross the battlefield, and reappeared only a

dozen feet away from her. Narumi quickly pulled out two hanfuls of

shuriken and launched them toward the girl. The shuriken pierced

Satsuki but she was soon covered in a cloud of smoke, signaling to

Narumi that she managed to use theKawarimi. However, Narumi noticed

too late that she had used a log covered in exploding tags for her escape.

There was a loud explosion, and Narumi could be seen flying through the

air as she was launched back into the middle of the battlefield. The blond

was covered in scrapes and bruises, but was otherwise fine. She slowly

began to get up, but immediately pulled out two kunai from her holster

as shuriken begaan raining down on her from above.

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu)!"Satsuki

yelled as the fifty shuriken turned into a hundred. She had stored a large

amount of shuriken in a preprepared scroll, as this was one of her

favorite jutsus. It worked especially well when the target managed to fall

into a trap.

Narumi quickly realized that she wouldn't be able to block them all with

just kunai. She was only able to use one jutsu without forming hand seals

and she was thanking all her training right now for it being this

jutsu."Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!"Narumi

exhaled a large amount of wind from her lungs and sent all of the

shuriken flying the other direction and into a wall.

She wouldn't give Satsuki another chance to prepare any more traps. She

rushed the girl and engaged her in a bout of Taijutsu. Narumi sent a kick

towards Satsuki's side, which was easily blocked by bringing her arm out.

The female Uchiha responded by grabbing onto the leg and sweeping her

other one out from under her, causing her to fall. Satsuki sent a fist

toward her face as she hit the ground, but Narumi quickly rolled out of

the way.

The Uzumaki-Namikaze sent her own kick towards Satsuki's legs, causing

said girl's knees to buckle. As she lost her balance, Narumi quickly sprung

herself up and slammed her fist into Satsuki's gut. However, the girl held

strong and retaliated with a palm thrust into her chest. The blonde wasn't

as experienced in Taijutsu as Satsuki was and was forced back as she spit

up some saliva.

Narumi knew she couldn't keep up with her foe in Taijutsu alone. She

needed an advantage. The Hokage's daughter formed a few familiar hand

seals and began molding her chakra,"Suiton: Mizuame Nabara (Water

Release: Starch Syrup Capturing Field)!"She released a sticky liquid from

her mouth that was meant to cover Satsuki's mobility. The liquid slowly

began to cover most of the area they were fighting on and was about to

ensnare Satsuki.

Unfortunately for the girl, Satsuki was an Uchiha and once they see

something, they never forget it. Natsuki had used this same jutsu against

Hinata in the preliminary rounds.

"Sorry Narumi-san, but I've already seen this jutsu before, it won't work."

Satsuki said confidently as she jumped up as the liquid flowed beneah

her. She concentrated chakra to her feet and stood on top of the sticky

liquid as if it were merely water.

She then crouched down and channeled chakra into the seals on her arm

sleeves, summoning several shuriken. She threw them at Narumi but the

girls was easily able to dodge them.

"It seems your aim has gotten worse since you last tried that." Narumi

commented confidently.

However, Satsuki only smirked as she pulled on some wire that was

nearly invisible and he shuriken came back around and tied the wire

tightly around Narumi, completely immobilizing her. The blonde gasped

as she felt herself unable to move.

"Katon: Bakufu Ranbu (Fire Release: Blast Wave Wild Dance)."Satsuki

expelled a continuos stream of intense flames which began to spiral

outwards, creating a massive fire vortex. The flames were guided by the

wire and moved to consume Narumi and turn her into nothing but a pile

of ash.

Narumi cursed as she felt the heat of the flames, before an idea popped

into her head for her way of escape. She concentrated wind chakra

around her body and formed various small wind blades which cut

through the wire holding her. She jumped to her left to narrowly escape

the torrent of flames that passed by.

Narumi wanted to impress her Nii-san, but this girl was far better than

she had anticipated. What he said a month ago had really hurt her. He

had essentially cut all ties with their family by claiming that he would

never see Minato and Kushina as parents. Where did that leave her?

Would she be left alone too? She didn't want to be abandoned by him the

same way that he was by their parents. But such things were out of her

control as they barely had any contact as it was.

Satsuki couldn't let this drag on any longer, she needed to save her

chakra for the next round. She needed to finish this now. Narumi slowly

got back up to her feet as the stream of fire had ended. She looked up to

find Satsuki but she had lost her once again. Suddenly she felt another

presence right below her and looked down to see Satsuki with her left leg

extended. Narumi felt an excruciating pain in her jaw as Satsuki kicked

her up into the air.

The ravenette didn't stop there as she quicklyShunshinedbehind Narumi

to initiate the next step of her favored Taijutsu technique. Satsuki spun

around Narumi and slammed the back of her forearm into her chest

sending her downwards. Satsuki slammed her forearm into the girl once

more, increasing the speed at which they decended.

"Come back here! I'm not done yet!Shishi Rendan (Lion's Barrage)!"

Satsuki flipped in mid-air and dropped an axe-kick into the girl's gut just

before they made contact with the ground, causing Narumi to cough up a

large amount of blood before succumbing to unconsciousness. Satsuki

was sent sliding away from the momentum of her rendition of theOmote

Renge (Front Lotus). She looked back and saw that the ground had

cracked where Narumi had landed.

Satsuki sighed and slowly got up. She didn't want to use that move,

especially on a comrade, but it used almost no chakra and excess use was

something she couldn't afford at the moment.

She also didn't like the fact that Narumi continuously tried to worm her

was back into her Nii-san's life, even after everything that they had done

to him. Her and Natsuki's continued attempts were starting to annoy her,

so she didn't feel to bad about using theShishi Rendan (Lion's Barrage)on

her. After all her Nii-san was hers and hers alone. Well she would

probably have to share with Kaa-chan, but she would just have to deal

with that.

"Winner by knock out, Uchiha Satsuki!" Genma announced after checking

on Narumi.

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The crowd was speechless for a moment at what they just saw, before

erupting into cheers once more. It was a great match in their opinion and

would like to see both of the girls promoted to chunin. Many of them

were cheering because they had bet on the heiress of the Uchiha clan,

while others were in tears as they had thought that the Hokage's

daughter would win for sure.

Satsuki headed back up the stairs after seeing Narumi being taken away

by a gurney by the medical squad who was on standby for those who

were injured in combat.

Kage Box

"That was quite an impressive match for two genin." Rasa commented. "I

believe that the Uchiha girl already has what it takes to be a chunin. She

proved to be able to think with a clear head and not let her opponent

control the pace of the battle from the start."

Minao nodded, "I agree she is quite skilled and those traps that she set up

at the start of the match were a good plan on such short notice. She

easily held the pace of the match from the very beginning. But what

about Narumi?" Minato wanted his daughter to be promoted to chunin,

but she was alwasy brash and rekless just like her mother. She charged

into the match without a plan and showed very little strategy.

"While she did prove to be skilled and was able to utilize two different

charka natures, there was little forethought to her actions and when she

got tired of how the match ws playing out she recklessly charged at her

opponent to try to take control by force. I don't think that she's ready

quite yet." Yagura gave the Hokage his opinion on the matter.

"I also agree. You really need to teach your daughters some discipline

Hokage-dono, they both seem quite stubborn and headstrng." Rasa

commented.

Minato could only sigh, "It's a trait that they got from their mother,

there's little I can do to break something like that...no matter how much I

want to."

Stands

In one section of the stands sat Mikoto, Kushina, Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai,

Asuma, and a majority of the genin from the rookie 13 and Gai's team.

Even Lee was there. During the thirty day break between the

preliminaries and now, Tsunade had operated on his injuries and the

surgery had turned out successful. Many were worried that he would

never be a shinobi again, but he was good as new and even screaming

about the flames of youth as they spoke.

Mikoto was cheering like wild as she watched Satsuki win her match. She

was a mother, what was she supposed to do. Kushina had done the same

thing when Natsuki had won, so why couldn't she now. She also wanted

to rub it in Kushina's face a little. That her daughter had won while

Narumi had lost. One of the very children that Naruto was thrown aside

for, some good all that extra training did them.

Kushina gave her a glare before turning her eyes back to the arena. She

was disappointed that her Narumi-chan had lost in the first round,

especially with all of the training they had done over the past few weeks.

At least Natsuki had made it to the next round.

"I'm surprised that you aren't upset that Satsuki copied your student's

technique Gai. You looked quite angry when Nawaki did the same thing

in the preliminaries." Kakashi stated as he didn't even take his eyes off of

his little orange book.

"Well unlike your thief of a student, Obito had asked me for permission

to train Satsuki-san in the Goken style. Such things as stealing techniques

are most unyouthful." Gai responded.

Kushina gave Gai a glare for calling her son a thief, but she couldn't

argue with him there. Nawaki had blatantly stole a technique that

someone had worked hard to master and then wrote it off as his own. She

should have taught him better than that.

Many were surprised that Satsuki had one. She was one of the top

kunoichi who had graduated the academy this year and many of her

classmates idolized her, for both her skills and her beauty, but she was

completely defeated by Satsuki.

She had shown to be able to use two elements, but she had yet to learn

how to use them effectively and when to use them. Her Taijutsu was only

average and she was beaten before she could use the Kyuubi's chakra.

Most of the Jonin in the stands didn't see anything very impressive from

Narumi, it was obvious to many that she needed more training or that

their senseis teaching wasn't very effective.

"Oh look! Naruto-kun's up next! I've been waiting forever to see him

fight!" Mikoto squealed like a school girl.

Kushina raised an eyebrow at her friend's actions as did many of the

others who knew her.

"You seem awfully excited to see Naruto-kun, Mikoto-chan...why is that"

Mikoto then noticed that she spoke out loud, ah it didn't really matter did

it? "What exactly are you trying to imply Kushina-chan?"

"What exactly is your involvement with my son?" Kushina asked, getting

more irritated by the second.

Mikoto thought about telling her for a minute, but she would prefer

Naruto to do that. Plus it would be quite funny to see him not care at all

when Kushina overreacted and tried to tell him that it was wrong.

"I just want to see him compete is all." Mikoto said in an overly innocent

voice. "He does live with me after all, and we are quite close."

Kushina eyed her suspiciously before accepting the answer and turning

her head back towards the arena.

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Portgas D. Naruto vs. Uzumaki-Namikaze Nawaki

Naruto stood in the center of the arena as he listened to the roars of the

crowd. He would give them a show that they would remember for the

rest of their lives, one way or another. Naruto was done hiding. Naruto

was tired of hiding how strong he really was, tired of keeping all of these

secrets, Naruto was just tired of it all. Today would be the very day that

the will of fire rises once again.

Naruto impassively eyed his opponent who was standing across from

him. Nawaki hadn't changed much since the ravenette had last seen him.

Nawaki was now wearing an orange and black jumpsuit as opposed to his

usual orange and blue ones. Naruto didn't understand the family's

fascination with orange. Yes, Naruto had previously worn and orange hat

and belt, but he didn't stand out like sitting duck in the color nor did he

completely cover himself in it. Nawaki also wore what looked like a mesh

shirt underneath and blue shinobi sandals. Over his jumpsuit he wore a

haori similar to Minato's, however Nawaki's version was red with black

flames licking the bottom edges and had the Uzumaki crest on the back..

What really caught Naruto's attention though was the cylindrical hilt of a

sword on Nawaki's waist.'It seems as if Minato has given him the Raijin

no Ken to wield...oh well, it's only a minor hinderance...Though this does

give me some useful information. One must have a natural Raiton affinity

to use that sword to its fullest potential.'Naruto thought after seeing the

blade.

Nawaki looked confident to say the least. He had no doubt that he would

win this match easily. He had spent the entire month training with his

father and the toad sage Jiraiya. Tsunade had also given him Senju

Tobirama's notes on how to wield the Raijin no Ken and how to utilize it

to its full capabilities, unlike what Rokusho Ao was able to do with the

blade when they fought him. It would definitely give him the edge.

"You might as well give up now." Nawaki said to Naruto as Genma began

to walk over to them. "You won't be able to use your Hyoton that Tou-san

told me about here. Take a look around...there's no ice. You stand no

chance against me, just save yourself the embarrassment and forfeit."

Naruto sighed at his opponent's speech. Nawaki had always been too

arrogant for his own good. Before the chunin exams started, the only

jutsu he knew were theKage Bunshin, the basic academy jutsus, and a

single Doton jutsu. He usually just drew on the Kyuubis chakra and tried

to overwhelm his opponents with brute force. The only reason he was

even able to drew upon the demonic chakra was because the Bijuu was

still hypnotized and wouldn't resist. That wouldn't be a problem for too

much longer though.

"I'm not planning to quit so easily after coming so far...and if I remember

correctly...you were the one who was sent to the hospital after their

preliminary match, not me." Naruto was tired of dealing with the boy's

attitude, seriously one would think that he was a Hyuga.

Nawaki gritted his teeth at the memory, "Tch! Fine by me, but I won't

give you any mercy from here on out...remember that I gave you a

chance when I'm ripping you apart piece by piece."

Genma saw that the two genin in front of him had finished their

conversation and decided to start the match, it was obvious to him that

the genin wanted to begin so that they could rip each other limb from

limb. Genma sighed, this match was sure to get messy and at least one of

them would come out of it bloody and broken.

Genma raised his arm up above his head and began to speak, "Let the

third match, Portgas D. Naruto vs. Uzumaki-Namikaze Nawaki, begin!"

He yelled as he brought his arm down to signal the start right before

heShunshinedaway.

Nawaki didn't need to be told twice. He quickly formed his hands into a

cross-shaped hand seal,"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone

Jutsu)!"Fifteen perfect copies of himself popped into existence and began

their charge at Naruto.

Naruto wasn't fazed in the slightest at the amount ofKage Bunshinthat

were coming at him. He had expected a maneuver like this, this very

jutsu was widely known to be Nawaki's favorite and most used. Naruto

had never been one to shy away from a fight, even if he was

outnumbered. He got into his usual Interceptor Fist stance and prepared

to counter.

Naruto easily sidestepped a kunai strike and dispatched the clone with a

quick elbow strike. He ducked as two more clones came to stab him, but

ended up striking each other instead, causing them to dispel. The

sharingan user quickly jumped over two more oncoming clones, and

forced them to dispel with a powerful kick to the head. The clones began

to surround him after he disposed of three more with a few well placed

kicks and palm strikes.

Naruto saw this as the perfect opportunity to rid himself of this

distraction. He jumped into the air and began to spin, pulling out several

shuriken and launching them at the remaining clones. It was a technique

that he had seen Itachi practicing when they were younger, though he

was using kunai and throwing them at targets.

Naruto now stood in the center of the empty battlefield. All of theKage

Bunshinhad been successfully dispelled, however, Nawaki was nowhere

in sight. Normally this would be a cause for concern, as the next attack

could come from anywhere, but Naruto knew exactly where Nawaki was.

The ravenette had been usingKenbunshoku Hakithe entire time and knew

what Nawaki's plan was from the very start.

'Doton: Dochū Eigyo no Jutsu (Earth Release: Underground Projection

Fish Jutsu)."Nawaki thought to himself. He had been moving

underground silently, planning to catch Naruto off guard with a sneak

attack. He would have his clones keep Naruto busy while he crept up

beneath him, preparing for a devastating right hook to below Naruto's

chin.

However, Naruto would not let him enact his master plan. He had

already sensed that Nawaki was a few feet blow the ground and still

about ten feet away from him, so he thought this was a perfect

opportunity to test out one of his newly developed techniques.

Naruto crouched down so that he was sitting back on his calves and only

the balls of his feet were on the ground. He raised both of his arms up

into the air and bent them as if he was going to throw a punch. His

current actions confused many of the onlookers in the audience,

including all of the jonin-senseis, genin, and even his team. Unbeknownst

to them, their confusion would be turned into utter shock in only a

moment.

Naruto coated both of his arms inBusoskoku Hakiand slammed his

clenched fists into the ground. The impact of his fists caused large cracks

to appear all across the ground within a twenty five yard radius of him.

Naruto began channeling his Haki into the ground, causing waves of a

clear blue energy to be emitted from them."Ryusoken: Ryu no Ibuki

(Dragon Claw Fists: Dragon's Breath)!"The waves of Haki became

incredibly intense until the ground started to break even more. With one

final push, all of the ground in the twenty five yard radius shattered and

was thrown into the air into a large twister of Haki.

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Nawaki was thrown into the air and sucked into the twister of Haki and

debris when Naruto completes his technique. The shock on his face was

evident, as his eyes were literally popping out of his head and his jaw

was on the ground. With a final push, Nawaki and all of the debris were

sent flying in all different directions across the arena.

Nawaki slowly recovered and his eyes bulged once again when he saw

what had happened to the arena. Naruto was standing on a lone pillar of

earth, with all of the ground surrounding him completely destroyed. The

massive crater was right in the middle of the arena floor and would

greatly hinder whoever would be participating in the following matches

if it was not fixed. However, the arena was rather large so they still had

plenty of room to continue the match. Nawaki was not injured to badly,

there were cuts and bruises all over his body but other than that he was

fine. Though his clothing was covered in dirt and debris from the

destructive attack.

Naruto finally stood up from his crouch and surveyed what his technique

had done.'Not bad...it could use a little fine tuning and I could probably

make the radius larger, but it's a start.'The technique he had used was

meant to destroy the surroundings and alter the terrain they were

fighting on. He smiled, knowing that he had effectively countered

whatever Nawaki had been planning.

He chuckled as he didn't hear a single sound from the crowd, they were

shocked into absolute silence. It was a sign that his power had surpassed

their expectation. There would be much more to come. Naruto leaped

into the air from his spot on the earth pillar and landed just outside of his

technique's blast radius.

Nawaki was broken out of his shock when he felt Naruto's presence get

much closer. He looked up and saw that he was now standing just outside

of the crater.'That jutsu may have been impressive...but this match is far

from over. Fate has already decided that I will be the victor!'

"That was quite impressive for the family dropout...but here is where the

real battle starts!" Nawaki yelled before reaching into his weapons pouch

and grabbing two handfuls of shuriken. He launched the shuriken in

Naruto's direction with rather poor aim, but it wouldn't matter because of

what he had planned."Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow

Clone Jutsu)"Four shuriken turned into thirty as they sped towards

Naruto.

Strangely enough, Naruto didn't move a muscle or even move to defend

himself. He could hear the screams of the other genin in the stands for

him to get out of the way and saw that the proctor was about to leap into

action. Naruto only smirked, which was clue enough for everyone not to

concern themselves with him. He turned his body to fire and allowed the

shuriken to pass right through him, surprising everyone in the arena.

Nawaki's smirk dropped as he saw that his shuriken had no effect on his

opponent. "What was that! What the hell are you!" Nawaki demanded as

he ot up from his knees.

"I am that which will burn down this very world...now if I've satisfied

your curiosity...why don't you dance for me?" Naruto asked as he formed

his index and middle fingers on both hands into the shape of guns."Higan

(Fire Gun)!"He turned his fingertips into flames and began to shoot

bullets made of fire at Nawaki's feet.

Nawaki was forced to jump back and run from the bullets as they

continued to impact the ground, wherever he stood. He sprinted to his

right to try to get some distance between him and his brother, but it was

to no avail as the bullets continued to chase after him. Finally he decided

that he had enough of running.

"Doton: Renga no Jutsu (Earth Release: Earth Style Barrier)!"Nawaki

turned around and placed his hands on the ground after forming a few

hand seals. A large wall of earth erupted from the ground in front of him,

blocking the fire bullets from reaching him. This was the most basic

Doton technique that even those without a primary Doton affinity could

preform easily, but it was quite effective in blocking weaker attacks. It

also helped that it used very little chakra.

Nawaki had greatly trained his Doton affinity during the last month, his

Doton and Raiton affinities were his strongest. He had found out that he

had affinities for four of the five basic elements. The only one he didn't

have an affinity for was Katon. One month wasn't enough time to learn to

use all of them properly, so he had decided to focused on his strongest

ones first.

He needed to think of a plan. Nawaki knew that this low-level barrier

wouldn't hold against any of Naruto's stronger attacks if he had any. If he

couldn't block Naruto's attacks fully, then he would trap Naruto himself.

The orange-clad genin rushed out from behind his barrier and saw that

Naruto had slowly begun to walk towards him. This was perfect. He

moved his hands into the rat hand seal and channeled his chakra into the

earth.

"Doton: Ganban Kyū (Earth Release: Bedrock Coffin)."Multiple sections of

rock erupted all around Naruto and mover to completely surround him,

creating a large, thick earth dome. Two larger sections of earth formed

with the intent to crush the ravenette, but Nawaki shouldn't have

underestimated his brother.

"Enkai (Flame Commandment)."Nawaki heard from inside of the earth

dome."Hibashira (Fire Pillar)!"A large crimson-orange column of fire

erupted from the earth dome, completely destroying Nawaki's jutsu.

Nawaki couldn't help but stare in awe and jealousy at the flames before

him. They were magnificent and beautiful beyond belief. He was sure

that he would never see another sight quite like this one. The flames

danced into the sky as if they would never die out, illuminating the

coliseum even further. The audience too stared as the flames burned.

Normal Katon jutsu looked nothing like this, they could even feel the

heat the flames gave off from all the way up in the stands.

The earth beneath Naruto began to melt into magma from the intense

heat it was experiencing. The molten earth slowly began to spread as the

flames continued to erupt into the sky.

The flames soon dissipated and Naruto walked out of the center of them,

completely unharmed. There were sections of his body that were on fire,

but he didn't seem bothered by them in the least. In fact, it seemed as if

he welcomed the flamed to his body. All of the flames that were left

behind from the previous attack converged onto his form as he began to

glow yellow and merged with them.

"Do you still think you have a chance at victory Nawaki?...Gice up now

and I will save you the embarrassment of being burned alive in front of

all these people." Naruto stated, giving Nawaki the same choice that he

was given before the match started.

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....

Nawaki scoffed, "Ha! You think some pitiful embers will scare me away?

I will be the one walking away the winner!" Nawaki declared. He began

channeling large amounts of the Kyuubi's chakra around his body. The

charka became visible within moments and took the form of a fox with

two tails surrounding him. This was as far as Nawaki could go with the

Kyuubi's chakra, the two-tailed chakra cloak was one of his last resorts

but it also greatly increased the strength of his attacks.

Nawaki charged Naruto at speeds which he had never had before. Naruto

once again coated his arms withBusoshoku Hakiand prepared for the

fierce attacks that he knew would come. He had not forgotten the last

time he had faced someone using the Kyuubi's chakra cloak, he still had

the scars to prove it. He would not hold back anymore. Nawaki needed to

be dealt with, Naruto could sense that he was just on the brink of losing

control. With that in mind, he took the stance of the Ryusoken and

steeled himself.

Nawaki wildly swung his clawed hands down in an attempt to tear

Naruto in half. Naruto blocked the strike by merely bringing on of his

Haki coated arms above his head. Naruto used this opening to deliver a

swift kick to Nawaki's side, sending him skidding a few feet to the left.

Nawaki charged again and unleashed a barrage of strikes with his claws,

however Naruto closed his eyes and easily evaded every single one. He

sidestepped Nawaki and pushed his outstretched arm away as he

delivered a crushing palm strike to the Kyuubified boy's shoulder,

shattering the bone.

Nawaki let out an inhuman roar as he clutched his shoulder in pain.

Naruto could see the third tail about to sprout out, but it was retracted

immediately as Nawaki regained control of himself. He sent a kick

towards Naruto's head, but said boy immediately ducked and sent

Nawaki into the air as he retaliated with a kick of his own.

Nawaki flipped in mid-air and skidded to a stop, using his feet as brakes.

He was panting quite hard and the Kyuubi chakra was rapidly healing the

bone that was shattered in their earlier confrontation. The boy growled

lowly as he knew he was being beaten.

Suddenly Naruto disappeared and reappeared directly behind Nawaki

crouching on the ground. Nawaki looked behind him to counter, but he

already knew it was too late as her heard the name of the jutsu.

"Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ogi, Obito's Teachings: Sennen Goroshi

(Hidden Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu, Obito's Teachings: One

Thousand Years of Death)!"Naruto coated his fingers with Haki and

formed them into the tiger seal and thrust the hand seal into Nawaki's

ass, propelling him high into the air with chakra. Nawaki's pained

screams could be heard for miles as flew through the air and landed in

one of the trees.

Many in the stands either sweatdropped or blushed at hearing the name

of the technique and seeing what it really did.

Obito tried to hide within the cloak he was wearing as he felt the eyes of

all those in the Kage box turn to him. He had used the jutsu on Naruto

once during training and he guessed the genin had managed to copy it.

What a huge mistake.

Nawaki had enough. That was the most embarrassing thing that has ever

happened to him. Kakashi-sensei had used that very same technique on

him during their genin survival test and now Naruto used it here, in front

of all these people! He would finish his estranged brother right here once

and for all!

Nawaki slowly went through the hand seals and wiped the blood from his

mouth with his thumb."Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"Nawaki

slammed his hand down on the ground and put a large amount of chakra

into the jutsu.

A giant puff of smoke erupted from where Nawaki was standing, and

soon covered a majority of the arena. The smoke soon dispersed and

revealed a large, rust-colored toad with a pipe sticking out of its mouth

and a tanto on his hip.

"Hm? Why have you summoned me here you Gaki?"The booming voice of

Gamabunta could be heard asking to Nawaki who was on its head.

"Boss, I told you I was in the chunin exam finals and might need you

help!" Nawaki yelled down at the giant toad.

"And just why should I help you?"

"Come on boss!" Nawaki whined. "You're supposed to help your

underlings aren't you?"

Naruto could only sweatdrop at the interaction between summoner and

and the one who was summoned. Was this supposed to be some kind of

jolke or comedy routine to throw him off guard? Him and his summons

acted nowhere like that. It just proves that the toads were a pretentious

an foolish species if they wouldn't even help those who they let sign their

contract.

"Very well...I suppose that I will help you this once."Gamabunta stated,

after which he looked at Naruto."We'll start off with the usual

combination then."

Gamabunta released a large jet of oil from his mouth, with the stream

heading towards Naruto, after which Nawaki through several kunai with

explosive tags into it causing the jutsu to ignite."Katon Gamayu Endan

(Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet)!"They yelled simultaneously as the

giant flamethrower charged at Naruto with great speeds. It had far

greater power and magnitude than Nawaki could ever hope to use with

his non-existent Katon affinity. Nawaki smiled, wanting Naruto to be

burned alive with the same jutsus that he was so fond of.

Naruto didn't even move a muscle or bat an eyelid. Nawaki was foolish to

try and finish him off with his own jutsu. The flamethrower crashed into

Naruto and the ground, igniting everything in its path and scorching

whatever it came into contact with.

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....

Gasps of horror could be heard all over the stadium, especially from the

combatant booth and where all of the people who knew Naruto were

sitting. They couldn't believe that Nawaki would go as far as to kill

Naruto for the sake of winning.

Natsuki, Narumi, and Kushina were all in tears as they saw the flames

swallow Naruto, nobody could survive that. He was gone, now and

forever. They would never have their chance for forgiveness. They could

never even begin to imagine what they would do without Naruto driving

them forward. It was all that Narumi and Natsuki lived for, to be loved

and acknowledged by him. To have a life with him, and now he was

gone.

"Haha! You thought you would be burning me alive! How does it feel to

be incinerated by your own jutsus?" Nawaki laughed at the large sea of

flames beneath him and the toad he was standing on.

"Your flames are pathetic. You dare to call this a Katon jutsu?" A voice

could be heard from the arena floor, catching everyone off guard. Natsuki

and Narumi looked up with hope shining in their eyes as they recognized

who it was. The flamed were drawn to the center of the arena and were

sucked into what looked like a vortex. When the flames finally

converged, they revealed a glowing yellow Naruto who was still

absorbing the last of the flames.

"WHA-WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!" Nawaki yelled as he fell back onto

his butt on top of Gamabunta's head. "You should be dead! Any normal

person would have died!"

Naruto ignored his question and decided to continue his monologue. "Let

me show you what real flames are...let us all burn together." Naruto bent

down and crossed his arms over each other, summoning a sea of spiraling

flames centered on his location."Dai Enkai (Great Flame

Commandment)!"The flames surrounding him suddenly started amassing

at the palm of Naruto's right hand as he held it above his head. The large

amount of flames manifested to reveal a large mass of yellow energy

surrounded by flames, resembling the sun."Entei (Flame Emporer)!"

The technique was easily as large as Gamabunta, if not bigger. "Let's see

which is stronger. The water or the sun." Naruto hurled the giant mass of

energy forward with the intent to obliterate his opponents. Nawaki's eyes

widened as he saw the fireball become bigger and bigger after it

impacted them with the strength of a meteor. It consumed them instantly

and continued to disintegrate the large wall behind them, completely

destroying it before the technique dispersed.

What it revealed was that Gamabunta was forced to dispel after shielding

Nawaki for as long as he could. Nawaki was laying in the pile of rubble,

unconscious and covered in burns, especially the left side of his face.

That may never be repaired no matter what operations were performed.

The wall behind them was obliterated and now there was nothing to even

suggest that there had been a wall there in the first place, revealing a

beautiful view of the village in its place. It was a good thing that nobody

was up there and it was in the opposite direction of the audience.

Genma quickly called the medics over to Nawaki's location before

walking to the center of the arena. "Winner by knock out, Portgas D.

Naruto!"

Naruto was met with silence as he began to walk off the field. However,

the audience soon erupted into cheers after recovering from the titanic

battle that they had just witnessed.

An assistant in the tournament came running up to Genma and whispered

something in his ear before running back to the sidelines. Genma

coughed once to clear his throat and gain the attention of the audience.

"Excuse me everyone! There will be a one hour intermission so that we

may repair the arena, combatants please use this time to recover from

your previous matches or to prepare for your upcoming matches"

With those words said he walked off the field to begin coordinating the

repairs for the arena floor, but more importantly the arena wall. If a stray

jutsu were to make it through there, then the village itself would be

damaged. He would need to gather Doton users to begin the reparations.

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Combatant Booth

Naruto was once again met by silence as he ascended into the waiting

booth. He did not care if they feared or admired him now, there was just

no point in dealing with it. Now that Nawaki was out of the way, it

would be far easier to release the Kyuubi sealed within Natsuki from

Madara's control. However, Naruto was broken from his thoughts as he

felt something glomp onto him.

He looked down and found Satsuki tightly hugging him around his

stomach.

"I knew you could do it Nii-san! You had me so worried when you were

hit by that Katon jutsu! Never do that again understand!" She looked up

at him with a demanding look on her face. She could be quite scary and

controlling at times.

"Hai Hai. Understood ma'am." Naruto said sarcastically as he saluted the

smaller girl in front of him, this earned him a smack to the back of the

head from said girl. She then pulled him in closer and snuggled her face

into his chest. Girls confused him, they could go from demanding devils

to devoted little sisters within the span of a moment.

Hana watched the interaction between siblings with a smile on her face.

"You're odd sibling act aside, that was quite impressive Naruto. I had no

idea you could do things like that. You've been keeping secrets from us."

Hana said teasingly as she shook her head. Satsuki too, brought herself

out from his chest to give him another glare before nuzzling back in.

Naruto smirked at his other teammate as he rubbed Satsuki's head

affectionately, messing it up. She giggled at her Nii-san's actions before

releasing him. "We've all gotta have an ace up our sleeve don't we."

Naruto stated rhetorically to the brunette before taking a look around the

booth.

He saw that most of the genin he didn't know as well had left, either to

make some last minute preparations, use the restroom, get something to

eat, Naruto didn't really care enough to bother with all the possibilities.

He did see that Haku was staring at Satsuki rather jealously when she

was snuggling into his chest, but he would wonder about that another

time.

Narumi had come back to the booth sometime during his fight, she was

wrapped up in quite a few bandages which indicated that she wasn't as a

hundred percent just yet. She and Natsuki both had teary eyes and puffy

cheeks, it was obvious that they had been crying. They probably thought

that he died when he was hit by that collaboration jutsu from Nawaki

and Gamabunta.

He knew that they cared for him deeply, but Naruto didn't care too much.

It was nice to know that they cared about him to such an extent, but he

couldn't trust them. He didn't blame them for abandoning him as much as

he did his parents, but that didn't mean that they would become siblings

again or turn into the best of friends. They were also Minato's children

which meant they were taught to believe in his ideals of peace, love, and

loyalty. Naruto couldn't trust anyone who would willingly live and die

just because the village ordered them to. This village and its beliefs were

corrupt and he knew it.

Naruto looked up at the Kage booth and saw Minato looking right at him.

He returned the glare with just as much intensity. It was clear to Naruto

that there would be many questions later on from the Yondaime, but

hopefully the invasion would take his mind off things. Oh yes, Naruto's

plans would start during the invasion.

Kage Booth

"I didn't realize you had genin on such a level Hokage-dono." Yagura

stated, still surprised. "In fact, many jonin aren't able to perform

techniques of that magnitude."

"Neither did I." Minato looked back to Obito, who merely shrugged his

shoulders. Obito had never seen Naruto use that technique before. Had

he been holding back all this time? If he had used it during training then

at least half of the forest would have been obliterated. Just what did he

do this past month to reach such a level?

Yagura looked over at the Hokage and voiced his curiosity, "His ability

with Katon reminds me much of the Hozuki clan's abilities with Suiton.

Tell me, do you know if he is related in some way to the Hozuki?"

Minato shook his head, "No, Naruto is my first born son." This statement

surprised the other two Kage as well as their bodyguards. They were not

aware that the Hokage had another son. Minato sighed, seeing their

confusion, "He may have died his hair and deny us as his parents, but he

is Kushina's and my son."

"From the intensity of the match and what was said by them, it is clear

that you have quite a bit of family issues to work out. Perhaps as many as

my own." Rasa commented with a sad chuckle.

"Hm...whatever the case, he is definitely chunin material strength wise.

He was also able to keep calm throughout the entire match, even when

his own brother was trying to kill him. Not to mention he was in control

of the match the whole time, even after Nawaki went into his two-tailed

state. He has my vote for chunin."

"I agree, in fact I'm surprised he hasn't made chunin already with how old

he appears to be. Why would you keep someone so skilled a secret from

the rest of the world Hokage-dono?" Rasa asked.

Minato sighed. This was the first time seeing what his son could really

do. Just how could he do everything that he did? Obito didn't appear to

know how he did that last technique, did he have another sensei before

Obito?

Minato's eyes immediately widened when he remembered the prophecy

that Jiraiya told him a few years back.

"A child born from great power but with memories of old shall pave the

way toward a new era of peace. Whether they walk the path of light or is

forced into the darkness shall determine what the future will hold. Their

predecessor has already burned the path for them, but it shall be their

will of fire that determines whether they will walk it or forge their own."

Minato whispered. His voice was only audible enough for him and

Jiraiya, who was right behind him to hear.

The toad sage's eyes widened when he heard Minato's words and he too

remembered the exact words of the prophecy. He silently cursed himself

as Naruto had made it perfectly clear that he was the most likely to be

the child of prophecy now. He had really screwed up, especially with

how he had acted a month ago. He would need to fix things with Naruto

as soon as possible. The boy was the one who was supposed to bring

peace to the world after all. He would need help to do that.

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....

Stands

The genin from the rookie 13 and Team Gai, who had not made it to the

finals looked like fish out of water as they continued to stare at the scene

that had just unfolded in front of them. The jonin weren't any better. The

only one who appeared normal was Mikoto, well as normal as she could

get.

"Mmm...Naruto-kun's so strong!" She moaned dreamily, she had never

even imagined that Naruto would be able to do things like this at such an

early age.

The rest of the shinobi ignored her fantasies as one thought ran through

all of their minds,'Was that real? Did all of that just really happen?'Those

thoughts were understandable. What Naruto just did was like something

out of the Princess Gale movies.

Kushina and Kakashi were the first to recover as they

quicklyShunshinedaway from the stands, most likely to see what kind of

condition their student was in. Kakashi was worried about Nawaki, the

boy was his sensei's and Kushina's son so he was like Kakasi's little

brother. Kushina had mixed feelings about what had happened. She was

overjoyed that Naruto was safe and unharmed, she thought that he had

been killed when that combination Katon jutsu hit. She had thought that

she lost the son that she had never had.

But now she was extremely worried because of Nawaki's condition. She

had managed to catch a glimpse of his motionless body in the rubble and

what she saw struck her hard. Nawaki was covered in burns, especially

the left side of his face. It looked as if the wounds had already been

cauterized too, that meant not even medical ninjutsu would be able to

heal him fully. His body was in a position that human's hould not have

been able to bend at and he was soaked with blood. She hoped that

Tsunade would be able to heal him.

Those who remained in the stands were left to slowly recover as their

brains began to process what they had just seen.

"Asuma-sensei...just what was that?" Ino managed to force out of her

throat.

Asuma wished he could answer his genin, he really did. But he was just

as dumbfounded as Ino was at the moment. "I can't quite say for

sure...I've never seen a Katon jutsu quite like that before...but it seems as

if Naruto is immune to fire...and has a unique affinity for that area of

nature manipulation..."

Sakura was confused, "Asuma-sensei? I've never heard of nature

manipulation before. What is it exactly?"

Most of the genin and jonin of the rookie 13 were still gobsmacked at the

match they had juts witnessed, but they still had enough common sense

to stare at her with their flattest expressions. Even if very few of them

knew how to use elemental jutsu, they had at least heard about it or

witnessed it from their senseis.

It was Kurenai who answered her this time, "Sakura...every member of

your genin team uses nature manipulation and you still don't know what

it is?" She received a shake of the head from the pink-haired genin.

Kurenai sighed, what have her senseis really taught her? "Nature

manipulation is the ability to mold and define one's chakra into a specific

element. There are fie main elements, fire, wind, lightning, earth, and

water. Every person has at least one innate element, this is called an

elemental affinity." Kurenai explained.

'Though elemental training is usually reserved for when shinobi become

chunin or jonin! Just what has Obito been teaching his genin?'Kurenai

thought to herself. She had always taken it easy on her genin, some

would even say that she mothered them. Perhaps why they had not

grown much since they left the academy. Maybe that's why they aren't

participating in this tournament. Was she wrong with how to train her

team?

"Oh that's why Natsuki, Narumi, and Nawaki can use those elemental

jutsu. I thought that was something that had to do with the clan that they

came from." Sakura said as if she finally realized something.

The rest of the rookie 13 thought it best not to make any comments or

questions to avoid a lecture from their sensei, though they couldn't help

but wonder how Naruto had gotten so skilled in fire manipulation. He

never showed that kind of skill in the academy, but he had just easily

defeated their rookie of the year. None of them could match up to the

Uzumaki-Namikaze siblings, and yet two members of Team 11 had just

trounced them.

Inuzuka Hana vs. Chojuro of Kiri

The hour was up in the blink of an eye. Those who had yet to compete

had been busy making their last minute preparations and coming up with

an assortment of strategies. Hana had been sitting on the floor of the

combatant's booth for the better part of the last forty minutes thinking of

all possible moves that could be made and all of their possible outcomes.

She was fighting one of the newly selected Seven Swordsmen of Kiri. Him

being chosen to take up that title would mean that he is incredibly skilled

in Kenjutsu, despite how young he is. Everyone of those swords has a

special ability, the one that he possessed was able to form his chakra into

the shape of any kind of weapon. This would be a close battle.

'What am I thinking? I told Naruto that I'd give him the fight that he'd

always been looking forward to between us, and he'll hold me to that.

There's no way I'm losing yet, not after I've come this far!'Hana thought

to herself, determination burning in her eyes.

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....

"Will Inuzuka Hana and Chojuro of Kiri please make your way down to

the arena floor!" Genma yelled from the middle of the repaired

battlefield.

Hana looked over to her teammates and saw Naruto give a slight nod and

a smile to her. Satsuki was a bit more animate as usual and was cheering

for her loudly. Hana wasn't really paying attention to her female

teammate's words because she was so wrapped up in her own thoughts.

