A/N: I just want to give a big thanks to my beta, Leafy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 3

While the Hokage tended to the multitude of injuries, both external and internal, Kakashi had received, Sakura gave a recounting what she had witnessed to the small gathering of shinobi who had appeared at the site.

"What possessed you to organize such a test? Neither Naruto nor Sakura are under your authority" asked Tsunade in full Hokage mode.

"I hadn't seen either of my students in the better part of three years. I was just excited to see them and was interested to see how much they had progressed in that time. Honestly though, I never expected such improvement, especially from Naruto.

"That was a very stupid thing to have done Kakashi" stated Jiraiya simply. "Naruto harbors some deep-seeded animosity towards you for your past mistakes and you just offered him an open invitation to come at you with the intent to kill. You're just lucky he didn't take you up on it."

"My mistakes? What mistakes? What could I have possibly done to have gained such unrestrained hatred from Naruto?"

Jiraiya couldn't help but bark out a laugh at that. "You honestly are going to tell me that you have no idea why Naruto may have disdain for you? Well Kakashi, I'm not going to be the one to tell you. You'll have to figure it out on your own and talk to Naruto about it. However, don't expect either of us to step in when that confrontation begins."

Confused and speculative whispers began to break out amongst the gathered shinobi, not all of whom were complete strangers to Naruto. In fact, several of them began to excuse themselves from the crowd and move towards the one location where Naruto could always be found, Ichiraku Ramen.

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Naruto was in fact on his way to said establishment, but was actually moving relatively slowly. Despite having used shunshin to escape the group of gathering shinobi, he didn't really go very far. His body was protesting his every movement as his muscles slowly began to knit themselves back together. Okay, so maybe he'd overdone it, but it had been totally worth opening five of the celestial gates while unleashing Kyuubi's chakra just to see the look on Kakashi's face when he broke from his genjutsu and attacked faster than he could see. It wasn't as if Kakashi didn't deserve it, his past mistakes were plenty enough to warrant the beating he'd issued, but then he had the gall to cast such an illusion on him. Naruto's fists clenched as his anger rose up as he recalled the fight.

-----Flashback-----

"Go ahead and uncover your trump card, I simply won't allow you to view any techniques you can copy."

Kakashi chuckled. He had sorely underestimated his opponent. Granting his student's wish, he raised his headband to reveal his sharingan eye. "Very well Naruto, let's see just how far you've come." said Kakashi casting 'Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu' when he caught Naruto's eye.

Now, what Naruto didn't realize nor did Kakashi take into account was the fact that Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu is not a jutsu that is controlled by the caster. The illusion produced is a byproduct of the caster's chakra invading the opponent's mind and bringing their greatest current fear or worst memory to the forefront of their mind. For Naruto, this meant that Kakashi disappeared in the swirl of leaves leaving a figure he hadn't seen in three years.

"Hello dobe" came the voice of the 12-year-old Uchiha Sasuke. "You'll never surpass me. Thanks to Kakashi-sensei's teachings, I'm far beyond your level and now, I'm going to finish the job I began at the Valley of the End." Taunted the figure charging up a Chidori. "Orochimaru will grant me the power I need to destroy him and once I do, the people of Konoha will welcome me back with open arms for killing two of their demons!"

Naruto's knuckles turned white from being clenched into fists so hard. But before he could even move, the image of his former best friend was upon him. With a squelching sound, Sasuke buried the chidori into Naruto's chest. Looking down at the arm protruding from his torso, Naruto snapped.

In an explosion of Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto threw off the genjutsu and immediately unlocked the fifth gate and attacked Kakashi in a blur of speed.

-----Flashback-----

Unfortunately for Naruto, during his musings he wandered directly past his destination…directly into a crowd of villagers. With his characteristic yellow hair and unmistakable whisker marks, the villagers couldn't help but notice him. At first he didn't notice the glares or the whispers, but when one of them threw a bottle at him, Naruto broke out of his trance and looked up to find himself surrounded by a decent sized mob.

