Prodigy of the Spirit Realm

by taintedlegacy

Oto, Kumo, Iwa, and Akatsuki have created an alliance in order to defeat Konoha. It's up to Naruto to gain new powers in order to save everything that is precious to him...with the help of Kyuubi of course. Are those wedding bells ringing in the distance?

4. The Trials

Chapter 4: The Trials

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I don't own Final Fantasy. I don't own any other shows/mangas that I may have inadvertently taken some names from.

Author's Note: I think this is the fastest that I've ever updated! And it's longer than the previous chapter, coming in at 67 pages! As usual, there will be another Author's Note at the bottom (please read it), but for now, on with the story!

'Thoughts'

"Regular Talk"

"Demon/Inner Self/Boss Summon Talk"

'Demon/Boss Summon Thoughts'

Last Time:

A few seconds later, Naruto felt solid ground beneath him. He looked up, and realized that he could see again. To his surprise, it looked like he was in a large building. It was a huge room; around him were seats and empty space, and in front of him there were five huge circles inscribed on the ground. Beyond that, he couldn't see anything else; it was that dark.

Suddenly, a giant cloud of smoke appeared. Naruto recognized the smell; it was the smoke that accompanied a summon.

'Ah, it would seem as though the Summon Council has arrived.'

Naruto could only stare as he saw who was on the Summon Council.

"W-w-what the hell?!" he yelled.

--

Begin:

Chapter 4: The Trials

"You three are on the Council?!" shouted a surprised Naruto. Three of the five bosses in front of him were Konoha's most famous summons.

"I don't see why you're so surprised," boomed Gamabunta.

"Well, you never told your summoners about Kyuubi's attempt to create a summoning contract for kitsunes, did you?"

"It was not relevant for them to know," Enma firmly stated. "Would it have changed anything?"

"It would have changed their opinion on Kyuubi! An innocent victim wouldn't have been thought of as guilty!"

"Are you implying that the Kyuubi is innocent?" questioned an astonished Katsuya.

"You mean that you didn't know?" Seeing them shake their heads, he continued. "I assume that you know that Kyuubi picked Orochimaru to be her temporary summoner?"

"Hai and that was the start of her downfall. She should have seen Orochimaru's true intentions from the start," Enma stated.

'Aneue, aren't you going to defend yourself?'

'No, he's right. Besides, I'm not allowed to speak up until I am called for. For now, this is your battle.'

Naruto mentally frowned. He didn't realize how much he had come to relay on his aneue for advice.

"Just like the Sandaime Hokage should have realized that Orochimaru would have turned bad when he passed his team?" Naruto countered.

Enma bristled with anger. Though he agreed with Naruto's statement, he didn't want to admit it. His respect for his deceased summoner was far too high for him to allow anyone to insult him. Except if he was doing the insulting, of course.

"Enough," Katsuya firmly stated. "Naruto-san, I believe that you were about to tell us why Kyuubi is innocent?"

"Hai. To make a long story short, Orochimaru forced Kyuubi to attack Konoha."

"That is rather troubling news," Gamabunta stated. "If it is true, then he is far stronger than we had thought."

"Furthermore, how is that Kyuubi was controlled? It would have taken an unimaginable amount of power to force her to do anything against her will," Katsuya said.

"I can answer that," Naruto stated. "At the time he was approached by the true leader of Akatsuki. The leader helped Orochimaru design a seal to help him control Kyuubi. On the eve of Kyuubi's attack, the leader of Akatsuki used an extremely powerful Genjutsu before Orochimaru activated the seal."

"Have you determined who the leader of Akatsuki is?" questioned Enma. "If we have more information on the leader, then we will be able to ensure that a tragedy like the one that occurred sixteen years ago does not take place again."

"I was able to confirm the identity of the leader," admitted Naruto.

"Well? Who is it?" Gamabunta questioned. Someone who played a major role in such a catastrophic event had to be punished.

"Have any of you ever heard of Uchiha Madara?" questioned Naruto.

'Aneue, how come the other two bosses haven't showed themselves yet? Should I ask them to come out?'

