Chapter 2: Sage Mode

I decided to re write many of the action scenes, tell me what you think.

Both boys sprang at each other sending dirt and dust exploding behind them. The first seconds of the match were a flurry of kicks as Naruto and Lee looked for an opening on their opponent. Naruto jumped over a low sweep and in mid air sent a horizontal kick towards Lee's midsection. Shin protector met forearms and Lee was sent flying backwards across the field, only barely managing to remain on his feet.

Gai sensei eye's opened in surprise as he watched the Blonde send his student skidding across the field. He must have enhanced his shin protecter with chakra, very smart. A technique like that requires significant charka control.

"Not too bad," Said Lee, as he once again sprinted towards Naruto. Both boys sprang at each other sending dirt and dust exploding behind them.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Dozens of Naruto's ran towards Lee, all with glowing Rasengan in hand. He managed to keep them at bay, sending well timed kicks dispelling several and using his speed to evade the spinning balls of death. Three of the Naruto's jumped over head, momentarily blocking the sun and confusing Lee whilst two others dove at his legs. Thinking quickly Lee sprang from the ground with a bicycle kick, dispelling the clones above, before tucking in his feet and landing on the clones below with his knees. The impact sent grass and dirt exploding from the earth.

In less than a second Lee was back on his feet, eyes glancing this way and that trying to find his opponent. The field became quiet as the sounds of birds and wildlife had slowly dwindled, and the river seemed exceptionally calm. Seconds ticked by and slowly Lee looked at Guy and then slowly down at his ankle weights. In a nod of approval the weights were dropped breaking the silence of the field and producing huge clouds of dust.

Dozens of clones sprang from the forest, running towards the now concealed Lee.

"Where are you?" Said Lee calmly as he struck down the clones with ease. His now enhanced speed allowed him to dodge their attacks without much effort. The spandex clothed ninja sped towards the forest, eyes scanning the trees and under brush. Where is he?

His thoughts were answered by the snapping of tree roots and cracking of wood. Lee barely had time to swivel his head before an entire great oak, torn at the roots, was sent hurdling towards him. With very little time to react, Lee lashed out with a kick at the trunk. The tree exploded into fragments of wood, bark, and countless splinters sending Lee crashing backwards through the underbrush. And then Naruto was on him, fist flying towards his face.

In the split second before rolling to the side, Lee was able to pick up on two very distinct differences in Naruto's appearance. His eyes were now a bright yellow with distinct orange markings shadowing them, and he was now shirtless, his veins rippling with strength.

"Ahhh!" Rock Lee yelled as he was sent flying to the side crashing through a small tree. The world seemed to darken for him as his consciousness began to fade. No, I can't lose like this.

"Gate of Opening! Open!"

Naruto heard the familiar words from somewhere in the underbrush, this is what he had wanted. Perhaps one of the strongest techniques in Konoha, and perhaps even the world, the releasing of the eight inner gates.

"Gate of Healing! Open!"

Naruto sprinted to his right, now clearly sensing Lee's chakra presence amidst the woods. In seconds the Bowl haired ninja burst from the underbrush attacking with an over head axe kick. Too slow. Thought Naruto as he caught his friends leg with one hand. With inhuman strength Naruto threw Lee up and out of the canopy of the trees, back towards the training field. Enhancing his legs with chakra, Naruto leapt from the ground following Lee as he ascended rather ungracefully through the air.

"Gate of Life! Open!"

Lee's skin began to turn a bright shade of red as the blood in his body began to pump faster and faster. Soon he took back control of his flailing limbs and looked towards Naruto. In a burst of speed he seemed to jump off of thin air, flying towards Naruto at speeds too fast to track with the human eye. Naruto's enhanced sight from Sage mode allowed him to see the boy in normal time, and maybe even slowed down his movements a bit. The two began to trade blows, Naruto landing a hard punch on Lee's shoulder with a loud crack, and Lee landing an elbow in the face breaking Naruto's nose with an audible crack. Kicks were rained down upon Naruto's side as he struggled to block against Lee's erratic attacks.