She bean to walk and before she even realized it, she was standing in the

middle of the arena with her opponent right across from her.

'This is it. This is what I've been preparing all this time for. Let's see if all

of my training was worth it!"She got into a stance with the three Haimaru

brothers by her side as Chojuro withdrew Hiramekarei from its place on

his back.

"Are both combatants ready?" Genma asked the two genin to which he

received nods from both of them. "Then the fourth match, Inuzuka Hana

vs. Chojuro of Kiri, may now begin!"

Hana immediately jumped back and formed a single hand seal, her

ninken also began channeling chakra."Jujin Bunshin (Man Beast

Clone)!"The three wolf-sized ninken disappeared in a puff of smoke and

were replaced with identical copies of Hana, albiet much more feral.

Hana's eyes became more fierce and her finger nails elongated into claws

as well.

Chojuro was a shy boy and not a very confident one at that, so seeing

four viscous looking girls wasn't exactly inviting for him. He knew that

this would be a tough match, so he would not hold back. Chojuro

released a burst f chakra to unravel the bandages wrapped around his

sword. What they revealed was an oddly shaped dual-handle sword with

a wide, flat blade. The sword looked somewhat reminiscent of a flounder

fish in shape.

Chojuro knew that he was the weakest among the seven swordsman. He

had aspired to be a member of the seven swordsmen every since he was a

child. He had managed to finally become one shortly after becoming a

genin and his countless hours of training himself in Kenjutsu. This was

only supported by the fact that he had managed to master Hiramekarei at

such a young age.

However, Hiramekarei was a very chakra intensive sword and required

chakra to constantly be stored and channeled into the blade for its ability

to activate. He was still a genin, so his chakra reserves weren't large

enough to wield Hiramekarei for extended periods of time. He couldn't

let this battle draw out if he wanted to make it to the next round.

Hana leaped of of the ground with her ninken and began to spin there

bodies into one of the Inuzuka clan's favored jutsus."Gatsūga (Man-Beast

Ultimate Taijutsu: Fang Over Fang)!"They began to spin at ferocious

speeds and began to deliver countless beast-like attacks to Chojuro. Much

to Hana's dismay however, the glasses-wearing boy managed to block

every strike with his sword and divert them in a different direction. This

wasn't what she had planned at all.

She needed to switch her tactics. She remembered that the boy probably

remembered this jutsu from when Kiba had used it during the

preliminary rounds. She wanted to save the majority of what she learned

for the next match, but she would need to step up the intensity a bit to

deal with her current opponent.

Hana was pushed back when she made contact with Chojuro's sword and

they became locked in a duel of dominance. Hana'sGatsūgawas losing

power because she had lost her momentum once Chojuro managed to

stop her. She was at a large disadvantage at the moment.

Chojuro released his chakra from Hiramekarei and transformed it into a

giant hammer. As soon as he did, he gained the upper hand in their

stalemate and sent Hana flying across the battlefield. This victory was

short lived however, as he had to acrobatically dodge the large oncoming

drills that were the ninken.

Hana slowly stood up from her spot on the ground as she watched her

ninken put Chojuro on the defensive. She saw what that sword could do

and would need to be careful around it.'So that sword has the ability to

shape his chakra into weapons...that's going to be a problem...though it

doesn't seem like he'll be able to use that technique too many times, I

sensed him pour a lot of chakra into that last attack...'

Hana was busy coming up with alternative strategies while Chojuro

continued to fend of the niken. He may not have been using chakra at the

moment, but they were damn hard to get rid of. He knew he was getting

tired from dodging their barrage of attacks, if this kept going he wouldn't

even have enough strength to wield Hiramekarei properly anymore.

Chojuro began to focus even more chakra into the blade before he had

gathered the required amount. As the three drill-like attacks came at him

once more, he shaped Hiramekarei into a massive longsword and

simultaneously slashed all three ninken across the chest as he spun

around to create the torque needed to finish them all off at once.

He sighed as he finally had some breathing room for the first time since

the match began. Unfortunately for him, he forgot about Hana and let his

guard down. It was only when his vision became clouded with the smoke

from several smoke bombs did he realize his mistake.

Once again he channeled chakra into Hiramekarei, this time to create a

giant fan similar to Temari's. He knew that this would be the last time

that he would be able to create such a large weapon out of chakra, but he

wasn't left with a choice at the moment. He waved the fan forwards,

creating a large gust of wind which blew all of the smoke in front of him

away. What it revealed was Hana only inches away from his chest with a

kunai.

With incredible reflexes, Chojuro swung his sword as fast as he could and

slammed it into Hana's side before she could pierce him with the kunai.

He sighed once more as he made it in time, but his eyes widened when

he saw her disappear in a puff of smoke as if she was never there in the

first place. The real Hana erupted out of the smoke behind him with

aChakura no Mesu (Chakra Scalpel)active on each hand. The swordsman

screamed in pain as he felt her cut the muscle tissue in his arms and legs,

rendering him immobile.

Chojuro collapsed onto the ground as he no longer had his muscles fully

connected to stand. Hana walked up to the Kiri-nin's downed form and

placed a kunai to his neck. "Forfeit." She told him, not really giving him a

choice in the matter.

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....

"I forfeit." Chojuro said, a bit disappointed with how the match turned

out. He had severely underestimated the girl standing over him.

Hana withdrew the kunai from his neck as the medical crews rushed over

to retrieve her opponent and her ninken. She didn't have the necessary

skills to heal them with medical jutsu just yet. She followed the medics to

the medical bay just as Genma stepped into the center of the arena to

make the official announcement.

"Winner, Inuzuka Hana!" He stopped speaking for a moment as the crowd

cheered for the girl. She would have a tough time fighting in her next

match if her ninken weren't recovered by then. "Now will Hozuki

Suigetsu and Sabaku no Gaara please make your way down to the arena

for the final match of the first round!"

Hozuki Suigetsu vs. Sabaku no Gaara

Both combatants stood across from each other in the center of the arena.

This would most certainly be an interesting match. Gaara usually

resorted to just crushing people with his sand, but those sort of tactics

wouldn't work on this opponent. Suigetsu usually relied on Kenjutsu and

his logia abilities but Gaara had made it painfully obvious that the only

way to bypass his perfect defense was with superior speed, which

Suigetsu did not have. This would most likely end up being a long match.

"The fifth and final match of the first round, Hozuki Suigetsu vs. Sabaku

no Gaara, may now begin" Genma announced before jumping back a safe

distance. He had seen what these two were capable of in the

preliminaries and he did not want to get caught up in it.

Suigetsu jumped back as a wave of sand erupted from the gourd on

Gaara's back and rushed towards the Hozuki. Suigetsu unsheathed the

large sword from his back and took a Kenjutsu stance. Suigetsu's blade

was an enormous broadsword, it was approximately six feet in length and

one foot wide with a single edge. It was similar in height and width to

Zabuza's sword. This particular blade was not one of Kiri's legendary

one's, but Suigetsu hoped to become one of the seven swordsmen

eventually.

"Stop running away! Mother wants your blood!" Gaara screamed

maniacally. "I will satisfy mother's thirst."

Gaara sent wave after wave of sand trying to catch Suigetsu in its grip,

but Suigetsu proved to be too quick for him to catch with the amount of

sand that he was using. Realizing this, Gaara drew upon more sand from

his gourd and even crushed the earth around him, turning it into sand.

Suigetsu cursed to himself as he saw the amount of sand that Gaara was

gathering, he was obviously planning something big. Seeing that he

needed to move quickly, Suigetsu brought up his index finger and thumb

in a gun-like fashion. Through the hydrification technique, he

compressed a drop of water in his index finger."Mizudeppō no Jutsu

(Water Gun Jutsu)!"Suigetsu fired the drop of water with tremendous

force, comparable to that of a real gunshot.

Gaara gathered a large amount of sand and formed it into a thick half-

dome to shield himself from the water bullet. However, he didn't expect

the jutsu to have so much force behind it as he felt the drop of water

almost pierce through his sand shell completely.

Suigets saw the effect that his jutsu had and continued to fire more water

bullets. He re-sheathed his sword and brought up his other hand to do

the same."Mizudeppō: Nichō (Water Gun: Two Guns)!"Suigetsu continued

to fire water bullets at Gaara's sand shell, as the latter was forced to

continue rebuilding it.

Gaara knew that his opponent could go on doing this forever, seeing as

he was made of water, so he decided to take the offensive. Using the

large body of earth and sand under him, Gaara rose himself into the air

by erecting a pillar of sand, thus moving himself out of the line of fire as

the sand dome was finally pierced.

Suigetsu stopped firing his water bullets after seeing Gaara rise into the

air and out of his line of sight. H prepared himself for Gaara's next move.

Gaara released his sand pillar after Suigetsu stopped his jutsu and

dropped back down to the ground along with his sand."Sabaku Taisō

(Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral)."Gaara sent a large tsumani of sand

that spanned the width of the arena towards Suigetsu and buried him in

the sheer amount of it. He then slammed both of his hands down onto the

large amounts of sand that he had created, creating a powerful

shockwave that compressed the sand and completely crushed anyone

buried in it.

Genma was about to call the match due to death, but then he heard the

bubbling of water.

A small section of the sand became wet and slowly turned into mud.

Suigetsu managed to work his way back to the surface in his liquified

state, looking quite exhausted. Gaara was getting ready to send another

wave of sand at the white-haired boy, but Suigetsu spoke up. "Proctor I

forfeit, I'm out of water after liquifying just now and I can't use any of my

other techniques without consuming any water."

Genma nodded his head and decided to call the match, "Winner by

forfeit, Sabaku no Gaara!" Genma announced to the audience. "This

marks the end of the first round of the finals! There will be a half an hour

intermission before we move onto the second round! For those who will

be fighting, please use this time to recover from your previous matches,

study your opponents fighting style, or prepare for your next match in

general."

With those words said, Genma walked off the battlefield along with

Suigetsu and Gaara.

Naruto looked over to see Natsuki and Satsuki glaring at each other

heatedly, then his thoughts drifted to Hana and wondered if her ninken

would recover in time, finally he looked over to Haku who was currently

meditating in preparation for her first match, since she had a bye this

round. One thing was for sure, these matches were going to get a whole

lot more interesting.

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....

Sarutobi Hiruzen once said, "To those who possess the Will of Fire,

everyone is family. The desire to protect one's family builds thicker and

stronger bonds between each and everyone in the village. If the Will of

Fire is embraced by everyone, the village will be alright no matter what

happens." Today was a day where this family would shed each other's

blood. Where they would face each other in combat where one of them

may perish by the other's hand.

Satsuki stood across from Natsuki in the middle of the battlefield. She

had been waited for this particular matchup for a long time now. To

Satsuki, Natsuki had always been too obsessed with her brother for her

liking. To Satsuki, this was a girl who abandoned her Nii-san and threw

him away like he was nothing more than trash.

Satsuki could honestly say that she hated the girl in front of her. Before

Naruto had met the Uchiha family, he was broken. His heart had been

shattered repeatedly by those who dared call themselves his family, and

they had spent years piecing it back together. The one question he always

buried deep within his heart was if it was good that he was born. He was

incapable of love for a long time, the kind of neglect and pain that he

went through wasn't able to be healed overnight.

It had taken years but he was finally able to see Satsuki as a little sister

and Mikoto as a mother, perhaps something even more. Satsuki had

always been suspicious of her mother, she knew that after everything that

they've gone through together it was only natural for Mikoto to develop

feelings for her Nii-san. Though she tried to deny it, she knew that her

Nii-san felt the same way about Mikoto too.

She just hoped that he could see her the same way too. She didn't care if

she had to share him with her mother, but she just wanted to be with

him. For him to make her his. She loved him more than anyone would

ever know.

Ever since she was a little girl and helped to rebuild Naruto's heart from

the ground up, she had loved Naruto. She began to fall in love with him

after seeing how tainted his mind and heart were, but yet how they were

also so pure. He didn't try to hide behind his false sense of ideals or

beliefs, he looked at the world for what it truly was and had no illusions

about how ugly it was. Yet he kept on walking down his own path for the

sake of her and Mikoto alone.

He was there for when nobody else was and helped her pick up the

pieces when everything went to hell. Satsuki was a lot smarter than she

let on, and he knew this. From an early age she had seen how corrupt

this village was, but how they hid behind the excuse that everything was

for the good of the village. She knew the truth of what had happened

three years ago.

She had noticed how everyone had been acting, she had noticed that all

of the adults would all disappear for periods of time, she had noticed

how Shisui-nii and Itachi-nii were acting. While it took her a while to

figure out after the massacre, she finally realized that everything had

been planned. That the Hokage forced Itachi to kill the clan.

Now Satsuki didn't hate Itachi for doing this, nor did she hate the Hokage

for ordering it. It should be expected as he would do anything for the

sake of the village. It was only after she realized everything, did it make

sense why Naruto had turned out so broken.

A person who would willingly put the sake of the village above the sake

of its people can never be a real father. And Kushina had bought into the

village's ideals at a young age and would never even think of straying

from them, she was too far gone. On the surface they were a perfect

family, but underneath all of the false pretenses, they were no better than

Danzo training his mindless drones.

Naruto was the only one who could see through her. He could tell that

Satsuki knew of some of the village's darker secrets, she was the daughter

of a clan head after all, it should be expected. However, he never

mentioned it, and she was thankful for that. She saw that he was in even

more pain than she was. It had been his own father who cost him the life

of the first person to ever treat him like family, the man he saw as a

brother, and the clan of his new family.

He had chosen their little family over the prestigious honor of being the

son of the Yondaime Hokage and the head of the Uzumaki clan. He had

left them behind and he would never look back.

Ever since then they had only grown closer to each other. To some level

she knew that she loved him as much as he did Mikoto, but he would

never show it unless she did first. He had always seen her as something

of a higher being, something fragile, something untouchable. She was the

one who healed his broken heart, the one who made him whole again.

He would always think to protect her innocence, for the sake of never

corrupting her.

She never understood why he saw her as such. He was the one who was

her angel. He was her savior from a clan who would never seek anything

besides power. The Uchiha respected strength above all else, they

couldn't care less about family. Naruto was her escape from that, he and

Mikoto were the only ones who would always love her unconditionally.

That is why Satsuki couldn't hold in her rage whenever the Hokage's

family would try to bring him back to them. She knew it was foolish, he

would never leave them, but she was still scared that she would lose him.

That was her one fear, to lose her Nii-san the same way she lost

everything else in her life. She would die before she let that happen.

That is why she would rip the girl in front of her limb from limb.

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....

Satsuki knew that Natsuki was in love with her Nii-san. She had been

trying to take him back for years now, every possible chance that she had

she would try to get closer to him. She tried to force him back to the very

people who broke him. She had abandoned him when Naruto needed

someone most, and now that he had been fixed she wanted to be a part

of his life!

This was something that Satsuki could not stand. Naruto was an angel

that had descended from the heavens into her life and now these

hypocrites were trying to take him away from her! He was her Nii-san!

No, he was more than that, he was her Onii-sama.

Satsuki would prove here and now the difference between them. The Will

of Fire and and the good of the village be damned! This is where the

leaves on the great tree of Konoha, the flames of the Will of Fire, a

member of the family that is Konoha, will fall.

Uzumaki-Namikaze Natsuki vs. Uchiha Satsuki

Genma could feel the raw amount of killing intent that the two kunoichi

before him were emanating, it was impressive for two newly made genin.

Most chunin wouldn't be able to withstand this much pure pressure and

bloodlust. There was obviously some bad blood between these two and it

was sure to get ugly. He wanted to get the hell out of there as fast as he

could to avoid any of their rage. Dealing with women when they were

angry was never a good thing.

"Are both combatants ready?" Neither of them even acknowledged that

he had said something, opting to try pierce each other and finish the

match with their glare alone. Genma sighed and took their silence as a

yes, "Then let the first match of the second round, Uzumaki-Namikaze

Natsuki vs. Uchiha Satsuki, begin!"

Satsuki immediately activated her sharingan and drew two kunai from

the holster on her leg at the same time that Natsuki unsheathed her

katana. The two glared at each other for a moment before charging at

each other with the intent to cut the other to pieces.

Natsuki had always been jealous of Satsuki. She was always around her

Nii-san and stole her place as Naruto's sister. Natsuki loved Naruto with

all her heart, but it was their past that made it so hard for her to move

forward. Because of that, she could only watch on as Naruto replaced her

with Satsuki.

Natsuki had wanted to bring her Nii-san back into their family even

before their days at the academy. When they had started training early

on, she had always hoped that her parents would let Naruto join them.

And finally they did, but that was the first and last time that that would

ever happen. That was the day that scarred her for life.

She had almost lost her Nii-san that day. She was the one who almost

killed him and she hated herself for that. This all happened because she

lost control of herself and let the Kyuubi run free. That single day was the

worst of her life.

She spent the next months beside her Nii-san's hospital bed as he lay

there in his comatose state. She visited him everyday and would cry

herself to sleep every night, she still did sometimes. Finally he woke up

and things improved with their family life for a short time, but then

everything went to hell as soon as it began to get better.

For some reason he began to distance himself even more from their

family to the point where he moved out. Nothing was ever the same after

that and she still didn't know why. It killed her that she didn't know why

she wasn't his sister anymore or why he doesn't consider their parents as

his anymore. It felt as though she had lost him forever.

He was just within her reach, but yet she still couldn't grab onto him. She

hated this feeling. She loved him more than anything in the world and

she had to watch on as another girl stole her spot. She hated this girl,

more than anyone would ever know and she would finish everything

right now. She would show her Nii-san that she had changed and that she

was worth his love. She needed him.

Natsuki swung her sword down, but it was easily blocked by Satsuki's

kunai. She brought her sword back up and slashed at the girl's side, but it

was parried by another kunai. Natsuki was getting frustrated that none of

her attacks were getting through, so she began to pick up the pace. She

would not be out done by this girl.

Natsuki switched from slashes into a fast barrage of stabs. Satsuki was

forced to dodge and divert the strikes with her kunai, there was no time

get out of range of the swords-woman. The redhead was unrelenting in

her strikes, it was clear that she wouldn't stop until she had run the

female Uchiha through with her blade.

Satsuki finally had enough. If this kept on going then she was sure to slip

up eventually. She looked Natsuki directly in the eyes and activated her

jutsu. "Sharingan: Genjutsu."

Natsuki was instantly paralyzed and couldn't move even a single finger as

she held her sword above her head, in an attempt to bisect Satsuki.

Satsuki used this chance to spin around and deliver a powerful kick to

Natsuki's chest, sending her flying back but also breaking her out of the

genjutsu.

Satsuki reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out two handfuls of

shuriken, which she threw at Natsuki. The redhead managed to flip in

mid-air and drive her feet into the ground to slow her momentum. She

didn't have time to dodge the shuriken, so she was forced to block them

with her sword.

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....

Natsuki didn't have a particular kenjutsu style that she focused in, neither

the Uzumaki nor Namikaze clans were renound users in kenjutsu. In fact

Kushina was the only shinobi in generations of the Uzumaki clan to be

know for using a sword. She hadn't gotten around to teaching Natsuki

much about kenjutsu just yet, so the girl mainly relied on her quick

reflexes and the swords ability to cut.

Natsuki knew that if she kept using kenjutsu then she would quickly be

overwhelmed. She mainly used her sword to complement her taijutsu

style, but after Satsuki had put so much distance between them her sword

would be nothing more than a hinderance.

The redhead quickly sheathed her sword and prepared herself. It seemed

that she would have to mainly rely on ninjutsu and taijutsu. With her

large reserves from being a jinchuriki it was better this way anyway.

Satsuki formed a few hand seals before she began molding chakra in her

lungs. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire)!"

Satsuki released a volley of small fireballs from her mouth and sent them

towards Natsuki. These fireballs were controlled by one's chakra, so

avoiding them is extremely difficult.

Natsuki cursed as she saw the jutsu, these fireballs would be hard to

dodge. She would need to counter them instead.

"Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Wall)." Natsuki released a large

stream of water from her mouth that rose up into a large wave to protect

her from the oncoming attack.

When the wall of water dispersed, Satsuki was nowhere to be found.

Natsuki looked in front, left, right, and behind her, but she was nowhere

to be found. Natsuki immediately jumped back, thinking that she would

be coming from below, the same strategy that Kakashi-sensei used in

their survival exam. However, she was wrong.

As soon as the girl jumped back, she was met with an axe-kick from

above, courtesy of Satsuki. The redhead was sent face first into the

ground creating a rather large impact. Spiderweb cracks appeared from

the where she landed outwards, signaling just how hard she had been hit.

What Satsuki did wasn't so different from her last step of the Shishi

Rendan (Lion's Barrage).

The female Uchiha recoiled from how hard hitting Satsuki and crashing

into the ground right after was. She panted on her knees several yards

away from Natsuki's prone body, exhausted. She wouldn't be able to go

on much longer, her earlier match and this match wore her out quite a

bit.

Her head jerked back in shock as she watched Natsuki slowly get up the

ground. That last attack should have at least broken some bones or given

her a concussion. A moment later her eyes widened in realization.

'Oh yeah...she's an Uzumaki. They're supposed to have incredible

regenerative powers...I'll need to finish her off with one last jutsu.'

Satsuki channeled chakra to her feet and jumped back a dozen yards to

gain the distance she needed. She watched on Natsuki got up with a look

of pure rage on her face and made a Kage Bunshin, a moment later a

spiraling blue sphere of chakra manifested itself in the palm of her hand.

'Just perfect...the Rasengan...this might complicate things.' Satsuki

thought to herself.

Satsuki went through a few hand seals before a large amount of Raiton

chakra was concentrated in her hand. The sound of birds chirping could

be heard all over the stadium from the execution of Hatake Kakashi's

original technique.

Natsuki and Satsuki both rushed at each other with their most powerful

jutsus active. Just as they were within striking distance of each other,

they thrust their respective hands out so that their jutsus met in the

middle.

"Rasengan/Chidori!" The collision of these two A-ranked jutsus created a

large explosion emanating from their hands and sent them both flying

backwards. A huge plume of dirt and dust covered the battlefield from

their collision.

Genma walked into the center of the arena once more as he waited for

the dust to clear so that he could call the match. It was obvious that one

of those girls wouldn't be getting up from their last confrontation.

A few moments later, the wind picked up and blew the cloud of smoke

away, revealing the unconscious forms of the two kunoichi. Both of them

ware covered in scrapes, bruised, and burns, but other than that they

were completely fine. Genma breathed a sigh of relief as he had seen

what both of those jutsus could do at full power.

"Both combatants are unable to continue, therefore this match is declared

a draw and neither of them will continue on to the next round." Genma

announced to the crowd. He gave a nod to the medical team to bring

those two to the medical bay to heal there wounds and wait for them

come out of unconsciousness.

He received both boos and cheers from the crowd as they had witnessed

a good match, but also wanted to see someone move on to the next

round. Well, this did make it easier for the tournament setup as they

wouldn't need to have any semifinal rounds and could go straight onto

the finals.

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....

Stands

In the audience, both Kushina's and Mikoto's eyes widened at the sight of

their children being carried out off of the battle field after the explosion

that occurred after the clash of their A-rank assassination jutsus.

Kushina had just gotten back from checking on Nawaki and the news was

not good. He was terribly burned after being consumed by Naruto's

massive Katon jutsu. The medics had done everything that they could and

he was stable now, but the entire left side of his body was burned beyond

the point of healing. From his neck down, the left side of his body would

be completely covered in scar tissue. The good news was that only his

eye and part of his head was burned on his face. He was still

unconscious, but he should wake up in a day or so.

She wanted to watch Natsuki's match to take her mind off of things, but

as soon as she does, she had to watch as a Rasengan and a Chidori

collided. She hoped that Natsuki wouldn't be permanently damaged the

same way that Nawaki had.

Mikoto was watching on in horror at the prospect of losing her last child.

She had already lost her clan because of the village and her son was

forced to become a nuke-nin, she couldn't take losing one of the last

remaining family members that she had left.

Both women looked at each other and nodded before Shunshining to the

medical bay to see if their children were alright.

Kakashi's lone eye was also widened in shock.

He had taught Obito how to use the Chidori many years ago, but he had

never expected his best friend to teach it to his student. Now that he

thought about it, Obito probably knew that the Hokage's children would

know the Rasengan and taught her the jutsu as a counter for it. Though

he was impressed that the girl had learned it in such a short amount of

time, it took him months to create that jutsu.

It was much better than his decision to teach the Chidori to Nawaki. As

much as he loved his sensei and Kushina-sama, the boy was clearly

unstable. He also had a massive superiority and inferiority complex to

finish up the perfect little package. Kakashi was silently happy that

Nawaki had faced Naruto in the first round and lost. Had he fought a

different opponent, he would have most likely gotten a chance to use the

Chidori and possibly killed one of his fellow Konoha genin.

Something would have to be done about the boy if when he woke up.

Things will definitely go south after he sees what kind of condition his

body is in. Not to mention how inferior and weak he will feel towards

Naruto. Kakashi could only sigh as he knew that things were going to go

very bad, very soon.

Portgas D. Naruto vs. Inuzuka Hana

Naruto stood across from Hana, as Genma stepped forward from the

proctor's area towards the center of the arena. Naruto carefully analyzed

his teammate as he thought of a strategy of how to deal with her.

Most of his plans were out of the option as they were prepared for

dealing with multiple opponents at once. The three Haimaru brothers had

not recovered in time for the match. They were healed from the slash

wounds they received and were stitched back up, but they would need to

rest for the rest of the day so they were taken back to the Inuzuka

compound.

Naruto eyed Hana critically. He wasn't foolish enough to think that she

was completely helpless without her ninken the same way that most

Inuzuka were. On the contrary, Naruto had been friends with Hana for

over seven years, he knew exactly how skilled Hana was. She was just as

dangerous without her ninken as she was with them. Obito had made

sure that she was prepared for combat if she was separated from them or

they were rendered useless on a mission.

That part of their training Hana did alone with their sensei, so Naruto

didn't know exactly what she would have in store for him. She was a

skilled medic and could use her Chakura no Mesu (Chakra Scalpels) with

incredible skill and precision, but she knew that wouldn't be enough to

even stall him. Whatever she had, this was sure to be exciting.

"Why don't we put on a show worth watching?" Naruto asked as he was

getting excited for what Hana was planning.

"I couldn't agree more. Don't think that you'll have an easy win just

because I don't have my ninken with me. I promised to give you an

exciting match and I'll do just that." Hana declared with a small smirk.

Naruto smirked as well, "I wouldn't dream of it."

Genma saw that the two before him were ready to start their match and

made the announcement.

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....

"The second match of the second round, Portgas D. Naruto vs. Inuzuka

Hana, may now begin!" Genma yelled before jumping out of the way.

As soon as he heard that, Natsu jumped back and drew the chokuto from

his back. He didn't really want to use his usual Katon jutsu againt her,

they were far too deadly. But he had learn much over the last month that

he would be able to use here.

Across from him Hana drew four kunai with exploding tags attached and

threw them in her teammate's direction. Naruto saw what she was doing

and he wouldn't have any of it. She wanted to use the smoke cause from

the explosion as a cover to move around freely.

Naruto rose his sword and charged it with blue colored flames. He swung

down and in the blink of an eye, all of the kunai had been bisected,

exploding tag and all. With no seal to cause the explosion , the kunai

turned into nothing more than duds.

Hana silently cursed to her self before throwing a smoke bomb on the

ground, causing the entire area around her to be filled with a purple

smoke. This was her backup plan, to have to resort to it at the very start

of the match didn't spell good news to her.

Naruto looked on at the large cloud of smoke, wondering what she could

possible be planning. When the smoke cleared, Hana was nowhere in

sight. Naruto quickly activated his Kenbunshoku Haki and smiled to

himself.

'I see...you have a Doton affinity Hana. You saw what I did to the last

Doton used I fought so what will you do differently?'

Quite aways underneath the arena floor, Hana had dug several different

tunnels that spanned the length of the entire battlefield. It had taken a bit

of time, bed all of her preparations were complete.

Hana made a hand seal and produced six Doton Kage Bunshins (Earth

Release Shadow Clones) which gave her a nod and proceeded to run into

different directions in the different tunnels. The best part about these

clones were that they weren't as chakra taxing as the standard Kage

Bunshins (Shadow Clones) and since it's made out of mud, they can

continue to reform itself back into its original shape. It can also be used

as a powerful restraint once it's reverted back into mud.

Most members of the Inuzuka clan had Doton affinities, so they had

plenty of jutsu for her to learn in the clan library. Though rarely any of

them use it. They prefer to perform the usual clan techniques alongside

of their ninken because of their usual reckless and brash nature. Hana

couldn't help but think that her clan was full of idiots sometimes. They

had a library full of offensive and supplementary jutsu that nearly all

Inuzuka could learn, yet they chose not to.

Naruto patiently waited for Hana to make her move, unlike what he did

with Nawaki. He quickly moved to the right as a Tsūga (Passing Fang)

erupted from right underneath him. Then he jumped backwards to avoid

the same thing from happening again.

Soon he was avoiding attacks all over the battlefield as drill-like attacks

would erupt from the ground and then return back underneath it from a

tunnel that another one produced. He had to admit, Hana was quite

clever and this little maneuver would no doubt get her promoted to

chunin.

These fights didn't really matter after all. What the judges were looking

for was if you had the strength of a chunin, if you could come up with a

strategy on the spot, if you had the thinking capacity of a chunin, and if

you knew your limits. The tournament was just for show and to show the

rest of the nations how strong your genin were.

Naruto slashed the drill that came up right next to him across the chest,

but as soon as he did, it turned to mud and tried to restrain his

movement. He wouldn't let any of that happen. He covered his sword and

his body in an aura of blue fire and flared it outwards, destroying what

was left of the Doton Kage Bunshin (Earth Release Shadow Clone).

'So all of these are Doton Kage Bunshin huh? I thought it was odd that

there were so many of them when Hana didn't have her ninken and there

was no way that she would be able to produce this many normal Kage

Bunshin if she weren't a jinchuriki...I know just how to stop her in her

tracks.'

Naruto dodged one more of her clone's Tsūga (Passing Fang) before he

spun his sword around in his hand and stabbed it into the ground. He

began channeling his blue flames into the sword and ground until large

bursts of them erupted from all the tunnels that Hana had created. All of

the extra clones had been crushed by the impact of the fire, but the real

Hana flew out of one of the tunnels like it was a geyser and she had been

riding the flames.

The blue flames that he had been using were similar to Marco's. These

flames weren't meant to incinerate their target, no, they weren't even hot.

They were meant for impact strength and destruction. They were also

meant for regeneration if used on yourself. It was because of this that

they were perfect for using against his teammate.

He looked over to where Hana had landed, she had seen better days. She

was probably still injured from he earlier match and may even be

running low on chakra. This match had been going on for almost thirty

minutes and she had been constantly making new clones and using the

Tsūga (Passing Fang) herself.

Though he hadn't been disappointed with the fight thus far. She had

made him work, harder than he had in most of him matches since he

became a genin in fact. With Nawaki, Naruto didn't really need to use all

those powerful techniques to beat him, but he wanted to put the brat in

his place. Oh yes, Hana had given him quite a good fight, and it wasn't

over just yet.

Hana got up wearily, she wasn't done yet. She was low on chakra and her

body was aching all over, but she still had some fight left in her. She

wouldn't be able to last much longer.

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....

With that in mind Hana brought her hands into a tiger hand seal. "Doton:

Doryū Taiga (Eath Release: Earth Flow River)." Hana turned a large area

of the ground in front of her to mud in preparation or her next technique.

She then made two hand seals before landing on the final one. "Doton:

Doryūdan (Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet)!" The mud before her

shaped into a dragon-like head that was merged with the ground. It

opened its mouth and launched a large volley of cannonball-shaped

bullets of mud towards Naruto. The volley covered a large and wide area,

so it would be next to impossible for him to dodge.

Naruto smirked slightly at his teammate. She had really improved over

this past month. Before she would have only used her clan techniques

alongside her ninken and some medical ninjutsu. Without her ninken she

was pretty handicapped, she knew some taijutsu and some basic ninjutsu,

but that wouldn't help her much on a real mission.

That was why he was so impressed. She had covered so many of her

previous weaknesses and even adapted a whole new fighting style to

complement her elemental affinity. However, it wasn't enough to beat

him. He hadn't been fooling around either, he would show her the fruits

of his training.

Naruto held his sword with his right hand and brought it across his body

preparing for a slash.

'The hardest part about learning the ancient arts of the phoenix was all of

that damned meditation...however, I did gain something out of it...the

three components to make these techniques work, the mind, the body,

and the soul. Each one of these must be in perfect harmony with each

other. It was a damned pain learning these tehniques, but it was worth it.'

Naruto ignited his blade with the blue flames he had grown so fond of.

"Sanjuroku Pound Ho (Phoenix of the 36 Earthly Desires)!" Naruto swung

his sword horizontally and released a large crescent wave of flames that

sliced right through the bullets and the dragon that were in front of him.

It didn't stop there as it impacted her and consumed her, sending her into

the wall across the arena along with it until the technique ceased.

Once again, the wall that had just been repaired was heavily damaged,

but Naruto made sure to hold back this time as to not destroy it

completely, or wound Hana too seriously.

He looked over to see her unconscious form lying against the wall as the

medical team was rushing over to carry her off to the medical bay. At

least she was in better shape than he left Nawaki in, hopefully she

wouldn't be too upset later.

"Winner of the second match of the second round, Portgas D. Naruto!" He

heard the proctor yell. After the announcement Naruto slowly walked up

to the combatant booth to get a bit of rest. He was getting a bit tired too

from all this fighting.

"Will Sabaku no Gaara and Yuki Haku please make your way down to the

arena for the final match of round two!" The proctor yelled.

Sabaku no Gaara vs. Yuki Haku

Both of the genin stood face to face in the middle of the arena.

Haku was tired of waiting. She didn't have to fight in the first round, so

she was fresh and ready to fight. This didn't mean that she would

recklessly charge into battle though.

Her opponent was far too dangerous to charge in head first without a

plan. His skill in manipulating sand was like nothing she had ever seen

before. And if his last fight was any indication, he had much more up his

sleeve.

She couldn't risk been trapped in that sand, if she was, the same thing

would happen to her that happened to that Rock Lee and what almost

happened to Suigetsu. If he hadn't had the ability to liquify then he

would be as good as dead right now. She would need to play thins

carefully.

Genma stepped forward to address the two shinobi before him.

"Are both combatants ready?" He received a nod from both of them,

signaling for him to start the match. "Then let the third and final match

of round three, Sabaku no Gaara vs. Yuki Haku begin!" He yelled before

jumping out of the area. He knew what these two were capable of and he

did not want to get caught up in it.

As soon as the match started, Haku had to jump out of the was as a wave

of sand was launched at her. It seemed that her opponent wouldn't let up

as she had to continue this action several times before she was finally out

of range of his sand. Or at least the amount of sand that he currently had.

She couldn't let him prepare the absurd amounts of sand that he had in

his match against Suigetsu. If she did, the match would be his. There was

no she would be able to avoid the tsunami of sand that he would throw

at her and she wouldn't be able to survive it like Suigetsu did. As bad of

an idea it was, she needed to get in close to prevent him from doing that.

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....

Haku rushed at Gaara with high speeds just as the sand returned to him.

She had to maneuver to the right to avoid being smothered with the

sand, but she was close enough to do what she needed.

Haku made a singular hand seal and suddenly, the entire arena was filled

with cold air. "Makyō Hyōshō (Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals)." From

the moisture in the air, a dome of twenty-one floating mirrors of ice

surrounded Gaara, trapping him completely.

Haku stepped forward and merged with one of the mirrors at ground

level and as soon as she did, every single mirror reflected nothing but an

image of Haku, impossible to tell which one was real and which was a

reflection. This was her ultimate technique. Once inside the mirrors, it is

possible for her to move at exceedingly high speeds between the mirrors

which can easily overwhelm any opponent. Without the use of a dojutsu,

it is impossible to track her. Should she create clones to enter the mirrors

as well, it would be all over for her enemy.

Gaara didn't even look fazed as he stared on at the twenty-one reflections

of Haku. He either had a way out of the ice dome or he didn't know that

there was no escape from her clutches. He began preparing his escape by

turning the earth below him into a large amount of sand. By using the

Sabaku Taisō (Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral) he would certainly be

able to overwhelm the jutsu before him and kill the kunoichi.

However, Haku saw what his plan was from the very start and had

already thought of a way to counter it.

"Ice Age!" A tendril of ice stretched from her reflection on each of the

mirrors until it made contact with the ground. First the groung

surrounding Gaara began to freeze until a thick sheet of ice covered the

entire length of the arena floor.

"Did you really think that I'd let you create more sand?" Haku's voice

spoke from one of the ice mirrors/ "How foolish. Without your sand you

can't do anything."

"No! I won't let you erase my existence! I will be the one to prove their

existence!" Gaara screamed maniacally.

It was obvious that the boy was mentally unstable, but Haku paid it no

mind as she had met her fair share of insane shinobi back in Kiri. She

pulled out a handful of senbon and emerged from the mirror, throwing

them in the process and piercing Gaara's shoulder and leg before she

merged into another ice mirror.

She had seen that the sand surrounding the boy acted like as shield on

instinct alone, he had no control over it. However, that shield of sand

could be bypassed with pure speed alone. That much was made obvious

during the preliminary rounds. To have such a glaring weakness made

obvious to you and not even bother training to fix it was proof as to just

how much the boy relied in his natural ability alone. Haku would not

lose to someone like him.

"Blood! It's my blood!" Gaara screamed in horror as he pulled out the

senbon that had pierced through his sand armor.

Haku was about to launch another barrage of senbon at the boy, but he

quickly surrounded himself with a thick dome of sand. Haku could hear

some kind of weird chanting coming from the inside of the dome.

It was obvious that he wasn't coming out of that dome anytime soon, so

Haku decided to take measures into her own hands. "Ice Ball." The cold

air around the dome began to solidify and take form. Not a moment later,

a large, thick sphere of ice surrounded the dome of sand, freezing it solid.

This was only a preparation for her next jutsu as she reached out her

hand and squeezed it shut. "Hyoton: Ice Funeral." She had used this

technique against that Oto-nin in the preliminary rounds and the result

was made obvious. The surrounding ice became highly pressurized and

was meant to crush him. It was actually not so different from a technique

that Gaara used.

However, just as the ice was about to crush the sand dome and him

inside of it, a monster-like arm with what looked like veins all

throughout it erupted from the ice prison and shattered several of the

mirrors. A moment later, the rest of the ice dome shattered and what

looked like a human-sized tanuki made of sand emerged from it.

He swiped his arm several times and destroyed what was left of the ice

mirrors easily. Haku had managed to escape before suffering any

damage, but when the mist cleared, she along with the rest of the

audience saw that Gaara was in his partially transformed state.

Before anyone knew what was going on, a large plume of purple smoke

erupted from the Kage box, causing everyone to turn in that direction

and see a large purple barrier being erected with all of the Kage being

trapped inside.

The stadium erupted in panic, but of all those in the audience, Naruto

only smiled. It seemed as if the invasion was starting off a bit earlier than

expected. Now was the time to put his plan into action.

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....

As Naruto stared on at the enemy before him, he felt nothing but pity for

him. This was a result of how far the hidden villages had fallen, a

weapon that the village had made, a sign of how corrupted these villages

were with power, an example of what this world truly was. The boy

before Naruto wasn't even a boy anymore, he wasn't even human

anymore. Perhaps he never was to begin with.

The Yondaime Kazekage had done this to his own son. Of course, Konoha

was no different. They preach about peace and family, yet the Yondaime

Hokage turns three of his own children into jinchurikis, shinobi who are

no more than living weapons. Even a weapon can malfunction and this

was the result.

Naruto stood on a large tree branch with Natsuki at his side. She was

delighted that her Nii-san had brought her along to keep Gaara from

destroying the village, but she couldn't help but feel pity for the but who

was so similar to her, and yet so different.