"What are you doing here demon?" asked one villager.

"Why couldn't you have just stayed away or died?" questioned another.

Similar questions could be heard being mumbled throughout the entire crowd. A few of the bigger men stepped forward and cracked their knuckles in what was meant to be an intimidating manner. "I suppose it's our duty to remind you that you're not welcome here." stated the leader, a former Chuunin, who threw a punch.

Unfortunately for the group, Naruto was not in a very charitable mood after his confrontation with Kakashi. Before the fist could connect with Naruto's face, the entire crowd as well as most of the street found themselves completely unable to move as a torrent of killing intent flooded the street. Glowing with a faint red aura, Naruto's whisker marks darkened, his eyes turned red and changed into the slitted eyes of a predator, and his hair darkened to a deep crimson. "This has gone on long enough." He whispered to the now shaking crowd in a deep, terrifying voice. Despite his quiet voice, the words carried just as well as they would have had he yelled them. "You villagers disgust me. If I truly were the demon you all claim me to be, what's kept me from slaughtering the lot of you? If you truly thought I was the Kyuubi, you wouldn't dare to assault me. Instead, you take out your trouble from 15 years ago on an innocent boy. Think for yourselves-I'm either the terrifying demon of your nightmares or a young, defenseless boy you can satiate your anger on…it can't be both. You people are the true demons." And, as suddenly as it had come, the killing intent and demonic chakra vanished and Naruto pushed through the still motionless crowd only to find two groups of people he did not want to see at that moment.

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Having arrived at the Ichiraku Ramen stand, the group of young shinobi was surprised to find that Naruto wasn't there. In hurried discussion, they discussed where the missing blond may be. Through the entrance flap, a portly member noticed a pair of people walking by.

"Hey, Shikamaru! Temari!" he called out while exiting to the street, causing the two to turn towards the source of the noise.

"Chouji!" Shikamaru called in excited greeting recognizing his long time friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Naruto's back. We're looking for him." Answered the always stoic voice of Shino who exited the restaurant behind Chouji.

"That's right! Naruto-san's flames of youth are burning brightly! If I cannot find him I shall run 200 laps around Konoha on my hands!"

Swatting Lee's arm to end his tirade, Tenten greeted the two as Kiba, Akamaru, Hinata, Neji, and Sakura exited the restaurant as well.

"Ano…Naruto-kun's over there…" Hinata interjected pointing towards a sizable mob of villagers with her byakugan activated. Startled by Hinata's addition, the group rushed towards the group, but their trip was cut short as killing intent like nothing any of the group had ever felt washed over them. Unable to even move, they could only stand there and listen to Naruto's speech until the killing intent dissipated and they were able to move again.

No sooner had Naruto pushed his way through the crowd to find his friends standing not five yards away, did a group of ANBU land next to him.

"Uzumaki-san," addressed an ANBU captain with long purple hair, "is everything alright here?"

"Yes." spoke Naruto his eyes never leaving the group of his friends. "It was merely a confrontation that was a long time coming, but as you can see, there has been no violence. Now, please excuse me, I'm in desperate need of something to eat, and I believe I have a lot of explaining to do to the group here." He added gesturing to the former Gennin.

"Of course, sir." Nodded the captain and with a quick sequence of signs to one of her members, the ANBU less one departed as silently as they came.

Giving a hesitant smile to his gathered friends, Naruto addressed them. "Come on guys, I haven't had Ichiraku ramen in three years, my treat. I'm sure you all have plenty of questions for me." And, with that, the group entered for a hot meal and long overdue conversations.

A/N: Thanks everyone who's read this story so far. Despite having only 3 reviews, I've had enough interest that I thought I'd post another chap today. Sorry for the short chapter, but this seemed like a good stopping point. I'll have the next chap out some time tomorrow.

Jutsu Library:

Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu-Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique

Chidori-Thousand Birds