Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Guardian of the Sun

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Chapter One

Ancient legends spoke of a man called the Sage of Six Paths, the Rikudou no Sennin, the originator of Chakra. Not many knew of them and even fewer believed them to be true. Even lesser known legends spoke of him having two sons, Ashura and Indra. They were always conflicting, the elder, having inherited the power of their father's eyes, strove for power, believing it was the key to true strength. The younger, having inherited the power of their father's body, yearned to bring everyone together in peace, feeling that the bonds of kinship was the only path to true strength.

When their time passed, their spirits were reincarnated regularly all throughout history every couple generations and each time, the two reborn brothers would be drawn towards one another and do battle in one way or another, be it one of blades or minds, but not once did they achieve what their father wanted of them; world-wide peace. Thus, each pair of reincarnated souls became stuck in a cycle for ages immemorial. Until, one day...

Something in Ashura changed...

His beliefs remained the same, but one of his reincarnations deviated for a short time, wandering over on to Indra's path of power, but managed to stumble his way back to the path of unity. Because of it, it caused an unforeseen change in Ashura's transmigrating spirit that caused it to gradually transform little by little with each spiritual rebirth. Unknown to the other party, the same occured with Indra around the same time, causing similar, yet entirely different changes in the elder brother as well. Within his personal 'spirit' realm, separate from everything else in existence, the Sage of Six Paths felt a ripple in the cosmic energies that surrounded him. Something had changed in the cycle, something that stirred up a feeling of hope in him for his two wayward sons.

He could only wait, wondering if the current cycle would end differently than the infinite number of times beforehand...

xXx

"Geez...Do we have to go back?" The rather short teen grumbled with his hands clasped behind his head, walking alongside his god father and teacher down the road back to his birthplace. "I mean...Can't we travel for a couple more years first? You know I don't like it there..."

"Yes, Naruto, we do. Sensei's orders. Besides, we're already running late because of you." Jiraiya of the Sannin answered with a slight chuckle, which only got louder when the teen sighed out a draw-out groan of disappointment. With how he liked to procrastinate, the white haired Toad Sage would have thought Naruto was related to the Nara clan, but he was too energetic and passionate to be counted among them.

Casting a side-long glance at the sixteen year old boy he had been looking after for the past six years, Jiraiya couldn't help smirking slightly at how far Naruto had come since the obnoxiously loud-mouthed ten year old midget he had originally taken under his wing and cared for, as per his duty and loyalty to his last student demanded. However, it wasn't his duty and loyalty that spurned him to take the boy on as an apprentice and god son. It wasn't even due to a prophecy he had been told years ago by the Elder Sage Toad. It was almost entirely because he saw a lot of himself in the kid when he was that age...

Standing at 5'9", sixteen year old Naruto had well-tanned skin from constantly being out in the sun with spiky and shaggy knee-length golden blonde hair pulled back and tightly bound with black cloth from the base of his skull all the way down to the end with only a short tuft of his golden hair left uncovered at the end while his bangs were left free to frame his face and brush against his collar bone on either side of his neck. His eyes were a dark sapphire blue while three whisker-like birthmarks adorned either of his covered cheeks.

Like he often was, Naruto was clad in a pair of baggy black pants that were tightly bound with black cloth from the knee down with a golden colored sash wrapped around his waist, black tabbi socks covering his feet, and black metal geta sandals with golden colored thongs for footwear. His lean and chiseled torso was covered by a black skin-tight turtleneck underarmor top with long sleeves that ended in black full-finger gloves and a black cloth face mask attached to the collar that was pulled up over his nose, a half-face mask of golden metal attached to it that had three horizontal vent-like slits running across either cheek and a small circular hole-like vent in the front-middle.

Covering his arms from fingertip to shoulder were sleeves of golden metal that armored his chest and upper back as well with black leather straps keeping them held in place, a gorget of the same golden metal covering his neck completely while similarly crafted shin guards of the same golden metal were strapped to his forelegs with black leather straps. Situated under his sash was a simple black leather belt with six black leather holsters hanging from it, three at either hip, that held a golden yellow storage scroll in each one. Attached to the belt behind his waist were four plain grey equipment pouches filled with various items that he deemed necessary.

"Gah! Can we at least go a little faster and get this over with?" Naruto questioned irritably from his spot. "The faster we get this done, the better."