Gaara was going past his initial jinchuriki state. The sand had continued

to surround his body until he looked like a full version of a mini

Shukaku. He was halfway between total insanity and his normal mental

state.

"Come! Prove my existence! I will crush the both of you! I am one with

mother now, mother is now one with me! Together we shall bury you

together!" Gaara screamed maniacally.

This had all started during Gaara's match with Haku. As soon as he

started his initial jinchuriki transformation, Temari and Kankuro had

jumped down to the stands and led Gaara into the forest, so that he could

transform without any disruptions. That hadn't worked out as planned.

Temari and Kankuro were both bleeding and unconscious on the forest

floor, Gaara had lashed out against them when he had sensed presences

following them an wanted to fight. This was the result of them tying to

stand against him.

Haku was locked in a fierce duel with Baki back in the chunin exam

arena, so she was unable to pursue her former opponent. Naruto had

taken this opportunity to grab Natsuki, much to her surprise and

pleasure, and follow Gaara into the forest. This was the perfect

opportunity to deal with another issue altogether as well.

As soon as he defeated Gaara, he would release the Kyuubi from the

Kotoamatsukami and have a nice chat with him. Of course he wouldn't

tell Natsuki about his plans at all, there was no telling how she would

react, knowing that the Kyuubi sealed inside of her was an actual living

being and not just a mass of chakra like she had always been told.

Then the Yang half of the Kyuubi would immediately respond to the Yin

half being freed and break free from its seal to reunite with itself inside

of Natsuki. It would be forcible ripped out of Nawaki, but it was a price

that Naruto was willing to pay. He had no doubts that Nawaki would

survive, he was an Uzumaki after all, but he would be extremely

weakened and put in a near death state. Similar to how Kushina was after

she had given birth and the Kyuubi escaped from her last night. If she

could survive that, then Nawaki would be mostly fine after this.

All of the Kages and their bodyguards were locked in an all out battle

blocked by a large purple barrier on the roof of the Kage box and who

knows what wa going on in there.

The Yondime Kazekage and Orochimaru would probably be in there

fighting the Hokage and the Mizukage, but there had to be more going on

in there than that. The Kazekage may have been a fool, but he would

know that he wouldn't stand a chance against two kages and their

bodyguards, even with Orochimaru by his side.

The Yodaime Kazekage was currently the weakest among the five kages.

The Sandaime Tsuchikade had his Jinton, the Yondaime Raikage was a

master of nintaijutsu and was the second fastest man alive, only second

to the Hokage, The Yondaime Mizukage had full control of his bijuu and

was a master of Suiton, and the Yondaime Hokage had the Hiraishin, one

of the most feared jutsus in the world. The Kazekage was able to use the

gold dust, but there was no way that would make a difference in that

fight. He must have something up his sleeve if he is confident enough to

betray Konoha and make an enemy of Kiri.

Though, Naruto didn't have time to pursue those suspicions right now as

it looked like Gaara was getting impatient.

Naruto quickly discarded his trench coat, it had been torn up pretty good

from his earlier fights and would no doubt only get in the way here. He

now only wore his skin tight black shirt on his upper body and the

bandages covering his right arm and hand were now fully revealed.

Dealing with Gaara and Shukaku would take a bit of time.

Naruto and Natsuki jumped in different directions to avoid a large claw

swipe that Gaara sent at them, splitting the tree branch in half.

Natsuki looked a bit tired, but other than that she was fine. She had been

given a soldier pill and had rested a bit before coming back up to the

combatants booth to watch Haku's fight, only shortly after that did

everything go straight to hell.

Naruto was perfectly fine, because of his relation to the chakra fruits and

the Shinju tree, his chakra replenished at incredibly fast rates. All of the

chakra that had been used in his earlier fights with Nawaki and Hana had

been restored ages ago. He was ready to fight, he looked at Natsuki and

noted to himself that he would be doing most of it. She was clearly still

exhausted. Hopefully she wouldn't get in the way too much.

Naruto took the five exploding kunai he had in his weapon pouch and

threw them at Gaara, imbedding them into the thick layer of sand

covering his body. Only a moment later did the explosion echo

throughout the forest and take the tree branch down with it.

Naruto looked down to see that Gaara was already getting up off the

ground and the sand surrounding his body was already reforming. It

would take a lot to get through that sand armor...or perhaps burning him

and turning it to glass would be easier.

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....

"Natsuki! How much chakra do you have left?" Naruto yelled to the

redhead that was kneeling on another tree branch several yards away.

Natsuki's attention suddenly drifted to the person she wanted to

acknowledge her more than anything. Did he still care about her?

"I have about half of my regular reserves!...I could probably tap into

some of the Kyuubi's chakra if needed, but even so I won't last too long in

a prolonged fight."

Naruto expected this. Even as a jinchuriki, the girl didn't have the same

chakra reserves or chakra regeneration that he did. That didn't mean she

couldn't be of use here, he had already come up with a plan to restrain

the insane jinchuriki below.

"Natsuki, look into my eyes!" Naruto commanded and the girl did just

that.

'Sharingan: Genjutsu.' In a split second Naruto implanted all of the

specifics of his plan into Natsuki's head so that she could play her own

part. Naruto was a master of the sharingan. He couldn't pull forth things

like the Susanoo, Ameterasu, or Tsukuyomi, but his sharingan was the

strongest to exist since Madara Uchiha's. He could do things like casting

powerful genjutsu or transferring the memories of a plan that they were

about to execute with ease.

Just as Gaara was about to charge up a tree to reach his opponents' level,

golden chakra chains erupted from the tree trunk all around his,

successfully binding him to the tree and limiting his mobility. Not a

moment later did four of Naruto's Kage Bunshins (Shadow Clones) drop

down from the treetops above and cling onto Gaara's immobile form for

dear life. 'Bunshin Daibakuha (Great Clone Explosion!' Each of the four

clones detonated into a large explosion, destroying the majority of

Gaara's sand armor.

This was the moment of truth, to see if their plan would end this...or if it

would lead to something far worse.

Naruto placed his palms forward as the glowed green. "Hotarubi (Firefly

Lights)." Small green balls of light floated down from his position in the

treetops to Gaara's level, filling up the entire clearing. "Hidaruma (Fiery

Doll)." Within the span of a single second, all of those lights converged

onto Gaara's form and exploded on impact creating a large fire around

the tree. This time it didn't just hit sand armor, but Gaara's actual body.

Loud cries of agony could be heard for a few moments before they

subsided. Naruto hoped that was the end of that, but his Kunbunshoku

Haki didn't lie. He swiftly grabbed Natsuki with one arm before jumping

across the clearing into another tree. It was perfect timing too, because

just as they did, a massive arm of sand shot up into the air with the

intent to crush them.

Naruto looked back at the position that they were in moments ago and

saw that Gaara was quickly turning the surrounding earth into sand and

converging it onto his form. In mere seconds, Naruto was looking up at

the actual bijuu-sized Shukaku.

"Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu (Feigning Sleep Jutsu)!"

'Oh now that doesn't sound good.' Naruto thought to himself as he

watched Gaara collapse from where he was merged with Shukaku's

forehead and an immense surge of chakra flooded the area.

"I'm back baby!" A booming voice yelled maniacally.

"Well this looks bad...It seems that Gaara has released the full power of

the Shukaku." Naruto told Natsuki as he set her down.

"Shukaku?" Natsuki asked with a tilt of her head. "What is a Shukaku?"

Naruto could only sigh at how foolish and uninformed the shinobi and

kunoichi of today were. Did everyone think that the Bijuu were just

masses of chakra without minds of their own? How naïeve. And what is

worse is that even kages think this way.

"It doesn't matter at the moment, I'll tell you about it later. No doubt

you'll have a lot of questions." Naruto spoke with absolute seriousness in

his voice. "For now you need to get out of the area, you'll only get in the

way if you remain here."

Natsuki appeared to want to fight his orders.

"What! You can't take a Bijuu on by yourself! I can summon Gamabunta

to fight him on even ground!"

Naruto looked at Natsuki with the flattest expression he had. "Natsuki, I

completely roasted Gamabunta earlier...do you really think he's in any

shape to fight right now? Not to mention he probably wouldn't even want

to help me."

"But still..."

It appeared that she wasn't going to relent any time soon.

Naruto sighed, knowing that there was really only one way to get her out

of here. He opened his right eye once again. "Sharingan: Genjutsu." With

just a split second of eye contact, Natsuki felt drowsy and slowly drifted

into unconsciousness. With that taken care of, Naruto went through a few

hand seals and bit his thumb, drawing blood, and slammed his hand

down of the tree branch.

There was a poof of smoke and a medium sized phoenix appeared.

"What can I do for you boss?" The newly summoned phoenix asked.

"I need you to take Natsuki" He pointed to the now unconscious girl, "And

take her high into the sky above here. I can't have her interfering or at

risk of getting hurt during the battle that is to come. Bring her down after

Shukaku is dealt with." Naruto ordered.

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....

The phoenix gave his summoner a no and picked the girl up with a large

claw and took of into the sky.

All of that occurred within a plan of a minute, now that he was free of

distraction, Naruto would be able to deal with Shukaku without having

to worry about anything getting in the way.

He jumper even higher into the treetops, until he was at the very top

with all the other trees below him. Naruto now stood face to face with

Shukaku, with the giant tanuki eying him with his insane eyes. It was

clear that years of confinement had driven him to the point of insanity, it

certainly didn't help that he had always been the most bloodthirsty of the

Bijuu.

"So you've finally come Portgas." The maniacal voice of Shukaku

commented. "Let us see if you are as strong as the last one!"

Naruto was forced to jump into the air as a large tsunami of sand was

released from Shukaku's body, trying to swallow him whole and crush

him with the weight. He would need to either remain in the air or turn

all of the sand into glass for this fight. Shukaku easily dwarfed all of the

trees so taking cover or using them as a platform wasn't an option. This

wouldn't be as easy as he thought.

As he flipped through the air, Naruto released a stream of fire from his

feet to propel him in mid-air. This was one of the only ways that he could

remain air-born, but it took up a lot of chakra. He would need to find a

better solution. One should never have to fight a Bijuu, it was just plain

unreasonable.

While in mid-air, Naruto began to knead chakra in his lungs. "Katon:

Gōka Messhitsu (Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction)!" Naruto expelled a

massive stream of intense flames that set the entire area below ablaze.

The sand quickly began to crystalize and turn into glass, making certain

that Shukaku wouldn't be able to swallow him from underneath using the

sand. The terrain below could only be described as a veritable sea of

flames.

Naruto immediately ceased propelling himself in mid-air, via the jets of

flames from his feet, and landed amongst the flames. The flames melting

the glass even further began to converge onto his form, restoring the

chakra that he had just spent. That was one of the biggest perks of being

a logia type, all of the flames that he created or any flames in general,

could be instinctually absorbed to restore his chakra in battle.

"It seems you do possess HIS abilities. However, you are still a far cry

from his level!" Shukaku screeched as he prepared for another attack.

"Of course. I'm nowhere near Ace's level...but I'm strong enough to deal

with you Shukaku." Naruto retorted at he braced himself for what was to

come. Shukaku's jutsu covered far too large of an area for Naruto to

avoid by any normal methods, he would only be able to counter it then

make his counterattack.

Shukaku's main element was wind, this meant that Naruto would have

the advantage. Though, it didn't guarantee his victory outright. Shukaku

would most likely be preparing for a barrage of Fūton jutsu.

"Fūton: Renkūdan (Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullets)!" Shukaku took a

deep breath, and then pounded his stomach to apply external

pressure,power which was used to shoot a highly compressed ball of air,

moving at high speeds, towards Naruto.

Naruto quickly brought his arms out to his side, where they became

coater in blue-orange flames and took the shape of wings. He crouched

down and jumped into the air while using his wings to fly. "Shinsoku

(Extremespeed)." Using one of the phoenix's most favored techniques,

Naruso quickly blurred out of existence, moving through the air at speeds

not even the sharingan could track.

He reappeared behind Shukaku not a moment later. The jutsu was far

faster than the Shunshin (Body Flicker) and was perhaps able to match

the Raiton no Yoroi (Lightning Release Armor) and Hiraishin if he went

all out. Though, he could only activate it when using his phoenix wings

at the moment.

Shukaku was still confused as to where he disappeared to, so Naruto took

this as the perfect opportunity to strike. Naruto reared his fist back and

then through it forward. "Hiken (Fire Fist)!" Naruto turned his fist into

flames and launched it forward in the shape of a large column of flames

shaped like a fist at Shukaku. The flames were so intense that the

surrounding glass began to crack and shatter from the sheer power

behind them. The column of flames impacted Shukaku, causing him to

shriek in agony as the majority of his back became crystalized.

As the flames subsided, Shukaku immediately turned around and fired

several more shots of his previous Fūton jutsu in quick succession. Naruto

was forced to turn his arms into wings again and quickly make his escape

to the sky.

He made it just in time too, because when he turned around, he saw that

those compressed bullets of air shattered and blew away the sea of glass

and a descent portion of the forest along with it. He couldn't afford to be

hit by one of those, he couldn't turn intangible because Shukaku's Fūton

jutsu would blow him far away and give the freed Bijuu a chance to

destroy the village.

Naruto looked around at the surrounding area and noticed the

destruction all around him. Not just the part of the forest that Shukaku

had just destroyed, but where his attacks had burned down the forest as

well. If this continued to go on this entire section of the forest was as

good as gone, they wouldn't even be able to call it a hidden village

anymore because it would be right in the open...he would have to finish

this up quickly.

Naruto quickly turned his wings back into his normal arms and softly

landed on the ground. This was going to be risky and quite destructive.

He had immersed himself greatly in the arts of senjutsu every since he

arrived at Mt. Silver thirty days ago. However, he still had yet to master

it and he wouldn't anytime soon. Mastering senjutsu took months,

perhaps even years to learn. It was asking too much for him to do that

within the span of a month. That isn't to say that he didn't have any

success with it at all.

Every summoning clan has their own brand of senjutsu. The toads use

their toad oil as a main base of their senjutsu, the snake contract has its

summoners become part snake and gain some of their qualities to help

master senjutsu, and so on. The phoenix inherited their flames from

Portgas D. Ace, the progenitor of flames and fire-based chakra. Because

of this, Naruto's natural nature energy from his flame body was naturally

aligned with the phoenix clan's senjutsu. He would definitely have to go

back for more training after this was all over.

Naruto couched down on the ground so that one knee was on the ground

and his other foot was in front of him. He coated his right hand with

flames far more intense than the ones he had been using in this fight and

slammed it down on the ground.

"Senpō: Ennetsu Jigoku (Sage Art: Flames of Hell)!"

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....

The earth slowly began to rumble before seven immense pillars of searing

hot flames erupted from the ground below and encircled Shukaku while

continuing to burn into the sky. The intent of this technique is to trap the

opponent in the caged inferno and incinerate them until not even ashes

remain. If Naruto had mastery of this technique then it would be capable

of destroying something much larger like one of the five great hidden

villages. The burning pillars slowly began to move in closer to Shukaku

as the heat was slowly turning him into a giant glass statue, there was no

way of escape, in a matter of moments the fire pillars consumed him and

began to converge into one massive pillar before incinerating anything

within and around it before releasing its final burst of flames into the air

before dispersing.

Naruto was left on the ground, panting heavily from the use of that last

technique. He may have had incredibly powerful chakra, and a lot of it,

but he couldn't use so many powerful jutsu in quick succession without

wearing himself out yet. Shukaku had only been the Ichibi, the weakest

of the Bijū, and yet he had been pushed so far. It left a bad taste in his

mouth.

Because of all the heat in the atmosphere above, thunder clouds began to

gather and let down a heavy rain. Now was a time when Naruto still

wished he had his hat. He looked over to where Gaara was moments ago

and cringed at the sight. There was nothing but charred earth for miles,

not even the ashes of Shukaku or Gaara remained. Temari and Kankuro

had also been incinerated by that last jutsu, their unconscious bodies had

still been within what was the forest and Naruto felt all their 'voices'

vanish with the use of his Kenbunshoku Haki.

He would no doubt be getting a scolding from Obito for incinerating the

entire forest in this section outside the village. At least Konoha still had

one Mokuton user in its walls, had it not this would be very bad.

Now all he had left to do was release the Kyuubi from its genjutsu. He

whistled for his summon to bring Natsuki back down. Not a second later

was the medium sized bird with an unconscious Natsuki floating right

above him. It dropped Natsuki from its talons, who Naruto caught in his

arms. Naruto gave his summon a nod before it dispelled in a burst of

smoke.

Naruto looked down at the redhead in his arms. How was she still

unconscious after everything that had just gone on? Yes, he did place her

under a genjutsu, but seriously, he had just turned this forest into hell on

earth for a few minutes and here she was sleeping peacefully. He didn't

know whether to be impressed or disappointed in the girl.

He laid her down on the ground below and forcefully opened one of her

eyes with his index finger and thumb. Naruto activated his mangekyo

sharingan, the normal three-tomoe design morphing into a four-point

shuriken design, and cast a genjutsu on her so that he could enter her

mind.

Within Natsuki's Mindscape

Naruto was instantly transferred to a sewer-like plane and was forced to

wade through the ankle-deep water submerged the ground. The mind

scape itself was like a maze, there were so many turns and dead ends that

the only way Naruto was finding his way was because of his

Kenbunshoku Haki.

He was following the presence of two beings. One was Nasuki, in a state

of unconsciousness even in her own mind scape, and the other was the

Kyuubi, who Naruto could even sense from here was in a trance.

Normally when a jinchuriki was rendered unconscious, they were

immediately transferred into their mind scape and forced into contact

with the Bijuu, however, it seemed that Natsuki was forced into a state of

unconsciousness so it seemed as if she was only rendered unconscious the

first time in the real world. For Madara to have set up such an intricate

design within the Kotoamatsukami was an astounding feat that Naruto

had yet to reach.

Naruto finally entered the large dungeon with a cage as tall as the room

was. Natsuki was half submerger with the ankle-deep water and the

eternal-mangekyo sharingan pattern of Uchiha Madara replaced her usual

violet eyes, a sign that she became trapped within the same genjutsu as

the Kyuubi when she came here. The Kyuubi itself was laying down

inside of the cage eying Naruto, the very same pattern replacing what

should be slitted, crimson eyes. The trance was apparent, the Bijuu's eyes

were opened, but the beast was not in control. It was likely that the

Kyuubi was only woken from its slumber once outside of the jinchuriki-s

seal.

How far the mightiest of the Bijuu had fallen.

Naruto still had his mangekyo sharingan active and whispered the name

of the most powerful genjutsu in existence, the very same genjutsu that

these two were under.

Chapter no.108

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....

"Kotoamatsukami." Naruto spoke after looking the Kyuubi directly in the

eyes.

Immediately the sharingan design within the Kyuubi's eyes shattered and

was immediately released from Madara's control. He immediately let out

a large growl and began to thrash around the cage.

"Who are you ningen?! Where is that detestable ningen, Madara!?" The

booming voice of the Kyuubi roared.

After such a loud commotion, Natsuki began to stir as well.

"Nii-san! What are you doing here? What am I doing here? Where are we

Nii-san?!" Natsuki cried, obviously freaked out and confused right now.

"Ah! It's the Kyuubi Nii-san get away from the cage! Why is it here?! I

thought it was sealed inside of me!"

Naruto decided to focus his attention solely on the Kyuubi. Natsuki was

too frantic and confused at the moment to understand anything he would

say, in fact it wold create more questions than answers. Most of her

questions would be answered with his talk with the Kyuubi anyway.

"Kurama" Naruto spoke, earning a suprised look from the Kyuubi, now

named Kurama. "You have been under the control of Uchiha Madara for

well over a century. Sixteen years ago you broke out of your former

container and resealed into this girl here" Naruto pointed towards

Natsuki. "and her twin brother...right now you are incomplete, only your

Yin half has been broken out of the genjutsu." He spoke calmly, wanting

Kurama to understand how much the situation had changed since he was

placed under Madara's control.

"Who are you ningen, and why do you know so much? Not even I was

aware that I was under that detestable man's control." Kurama asked. The

boy before him was no older than sixteen, there was no way that he

could have possibly known what happened during the age of Uchiha

Madara.

"Ah yes, I haven't properly introduced myself have I?" Naruto asked while

giving a small, polite bow to Kurama. "My name is Portgas D. Naruto."

Kurama's eyes widened at the boy's statement. Portgas D. Ace was the

twin brother of the Rikudo Senin, the man who created the Bijuu. Portgas

D. Ace was the man primarily responsible for the defeat of Ōtsutsuki

Kaguya and the Juubi, a man of such power that he could destroy the

entire earth if he wished. Was this boy really related to this man.

"You may be thinking of the man who held the surname that I currently

do...I must admit that I am not related to him by blood...but I have

inherited his will and his abilities." To demonstrate, Naruto lit his entire

body ablaze before limiting the flames to only cover half of his face and

his hands.

'That fire...it isn't at the same intensity as Ace-sama's was, but that is no

doubt the same ability of the chakra fruit...the only way for him to find it

would be to be the reincarnation of the one who possessed the fruit

before him...Old man Hagoromo was right about life and death after

all...not to mention he looks a lot like Ace-sama with those freckles and

that tattoo.'

"Very well, I believe you Naruto. You already know that my name is

Kurama...Who is that ningen over there?" He asked while nodding his

head over to Natsuki.

Natsuki was speechless after seeing and hearing what was going on. The

Kyuubi was right in front of her, this had never happened before, why

was it happening now? The Kyuubi was under the control of Uchiha

Madara this entire time? Why was her Nii-san talking with the Kyuubi

like it was an old friend? What were they talking about? Just what was

going on?

"She appears to be a bit overwhelmed right now. This is Uzumaki-

Namikaze Natsuki, you were sealed within her mother after Mito had

gotten too old and was ready to die...she is also my biological sister...just

go through her memories and you'll find all the information you'll

need...She had always been told by her parents that you were evil and

that the Bijuu were just large masses of chakra, so she may not

understand how to interact with you right now."

"Nii-san...just what is going on right now?...Why are you talking to that

thing like it's alive? Kaa-san and Tou-san always told me that they were

just manifestations of evil chakra from the negative emotions of

humans...so why are you talking to it?" Natsuki questioned, clearly

frightened of the being behind those bars.

Naruto could only sigh, he didn't know where those misconceptions came

from, but for the Hokage to believe in that bullshit too was pretty much

expected from Naruto by now. He did not have high expectations from

the man. Naruto looked Natsuki in the eyes with his sharingan and

transferred all of the information that was relevant about the Bijuu at the

moment to Natsuki.

Needless to say, she was overwhelmed by the amount of information she

now had on all of the Bijuu. She was shocked, shameful, disappointed,

embarrassed, and horrified all at the same time. Everybody had been

wrong about all the information they had about the Bijuu for all these

years. She was disappointed in her own parents for believing such

nonsense and in herself for listening to them. And now she just told the

most powerful of the Bijuu that he didn't have emotions of feelings like

every other living being. And now she had to face the consequences.

Natsuki shut her mouth and tried to process all of the information she

just received.

"Will you be calling your other half here now?" Naruto asked, curious as

to when all this was going to take place.

"I can sense myself. The moment I was released from that man's control,

the seal of my other half should have been weakening. It should be here

any minute now...you should never split the halves of yin and yang, it

goes against the very principles of nature itself."

Chapter no.109

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....

Arena Infirmiry

The infirmary in the colosseum within Konoha was currently being

protected by Konoha-nin from the invading Suna and Oto shinobi, as

there were still many genin and medics within its walls who were either

providing care or receiving it.

One of these people was Uzumaki-Namikaze Nawaki. He was dealt a

humiliating defeat by his own blood-related brother and was currently

unconscious. It was easily to tell that his body had been terribly scarred

from his match earlier that day. His left eye was almost completely

burned shut and there were burns surrounding it that wrapped around to

the side of his head. From his shoulder down, the entire left side of his

body was covered in third degree burns.

The medics had done all they could, but they weren't miracle workers.

Those burns were too severe to ever heal completely. Honestly, the only

reason that he wasn't in a coma right now or brain dead was because of

the Uzumaki blood that flowed through his veins. They were renound

throughout the elemental nations for their incredible regenerative

abilities and their life-force.

Suddenly, the seal on his stomach began to glow crimson. The next

moment, the boy was screaming in agony whil a malefic red chakra in

the shape of a fox began to break our of the seal. The chakra occupied

the entire room, but it didn't burn or even touch anybody like it should

have. No, it fazed through them as if they were not even there, and it

appeared to be looking around for something. It finally locked onto a

direction and pulled the rest of its body out of Nawaki and vanished

through the wall.

All of this happened while Nawaki was unconscious, but it was so painful

that he shrieked and reacted as if he were awake the entire time. The seal

on his stomach was no longer black like it was written in ink, but it was

steaming and the mark of the seal had been burned into his body, never

to disappear again. His chakra reserves and regeneration abilities also

took a massive drop, the machine that he was hooked up to began to

beep erratically.

The medical-nin who had just witnessed the scene unfold before them

were terrified, but they rushed to his side nonetheless when it was clear

his heartbeat was rising above its normal rate. They would do everything

they could to save the life of their Hokae's son.

Whatever the case may be, Uzumaki-Namikaze Nawaki was no longer the

Jinchuriki for the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Within Natsuki's Mindscape

"Ah, here it is now." Kurama commented as a large crimson fox made of

malefic chakra, the same size as Kurama, entered into Natsuki's

mindscape.

The fox reached out towards the cage and Kurama did the same. The two

equal sized foxes merged as the one made of chakra wrapped itself

around Kurama's entire arm and body before covering it completely and

being absorbed.

A rush of power was released from within the cage as the mightiest of the

Bijuu was now complete again.

This amount of power was incredible, it easily dwarfed all of the power

that Shukaku had been utilizing earlier. Natsuki was forced on her hands

and knees from the pressure it alone, and had Naruto been a lesser man,

he would have as well. This is what the most powerful of the Bijuu was

capable of? Kurama may have been the most powerful of them, but he

was still only one ninth of the actual Juubi. Had Ace, Hagoromo, and

Hamura really fought againts a being of such immense power?

It was clear to Naruto needed far more training. Especially if someone

were to enact the Eye of the Moon Plan that was inscribed into the tablet

in the Naka Shrine. Naruto knew that what was inscribed on the tablet

wasn't what the Infinite Tsukuyomi really was, so someone must have

engraved that there to try to manipulate the Uchiha. The tablet stated

that the Infinite Tsukuyomi was a plan that created an eternity of blissful

dreams for all those in the world, but in reality it was a plan to revive

Ōtsutsuki Kaguya and retrieve all of the chakra that originated from

Kaguya and return it to her.

This meant that someone was trying to revive Kaguya. Whether they

were being manipulated into believing that they were creating a world of

eternal peace or they were doing this with that as their intent, someone,

somewhere was trying to revive her. If they succeeded it could spell the

end of the world as they knew it.

There was nobody in the world that could match the strength of those

who fought and sealed her the first time. Even if every shinobi in the

Elemental Nations combined their strength, it would be almost

impossible to match theirs.

Naruto would need to be prepared for when that day comes, freeing the

Kyuubi from Madara's control was only the first step. If these people were

serious about their plans, then they would need each of the Bijuu to

complete it, or at least their chakra. For Natsuki to stand a fighting

chance against them, then she would need the full power of the Kyuubi.

They would also most likely need a wielder of a rinnegan. There hasn't

been a wielder of that dōjutsu since Hagoromo. Wait, Jiraiya once had a

student during the Second Great Shinobi War in Ame that possessed a

pair of those eyes, but he was supposed to be dead. Or was he?

Naruto was getting a headache thinking about all of this. They were in

the middle of an invasion right now, he would think about everything

later.

"That is all I came here to do. Our village is currently at war with enemy

shinobi, so we'll be needing to get back..." Naruto spoke as he grabbed

onto Natsuki's shoulder. "Until next time Kurama." With those final words

said, Naruto and Natsuki exited the mindscape.

Chapter no.110

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....

Formerly Konoha Forest

Naruto and Natsuki were brought out of the latter's mindscape and were

now standing in the charred remains of what was formerly a section of

Konoha's surrounding forests. Over an hour had passed within the

mindscape, and yet only a few minutes had passed in the real world. That

was the beauty of genjutsu and the workings of the mind. What felt like

hours in an illusion would really only have lasted a second in the real

world.

Natsuki was on the ground, still overwhelmed with everything that had

happened. It was to be expected, she had been misinformed about what

had been sealed inside of her for her entire life and now that she learned

the truth, she was more confused than she had ever been in her life. She

had always just believed that having a Bijuu sealed inside you just meant

that you were entitled to more chakra, but after coming face to face with

the actual being and hearing it speak with your brother made you

question everything you knew about the world.

Naruto saw the girl's dilemma and decided that he should do something

about it, seeing as how what just occurred was his fault.

"Try not to think about it too much at the moment Natsuki..." Naruto

said, gaining the girl's attention. "We've got bigger things to worry about

like this invasion. You'll have plenty of time to think things over later."

Naruto advised the girl as he began to walk back towards the village

before he suddenly stopped.

"Oh, and do not inform anybody about what just happened...well I

suppose you can tell Narumi since it involves her too, but no one else.

This includes Minato, Kushina, Jiraiya, Kakashi, and whoever else you

would consider telling. They will only become weary of Kurama and try

to tell you that it is evil and that it's trying to take control of you. They

will also try tampering with the seal, something that will do more harm

than goo as you've already noticed." Natsuki noticeably cringed. Her

having both halves of Kurama meant that it had been ripped out of her

other brother. If the chakra hadn't have been separated into yin and yang

that wouldn't have happened.

"If I do find out that you have told them...then consider our relationship

over, done, non-existent. I am able to tolerate you right now, but should

you betray my trust then I will treat you the same as I do Minato and

Kushina." Naruto told the girl.

Natsuki flinched once again at the tone of his voice, proving that he was

absolutely serious. She saw how much Naruto disliked their parents and

she would hate herself forever if she was the one who forced him to treat

her like that. She wouldn't throw away any chance she had of having any

kind of relationship with her elder brother.

Natsuki knew that he was also right about her parents, godfather, and

sensei. They would no doubt try to convince her to never make contact

with Kurama again and to stop using its chakra completely, and if the

conversation that Naruto and Kurama had was any indication, she would

need it very soon. They would also try to mess with her seal, and there

was no way she was letting them come close to her seal with the fine

mess they had already made with it.

She would keep this to herself, and Narumi once she knew Naruto's

conditions as well.

Natsuki quickly brought herself out of her thoughts and quickly followed

her Nii-san back to the village to help fight off the invasion.

Kage Battle Royale

As soon as Gaara transformed into his initial jinchuriki state during his

match with Haku, a large burst of smoke erupted out of the Kages'

viewing box. Rasa, the Yondaime Kazekage, had immediately fled to the

roof with the Mizukage and the Hokage not far behind. His goal had been

to lure them up to the roof while Orochimaru's henchmen kept his fellow

Kage's bodyguards occupied.

He stopped moving once he reached the rust-colored, tiled roof of the

building. Not a second later did Yagura and Minato make their presence

known.

"Kazekage-dono, what is the meaning of all this?!" Minato demanded just

before the Suna bodyguards who had been training them split into four

people who each positioned themselves at a corner of the large rooftop

before erecting a large, purple barrier, surrounding the entire area of the

roof. What was most notable about those four was that they were dressed

in the usual attire for Oto-nins.

In truth, Minato was well aware of what was going on. Jiraiya had

informed him about Orochimaru's presence in the chunk exams and the

subsequent Suna/Oto invasion that would follow. He didn't make a move

beforehand because he didn't have any evidence to support his claim

besides Jiraiya's words, but they had been preparing for this for well over

a month now.

Minato had not confronted the Kazekage about his accusations either

because he had honestly believed that the man was being manipulated by

Orochimaru, or that Orochimaru would be impersonating him during the

finals. The man had a disturbing ability to copy the faces of others and

make organic masks out of them. However, before him was the real

Kazekage, so all his theories had all been thrown out the window.

The only response the Homage received was Rasa biting his thumb in

order to draw blood and slamming his hand onto the tiles below. There

was a poof of smoke, but what stepped out of it was what made both of

the men cringe. In all his pale-skinned, snake-like, glory stood one of the

three sannin, Orochimaru.

"Ah, Minato-kun. How good it is to see you once again." Orochimaru

commented as he let his tongue hang out of his mouth and lick his lower

lip. He couldn't wait to kill the Yondaime Hokage, Minato was the man

who stole the position of Hokage from him. Him! One of the sannin,

while Minato had just been a snot-nosed brat who had only just become a

jonin.

"Orochimaru..." Minato growled as he tried to turn the man in front of

him to ashes with his gaze alone. Had he been an Uchiha, that may have

been possible, but for now he would have to settle with merely glaring

menacingly at his sensei's former teammate.

"I'm sure you are well aware by now as to what the meaning of all this

is." Rasa declared as he stepped forward to stand by Orochimaru's side.

"We will be destroying Konoha today!...I wish it hadn't had to come to

this, but Sunagakure is in a state of near bankruptcy because our Daimyo

has been sending all of the mission requests that should rightfully be

going to Suna to Konoha...this is the only option to our financial crisis."

This earned widened eyes from the two kage before him.

"You're doing all of this for the sake of financial profit! Have you not

learned what war does to the villages after the last war?!" Yagura asked

incredulously to the Kazekage. Seriously, he was acting as foolish as the

Tsuchikage usually was.

To go to war for the sake of earning more missions from your country

was preposterous. Suna was likely to lose more than it would gain from

this invasion, even if Otogakure had allied themselves with them. Konaha

was still suffering from how many shinobi had been killed in the Kyuubi

attack sixteen years ago, but the village still had far more shinobi than

Suna did. Suna had not yet recovered from the amount of shinobi they

lost during the Third Great Shinobi War, not to mention the fact that they

were the smallest of the five great villages and therefore didn't have as

high of a population.

Orochimaru looked amused at the young kage's comment. "We live in a

world that thrives in war and hatred Yagura-kun. As one of the five kages

you should know such a simple reality of this world."

Minato closed his eyes in frustration, there was no way around this. The

entire village was in a state of crisis right now. Giant snake summons

looked to be destroying sections of the forest and the village, every

shinobi was fighting to defend their home right now, his family was in

danger, Jiraiya and Obito should be finished taking care of the Oto-nin

that had swarmed them and should be heading off to take care of the

situation throughout the rest of the village right about now, Minato didn't

have the luxury of standing here chatting.

"It seems that there is no avoiding conflict here." Minato stated as he

pulled several of his marked kunai from his weapons pouch.

"How observant Minato-kun...but I hope you don't think you'll be having

an easy time." Orochimaru commented as he went through numerous

hand seals before slamming his palm onto the ground.

"Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei (Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation)!"

Chapter no.111

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....

From the ground below, three wooden coffins rose from the ground. One

had the kanji for 'one' on the lid while the other two both had the kanji

for 'two'. Minato and Yagura both raised an eyebrow at these coffins.

They had clearly heard Orochimaru claim that this was a summoning

jutsu, sumoning techniques were usually used to summon animals and

the like, but this was something that neither of the Kage were expecting.

Minato's eyes suddenly widened as he remembered a jutsu that the

Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama, had created that was closely guarded

in the forbidden scroll in the Kage Tower.

The Edo Tensei (Impure World Reincarnation), a kinjutsu where, using a

living person as a vessel, a deceased person's soul can be called back to

the world of the living and bound to it. The vessel then takes on the form

that soul had in life, thereby reincarnating them to do the summoner's

bidding.

"Don't tell me that you've mastered even that jutsu, Orochimaru..."

Minato pleaded more than asked, all he received was a wide grin in

return, confirming his fears.

All three of the coffins slowly opened, and their lids fell to the ground.

The three individuals who had been revived slowly emerged and made

their way onto the roof.

Minato and Yagura were both speechless at the sight before them.

"I knew that it would need to come to this, so I made a few preparations

in advance. Sadly, these were the only three that I could get my hands on

with the amount of time I had." Orochimaru could hardly contain his

laughter as he burned the horror-stricken faces of the Hokage and

Mizukage into his memory.

There on the roof in between the two opposing sides, stood the Shodaime

Hokage, Senju Hashirama, the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama, and the

Nidaime Mizukage, Hōzuki Gengetsu.

This was more than Minato and Yagura had signed on for.

Orochimaru stepped up behind the three Kages and placed a kunai

attached with a seal at the end, to bind their personalities and retain

control over them, into the back of their heads.

As soon as the tags were bound to their souls, the three reanimated Kage

took off running in the direction where the current Kage were.

Orochimaru and Rasa stayed behind and would wait for their chance to

step in once Minato and Yagura were weakened. They were two of the

strongest Kage of this generation and wouldn't be taken out easily.

Though with three of the strongest Kage of all time as their opponents,

not even they will last long.

These reanimated Kage were not at full strength, if they had been they

would have been near impossibly to control with this imperfect version

of the Edo Tensei, but nevertheless they should be able to easily able to

overwhelm those two.

Minato and Yagura were standing only a few feet apart, so the three

former Kages separated and charged them from all angles. Senju

Hashirama was continuing with the frontal assault, while Senju Tobirama

was running along the highest point of the roof on their right, with

Hōzuki Gengetsu flanking them on the left.

It appeared that divide and conquer would be their only option of getting

out of this alive.

Taijutsu wasn't a viable option as all of the shinobi on the roof were Kage

level in taijutsu, therefore trying to match their opponents in taijutsu

while being outnumbered would be certain death. They would only use it

when there was no other choice or when it was in conjunction with

another technique. They would need to keep their distance and rely on

ninjutsu and genjutsu. Though they needed to conserve enough to deal

with Orochimaru and the Kazekage afterwards.

The current Hokage and Mizukage were in a tough spot with not a lot of

options at their disposal.

Minato quickly reached for his hip and drew a sealing scroll from his

weapons pouch. He swiftly unraveled it and pushed chakra into it,

causing three-pronged kunai to erupt from it and rain down all across the

rooftop.

The three Kage who had been continuing their charge were forced to veer

off course and take precautionary measures to save them selves the

trouble of having to regenerate. This bought Minato and Yagura some

time to take the offensive.

They looked each other in the eyes before nodding and vanishing out of

sight. Minato reappeared to the middle of the battlefield directly in

between the Senju brothers, they would be his opponents. Yagura

reappeared on the left side of the roof, cutting off Hōzuki Gengetsu, it

only made sense that one of his predecessors would be his opponent.

"Hahahaha! This will prove to be excellent entertainment! Let the games

begin!" As Orochimaru began laughing maniacally the three Kage

charged their targets with only one purpose in mind...to kill them.

Chapter no.112

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....

Yagura vs. Hōzuki Gengetsu

Yagura eyed his opponent's moves very carefully. Hōzuki Gengetsu was

undoubtably one of the strongest shinobi that Kirigakure had ever

produced, if not the strongest, Yagura would not take this man lightly.

Yagura pulled up the sleeve on his right arm and channeled chakra into

the seal that was on his wrist, summoning his favored weapon, a large,

hook-ended staff with a green flower on the end.

Gengetsu recovered from the hail of kunai and charged at Yagura once

more.

Yagura knew that he wouldn't last long in a taijutsu confrontation, due to

his rather child-like body and shorter limbs, but he would be able to

make up for it with his use of bukijutsu. Originally, he had believed that

a close quarters match wouldn't be a good option, but that was before

they had split up to take on their opponents. Right now he only had to

deal with the Kage in front of him.

Hōzuki Gengetsu was a specialist in the field of genjutsu. This gave

Yagura the advantage because he was a perfect jinchūriki and therefore

was almost immune to genjutsu.

Yagura brought his staff forward to block the oncoming kick from

Gengetsu. He then shifted his weapon to to the left to cut off a punch

from the right side. Isobu, from inside Yagura, immediately flared its

chakra to dispel the genjutsu that had been discretely placed on its host.

Gengetsu charged at Yagura once more, forcing him on the defensive.