The two were sent crashing into the ground sending debris into the air and producing a large blast of wind. Naruto sent a punch at Lee's face only for him to roll to the left, letting Naruto's hand smash into the earth.

"Gate of Pain! Open!" Waves of chakra now spilled from Lee as he opened the fourth gate. The two boys collided against, appearing as mere streaks of yellow and red as they battled. Time seemed to move very slowly for Naruto, every successful parry or hit felt like a large victory, and every mistake left him tasting blood. Lee landed another hit on Naruto's side causing him to curse and nearly fall. In desperation Naruto lashed out with an open hand, catching Lee's leg. I have you now.

"Up!" Naruto bellowed as he threw the Tai-Jutsu specialist hundreds of feet into the air, the muscles on his back and arms rippling from the strain.

"Fuuton Daitoppa!"(Wind release: Great Breakthrough!) Naruto brought a hand to his mouth, sending a huge blast of wind towards Lee. He had no way to defend agaisnt the Jutsu as he was still being propelled upwards by the force of Naruto's throw. The Wind cut at Lee's body, creating several large gnashes on his legs and several smaller ones on his forearms and chest. Lee grimaced as blood began to spill through his jumpsuit, then his face became expressionless, his body straightened out, and then he seemed to have reached the pinnacle of his upward flight.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" An army of shadow clones sprang from the ground, each with a Rasengan in both hands. Naruto's expression became somewhat concerned as he began to hear a whistle-like sound from above him, then he saw Lee.

"Gate of Limit! Open!" The whistling sound was the water molecules in the air evaporating from the heat of Lee's chakra, chakra began to spill from him in waves.

"Here I come!" He yelled at Naruto as he began to plummet down to earth, doing a back flip in the air leading into a downward axe kick. Flames began to gather at the base of Lee's foot and leg as he sped towards the approaching shadow clone army. The air was filled with the sound of dispelling clones and whistling as the force of Lee's attack destroyed the shadow clones before even reaching them. Even so Naruto leapt towards Lee, Rasengan in each hand. They collided in a flash of blinding light, the rasengan impacting with Lee's attack. Then the two sources of energy exploded in a violent flash, sending both ninja spinning backwards through the air and to the ground.

The two Konoha ninja collided with the ground 50 feet apart, skidding backwards on the soft grass. Both ninja staggered to their feet. Naruto wiped the blood from his face with his forearm, grimacing in pain as the burns on his arms began to heal. Sage mode coupled with his natural healing powers from the Nine tails meant he healed at an extremely fast rate, but did very little to mask the pain.

Loud clapping began to break out at the other end of the field and Naruto glanced that way, surprised to see Kakashi had found his way back to the field and was standing next to Guy, as well as Tsunade and all of team 10.

"Let's end this here before you kill one another." Said Tsunade sternly. Both her and Kakashi were absent of a smile, and were not clapping. The chakra surrounding Lee slowly began to die, his skin faded to a normal tone. "You are much stronger," he said to Naruto, about to flash his trademark thumbs up but he suddenly collapsed, bruises appearing all across his body. Naruto rushed to his side, along with Tsunade, Kakashi, and guy.

"Is he ok?" Asked Naruto with a worried expression, he had seen the side effects of opening the gates. Tsunade placed a hand on his chest, and sighed. "He will be ok with some rest."

Guy patted Naruto on the back and reassured him. "Don't worry about Lee, he is always over working himself. He would have been insulted if you hadn't gone all out."

Naruto turned to Guy and in a low voice said, "I didn't go all out." He wasn't one to brag, but he honestly hadn't showcased his true potential in that fight, just a bit of Sage mode. If he had used any more chakra with his hits, he could have broken bones. Not to mention he had refrained from using any enhanced version of Rasengan, those were just too dangerous for a spar.

Soon Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino made their way over to Naruto, Shikamaru rather cautiously.

"N-Naruto?" Asked Ino with a dazed expression. He was almost unrecognizable as he looked now, wearing just a tight pair of training shorts and lacking his Konoha forehead protecter, as well looking different due to immense physical changes he had undergone, and strange orange marks around his eyes. Ino watched in fascination as the bruises covering much of his chest and abdomen began to heal and fade away.