"How you managed to complete the basics of Sage training, I'll never know..." Jiraiya grumbled, getting a hidden mischievous grin from the blonde, though the glint in his eyes was unmistakable.

"I'm just that awesome." He retorted cheekily, getting a half-hearted glare from the older ninja. He then frowned slightly as he thought of something else and looked back ahead, hands still clasped behind his head. "I wonder how strong Karasu is now..."

"Oh ho? Missing your little girlfriend again?" Jiraiya teased, only to get hit with a rather strong backhand to his stomach, stumbling him and making him cough as he doubled over. Blushing slightly beneath the face mask, Naruto scowled irritably as he glared out ahead of him. "...Moody, much?"

"Shut up, perv. It's not like that..." Naruto growled quietly, never noticing Jiraiya's knowing smirk as they kept walking. "I just want to find out how much stronger the two of us have gotten since we made that promise to each other back then, alright? That's all. Besides, she's more like a sister to me than anything else."

"Riiiiig-Oof!" Once more, Jiraiya's teasing resulted in getting hit in the stomach again, this time with enough force to drop him to the ground...

xXx

"..." Finally coming to a stop in her usual daily training regimen, Karasu tilted her head back and looked up at the sun to gauge the approximate time. Standing at 5'5", her obsidian hair reached half way down her back in a high pony tail, her chin-length bangs left free to frame her face and cover her left eye. As she had for the past couple years, Karasu was dressed in a pair of beige-white short-shorts with a dark blue belt holding them up, a biege-white tube top, a dark blue zippered long-sleeve jacket over it that cut short just below her small A-cup bust with the Uchiha fan decorating the back, black fingerless gloves on her hands, and dark blue kunoichi sandals on her feet. "Almost time..."

She was the last of her clan, all of whom having been slaughtered by her own elder brother, Itachi. She was never the same after that dreadful night, having been placed under one of the most powerful genjutsu known to the world, Tsukiyomi, by Itachi and forced to relive the slaughter of every Uchiha time and time again in the span of a single second. Karasu knew she would have turned out to be ultimately cold and uncaring of anyone and anything if it hadn't been for an obnoxious and irritating blonde kid that stumbled into her life a couple months after the massacre. It took her some time to warm up to him, but because of him, she had actually managed to befriend a few others. She still wasn't very social, though, and the best way she could describe herself as was 'blunt'; she didn't sugar-coat things for anyone and really didn't care if she hurt someone's feelings because of something she said or did. Strangely, it only drew more people towards her, something that she wasn't exactly sure she liked or not...

'I should start getting ready.' She mused idly while still staring up at the sun with squinted eyes before heading inside, a faint smirk forming on her lips as she wondered how much stronger her best friend and rival had become in the past six years...

xXx

"Uchiha Karasu?" Iruka called out, currently taking roll before he started the graduation exam for the aspiring genin he had been teaching for the past eight years.

"Here." Karasu spoke up quietly, something that surprised Iruka a little bit. For the past six years, Karasu would merely raise her hand to signal her presence without ever giving a verbal response. Although confused as to why she would choose now of all times to break that habit, the scarred chuunin figured she must have been excited by something; no doubt, the prospect of finally becoming a full-fledged ninja of Konoha. Spotting another name on his list below Karasu's, Iruka looked a bit confused, having never had it on his list before.

"Um...Uzumaki Naruto?" He inquired, but there was no response. From her spot, Karasu wondered what was taking the blonde so long to arrive, internally worried about him a little bit; she refused to acknowledge it, though, let alone admit it to herself or anyone else. "Is there an Uzumaki Naruto here?"

Before he could mark the person absent on his list when he recieved no response, the door to the classroom was thrown open and a blonde teen in black clothing and golden armor stumbled through the door, looking as if he had been shoved unexpectedly. Noticing the dispersing whisps of smoke out in the hall, Iruka could only cock an eye brow and look back down at the blonde picking himself up off the ground, dusting himself off.

"Uzumaki Naruto, I presume?" Iruka questioned curiously with a flat stare, getting a sheepish chuckle and eye smile from the teen as he stood up, rubbing the back of his head nervously. Unknown to them, Karasu, in her usual seat near the back of the class, was staring at the blonde with slightly wider-than-normal eyes. It was the blonde's strange choice in armor that caught her eye the most, the polished and almost gaudy golden metal being incredibly eye-catching. It was also quite reflective when it came to light from being well polished, most likely something he did on purpose. She wouldn't know for certain until she was able to fight him again, but if he was like she remembered him being, he was notorious for his unorthodox methods in just about everything...and his tricky nature as a prankster, which made him even more unpredictable. "Alright, go find a place to sit and we'll get to the testing shortly."