The former Mizukage brought a kick towards Yagura's head, using his

momentum to put more force behind it. Yagura ducked under it, but was

caught off guard with a second kick that sent him back a dozen yards.

Gengetsu jumped back from the smaller Kage and placed his palm on the

tiled roof below them. There was a large burst of smoke before a giant

clam appeared on the rooftop with Gengetsu standing on top of it.

It seemed that those who had been revived with this particular jutsu

retained all of the abilities they had in life, even summoning contracts.

The giant clam slowly opened its shell and began exuding a thick mist

that quickly covered the battlefield.

Yagura was no stranger to fighting in the mist and the silent killing

technique, he was from Kirigakure after all, but he was still rather young

for a Kage and his predecessor no doubt had more experience than him,

even if the man wasn't in control of his own actions right now his body

and mind still retained the memories of when he was alive.

Yagura closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings. Every movement

of the air, every small sound, all of the scents in the atmosphere, Yagura

focused on all of these, as well as focusing on his own chakra network.

Hōzuki Gengetsu's giant clan summon was famous for being used in

conjunction with his Yin-release genjutsu, even as a perfect jinchuriki

and Isobu helping him from the inside he would need to keep a careful

eye on his own chakra system to be sure he wasn't under a genjutsu.

That wasn't the only thing he was keeping an eye on though. Gengetsu

was a dangerous man and was incredibly skilled in the art of silent

killing. The man was a sensor, so he was in complete control in the

situation. In fact, he was probably already waiting until he let his guard

down or was preparing his assault. Neither option were good for Yagura.

Sensing a surge in chakra, Yagura immediately jumped to the right of his

current location, and it was just in time too. The current Mizukage

looked back to where he was a minute ago and saw a large number of

bubbles impacting the ground with enough strength to turn the tiles into

rubble.

Now Yagura was quite familiar with the history and clans of Kiri, so he

knew exactly what Gengetsu had just done. The former Mizukage had

used the Suika no Jutsu (Hydrification Technique) to produce bubbles

from his body, those bubbles then floated upwards into the air and rained

down on the roof at high speeds, intent on breaking a few of his bones.

That was a rather clever strategy, using the Mizu Fūsen no Jutsu (Water

Balloon Jutsu) as the finisher to gain an edge in the battle.

He was lucky to have reacted as soon as he did, had he been unprepared

for that jutsu then he would have been in a world of trouble. Though, he

wasn't out of the woods just yet.

Yagura forcibly dispelled another genjutsu that was cast upon him

through the mist, this was becoming quite an annoyance, he didn't have

the luxury to keep worrying about whether or not he was under a

genjutsu. He needed to get rid of that giant clam and quick. Though, that

was easier said than done as once the mist was produced from it, the

clam was camouflaged within an illusion, while it produced dozens of

copies of itself. And those copies littered the battlefield, he had already

managed to dispel quite a few of them, but he needed to find the real

one.

The only way to disperse the mist and these illusions was to find the

clam's real body and force it back to its summoning realm.

It seemed that he would need to step up his game a bit.

Yagura got down on all fours as a dark red, nearly black, layer of chakra

enveloped his body, turning his eyes pure white and making him appear

as a minature version of the Sanbi. Behind him, two tails could be seen

swaying in the air.

This was the Yagura's version two jinchūriki state. This was the highest

he could go without transforming into the full Sanbi. If he were to do

that then the entire roof would be destroyed. Yagura was the only person

to be able to claim to be a perfect jinchūriki besides Killer B from

Kumogakure. He had first mastered Isobu's power at a very young age, so

he actually trumps him in that regard. Even a former Kage will have

dealing trouble with a perfect jinchūriki.

Yagura slammed both his claws into the ground, sending a shockwave

across the battlefield, and shattering a majority of the roof in the process,

successfully dispersing the mist and thus revealing what was hidden

within it.

Over twenty giant clams littered the battlefield with Gengetsu nowhere in

sight. Yagura let loose a massive pulse of chakra, disrupting the chakra

and illusions in the surrounding area. All of the imaged of the clam

slowly dissipated into nothing but air, while the real clam came into

existence about twenty yards away from Yagura.

This was the best chance he was going to get to turn the tide in his favor.

Yagura began gathering positive black chakra and negative white chakra

at an 8:2 ratio into a small purple sphere. Keeping its spherical form

instead of compressing it, Yagura fired the ultimate technique of the Bijū

at the giant clam, so he would be able to find Gengetsu's real body.

"Bijūdama (Tailed Beast Ball)!"

The medium sized purple flew through the air at high speeds, intent on

eradicating the clam summons. This version of the Bijūdama was far

weaker than when a Bijū would perform it, or when it is compressed and

swallowed to form a beam from a jinchūriki, but this jutsu was only

meant to rid the battlefield of the clam, nothing more.

Gengetsu's personal summons opened its mouth to catch the purple

sphere and trapped it within its mouth to stop the jutsu from harming its

summoner. A moment later, the Bijūdama exploded within the confines

of the clam's mouth, forcibly causing it to dispel in a burst of smoke.

There was no time for Yagura to celebrate as from the smoke, emerged a

chibi-like clone of Gengetsu, however its skin was a pale white and was

much larger than Gengetsu himself. Gengetsu was standing a good

distance away from the clone, as the use of it leaves him in a severely

weakened and vulnerable state.

Yagura silently cursed to himself at the appearance of this particular

clone. This was a jutsu that Hōzuki Gengetsu was renowned for, and it

was his personal favorite, the Jōki Bōi (Steaming Danger Tyranny).

This was quite the predicament indeed. Even while Yagura was in his

version two jinchūriki state, he would have trouble keeping up with its

speed and strength. The only good thing about its appearance is that it

left the Nidaime Mizukage wide open for attack once it was dealt with or

when he got an opportunity to strike, whichever came first.

A large axe-shaped blade forged from water formed from the clone's right

forearm before he rushed at Yagura with incredible speeds.

Yagura, still in his version two cloak, swung his staff to counter the blade

of the water and oil clone before him. However, that didn't stop

Gengetsu's creation as it continued to strike out towards Yagura at high

speeds. They were locked in that pace for several minutes as Yagura was

forced to remain on the defensive.

He leaped back to gain some distance between them and to bring the

speed of the battle to his pace.

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Suiton: Daikaisuidan (Water Release: Great Water Mass Bullets)!" Yagura

took a deep breath and condensed large masses of water in his mouth

before firing three large water projectiles at the Jōki Bōi.

Gengetsu's clone was far too fast for the water projectiles to his, as it

swiftly flew through the air to avoid them and charged at Yagura once

more. Yagura's jutsu impacted the roof and created small shockwaves

that only accelerated the clone's speed further.

As the clone flew through the air, it slowly started to expand and increase

exponentially in size.

Yagura's pupil-less eyes widened as he knew what the increase in size

meant.

The clone was made up from the oil and water in Gengetsu's body. The

water in the clone is surrounded by a thin layer of oil, and do to this

structure, the clone's temperature can be easily altered from cold to hot

and vice-versa. When it exerts itself, the outer layer of oil heats up and

evaporates the water within it. As the internal pressure builds, the clone

expands until it violently explodes and water vapor is released. The vapor

then cools down and rises and as a result, turns into hail that cools the

clone, causing it to shrink again and repeat the never ending process.

It only takes chakra to create the clone, not sustain it, as the rest of the

process is carried out by the laws of nature and science. Even if it didn't,

as a reanimation Gengetsu had an unlimited supply of chakra.

Yagura began kneading suiton chakra within his lungs, knowing that he

had to do something to slow the clone down before it exploded.

"Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Formation Wall)!" Yagura

released a large torrent of water from his mouth that rose into a large

wall as it intercepted the large clone. It slowly became powerful enough

to stop the clone in its tracks and push it back towards the direction it

came form a bit.

Though it seemed as if it was too late as the clone's expression changed

to a large smirk before it exploded violently in a burst of water vapor.

Yagura was sent back across the roof by the incredibly powerful

shockwave and searing hot water vapor produced. He landed just near

the farthest edge of the roof, sections of his version two cloak ripped

from his body, his clothes tattered, and parts of his body scalded from the

heat of the blast. Nevertheless, he slowly managed to stand back up as he

stared at the clone who had already returned to its normal size and

cooled down.

The Nidaime Mizukage truly was a force to be reckoned with, and to

think this wasn't even the man's full power. He was truly fearsome and

worthy of the title of Mizukage.

Yagura eyed the water covering the battlefield from his earlier defensive

countermeasure, and slowly but surely a plan began to form in his mind.

There was no guarantee that it would work, in fact it may be detrimental

to him with the cost of chakra and add more fuel to the fire, but he

managed to pull it off then he would have a chance to seal Gengetsu

while he was still in his weakened state.

Yagura made a single Mizu Bunshin (Water Clone) from the water below

him, before they charged off in different directions. Yagura's clone was

heading for Gengetsu's clone, while Yagura himself was going for

Gengetsu.

The Mizu Bunshin didn't have to go very far to enact the first part of the

plan, as this entire section of the rooftop was covered in a thick layer of

water, with Gengetsu's clone standing right in the middle of it all.

'Yagura' stuck out his palm before the water began rising and flowing,

before it became a large, dense, inescapable sphere of water.

"Suirō no Jutsu (Water Prison Jutsu)."

Yagura's clone may only have had ten percent of Yagura's original

strength, but the Kage was a master of the water element and could

control it with his will alone, even going so far as to use some of the most

powerful suiton jutsu ever created without even forming a hand seal.

This was due to Isobu, who was sealed inside of him and whose own

element was water, and because of his own tremendous skill.

For the Jōki Bōi (Steaming Danger Tyranny), who needed to be able to

expand to explode, the dense and heavy water of the prison would be the

perfect countermeasure for stopping it in its tracks.

The only problem was that 'Yagura' needed to continuously hold and

keep the prison active. Once it ran out of chakra, the jutsu would dispel

and Gengetsu's signature clone would be free to do what it pleases. This

only meant that the real Yagura would have to finish his part as soon as

possible.

The real Yagura was currently rushing at Gengetsu at high speeds, whilst

avoiding continuos barrages of Gengetsu's Mizudeppō: Nichō (Water Gun:

Two Guns). That isn't to say that Yagura was unscathed from the near

constant bullets of water that were traveling at him with tremendous

speed and force. No, he had received his fair share of gunshot wounds,

but that was nothing that Isobu wouldn't be able to heal, albeit slowly,

but he would still be able to heal it nonetheless.

Yagura had long since given up any form of defense. He needed to finish

him off quickly before his special clone could get involved one more, and

judging from the amount of struggle the clone was putting up in trying to

break free inside of the water prison, it wouldn't last much longer as it

was taking even more chakra for his clone to hold it. He needed to seal

Gengetsu at this very moment.

Yagura really only knew one fūinjutsu technique and it was the one that

Obito had taught him while he was the liaison between Kiri and Konoha.

It had been taught to him by Minato, who had it taught to him by Jiraiya

of the sannin. It was a short-ranged type though, and that is why he had

given up all concentration on defense in order to get in close to his

target.

Yagura brought his right hand to his side as each of his fingertips were

ignited with purple flames. Within each one of those flames, an element

was inscribed. Not the elements for each of the chakra natures but the

kanji for metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Yagura never really

understood what the purpose of these kanji were, so he figured they were

merely symbolic and had no real purpose.

Yagura had finally reached within striking distance of Gengetsu. He

reared his palm back and slammed it into the former Mizukage's

abdomen, but not before the man managed to fire off two more of his

Mizudeppōs at point black range into Yagura's chest. A large splatter of

blood erupted from his back and chest just as the seal began forming on

Gengetsu's abdomen.

"Gogyō Fūin (Five Element Seal)!"

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....

The seal placed on Gengetsu cut off the chakra that was causing the

reanimation to remain active and binding his soul to the body. A white

light emerged from the host's body and the spirit of Gengetsu could be

seen floating up towards the sky. The man smiled at Yagura and gave

him a nod as to thank him for freeing him from the material world before

ascending back to the afterlife.

Yagura grunted as he was now feeling all the pain that had been inflicted

to him throughout the battle.

He muscled through it as he began his journey to the center of the

rooftop to face his final opponents.

Senju Hashirama vs. Namikaze Minato vs. Senju Tobirama

Namikaze Minato had seen better days.

Currently he was on one knee and panting heavily as he eyed the two

Kage before him. His clothes were torn in several different areas, he was

bruised, beaten, and soaked in his own blood from the wounds that had

been inflicted upon him.

At the same time that Yagura was facing off against Gengetsu, Minato

was face to face with two of the founding figures of Konohagakure.

He really got the short end of the stick this time, as he was facing off

against Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama, two of the strongest

shinobi in the long history of the Elemental Nations.

Why did they agree to each take on the reanimated Kage from their

respective villages again?

Oh yes, it was because they would know their opponents strengths and

weaknesses the best and know the secrets and mechanics behind their

strongest jutsus and fighting styles. There were only a few problems with

that. The Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages were what the definition of

shinobi should be, they covered all of their weaknesses and had no

openings. The only people who had been able to push them to their

absolute limits lived during the era of warring states and founded the

shinobi world.

It didn't help that he knew the workings of some of their jutsu, it only

made it clear as to how dire of a situation he was in right now. The only

advantage he had at the moment was that his marked kunai were spread

out all over the rooftop so he could make a quick escape and catch them

off-guard.

The Hiraishin had already saved his life countless times during this

exchange.

The costs for him would be tremendous if the fight dragged on, he

needed to seal them the first chance he got. It also worked in his favor

that the Edo Tensei's biggest weakness was fūinjutsu, an art that he

specialized in.

That had been the theory at least.

Their strength was truly overwhelming, especially when working

together. They were no doubt the strongest Kage in the history of the

Elemental Nations. Minato himself had been feared by all who had the

unfortunate fate to be his enemy, even the other Kages would be hard

pressed and would ultimately lose against him. Yet, he had been on the

defensive since this fight started and things didn't look to be turning in

his favor anytime soon.

Minato slowly brought himself up to both feet as he wiped the blood

from the corner of his mouth with his thumb. It seemed that he would

need to be prepared as his predecessors were about to begin their

onslaught once more.

"Suiton: Suishōha (Water Release: Water Colliding Wave)!" Water

molecules were swiftly gathered from the surrounding air by Tobirama

and turned into a large spiraling vortex of water. It then exploded from

the top and crashed down towards Minato in the form of a wave.

Minato silently cursed to himself and teleported to a marked kunai

directly behind Hashirama. As soon as he arrived, he sent a slash towards

Hashirama's head with a kunai that he held in a reverse grip. The slash

was blocked with a simple raise of the arm by the Shodaime Hokage,

who countered with an elbow to the blonde's ribs. Minato grunted in

pain, but took this opportunity to send a reverse kick to Hashirama's side

as he simultaneously tagged the man with a Hiraishin marker. This time

the kick made contact and sent Hashirama several yards away, but before

Minato could celebrate he was kicked in the stomach with a strong front

kick from Tobirama and sent crashing into an earth wall that had

previously been erected.

Minato quickly pulled himself out of the crater he made in the earth wall

and fell to the water that had been covering the ground from Tobirama's

earlier suiton jutsu.

He saw that the former Hokages hadn't moved from their earlier

positions, so he took this as a chance to take the offensive.

"Katon: Karyū Endan (Fire Release: Dragon Flame Bombs)!"

The current Hokage went through several hand seals before spewing out

a large stream of fire after which he began to knead the chakra into

genuine-looking dragon that divided and launched to the left side, the

right side, and a frontal assault in all three directions at once. He

increased the output even further, making the dragon larger and turning

the stream of flames whitish in color and much hotter.

Minato was no specialist in nature transformation, in fact he rarely used

any elemental ninjutsu, but that did not mean he neglected his research

into the arts. He was the Hokage and was the strongest shinobi in the

village, he would protect it against any foreign threat, even if it meant

having to reduce his predecessors into nothing more than a pile of ash.

This jutsu was personally taught to him by Sarutobi Hiruzen, the

Sandaime Hokage, and it was his most powerful offensive elemental

ninjutsu.

As the searing hot flames raced towards the Shodaime and Nidame

Hokages and began to consume them, Tobirama once again gathered the

moisture in the air, even with such hot flames burning around him, and

prepared a powerful suiton jutsu.

"Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Formation Wall)!" Tobirama

spewed a large torent of water from his mouth and combined them with

the moisture that he had pulled from the air to make the jutsu at least

three-times as powerful as the one that Yagura had used during his

confrontation with Gengetsu. The water took the form of a large wall that

circled both him and Hashirama, effectively protecting them from the

flames.

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....

Minato's katon jutsu finally died down and he was immensely

disappointed with the result.

Hashirama and Tobirama were completely unharmed and the water was

slowly starting to dissipate around them, seeing as they no longer needed

the protection.

It appeared that a master of suiton jutsu would be able to easily counter

the flames of someone who was not well versed in elemental ninjutsu. It

appeared as if Minato would need to stick to his specialties here if he

wanted to survive.

"Having the two of them as opponents if difficult as expected." Minato

commented to himself more than anything.

Minato was panting heavily, trying to keep up with two Kage at once was

taking quite a toll on him. It seemed as if nothing he did was having any

effect on them. Was this the difference between the current generation

and the previous one? How could there be such a large difference in

strength and skill?

Minato was brought back to reality as large tree roots began emerging

from the rooftop and growing at a rapid pace. He looked up and saw that

Hashirama had his hands in a single hand seal and was kneading large

amounts of chakra into a life source for the trees to grow.

"Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kōtan (Wood Release Secret Technique: Deep

Forest Emergence)!"

The trees began to emerge everywhere from the ground below and even

through the earth wall behind Minato. Within the span of a single

second, an incredibly dense forest sprouted up from beneath the tiles of

the rooftop and was trying to pierce Minato with roots, branches, leaves,

and tree trunks, as he was forced to continuously teleport away using the

Hiraishin to escape the immensely powerful jutsu.

Just as the trees stopped growing, he landed on the top of the earthen

wall, which now had large trees growing all throughout it and that had

pierced through it. The blonde Hokage hadn't managed to dodge every

one of those trees as he now grasped at several knew stab wounds that

were engraved into his abdomen.

He took a moment to catch his breath and closed his eyes to wipe the

blood covering his forehead and flowing over his eyes. That turned out to

be a costly mistake as Tobirama used his Suiton: Suidanha (Water

Release: Water Severing Wave) to release a highly pressurized stream of

water that flew threw the air and severed Minato's left arm from his body

completely, and sliced clean through the rest of the earth wall causing it

to crumble completely.

"AAARRRGGGHHHH!" Minato screamed in utter agony as he gripped

where his left arm used to be, not even a stump remained. However, he

had no time to dwell on it as he was forced to jump from the wall he was

on to the highest pieces of falling debris to prevent himself from being

crushed completely by the large chunks of earth. After what seemed like

an eternity, he finally landed on the water as the debris settled beneath

the water's surface.

His breathing had become ragged and his vision was becoming blurry

from the amount of blood that he had lost from all the injuries he

sustained. He needed to end this now, he was already in a state that he

may not even be able to fight evenly with Rasa, let alone Orochimaru.

These were the price that he knew he would have to pay if this fight

dragged on. If he couldn't finish this in the next few minutes, then he was

as good as dead, and maybe Konoha was too.

Hashirama began his charged while Tobirama stayed behind to cover

him. Minato saw this and figured it was the best chance he would

receive, given his current condition. As Hashirama glided across the

water's surface, Minato threw several of his three-pronged kunai at the

man, which were promptly deflected using only his bare hands.

That was only a distraction though. While Hashirama was focused on

defending himself from the kunai, Minato teleported right above

Hashirama via the Hiraishin seal that he had placed on the man during

their taijutsu bout. Using his almost instantaneous reflexes, Minato

flipped in mid-air and brought his hand onto Hashirama's back and

placed a Keiyaku Fūin (Contract Seal) to cut the connection between him

and Orochimaru.

A Keiyaku Fūin (Contract Seal) removes any direct control that a

summoner has on a summoned creature or being. Though it does remove

Orochimaru's control from Hashirama, it did not place the former Hokage

under Minato's control. Most of Minato's fūinjutsu require direct contact

with the target, that is why he had been trying to get in close the entire

time.

His original plan had been to remove the control tags that Orochimaru

had been using to control them, but they were far too skilled for him to

carry out his plan. Whenever he got in close, he was thrown across the

rooftop not a moment later. That is when his plan drifted to sealing them

immediately.

He had merely gotten lucky that he had managed to place a Hiraishin

seal on Hashirama's body, had he not then things would not have been

quite as easy. This was a blessing that he needed, now he would be able

to focus solely on one opponent.

A white light began to cover Hashirama's body and his spirit began to

ascend back into the heavens. The debris that had been covering the

body that he had been bound to fell to the ground as it revealed a body

of a nameless Otogakure shinobi.

"May your soul forever rest in peace Shodaime-sama." Minato commented

as the soul of one of Konoha's founders was released from this horrid

jutsu

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However, it wasn't time for a celebration just yet. He still had the

Nidaime Hokage to deal with, and it would be much more difficult since

he hadn't been able to place a seal on the man's body.

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Dragon Missile)!"

Minato's attention was brought back to his current situation as he was

forced to teleport away from the massive water dragon that consumed

what was left of the earth wall and devastated the forest that Hashirama

had created.

The fact that these reanimations had an unlimited amount of chakra was

a real pain. And it didn't help that the entire are was covered in water, he

was practically as Tobirama's mercy right now. Had the Nidaime Hokage

been alive and in control of his own thoughts and strategy then Minato

surely would have been dead right now.

Minato quickly teleported to an area that had no water near it, as to

eliminate his opponents advantage. However as soon as he did, Tobirama

appeared right before him and slashed him across the chest with a kunai.

Minato recoiled in pain and jumped to another one of his kunai only a a

dozen feet away. He had forgotten that Tobirama was the creator of the

Hiraishin no Jutsu and was able to link himself to another users

markings. Truly impressive.

Tobirama wasn't done yet. The Edo Tensei had originally been designed

for the purpose of taking down your targets along with yourself,

maximizing the use of suicide techniques. Therefore he had developed a

fighting style personally designed for those who had been reincarnated.

"Gojō Kibaku Fuda (Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags)!"

Using his immortal body as a medium, Tobirama created several large

special explosive tags, with each bearing five seals on them. He threw

these explosive tags into the air as they began to surround both him and

Minato, the tags then summoned even more explosive tags as they went

off and repeated the process continuously, creating a near infinite

number of explosions.

Minato had managed to flash away at the last moment before the

explosive tags went off to an area that was out of range of the explosion,

just barely though. He eyed the section of the rooftop where the jutsu

had gone off and when the smoke cleared, he saw that Tobirama was on

the ground and still regenerating from the suicide technique he had just

used.

He took this chance and teleported to one of the few kunai that were still

intact throughout the area and blurred out of sight once more as he raced

towards the downed form of the Nidaime Hokage. Each of the five fingers

on Minato's remaining hand ignited with a bright purple flame with a

different kanji on each of the fingertips. He reappeared right above the

immobile silver-haired man and slammed his fingers into the man's

abdomen.

"Gogyō Fūin (Five Elements Seal)!"

A seal became engraved into Tobirama's abdomen as the connection that

bound his soul to the host's had been cut. The same white light that had

surrounded Hashirama's body surrounded his and his actual soul began

its ascent into the sky, leaving behind the fallen debris that had been

covering the body of a nameless Otogakure shinobi that hosted his soul.

"Rest in peace, Nidaime-sama."

It seemed that his duty was done here, now it was time for him to deal

with Orochimaru and the Kazekage.

Center of the Rooftop

"Well, you two look like you've seen better days." Orochimaru

commented, amused at the state of the two Kage in front of him. "Such a

pitiful state for two of the strongest shinobi in the world to be in."

Orochimaru and Rasa stood face to face with Yagura and Minato after

they had finished their subsequent battles. What he said wasn't too far

from the truth as both the Hokage and the Mizukage were heavily

injured. In fact, they were so injured and exhausted that one could

probably push them over with a single finger.

However, they still stood tall and did not take a single step back from

their enemies, truly befitting of their titles of Kage.

"Especially you Hokage. you were suspected to be the strongest of us five

kages, yet here you are barely alive right now and missing an arm." Rasa

added in. "Though I must commend you for being able to take on the

Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages at the same time, it speaks volumes of

your abilities though with only one arm now much of that strength is

gone.

Yagura and Minato barely had the strength to speak at the moment, so

they remained quiet, trying to conserve as much of their energy as

possible for another Kage level battle.

"Though it seems as our plans to take you down when you were weakest

were for naught as it appears that we have company." Orochimaru

commented as he eyed the swirling vortex in the air to their right.

A moment later three people materialized from the vortex and stepped

forward to intervene in the upcoming battle. There stood Uchiha Obito,

Jiraiya of the sannin, and Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina. Three S-Ranked

shinobi who would throw quite a wrench in the plans that had been in

the making for months now.

All three of them were frozen in shock one they arrived at the state that

Minato and Yagura were in, Minato more so though.

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....

"Minato! Oh Kami what happened to you!?" Kushina screamed as she saw

that Minato was now missing an arm and was covered from head to toe

in blood.

Jiraiya and Obito were worried as well, but they did not outwardly show

it as they were staring down Orochimaru and Rasa. How could they not

be worried? Minato was Jiraiy'as student, he practically raised the boy

since he was a genin. If anything, he was just as worried as the man's

wife. Obito was Minato's student. Obito had never really fit in amongst

the Uchiha clan, so Minato was the closest thing he had to family. Even if

he had grown up a lot since he became a genin and the events during the

Third Great Shinobi War, he still saw the man as family even when Obito

had lost faith in everything else.

However, right now they needed to worry about Orochimaru and the

Yondaime Kazekage. It was obvious that Suna had turned against Konoha

due to the invasion that they had just cleaned up. Not to mention the fact

that they saw Rasa leading the Hokage and Mizukage up o the roof as

Orochimaru's henchmen stalled them.

"Orochimaru..." Jiraiya seethed as he glared at his wayward teammate.

"Ah, Jiraiya. How good to see you again. If only Tsunade were here then

we could have a team reunion." Orochimaru commented offhandedly, but

inside he was cursing his luck for how things were turning out.

All three of the shinobi that had just bypassed the barrier that his

subordinates were holding up were Kage level. It would be too risky to

continue with this plan any longer. They would need to retreat for now.

"It's over. Your little invasion has been silenced and most of your shinobi

killed. The rest are being rounded up as we speak. The Ichibi along with

the Suna jinchūriki looks to have been killed by Naruto. Your plans have

failed Orochimaru." Obito stated as he reactivated his mangekyō

sharingan.

Rasa's expression turned into one of utter shock. "He killed Gaara!? That's

impossible, I've been trying to get rid of Gaara for years but he's far too

strong to kill by ordinary means! There's no way some genin could be a

match for him!"

"Ah Naruto-kun was it? The boy with fire? He must also have been the

one to kill my favorite subordinate Kabuto...I'll make sure to pay him

back someday." Orochimaru stated darkly.

"Kabuto? That boy was a Konoha shinobi! Are you telling me that he's

been a spy for you all along?" Jiraiya yelled at his former teammate. Was

that how Orochimaru had been getting all his information.

"You're quite right Jiraiya, but I assume that he died in the forest of death

during the second stage of the chunin exams. Who else do you think

could have caused such a tremendous fire within the forest besides

Naruto-kun?"

Jiraiya froze after hearing that last statement. Was it really Naruto who

had burned down the forest? What had happened there was quite a

popular topic amongst the shinobi and even the ANBU of the village.

Over a quarter of the forest was burned down and there were now

several rivers of molten lave flowing through it. He remembered that

Anko had been quite pissed at whoever had the nerve to do this to her

playground.

He shivered upon remembering how angry she was. Women and anger

should never mix, it is a deadly combination.

'A child born from great power but with memories of old shall pave the

way toward a new era of peace. Whether they walk the path of light or is

forced into the darkness shall determine what the future will hold. Their

predecessor has already burned the path for them, but it shall be their

will of fire that determines whether they will walk it or forge their own.'

The words from the prophecy the toad elder spoke of rang through his

mind once more.

"We're falling back Rasa, the tide of this battle has turned against us and I

have no more reanimations to even the playing field." Orochimaru spoke

to the Kazekage, who eagerly agreed with him.

Orochimaru signaled to the sound four to drop the barrier and begin their

retreat as they slowly began walking away.

"Do you really think that we'll just let you leave here after all the damage

you've done!?" Kushina yelled while supporting her husband with her

arms.

Rasa turned around to see Jiraiya charging at them. The Kazekage

summoned a small tornado of wind and gold dust in the palm of his hand

before throwing it at his target.

"Sables (Sandstorm)!"

The tornado of sand grew massively in size and was sent on a rampage

around the rooftop, picking up water as it raged. All the shinobi on the

rooftop stuck to the ground below using chakra, while they were forced

to cover their eyes to prevent any of the stray gold dust from impairing

their vision.

When the sandstorm finally died down, Orochimaru and Rasa were gone,

not a trace of where they went left behind. All of the surviving Oto and

Suna shinobi had also mysteriously disappeared from within the walls of

Konoha.

All that remained was the destruction and death that they had caused.

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....

The strong feed upon the weak, it's such an obligingly simple rule.

Sunagakure had been weak and had used the opportunity of the chunin

exams to take their place amongst the strong. In a world built upon

violence, bloodshed, and war, the only option you have is to be strong.

Only the victors are allowed to live...this world is merciless like that.

However, they chose to betray the wrong village.

The Suna/Oto invasion, that would later become known as the Konoha

Crush, had failed miserably. Over three-quarters of the invading Suna

and Oto forces had been decimated over the course of battle. Most

notable of these deaths were Sabaku no Gaara, Sabaku no Temari, and

Sabaku no Kankuro. The loss of Suna's jinchūriki was an important

achievement due to the fact that jinchūriki were known to be the

strongest weapons for each of the villages.

That isn't to say that Konohagakure had escaped the conflict without any

casualties. Kiri only had a handful of its shinobi within Konoha's walls

and none of them had been fatally wounded. Konoha faced many

casualties, nearly half of their forces had been lost during the invasion.

However most of those who had lost their lives in the line of duty would

have their names engraved on the memorial stone and were mentioned

during the mass funeral that was held, nothing more, nothing less.

This was the truth behind the Will of Fire. Shinobi whom had lived and

died for their village would only be remembered by the people closest to

them and by the name that was engraved into the memorial stone. Is that

how their loyalty was rewarded? Wives, husbands, lovers, children, and

families were left with holes in their hearts, because the duty to protect

one's village was more important than their family. Was it really worth

it?

It had been a week since the invasion and the fallout was worse than

expected.

Much of the village had been destroyed by Orochimaru's snake summons

before Jiraiya and Obito had gotten a chance to stop them. The Northern

walls of Konoha had collapsed and that section of the village had been

host for where those monstrous snakes ran rampant through.

The entire village had been the battleground for guerrilla warfare and

large scale shinobi battles. The area that had suffered the most damage

was near the chunin exam arena where the fighting had first broke out.

Numerous people had met their ends at this once bustling stadium,

shinobi and civilian alike. All in all, the village looked like a war-zone.

At least, that was what the scene had looked like a week ago.

Currently, the village was being rebuilt by all its occupants. Both shinobi

and civilian pitched in to help speed up the rebuilding. The northern

sector of the village had been personally rebuilt by Yamato, a shinobi

whom was capable of weilding the Shodaime Hokage's Mokuton. Those

shinobi whom excelled in doton were doing their part to repair the walls

that protected Konoha and to smooth out the land where the earth had

been scarred from the numerous battles that had taken place.

While there had been utter chaos the first few days after the invasion,

things looked like they would be returning to normal quicker than

expected.

Currently in the Hokage's office, Naruto was standing alongside Satsuki,

Hana, and Haku. Natsuki and Narumi were in the room as well, but they

were sitting on the couch rather than standing alongside the other genin.

It was clear to all the other genin in the room as to what that meant.

Sitting behind his desk was Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime

Hokage...well at least for now. He had made a full recovery since his near

death like state a week ago, minus the missing left arm. He was staring at

Naruto with a bit of pride, but mostly suspicion. Naruto sighed inwardly,

it seemed that the man hadn't forgotten about his recently revealed

abilities, even after he had just returned from death's door.

Obito and Kakashi were also in the room, standing behind their former

sensei. Obito was present because it were his genin that were requested

to come to the Hokage Tower, along with him. Kakashi was here for

some reason that was unknown to him, though that didn't stop him from

reading his Icha Icha Paradise novel and giggling perversely ever few

minutes.

Kushina was sitting on the couch alongside her daughters with a worried

look on her face, though she also looked up to glance at her wayward son

every once in a while. She was probably worried about Nawaki.

Ah Nawaki, he had been an interesting topic as of late. He was still

cooped up in the hospital, though he was out of critical condition, he still

needed to recover. Minato and Kushina had turned white as a ghost and

nearly had a heart attack when they found out that the Kyuubi had

ripped itself out of Nawaki's seal and merged with Natsuki. His current

condition also wasn't a very appealing sight, though they couldn't feel

pity for him since he brought it upon himself.

Kushina, Natsuki, and Narumi had all seen the real side of him just a few

days ago.

They had realized just how messed up their family was when he started

trying to order them to release him so that he could kill Naruto for what

he did to him. His inferiority and superiority complexes finally made

themselves fully known as he continued to make threats he couldn't back

up due to him loosing most of him power due to the Kyuubi ripping

himself from his body. Nawaki had about the same level chakra reserves

as an ordinary genin now. Though, that didn't stop him from trying to

attack his family when they refused to comply with his demands. He was

currently strapped to his bed, like a prisoner, to prevent anymore violent

outbreaks.

It was made clear that he wasn't mentally stable at the moment. Or

perhaps he had always thought like this and the recent events only

pushed him to his breaking point.

It was only then did Kushina truly realize how terrible of a parent she

was. She had no idea that her son acted this way nor did she know where

she went wrong. Kushina had been left a hollow shell of herself these

past few days as she went through every memory she had with her

children to figure out where everything went to hell. She didn't find an

answer...perhaps she was never doing things right to begin with.

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....

Jiraiya was sitting at his usual spot on the windowsill as he glanced at all

of the occupants in the room, a neutral expression on his face. He was

worried, very worried in fact, about the prophecy and how things would

turn out if the child of prophecy really was Naruto. He would fix

everything as soon as he possibly could, the entire world was at stake, he

had no time to waste.

Tsunade stood beside Jiraiya, she really had no idea why she were even

here. People were still wounded from their involvement in fighting off

the invasion, they needed to be at the hospital. Sure there were plenty of

capable medical-nins there, but Tsunade was the best in the village,

perhaps even in all the Elemental Nations. Currently, Shizune was

running things at the hospital, so her mind was a little more relaxed

knowing it was in capable hands.

Standing beside the Hokage's desk was the Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura.

His wounds had healed quite quickly due to the fact he was a jinchūriki,

so he was out of the hospital only a day or two after the invasion. He was

looking at Haku with a proud smile on his face.

Off to the side stood Momochi Zabuza, Hōzuki Suigetsu, and Chōjuro.

They were here due to the fact that they were members of Haku's team

and were here to support her.

In total, there were sixteen occupants within the confines of this small

room, not counting the ANBU in hiding of course. This made it quite

crowded and a bit uncomfortable for the four genin standing in the

middle of it all.

They had a pretty good idea of why they were here, but nothing was

certain just yet.

Minato looked at the four genin before him with an appraising eye. They

had all done excellent during both the preliminaries, the finals, and the

invasion. It was rare to find such talented and well-balanced shinobi at

such a young age. Naruto, Hana, and Satsuki had only been genin for a

few months and yet they were already at this level, it was truly

impressive. Most genin had to take the exam two or three times before

being promoted, while others received field promotions after taking these

exams several times.

"First of all I would like to personally congratulate the four of you for

your performance throughout the chūnin exams and for your efforts

during the invasion. You have greatly benefitted Konoha during its time

of need and for that, I offer my utmost gratitude." Minato spoke with a

smile on his pace. "I will let Mizukage-dono start off this ceremony since

there is only one Kiri shinobi who is being considered for promotion,

then I will speak to each of you individually, the genin who are both

being considered for promotion and those who are not."

It had been a week since the chūnin exam finals, and although they were

interrupted before the final round, the judges and the Kage had seen

more than enough of the matches to determine whether or not the genin

participating were worthy of the title of chūnin.

It seemed that only the genin who had been decided were ready for a

promotion, along with the rest of their team, were summoned to the

Hokage's office.

The Yondaime Mizukage stepped forward until he was in front of the

genin from Kirigakure.

"I'd like each of the three of you to know that I am proud of you and that

you showed strength and skill befitting of shinobi and kunoichi from

Kirigakure. However, I'm afraid only one of you has shown the necessary

qualities of a chūnin."

Yagura move to the side in front of Chōjuro to address the boy's

performance. The goal of this was to address the strengths and

weaknesses of only the genin that were being promoted, but doing so for

all of the shinobi would benefit them in the end.

"Chōjuro, while you did show considerable skill in wielding Hiramekarei,

your speed and reaction time began to slow down halfway through the

match, giving your opponent several openings that they exploited, due to

how much chakra Hiramekarei consumed. You must increase your

reserves considerably if you wish to wield it correctly. You were also

quickly overwhelmed and let your opponent control the pace of the

match. If you continue to progress at the rate you are growing, I have no

doubt that you will become chūnin during these exams next time."

Chōjuro's eyes widened at the Mizukage's words, and he nodded

vigorously at the praise towards the end. For a boy with low self-esteem,

encouragement would do the boy well rather than pointing out all of his

faults. With those words said, Yagura moved over in front of Suigetsu.

"Suigetsu, while you did show great skill in your clan's nature

transformation, you showed relatively little strategy and were quickly

overwhelmed by your opponent. Had you not been hydrated at the time,

you wouldn't have been able to liquify to survive the Suna jinchūriki's

sand jutsu. You will need more training and experience before you are

ready to become a chūnin.

Suigetsu nodded and stepped back as Yagura made his way to the middle

of the room and stood in front of the only Kiri kunoichi in the room.

"Haku, you showed exceptional skill with your kekkei genkai, far more

than you had when you left Kiri and far more than any Yuki has had in

generations. You were able to quickly overwhelm even a jinchūriki, an

impressive feat in its own right. I see no reason not to promote you."

Yagura said with a smile, while handing a chūnin flak jacket that had

been on the Hokage's desk to the girl. This earned a charming smile from

the newly named chūnin as she put on the flak jacket.

Yagura, having finished his involvement with the advancement of the

genin, stepped back behind the Hokage's desk.

This time, it was Minato to step forward. His signature haori a bit uneven

due to the absence of a left arm, but otherwise looked as strong and

imposing as ever. He glanced at the three Konoha genin that were

standing in the middle of the room before his eyes traveled to his

daughters who were sitting on the couch.

"I had originally only planned to address the three members of Team 11,

but Mizukage-dono made an excellent point. It would benefit all the

genin here to understand their strengths and weaknesses and why they

were or were not promoted this time around." Minato spoke as he paced

around just in front of his desk. "Natsuki, Narumi! Stand up, you are

present at an official ceremony and will treat it as such."

The two girls quickly jumped to their feet, a bit surprised at the tone that

their father had used. Though they chalked it up to still being concerned

that his two sons and their brothers had just tried to kill each other the

past week as well as him having to deal with the stress of the invasion

and almost dying.

"I shall start with the two of you since you were judged to not be ready

for the responsibilities of a chūnin." Minato announced as he stepped a

few feet in front of his two daughters.

The two sisters squirmed uncomfortably under their father's gaze. They

had known that they wouldn't receive a promotion with their

performance, but to hear it from their own father still hurt.

"Narumi, while you did show skill with two different forms of nature

transformation, which is quite impressive for a genin, you showed a lack

of forethought in your moves along with little to no strategy." The girl

nodded her head solemnly as Minato continued to speak. "You charged

into battle recklessly, and because of that you fell into several of your

opponents traps one after another. Continue to work hard to improve and

add some strategy to your fighting style, and I have no doubt you'll earn

a promotion."