'They are probably observing you to judge your personality. Of the three in front of you, Gamabunta-sama and Katsuya-sama have first hand knowledge of your character. Enma-sama has probably heard all about you from the Sandaime. Whatever you do, do not call out the other two bosses!'

'Why not? And you know who they are, don't you?'

'Of course I know who they are. After all, they were…are my superiors. That's why I refer to them with the "-sama" suffix. And remember, you must be respectful! All of the bosses will not tolerate rudeness during the Trials!'

'Fine.'

"Uchiha Madara…I have heard of that name from the Sandaime. But if my memory serves me correctly, isn't he the one who helped found Konoha alongside the Shodiame Hokage? He is far too old to be alive!" questioned Enma with a furrowed brow.

"And how do you know this?" questioned Gamabunta.

Enma chuckled. "My latest summoner was trained by both the Shodaime and Nidame. He often told me stories of their exploits and their history. He was rather fond of them."

"I too have heard of Uchiha Madara." Upon seeing Gamabunta's questioning eyes, Katsuya continued, "The Slug Contract has been in Tsunade's family for generations. The Shodaime and Nidame Hokage came from her clan, the Senju."

"You are all correct," Naruto answered. "Uchiha Madara was one of the primary founders of Konoha."

"But how is that possible?" Gamabunta questioned. "If your information is correct, then he shouldn't be alive. He should be dead!"

"Hai, he should be dead. But he isn't."

"There is no way he can be alive. Your information must be faulty," Enma said.

"It is extremely accurate. One of my spies observed him giving orders to several Akatsuki teams before he departed for an unknown purpose. My spy followed him to the Valley of the End."

"I'm not sure if you know, but at the Valley of the End, there are two statues there as a memorial of a great battle that was fought there years ago. One statue is of the Shodaime Hokage and the other is of Uchiha Madara."

"My spy saw him sit on top of the statue of Madara; he got close enough to hear Madara start to talk to himself. He reminisced about his fight with the Shodaime and all that had happened since he left Konoha and commented about how he played a major role in Kyuubi's attack all those years ago."

The three summons in front of Naruto started arguing with one another, completely forgetting about him.

"The evidence that Naruto has brought forth can not be disputed!" Gamabunta stated.

"Are you willing to trust the word of this child?" Enma countered.

"The evidence is undeniable!"

"Are you sure? Or are you just saying that because he is your summoner?"

"Are you insinuating something?"

"Just the facts, just the facts."

"Enma-san, Gamabunta is correct. If Madara was able to manipulate the Kyuubi, then something must be done."

"You too Katsuya? I wouldn't have thought that you would be blinded!"

"Blinded? How am I blinded? You know very well that he is not my summoner."

"True, but it you can not deny the fact that your summoner favors him. Besides, what of your past friendship with the Kyuubi? Are your decisions being made based on fact or emotion?" questioned Enma.

'Friendship? Aneue, you were friends with Katsuya?'

'Hai. That was many years ago though. I'll tell you about it some other time though. You should pay attention to what they are saying. It is vital to know the positions of each Council Members.'

"You should know that my arguments are always based on the facts," Katsuya stated. When Enma had brought up her old friendship with the Kyuubi, it felt as though he had ripped the scab off of a barely healed wound.

Despite her words, Katsuya wanted to believe Naruto's words. She and their other close friend had both felt…betrayed when word reached the Spirit Realm that the Kyuubi had attacked Konoha. If the Kyuubi hadn't meant to attack Konoha, then there might still be a chance to re-forge their friendship. That is, if the Kyuubi forgave her for not believing her or being there for her when she needed her the most.

"You shouldn't be talking Enma. The Sandaime favored Naruto as well."

Enma couldn't see a way out of Gamabunta's statement. It was true though. The Sandaime had often summoned Enma when he needed to vent about the child's treatment. If half of the things that he was told was true, then there was no way that the child in front of him didn't hold any negative feelings towards Konoha. With the Sandaime gone, it was up to him to protect Konoha however he could. He had no way of knowing if this was a clever ploy to destroy Konoha.

"Let's say we do take the child's words as truth. What do you suggest we do about it?" Enma said in an attempt to avoid Gamabunta's statement.