"Hai, sensei." The blonde responded, still eye smiling, before turning and looking for an empty seat. Spotting one, he went towards it, giving the person next to it a cheerful eye smile. "Is this seat taken?"

"..." Hyuuga Hinata blushed shyly, but shook her head negatively instead of responding verbally. As he sat down beside her, he gave her a quick glance-over. She stood a little under five and a half feet in height with a slim and lithe physique that bore a well-endowed hourglass figure in the works, the trademark pupil-less white eyes of the Hyuuga clan, light cream colored skin, and straight dark indigo-black hair pulled back into a low pony-tail that ended just past her shoulder blades. She was dressed in a pair of baggy and airy black hakama-style pants with small slits in the sides at her hips, a black skin-tight backless and sleeve-less top that did little to hide her blossoming bust and slim waist, black skin-tight arm warmers that went from her wrists up to the middle of her biceps, a lavender colored sash wrapped around her waist, a pair of more elogant looking black kunoichi sandals on her feet with slight wedge heels to give her an additional inch in height, and a baggy lavender hoodie over her top that was left open with white sleeves and lavender cuffs.

"I'm Naruto, by the way." Naruto introduced himself, extending a golden armored hand in greeting. Blushing a little more than before, Hinata lightly grasped his hand in return.

"H-Hinata...N-Nice to meet you." She stuttered quietly, making eye contact for only a moment before her blush redoubled, forcing her gaze downward before she did something embarrassing. A few rows behind them and on the opposite side of the class, Karasu found herself glaring at the two, her cheeks warmed with a slight blush, but...why? She had no real reason to be acting like she was unless...No, that was simply impossible. There was nothing about Hinata for her to be jealous about.

'Except maybe her chest...' She mused idly as he gaze dropped to Hinata's well-endowed chest before eyeing her own, her indignant blush burning a little hotter and brighter than a moment ago. That was when she spied an obviously empty seat beside her, her internal fuming resurging with the revelation. 'That jerk! He looked right at me and saw the empty spot beside me, but he blatantly ignored it! Oh, I'm SOO going to kick his ass for that later!'

"Yamanaka Ino?" Iruka called out one of the last names on his roster...

xXx

"HA! I told you I'd pass without messing up anywhere!" Naruto jeered impishly later that day as he 'playfully' punched Jiraiya in the arm, but in his excitement, remained absolutely oblivious to the amount of strength he put into it, sending the Toad Sage crashing into the far wall. Sarutobi Hiruzen, sitting behind his desk in the office, could only watch the interaction with wide, awe-struck eyes. He had not been expecting the blonde to get so strong. Jiraiya had told him that the boy had learned a few things from Tsunade during the few times they ran into her during their travels, but neither had been prepared to find out that he learned Tsunade's and the Shodaime Hokage's secret for such incredible strength. "Huh? Sensei? Stop fooling around over there! Get up!"

'At least my life won't be so boring now...' Hiruzen thought to himself as he started puffing on his pipe again, watching as Naruto nudged the barely conscious form of Jiraiya with his toes, his armored hands stuffed in his pockets lazily. Naruto had just come from the Academy after the test, his Konoha hitai-ate tied around his waist over his sash on a strip of black cloth with the plate situated in front of his left hip. The Sandaime had to agree with Naruto, the blonde having scored perfectly on each of the tests, but the chuunin, Umino Iruka, had made a note on Naruto's score sheet about his taijutsu; while incredibly strong and fast, Naruto fought more like a brawler, though Iruka admitted that even he had an issue with spotting any openings in his defense, let alone taking advantage of them. Iruka's estimation of Naruto's taijutsu 'style' coincided with Jiraiya's last monthly report on the blonde's training.

"Hm?" Noticing something out of the corner of his eye, Naruto looked up from his sensei and out the window just as the man started picking himself up off the ground while rubbing his arm. Spotting someone, Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly in determination as he pulled his hands from his pockets, his fingers slowly curling into fists while a small smirk remained hidden by his mask. Noticing the change in his student's demeanor, Jiraiya glanced out the window and couldn't help smirking, seeing one Uchiha Karasu standing on a rooftop across the street from them, her arms crossed over her chest as she stared directly at Naruto almost expectantly even though her facial expression was stoic and blank. "...Sensei..."