"Natsuki, while you also showed proficiency with two different forms of

nature transformation, as well as improving your kenjutsu leaps and

bounds, you rushed into both of your matches without showing the

higher-level thinking and strategy necessary for a chūnin. Had you put

more thought into how to deal with the opponent you were facing and

adjusting your fighting style accordingly, you may have ended up

defeating Temari in the first round and possibly winning your second

match. You have shown massive amounts of improvement since you

became a genin, but you still have much more room to improve. You will

not be promoted just yet." Natsuki only nodded and took a step back

beside her sister.

Minato swiftly turned around on his heel and made his way to the center

of the room to address the remaining three Konoha genin. His frown was

immediately replaced with a small smile upon remembering each of their

performances.

While he was glad that three of his genin showed so much promise, the

same could not be said for the rest of their graduating class. Minato was

rather disappointed that so few of this year's graduating class made it

pass the second round of the exams. Most of them were clan heirs and

heiresses, which only made their performance that much more sad. Their

jōnin-senseis had either been slacking off or babying them, either way

something needed to be done about it or they wouldn't last much longer

in the shinobi world.

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....

"Satsuki, you showed great forethought in your battles and covered all

three main areas of shinobi arts, ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. You

made sure to control the pace of the battle through the use of traps and

evasion tactics. As well as showing great skill with two forms of nature

transformation. These qualities are certainly befitting of a chūnin,

congratulations." Satsuki had suppress the urge to cheer in victory as she

took the flak jacket and merely gave a charming smile.

"Hana, while the Inuzuka clan's fighting style is more reckless than most,

you did not fall prey to those tendencies and showed great strategy with

the use of smoke bombs and tunneling underground to make your clan's

signature jutsus more effective. I was also pleasantly surprised by your

use of medical ninjutsu as an offensive technique, it takes a great level of

skill and control to be able to pull off such a feat. Congratulations on

your promotion." Hana quickly took the flak jacket from Minato and

threw it on, earning giggles from her teammates. She had always

wondered what she would look like in one of these, not too bad if she did

say so.

Hana stepped back so that she was now alongside Satsuki, leaving Naruto

and Minato alone in the center of the room.

Minato looked at his wayward son with pride in his eyes...but he was also

very suspicious of him. No mere genin fresh out of the academy should

have been capable of what he had. That was something that he would

find out later after this ceremony.

"Naruto, at the beginning of this tournament, most people didn't expect

much from you. As the tournament rolled around, you were seemingly

overlooked for the aces of the respective villages. Now, the title of winner

of the tournament is shared by you and Haku-san, since you were the

only two left along with the now deceased Suna jinchūriki when the

invasion started. You showed strength that far surpassed the level of

chūnin, and are capable at wielding such a powerful S-Rank jutsu. I have

never seen someone wield Katon ninjutsu quite like you did during your

first match and am very interested to hear how you are capable of such a

technique. You easily controlled the pace of both your matches and never

let your opponent take advantage of any opportunities they had. Not to

mention the your efforts during the invasion. Congratulations on your

promotion."

Naruto took the flak jacket from Minato's hand and immediately put it on

to cover his skin-tight, short-sleeved shirt. He quickly turned around and

gave his two female teammates a large smile, for him anyway, which

they quickly returned. The three of them had been looking forward to

being chūnin for a long time, even more so than genin. Chūnin is the

rank where they finally stopped being treated like children and were able

to make their own decisions about their careers and their lives. It was

quite a milestone for the three of them.

For the three members of Team 11, this was only the beginning of the

path that lied before them.

"Congratulations to all those who passed the chūnin exams this time

around, and for those who didn't, better luck next time. These particular

exams were a bit more exciting than what usually occurs during this bi-

annual event, but they were successful nonetheless. We are proud of all

of you and hope that you continue to serve your respective villages until

the day you die. Once again, congratulations."

Those final words from Minato marked the end of the promotion

ceremony.

It wouldn't do well to have a Kage absent from their home village for too

long, the only reason that Yagura was still in Konoha was to fully recover

from his injuries and for the traditional promotion ceremony. Now that

those two things were finished, there was no reason for any of the Kiri

shinobi to remain here any longer.

With that in mind, Yagura stepped forward. "Zabuza, Suigetsu, Chōjuro,

Haku. Now that our business in Konoha is finished we must be heading

back to Kirigakure as soon as possible. It would not bode well for us to be

away for the village too much longer. Please return to the hotel

immediately and gather your things. We will begin our journey back to

Mizu in one hour."

All four of the Kiri-nins gave a nod and a short bow to the Mizukage

before leaving. Her two teammates and sensei immediately headed out

the door, but Haku stopped to give a quick wave and a charming smile to

Naruto, who responded with a similar gesture.

Team 11 and Haku had become quite close over the past week, but

Naruto and Haku especially. They had found some kind of mutual

understanding due to their various predicaments and ended up spending

a lot of the week together. Of course that could be attributed to most of

their teammates being restricted to the hospital for the majority of the

past week.

In the short time that they had spent together, Naruto could honestly say

that she had become one of his closest friends. Some would say it was a

sad fact, but Naruto preferred it this way, he could really only say that he

had a handful of friends. Obito was his sensei, so Naruto didn't really

count him. Mikoto was his lover, so even though they had been friends

and family for years, she had some special circumstances. Really, Naruto

could only say that Hana and Satsuki were his friends.

Actually, they considered themselves to be more like friends than family.

The three of them had known each other since even before they started

the academy and could always be found together. When people share a

bond that strong, the only thing that they can really be described as is

family.

So, it was nice to be able to talk with someone like Haku. While she

didn't share the same history with him that Satsuki and Hana did, he felt

like he could really trust her. Not to mention that she was quite a lot of

fun to be around once you tear down that respectful ice princess exterior.

Fun, he could honestly say that he had fun.

Chapter no.121

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....

Recently, Naruto had realized that he had been taking everything far too

seriously. It was either secrets this or invasion that, it was nice just to be

able to sit back and relax with someone. In reality, he was still only a

sixteen year-old teenager, and these were the kinds of things that

teenagers were supposed to do, shinobi or not.

Much to the shock of his teammates and joy of his sisters, Naruto had

been smiling a lot more...it was odd. Even while being in the same room

as almost every person who had wronged him in his life, he couldn't force

himself to feel angry or have the same hatred and that he once did. By no

means did he fell like running up to Minato and Kushina and giving them

a bear hug, but he felt more at ease. This feeling was nice.

With Konoha's alliance with Kiri, he was sure that he would be seeing her

a lot more often now.

Seeing as how Konoha's alliance with Suna was effectively ended with

their invasion, the village would need ties to another one of the great

shinobi villages to ensure that none of the other villages took the

opportunity to launch a second invasion in their time of weakness. This is

precisely why Obito had spent several years in Kiri working as a liaison.

The alliance with Suna had been shaky at best for a long time now, so

their invasion shouldn't have been too much of a surprise, that was why

Minato had worked out the details with Yagura through Obito, who had

spent several years in foreign territory to prove Konoha's sincerity.

For them to position their strongest shinobi in foreign territory on the

premise of a treaty and alliance was a sign of the village's good faith. This

was because he was constantly surrounded by foreign shinobi who would

be willing to end his life at any moment. No sane village leader would

sacrifice their strongest asset if their intentions were built upon lies.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Hokage-dono. Our stay was most

interesting to stay the least. Should Konoha ever need such help again, do

not hesitate to contact Kirigakure, may this alliance prosper." After those

final words had been said, Yagura followed his fellow Kini-nin out the

door to prepare for their departure.

Minato signaled for an ANBU to escort the Mizukage and his shinobi back

to their hotel to make sure that no harm befell on them during their

commute. Now would be the perfect opportunity for enemies to strike,

since the village was vulnerable and their forces spread thin and

concentrated on the work effort to rebuild the village.

"Now with that taken care of, Satsuki, Hana, you are excused for the rest

of the day. Make sure to see Obito tomorrow at your usual training

ground so that he can brief you as to what your duties as a chūnin

entails. Though, Naruto I would like you to remain behind for a few

minutes. There are some things that we need to discuss." Minato said

with a smile on his face as he took his seat once more.

Satsuki and Hana gave a worried glance to Naruto, but he merely smiled

back at them and nodded.

Naruto's new attitude really confused them sometimes. He usually hated

having these talks with his parents, but this time he seemed to not care

that they were basically going to tie him down to a chair and interrogate

him.

But if he was fine with it then so be it.

It was still fairly early in the day, only an hour or two left until

lunchtime. They had previously agreed to celebrate whatever outcome

the promotional ceremony held at the Akimichi's barbecue restaurant and

they really had nothing else to do until then.

Though, the fact that Naruto would be questioned about his abilities

really didn't surprise either of them. This occurrence had already

happened on more than one occasion before. Hana and Satsuki

understood that they wanted to know more about their son or brother,

but this wasn't really the way to go about it.

The both let out simultaneous sighs. Whatever, he would be the one

dealing with it, not them.

"Well...we'll be waiting for you at the barbecue restaurant when your

done here Naruto-nii." Satsuki spoke as she waved goodbye to her

brother figure while heading towards the door.

"Don't keep us waiting too long, you're paying you know." Hana teased as

she added a wink to stress her point.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll catch up with you two in a bit. Don't start without me!"

Naruto called out just as the two newly-made chunin left the room.

Jiraiya slowly got up from his seat on the windowsill, before he walked

over to the door, making sure to close and lock it so that nobody would

interrupt their conversation.

Seemingly ignoring all every set of eyes that was on him, Naruto walked

towards the Hokage's desk and took a seat in one of the chairs right in

front of it. The sooner he got all this over with, the better. He had no

plans of wasting time with people who didn't like secrets being kept from

them, when they knew every one of the darkest secrets of Konoha's

history.

Minato whom was staring at the boy with the most suspicion, other than

Jiraiya, was the first to break the silence that was slowly filling every

corner of the room. "I trust you know why I asked you to stay Naruto."

Minato asked with the utmost seriousness.

"Yeah, yeah. Every time I show off the slightest amount of skill, I'm the

subject of tis kind of treatment. This really isn't all that surprising

anymore." Was Naruto's sarcastic remark which was completely out of

place of the serious atmosphere in the room.

Blocking off any form of retreat, Jiraiya was standing in front of the

door,was eyeing the boy sternly. He would need to play this carefully if

Naruto really was the one that the prophecy spoke of. They already didn't

have the best relationship, so he couldn't take his usual approach here, he

would need to let Minato lay all the groundwork before he stepped in.

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....

There were only a few in the room who knew why this was exactly going

on. Those few were Minato, Jiraiya, Kushina, Kakashi, and Obito.

Though, it should be noted that Obito looked like he really didn't want to

be here at the moment.

While Obito was quite enthusiastic that all three of his genin were

promoted, he didn't see why his sensei had to take this kind of approach

when dealing with Naruto. It was clear that it was not working. Not to

mention the fact that the eldest male Uchiha didn't give a damn about

any of Jiraiya's prophecies.

He just couldn't understand why Jiraiya and the Uzumaki-Namikaze

family put so much faith in these kinds of things.

The previous prophecy that the toads told Jiraiya was that Minato would

be the one to bring peace to the Elemental Nations and cure the shinobi

world of war and hatred...It was easy to tell how that exactly worked out,

seeing as Minato had not made a single step forward in creating world

peace and the fact that the village that he led suffered an invasion.

Obito had believed in Jiraiya's words and the prophecies of toads for a

time when he was still a genin. But after experiencing the horrors of war

first hand, he realized that such beliefs were foolish dreams and nothing

more than that.

Prophecies were just that, prophecies. Some superstition passed down by

some senile old toad. Why in Kami's name would anybody take

something like that seriously. Yet here were some of the most prominent

shinobi in Konoha along with three of the Hokage's children, sitting here

about to waste a fair amount of time trying to force a boy, who clearly

didn't care about such things either, to live his life accordingly to some

words spoken by a glorified frog with one foot already in the grave.

The one-eyed man sighed as Minato began to speak once more.

"Naruto, this is serious, treat it as such." Those were nothing short of

orders from the Hokage. "I remember having to have this same

conversation with you just after the preliminary rounds of the chunin

exams, just over a month ago. You've been keeping secrets for far too

long Naruto. Secrets are what get people killed in this world. While your

recent performance in the chunin exams was remarkable, it has brought

your abilities into question. These questions need to be answered, it is of

the utmost importance."

Naruto could only stare on incredulously at the man sitting behind the

desk. Was he really giving him a lecture about secrets? Was this some

kind of joke?

"My secrets huh?...I'm sure you have secrets as well don't you Hokage-

sama. But why is it that my secrets are always the ones brought into

question and not yours?" Naruto proposed to the Hokage.

"You are not here for a philosophical debate, Naruto, you will answer my

questions whether you like it or not. The world could very well be at

stake here!" Minato seemed to be losing his patience as his voice started

to rise at the end.

Naruto was completely lost now. Had the man gone insane from the loss

of his arm? "...What does me having some skill in Katon jutsu have to do

with the world?"

Minato noticed his slip up and sighed as he calmed himself down and

retook his seat. This was a matter that he didn't want to discuss with him

until he knew for sure that it was talking about Naruto, but it seems as if

he didn't have a choice at the moment. He had told all of his children

besides Naruto on their birthday just after they started the academy, but

nothing had come of it so far. He supposed telling Naruto about it might

actually make him realize just how important of a role he'll possibly play

in bringing peace to the world.

"Several years ago, the toads came to Jiraiya with a prophecy, after

which, he relayed it to me. What the prophecy said was, 'A child born

from great power but with memories of old shall pave the way toward a

new era of peace. Whether they walk the path of light or is forced into

the darkness shall determine what the future will hold. Their predecessor

has already burned the path for them, but it shall be their will of fire that

determines whether they will walk it or forge their own.' We had

originally believed that it was speaking of Natsuki, Narumi, or Nawaki.

But due to the events that have occurred recently, we now believe that

the prophecy spoke of you." Minato relayed to Naruto with absolute

seriousness.

Peace had always been something that Minato dreamed of. He had been

born during the era of the Second Great Shinobi War and had

experienced more than he would ever wish his students to see. Sadly that

wish never came true as they were sent off to war when they were

deemed ready. Cruel reality showed its ugly head, as it was his genin

team that was ripped apart during the Third Great Shinobi War. One of

his student was killed, another went missing for years, and the last was

the one who had killed the first. War knew no bounds. War had no rules.

War was the result of the evil and hatred of man.

He would do whatever it took to bring peace to this world. And by

anything...he meant anything.

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....

After hearing the prophecy Minato was speaking of, Naruto could only

roll his eyes. This was what they were getting so worked up about?This

was the very same prophecy that Naruto had overheard Minato telling

the rest of the Uzumaki-Namikaze siblings just after stating the

academy...on the day of the Uchiha Massacre. That memory still brought

a pain to his chest.

Naruto, too had noticed that the prophecy sounded like he could be their

so called 'child of prophecy', but he immediately discarded the idea. He

was not going to become some kind of toad fanboy like Jiraya and

Minato just because a half-dead toad had a vision. To believe in such

things were utterly foolish. He had seen just how prominent those toads

were when he roasting Gamabunta over an open fire during his match

against Nawaki in the chunin exams.

"...And why exactly should I care about this prophecy...from what I saw

during the chunin exams, those toads really aren't anything special..."

There were a few groans from the as some of the occupants in the room

knew just how proud Jiraiya was of his toad summons. He would no

doubt turn this into some kind of argument, not that it wasn't one

already.

"What do you mean they're nothing special?! Don't get arrogant just

because you got a lucky shot in during the chunin exams! The toads are

the most battle oriented summons there are and could crush anyone in

the blink of an eye! Nawaki just hadn't properly trained in how to fully

utilize them when they're summoned, don't think you're some hot-shot

just cause you beat a mere genin who had signed the contract." True to

everyone's beliefs, Jiraiya lost his cool when it came to his summons.

Didn't they have some kind of plan or purpose for dealing with Naruto at

the moment?

Naruto really didn't care to argue with Jiraiya. When it came to an

argument with the man, there was just no winning. Not because he was

always right, on the contrary most of the time his always fought losing

arguments, but he made them so preposterous and silly that is was just

embarrassing to be part of one of them.

"If that was all...can I leave now? My team is waiting for me." It seemed

that this was going nowhere fast and he really didn't want to waste

anymore time than he absolutely had to.

Naruto's voice brought most of the room's attention off of the still upset

Jiraiya, and back onto him.

"We are far from done here, Naruto. We need to discuss what will be

done about you and the prophecy." Minato stated firmly, giving Jiraiya a

sharp look that seemed to scream 'calm down, we have more important

things to deal with.'

As if on command, Jiraiya walked over to the desk and unstrapped the

large scroll on his back, placing it on the table. Naruto stared on

uninterested as the toad summoning scroll was unravelled before him,

the names of Jiraiya, Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki-Namikaze Nawaki,

Uzumaki-Namikaze Natsuki, and Uzumaki-Namikaze Narumi could be

seen written vertically in large kanji using their own blood, naturally

there was also a handprint soaked in blood below each signature.

"Seeing as how it is possible that you are the one that the prophecy spoke

of, it would be beneficial for you to sign the toad summoning contract.

This way you can speak to the toads personally and have them test you to

see if you truly are the child of prophecy. Naturally, they will also help

you on your quest towards the goal of peace." It seemed that to the

Hokage, Naruto's opinion on the topic didn't matter as Minato had

already decided that Naruto would be signing the contract.

It also seemed as if Minato and Jiraiya hadn't gotten what Naruto was

trying to convey earlier.

Even so, if he had wanted to do so, signing the toad contract would be

impossible. He already held the contract with the phoenixes, which was

most likely the one of the strongest summoning contracts if not the

strongest. Signing two contracts may have been accepted with the toads

and the slugs, but the phoenixes were highly territorial. Especially when

it came to summoning clans that were weaker than themselves, Naruto's

recent match in the chunin exams only proved how inferior the toads

were to the phoenixes.

At his current level, Naruto wouldn't even be able of fighting on par with

Dranzer for even a minute. Not to mention the fact that a majority of the

summoning clans considered the toad contract rather pretentious, the

phoenix included. It seemed the fact that the eldest of the toads seemed

to hand out prophecies like they were candy on halloween didn't sit well

with the other summoning clans.

Some of these summoning contracts had originated from the time of the

Rikudō Sennin or his sons. Therefore prophecies were something sacred

to them as there were only a few that had been passed down throughout

the generations. So when some self-entitled, senile old toad seems to

make them up from thin air, they were bound to get a little upset with

the entire clan.

It seemed that Minato and Jiraiya were ignorant to the validity of the

prophecies from the toads. After all, they were still clinging onto the one

that they believed said that Minato would undoubtedly one day bring

peace to the Elemental Nations. This time the prophecy they received

wasn't even specific in the least. They few key phrases that Naruto could

actually relate to were: will of fire, memories of old, predecessor, burned

the path.

Another thing that Naruto found peculiar was that while it did say that

the child of prophecy would bring about a new era of peace, nothing was

said about what would happen if they chose another path. There was just

too many angles to cover and it was too broad to narrow it down any

further. Such was the nature of most prophecies.

The only viable conclusion Naruto could come up with to what Minato

was saying, was that he was supposed to be this child of prophecy, Ace

was the one who had already burned the path towards peace, and this

uncertain future probably is related to the Moon's Eye Plan and the

revival of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.

There were only a few problems with that theory. For starters, Ace never

truly believed in peace. Hagoromo was the only child of Ōtsutsuki

Kaguya who aimed to rebuild this world into a place where war and

hatred were nonexistent. Ace had always lived his life how he wanted to.

His goals and dreams weren't as noble as his brothers', in reality his

ambitions were rather selfish. But that was how people should live their

lives, it was their life to live however they pleased, so why should a

person live their life for another person? Or a cause that they knew was

fruitless?

Due to that, it was highly unlikely that Ace was this 'predecessor' that the

prophecy spoke of. Either that, or the toads were completely wrong of

their history. Whatever the case may be, Naruto didn't care to find out.

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....

Naruto stared at the contract spread out on the table blankly. He had

been in a good mood earlier because Satsuki, Hana, Haku, and him had

spent the entire morning together, but right now he was beginning to

lose his patience.

"...No." That single word was Naruto's reply after staying silent for a few

moments.

There were a few grans from a few people in the room, namely Obito,

Tsunade, and Natsuki. This was just another version of the conversation

that Minato and Naruto always had. Minato offering things like training,

jutsu, and summoning contracts, while Naruto continually refused

because they were trying to force him into a life he didn't want to live.

"I see this is just one of you're usual attempts to force Naruto back into

your lives, so I'm leaving. I have patients to attend to." Was Tsunade's

irritated statement before she gave Naruto a pitying glance, though the

reason for it was unknown to him, andShunshinedout of the room,

presumably back to the hospital. There really was no reason for her to be

here. Minato had selfishly summoned her here in hopes that she would

help to persuade his son, forcing her away from tending to the wounded

at the hospital.

A few people in the room gave the spot where she was previously

standing a glance before turning their heads back to the scene that was

unfolding before them.

Minato and Jiraiya had not even noticed that Tsunade had left, as they

were staring on in shock at Naruto's blatant refusal to sign Konoha's most

renowned summoning contract. They had thought he would be ecstatic at

the prospect of signing the same contract that some of the most

prominent shinobi in Konoha held. It would be foolish to deny something

that could increase your strength and skill tenfold, just because you

weren't the biggest fans of some of the other holders.

"...What do you mean 'no'?" Minato asked panicked, he had not fully

recovered yet from Naruto's sudden rejection.

"Do you know how many people would sign this contract in a heartbeat if

given the chance. It's easily one of the most powerful summoning

contracts in the world, it's likely you'll never come across one as strong as

this in your lifetime ever again! If you don't take this opportunity now,

then you'll end up regretting it the rest of your life!" Of course it was

Jiraiya who ran to the aid of his summoning contract and defended it

relentlessly.

Naruto sighed inwardly. This conversation would clearly be continuing in

a repetitious cycle, so it would be best to break out of it as soon as

humanly possible. Perhaps even faster.

"I believe I said it quite clearly...you want me to sign this contract to

further your dreams of peace...that's quite selfish in my opinion. The both

of you are trying to force your own ideals and ambitions upon me

because you can't do it yourself." Naruto rolled the summoning contract

back up and threw it towards the offended Jiraiya.

"Wait that's not true at all! You-" Jiraiya was cut off as Naruto brought his

hand up to to signal him to stop talking.

"Jiraiya...I believe you always said that 'someday the the day would come

when people could truly understand one another', yet you've done

nothing to further you dreams of peace, besides handing out prophecies

and pushing the duty off onto other people." Naruto then turned to

Minato, he wasn't finished yet, not by a long-shot. "You're no better

Minato. You easily accept this man's beliefs, so easily that your dream

now is to find peace. Yet, you have done to turn that dream into a reality.

You've been the Hokage for over sixteen years now and yet, you have not

made a single step towards bringing about peace."

The room was silent for a moment as they took in Naruto's words. Oddly

enough, none of them could recall either of these men actually doing

anything about their dreams besides push them onto other people or

preach their ideals to the younger generations. Even Kushina's eyes

widened when she realized this.

"Naruto, you have to understand-"

This time it was Minato who was cut off as he was trying to explain to his

wayward son how difficult it was to bring this world together.

"I don't need to hear any excuses, if fact there are none to use." Naruto

said as he sat back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Things have only gotten worse since you had taken over as Hokage, the

recent invasion is proof of that...actually, now that we're on that subject,

I'm actually rather disappointed that you are talking about peace only a

week after our village was invaded."

Minato and Jiraiya both flinched at the tone of his voice. Was it a

mistake to tell him about the prophecy so soon after the invasion?

"I will tell you this here and now...Do not try to force your beliefs of

peace on me. I've already seen just how far you will go to keep the peace

within Konoha. World peace...that kind of belief is a little too naïve for

someone like me. Find someone else to push this onto." With those final

words said, Naruto got out of his chair and walked out of the room,

leaving behind a room of stunned shinobi.

Minato's, Jiraiya's, and Obito's eyes widened at the indirect reference to

the Uchiha Massacre, as that could be the only thing he was referring to

when he mentioned keeping the peace within Konoha's walls.

As an eerie silence filled every corner of the Hokage's Office, Minato

stood completely still. After a minute of silence, when he looked around

the room, he realized that everyone was either purposefully looking away

from him while whistling or had their faces planted in their hands. A

despondent, sheepish expression made its way onto his face as he rubbed

the back of his head. "Um...Did I mess up again or something...?"

Much to the surprise of everyone in the room, it was Obito who finally

answered after a moment of silence. "...I wouldn't go as far as to say

that...You're completely justified in what you believe, Sensei, but you

haven't considered how other people feel about your ideals or

beliefs...You automatically assumed that he would jump aboard and

you'd have the perfect family once again."

Minato's features turned hostile as a low growl leaked out of his throat.

Obito may have been his student, but what right did he have to tell him

how he should handle his own child? "Well what should I have done...!?

You heard what the prophecy said! The path that he takes will determine

the future of the entire world! You want me to-"

Before Minato could continue his rant any further, Obito held his hands

up in the same fashion that Naruto had used to cut off the man earlier.

"Naruto...is a special case. You can't deal with him the same way you do

normal people, I've learned that first hand since I became his sensei...He

doesn't believe in living his life for some greater cause...World peace,

something like that doesn't matter to him. No matter how selfish it may

seem to you, he lives his life the way that he wants and for the people he

cares about. You can't decide what someone else should do with their

life...One day your going to have to allow him to make his own

decisions..."

With those final words said, Obito warped out of the room, leaving the

people behind with much to think about.

Though, those words were mainly to Minato and Kushina as it was clear

they would not stop pestering him anytime soon. Jiraiya didn't seem

fazed in the least by Obito's proclamation. Though he did seem a little

hurt from Naruto's words about how he had been living his life up until

now, but that didn't last for to long. In his mind, what he had been doing

was right, he wasn't meant to bring peace, but he would make sure to

find the one who was.

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....

The population of the room had decreased dramatically since thirty

minutes the Kiri-nin, Team 11, Tsunade, and Obito having already made

their exit, the only ones who remained were Jiraiya, Minato, Kakashi,

Kushina, Narumi, and Natsuki. It was not uncommon for these particular

people to be in the same room together.

"Well, why don't we give Naruto a little time to think about what we said

here...Perhaps he just needs a little time and space to think about

everything he just learned. He's probably just a bit overwhelmed after

learning how important his role in the world really is." Jiraiya spoke to

no one in particular as he strapped the large summoning scroll to his

lower back once again.

'Are you really that dense?'were the simultaneous thoughts of Natsuki,

Narumi, and Kushina. They seemed to be the only ones in the office to

still have their head on straight. Kakashi probably hadn't even been

listening to the entire conversation as his nose was still buried in his

smut, giggling perversely every few minutes.

Minato seemed to be brought out of his daze as a lightbulb suddenly

went off above his head. "Oh, that's right Jiraiya, now that you're free,

could you take a look at Natsuki's seal? She won't let me or Kushina look

at it for some unknown reason."

Due to Naruto's request in what formerly was the forest just outside of

Konoha, Natsuki had not told Minato nor Kushina about what had

occurred a week ago, nor would she even let them near her seal.

If any of them were to find any discrepancies in the seal formula on her

stomach, they would surely tighten up her seal, which would successfully

cut off her connection with Kurama, or the Kyuubi as they would call

him. While he may have been very uncooperative ever since he found out

about how much she had been abusing his chakra, she wouldn't allow

him to be locked up anymore. Kurama seemed to know something behind

her Nii-san's surname, she wanted to find out more about why that was,

so she would have to work to gain his trust. Cutting the connection and

forcing him back into the cage would be going against that.

Not to mention now that she knew that the Bijū were living beings

instead of giant masses of chakra who merely caused destruction, Natsuki

hated the fact that they were forcibly imprisoned to create jinchūriki for

each of the villages. Kurama was merely the victim of an unfortunate

fate, he never meant to attack Konoha on the day of their birth, he was

being controlled by a dead man for over a century. Perhaps the other Bijū

had suffered a similar fate.

Though Naruto did say that she could relay what happened to Narumi,

due to the fact that she was just as involved as they were, but she just

didn't know when she would get the opportunity to do so without their

parents overhearing. Nor did she know if her sister would keep the

information from their parents. She remembered just what would happen

if they were to find out. She really didn't want her brother to see her as

an enemy, perhaps that would be enough to make Narumi understand

how serious this was as well.

"Nope! He's not coming near my seal either!" Natsuki exclaimed as she

crossed her forearms into a 'X' shape and held them out just in front of

her chest.

Narumi raised and eyebrow at her twin sister's attitude. She noticed that

she had refused to let anyone near her seal a few times this week already.

Normally they just complied when their parents or Jiraiya wanted to

inspect if the seal was still holding properly. Perhaps it had to do with

what had happened with Nawaki's seal. Whatever it was, she would make

sure to ask her sister at a later time, but for now she would remain quiet.

"Natsuki, I don't understand why you're acting like this. You've never had

a problem before when we wanted to study the seal." Minato said, quite

confused at his daughter's actions. They really needed to get a look at her

seal to make sure that it was still holding properly, they couldn't let

whatever had happened to Nawaki happen to her as well. Now that he

thought about it, the exact cause of why and how the Kyuubi's chakra

had broken through his seal were still a mystery.

"That was before everything that happened with Nawaki's seal! You think

I'm gonna let any of you near my seal after the fine mess you've caused!?"

Natsuki yelled back at Minato. She needed to play the part of the scared

little girl for now...though a lot of what she was saying was actually true.

Now a majority of the room was confused. What did they have to do with

what happened to Nawaki? None of them had tampered with the seal or

even looked at it since after the second stage of the chūnin exams.

Perhaps Orochimaru did something to the seal as well when their team

encountered him in the forest of death.

"What are you talking about Natsuki-chan? None of us did anything to

alter the seal, so there's no way that any of us could have been

responsible for what happened to Nawaki." Kushina tried to calm her

daughter down, but it seemed to have the opposite effect as she was now

even more worked up than before.

"You mean the three of you really have no idea why the Kyuubi was able

to escape Nawaki's seal?" Natsuki asked them rhetorically. She almost

called the Kyuubi, Kurama right in front of them. If she had done so,

there would be far more explaining to do than why he was able to escape

from the seal he was confined to.

She received three nods of the head in the negative, while Narumi and

Kakashi now only stared on curiously.

"Sandaime-sama may have been the one who sealed the Kyuubi inside of

us, but he did so according to the seal formulas that you had prepared in

advance and already placed on the three of us, so he can't be blamed for

the current situation." Natsuki felt as if she was lecturing children with

how clueless her parents and Jiraiya looked at the moment. "What do you

think happens when you separate yin and yang, oh great fūinjutsu

masters?"

The eyes of the three fūinjutsu experts in the room widened to epic

proportions. How could they not have realized such a basic principle for

so long?

"I see you finally understand what happened to Nawaki's and my seal. Yin

and yang are not meant to be separated, they need to be together to keep

the balance. It's the most basic principle of this world, not limited to only

fūinjutsu. When the two are separated for long enough, they will

eventually try to find their way back to each other. It just so happened

that they found their home inside of me."

Needless to say that everyone still present in the room was stunned into

silence, though the three men in the room had to suppress a shiver from

running down their spine at the appearance of the famous Uzumaki

temper.

Having said everything that she wanted to, Natsuki breathed a sigh of

relief and hopped of the couch to walk out the door. Narumi followed not

long after her sister, not wanting to be left in the room when her parents

were going to be in that kind of state.

Minato and Kushina had fallen to their knees and were now holding onto

each other tightly while sobbing hysterically. They had ruined not just

Naruto's life during his childhood, but also Nawaki's and possibly

Natsuki's due to their lack of foresight. Why hadn't they thought of the

consequences of separating the two halves of the Kyuubi, it was one of

the basic principles of fūinjutsu, which they claimed to be masters at.

How could they have screwed up so badly?

With how their children had turned out and all the mistakes they had

made, were they even meant to be parents?

Akatsuki Hideout - Unknown Location

A large amount of spectral figures, numbering into the double digits,

flickered to life around a large, round table, centered in the middle of an

underground cavern. It could not be determined where exactly they were,

though if one looked around, they would see a large, demonic entity with

a decayed appearance and a number of spike-like protrusions on its back.

This was the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, an entity only capable of

being summoned by one possessing the Rinnegan. The statue was the

only thing in the cavern besides the table and chairs.

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....

Had anyone else been in the cavern, they would have been trembling at

the mere presence of these shinobis' astral projections. Any shinobi worth

their hitai-ate would recognize almost every single one of the figures in

the room, as they were some of the most dangerous criminals and nuke-

nin in all of the Elemental Nations.

The first, and the obvious leader of this organization was known only as

Pein. Pein was a slim man of of average height that looked to be in his

mid-twenties to early thirties with medium length spiky orange hair. He

bore six piercings, a metal bar though each ear, three studs through each

side of his upper nose, and one spiked stud on each end of the bottom lip.

Most notable about his appearance was the pair of Rinnegan eyes. As per

the the attire of the organization, he wore a high-collared black cloak

with red clouds on it. It seemed that he was a nuke-nin from Amegakure

due to the Ame hitai-ate around his forehead with a vertical slash mark

running through it.

Although her hitai-ate could not be seen, Konan was also a kunoichi who

was formerly a part of Amegakure. Konan was a relatively tall woman

with short, straight blue hair, amber-colored eyes with lavender

eyeshadow and a labret piercing. A large, light blue paper flower could

be seen in her hair, which had been made using her affinity for origami-

based ninjutsu. She wore the usual Akatsuki cloak, though instead of the

usual shinobi sandals and white leg warmers, she wore a pair of blue

pants that also functioned as her shoes, with white high heels, inverting

the organization's standard color scheme.

The next 'person' was rather odd looking. Zetsu appeared to have two

venus flytrap-like extensions that emerged from their sides, enveloping

their head and upper body as a shell, which they were able to open and

close at will. Half of Zetsu's body was white and possessed humanoid

features, this was known as White Zetsu. The other half of their body was

completely black and possessed no qualities whatsoever, other than a

round, yellow eye, he could be described only as a shadow. This was

known as Black Zetsu. They were part of the same being, yet had two

completely different personalities. It is unknown whether Zetsu had

previous affiliations with any of the hidden villages, but he was classified

as an S-Rank criminal nonetheless.

The next shinobi was easily discernible as his Sharingan eyes were

blazing. Uchiha Itachi had not changed much since his time in Konoha, in

fact it looked as if he hadn't aged a single day. As stated before, his eyes

adorned a three-tomoed Sharingan design, under which were long,

pronounced tear-troughs. His jet-black hair was tied into a low ponytail

and his face was framed with centre-parted bangs that extended to his

chin. On his forehead was his Konoha hitai-ate with a long, vertical slash

mark running through it, symbolizing that he had broken his ties with

the village.

Deidara was one of the newer members of the Akatsuki, with only Hidan

having been recruited after him. Deidara had slanted blue eyes and very

long blonde hair which he wore drawn into a ponytail with the rest

hanging down freely. His most distinctive feature were the mouths in

each of the palms of his hands which were used for kneading chakra into

his explosive clay and molding it into various shapes and creatures.

Kakazu was a tan-skinned and tall man, easily standing amongst the

tallest members of the Akatsuki. Noticeably, despite his advanced age, he

still appears as a a man well within his prime, retaining a very muscular

build. He wore a white hood and a black mask, with his eyes being the

only visible part of his face. Underneath the usual cloak, his entire body

was covered with various stitches and predominantly appeared to be

sewn together, this was a result of the Jiongu kinjutsu that he stole from

Takigakure just before he defected from the village years if not decades

ago.

Sasori was an infamous nuke-nin from Sunagakure, however his

appearance was unknown to everyone, even most of the Akatsuki

members. Currently, he was hiding within his favorite human puppet,

Hiruko. Within the puppet's confines, Sasori didn't look a day older since

he defected from Suna. This was primarily because he had turned his

entire body into a living puppet, with the only human part of him left

being his heart.

Hidan has medium-length silver hair that was slicked back and

distinctive purple eyes. He wore his Akatsuki cloak open with no shirt,

only pants under it, thus revealing his slashed Yugakure hitai-ate around

his neck and an amulet representing the religion of the Jashinist cult. On

his back was a triple-bladed scythe which was his primary weapon and

used in conjunction with a majority of his specialized jutsu.

The next shinobi was Hiruko, not to be confused with the shinobi who

now functions as Sasori's human puppet. Hiruko has long white hair that

was hidden within his cloak and a pair of pale red eyes. Despite once

being close friends with the Sannin and being the same age as them,

Hiruko has a much more youthful appearance due to the heavy

modifications that he had made on himself. Most of his body was covered

in bandages, including his mouth and arms, revealing only the upper half

of his face and hair. His body is covered in stitches and scars, much like

Kakazu, due to assimilating the bodies of other shinobi with his own.

Hiruko is a nuke-nin from Konoha, who was forced to flee during the

Third Shinobi World War after his research and findings were discovered

by the Sandaime Hokage and the Sannin were sent to assassinate him.

Uzumaki Menma, the only other surviving member of the ill-fated

Uzumaki clan, and the presumably deceased twin brother of Uzumaki-

Namikaze Kushina. His red hair, the trademark sign of the Uzumaki clan,

was worn in a longer, shaggier-looking style, not too different from the

Yondaime Hokage. He was a very tall man, with a muscular build. Most

notable about his appearance was that he has a large X-shaped scar

centered on the left side of his forehead that stretches over both his eyes,

with only the whites of his eyes showing. He is presumed to be blind. He

has white bandages wrapped around each of his forearms, with

handguards on both hands. In his hand was a shikomizue, that doubles as

a cane when not in battle due to his blindness. This is presumably one of

his clan's famed fūinjutsu swords.

Unlike most of the other Akatsuki members who wore a cloak, Sir

Crocodile donned a black shirt, a green scarf, dark gray slacks, and a

black overcoat with a fur trim and red clouds on it. Crocodile is a tall

man with a wide chest, broad shoulders, muscular arms and legs, and a

thick neck. His pale skin and nape-length, black hair, which is neatly kept

slicked back, make people question if he is really a nuke-nin from

Sunagakure, although after hearing his reputation, those doubts were

subsided. Most notable about his appearance was the long stitched scar

above his nose that stretches vertically across his face, as well as a

missing left hand that has been replaced by a large hook made of a tough

gold alloy. In his mouth was the usual cigar.

Similarly to Sir Crocodile, Enel did not wear the usual Akatsuki garb.

Enel is a tall, muscular man who has white-blond hair that was covered

by a simple white bandana. His nose had many lines running horizontally

across it, along with strange, long earlobes that stretch all the way to his

chest. He also has four large tomoe drums attached to his back via a large

metal ring. He wore loose black pants with red clouds running across

them, around his waist is a blue, flowing sash, holding up a light blue

veil. He seemed to have an affinity for gold as he wore gold bracelets on

both his arms and his legs and the gold staff in his right hand. Around his

neck was a Kumogakure hitai-ate with a vertical slash mark running

through it.

Dracule Mihawk is a lean man with black hair, a short beard, mustache

and sideburns that point upwards. His eyes were a strange yellow color

with a ring circling around the pupil, resembling a hawk's eyes. His attire

consists of a wide-brimmed black hat decorated with a large plume, and

a long, open black coat with no undershirt, and with red cloud designs.

Around his neck was a crucifix pendant concealing a small dagger. He

wears white pants held up by a decorated belt and tucked inside overly

large boots in comparison to his leg size. On his back was the famed

sword Yoru. To this day, Mihawk hold the title of the world's strongest

swordsman. He has no prior affiliations with any of the villages, as he is a

wandering swordsman.