Gamabunta smirked; he knew as well as anyone else that Enma was trying to change the subject in order to avoid embarrassment. "Then we will ban together and fight. Fight to defeat Madara!"

Enma snorted. "Are you truly so naïve as to believe that we would be able to win such a fight? Remember, this is the man who helped control the Kyuubi! The Kyuubi! Not just a simple summon, but the strongest of the Bijuu! Need I remind you that the combined powers of everyone on this council would barely be enough to be greater than the full power of the Kyuubi?"

Naruto felt that the debate would take a turn for the worse unless he stepped in. Besides, he was the one who had called them together; he shouldn't have been left out of the argument in the first place. Before he spoke, he took a moment to gather his thoughts. Normally, he would have just blurted something out, but he remembered his aneue's suggestion to remain polite.

"I hate to interrupt, but one way or another, many Summon Clans will be facing Madara. It is inevitable that Summon Clans will be drawn into the upcoming war. Are you aware that Konoha will be invaded in approximately nine months?"

Enma snorted. "Of course we're aware of that. Gamabunta told us, who heard it from the Gama-sennin. His spy network is rather complex as I'm sure you know."

'Heh, time to make him take me seriously!'

"And who do you think told Jiraiya-sensei about it?"

Katsuya was stunned. "Naruto-san, are you saying that you were the one who found out about the invasion?"

Naruto smiled, "Hai. My spy network is very complex and effective. Even Jiraiya-sensei will admit that my own network is more effective than his."

Gamabunta laughed. "I was wondering why that old fool wouldn't tell me how his spies got the information; he didn't even know how you did it! I knew letting you become my summoner was a good move!"

"Let's get back to business, shall we? I'm sure that there will be time later to exalt on Naruto's skill in setting up such an effective network." To be honest, Enma was rather surprised that Naruto was the one who gathered the information. The information was accurate, and after sending out some of his own scouts, he was able to determine that the information was accurate.

However, he wasn't ready to trust him just yet. He wouldn't let his guard down when it came to the protection of Konoha; the Sandaime had made the mistake of letting his guard down with Orochimaru and he had regretted it for the rest of his life. Until he administered his own trial, his suspicions of Naruto would remain.

"Very well," Naruto answered. "At one time or another, your summoners will summon you to help them in the war. Would you rather face the enemies by yourself or when you are fighting together? You can't avoid the confrontation, but you can pick how you will fight. Enma-sama, you should know that teamwork is the best weapon in any battle."

"Are you saying that you want us to go to war for you?" Enma asked.

"No. That would be beyond my rights. I could only ask the Toad Clan to go to war for me, and even then they have every right to refuse. Your summoner, I presume someone from the Sarutobi clan, could ask you to go to war for them however."

"The war that will come in less than a year will be one that has never been seen before. In all of the other Great Wars, never was a side so badly outnumbered or outclassed as Konoha will be in this one. The quality of Konoha's shinobi may be higher than the others, but quality only goes so far against quantity," Enma warned.

Before Naruto could respond, a harsh male laugh came from one of the two areas behind the three bosses.

"Hah! Seems like the old tree-swinger is afraid of fighting! Why are you so afraid of fighting in a war? You should be honored that you will be allowed to spill the blood of those who would harm your summoner!"

"I am afraid that I do not share your love of war, you overgrown bat," Enma stated coldly.

'Overgrown bat? Is this the old bat that they had to go find? I've never seen a bat summon before. I bet he's terrifying.'

As the owner of the voice came forth, Naruto realized that he was right. The boss was downright terrifying. His wings were huge, even though they were against his back and not extended to their full length. His claws looked to be razor-sharp and were as long as his entire leg. When his mouth was opened, Naruto could tell that the smallest of his teeth were easily the length of his forearm.

'This…this is no bat!'

And indeed it wasn't. Instead of seeing a bat walk forth, it was a dragon that walked forth.

When Naruto got over his surprise of seeing a dragon instead of a bat, he continued his examination of the boss. His legs rippled with his muscles whenever he took a step forward to join the other bosses. Though his arms seemed to be out of proportion when compared to the rest of his body, he had no doubt that he would be able to tear one of the giant trees in Konoha from the ground with a single pull.