The other members of Team 10 also looked at Naruto with shock. Choji hadn't eaten a single chip since they had began to watch the spar, in fact he felt pretty nervous seeing how powerful both Lee and Naruto were.

Shikamaru on the other hand broke into a smile, glancing at his old friend with a mixture of different emotions. "I should have known it was you. We were supposed to be on our way to a mission nearby but heard several explosions and came to investigate." Said Shikamaru holding out his hand to Naruto. They had always had a different relationship then most, Shikamaru had understood Naruto much more than the rest in his class.

Naruto shook his hand and smiled sheepishly, "Yeah I've always been pretty loud."

Team 10 and Naruto spent several hours at the training field, talking and catching up. Tsunade, Guy, and Kakashi had long since helped Lee up and brought him to the infirmary, although not before Tsunade whispered in Naruto's ear, "We will be talking about this later."

To Naruto Choji and Shikamaru seemed much the same as before he had left, although Choji was taller and larger than before and now sported a red suit with grey plate on his chest and arms. Shikamarua's hair was longer than before, and he now wore the standard Chunin vest. Ino however seemed to have changed a lot in three years, looking a lot more like a woman and less like a girl. She now wore a purple skirt and half shirt exposing her tone stomach. When the two blondes eyes met she seemed to look away quickly, confusing Naruto.

"This has been nice, unfortunately I have to head home now, I have guests staying at my house." Naruto said with a smile as he turned away from his three classmates.

"Hope we see you later!" Choji yelled happily, after talking with Naruto he realized that he was still very comfortable around the blonde and that he had missed his antics.

Naruto took off in a sprint towards his house, smiling to himself.

Temari normally woke up early, but for some reason she had slept in. She woke up in confusion, stretching her arms behind her head and trying to clear her mind. Why am I not on the bed? Maybe I fell... Slowly she stood up, stretched, and searched for her brother.

"They must both be out," Temari said covering her mouth with a yawn as she headed towards the bathroom. She opened the door sleepily, then froze. The shower was on, and a very naked Blonde Jinchuriki was washing his hair. Blood rushed to Temari's face she stood motionless and watched him, she felt frozen, almost transfixed. She took in everything with her eyes before a feeling of guilt and embarrassment washed over her. She quietly shut the door and leaned against the wall, her breathing heavy. She was relieved he hadn't seen her, if that had happened...

Suddenly the door to the bathroom began to open and Naruto walked out, a small towel wrapped around his waist.

"Good morning, glad to see you are finally up." He said smiling at Temari.

Temari blushed heavily and Naruto began to laugh. "Nothing to get embarrassed about, you seemed pretty tired last night."

Temari nodded slowly, she had been.

"Am I interrupting something?" Came the voice of Gaara from behind the two. Naruto began to chuckle, "Not at all, how about I give you both a tour of the village."

Naruto took the Sand siblings all around the village, starting with Choji's favorite barbecue restaurant, showing them the training fields, various weapon shops, and even the Uchiha compound. The day slipped by and soon it was just Naruto and Gaara, sitting on pitched roof of Naruto's house, gazing out at the lights of Konoha.

"I wonder if Temari is asleep." Mumbled Naruto looking at his friend.

"She is." Replied Gaara without moving an inch.

Silence descended between the two, not an awkward silence, but one of understanding.

"Naruto, what happened to you over your time with Jiraya? It's clear you've changed, but whats the reason?" He tried to find a way to ask Naruto with out insulting him, if it came out wrong it would sound like he thought Naruto would be a idiot forever.

The reply came without a shed of hesitation.

"I was tired of losing, tired of failing. So I trained, trained hard. Over the course of 3 years I guess I learned a lot, but I learned the most about myself." He trailed off. He wanted to tell Gaara, hell he wanted to tell the whole village. Shout it from the mountain, and let it sink in. But he couldn't, he was entrusted with a secret. It pained him that he couldn't tell his friend who his father was. It would be bad enough telling someone of your own village a S rank secret, but it was unheard to tell someone of another village, let alone the kazekage.

He trusted Gaara, but as much as he wanted to tell him some things were meant to be secret.