Gekkō Moria is an abnormally large person with distinct devil-like

features. Standing at 22'7" in height, Moria is the tallest amongst the

Akatsuki members. It was impossible for one of the usual Akatsuki cloaks

to fit his body size and shape, so he wore a fur-laced black cape with a

red cloud design. It is unknown whether or not Moria has any

connections to the hidden villages, although due to his size if he was

formerly, he would be hard to miss. Though if he was formerly a shinobi

of one of the villages, he was most likely banished due to how immoral

his abilities were.

Bartholomew Kuma is an enormous man, standing at a height of 22'6", he

is easily the tallest member of the Akatsuki if Moria was excluded. His

overall appearance resembles that of a bear, though there are a few key

differences. His jacket was a jet-black color and covered in the trademark

Akatsuki clouds. On his hands were a pair of gloves that covered the paw

pads on his hands, and thus preventing him from accidentally activating

the kinjutsu that he possesses. Kuma is a former shinobi from Iwagakure

who became known throughout the world for fighting on par with the

Sandaime Tsuchikage for four days and three nights before he defeated

the Kage due to his old age during his defection. He was one of the key

players in the Akatsuki's plans due to his abilities.

The only other female amongst the Akatsuki members was Boa Hancock.

Hancock is considered by many to be the most beautiful woman in the

world. She is a very tall, slender woman in her mid-twenties with long,

silky black hair that reached down past her waist with locks of hair that

frame her face down to her chin, large breasts, a high forehead, dark blue

eyes that have long, voluminous lashes, and a narrow waist. She wore a

black, tight, form-fitting dress embroidered with the Akatsuki's usual red

clouds. The dress itself was a Chinese-style design with slits on the sides

to reveal her legs, it exposed a fair amount of cleavage and rose up into a

high collar. She usually chose a rather revealing attire as to increase he

effects of her Mero Mero kinjutsu. This particular kinjutsu was developed

by the Kuja tribe before they were eradicated during the Third Shinobi

World War, to which she is that sole survivor.

The final Akatsuki member was the only medical-nin in the world who

could put Senju Tsunade to shame, Trafalgar D. Water Law. Law is a slim

young man in his mid-twenties of a relatively tall height. His gray eyes

were covered by faint shadows from his trademark white, northern-style

fur hat, which also obscured his spiky black hair, save for his sideburns

and small black goatee. He adorned the usual Akatsuki cloak, and held a

large nodachi with his right hand, resting it on his shoulder, thus

revealing the tattoos on his hands and arms. Law holds a deep hatred for

the great shinobi nations, as he is the sole survivor of the tragedy of

Flevance also known as the 'White City', a nation that discovered how to

make firearms and powerful weapons using the amber lead that was

mined there. However, the amber lead caused poisoning and eventually

everyone in the nation was diagnosed with the disease. Fearing both the

potential of their weapons and that the deadly disease was contagious,

Iwa, Kumo, Ame and Suna formed a temporary alliance to eradicate

every single person living there. This resulted in the death of his parents

and his younger sister. This information is also what lead him to be

recruited by the Akatsuki several years ago.

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....

"Zetsu, what news do you have on the jinchūriki that participated in the

chūnin exams?" Pein ordered more than asked the plant-like being. The

current level of strength would be essential knowledge for the group as it

would benefit them in capturing all of the jinchūriki.

"Ah yes, the jinchūrikis within Konoha during that time put on quite a

show. There have also been some very interesting developments

regarding the Kyuubi jinchūrikis." White Zetsu was the one who

answered in his usual playful tone. Him and his black counterpart had

watched the entire chūnin exam finals, hidden from view of everyone,

Kages included. Black Zetsu had been seething in anger and rage ever

since he saw the only non-jinchūriki child of the Hokage compete. It

wasn't like him to be angry, he was usually serious, critical, and even

harsh to everyone, but he had never been angry before.

"What kind of developments exactly?" The figurehead leader of the

Akatsuki asked once more. He was getting irritated that things weren't

going according to plan, they had enough strength and numbers to start

hunting the jinchūriki as of now, of course the Bijū had to be captured

and sealed in order from least amount of tails to the greatest so that the

Gedō Mazō could slowly adjust to its power returning.

If they were to seal a Bijū with a larger amount of tail before the ones

with a lower amount were sealed, the sealing process would take much

longer and be much harder on the physical body and the chakra of those

sealing it because the statue would have too much power already. That

was the reason that they would be going in order of the number of tails.

"As we expected, the Sanbi jinchūriki, Yagura, has perfect control of the

Bijū sealed within him and is incredibly strong. He will be quite difficult

to subdue and capture, but that wasn't very surprising. What was

interesting is that there are no longer three Kyuubi jinchūrikis, only two.

The Kyuubi's chakra inside of the Yondaime Hokage's second son ripped

itself out of the boy and fused with the other half of itself inside of his

daughter, leaving the boy without a trace of its chakra. This means that

the Kyuubi is whole once again and is sure to be far stronger than we had

anticipated." White Zetsu informed the group excitedly, there was a

reason that he was occasionally referred to as 'chatterbox'.

There was a collective silence among the group of S-Rank shinobi as it

was unheard of for a Bijuū to actually forcibly remove itself from its host.

There have been cases where a third party has somehow gained control

of the beast and ripped it out of the seal holding it, but never before has

it done so on its own. For those who were hunting the Bijū this was a

very interesting development.

At least to some it was.

"You call that an important development? All that means is that we have

one less jinchūriki to capture." Menma's dislike for Kushina and anyone

related to her began to show as he voiced his opinion.

"No, that was just the tip of the iceberg. What really matters is what

happened during the Suna/Oto invasion of Konoha." This statement

caught the attention of most of the other shinobi in the room. It had been

a week since the invasion occurred, but Konoha was keeping the betrayal

of Suna quiet for now until the rebuilt their village and bolstered their

strength. Seeing the questioning looks he was receiving, White Zetsu

chose to elaborate, "Yes, the Yondaime Kazekage chose to side with

Orochimaru and Otogakure and they invaded Konoha with their

combined forces during the final stage of the chūnin exams. Though they

were forced to retreat and lost nearly three-fourths of their forces in the

process. What matters to us though is that Portgas D. Naruto, the eldest

son of the Yondaime Hokage, managed to kill the Suna jinchūriki during

the midst of the invasion." Zetsu spoke, earning a surprised look from

Law. He was the only one among them to possess the initial 'D'. As to

what that initial meant, only the few of them knew the vague details

concerning that name, but the one thing that was certain, no matter how

confusing it was, was that the Clan of D were the natural enemies of God

A thick silence filled the cavern once more as everyone processed White

Zetsu's words.

The death of the Ichibi would be a major setback in their plans as it was

the first Bijū that they needed to seal. This meant that they would have

to wait until the Ichibi was reformed somewhere, or that they would

need to start hunting the other Bijū first and seal the Ichibi last. They

would most likely be doing the former since it should only take a few

years at most for it to reform.

"...That is quite troublesome indeed...With the death of the Ichibi

jinchūriki, our plans will have to be pushed back. The last time a

jinchūriki was killed, it took the Bijū three years to reform, I assume it

will take the same length this time..." Pein announced to the rest of the

organization with an irritated look on his face.

"And what exactly are we supposed to do until that time comes? Surely

the jinchūriki will have grown in strength by then, especially the younger

ones." Crocodile questioned as he blew out a puff of smoke from his

cigar.

"We need to know how strong each of the jinchūriki currently are so that

we are adequately prepared. We had already prepared to do this anyway,

so that plan hasn't changed. Each of the teams is to report back here

when they are done, and be sure not to kill any of the jinchūriki, we can't

afford to have the plan delayed further than it already has...The rest of

you are on standby for now. Continue to gather funds and strength for

the duration of our operation."

Most of the members of the room gave a simultaneous response of "Hai,

Leader-sama!", while the more silent and reserved characters merely

nodded their head.

Seeing that everyone understood the current plan of action, Pein

continued, "Good, do all of you understand your current objectives?"

His question was more rhetorical than anything and not exactly meant to

be answered, but strangely, someone spoke up.

"...Actually Leader-sama, I'd like to be the one to test the Kyuubi

jinchūriki this time around." The deep voice of Black Zetsu spoke up.

Though his voice was far darker and filled with much more rage than

usual. He suppressed it quite well, but every shinobi in the room was S-

Ranked, in other words the highest ranking in the Elemental Nations,

nothing got by them.

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....

Pein raised an eyebrow at Black Zetsu's request. It was unlike him to

object to something that he said, the being was extremely loyal to

whomever he served. "Why is that Zetsu? Itachi and Hiruko are the ones

who are currently assigned to the Kyuubi jinchūriki, why should they not

be the ones to test its strength? This would probably be the most

important task since the Kyuubi is the strongest of the Bijū and we need

to see the jinchūriki's capabilities after having the Kyuubi whole once

again."

Itachi's and Hiruko's projections turned towards Zetsu and Pein, their

attention had been successfully caught at the mention of their target. It

was unusual for Zetsu to request such a front-line mission, he usually

operated as a spy and gathered information on the jinchūriki, this was

how the Akatsuki had gotten the locations of where each Bijū resided. He

must have had some ulterior motive behind his actions. Though, neither

of them seemed fazed or spoke out against the fact that someone was

trying to steal their target and mission.

"Itachi and Hiruko are both infamous nuke-nin formerly of Konoha,

they're bound to attract far more attention than the mission would allow.

And with shinobi such as Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina,

Jiraiya, Uchiha Obito, and shinobi on par with them currently residing

within Konoha, the chance of capture is far greater than we would

prefer...Someone like me on the other hand would be able to easily

escape if I were to find myself driven into a corner...and I have some

personal business with someone close to the jinchūriki. It would be

beneficial to our plans if he is dealt with sooner rather than later." Zetsu

reasoned with Pein.

White Zetsu had a confused look on his face, he hadn't known that they

had anything to settle with any of the Konoha shinobi. In fact, the last

Konoha shinobi that they had dealt with, other than the ones in the

Akatsuki, was Obito when Madara was trying to manipulate him into

creating the Akatsuki and become the leader behind the scenes.

Pein was silent for a moment as he thought about Zetsu's words. Konoha

did indeed have the highest number of S-Rank shinobi residing in it,

though Jiraiya was frequently outside the village walls, Obito and

Kushina were usually on missions, Tsunade had her hands full as a

medical-nin at the village hospital, and Minato was now crippled. It was

certainly more of a risk than he was willing to take, sending two of his

shinobi within those walls. Then again, Zetsu was extremely trustworthy,

having never failing a mission and being one of the Akatsuiki's very first

members. Perhaps he did have a point.

"Itachi, Hiruko. What do you think of Zetsu's request?" Pein turned to the

team that assigned to capturing the Kyuubi jinchūriki.

"Let him have the mission if he's so insistent on it. It will give me more

time to track down the shinobi who I plan to fuse with." Hiruko possessed

a kinjutsu known asChimerawhich allowed him to absorb the bodies of at

most four people, gaining their Kekkei Genkai and attributes they

possessed when alive. Currently, he had already absorbed three people

and he had already found the fourth, but he had yet to put his plan into

action.

"It does not matter to me." Itachi responded in his usual calm, stoic voice.

However, inwardly he was quite worried. It was Itachi's duty to protect

Konoha as much as he could from inside the Akatsuki and relay that

information back to Jiraiya or the Hokage, if he wasn't the one

responsible for capturing the Kyuubi then far more casualties were likely

to occur. The Akatsuki was far more dangerous than they had believed it

to be. Originally Jiriaya and the Yondaime Hokage had believed there to

only be nine members, but now their numbers had grown to almost

twenty. If Zetsu was going to get involved the death of Konoha-nin was

unavoidable, but Itachi couldn't voice his disapproval and needed to

maintain his cover.

"Very well then, you may be the one to approach the Kyuubi

jinchūriki...However, you are one of the Akatsuki members who

frequently works on their own. You will need a partner for this." Zetsu

may not have been a usual fron-line fighter for the Akatsuki, but he was

still one of the strongest among them. Even so, the mission would have a

higher chance of success if he brought a partner along with him. That is

why it was encouraged for Akatsuki members to work in pairs, though a

handful of them still preferred to work solo.

"...Enel..." Zetsu's deep voice rang out, gaining the attention of said man.

"You'll be coming with me."

"God does not take orders, God is the one who gives them." Enel's spoke

out arrogantly, soon after though, he began to scratch his chin and a

thoughtful look made its way onto his face. "...Though I will be joining

you anyway. It has been far too long since I've had any fun. Perhaps the

Kyuubi jinchūriki will provide me with some entertainment."

An irritated expression mede its way onto Pein's normally stoic face. He

was the only God here. Enel may have been strong and been granted with

divine power, but he was no God. Only the bearer of the Rinnegan had

the right to call themselves as such, as they were the ones who were

freely able to bend the boundaries of life and death.

"Then, if you all know you current assignments, you're dismissed."

The other sixteen members uttered a "Hai Leader-sama" in unison before

flickering out of existence, until only Pein's figure spectral figure was left

alone in the room.

Chapter no.129

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....

A sound of footsteps approaching is what caught his attention, as the real

leader of the Akatsuki was about to make his appearance known.

Out from the shadows stepped an unusually tall man, standing at a height

of 10', blonde-haired, very lean and muscular man with tan skin in his

late thirties. Draped over his shoulders was a hot pink feather coat, his

pants were black and designed with the usual Akatsuki red clouds,

strangely, he wore a pair of dress shoes instead of shinobi sandals, under

his coat was a plain white open shirt that revealed his chest and abs, on

his face were a pair of curved, thin white sunglasses with red lenses.

From the slashed Suna hitai-ate functioning as his belt buckle, it was easy

to mark him as a nuke-nin from Sunagakure. This was Donquixote

Doflamingo.

"Zetsu seemed quite adamant about handling the Kyuubi jinchūriki

himself don't you think? Though whoever he wants to deal with

personally must've really pissed him off." Doflamingo spoke, making his

presence in the room fully known.

However, Pein didn't seem fazed in the least by the man's sudden

appearance, which meant that he knew that the man was here all along

and was already accustomed to dealing with him.

"He will complete his mission just as all the members will." Pein spoke

with the utmost seriousness.

However, Doflamingo never lost the maniacal grin that seemed to always

be present on his face. "You're far too serious all of the time Nagato,

loosening up every now and then will do you some good. If you're this

wrapped up in the plans of the organization, the plan is bound to end in

failure. Take a step back from our goals and just enjoy what's around you

for the moment!" Doflamingo declared as he spread his arms out wide

and took a dramatic pose.

"That is for me to decided." The man's attitude didn't seem to affect the

figurehead leader for the Akatsuki one bit.

Taking on a more serious expression Doflamingo loked down at Pein's

spectral figure, "Don't take these next three years too lightly though.

Once the jinchūriki are aware of our presence, they will no doubt

increase their strength dramatically...Though such a thing wouldn't be

too difficult to deal with, most jinchūriki rely on brute force alone and

once they lose control of themselves, that's all they're able to utilize."

"We will have to wait until the other members report back with their

assessments and we will prepare accordingly. After which we will just

have to wait until the Ichibi reforms. Then our plan will be set in

motion."

With those final word said, Pein's figure flickered out of existence,

leaving Doflamingo alone in the cavern.

Akimichi Barbecue Restaurant - Konoha

After leaving the Hokage's Office, Naruto had been slowly making his

way towards the restaurant where they had planned to meet up today

after the ceremony.

Naruto still found it hard to believe that after everything that has

happened between them, that Minato had tried to force him to play a

part in his prophecy. That was the reason that he was slowly walking to

his destination instead of justShunshiningthere, he needed some time to

cool off before meeting up with his teammates. Although he had rather

good control over his emotions for someone his age, what just happened

had gotten him pretty worked up.

Though he was pleasantly surprised that Natsuki hadn't told their parents

about what had happened with Kurama. If she had, it would have been

the first thing that he was accused of rather than about his abilities or

their prophecy.

He was also surprised that neither of his sisters nor his mother tried to

push him to sign the toad contract that their family was so fond of. It

appeared that the three of them had finally gotten the message that he

would never be a part of their family again, so they were taking a

backseat for now and just letting things play out. Though he could see it

in their eyes that they really wanted to celebrate his celebration to

chūnin with him.

He had to admit that knowing that he would no longer be bombarded

from all sided with pleas for him to come back to their family and live in

their estate with them took a lot of weight off of his shoulders. He wasn't

really a cold person by nature and he disliked having to brush them aside

every time they tried to cling to him, but far too much had happened at

this point for anything else to be a viable option.

He shook his head to bring him back to reality as he walked into the

barbecue restaurant that he had become so familiar with. Their team

often celebrated the complete of a successful mission here or came here

for special occasions such as today. The comparison could be made that

barbecue was to them what ramen was to Team 7. They had actually run

into Team 10 here on more than a few occasions as it was Chōji's family

that owned the restaurant.

"Naruto-nii!"

Naruto looked up to see Satsuki waving excitedly at him from their usual

booth in the corner.

"Yo." Naruto gave a small wave to them as he made his way to the booth

and took a seat on the side that Satsuki was on, with Hana sitting directly

across from him.

Just as he arrived, the waiter came over. It appeared he had kept them

waiting for quite a while, seeing as how it was already lunchtime. It'd be

best to order their food now. Having been here so many times after

becoming genin, they didn't even have to look at the menu to decide

what they wanted. The three chūnin placed their usual order and a little

extra for the celebration.

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....

It had been over an hour since he had parted with them in the Hokage's

Office. What had happened there took far longer than he anticipated, but

true to their word, Satsuki and Hana had been patiently waiting for them.

They might've been too excited to eat at the time though, but now that

the idea of them being chūnin had settled into their minds, their hunger

was beginning to take over as he could hear their stomachs growling.

"How was your talk with Hokage-sama?" Hana quickly asked, trying to

get the attention off of her's and Satsuki's grumbling stomachs.

Satsuki quickly scarfed down a few pieces of bread that had been given

to the table to satisfy her stomach for now, though her face was red from

embarrassment from having Naruto hear such an unladylike noise

coming from her. But after hearing Hana voice her curiosity, she shifted

her attention towards Naruto.

"Nothing different from usual, though because of my abilities he believes

that I'm some kind of child of prophecy that Jiraiya told him about before

any of us entered the academy...You two are lucky that you don't have to

deal with these kind of things." Naruto spoke as he put his elbow on the

table and leaned his cheek onto the palm of his hand.

"Hm, what'd they want exactly?" Satsuki asked curiously. Though she was

a bit upset that every time her Naruto-nii did something in front of the

Hokage, something like this had to happen.

"...First they tried interrogating me about how I can do what I can, then

after giving that up they tried to force me to sign their toad contract and

push me towards creating world peace...I walked out of the room after

refusing and some arguing..." Naruto sighed as he explained the

summarized what had happened to the girls.

The two females at the table nodded in understanding.

"Though, it is quite rare to find a shinobi with a summoning contract.

Less than one percent of the shinobi within the Elemental Nations are

holders of summoning contracts. Konoha is actually hold the most of the

known ones with the toad and slug contracts being the most prominent...I

wish I had one...Oh yeah, Naruto-nii, how'd you come across yours?"

Satsuki asked with stars in her eyes. The girl had always been interested

in summoning contracts seeing Itachi's and Shisui's crows when she was

younger.

Naruto lifted his head off of his hand and looked at his 'little sister' sitting

next to him. He chuckled lightly after seeing the stars shining in her eyes.

She was so adorable when she was like this, like a child in a toy store.

"There are only a few ways to get your hands on a summoning contract.

The first is a third party or outside factor. This means that it is either

given to you by someone else or you find the actual contract by chance.

Pretty much any outside factor can be thrown into this category. The

second way is to encounter the actual animal belonging to the contract

by chance where they can let you sign their contract if they so choose.

That one is pretty self-explanatory. The third one is how I came into

possession of my contract, though I wouldn't advise you to do so. By

preforming the hand seals for the summoning jutsu when not in

possession of a contract, you can reverse summon yourself to the

summoning realm you are naturally aligned with. Though, being

naturally aligned with one is rare and very few people in the world will

be able to do this successfully. Had I not been immune to flames, I would

have been burned to death upon being summoned to Mt. Silver."

Naruto noticed the downcast expression that had made its way onto

Satsuki's face, forcing his older brother instincts to kick in.

"Though if you're still interested in getting one for yourself, when I was

still training under Shisui, he told me that he found his crow summoning

contract in the depths of the Uchiha clan library. Maybe if you looked

there as well you'd be able to find one for yourself." These words earned

a wide smile and a hopeful look from Satsuki.

Naruto moved his hand just above her head. Satsuki looked up into his

eyes after after feeling the gentle pat on her head and the wonderful

feeling of her silky, black hair being stroked.

The atmosphere around the table had gotten sickly sweet as the two

chūnin looked into each others eyes with love and adoration. Naruto

gently stroking Satsuki's hair and Satsuki leaning into his touch with a

look of absolute delight on her face only served to heighten those

feelings.

Fortunately or unfortunately, it was difficult to tell in this case, a voice

spoke up from the other side of the table, effectively dispelling the

romantic atmosphere that surrounded the table.

"Um...you two, people are starting to stare..." Hana awkwardly

commented with a sweatdrop. Normally one would have been a bit

embarrassed after seeing such a sweet scene, but these kind of things

happened more than one would think.

Naruto and Satsuki had been so wrapped up with each other that they

had forgotten that Hana was at the table with them. Naruto looked

around the room and true to her words, there were quite a few people

who had turned their attention to the table, though they hadn't really

done anything to garnish the attention of so many people. It was

probably because of their recent performance in the chūnin exams that

they had drawn this much attention. Though Neither of them seemed

fazed in the least, in fact Satsuki even subtly flashed Hana a victory sign

and gave her a wink.

Their attention was brought off the current situation and back to their

stomachs as their waiter brought the many dishes of food onto the table,

along with a large bottle of sake. Among the dishes they ordered were a

large platter of assorted meats that they would cook themselves with the

grill on the table, a platter of rice balls, a large platter of fried rice, fried

tofu, deep fried beans tossed with garlic, and several orders of gyoza.

This may seem like a lot of food, even for people like Chōji, but every

single time they came here, not a single piece of food was left. Unlike

kunoichi like Sakura and Ino, Satsuki and Hana understood the

importance of nutrition and a balanced diet, so neither of them had even

thought about dieting. Though most of the food was usually eaten by

Naruto. His appetite knew no bounds.

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....

Naruto threw the pieces of meat on the grill to start their cooking, after

which he took the three sake cups and filled them up with sake. After

filling up the three cups with the clear liquid, he placed a cup in front of

sake in front of Satsuki and one in front of Hana.

"Sake?" Hana asked with a tilt of her head. Sure they were considered

adults once becoming genin, even more so now that they were chūnin,

but she had never drank any of the stuff before.

"When you exchange sake cups, you become family...as well as to

celebrate our promotion." Naruto said as he lifted his sake cup in front of

him.

"Family? Really?!" Hana asked as she stared down at her own cup. They

had always considered themselves to be family, but there was never

anything to secure that bond. Perhaps this was it.

"We're chūnin now, that means our paths will take us our own way...we

may not even be on the same team together for much longer...but our

bonds will keep us together as family! No matter where we are or what

we do, our bond will never be broken!" Both Hana and Satsuki found

themselves surprised at how passionate his words were. They each picked

up their own sake cup and brought them towards the middle of the table,

creating a ringing sound as the cups resounded off of each other.

"Starting with this, from this day onwards, we're officially family!"

As Naruto said those words, each of them downed their cup of sake in

one gulp. The two younger girls choked on the burning sensation running

down their throat, but swallowed it nonetheless. Naruto couldn't help but

chuckle at the reactions of his newly named sisters before pouring them

another cup.

"Don't worry, after a few cups, you get used to it. Now let's eat before the

meat burns and the food gets cold!" Naruto said as he took the meat off

the grill and began distributing it amongst the three of them.

Soon enough the group of three were digging into their food like their

was no tomorrow. This wasn't as uncommon as one may believe, every

time they came to the Akimichi's Barbecue restaurant, a quick lunch

turned into an enormous feast. Hana and Satsuki were eating in the most

unladylike manner humanly possible and Naruto had almost choked on

his food three times already because he was shoveling it down so fast,

but none of them cared about quirks like that. Today may be the last day

that they will ever be together as a team and they we're going to make

the most of it.

Halfway through there meal, the three of them began to slow their pace

down. This is the point where they usually began to take their time and

simply savor their food. This was also the time for conversation now that

their unruly hunger had begun to express its satisfaction.

"So what are the two of you going to do now that we're chūnin?" Satsuki

asked as she wiped her mouth with a napkin.

This caught the attention of the other two at the table who paused while

still chewing their food to think about her question. Hana quickly

swallowed her remaining food before turning towards her new sister.

"Well, you've known what I've always wanted to do. During genin

introductions I think I told the both of you and Obito-sensei that I wanted

to become a veterinarian. Now that I'm a chunin, I'm able to apply for

medical ninjutsu training at the hospital, that way I'll be able to work on

animals as well as people. The only medical ninjutsu I currently know

was taught to me by my Kaa-san, but she doesn't know much more than I

do now. After I start at the hospital, I'd eventually want to become one of

the veterinarians for the animal hospital in the Inuzuka compound." Hana

had a smile on her face the entire time at the prospect of being able to

acheive her dream so early on in her shinobi career.

"I guess I'd serve as a team leader for now." Naruto spoke as he threw

another dumpling into his mouth. He had absolutely no table manners

whatsoever. "Because we lost so many shinobi during the invasion, I have

no doubt they'll be sending us out on missions as soon as possible. We

may even be in charge of shinobi that were in our graduating class,

seeing as how we outrank them now."

"Why's that? If we just lost so much of our forces, wouldn't it be best to

concentrate the shinobi that we do have left on protecting the village?"

Hana asked curiously. She didn't exactly know if she had what it took to

lead a team. Naruto was a natural leader, when Obito wasn't around on

missions or was occupied with a more important matter, Naruto was the

designated stand-in leader, which he always excelled at. And Satsuki

never had any doubts about herself or her decisions. They were

completely different rom herself.

Naruto shook his head in response, "We can't do that...If we were to start

turning down missions, it'd be like telling the other nations that our

village is getting weak. Kumo and Iwa would no doubt take that

opportunity to attack because of their dislike for the village and the

Hokage. That's why even the academy has been temporarily closed and

the chunin instructors have been sent on field missions once more...I may

not like it, but that's just how it is."

The two girls had a thoughtful look on their face as if wondering that

kind of missions they'd possibly be assigned to lead. They were probably

worried about how well they'd do or if it'd be successful. Nobody wants

to fail the first mission that they were assigned to lead. Naruto didn't

have those concerns however. He's been assigned to lead sub-missions by

Obito many times during the course of their time as a team, and while he

thought he wasn't cut out for it at first, Naruto had grown accustomed to

taking charge in most situations. Though, he could understand if his two

teammates didn't feel the same way.

"Hmm...I see...that sucks for whoever gets stuck leading a team..." Satsuki

spoke lazily, still partially in thought, as she bit down on another piece of

the fried tofu.

Naruto gave the girl a deadpan looked as she continued to chew, "Hey,

I'm talking about you too, you know...most of the jonin of the village will

be sent off on higher ranking missions, because those are more

prominent, that leaves us to lead their genin teams for the time being.

Obito-sensei will probably be forced to take on more S-Rank missions as

well."

"Hm...tomorrow is bound to be a pain." The girl moaned in defeat.

"Why don't we finish up our food and get out of here. We've still got a

whole day before all of that begins, why not make the most of it?" Naruto

spoke as he started back up on his food once more.

The other girls smiled at his words and followed suit. They still had an

entire day before they had to worry about leading missions and the like,

so why worry about it now when there's nothing they could do about it?

They would make sure to take him up on his offer, those sweet smiles

turned mischievous and wicked, he was the one paying for everything

today after all.

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....

Uchiha Household - Night

After several hours of being dragged around the entirety of Konoha's

shopping district and being brought along on the most grueling shopping

spree that may have ever taken place within the walls of Konohagakure,

an exhausted, beaten, and half-dead Naruto, laid sprawled out on the

living room couch next to Mikoto as Satsuki was using the hallway as a

runway for the fashion show that was currently taking place. He now

understood why Shikamaru always referred to women as 'troublesome'. It

would take over an entire months pay to replace all the money he had

spent during the girls' 'celebration'.

If he never saw another pair of shoes again, it would be too soon.

Naruto looked up to see Satsuki spinning around in one of her new outfits

as Mikoto squealed in delight at how cute her daughter looked. Mikoto

had a much more girly side to her than he had ever imagined.

"That looks absolutely adorable of you Satsuki-chan." Mikoto praised

cheerfully, but with a weak tone that only Naruto was able to notice. It

made him worry.

He had noticed over the last few months that Mikoto's body was slowly

weakening. It was slow-going, but the rate at which her body was

weakening had picked up substantially over the course of the past few

weeks. She was forcibly suppressing the symptoms, but it was still

noticeable for those who had a background in medicine or that had

special eyes.

Naruto belonged to both of those categories. While he was younger and

still training under Shisui, the elder teen had always referred to them

as'the eyes of the hawk'not to mention the Sharingan that was now

implanted into his right eye socket. Then there was the fact that he

trained under Tsunade for around a year while he was still in the

academy. That was mainly to achieve perfect control over his chakra so

that he was able to access Haki, but he learned quite a lot about medicine

and medical ninjutsu during his time with her.

Still, the weakening of Mikoto's body was alarming. Ever since he had

known the woman, she had never been sick a day in her life and now this

happens? It has been especially bad over the last week, where she had

secretly been making visits to the hospital when she hadn't been injured

in the least during the invasion. This meant that she knew that her body

was quickly deteriorating, so why was she acting so carefree and

cheerful?

If her disease was this serious and hasn't been healed yet, then it means

that not even Tsunade was able to cure her. Konoha had the best hospital

within all the Elemental Nations, they had seen and cured every injury

and sickness known to man. Did this mean that her condition was

something that they had never seen before, or was it simply incurable?

Has she been torturing herself for them all this time?

She smiled whenever he smiled.

She laughed whenever he laughed.

She cried whenever he cried.

She shared his pain, whether it was physical, mental, or emotional.

She had always been there for him, but what is she were to no longer be

there. No, he couldn't think like that.

She had even trained together with him whenever she could. She

tortured herself, with her weak little body, just to spend whatever time

she had left with him and Satsuki. She did this to herself just for them...

Naruto knew he didn't deserve someone as wonderful and selfless as her.

And it seemed that the God watching over this plane agreed with him.

Perhaps this is what they meant when they said that the Clan of D. was

the natural enemy of God...a cursed clan where everyone close to their

heart was ripped away from them...a clan where happiness was still a

mystery.

Truly a clan with a cursed fate.

Mikoto seemed to notice that Naruto was staring at her suspiciously, so

she offered him a weak smile in return.

Satsuki had just left the room to change into another one of the new

dresses that she had bought today, leaving Naruto and Mikoto in the

living room alone together.

"You've bought Satsuki-chan an adorable new wardrobe, Naru-kun. She

seemed happy to finally be able spend the entire day with you with how

hectic everything has been." It was true, a the chūnin exams started over

a month ago, then they had the entire month to train, then the finals and

the invasion. There wasn't much time to spend with their little family.

Though she may have been just trying to get him to join the conversation

instead of how he was eyeing her body. It wasn't one of love or lust, but

one of deep concern and worry, perhaps even a bit of fear. If she had left

him to his thoughts, things would have taken a path that she would

prefer to have left unexplored.

"Yeah, her and Hana went on a rampage in the shopping district. Not a

single clothing or shoe store was left untouched." Naruto smiled right

back at her, but his mind was still on the condition of her body. If he had

a Byakugan he wouldn't have to be guessing at what kind of state her

internal and cellular condition was in...Perhaps he could ask Hinata for a

favor later. A shiver went down his spine as he thought about the pale-

eyed girl who he had caught staring at him with her Byakugan active

more than a handful of times. She was definitely out of the question.

"Those two may not be like the rest of the kunoichi who are fresh out of

the academy that focus on dieting and clinging onto their crush's arm,

but they love shopping just the same." Mikoto sighed as she remembered

the times she had taken her daughter out shopping when she was

younger. Ever since she was a child, she had rather expensive

tastes...Mikoto started to feel a little bad for Naruto. Though, her love for

high-end civilian and clothes didn't translate over to her shinobi-wear.

When on missions or during training, she usually dressed like a tomboy

or wore rather tight and revealing clothing. The girl just couldn't stick to

one style.

"...Mikoto-chan...are you having problems with your health...?" Mikoto

noticeably froze at that question. Naruto had always been too observant

for his own good. It seemed that he always found out about every secret

she was trying to keep hidden, first it was the Uchiha Massacre and now

it was her body's condition.

She could easily lie to him right now to advert this topic altogether, he

wouldn't believe her and would be able to see through any lie she spat

out, but he would play along and understand that she wanted to deal

with this on her own...but there was no dealing with this. She could lie to

Satsuki because she would undoubtedly be crushed by the truth, but she

couldn't lie to Naruto. For some reason the thought of hiding something

this important from him made her feel more sick than her actual sickness

did...but that didn't mean she had to tell him the whole truth.

"You were always too smart for your own good, Naru-kun...This isn't like

the last time I tried to keep something from you though...This time,

there's no simple solution, no easy way to make everything go back to

how it's always been...So just this once, could you leave everything up to

me?"

Mikoto looked over her shoulder and gave him a small smile, it was a

smile that he had only seen a few times before in his life, and it was

never worn by her. The first time was the day before the Uchiha

Massacre when Itachi had given him one final genjutsu lesson. The

second was when Shisui refused to be taken to the hospital on the cliff

that night, just before his death. It was a smile that Naruto despised with

all his being.

It was the smile of already accepting the inevitable.

Naruto wouldn't let her leave him the same way Shisui and Itachi had.

"What exactly is going on Mi-!" Naruto stopped mid-sentence when he

saw the pleading look in her eyes. It was a look that he had never seen

before, the tears threatening to spill from the corners of her eyes only

added to the pleading feel that it expressed. He sighed as he made a

decision that went against his better judgement. Actually that was an

understatement, every fiber of his being was telling him not to say what

he was about to, "...Just this once...but don't do anything stupid, okay?"

She didn't have a chance to respond, as Satsuki came running down the

hall in the most beautiful white sundress that complemented her pale

skin and dark hair perfectly. It seemed that the fashion show would be

continuing after that brief intermission.

Naruto sent one last worried glance over to Mikoto, who was now staring

at this new outfit with stars in her eyes. It appeared that she was no

longer concerned with their previous agreement and was going on as if

nothing had happened. Women were so damned troublesome.

Though seeing Mikoto act in her usual manner did raise his spirits a bit

and lift the weight that had been placed upon his shoulders by his

previous worries.

As if nothing out of the ordinary had happened that day, the evening

deepened into the night as usual for this little family.

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....

Death.

Death is indiscriminate.

It is the one and only truth of this world.

Good or bad, young or old, it doesn't matter. Death is unrelenting and

equal to all.

That is why it is so terrifying.

However, there once was a clan that defied all those beliefs, essentially

declaring war on the heavens.

A clan that seemed to be able to withstand incredible punishment to their

body, mind, and very soul in battle or otherwise, known only to

surrender to death when they knew there truly is no way of avoiding it.

Some even looked forward to it, rushing towards their demise.

Not because they had given up on their time in this plane, but to find out

if they were really alive in the first place.

Any normal person would have been afraid of their death, but the

members of this clan were often seen laughing or smiling greatly when

they were about to die, as if they seemed to accept their death when they

cannot escape it and display no apparent fear towards the unknown.

Death was merely a sign that they had lost their battle against the

heavens.

This was what led the Clan of D. to become known as the cursed clan.

From the time of their birth, they were the natural enemy of God and

would continue to rebel against the borders of life and death for as long

as the lived. As punishment for their actions and the actions of the

previous D's, those that were closest to them slowly died one by one.

A cursed clan with a cursed fate.

The world was merciless like that.

It seemed that the current D's are still being punished for the crimes of

their ancestors, the unfortunate history of Trafalgar D. Water Law and

Portgas D. Naruto is proof of that.

Though, it seemed as if the war that has gone on since the beginning of

time was finally drawing to an end as there were only two final

descendants of the Clan of D left.

Every D is related to one another, if not by blood then at least by their

fates. As of now, it was more common than not for it to be the latter as

all the families that pass down the initial "D" have died out.

Even if the bloodline of D has been extinguished, their flame has yet to

disappear from this world...And in that way, even from far away and long

ago, their will has been continually passed down time and time again.

And one day...Perhaps today or even hundreds of years into the future,

all of it will be engraved into the history of this world.

Someday someone will appear, carrying all those centuries of history on

his back, and challenge this entire world to a fight. Whatever the

outcome of that fight, it will lead either the rise, or the fall of D...Their

final stand. It will be the product of thousands of millennia in the

making.

Whatever the case, once D leaves their mark on this world once again, it

will never be the same.

Not so different from a month ago, Konoha was bustling with activity.

Every single person, whether it was man, woman, child, shinobi, or

civilian, wore a broad smile on their face. Just for today, the workers had

taken a break from the final stages of rebuilding the village and were

enjoying the festivities like everyone else. It wouldn't be an

understatement to say that not a single person currently within Konoha's

walls were in the streets or shops enjoying the mood that seemed to have

swept over the village.

All previous problems had been forgotten, and everyone had chosen to be

happy. A drastic change from feeling of the village this past week and a

half. There was no festival being held, no special ceremony, no important

event. The reason for the shift in mood was that earlier this morning, a

new Hokage had been named.

The villagers weren't celebrating because they disliked Minato or they

wanted him out of office, but because they were celebrating all the years

that he had led the village in prosperity and the reign of a new Hokage

who would hopefully do the same for years to come.

Uchiha Obito was certainly a shinobi worthy of following in Namikaze

Minato's footsteps.

Obito was well-known throughout the village even though he had been

absent from it over the past few years due to his duties as the liaison with

Kiri. His reputation spread far and wide, being known as untouchable

due to his signature fighting style. He was currently hailed as the

strongest S-Rank shinobi within Konoha, as Jiraiya and Tsunade were

getting old and Minato was now crippled due to the loss of his arm. He

was an excellent choice for the position.

He and Kakashi had been the only real candidates for the Hokage

position and with how lazy and perverted Kakashi was, Obito was the

only option that both the Hokage, the advisors, and the council would

accept.

With the disbandment of his team due to each of their promotions to

chūnin and the village's time of crisis, it was decided that Obito should

take the position as soon as possible. Normally the ceremony would have

waited until the village was rebuilt and until all of the shinobi in the field

were back within the village's walls, but time was of the essence. Minato

had lost one of his arms during the invasion and was currently unable to

preform any jutsu besides his two signature ones and perhaps his

fūinjutsu, therefore his strength had dropped dramatically. If Kumo of

Iwa caught wind of his condition, they might have chosen it as their best

chance to exact revenge for his actions during the Third Shinobi World

War. If Konoha wanted to maintain its image of strength, a new, younger

Hokage needed to be chosen as soon as possible.

Obito was currently sitting in behind his desk in the Hokage's Office. No

matter how many times he had previously been in this particular room, it

still felt strange to actually be sitting behind the desk and giving orders.

Sure he had always dreamed of being Hokage when he was younger, but

his illusions of what that the Hokage did were shattered when Rin died

and because of what he had learned during the void period when he went

missing.

That did not mean that he would reject the position though. If Kakashi

were to be chosen, then far more injustices may be committed, such as

how it was decided for the Uchiha to be dealt with years prior. Kakashi

may have been his best friend, but the man believed in their sensei's

naïve ideals far too much. Peace, teamwork, having to endure all the

suffering and pain that the world throws your way for the good of the

village. Obito couldn't let this village be led along by lies and and foolish

ideals any longer.