If Naruto thought that the dragon's muscular arms and legs were intimidating, then the dragon's tail was enough to kill him just by seeing them. The top of his tail was covered with spikes, jutting out in different angles. He bet that the dragon would be able to knock down the Hokage Tower with a single swipe.

To top off his appearance, he had two bull-like horns on the top of his head. They looked as if they were just as sharp as his talons and teeth.

His skin was dark black in color, a major contrast to the pure white color talons and teeth. The dragon's eyes were a glowing, dark red. They seemed to drill through Naruto's entire soul.

'I wonder how fast he can fly. Aneue, do you think he can breathe fire?'

'He can fly much faster than you would think someone of his size can fly. And yes, he can breathe fire. The fire is so hot and powerful that even I would be hurt from a single blast.'

'Is he blood-thirsty? He seems like he's in love with fighting.'

'He's not blood-thirsty. He just likes to come off as being blood-thirsty. He knows that it makes his already intimidating appearance even more intimidating. However he does follow a strict sense of justice. He won't kill unless he has a good reason to. When he must, he will do everything he can to protect the innocent and those that he cares for. Now pay attention, I believe that he is on your side, but I can't be sure.'

"Love of war? I don't love war. I'm just willing to do what I must in order to defend justice. It seems that you're trying to avoid fighting. You know, if your summoner had done his duty, then he would still be alive."

That was a low blow, and Naruto stepped in to defend the Sandaime. It wasn't his fault that he still considered Orochimaru as one of his precious people, even though the Hebi-sennin didn't.

"You speak of justice, yet you can't understand why the Sandaime wanted to avoid killing Orochimaru? He still wanted to save Orochimaru, to bring him out of the darkness. Don't you think that saving someone precious to you would count as justice?"

Enma was shocked. Why was Naruto defending Sarutobi's actions? If he had killed the traitor that day so many years ago, then many of Naruto's current problems wouldn't have occurred.

Before the boss could speak up, the final voice spoke up.

"He has you there you know," a feminine voice stated.

"Has me you say? I think not. For the crimes that Orochimaru has done, the only justice would be to kill him. The moment he experimented on children his fate was sealed. If those were his only crimes, then I would have killed him quickly. For attacking a village for personal gain, I will kill him slowly. I might even eat him. It has been a while since I've eaten snake."

"Your sense of justice has no room for second chances, does it?" Naruto asked.

"Second chances? Actually, it does. Though it would be a crime, I'm not going to kill someone for stealing food when hunger gnaws at their stomach. If someone commits a crime as heinous as killing their own sensei who has done no harm to them, then I will kill them. Someone as evil as that does not deserve a second chance; sometimes, you have to kill to survive."

"I have two rules for you to remember ningen: One-I don't kill without a reason. Two-I can always find a reason to kill."1

"Oh, stop trying to frighten him. Anyone can tell that he's not intimidated by your speech…or your appearance," came the mysterious feminine voice.

The final boss stepped out of the shadows and into Naruto's view.

Instead of having an intimidating aura, this boss had one of comfort.

'But then again, dragons are usually perceived as being dangerous and intimidating. Phoenixes are usually associated with healing and protecting,' Naruto thought.

Even the boss's appearance was comforting. Her feathers were all bright red in color, and her beak was a bright yellow. The phoenix's golden eyes were a stark contrast to her red feathers. Naruto was so caught up thinking about how gentle the boss looked that he didn't notice her talons.

Her talons were long and curved, much like the dragon's talons. They weren't as large as his, but Naruto would bet that they were just as deadly.

'Aneue, does this phoenix have any special powers?'

'I guess you could call it that. The Phoenix clan is known for their legendary healing abilities. However, they are still fierce fighters. Don't underestimate their talons and beaks.'

"Hmph."

"Do you have to be so rude? You didn't even give out your name," she stated, scolding the dragon.

She turned to face Naruto before speaking. "You may call me Hikari."