"I came to the realization that I was weak, and that I needed to get stronger if I wanted to go anywhere in this world, let alone bringing back Sasuke, or become hokage. But even now I don't know, don't know if I have what it takes..."

Gaara stood suddenly, "You need to have more confidence in yourself, I've heard you've grown quite strong." The blond boy's mood instantly changed and he smiled. Word had already spred of his spar with Lee.

"Being Hokage isn't just about strength." Replied Naruto.

"Thats true, but it is a large part of it, I want to see how strong you are."

"If you want to spar I'm up for it, I'm fully recovered from earlier today."

Naruto rose to his feet swiftly.

"Gaara if we are gonna do this we need to have to move away from the village, far away." He said the last words with a glint in his eye. He knew just how destructive their last battle had been, and at that time they were both only 13. Gaara nodded in agreement and the two started off towards the woods. Naruto led his fellow jinchuriki away from the village and into the undeveloped forest, several miles outside the city. They didn't want to take any chances.

Two shadows slowly trailed behind them, one was quite large, about 6'6 in height. He had spiky blue hair, and cold white eyes. His face appeared almost fishlike with gills protruding from his cheekbones. On his back was an absolutely massive sword, which was bound with white cloth. He grinned revealing sharp white teeth.

His companion was significantly shorter than him, around average height. He had raven colored hair and frighteningly dark eyes. When the pair began to get closer to there targets he suddenly closed his eyes, then opened them slowly. The Sharingan spun as it adjusted to the light, his counterpart smirked. Their robes billowed in the wind as they gained on the jinchurikis. Red clouds seeming to float in the dark night air.

Gaara and Naruto stopped moving, landing on a branch simultaneously. Gaara frowned at Naruto.

"I sense them too, I'm going to enter Sage mode," Naruto said as turned around and tried to adjust to the darkness of the forest. Barely any light filtered through the dense foliage that surrounded them, making it especially hard to sense anyone heading in their direction.

"I'll find them," Gaara said in a monotone as he sent his sand surging forward. Sage mode?

Naruto nodded then quickly sat on the thick tree limb and got into a meditation position. Gaara looked his way with uncertainty. What is he doing, doesn't he know our pursuers are going to be here any minute? The blond boy remained completely motionless, which surprised him to no end.

Gaara's thoughts were shattered as his sand picked up on an unknown figure about 400 feet away. Who are you? He grimaced then created the appropriate signs.

"Daisan no Me: Third eye!"

A large eye ball began to form from his sand in the distance, Gaara closed his right eye and concentrated. He saw a dark figure evading his scouting sand, jumping this way and that, but somehow managing to get closer to them in the process. He tried to lash out with his sand but the figure easily dodged and scaled a tree. Someone with this much skill? Where did they come from. That's when he noticed the robes. His eyes widened in surprise, this soon?

They have come, the Akatsuki. Gaara terminated the Jutsu, it was pointless, he would see them soon enough. The kazekage continued to strike at the man with his sand, but it seemed he was too fast, or was it too agile. He was in a totally different league than Gaara had ever seen. I guess they really are dangerous... I need to keep on my toes.

The red haired teen glanced back at Naruto, I hope he knows what he's doing. For both of our sakes. Suddenly the trees erupted with black fire, spreading through the forest at an alarming rate. Gaara' s eyes narrowed, the Amaterasu. Quickly Gaara built a multi layer sphere of sand around himself and his motionless friend. Someone started laughing from outside the cocoon of sand. Bam! An unknown force slammed into the outside of the shield, causing several grains of sand to break loose and fall to the ground.

A small trickle of sand fell from the top of the sphere, then it began to grow. Soon it was falling at an abnormally fast rate. Without warning a huge spiky grey sword cut through the ceiling, passing through the sand like it was nothing at all. Gaara grimaced and fell to his knees, his chakra, it was draining. It must be that sword. It must be the one doing this. I can't let Naruto get hurt, I need to drive him away.