There were so many things that he could change now that he was in the

position to. First off would be teaching the children about the realities of

the shinobi world and how much they are risking by taking this path in

the academy. Straightening out the fangirls would also be at the top of

his list. While he personally didn't have a fangirl assigned to him on

Team 11, which he was thankful for, he had seen many of them over the

years and was classmates with quite a few of them. Every single one of

them was dead now. After seeing Ino's and Sakura's performance and

attitude during the preliminary stages of the chūnin exams, the sad truth

of their existence was once again brought to the front of his mind. Then,

though Danzo had disappeared years ago, Koharu and Homura were still

causing problems in every one of the council meetings, yet Minato had

done nothing about them. It seemed that it was about time for their

retirement. The civilian council was also vastly unnecessary as most of

the concerns in the village revolved around shinobi.

Ultimately, he would like to remove Konoha's evil ideology to make

personal sacrifice 'for the village'. It was those very ideals had torn apart

countless families and led thousands of shinobi to their untimely demise.

It had also cost them phenomenal shinobi such as Uchiha Itachi and

Uchiha Shisui. Obito wanted nothing more than to reveal the truth about

the Uchiha Massacre to the public and bring all of the shadows into the

light, but doing so would compromise Itachi's position within the

Akatsuki and that information could save the lives of countless shinobi

across the Elemental Nations. That was one thing that must be left in the

dark.

Though, those ideas would have to wait as he was currently assigning an

important mission to the shinobi present in the room. The traffic flow of

missions was continuous and slightly overwhelming at the moment.

Every able-bodied shinobi were being sent on field missions in order to

maintain the balance of power within the Elemental Nations. The recent

performance of the Konoha shinobi in the chūnin exams had only

increased the amount of missions that were being requested of the

village. Normally, this would be good. The village was benefitting greatly

economically because of the excess missions being assigned, but at the

moment they had less than their usual forces to take on these missions.

Almost half of their forces had been killed during the invasion well over a

week ago, and many other shinobi were still in the hospital suffering

from serious injuries or recovering.

At the moment, almost every Konoha jonin and chūnin were out

performing missions in the field. That was the concern for the current

situation. In his hands, Obito held a report he received from a team of his

shinobi that had been sent back via messenger bird before they were

killed. And the message that the report contained was more than

troubling. That was why he summoned the best shinobi he currently had

at his disposal to the office.

In front of him stood Portgas D. Naruto, Uchiha Satsuki, Uzumaki-

Namikaze Natsuki, and Uzumaki-Namikaze Narumi.

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....

As this mission was of high priority, two chūnin as well as two genin

would be given this task. However, there was still one member of the

team who had yet to arrive yet. No matter how many times he tried to

refuse her, the woman adamantly requested to be assigned to a team with

two of the shinobi in the room. He ultimately relented after hearing the

circumstances surrounding her situation, but he still felt that it was a bad

idea.

All three of the kunoichi were dressed exactly how they were for the

chunin exams. Though Naturo's attire seemed to be changing constantly

as he once again donned a different outfit. Most shinobi chose to stick to

a certain style and possessed multiple sets of the exact same wardrobe

since they would become accustomed to the limits of that particular style

of clothing. Naruto was dressed with his chūnin flak jacket worn open

over his upper body with a three quarters sleeved mesh shirt underneath

it. His lower body was equipped with his usual black pants and steel-toed

combat boots, strapped to his back was his chokuto with his right arm

was wrapped in white bandages from fingertips to mid-bicep.

"You called for us, Sensei?" Naruto asked as Obito rolled up the scroll he

held in his hands. The four of them had only just entered the room a few

moments ago. He and Satsuki had met up with Natsuki and Narumi in

the lobby on their way to their summons. It seemed as though the four of

them would be working together on this mission.

Naruto didn't really have a problem with that. If Minato was still in

charge, the man would have made a big deal about them becoming a

family again or using this as an excuse for the three of them to get closer

to each other. Naruto found that he would have a lot less dealings of that

kind of nature now that Obito had been appointed Hokage, it would

surely save him a lot of time and trouble. Though Kushina would still be

an annoyance, but she wasn't here at the moment.

"Yes I have a mission for the four of you." Obito told the shinobi in front

of him before throwing the scroll at Naruto, which he effortlessly caught.

"It is a A-Ranked mission that needs to be dealt with immediately.

Though seeing as how it may require more manpower than we currently

have, one other person has volunteered for this temporary squad."

Before Naruto could ask his sensei what he meant or even open the

mission scroll, the doors to the office opened up and walked in a woman

that two of the shinobi in the room were well acquainted with. Tied

around her forehead was a Konha hitai-ate, which was partially hidden

by her long, silky black hair. Her pale skin and dark eyes made for the

perfect combination with the usual jonin uniform, at which Natsuki and

Narumi were staring in awe. She was yet another woman who was many

times more beautiful than them. However, on her jonin flak jacket was

the emblem of the Uchiha clan, signifying that this had to be their clan

head.

Both Naruto's and Satsuki's eyes widened at the sight of Uchiha Mikoto

decked out in all her shinobi wear. It was a look that they had never seen

on her before, it was common knowledge to the two of them that Mikoto

hadn't been on a mission since before she was pregnant with Itachi. After

Itachi was born, she became the housewife and mother that she was

today, if she hadn't then nobody would have raised the children since

their father had obviously never been interested in the task. Though her

strength hadn't diminished much over the years and she had been

training so that she could protect her children if the time ever came for

it, the two chūnin couldn't believe that she had been the one to ask for

this mission.

"Mi-Mikoto-chan!?/Ka-Kaa-chan!?" Were the simultaneous outbursts of

Naruto and Natsuki as Mikoto nonchalantly walked into the room,

closing the doors behind her.

"Hello everyone, sorry I'm a bit late, but I only received the summons just

now." Mikoto gave a small wave to the occupants of the room as she

spoke in a sweet tone.

Naruto knew that she shouldn't have even been considering returning to

shinobi duty, even if the village was in a state of emergency, with the

condition that her body was in. He opened his mouth to voice his

disapproval, but before he could utter a single word, the promise he

made to her last night resounded throughout his head.

'What exactly is going on Mi-!" Naruto stopped mid-sentence when he

saw the pleading look in her eyes. It was a look that he had never seen

before, the tears threatening to spill from the corners of her eyes only

added to the pleading feel that it expressed. He sighed as he made a

decision that went against his better judgement. Actually that was an

understatement, every fiber of his being was telling him not to say what

he was about to, "...Just this once...but don't do anything stupid, okay?'

Naruto closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

'You were always too smart for your own good, Naru-kun...This isn't like

the last time I tried to keep something from you though...This time,

there's no simple solution, no easy way to make everything go back to

how it's always been...So just this once, could you leave everything up to

me?'

If this was her decision, her way of dealing with things, then he wouldn't

say a single word against it...Could this be considered as doing something

stupid?...No, this wasn't anything of the sort...She wasn't walking towards

her death, she was going to find out if she was really alive. Naruto gave a

proud, yet sad, smile to the woman. She deserved the title of 'D' more

than he did.

It's official, he had lost his mind. Strangely enough, he felt more proud

than sad at the ominous feeling that she may very well be unknowingly

replicating the actions of the descendants of that cursed clan...Then

again, all D's were a little crazy to begin with.

"Do not worry Mikoto-sama, everyone else only arrived moments ago as

well. Now please stand in line as I debrief you on the mission you are

being assigned." Even as Hokage, Obito still kept his lighthearted

approach most of the time. He had seen many of the horrors of this world

and wished he hadn't know some of the things he did, but that didn't

mean he had to be dark and serious all of the time. He acted the part

when it was required of him, or the situation demanded it.

"Oohh look at you Obito-kun, acting all professional and dutiful. I

remember when you had just joined the academy and already had

dreams of becoming Hokage." Mikoto cooed as she held her hands to her

cheeks.

A pronounced tick mark throbbed on Obito's forehead as he shut his eyes

in frustration. "Mikoto-sama...We have no time to relive the past as this

mission is of the essence...and it's Hokage-sama now."

"Hai, Hai, Hokage-sama!" Mikoto gave the Hokage a mock solute, causing

him to sigh wearily. It was his first day on the job and already it was

taking its toll on him. Seriously, how did the previous Hokage hold this

position for so long when it was such a pain. Now that he thought about

it, why would any sane person ever dream of becoming Hokage. It was

far more trouble than it was worth.

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....

During their interaction, Naruto took the time to unravel the scroll that

was in his hands. Naruto's eyes widened drastically as he burned every

word of the mission parameters into his mind with his mismatched eyes.

Were a team of two newly promoted chūnin, two genin, and a jounin that

had been inactive for over two decades, really being assigned such a high

profile mission?

Obito, after seeing Naruto's reaction to the mission, decided that playtime

was over and it was abut time to get down to business. "I see you've

already taken a look at the mission assignment, Naruto, and the situation

is just as dire as it sounds. We've recently discovered one of Orochimaru's

hidden bases near the border between Hi no Kuni and Oto no Kuni. You

are being tasked with investigating this particular base."

Obito waited until Naruto finished reading through the scroll, after which

he rolled it back up and gave the new Hokage a nod to signify that he

understood the mission parameters. Though, this debriefing was to

inform every member of the team of the mission overview. The scroll that

Naruto had just placed into his flak jacket pocket contained the more

detailed version of the mission, including locations and the report that

the previous team were able to send back before they were presumably

killed.

"We have gotten disturbance reports from a small town just north of this

hideout, called Banaro Town. Large amounts of Suna-nin and Oto-nin had

been seen near that area over the past month. This is presumably where

all of the shinobi of the invading forces had been taking refuge before

making their journey to Konoha. This is most likely also how they were

able to bypass the guards on the border without raising suspicion. If this

base isn't dealt with, then Otogakure shinobi will be able to come and go

from Hi no Kuni whenever they please. I don't think I need to inform you

of how dangerous that is. Not to mention that they may have left behind

sensitive information in that base, as was the case with Orochimaru's

other abandoned hideouts." Obito clasped his hands together while

resting his elbows on the desk and leaning his chin against his hands.

"There is likely to only be more than a handful of shinobi remaining in

that base. Their primary duty is probably to maintain it and conduct

experiments for Orochimaru. It's likely that they caught the chūnin who

had come across this base accidentally by surprise, so you shouldn't have

too much difficulty dealing with whoever is still there. Your mission is to

eliminate those remaining shinobi, recover any documents or information

that you may find, and completely destroy the entire base of operations

along with any evidence left behind." Obito spoke to the shinobi in front

of him with the utmost seriousness. "I'd also like you to investigate

Banaro Town, in case there are any foreign shinobi that have taken

refuge in the town after the invasion of Konoha."

Naruto had been thinking deeply about the parameters of this mission.

There were too many unknowns or additional factors for a group shinobi

of their ranking and circumstances. Normally chūnin were only assigned

C-Rank or B-Rank missions, with the occasional A-Rank if they were

accompanied by a jounin.

"Wouldn't a mission as vital as this one usually be given to a team of

jounin? And given that two of the shinobi here have already been marked

by Orochimaru, is it really alright to send this team?" As Naruto said

those words, Natsuki and Narumi subconsciously brought their hand to

the cursed seal on their necks.

Naruto was indeed correct, Obito really didn't want to send a team to

their deaths, especially his own genin team, but this was the best he had

at the moment. Most of the usual jounin and jounin-senseis were

currently out on other A-Rank missions and in some cases, S-Rank

missions. This included Kakashi, Kushina, Asuma, Kurenai, Jiraiya and

even Minato had taken on a few missions. He may have lost an arm, but

that didn't mean that he would quietly sit on the sidelines while everyone

else did their part. The other genin of the rookie 13 along with Gai's team

were also out on missions. Hana had even been temporarily put in charge

of Team 8 because that was the team her brother was on. And with his

parents still unsure of how to deal with him, Nawaki was still locked up

in the psychiatric ward of the hospital. Therefore, the remnants of Team

7 had been temporarily combined with the newly promoted chūnin of

Team 11. This only proved how the village was incredibly short-staffed at

the moment.

"Normally, this would be a mission that a team of jounin would handle,

but this is the best I can do at the moment. You are currently the most

capable shinobi I have at my disposal and with this being a time sensitive

mission, I wouldn't be able to recall any of the village's jounin in

time...You're the only ones capable of such a mission at the moment."

Obito spoke sadly, this mission may be a bit much for a group of genin,

chūnin, and a single jounin, but he was confident in their abilities and

had no doubt that they would pull through in the end.

Truly anything they found that was related to Orochimaru was bound to

be troublesome. However, any information at all about him was

absolutely crucial, especially regarding the current questions surrounding

him. Questions like 'Why had he marked three of the Uzumaki-Namikaze

siblings?', 'How did he plan to get a hold of them now that he was no

longer in Hi no Kuni?', 'Why had his face been able to peel off during his

confrontation in the forest of death with the Hokage's children and with

Anko?' and 'Had he been able to successfully create the immortality jutsu

he had been so obsessed with?' As of now there were far more questions

than they had answers to, and every single one of them caused great

concern.

"Naruto, you're lead on this mission." Obito said after a moment of

silence, earning the surprise of several people in the room. They had

expected Mikoto to be in charge seeing as she was the only jounin among

them. "Normally the highest ranking or most experienced shinobi would

be in charge, but seeing as Mikoto-sama hasn't been on active duty in

quite some time, that leaves you, Naruto. You've led more than your

share of missions under my charge these past few months. You're a

natural born leader and I have faith you'll pull this off."

This earned a nod of the head from the only male in the room other than

the Hokage.

Naruto then turned to the side to face the rest of his current team. "Do

whatever you need to in order to prepare for this mission. Make sure to

pack enough for a few days as it will take some time to get to our

location, complete our mission, and return back to the village. Report to

the main gates in one hour, and do not be late. We leave as soon as

everyone has arrived."

Naruto received four nods of the head and a 'Hai!' before they

Shunshined out of the room in order to prepare for their current mission.

Naruto however stayed behind in hopes of obtaining some additional

information about the current situation.

Naruto turned back to Obito with a troubled look on his face, something

the man noticed. "Natsuki, Narumi...Have they even made their first kill

yet?" Naruto asked seriously. If they hadn't this mission wasn't exactly

suited for them and Naruto wasn't exactly looking forward to the

prospect of having to deal with them after they did so. He hadn't had one

of those mental breakdowns after he made his first kill, but Satsuki and

Hana had been a bit more sensitive to it. If Natsuki and Narumi froze up

during the mission the price would be heavy.

Obito rested his head in his hand once again and was massaging his

temples, trying to get rid of the headache that Kakashi and Kushina had

left him with. "No...Kushina and Kakashi refused to take them on any sort

of elimination mission or any mission where they may have had to take a

life, even in self-defense. They've really only done a handful of C-Rank

delivery and escort missions, aside from the one to Nami where they

recovered the Raijin no Ken...I suppose Kushina was trying to mother

them and have them retain their innocence for as long as possible...I

really have no idea what Kakashi was thinking though, he should have

known better, especially with what happened to our own genin team."

Now it was Naruto's turn rub his face in frustration. This was the worst

case scenario for the current situation. He may have been better with

fresh genin than ones who had been pampered. They've probably already

adapted to the notion that they would never have to take a life or even

have their own lives in danger on a mission. What could Kushina have

possibly been thinking as a sensei!? Minato and Kakashi as well.

"What do you recommend I do prepare them for this mission. If they act

purely on instinct when we get in there, they could wind up getting us all

killed." Naruto asked with absolute seriousness.

"I don't really think they should be too hard to deal with. They are

Minato-sensei's children and whether they want to believe it or not, they

probably already have an inkling as too what the shinobi world can be

like once they step away from how much their parents have been

sheltering them...The journey to the the border should take quite some

time, on the way their stop for the night and have a heart to heart talk

with the two of them as to what they're getting themselves into. Whether

you like it or not, if it's coming from you they should be able to come to

terms with it a lot easier." Obito spoke, remembering just how Minato

had them prepare for their first kills. The man may have had an overly

optimistic outlook on life and peace, but knew just how cruel the world

could be, especially during war.

Naruto gave the man a small nod of the head, relaying that he

understood what he had to do, before walking over to the window and

looking out at the bustling streets of the village.

"Is there something else?" Obito asked as he glanced over at the boy.

"...This mission has something to do with those cursed seals doesn't it?"

Naruto asked. For an outsider this question may have seemed like it came

out of the blue, but the sigh that Obito let out confirmed that the boy's

assumptions were indeed correct.

The mission that Obito had sent that group of chūnin on was to

investigate the appearance of strange humanoid creatures with monster-

like appearances. Obito had originally thought that the townspeople of

Banaro Town were either mistaken of what the creatures really were or

were under the influence of a powerful genjutsu, so he had only sent a

team of four chūnin to investigate. Only after he received the report they

managed to send back before their mysterious disappearance and

presumable death did all the pieces begin to fit into place.

"...Have you ever heard of the clan of monsters...?" Obito asked

rhetorically. Philosophical or round-about conversations were not

uncommon between these two. The nature of their relationship was not

so different from the one that Sarutobi Asuma had with Nara Shikamaru,

though instead of playing shōgi they merely had intelligent conversation

over drinks or while seeking advice.

"...No, I'm aware of most of the clans within the Elemental Nations, but

I've never heard of a clan by that title..." Naruto replied as he took a seat

on the window sill, now facing his sensei.

"I wouldn't expect you to...They were a clan that was known throughout

the world for their madness and how bloodthirsty they were. They came

to light during the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars, but their

existence disappeared as soon as it became known. After each of the

wars, they suddenly disappeared, never to be heard from again...They

were made for war, nothing more, and it appeared that they were well

aware of that fact...The actual name of the clan is unknown, but they

earned the title of the clan of monsters due to the physical alterations

that their bodies can undergo. Their change in appearance is due to their

innate ability to unconsciously absorb natural energy from their

surroundings, however, the adverse effects of this energy and so much

power flowing constantly throughout their bodies results in sudden and

uncontrollable surges of madness, causing them to sporadically go

berserk...We believe this clan is where Orochimaru derived his cursed

seals from..." Obito lectured Naruto as the boy engraved each and every

word into his mind.

'Senjutsu is one of my only glaring weaknesses...just great...' Were

Naruto's thoughts as he heard about this particular clan's abilities.

"When activated, the cursed seal releases Orochimaru's own senjutsu

chakra into the user's body, granting enhancements comparable to those

of Sage Mode. The seal eats away at the user's own chakra to sustain its

activated state, with possibly fatal consequences. As long as the user has

sufficient chakra to sustain the state, he or she would then obtain

additional chakra to perform skills they would have otherwise been

incapable of due to exhaustion. However, this additional chakra is

separate and distinct from the user's own chakra, altering their chakra

signature. Prolonged usage of the cursed seal can corrode both the body

and mind of the user due to Orochimaru's chakra being present, making

them more susceptible to his influence." Obito continued his lecture, as

this knowledge may be beneficial to the mission that the team is

currently undertaking.

"Though, not all individuals are compatible with these cursed seals, with

incompatibility resulting in death. Orochimaru has averaged a ten

percent success rate when applying these seals based on his first

experiment with ten test subjects, out of which Mitarashi Anko was the

sole survivor. Even if the individual survives the initial application, their

body will not easily be able to control the seal's power, resulting in

intense pain. When the user is unable to control or otherwise suppress

their cursed seal, it can forcibly activate and begin draining their chakra

whenever they attempt to manipulate it. Eventually, the power of the

cursed seal can synchronize with the user's regular body through

extended use, exponentially enhancing the abilities of their normal state."

"...You seem to be quite knowledgable about those seals, sensei." Naruto

really didn't know what to say from all that information. He had no idea

those cursed seals were so complex and serious.

Though, he could now understand why he didn't say all of this with the

rest of the team in the room. Natsuki and Narumi would no doubt panic

if they found out they were hosts for a portion of Orochimaru's soul.

"Minato, Kushina, Jiraiya, and I have studied the cursed seal that was

placed on Anko extensively, and more recently, the ones that were placed

on Natsuki, Narumi, and Nawaki...We know the mechanics and

innermost workings of the seal, but just can't find a way to remove

them...If the clan of monsters is present at Orochimaru's hideout near

Banaro Town, then there should be extensive research related to the

cursed seals there as well...If you can get a hold of that research, then we

may be able to find a way to remove Orochimaru's influence, as well as

find a way to trace them back to his location." Obito leaned back in his

chair, thinking of how much of a headache Orochimaru was causing all

of them. The Sandaime should have killed the man all those years ago,

but instead he let Orochimaru escape because he couldn't bring himself to

kill his own student.

"...How many of these clan members do you expect there to be...?" Naruto

asked, going through scenarios in his head where every person on his

team came back alive. If these shinobi were as dangerous as Obito made

them out to be, then this could turn out to be quite a setback.

Obito sighed once more, it was hard to decipher whether this was good

new or bad news, but it couldn't hurt to tell the boy. "Banaro town is only

ten miles south of the border that divides Oto no Kuni, Yu no Kuni, and

Hi no Kuni, though it is closer to the Oto border...There have been

sightings numbering well over a dozen of their distinctive appearances."

This elicited a groan from Naruto. "However, the clan of monsters

appeared to be moving towards the border of Yu no Kuni and are

presumed to be out of our territory as of now...but from the report that I

already handed you, there is still at least one of these clansmen within

Orochimaru's hideout."

Well, one was better than a dozen, but it begs the question, why did he

remain behind when his clansmen have already moved on? This mission

was getting more complicated by the minute.

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....

"Are you requesting that you bring one of these clansmen back?" Naruto

asked with a raised eyebrow.

"...No, they're well-known for being mentally unstable, so bringing one of

them to Konoha would be more detrimental rather than beneficial...Your

mission remains the same, eliminate any of the remaining shinobi,

recover any of the research you may find, completely destroy the entire

base of operations as well as any evidence left behind, and investigate the

town. However, if you run into one of these clansmen bring back a DNA

sample once he is eliminated...And by eliminated, I mean eliminated. I

want no survivors left behind." Obito spoke seriously, earning a nod from

his former student.

Getting the information that he needed, Naruto quickly Shunshined out

of the room to prepare for his long journey to the border.

Uchiha Household

Naruto immediately reappeared within his room of the main Uchiha

household. Even after all these years, he still used the Shunshin that

Shisui had taught him. His former sensei had perfected the jutsu beyond

shinobi comprehension, as of now, Minato was the only one in the village

who was able to boast that they were faster. No swirl of leaves, no poof

of smoke, no bursting into a flock of crows, just simply appearing out of

thin air.

His sudden appearance in the room earned an 'eep' from the woman who

was sitting on the bed, and causing her to drop the tanto that she was

running her fingers over.

"Taichou! Don't scare me like that!" Mikoto whined cutely, re-sheathing

her tanto into the scabbard strapped to the small of her back.

Normally one would question why there was a person in their room when

said person should be preparing for a mission, but due to her playful

personality Naruto simply dismissed her presence and moved to gather

his necessary equipment.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready for our mission Mikoto-chan?" Naruto

asked as he moved towards the dresser that held all his shinobi

equipment.

While shuriken and kunai were common tool for a shinobi to carry,

Naruto mainly used his sword for melee combat. It would be too much

trouble to carry around excess weaponry when he knew that he wouldn't

be using it very much, so the dresser only contained a few sets of kunai

and shuriken each. He grabbed one of the pre-prepared sealing scrolls

that had already been stocked with shuriken and kunai, placing it in the

weapons pouch on the back of his right hip.

"I've already finished!" Mikoto exclaimed as she excitedly patted the

scroll pockets on her flak jacket. She had most likely sealed several sets

of clothes and any other necessary items into sealing scrolls for

convenience so that she wouldn't have to carry around a large pack.

Many newly graduated genin usually carried around backpacks on

missions due to their inexperience, whereas chūnin-ranked shinobi and

above resorted to sealing scrolls as they were more effective.

This had not been the case for Naruto though, as he had made sure not to

neglect his training in the art of fūinjutsu while he was still training on

his own in the cave before he had graduated from the academy. Then

later on, Obito had taught him more in depth about sealing and how

useful it really was. Konoha had four fūinjutsu masters, Minato, Kushina,

Jiraiya, and Obito. Though it was unknown how exactly Obito was so

adept in the art, he seemed to have picked up knowledge of it during the

period of his life when he went missing during the Third Shinobi World

War that even surpassed Kushina's knowledge, a woman who had grown

up in Uzushiogakure.

"...I remember everything that was said last night, but I can't just leave it

alone...Why'd you request to be put on this team?" Naruto didn't turn

around the entire time as he placed several blank sealing scrolls into an

extra pouch which he attached to the back of his left hip, so he couldn't

have seen the content look that graced Mikoto's face.

Though he may have not turned around because he didn't want to see

that very look.

"Hm, it's important to spend what time you have with your family

whenever you can...not to mention that before the invasion, things had

been pretty boring around here. I mean, now that the other Uchiha

children are living within the compound again, I go and check up on

each of them and help them out when I can, but other than that there

isn't much to do when you and Satsuki-chan are gone...I supposed that I

wanted a little more excitement while I was still able to, you know?"

Mikoto gave Naruto a charming smile as he turned around.

Not just what she said, but the phrases she used were a little strange and

out of character from her usual manner of speech. To most it would have

sounded like she was talking about getting older and the previous

generation taking their places in the world, but there was something

deeper behind those words that was hard to grasp.

Naruto shook his head, dismissing the idea for now, as he grabbed

another pre-prepared scroll, this one containing explosive notes, and

secured it within one of the chest pockets on his flak jacket. If they were

to completely destroy an entire laboratory, they would need the

firepower to do so. Naruto could easily do so with his own abilities, but

something like this was far more conventional and would draw less

attention from anyone else in the area, they couldn't be warning any

shinobi taking refuge in the town that they were there. Within the scroll

were forty explosive notes, that much explosive power could easily get

the job done.

"Well, I'm all set we better get going before we're late...talking with

Obito-sensei took more time than I had anticipated." Naruto offered his

hand to Mikoto, who was still sitting on the edge of the bed, which she

happily accepted.

She had only been expecting to be helped up, but instead was pulled into

a passionate kiss as they stood there in the middle of the room. It took a

moment for her to react, but she leaned into the kiss with just as much

passion. She moved to deepen the kiss, but it seemed that fate was

playing with them once again as they were cut short by a knocking on

the door.

"Naruto-nii, Kaa-chan! We should probably get going soon to meet up

with Natsuki-san and Narumi-san!" Were the Satsuki's shouts from behind

the door. It appeared that she was ready to leave as well and had only

been waiting on the two of them. "I'll be waiting out front, so hurry up

and finish whatever it is you're doing in there!"

It would be rather awkward if she found out that her mother had just

been locking lips with her brother figure, but lucky for them, she had

most likely assumed that Naruto would be wondering why Mikoto was

suddenly taking missions again, just like she had. Whatever the case, she

was right. If they had gotten caught up in the moment like usual, then

they would have undoubtedly missed the one hour deadline that Naruto

had set.

"We'll be right out Satsuki!"

After giving a small peck on the lips to Mikoto, Naruto grabbed her hand

and led her out the door to meet up with Satsuki. He somehow had the

feeling this would be a long mission.

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Konoha Main Gates

After trekking through the streets of the Uchiha compound where they

greeted the younger Uchiha children who were playing in the otherwise

empty streets, Naruto, Mikoto, and Satsuki finally arrived at the village's

main gates, where Natsuki and Narumi were patiently waiting for them.

Natsuki had moved her sword from her back to her hip, in place of the

sword was a medium sized backpack, which could also be found on

Narumi's back. It appeared that neither of their parents had taught them

even the basics of sealing, which was odd considering they were fūinjutsu

masters. They probably didn't want their children to be capable of

messing with the seal that kept Kurama at bay.

Now that Naruto thought about it, most of the other rookie thirteen were

rather uninformed about the shinobi world, such as how they should

prepare for missions. Though the academy certainly didn't help with that

aspect. To them, being a shinobi was nothing more than a game or a

competition. Kiba, Ino, and Sakura were the ones who fit this description

the most accurately. This kind of mission would be sure to introduce

Natsuki and Narumi to the harsh reality of the world.

"Oi! You're finally here! Hurry up, let's get going!" Narumi yelled

excitedly from her spot next to the check-in for anyone leaving or

entering the village. Completely opposite of her sister's exuberant

reaction, Natsuki merely smiled and waved at the rest of the team.

A moment later, all of the members of the team were standing face to

face with each other. Naruto figured he would have to relay the

information he received from Obito sooner or later, but now wasn't the

best time. It would be better to inform them of the complications of the

mission once they were closer to their destination.

"Sorry, I had some additional details regarding the mission to go over

with Obito-sensei. Did the two of you have to wait long?" Naruto asked

as he opened up one of the pocket on his flak jacket and pulled the

mission scroll out.

"No, we just arrived, it took longer than we expected to get ready. We

used up most of our supply of kunai and shuriken during the chūnin

exams and the invasion, so we had to pick some up on our way home."

Narumi spoke sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head. She was a

bit embarrassed that she hadn't been prepared earlier when they had first

been called in to take a mission. She should have restocked on weapons

earlier in the week, especially when she knew that she would eventually

be assigned more missions because of the excess mission flow.

"Where is all your equipment?" Natsuki asked curiously after eyeing the

three embers of the team who had just arrived.

Satsuki reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out a single sealing

scroll, holding it up for the two Uzumaki-Namikaze children to see. "We

sealed all of our equipment away. Didn't your senseis or parents teach

you anything about fūinjutsu?" She received a shake of the head in the

negative from both girls before she continued talking. "I'm no expert in it,

but basic fūinjutsu was one of the first things that Obito-sensei taught us

after becoming a genin team. Most shinobi of the village use sealing

scrolls when going on missions instead of carrying around larger packs."

The two girls' eyes widened when they found out that there senseis and

parents had skipped such an important part of their shinobi training.

Sure, they were still genin and still on a genin team together, but if

sealing was as important as it sounded then why hadn't they been taught

it right after they became a team or even while they were still in the

academy?

Now that they thought about it, both their mother and father were

fūinjutsu masters, two of the only in the village, so why had they never

spoken of teaching them in that area before. They had been offered

training in ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, and even bukijutsu, but never

fūinjutsu. Why was that?

Only one thought came to mind.

'...The seal...!' Were the simultaneous thoughts of the only blonde and

redhead in the group.

Naruto saw that there eyes had widened with realization, so he chose this

time to interject so they wouldn't make a big deal of it later. "I see you've

finally realized...They didn't teach you about the art they specialize in

because they didn't want to give you the opportunity to alter the formula

of the seal that holds the Kyuubi back. Whether that was the right or

wrong decision, that's up to your own interpretation."

Leaving behind the two, now silent, girls, Naruto handed the mission

scroll to Izumo and Kotetsu, who were once again on gate guard duty,

that seemed to be their preferred position within the village. They

quickly wrote down the names of those leaving in their log and stamped

the end of the mission assignment next to the Hokage's stamp and

signature. After which, Izumo handed the scroll back to Naruto.

With that part of the formal procedure completed, everything was set for

them to begin their mission.

Placing the mission scroll back into his flak jacket pocket, Naruto stepped

back to face his team. "We're set, is everybody ready?"

He received a simultaneous response of "Hai, Taichou!" from the four

females who he would be working with over the course of the next few

days.

"The journey to the border between Hi no Kuni and Oto no Kuni should

take just under two days. We'll stop later tonight once night falls, then

travel the rest of the way all day tomorrow. I still need to brief you on all

the details of this mission before we arrive in Banaro Town, so I'll do so

tonight." Naruto spoke as the team payed close attention to his words.

After hearing that there were even more details for the current missions,

most of the lower ranked kunoichi were confused. Usually it was their

sensei who would deal with the finer details of the mission and they

would merely follow along and listen to their sensei's orders, not that

they knew that. They were mostly familiar with C-Ranked missions such

as escort or delivery missions, those types of missions didn't exactly have

too many discrete orders other than the main objective, however, most of

the higher ranked missions did.

This was the first A-Ranked mission that Naruto and Satsuki had done

since their time in Yuki no Kuni. For Natsuki and Narumi, they had never

been on a mission that was ranked higher than B before. The B-Ranked

mission was the one where they came across Rokusho Aoi and retrieved

the Raijin no Ken, where the two of them nearly died, along with

Nawaki. That was still a terrible memory for the two of them.

"We should get going now." Naruto spoke before walking out the gates

and jumping into the tree-line, cutting off most of the kunoichi from their

thoughts.

They quickly rushed after him, not wanting to get left behind.

Had they paid more attention to their surroundings, such as the shadows

cast by the large walls surrounding the village that had been rebuilt, they

may have been able to see the distinct pair of golden-yellow eyes,

belonging to a plant-like apparition, before it sunk back into the ground.

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....

Forest Within Hi no Kuni - Approximately Halfway Between Konoha and

the Border

The entire forest was silent except for the crackling of burning wood and

the occasional rustling of a small animal moving through the vast

amounts of vegetation surrounding the area. The brilliant orange glow of

the small fire partially illuminated the campsite and revealed five

familiar faces, with each sitting on a vertical log, not too different from

the logs that genin would be tied to during their survival exams.

The moon was full tonight and was shining down on them peacefully. It

was strange, Naruto had always felt incredibly powerful during the night

of a full moon. Perhaps it was because of the Ōtsutsuki chakra lying

dormant within him, though seeing as how Kaguya acted as the core for

them moon, it shouldn't feel like he was being protected by its very

existence.

Even though the full moon illuminated the night, it had been decided

that they should stop for the night. Natsuki and Narumi seemed like they

wouldn't be able to go for much longer anyways. Their low endurance

and lack of proficiency with how shinobi usually travelled only further

proved that their senseis and the previous Hokage had been pampering

them far too much. Even so, the group had covered more ground than

had been anticipated, which meant that they wouldn't have to travel for

as long tomorrow and could start their mission late-afternoon at the

latest.

Usually shinobi wouldn't risk having a fire where enemy shinobi could

easily track their location, but Naruto was a sensor-type shinobi and

combined with his Kenbunshoku Haki, it was nearly impossible to sneak

up on him. Seeing how tonight was incredible cold, with the other

shinobi on his team shivering and looking like they were freezing, it

wouldn't hurt to have a fire this once. If he sensed anything other than an

animal, he would extinguish it at once.

Naruto had been gazing longingly at the moon. He didn't know why, but

it just felt like something was calling out to him from there...it was an

odd sensation. Though he would need to save such thoughts for another

time. After giving the moon one last whimsical glance, Naruto turned his

attention back towards the four kunoichi sitting before him on the other

side of the fire.

Their attention had been captivated by the roaring fire, but that was to

be expected with how cold it was for them. It was an oddity for Hi no

Kuni to experience such severe cold at this time of year, or really any

time of year. He watched as their breath was able to materialize as they

breathed in and out with their hands open and facing towards the fire.

"Now that we have some time to rest, why don't we go over the mission

and its details?" Naruto asked rhetorically, successfully gaining their

undivided attention.

"Didn't we go over those in the Hokage's office?" Narumi asked, honestly

confused as to what more they could discuss in regards to their current

assignment.

To them, they had been given simple orders. Eliminate the threat the

shinobi posed, recover any documentation that may be there, destroy

Orochimaru's hideout, and investigate the town for any foreign shinobi

that may be residing there. It was fairly straightforward if one thought

about it.

"Do you really believe that would be the only information he would give

us for an A-Ranked mission? Those were orders, nothing more." Naruto

responded as he faced the blonde-haired girl.

Mikoto and Satsuki remained silent and were waiting for Naruto to relay

to them information that would be crucial to the completion of the

mission, but it appeared that the Uzumaki-Namikaze siblings were more

talkative and impatient. Two qualities that were not the best fit for a

shinobi, which was strange considering that they were both daughters of

the Yondaime Hokage.

"The mission objectives we usually receive are pretty simple and

straightforward. Wouldn't this mission be the same?" This time it was

Natsuki who spoke up. Naruto had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at

such a simplistic outlook on missions.

"...I don't exactly know what Kakashi-san and Kushina-sama have been

doing as your senseis, but they obviously have not taught you the

importance of information in our line of duty. Knowing the correct

information could mean the difference between life and death, though

when dealing with cases involving Orochimaru, you should always

assume that he's one step ahead of you." Was Naruto's somewhat harsh

reply to the girls. He didn't want to come off as arrogant or anything like

that, but these two girls were starting to get on his nerves. He saw that

Narumi was about to speak up once more, but he rose his hand to cut her

off. "...Please remain silent and listen to the information that I have

before speaking up again."

Naruto gave the two children of the former Hokage a glare that silenced

them. He waited a moment to ensure that no other outbursts would

follow before continuing what he had intended to say.

"...While all our previous objectives remain and are just as important, the

main purpose of our assignment is to recover any information that we

can find about Orochimaru's cursed seals..." Naruto closed his eyes as he

remembered his conversation earlier that day with Obito, though he

would make sure to omit the portion where part of Orochimaru's soul is

housed within those marked with the cursed seal. "This hideout that we

are tasked with investigating and destroying...holds the origins of the

cursed seal."

Naruto opened his eyes to see the reactions of the shinobi before him.

They were as expected, eyes widened to epic proportions, jaws on the

ground, and utterly speechless. The origins of Orochimaru's infamous

cursed seals had always been shrouded in mystery, but everyone in the

village knew that once you were marked by the Sannin, you were as good

as his.

"The seal originated from a clan who possessed the innate ability to

passively absorb natural energy from their surroundings. However, this

constant surge of power within their bodies can be linked to their

insanity and causes them to go berserk constantly." Naruto explained the

short version of what they needed to hear for this mission, once again

leaving out the part that they were known as the clan of monsters. The

two girls would begin to constantly doubt themselves and question their

humanity if they knew that fact. "The reason why Konoha shinobi were

even in the area of our destination was because their had been sightings

of strange humanoid figures wandering throughout the forests. The

cursed seal has a second stage where the user can take on a strange

appearance that greatly increases their power by giving them access to

Orochimaru's senjutsu chakra and ultimately his influence."

"These clansmen are also able to take on that form, albeit naturally, so it

is far more powerful...Every single one of Orochimaru's higher-ranked

subordinates is marked with one of these seals, giving them access to an

almost unlimited source of power. When it their second stage, their

power can be compared to that of a jinchūriki. However, this increase in

power comes at a cost. Every time the seal is released, it corrodes the

mind and body of the user, making them far more susceptible to his

influence and ultimately turning them into his mindless puppets...There

have been dozens of these clansmen to have been reported in the area,

but they have been presumed to have left the country and are now

residing in Yu no Kuni. Though the report that was sent back stated that

there is still one of them who remained at the laboratory...If we can

obtain the research on these cursed seals as well as obtain a DNA sample

from its original source, we may be able to remove these cursed seals

entirely as well as track the chakra they produce back to Orochimaru's

location."

Naruto remained silent for a moment to let everyone come to terms with

what he just said. It should be noted that Natsuki and Narumi were now

clutching their necks and trembling slightly. They were most likely

worried that they would eventually be consumed by the cursed seal just

like Naruto had said. He would leave the questions and answers until

after he finished everything he needed to say.

"...That's not all..." Naruto spoke up once again, bringing his team's

attention back to him. "From what Konoha has found from Orochimaru's

previous hideouts, they operate as laboratories for human experiments,

prisons for human test subjects, research facilities, and so on. There are

likely to be prisoners being held captive their as well as people actually

being experimented on. From the information we know, there are at least

a handful of shinobi still in the hideout, but prisoners and such could

number far more and they are likely to be enemies as well, considering

their minds and bodies are likely to have been corroded even more so

than those who had overused the cursed seal."

"In reality we have so much information on Orochimaru, yet none at all.

We can't be sure which is accurate for this base and which is merely

assumptions...What I'm trying to say is that we're essentially going in

blind." Naruto wrapped up his long winded briefing with far more of a

headache than he started with. He hadn't realized just how much of a

disadvantage they were at until now.