"Yeah, yeah. Go on, get going." Jiraiya didn't even finish what he was saying before Naruto darted out the open window and took off at full speed, Karasu following after him as they headed in the direction of the nearest training grounds. Chuckling quietly, Jiraiya took a seat in front of his old sensei's desk before sighing slightly, still grinning. "Gaki...I swear, he's like a perfect blend of his parents. And not just in personality."

"Yes, I gathered about as much from your reports; naturally talented in fuinjutsu, an unnaturally quick learner in ninjutsu and taijutsu, possess more chakra than most jounin..." Hiruzen trailed off towards the end, a slight laugh escaping him as well. "He's nothing short of a juggernaut already. I can only imagine what kind of trouble he'll end up getting himself into when he gets older."

"Oh, no! You did it now!" Jiraiya suddenly exclaimed as he jumped to his feet and jabbed a finger at his old sensei, looking rather nervous and worried, confusing the elderly Sarutobi. Seeing his sensei's look, the Toad Sage answered his unspoken question. "Every time someone says anything about him and 'trouble' in the same sentence, something happens! Every time, no matter what! I even went so far as to tie the kid up and put a bunch of seals on him one time! He was knocked out and I stupidly said something about not having to deal with the brat's irritating ass and what happens?! Trouble, that's what!"

"Honestly, Jiraiya. You're over reacting. Nothing's going to-" Hiruzen was cut short by a rather loud explosion coming from one of the nearby training grounds, a faint tremor rumbling through the earth and buildings at the same time while a thick cloud of black smoke rose from the point of the explosion. Jiraiya simply gave him a flat look that screamed 'I told you so'. "...happen..."

"See?" Jiraiya hissed venomously with a glare before disappearing in a Shunshin to check on his student while Hiruzen sighed and slouched in his chair, puffing irritably on his pipe. The Sandaime had a feeling that his on-going battle with paperwork was going to get a whole lot tougher on him. And fast...

xXx

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Do you have rocks for brains?!" Karasu bellowed furiously as she kicked Naruto in the back of his leg, making the blonde cry out in pain slightly and limp away a few steps; she would have punched him in the arm, but she wasn't dumb enough to do that while he had his armor on. "Seriously! What could have possibly possessed you to make an exploding tag that damn powerful?! You nearly killed us both, you idiot!"

"H-Hey! It was my first experimental one, okay?! I didn't think it was that bad!" Naruto argued, only for a thought to occur to him, scratching the back of his head thoughtfully. "Although, it certaintly would explain why sensei couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry when I showed it to him the other day..."

"I swear, you are the biggest idiot I've ever met, Naruto." Karasu groaned as she palmed her face with one hand, the other braced on her hip. Currently, they were both coated in a light dusting of dirt and ash from the explosion. She was surprised, however, when a white haired man dressed in red and green kabuki style clothing appeared via Shunshin, only to suddenly punch Naruto in the back of his head, glaring at the blonde.

"OW!" The Uzumaki cried out, clutching the back of his head in pain.

"What'd I tell you about showing off like that?!" Jiraiya snapped angrily. "And I thought I told you not to use that damn tag you made! Especially around friendlies!"

"I thought it was the other one!" Naruto growled at the man, glaring right back at him. For a moment, Karasu swore the two were somehow related to one another with how similar they were behaving. Then, the smoke started clearing where Naruto had placed the exploding tag and she glanced over at it, expecting a shallow crater or something. Instead, she was left a little slack-jawed when she saw the deep hole blown into the ground. It was easily a good ten feet deep and almost just as wide at the top of the opening. That was no exploding tag; it was a damn bunker buster!

"How the hell do you mistake one for the other?! They look nothing alike! I thought I taught you better than that, you bubble-headed blonde!" Jiraiya snarled before getting punched in the face with enough force to bend him back at the waist, but he showed surprising balance and stability when he didn't even stumble back.

"You take that back, you perverted old bastard!" Naruto roared, only for Jiraiya to lurch forward and headbutt the blonde, causing the teen to take up Jiraiya's previous pose; bent back at the waist, head cocked back from the blow. Staring at the two with a flat look, Karasu was wondering whether or not she should distract the immature duo somehow before an all-out brawl broke out when the white haired man suddenly cried out in pain and covered his forehead with his hands.