In a desperate attempt to force the attacker away Gaara sent his entire sphere stabbing outwards in long sharp needles. The sand penetrated the assailment with a sharp crack, suddenly the forest was still. That can't be it... A log, he had speared a log. A substitution? The forest was eerily silent, only the wind could be heard as a whistle. Where did he go? Gaara raised his right arm and commanded more sand to scout the area, in an attempt to find the attacker.

"You thought you had taken me out? Haha don't make me laugh!" A strange voice said from behind him. Gaara whirled around but it was too late. A grey blade came sailing towards his neck. Time seemed to slow down. The jinchuriki saw the glint in the shark-man's eyes. The slight smirk on his lips, he must think I'm pathetic.

Gaara mentally smirked, he underestimates the kazekage. Gaara's sand shield appeared not a millisecond to soon as Samehada hit it with a loud crack. Kisame smiled as his sword slowly bit its way into the shield, inching closer and closer to the pale man's flesh. His sword growled eagerly, it had waited quite a while for someone with tasty blood, and this boy smelled quite powerful. Gaara sank back into the depths of his mind.

"Shukaku? I need your help." One black eye with a yellow pupil slowly opened.

"Of course."

Gaara smiled savagely as he felt Shukaku's chakra begin to fill him, the sand from his urn started to spread across his body, his arms taking on the shape of huge claws. His legs were also covered, and slowly a sandy tail sprouted from his back. It was just like when he had fought Naruto, only this time he could control it.

"Hahahahaha," Gaara began to giggle wildly as the sand crawled across his face, he was completely covered. He was now well over seven feet tall, with huge claws made of sand for both his legs and his arms. His tail seemed to flick back and forth, like it had a mind of it's own. What was most unsettling was his eyes, completely black except for the strange square like yellow pupil. The only feature that could distinguish him from his previous form was his tuft of red hair, and the blue markings above his left eye.

This is my trump card, this is the first time I've attempted this in a real battle... I still can't use his power to the full extent, right now I'm only harnessing about an eighth of what I should be. It will come in time. Kisame pulled his sword from the sand shield and slowly backed away. Gaara had just gained an incredible amount of Chakra, in a blink of an eye. Was this the power of a jinchuriki? He looked just like a miniature version of the one tails, but how powerful was he truly.

If Gaara's sense of smell and sight hadn't been altered by his transformation then he would of never been able to see the fist crash into the shark-mans jaw. Kisame yelped in surprise and pain but was soon silenced as another Naruto appeared behind him in a flash and landed a kick in the spine making the grey man scream. He was launched into the air, blood spurting from his open mouth.

Instantly 3 more Naruto's sprang from hidden positions in the forest, black kimonos billowing behind them. They leapt from the trees, kicking him up even higher into the air before dispersing into puffs of smoke. For a moment he seemed to almost be floating as his body continued its brisk upward decent. Then a single Naruto sprang from the trees rising high above Kisame before bringing his right arm back high above his head.

"Sage Art: Great Ball Rasengan!"

Naruto brought his arm back smashing the ball of energy into Kisame's stomach. The grey skinned man howled before hitting the ground with a bone crunching snap. Naruto landed 10 feet away from Kisame. I can't take any chances. Suddenly Gaara appeared next to him, the two glanced at each other in surprise. The blonde boy tried to hold back a shudder, his form reminded him of the day they had battled, only he was even bigger. Gaara stared at Naruto in a similar manor, only focusing more on the orange tint of his eyes than anything else.

Then two were brought back to reality when Kisame rose from the ground, bent over and coughing up blood. The shark man slowly extended himself to his full height and grinned.

"Water Style: Great Exploding Water Shockwave!"

Kisame yelled as massive amounts of water poured from his mouth. Naruto and Gaara leapt up into the branches to avoid the huge tidal wave that barreled through the forest, knocking down trees and destroying the landscape. Naruto's tree shuddered making him grip the bark with more intensity, he could feel the roots of the tree begin to give way under the stress of the water. The area was becoming a swamp, and fast.

Gaara lunged at the Shark man, ripping at him with is massive claws. He scored a light gnash on his hip as Kisame jumped backwards slicing horizontally. He grinned as he caught Gaara's arm and managed to shear it off. It fell to the ground with a loud thud, but then Gaara was the one grinning as it grew back in a matter of seconds. There is so much he doesn't know about this form.