"It is a pleasure to meet you Hikari-sama. I am Uzumaki Naruto," he said before he bowed.

"Feh. My name is Bahamut. Remember it well, ningen."

"It is an honor to meet you Bahamut-sama," Naruto said, bowing once again.

"Enough with the introductions," Bahamut stated in a deep voice. "Your evidence can not be disputed, even if a certain tree-swinger wants to look the other way," he said scathingly.

"However, I have another question for you to answer," he continued. "Why have you called us here?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. He was confused; why wouldn't the members of the Summon Council know why they were summoned?

"Forgive me for my impudence, but may I ask why it is that you do not know why you were summoned?" Naruto questioned.

Bahamut snorted, and a cloud of smoke came out of his nostrils. "Feh, first thing I knew was a bunch of toads were poking me with their little knives, trying to wake me up! It's not like any of us know why you summoned us. We just know that we have to come."

Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well…I called you here because…I want to undergo the Trials in order to become the temporary summoner of the Kitsune Clan."

--

"Hah!"

"Guh!"

"Very good Hinata-san," Yamato stated. "Now, even if he wanted to, Kiba-san will not be able to hurt you."

It was five in the morning and the sun was just starting to rise. The Chuunin members of Team Eight were all training under Yamato. Kurenai was still sleeping inside the house that Yamato had erected. Yamato had insisted that they let her sleep in. He reasoned that a pregnant woman needs all the sleep she can get.

Today's lesson was on pressure points. Yamato had first taught them all the pressure points on the body. By adding chakra to them, certain side effects could occur. Some would cause partial paralysis, full paralysis, unconsciousness, and even death.

While Kiba was most impressed by being able to kill someone with a single tap, Hinata was more fascinated by those that could cause complete paralysis. Shino didn't seem to care about the lesson, but everyone knew that he was paying very close attention.

After teaching them about the pressure points, Yamato had taken out three scrolls. Opening one of them, he started to point out the location of pressure points. After they memorized the location of a non-lethal one, they were told to try it out on their sparring partner (under the close supervision of Yamato of course). When they successfully tested it out, then they were to memorize the remaining pressure points-both lethal and non-lethal and then work on their clan's techniques.

Hinata had just successful tapped a pressure point underneath Kiba's right shoulder, rendering approximately ninety percent of his body paralyzed. His vital organs were able to function, and he should be able to talk, though talking would be difficult since he had limited control over his tongue.

"Ano Kiba-kun, a-a-are you alright?" Hinata asked as she kneeled down next to him.

"That hurt more than I thought, but I'll be able to move around soon, don't worry!" he said rather slowly. The pressure point that Hinata had hit barely let him move; he had to struggle to talk.

'The view is really nice too…' And indeed it was; from Kiba's position he was in the perfect position to view Hinata's ample assets.

Hinata stood up to go and start to memorize more of the paralysis pressure points.

"Oi, Hinata-chan! I got a question for you before you leave," Kiba said.

Hinata kneeled back down next to Kiba. "Hai?"

Kiba managed to look a bit sheepish as he asked, "So when do you want to go on that next date? Just because we're out training doesn't mean that we can't go on a date. I brought some real food that we could share after training some time."

Hinata froze as she heard her teammate's question. 'What do I do? Okaasan, what would you do? Should I go on with my life or wait and pine for Naruto-san? Am I strong enough to move on?'

'Wait, what am I talking about? I trained hard for three years, I am strong! There's no point in me wasting my time! I wasted sixteen years, no more!'

"I'd love to Kiba-kun. Tonight?"

Kiba was a bit stunned. He didn't think that he had made a good impression with her on their first date. If he was able to move his body, he would have jumped in joy. He could barely even talk since Hinata had hit that pressure point.

"Sure, tonight would be great! I'll pick you up!"

Hinata forced a laugh since she knew that Kiba-kun was trying to be funny. She didn't want to hurt his feelings by not laughing. She stood up and walked towards her room in Yamato's house in order to memorize the scroll on pressure points.

'Am I…am I doing the right thing? My head says yes, but my heart is crying…'

--

Naruto had thought that his intent of establishing the Kitsune Clan as a summoning clan had caused a ruckus in Baachan's office. If that was a ruckus, then what was going on in front of him was a riot.