"What the hell is your head made out of, brat?!" Jiraiya demanded angrily. "Headbutting you hurts worse than one of Tsunade-hime's punches to the face!"

"I'm just that awesome!" Naruto practically yelled back as he swung back forward and headbutted Jiraiya in return, knocking the Toad Sage flat on his back and out cold. Huffing frustratedly, Naruto crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly. And then he remembered Karasu was still there and glanced at her, only to flinch slightly when he noticed that she was watching him with a cold, unblinking stare."Uh...K-Karasu? What's with the scary look?"

"...Baka." She sighed out before looking down at her clothes and scowling. Turning that scowl on her friend, she kept talking. "My clothes better not be ruined because of you..."

"I'll buy you a new set, if they are." He responded with a sheepish eye smile, rubbing the back of his head. He never saw the faint, almost non-existent blush that decorated Karasu's cheeks as she looked away; he was too caring. Calming back down just in time before he saw any signs of her being flustered, Karasu decided to call it an early day.

"I expect to have a proper fight with you tomorrow. And NO exploding tags. Got it?" Karasu responded before ordering, getting a nervous nod from the blonde. Nodding once to show her approval of the response, she continued speaking while turning to leave, briefly waving over her shoulder. "Good. Now, I'm going home to get cleaned up. I'll see you here tomorrow morning."

"Heh...Alright, see you then, Hime!" Naruto called out after her with a mischievious grin, noticing how she visibly tensed at the remark and hesitated in mid-stride, but kept walking while muttering 'baka' under her breath, her cheeks flushed heatedly. Snickering at her reaction, Naruto knew it would get under her skin. She always hated being called 'princess' in the past, something he discovered when he found out that she had been the daughter of the Uchiha clan head. At first, it was just something to call her other than her name, but it eventually became an inside joke between them; mostly for his own amusement. Looking down at his unconscious sensei, Naruto sighed. Not really wanting to carry his unconscious sensei anywhere like he usually did when the sennin had had too much to drink, Naruto simply turned and started walking away, knowing the man would be perfectly fine where he was until he woke up...

xXx

Later that night, Naruto was sitting atop the Yondaime Hokage's head on the Hokage Monument, golden armored hands clasped behind his head as he stared up at the night sky. Despite being 'home', he felt restless, having grown used to traveling all of the time. That, and there was so much he had wanted to do earlier during the day, but didn't have the time to do, that he was simply too excited to sleep. Sitting up and crossing his legs under him, Naruto was going to meditate for a little while to calm himself back down, but before he started, he noticed something unusual down below. Narrowing his eyes and momentarily grateful for the now-natural night vision gifted to him from constant exposure to the Kyuubi no Kitsune's chakra, among a few other things, Naruto spied the figure fleeing from the Administration Building, which he knew to be mostly vacant at the moment since he and the Sandaime had been among the last few to leave the building just an hour ago. Plus, the person looked like they were in a hurry with something on their back...

"Something's not right..." He mumbled quietly to himself before standing up and simply stepping off the carved head of the Fourth Hokage, letting himself plummet the two hundred meter distance in freefall. Adjusting his position as he neared the ground, Naruto landed heavily in a kneeling crouch, one armored fist pressed against the ground as spider web cracks shot out in all directions from the point of impact while a thin cloud of dust was tossed into the air. Letting the almost unnoticable protective chakra shell fade from his skin, Naruto sprinted forward before jumping up to the roof of a nearby building, heading in the same direction the other person had been going. Quickly catching a glance of the person he had spotted from his perch a minute ago, Naruto felt that his original assumption of something being wrong was right. Adjusting course, he locked onto the figure and started getting closer. After a couple minutes of pursuit, Naruto slowly recognized the person. "Wasn't he Iruka-sensei's assistant or something? What was his name...Mizuki, I think?"

"Quit babbling to yourself, you aggravating brat!" The Kyuubi suddenly growled from within the blonde's mind, catching Naruto off guard and making him stumble slightly. Thankfully, he didn't give himself away and didn't lose sight of the pale haired chuunin he was tailing. "I swear, if I could, I'd kill myself just to end the suffering of listening to your irritating voice!"