He had edited major aspects of the cursed seal and its inner-workings,

mainly because they weren't essential at the moment and would have

caused Narumi and Natsuki to only worry about it further. Though, he

hadn't considered what would happen if either of them were to get near

the source of their cursed seal. It could immediately force them into their

stage two transformation or possibly resonate with them, causing large-

scale corrosion of their minds, inducing them into a berserk state just as

the clan of monsters was prone to.

He would need to keep them as far away from the source as possible.

Then there was Mikoto and Satsuki. Satsuki was no doubt skilled, but she

was still only at chūnin level and Mikoto was currently a question mark.

She was a jounin-level shinobi, but with the condition of her body he was

unsure of her limits. That ruled them out as well.

Naruto sighed to himself. It seemed that he would need to be the one to

retrieve the DNA sample.

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....

"Though the situation inside the hideout is relatively unknown, our

mission remains the same. Eliminate every shinobi we come across,

recover any and all of the research we may find, retrieve the DNA

sample, completely destroy the base of operations as well as any evidence

left behind, and investigate the town after the base is taken care of."

Naruto relayed the direct orders that had been given to him earlier that

day. He suddenly stopped and gave Natsuki and Narumi a serious look.

"...And by eliminate, that means no survivors left behind. Do you

understand?"

Naruto saw that Satsuki and Mikoto gave him a quick nod in response,

but continued to glance at the two other kunoichi to see if they had come

to terms with what they had to do...He didn't like what he found. He

found himself frowning because the two of them looked absolutely

appalled by what they had just been told.

"I-I thought we were only supposed to eliminate the threat they posed,

not kill them in cold blood!" Narumi yelled, breaking the silence that had

filled the forest. Had there been any enemy shinobi in the area, they

would have surely been drawn in by that outburst.

"I agree with Narumi! They can't be exterminated just because someone

has a problem with them...I-I can't do this! How would we be able to call

ourselves shinobi of Konoha when this mission goes against everything

that Konoha stands for?!" Natsuki argued. She didn't scream it like her

sister did, but her argument wasn't lacking in passion.

Naruto could only sigh at the childish beliefs they were clinging to. If

they weren't ready to take a life, then they shouldn't have become shinobi

at all. Although being Minato and Kushina's children, they probably

glamorized the occupation for them and promised them that being a

shinobi was about protecting their village and their precious people,

nothing more. What a fine mess they had left him with.

Naruto shifted his line of vision from the two Uzumaki-Namikaze

children to Mikoto and Satsuki. He merely nodded his, signaling that the

briefing was done and that it would be best for him to deal with this

alone.

Mikoto, seeing Naruto's gesture, chose to take the initiative. "Come on

Satsuki-chan, why don't we get get some rest? Tomorrow will be a long

day and we'll need to be at our full strength." Mikoto spoke as she faced

her daughter and got up off her log.

She didn't receive a verbal response, only a nod from Satsuki, after which

they walked into one of the two tents that had been prepared to get some

rest for the night. They had already assumed that Natsuki and Narumi

would have a problem with this aspect of the mission, so their sudden

outbursts were not so surprising. They would leave Naruto to take care of

the girls.

Once the two female Uchiha had left the clearing, Naruto reopened his

eyes and faced the two remaining kunoichi with a look of absolute

seriousness.

"...I can understand how you feel, actually it is expected for genin only

three months out of the academy to hold these kinds of beliefs...That

aside, do not, I repeat, do not use Konoha as an example of harmony,

righteousness, and peace...You really think that Konoha has done no

wrong...? How naïve and utterly foolish. Shinobi from Konoha don't have

the right to talk about morality after all the pain and hatred they've

inflicted upon the world...Not just other villages, but its own inhabitants

as well...If you can't understand my words, then it only means that you

haven't seen the true face of Konoha." Naruto wasn't going to sit there

and listen to nonsense all night, especially from two children who didn't

know the first thing about the reality of the world they live in, nor have

ever experienced true pain.

The harshness of Naruto's words made the two kunoichi falter a little,

mostly because they didn't know what he was referring to...and that was

what scared them. However, they still believed that they were in the

right when it came to this mission.

"T-Tou-san would never allow missions like this to take place...He may

not be the Hokage anymore, but he still holds the same power and

influence that he did while he was in office!" Narumi continued to argue.

Though it seemed that her sister wasn't as passionate as she had been

before. Natsuki seemed to be in deep thought and even more withdrawn

now. Perhaps she was able to comprehend the kind of things that her

sister was too stubborn to realize.

"Minato is considered to be a butcher and a monster by Kumo and Iwa,

you think he got that reputation by merely defeating his enemies?"

Naruto asked rhetorically. He really wasn't good at these kind of things,

so it was best to be straightforward. "These missions are nothing new,

they've been going on since the birth of the shinobi system and even far

before it. Your father assigned countless missions just like this one, and

ones even more inhumane than this. Your mother and him probably went

on countless ones such as this when they were younger...I'll be honest

with you, as shinobi, you've been sheltered and pampered because you

were the children of the Hokage and because your own mother was your

sensei...On my first real mission outside of the village walls, I had no

other choice than to kill dozens of shinobi from Yukigakure that were

working for a corrupt Daimyo and I've had to take even more lives

after...This is the case with most shinobi, but Kushina has been mothering

you and most likely forcing Kakashi-san to do the same because she

doesn't want her 'babies' to lose their innocence or something of that

nature."

Naruto took a breath to bring himself out of his rant. If he wanted to get

it through their thick skulls he would need to remain calm and rational.

If they were as naïve as most of the others in their graduating class,

appealing to their belief that they should only take another person's life if

their comrades were in danger should do the trick.

"Look...I don't care if you hate the idea of killing or hate me for making

you follow through with this mission, but if you refuse to to eliminate the

shinobi you come across tomorrow it will cost the two of you your lives

as well as the lives of your teammates...And I will not stand for you

putting my teammates, the people I care about, in harm's way for your

own selfish reasons...These people we're going to be dealing with, they

aren't like the shinobi you've come across on your escort missions. They

will be ruthless, inhumane, cruel, and use every advantage that you give

them. Things won't be finished after you simply defeat them, they will

get back up and come after you, perhaps even taking themselves along if

it means killing you in the process. If you have even the slightest bit of

hesitation, you're as good as dead."

The two girls didn't even try to argue what he was saying now, it was the

truth and they knew it. Perhaps they had known this all along and had

try to fool themselves into believing in their own fantasies. Or perhaps it

was the academy teachers and their parents who led them to this line of

thinking. Either way, they couldn't run from reality any longer. This was

the life they had chosen.

After a long silence, one of them finally spoke up.

"...U-Um, Nii-san? What's it like...you know...taking a life?" Natsuki was

obviously still uncomfortable with the idea of ending another human's

life, but she had finally started to settle down and come to terms with

what they had to do.

Naruto was a bit unsure of how to answer, his case wasn't exactly

normal, but he supposed the two of them needed to hear his experience

to be able to relate to how close all shinobi are to death. "...My first kill, I

didn't really react the way any normal person would after ending a life. I

didn't have time to feel remorse because we still had a mission to fnish

and if I had lost my composure at that moment, then the country may

still be under the rule of a corrupt tyrant...Even after though, I never felt

any remorse...Many would describe me as bloodthirsty or a monster, but

I think my mindset regarding human life is really screwed up because of

the circumstances of my childhood...I never really wanted anyone to

know this but I suppose it may help you understand my way of

thinking...Because I never really had parents who were there for me or

even showed that they cared for me, I had always felt unwanted and

worthless...It made me question if my existence mattered at all in the first

place or if anyone was happy that I was born...I think it's because of

those beliefs that I grew up with that I can't see the worth of a human

life...My experience only illustrates that every person sees the world in a

different light...Don't assume that every person will have the same views

of the world that you do. Personal beliefs and ideals are derived from our

past experiences, if you don't share those experiences, then your

interpretation of reality may be different than another's."

The expressions on the Uzumaki-Namikaze girls' faces grew pained after

hearing what exactly shaped his views on the world. Though in this case,

hearing the experience of their brother did help them understand that

even if they didn't want to take another life, they had chosen this duty by

becoming shinobi. They had always assumed that the person killing was

the bad guy, that the one holding the bloody kunai was a monster and

that the one dead on the ground was the victim, hearing that everything

wasn't as black and white as they were led to believe really struck them

deeply.

There was one simultaneous thought running through their heads as they

thought about their brother's experience, 'Even if everyone calls you a

monster, even if you hate yourself, I'll always be by your side.'

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....

Naruto seeing the pained yet determined looks on their faces told him

that he should wrap things up before this turned into one big confession.

They also needed time to think on things as a person didn't come to terms

with having to kill over the course of a few minutes.

"Why don't the two of you head off to bed? It'd be best for you to think

on everything that was said here. I'll be taking watch, so don't wait up for

me."

The two girls normally would have argued to remain with him for the

night, but with everything that they had just learned it would be best to

do as he said just this once. They stood up from their seat on the logs and

walked towards the direction of their tent, leaving Naruto alone under

the moonlight.

He may have just cursed himself with telling them as to why he viewed

human lives as insignificant, but if the outcome was them getting out

alive after all of this, then he would let it slide just this once.

Seeing as how their was no one left in the clearing besides him, he

snapped his fingers, resulting in the crackling fire to be extinguished. He

slowly stood up and leaped onto one of the tree branches overlooking

their campsite.

There was a reason that he offered to take watch for the entire night,

Mikoto and Satsuki knew this reason, on nights were he was in the

unrestricted presence of the moon, whether it was full or not, he was

incapable of feeling tired nor could he sit still for long periods of time. He

came incredibly restless and his primal instincts were brought to their

fullest, making it impossible for him to enjoy these peaceful nights like

normal humans were.

He shook his head from these thoughts and merely closed his eyes as he

bathed in the moon's illumination. He had yet to understand all the

mysteries surrounding the Ōtsutsuki and the moon, perhaps he never

would...

Near the Border of Hi no Kuni and Oto no Kuni - Orochimaru's Hideout

True to their plans, the group of two genins, two chūnins, and a single

jounin had made it to the border in the early afternoon and were

currently preparing to commence their mission. Mikoto, Satsuki, Narumi,

and Natsuki stood side by side at the foot of a large rock formation in the

middle of a dense forest as they looked down at Naruto who was on one

knee, using his sensor abilities to gather any information he could about

what was currently happening within the hideout.

There was a general feeling of uneasiness circulating throughout the

group, but they had only assumed they were nervous at how little

information they had on the current conditions of their mission. They

may very well be walking into a trap or whoever was inside was waiting

for them to come since they had already encountered a team of Konoha

shinobi earlier in the week.

Mikoto and Satsuki both had their Sharingan active as they were

simultaneously watching for any movement in their surroundings with

their peripheral vision. If this really was an ambush then there may as

well be shinobi who would aim to silence them before they could even

catch a glimpse of the experiments that were occurring within the

laboratories. Though, since they hadn't been attacked yet, it could be

assumed that their presence had still gone unnoticed.

Through the combined usage of his sensor abilities as well as his

Kenbunshoku Haki, Naruto was exploring every hallway, room, prison

cell, laboratory, library, and research room within the underground

confines of the base. The place was like a maze. He was forced to burn

every human experiment, every dead and tortured body, every mindless

monster into his mind for the sake of the mission, there were too many

things which he wished he could erase from his mind just from one

glimpse over the hideout. True to their earlier worries, this hideout

turned out to be connected somewhere north of the border which

explained how so many Oto-nin were able to bypass the border patrol

stationed by Konoha during the time of the Chūnin Exams. This would

take a bit longer than expected.

The good news was that there were almost the correct number of

presences expected, just over a dozen researchers and shinobi, which

were accompanied by only a few dozen or so prisoners, but judging from

their chakra levels, they wouldn't be any real threat. And there was the

clansmen from the clan of monsters. Naruto had severely underestimated

just how powerful he would be. The amount of pure natural energy

flowing throughout the man was enormous and the man was easily as

insane as he was made out to be. Dealing with him would be a handful.

Using his strategic mind, Naruto had already divided the hideout, more

like compound, into four floors and four sections. On the first floor below

were nothing more than hallways and rooms, this was the first section.

On the second floor below were the library and the research facilities,

this was the second section. On the third floor below were the prison

cells and the laboratories, this was the third section. The entire fourth

floor below them was where the large tunnel connected Hi no Kuni to an

unknown location within Oto no Kuni. Each of these sections were at

least a quarter of the size of Konoha. They would need a lot more

firepower than anticipated to level the entire compound.

It was getting late in the day, so most of the experimentation was

finished and the prisoners sent back to their cells. This was good news for

them as this meant that most of the researchers were in the research

facilities compiling their data or in their rooms after retiring for the day.

Most of the shinobi and researchers within the facilities were either on

the first or second floors, with only the prisoners to deal with down

below.

They would need to split up into three teams to achieve the most

successful outcome.

Naruto quickly finished up his analysis of the compound and stood up,

opening up his eyes in the process, his three-tomoed Sharingan blazing.

This action caught the attention of those of his team, as their attention

was now focused solely on him.

Naruto's Sharingan spun idly as he looked each member of his team in

the eyes, implanting the images that he had just seen into their minds. It

took a certain degree of mastery over the Sharingan to be able to do

something as delicate as transferring memories, proving that Naruto had

finally been able to master his implanted eye.

Each of the females recoiled from shock at the memories they had just

received. Orochimaru truly was a despicable being for allowing such

inhumane experiments to be conducted. Nevertheless, now that they

knew the layout of the compound, their job became much easier.

Naruto's pair of mismatched eyes caught the gaze of Mikoto. While she

had tried to hide it, he saw just how hard she had to work to keep up

with them on the way here. Was her body really in such bad condition?

But even though he was worried for her, he needed all the manpower he

could get at the moment.

"Mikoto, you and Satsuki will be taking the second section. Do it quickly

and quietly, after you've eliminated everyone on that floor, seal all of the

research and information you can find into sealing scrolls." Naruto spoke

to his lover as he tossed her one of his empty sealing scrolls that he had

brought along specifically for this purpose.

Naruto then turned to the two Uzumaki-Namikaze females, who were

trying their best to keep a neutral expression. Though their real feelings

were given away be the slight trembling of their legs and their hands

clenching into fists. They were obviously still a bit nervous about what

they had to do, but they were even more disturbed by the images that

had been implanted into their mind. Perhaps seeing how cruel and

inhumane these people were would make it easier for the girls to kill

them.

"Natsuki, Narumi...You will be handling the section right below us, the

first section...Do not leave anyone alive, that is the mission that was

assigned to us...Can I trust you two with this?" He had purposefully

assigned them the area with the least amount of people occupying it.

While there were quite a few individuals in their separate room, most of

the researchers and shinobi were in the research facilities going over the

data that they had gathered today.

Hearing their brother ask them so sincerely and depending on them so

much, the two Uzumaki-Namikaze siblings quickly shook off any doubts

that they held and nodded their heads vigorously.

"I will handle the third section which contains the prison cells and

laboratories. The source of where the cursed seal originated is there as

well, I will deal with him, so if you hear any commotion do not panic."

Naruto spoke calmly. With his assignment, all of the main sections had

been taken care of and that only left the tunnel. "I will deal with the

tunnel as well. With a little effort I can melt the surrounding walls and

have it collapse in on itself, which will also ignite the explosives in the

process."

Naruto reached into the pouch on the back of his left hip and pulled out

the semi-large scroll that was pre-prepared with explosive notes. He

unraveled it and unsealed five smaller sized scrolls that contained a set

amount of explosive notes. He threw each member of his team one of the

scrolls while placing the fifth scroll back into his pouch. After which, he

ignited the scroll that contained the smaller scrolls until not even ashes

remained. No sense keeping a scroll that would have only taken up more

space and served no real purpose. He had a feeling that he would need

every advantage he could get today.

Each of the scrolls contained fifty explosive notes. That would be more

than enough to level the first three levels completely, however, the final

floor was so large it would take a bit more than he currently had. He

would need to deal with that personally.

"After you've eliminated all of your targets and gathered all of the

research material, place explosive notes all over each of your sections. I

will do the same. They are all set to go off automatically when mine do,

so make sure to return in no longer than thirty minutes." Naruto turned

around to face the entrance at the bottom of the rock formation as a

breeze blew through his short black hair. "When you've completed your

separate assignments, meet back here...Now move out!"

With those final orders given, Naruto disappeared in Shisui's signature

Shunshin, fading completely out of sight, leaving no trace of either his

presence or his destination. He only made his exit this way because his

destination was on the lower-most floors and him running through the

halls of the compound would draw more attention than he would have

liked.

The rest of the team stood their silently for a moment before Mikoto

grabbed Satsuki's shoulder and they disappeared in their own Leaf

Shunshin, leaving behind Natsuki and Narumi. Though the girls quickly

took their leave on foot, seeing as how their assignment was only on the

first floor.

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....

First Level Below

Within the narrow hallways with man-made stone walls, floors, and

ceilings that were dimly lit by candles on the walls, giving it an

atmosphere that seemed as though it was from a horror movie, Natsuki

and Narumi were silently through the halls towards the section of the

compound that contained the personal rooms for the shinobi and

scientists.

After traveling down the long spiral staircase, making sure to spread out

there senses to avoid any person they may come across to keep their

presence hidden, the two kunoichi were now racing down the empty

halls towards their destination. They had yet to come across a single

living being as of yet, even the main hall was completely empty.

Though, this is what they had been expecting. From the memories that

had been implanted into them by Naruto, they were aware that most of

the researchers were on the second level in the research facilities and

most of the shinobi who were tasked with protecting this base, had

retired to their rooms for the afternoon as all scheduled experiments for

the day had finished.

The hall with the personal chambers for those who were stationed here

were located just further down this straight hall, after which they had to

take several turns. This place truly was a maze. The design was most

likely for the purpose of confusing any intruders who entered the base, as

were the dimly lit hallways and countless storage rooms they had passed.

As the two girls reached the end of the straightaway, they quickly made a

left turn down a much shorter hallway and then a right.

While Natsuki and Narumi were utterly inexperienced when it came to

search and destroy missions, they were shinobi, who specialized in a

fighting style that was meant to kill. They had been lucky to have made it

this far without doing so yet, or perhaps unlucky as such a high-ranking

mission had been assigned as their first one. And while they had massive

reserves due to them being jinchūriki, Natsuki even more so now that

Kurama was whole once again, they had been taught how to successfully

suppress their chakra signature.

This type of suppression was unique to them since they had abysmal

chakra control, this was done by completely cutting off the access to their

chakra for a few minutes. This made them impossible to sense, except for

sensor-type shinobi. However, this particular method also made them

unable to access their chakra for the time they were using it and even

several minutes after they ended the suppression, as they had to let the

chakra flow back into their chakra network.

They really preferred not to mention this, but they had to learn this

method in order to capture Tora the cat. It seemed the cat was able to

sense chakra levels at the lowest level after running from shinobi for

decades, and because their chakra reserves were so massive, she was able

to make her escape before the girls were even able to get within striking

distance of it. The had failed the Capture Tora the Cat Mission over a

dozen times. It was an embarrassment on their shinobi records that led

them to become obsessed with capturing that damned cat for a short

period of their lives.

After five minutes of continuous running and making all those turns, they

finally arrived at the long hallway that contained the personal quarters.

This particular hall was different from the others. The hallway was much

taller than the others, so much so that there was a complete upper deck

where a second row of doors leading into rooms were. Off to the side was

a staircase that led up to this upper deck. Instead of being dimly lit by

candles as all the other halls had been thus far, this area was well-lit by

lanterns, with a single lantern hanging from the wall between each of the

doors. In total, there were thirty different rooms, fifteen on the bottom

row and another fifteen on the second deck. Though not all of them

would be occupied at the moment, or even if every researcher and

shinobi were in their rooms. The design of the hall and the rooms were

not so different from the ANBU Headquarters that they had the privilege

of exploring when they were children.

Seeing as how they had finally reached their destination, Narumi and

Natsuki looked at each other and nodded. They each formed a half ram

seal and discretely re-introduced their chakra back into their chakra

network, successfully releasing their chakra suppression technique.

It had only been about ten minutes since they had departed from their

team's meeting point, so there shouldn't be any additional people that

had returned to their quarters. But to be thorough, they would cover

those rooms after they had completed their primary objective.

Natsuki shakily reached down to her waist and unsheathed the pure

white blade from its scabbard. As much as she disliked it, she would need

to bathe the blade, white as snow, in the crimson blood of man.

She looked over to Narumi, who had pulled a kunai from her holster, and

gave an affirming nod. "I'll take top, you take bottom."

Unable to respond verbally due to her heart being stuck in her throat

from the unparalleled uneasiness and adrenaline, Narumi merely nodded

in response before the two sisters separated to fulfill their promise to

their brother. They would never take a life solely for the sake of their

village, but they would as to not disappoint the person who had put his

faith in them.

These stone walls would be painted crimson within a matter of minutes.

Second Level Below

Within a small, dark corridor leading up towards the research facilities, a

small gust of wind coupled with the swirling of leaves was created in the

middle of the hall, with the mother and daughter pair of Mikoto and

Satsuki emerging from it only a moment later.

Satsuki stumbled a bit before leaning up against the wall and glaring at

her mother for using such a violent and uncontrolled Shunshin. Mikoto

rubbed the back of her head sheepishly in response to her daughter's

reaction. The Shunshin was one of the easiest jutsus to preform next to

the academy three if one had the required amounts of chakra control.

Though Satsuki was unaware of her mother's weakening body as well as

loss of chakra control, as she was a bit more dense that her surrogate

brother.

After recovering her sense of balance Satsuki remembered their mission

and silently looked around the corner of the corridor into what she

presumed to be the main research facility. From what Naruto had shown

her there were approximately six people on this floor with low chakra

levels, signifying that they were mere researchers and scientists instead of

actual shinobi.

In reality, the two of them probably didn't have to be sneaking around

like spies and could simply deal with them head on, but it would benefit

them if the researchers only realized their presence after their lives had

already been ended.

All six of the researchers should be in the facility compiling their data,

with the library left completely empty. There were fourteen presences,

besides the prisoners and and their primary target, altogether. Six of

them were on the second level and had been assigned to the two of them

and the other eight were on the first level in the personal chambers and

had been assigned to Natsuki and Narumi.

Naruto had been intending for the Uzumaki-Namikaze siblings to take

this floor because it would be in an open area and would have less of an

assassination feel to it, not to mention that there were less targets to

eliminate, but due to their inexperience in this field as well as their

recklessness, he couldn't guarantee the safety of the research if they were

assigned this level. That was the determining factor in deciding which

team was assigned which section.

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....

The research facility was easily as high as the Hokage Monument, easily

noticeable by its high ceiling. This must have been the largest level due

to the research and non-human experiments that were constantly

conducted, day in and day out. What really drew Satsuki's attention were

the large machines and pipes that were built on the far side of the room,

taking up most of the area, and being overshadowed by the balcony and

the railing. Then there were the researchers, each going over their

respective data on what looked like large screens connected to machines

with pictures, numbers, statistics, and charts on them.

This was strange. Satsuki only knew the basics of machinery and

technology because they were used in hospitals for medical conditions

that could not be healed by medical ninjutsu alone. They were used to

keep the patients alive, read their vital signs, and help them breath,

because a nurse or doctor couldn't watch over them twenty-four hours a

day. Hana was quite fanatical about their usage and development, that

was the only reason Satsuki was so well-informed about their purposes.

Though she had never seen machines as large as these and they looked to

be for a purpose other than medical purposes, evidence of this was that

their were no medical patients in the facility. And just what were those

machines that the researchers were typing into? Her scouting brought

more questions than answers.

Satsuki quickly burned these images into her mind with her Sharingan

before moving back into the corridor where Mikoto still was. It looked as

though the people stationed here were researching more than the normal

person could comprehend. If that was the case, then they couldn't just

blow up all this important research and documents. These machines were

likely to be the only of their kind, so she and Mikoto should at least try to

recover any and all information, not just regarding the cursed seals, that

they could in the short period of time that they had.

"What'd you find?" Mikoto asked her daughter who was now fully back in

the narrow corridor.

Satsuki's only response was to look at her Mother's Sharingan with her

own, replicating the actions of Naruto, albeit at a much slower rate. After

all the memories had been transferred, Mikoto could only stare at her

daughter with an incredulous expression marring her face. In all her

years as a kunoichi, she had never seen machinery such as this before.

Satsuki nodded vigorously after seeing her mother's expression. It seemed

that the young girl had been enthralled by the devices that the

researchers were working on, as her Sharingan had been replaced with

stars in her eyes. She seemed to be voicing the words 'I want!' over and

over again silently to Mikoto. She was acting like a child in a toy store,

something not so out of character for her.

Mikoto also had a mischievous look in her eyes as she gave a small smile

and a nod to Satsuki. She lifted up three of her fingers on her left hand,

using them to slowly count down for her and Satsuki. Satsuki drew a

single kunai from the holster on her thigh...three fingers...Mikoto

unsheathed her tanto from the scabbard strapped to the small of her

lower back...two fingers...The two female Uchiha looked each other in

the eyes and nodded...one finger...They set aside and nervousness that

they may have had in order to finish the job swiftly and silently...Mikoto

put her final finger down just as the two of them disappeared from view

in their own respective Leaf Shunshins.

Mikoto reappeared right behind the researcher on the furthermost right-

side of the room, as he was sitting at a screen behind his fellow

researchers on that side. She charged her chakra-conductive tanto with

fire chakra as she covered his mouth, pulled his head back, and

decapitated him as he finally realized what was going on and began to

struggle.

The kill was delivered silently, so not one of the others in the room

bothered to turn around and see what was going on. The blade of the

tanto cauterized the wound as it delivered the only strike, therefore, not

a single drop of blood stained the research documents on the desk.

She quickly jumped over the normal-sized desk and drove her blade into

the head of the female researcher who had been steadily typing into her

keyboard. The blade erupted out of her forehead, drawing only the

smallest amounts of blood, as she displayed an utterly shocked expression

on her face. She hadn't even realized she had been killed, so her brain

was still recording the final moments of her life.

Since the desk the woman had been working at was facing a diagonal

direction, Mikoto didn't even have to avoid the desk as she extended the

fire chakra surrounding her blade until it grew to the size of a regular

sword. The slight crackling sound caught the attention of the male

researcher, who had been inputting some statistics into the screen in

front of him, causing him to begin the motion to turn around. However,

he was stopped dead in his tracks, literally, as Mikoto rose the ethereal

sword above her head and swung down with a single, decisive strike,

bifurcating the man in the process.

He had yet to process what had happened to him as he sill displayed a

neutral expression on his face before his body slid unevenly before falling

to the ground in two separate directions and erupting in a fountain of

blood. Though it should be noted that the blood splattered all over his

chair, Mikoto, and the floor, while not a single spec landed on his

research documents.

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....

With those three successfully eliminated, all that was left was to wait for

Satsuki to finish her side and start sealing away any and all research

documents they could find, as well as any of the portable machinery.

At the same time that Mikoto had arrived at her location, Satsuki

reappeared just behind her own targets, however, they were on the

complete opposite side of the room from Mikoto and the other three

researchers.

Since her targets were clearly not experienced shinobi and were likely to

only have the barest amount of combat and shinobi training, they were

unable to sense the chakra buildup from her Shunshin, allowing her to

easily sneak up on them.

True to her assassination mission, Satsuki covered the mouth of the

female researcher that she had ambushed, preventing the woman from

screaming, and plunged the kunai in her hand into the side of the

woman's head, silencing her permanently. After a moment or so, Satsuki

pulled the kunai out of the woman's skull and swung it to the side to rid

the weapon of the excess blood that stained the blade.

Satsuki was by no means emotionless, a professional assassin, nor did she

enjoy these search and destroy missions, but the first kill really was the

hardest and everything after that was somewhat gray. She was aware

that she had ended a fair number of lives in her career as a kunoichi, but

they no longer affected her like they once did. Natsuki and Narumi would

understand soon as well that taking a life was not as monstrous and

inhumane as they believed it to be.

Quickly maneuvering around the large and cluttered desk, while on the

run, she pulled back her next target's head by his long hair and deeply

slit his throat from ear to ear, causing his to gag and sputtered as the

blood flowed down his neck and onto his lab-coat, causing him to slump

over.

The final researcher hear his co-workers strange sounds and turned

around to tell the man to quiet down and let him work in peace,

however, he recoiled in shock at what he found. Just as he was about to

let our a scream in horror, he found that he couldn't even utter a single

sound. He clawed at his throat with his fingernails as he became unable

to breathe, but it was to no avail. The shinobi wire wrapped around his

throat was far too tight to ever be able to pry off with his level of

physical strength.

Satsuki who was standing in front of his desk, but now behind him, about

a dozen feet away, tightened the wire that she held in each of her hands

and spread her arms outwards, causing the wire around the man's neck to

forcefully tighten inwardly as it began to draw blood. As she continued to

slowly tighten the wire, the wire around the man's neck became tighter

and tighter until it ultimately decapitated him with one final pull. His

head lifelessly fell to the ground as his body slumped over in its chair.

With her targets having been eliminated, that marked one part of her

mission as completed. Now all she had to do was collect all of the data,

research, and documents from this room and the library, then plant the

explosive notes. That and she wanted to take home some of those cool

portable machines that the researchers were using, or at least bring back

the schematics and data on them and what they did.

Naruto had given them only a single storage scroll, but his were different

than standard ones. The seal formula he used to create it was of his own

design and was able to hold far more mass than scrolls that could be

purchased in stores. Shop owners bought storage scrolls with inferior

sealing arrays in order to force shinobi to buy enough to tore away all

their necessary equipment. It may have been unethical, but it was

business. Though, if you only bought blank scrolls and wrote your own

sealing formulas on them, they were far more reliable.

His scroll coupled with the empty storage scrolls that her and her mother

brought along would be more than enough to seal away all of the

research held within the research facility and the library.

As time was short, Satsuki rid herself of the now bloody shinobi wire and

raced across the large room towards her mother. It would be best to work

together for the most efficiency.

Third Level Below

The third level below the surface could only be described as hell on

earth. The entire prison sector was being consumed by flames as a lone

figure serenely walked through the hall amidst all of the screams of

agony and the ensuing chaos.

Crimson flames spread from the artificially created stone floors to the

ceiling above, leaving not an inch within the prison sector untouched.

The bars of the prison cells that sealed of a person's chakra had already

melted along with much of the walls, floor, and partially the ceiling. The

earth above slowly dripped down to the ground below as it began to

liquify. All of the prisoners besides Naruto's primary target had already

been melted into nothing more than puddles of blood and innards. This

method had been the quickest way of dealing with all unnecessary

prisoners who were in his way.

Within Naruto's field of vision was the most secure cell at the end of the

prison block. It looked more like a vault in which Kages would store

village funds or the most dangerous jutsu and secrets than anything. This

only spoke as to how monstrous and uncontrollable the person inside of

it was.

There was quite a distance between the first two levels and the last two

levels, as it took quite a bit of chakra to Shunshin from the surface to his

current location. It was roughly five miles below the surface. Orochimaru

probably designed this hideout with the fact that there was a town close

by in mind, therefore those on the surface would be unable to hear the

screams of the prisoners being experimented on, whether willingly or

unwillingly. He also would want his researchers to be as far away as

those mindless creatures at all times, other than when they were

conducting human experiments. From what Naruto had already

witnessed from the appearance of those behind the bars, the experiments

conducted daily must have been horrendous and far beyond inhumane.

He may have just been doing them a favor by ending their lives when he

did.

Naruto didn't extinguish his flames like he usually did after finishing the

job, instead he let them burn and eat away at any and all surfaces within

the large hall since he would need to destroy this place anyway and it

didn't take any extra chakra of natural energy to keep the flames burning.

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....

Naruto finally made it to the most secure prison cell, and his destination.

The thick steel door didn't have chakra sealing bars like the other cells

did, in fact it was impossible to fully seal off a person's body from natural

energy alone since it was such an unknown and mysterious energy. The

closest thing Orochimaru had ever come to developing something of that

nature were his cursed seals that temporarily restricted movements,

making any chakra or natural energy useless. The door had no access to

the outside world, or at least no way to see out of the cell, with a single

handle, and four separate locks, after which it was chained off in a X-like

fashion.

'...Someone really didn't want this guy to ever see the light of day again.'

Naruto thought as he looked at what he assumed to be overkill on the

security of his prison cell. This guy had stayed behind in this hideout

willingly, and yet they locked him up as if he was a threat to the people

around him...Or perhaps he really was that insane.

Naruto stood there silently as he heard a voice talking to itself behind the

door.

"Kill...Kill...A man...The Next one I kill will be a man after all...No a

woman...If the next one who comes through that door is a woman, I'll kill

her...No, a man would put up more of a fight...Alright! It's decided. If the

next one who comes through that door is a man, I'll kill him." A deep

voice whispered obsessively to itself.

Hearing that whispering satisfied most of Naruto's curiosity. The

obviously male voice was heavily laced with insanity and bloodlust.

Whatever came out after he opened this door would be a real pain in the

ass to deal with. Just once he would like to not be paired up against the

insane and creepy ones ones. First it was Doto, then Kabuto, then

Nawaki, followed by Gaara, and now this guy.

He really did have the worst luck.

Seeing as how he didn't have the necessary keys in his possession, Naruto

placed his right hand on the door and produced an excess amount of heat

from the palm of his hand, melting the thick steel in a single moment.

The steel liquified and flowed down to the floor just as quick, only

leaving a few strands behind, and revealing Naruto's face to whoever

resided within the confines of the cell.

"Jackpot! I'll kill you!" The voice roared as soon as he caught a glimpse of

Naruto's appearance.

Before Naruto could even adjust his eyes to the darkness of the prison

cell, he was forced to cross his arms in front of his body to lessen the

impact of the monstrous fist that was heading straight towards him.

There was no time to avoid the strike, nor was their any time to coat his

arms with Haki, it was all up to physical strength and durability at the

moment.

Naruto felt the bones in his forearms scream in agony as a cracking-like

feeling erupted throughout the entirety of both his arms before being

launched into the wall directly behind him, creating a small crater with

many spiderweb cracks now marring its complexion.

'...Just what the hell was that...?' Naruto questioned himself rhetorically

as he pulled himself out of the wall and felt his blue flame's regenerative

properties repairing the extensive damage done to his arms by a single

strike.

What he saw emerge from the room was a tall, muscular young man with

spiky orange hair and red-orange eyes, or what normally would have

been a pair. His left eye was currently a vibrant yellow color with a black

sclera and the entire left side of his body was a pale gray color while his

left arm took on the form of an enlarged fist with various spikes jutting

out from all sides and moving upwards towards his bicep. Unsurprisingly,

his eyes had a crazed and murderous look within them.

'...And this must be the what the second stage of the cursed seal looks

like...Or rather, for him, his natural transformation.'

Naruto spit out a bit of blood after turning his head to the side. Against a

user of natural energy like the people from this clan of monsters, his

intangibility would easily be negated by their every strike. Naruto had

greatly underestimated the pure physical strength of his opponent once

again, add to that the fact that he is at a disadvantage because he

couldn't use any of his larger and more powerful techniques due to their

position in the confined hallway, it was clear things weren't looking up

for Naruto.

Then there was the fact that he still had to search the laboratory and

bring back a DNA sample of this man. That meant Naruto couldn't just

destroy this entire floor, he was already walking a fine line as it was with

the flames he had already produced. His options really were quite limited

at the moment.

While he had not neglected his taijutsu training completely, he would be

the first to admit that not fighting a foe who could actually touch him for

such a long time caused him to slack off on the intensity of his physical

training more recently. He now questioned how he could possibly come

to such a conclusion.

"And who might you be?" Naruto asked as the marks on the man's body

spread even further across his body until it was covering him completely.

"It doesn't matter, because you're gonna die right here!" Jūgo yelled

maniacally, not that Naruto was aware of what his real name was.

Naruto jumped into the air and used Jūgo's shoulder as a stepping stone

before jumping even higher in the air to the side of the man while he

coated his arms with Busoshoku Haki, as Jūgo sent a punch towards the

wall he had been previously standing in front of, shattering it completely

and causing some debris from the ceiling to collapse.

Naruto was forced to land while dodging the falling debris as Jūgo didn't

seem to care in the slightest about the danger he had just put them in and

raced after Naruto once more. He outstretched his left arm to his side and

forced a large axe blade to form on the side of his forearm by utilizing

the unique abilities that his passive natural energy granted him.

Naruto drew his chokuto from his back and coated it with Haki as well.

Any normal weapon would have broken from the natural energy

surrounding that axe, but Haki should even the odds in a straight duel.

Naruto's blade met Jūgo's in the middle and caused shockwaves to ripple

throughout the room and shatter some of the smaller pieces of rubble

that were now scattered across the floor. Naruto was the first to pull

back, causing Jūgo to recoil in the process, as he switched his sword into

a reverse-grip and swiped the blade across the orange-haired man's

abdomen. However Jūgo had managed to lean back in time so that only a

shallow slash wound made its way onto his stomach, but the sight of his

own blood made him even more excited as he hadn't found anyone who

was capable of wounding him since Kimimaro.

In response to the flesh would he received, Jūgo brought his fist down

hard, on Naruto's head slamming him into the ground before the raven-

haired teen had a chance to react. While the wound had only been a flesh

wound for Jūgo, he only thought that way because of the regenerative

properties that his body granted him. In reality, the slash that he was just

dealt was only an inch or two away from severing his spinal chord and

rendering him incapable of movement. It would only be natural for

Naruto to expect the match to be over after his opponent had received a

fatal wound such as that, however, Jūgo was able to regenerate within

the span of a single moment.

The ground split into spiderweb-like cracks as the full force of Naruto's

body combined with the extra push from Jūgo impacted the ground.

Naruto clenched his teeth to prevent himself from coughing up too much

blood, but a small amount still made its way onto the ground as it spilled

out of back of his mouth.

'...Damn...this guy outclasses me physically in every possible way...I won't

be able to stay conscious if I take to many more hits like that one.'

Chapter no.146

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....

Naruto was only flat on the ground for the same amount of time it took

Jūgo to regenerate from his last wound. As Jūgo was laughing

maniacally, thinking that he had already won, Naruto pushed himself up

off the ground and delivered a Haki enhanced uppercut to the man's chin,

sending him high into the air and back a dozen or so yards.

This had been the most amount of hits that Naruto had taken in years

and the lack of regular pain was starting to catch up with him. He shakily

stood back onto his own two feet as he stared into the eerie yellow eyes

of Jūgo, whom was already back on his feet, looking as bloodthirsty as

ever, even after taking such a heavy blow.

The two rushed at each other again, Jūgo intent on slaughtering the man

before him. He fought more like a wild beast than a shinobi, though it

was working for him magnificently with his pure strength making up for

his lack of elegance. Naruto sent a slash towards the man's chest, but it

was effortlessly blocked by the axe-blade that was now his arm. As

Naruto was now stopped in his tracks at the moment, Jūgo transformed

his other arm into a piston-like shape t increase the force of his fist and

slammed it into Naruto's gut, forcing him to cough up a mouthful of

saliva before being flung into another wall.

After regaining the feeling of his body, coupled with the incredible

feeling of pain coursing through it, Naruto pulled himself out of the wall

and stared distastefully at the man who had not yet moved from his

previous position. He was really getting tired of being thrown around like

a rag-doll. This was the first time that he had been so outmatched

physically and he could honestly say he hated it. Was this how every

other opponent facing himself felt before?

Jūgo's body started to transform once again, as many jet-like appendages

formed on his exposed back and began expelling large amounts of chakra

from them. Jūgo immediately blurred out of sight using the incredible

speed boost that those boosters gave him.

In such a confined space with his opponent moving as fast as he was,

Naruto was barely able to track him with the Sharingan, and even then

he could only react fast enough to bring his sword up to block the axe-

blade that was being aimed straight for his head. However, the speed

Jūgo was moving at was the decisive factor as it cut right through

Naruto's blade, but was offset just enough to miss its target altogether.

However, as soon as Jūgo was forced off-balanced by missing his target,

he disappeared from sight once more. A strike came from behind Naruto,