For a moment, there had been silence before they had time to get over their shock. Once they were over their shock, then they all started yelling. Just like in Baachan's office. However, that was where the similarity ended.

When Naruto had explained his plan to Ero-sennin and Baachan and they got over their shock, they had started to yell at him. The summons though, completely ignored him and argued with one another. He didn't know whether he should be insulted that they ignored him or thankful that he wasn't involved in their argument.

To be honest, Naruto was frightened. He hadn't been conscious when Gamabunta and Katsuya had been summoned to fight Orochimaru three years ago. However, Shizune-neechan had told him all about it, and how terrified she was of it. According to her, it was quite a battle. He had always been disappointed that he had missed it.

Now that he was in front of what would most likely escalate to a battle, he was thinking that Shizune-neechan had been right when she told him that he was being foolish for wanting to see a fight of that magnitude. If she thought that seeing three boss summons fight was frightening, then seeing five boss summons fight would be…he couldn't think of a word that would do it justice.

Though they weren't launching blows at one another yet, Naruto knew that it was only a matter of time before they would start fighting. Of the five, the one that Naruto feared the most was Bahamut-sama. Naruto wasn't able to determine what the dragon summon's position on his question was, but if he was against it then Naruto was going to run.

Even though his aneue had assured him that Bahamut-sama wouldn't kill the innocent and followed a strict code of justice, he was still weary of him. After all, didn't he tell him that he 'could always find a reason to kill'?

'You should speak up now in order to calm them down. If they do come to blows, then I'm sure that you will be blamed for not stopping the fight when you could.'

'No way! I'm not ready to die, not yet!'

'If you let them fight, then there are bound to be injuries and you will be blamed. Do you really want every slug, monkey, toad, dragon, and phoenix that you meet in the Real World thirst for your blood?'

'Eh, I guess you have a point there. I don't like it, but I will step in…'

"Forgive my interruption, but I think it would be best if you all settled down!" Naruto shouted in order to be heard.

To his surprise, the boss summons stopped arguing with one another. Naruto thought that he would have had to shout for silence a few more times or even use a ninjutsu or two.

Bahamut let out a hearty laugh. "Ha! I have yet to meet a ningen who had the guts to shout to one boss summon, let alone five! You have spirit boy!"

"Arigato Bahamut-sama."

"Now that we are settled down," Gamabunta stated, "Why don't we get back to Naruto's request?"

"I don't like it," Enma stated bluntly.

"And why is that?" Katsuya responded.

"Why should we allow the strongest of the Bijuu to become a boss summon? That would just be asking for Madara and Orochimaru to team up again and control the Kyuubi. I don't think we need to make unnecessary problems; we have enough of them already."

"Personally, I think that the Kyuubi should be allowed to become a boss summon," Gamabunta stated. "Who are we to condemn someone for crimes that were not their fault?"

"The Summon Council," Enma tersely answered.

"Gamabunta has a point," Katsuya stated. "We have no right to deny the Kyuubi the chance to become a boss summon."

"Are you sure that you are making your decision based on logic and not emotion?" questioned Enma.

"I have to agree with Enma on this one," Hikari stated. "Allowing the Kyuubi to become a boss summon is just asking for trouble. We know that the perpetrators behind the Kyuubi's attack sixteen years ago are still alive; is it the wisest choice to give them another opportunity?"

"If you will allow Kyuubi to become a boss summon, there will be differences that will prevent the actions from sixteen years ago from being repeated." Naruto stated.

"Oh? And what would that be?" Enma questioned.

"She would be a summon, and as such she would have to follow the rules for all summon creatures Enma-sama. By that I mean, if I so wished, then she would be dispersed back to the Spirit Realm. If Kyuubi encounters the same problem, then I will not hesitate to send her back to the Spirit Realm."

"So you would save your world by sending your problem to ours?" questioned Hikari.

"No. From what I understand, all human jutsus stop having an effect once they reach the Spirit Realm, correct?"