"Oh, shut up, Furball! It gets lonely when you don't have anyone to talk to!" Naruto retorted in his mind, getting an annoyed growl-like grunt from the fox sealed away inside of him; it couldn't exactly argue the point since it was true. "Besides, I think better when I do..."

"Sure, you do..." Kyuubi grumbled sarcastically. Naruto could practically feel the giant fox spirit roll its eyes and couldn't resist doing it himself before breaking the connection and focusing back on task. That was when he caught a glimpse of the writing on the over-sized scroll slung across Mizuki's lower back; the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing. Eyes narrowing dangerously, Naruto resisted charging in and taking him down immediately. They were still in the village and if the fight got a little too intense, innocents would be put at risk because of his carelessness. Thankfully, they weren't far from the outskirts, the chuunin obviously going rogue and betraying Konoha. Hearing a quiet, but dark growl in his mind, Naruto knew the Kyuubi was in full agreement with him in terms of Mizuki's judgement; abandoning one's home and birth-place for whatever reason, no matter how trivial, was tantamount to treason in their opinion and neither dealt with betrayal well. Stealing village secrets while in the process of doing so was even worse...

"Kyuubi..." Naruto mentally growled at his tenant and spiritual companion the moment he breached the tree line along the outskirts of the village, Mizuki still kept within his line of sight. The nine tailed fox spirit didn't respond, but still obeyed the unspoken command. A moment later, Naruto's blue eyes bled into crimson with black slit pupils as the Kyuubi's dark chakra flooded his body. Suddenly strengthened and empowered by the Bijuu's energy, Naruto dropped from the tree branch he had landed on, but the moment his feet made contact with the ground, he shot off with such an immense burst of speed and power that the ground he had been standing on practically exploded, sending chunks of dirt and other debris flying through the air.

"What the-" Mizuki didn't get the chance to finish as he turned around to momentarily investigate the unexpected sound, but he was struck by a man-sized projectile of black and gold. It was in the split second that contact was made that his perception of time froze and he saw exactly what hit him. Already doubled over the fist embedded in his stomach, Mizuki saw only that strange late-enrolled student from earlier in the day, but...those eyes. Those fierce, menacing ruby eyes...He was just a kid back then, but he could never forget those eyes, a thought passing through his mind like a flash of lightning. 'Kyuubi.'

And then time continued normally to the chuunin. Rocketed back like a cannon ball while Naruto came to a complete stop at the same exact time, Mizuki flew nearly fifty meters, crashing through tree limbs the whole way, before finally touching back down on the ground, only to be sent tumbling and rolling and bouncing for another thirty. Sliding to a stop at the base of a tree, Mizuki was instantly stricken with a severe coughing fit, choking and gagging as he tried to refill his forcefully emptied lungs while clutching at his abdomen, an almost-black bruise already forming to cover most of his front while strips of more bruising formed on his back from hitting some of the branches. He didn't need medical knowledge to know that at the very least he had minor internal bleeding from the blow, at least three cracked ribs, and a cracked sternum, if not other internal injuries alongside the cuts and scratches all over his body sustained from the branches he crashed through.

"That scroll is the property of the Hokage of Konoha. Hand it over now..." Naruto spoke up coldly and clearly while approaching the downed chuunin with a slow and measured gait, his furiously burning eyes locked on Mizuki and his armored hands tightly clenched into fists. "Before I take it from you, you traitorous thief..."

"Wha...What are you...?" Mizuki gasped out in terrified whisper as he finally regained his breath, hunched over on all fours and staring up at the golden armored teen with shock and past fears, unable to look away from the eyes that had haunted his nightmares for the past sixteen years. Deciding to humor the man in a rare show of cold-blooded sadism, Naruto maintained his cold glare while reaching up and pulling his mask down, revealing his whisker marked cheeks. Immediately, the chuunin recognized him from that sole trait. Mizuki's fear instantly became hatred, his cowering expression a spiteful glare. "You...You're supposed to be dead..."

"Many people have said those same words to me in my life..." Naruto responded quietly while putting his mask back in place, never once looking away from the chuunin. "I have proved them wrong every time...and this time will be no different."