Naruto quickly jumped to another tree as his began to waver and fall. He was swiftly intercepted by a raven haired man. Itachi! Naruto stopped abruptly and stood glaring at the man who had killed his own clan. The man who had left the leaf so many years ago, Sasuke's brother.

"Naruto-kun, so good to see you." Itachi said pleasantly as he smiled at the blond teen.

"Cut the shit Itachi!" Growled Naruto as he created a Rasengan in each hand. "Why are you here?" He lunged at the man only for him to turn into a dozen ravens that cawed at him and scattered. He barred his teeth in frustration. I don't have time for this! Gaara could be in trouble.

"Now thats not very nice," said Itachi as he reappeared behind Naruto. "I don't mean you any harm, I just need to ask you something. Can I trust that you will bring Sasuke back?"

Naruto was dumbfounded. Itachi asking about Sasuke? There's something I don't know. Naruto glanced over at Gaara and Kisame, the two were trading jutsu, and Kisame had the upper hand. Sand can't hold out against water for too long...

"Yes Itachi, I made a promise. And I keep my promises." Naruto replied looking the Uchiha in the eyes. For an instant Naruto saw a flash of emotion on the man's normally stoic face. What was that? Itachi sighed.

"I leave it up to you, take care of my brother. Naruto-kun." Itachi glanced at his partner's battle with Gaara before bounding away into the forest. "Good bye, Kisame." Itachi said quietly as he disappeared into the dark forest.

Naruto looked back at Gaara and yelled, "Keep up the pressure with your sand!" The red haired jinchuriki answered by sending another wall of sand crashing towards Kisame.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Several hundred Naruto's appeared, already zeroing in on their target. They all leapt at once, surrounding the shark man. He grinned lashing out wildly, every time he dispelled a clone he would gain their chakra, which in turn gave him even more strength. But it was not a winning battle, Gaara had managed to puncture him several times through the stomach, and hip, and one of the Naruto's had managed to land a rasengan on his left shoulder.

I need to end this, now. Naruto thought as he watched from atop a tree as his clones brawled with the Shark-Like man.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Yelled Naruto as he leaned against the tree to his right for support. His vision started to blur. Maybe he had over done it today, he had used a lot of energy against Lee. Breath, Naruto breath. You have used more chakra than this before. Slowly Naruto began to return from the cusp of unconsciousness. He watched the battle, waiting for Kisame to slip up. Now! Naruto and his clones leapt form the cover of the trees towards Kisame. He craned his neck their way but it was too little too late.

"Sage Art: Massive Rasengan Barrage!"

The Naruto's yelled as they summoned the massive swirling balls of energy to both of their hands. They crashed into the shark-man simultaneously sending a shockwave blasting through the forest. The area was bathed in a white light as the multiple giant Rasengan hit their mark. Gaara hastily ran backwards a good 100 feet before clasping his claws over her ears. The explosion rocked the trees, and the sound was truly deafening, the giant oaks and other foliage were shredded instantly as the energy continued to grind away at the man. Kisame's body writhed in pain, as his healing capabilities from Samehada fought against Naruto's attack. It was hopeless, he was going to die. In a desperate final attempt Kisame threw his sword Samehada forwards, reinforcing it with the remaining chakra he had left. The grey blade disappeared into the light of the explosion. Without his sword he was nothing but a man. His scream was completely drowned out, his body tearing apart into nothingness.

Gaara forced his eyes open as the last of the attack sent harsh winds through the forest. He gasped, Naruto... What did you just do? What was once a peaceful section of Konoha's great forest was now, a wasteland. Dust and debris littered the air, blocking out the sun from view entirely. Huge trees littered the grown, thick trunks smashed and broken. The ground itself had been torn up and was soaked, there was now a 60 foot crater. So much destruction... Gaara thought as he sprinted towards the pit. As he got closer he saw a figure slowly rise to his feet.

"Naruto?" He asked hesitantly. The figure stumbled then fell. A sword protruding from his chest, his head hitting the dirt. His eyes finally shutting and succumbing to the darkness.