"We'll just see about that!" Mizuki hissed before swiftly hurling a handful of shuriken at the teen and rushing in behind them, hoping to create an opening he could exploit. Unflinchingly, Naruto raised his left arm and blocked the throwing stars with the golden armor covering his forearm while cocking his right fist back at shoulder level, never once blinking or breaking eye contact with Mizuki despite the sparks thrown up by the throwing stars clashing with his armor. Eyes widening as he realized his impromptu plan failed, Mizuki barely had the chance to dodge to the side before Naruto's fist shot forward like a bolt of golden lightning and slammed into the ground with the force of a meteorite, a rippling shockwave spreading through the ground as a small crater was left from the impact and a dust cloud kicked up into the air. Hoping to use it to his advantage, Mizuki retrieved one of the two giant shuriken on his back and got it spinning as fast as he could in his grasp before throwing it at the exact spot his target was last seen occupying. Instead of the sound of steel piercing flesh or a cry or sound of pain and agony, he heard only a metallic clang and the constant shriek of metal grinding against metal.

"I'll only give you one last warning. Hand over the scroll before I take it from you..." Naruto spoke up coldly as the dust cloud thinned, the golden armored blonde revealed to be holding the still spinning shuriken by the ring and using his chakra to maintain its rapid rotation, the metal grinding against his armored palm like a poorly maintained power saw. Mizuki could only stare at the blonde in absolute shock. "...And you do not want me to do that."

"Why won't you just die?!" Mizuki howled before hurling his other giant shuriken at the teen, only for Naruto to throw the one in his hand. Both large projectiles deflected off of each other, shooting off in two different directions. In that same moment, Mizuki bit back a curse and jumped to the side just in time to avoid being turned to paste by another of Naruto's punches, the chuunin wincing and losing his footing, stumbling as he clutched at his abdomen where he had been punched earlier, the pain finally starting to over-ride the adrenaline rushing through his body. Bursting out from the dust cloud brought about by his previous attack, Naruto shot straight at the chuunin, who could only watch with wide eyes as the red eyed genin cocked his right hand back while the distance between them was closed in the blink of an eye. He also heard Naruto utter a single phrase, his tone even colder than before and barely audible.

"Yoroi Bureka." This time, instead of a fist, Naruto's armored palm slammed into his chest with the thunderous echo of a cannon being fired, driving Mizuki down into the ground with the power of a mountain being dropped on him, the hand retracted an instant after contact was made. He was unable to make a sound or move any part of his body, his entire body having locked up as he laid in the crater's epicenter. Reaching down, Naruto wasn't gentle as he rolled Mizuki over and took the Forbidden Scroll from him, the leather strap holding it in place snapping easily under the strain of the teen's strength. Creating a Kage Bunshin without handseals or even uttering the name of the technique, Naruto passed the scroll to the clone before 'lightly' kicking Mizuki back over onto his back. Staring down at the older shinobi with the same menacing look he had been giving him since the beginning, Naruto simply stood there while a team of ANBU appeared in the area, the blonde's clone passing the scroll to one of them so that it could be returned to the Hokage. "You should have listened to me..."

"..." Unable to speak or move his body, Mizuki could only stare back at the golden armored genin with unadultered hatred and terror. Expression unchanging, Naruto slowly turned and walked away, his clone poofing out of existence since it was no longer needed any longer. As he walked away, the Kyuubi's chakra gradually receeded back into the seal, Naruto's eyes fading back to their natural sapphire and the newly graduated genin starting to tire now that the rush of raw power and strength faded away. The true strength of his Yoroi Bureka taijutsu technique wasn't his physical might, but the raw pain the strike inflicts, which paralyzes the nervous system and locks up the body's motor functions; he had come up with it as a non-lethal technique, though still quite an admittedly painful one. It was honestly only because of his morals that he didn't kill Mizuki for his treasonous attempt. Instead, the ANBU division can take care of that for him...

"It seems you are most definitely stronger than you first appear, Naruto-kun..." Sarutobi Hiruzen mused to himself while leaning back in his chair and puffing on his pipe, having watched everything unfold through his crystal ball, something Senju Tobirama, the Nidaime Hokage, had designed and made in his spare time outside of the wars as a means to keep an eye on things all throughout Konoha. Sighing out another breath of smoke, the Sandaime glanced back at the stack of files on the genin graduates from earlier in the day and then at the stack of team requests. Picking up one of the sheets of paper that depicted the scores for all of the Academy students that had passed the exams that afternoon. "Hmm...You certaintly like to make things difficult for others...Don't you, Naruto-kun?"

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Yoroi Bureka- Armor Breaker