"He is indeed correct," Katsuya stated. "Human jutsus will not be sustained after the journey from one realm to another."

"Just let the ningen take the damn Trials already," an exasperated Bahamut stated.

"I would have thought that you would be against this!" Enma shouted. "Do you realize the damage that could come from this?"

"Just because I haven't been out of the Spirit Realm for a while does not mean that I am senile tree-swinger. Besides, this ningen is obviously fighting for justice. And if he is to succeed against the forces that are against Konoha, then he will need all the power he can get. Even if he has the power of the Kyuubi, his chances of victory are not assured."

"So there are three for and two against?" questioned Enma. "Very well then. Naruto, you are eligible to take the trials in order to become the Kyuubi's temporary summoner in an attempt to establish the Kitsune as a summon clan. Do you accept?"

Before Naruto could reply, Katsuya cut in. "Before you say anything, you should know the rules and risks of taking the trials."

"Whatever damage you take in these trials will transfer to your physical body. Your wounds, if any, can not be healed on your spiritual body until the end of the trials. In addition, you will be cut off from the Kyuubi's chakra. That means no endless supply of chakra or an accelerated healing rate."

"Also, the Kyuubi will not be allowed to converse with you once the Trials start. Doing so would give you an unfair advantage; besides, we are here to test you, not the Kyuubi," said Katsuya.

"If at anytime you wish to end the trials and return to your world, all you have to do is say so," Katsuya stated. "Knowing the rules and risks, do you still wish to continue?"

"Hai."

"Very well, then. Unless there are any objections, I will be the first to test him," Gamabunta stated.

'Good luck otouto!'

'Don't worry aneue. I'll pass all of these trials, and before you know it, the Kitsune clan will be a summoning clan!'

'Fool, I'm more worried about your well-being than establishing the Kitsune clan!'

'Like I said, don't worry about me. I'm sure I can pass this!'

--

"Any new information from your spies?"

"Nah, I haven't heard anything recent. If I had to guess, I'd say that the villages are mustering their forces. I had a look at their mission acceptance rates, and they are far lower than the average. Something is definitely going on."

"Hmm…there's nothing we can do about that now though."

"I'm more worried about why Akatsuki agreed to the alliance though."

"What do you mean? They're after Naruto."

"No, they're after the Jinchuuriki. From my sources, there is one living in Iwa and one in Kumo. I think that they're planning on taking advantage of the attack to go and kidnap the Jinchuuriki while they're all distracted by another battle."

"Then why are they allied with Orochimaru? I don't think there are any Jinchuuriki in Oto," Tsunade questioned.

"There aren't. However, Orochimaru still has the ring that all Akatsuki members are required to wear."

"That seems like rather…fragile things to build an alliance on," Tsunade commented.

"They are. I'm willing to bet that Akatsuki will betray their 'allies'. They'll probably betray Orochimaru last; I'm sure that he's suspicious of their 'alliance.' He's probably hiding the ring that he kept when he left Akatsuki; he'll use it as a bargaining chip when he's pushed against the wall," Jiraiya said.

"What's the chance of the betrayals taking place before the invasion?"

"Unlikely. The leader of Akatsuki is smart; it'll be to their advantage if they keep them around until the last second."

"Kuso. Things just keep on getting worse and worse."

"Well, look on the bright side," Jiraiya said.

"Bright side? I don't see a bright side," Tsunade grumbled.

"If Naruto succeeds, which I think he will, then we'll have the power of the Kyuubi on our side," Jiraiya said with a mischievous grin covering his face.

--

Gamabunta stepped forward and motioned for Naruto to do the same. The other summons stepped back into the shadows.

"What is my test Gamabunta-sama?" questioned Naruto.

"In the upcoming fights, do you still plan to summon members of the Toad clan in addition to the Kitsune clan?"

"Hai. I have trained for three years with summoning toads; I know the strengths and weaknesses of your clan. It took me a while, but I finally learned several of the ninjutsu combination attacks that Jiraiya-sensei taught me."

'Seems that the Gaki realized that he needs to be respectful in front of the other summons. I haven't heard him call Jiraiya anything other than "Ero-Sennin" in a while.'

"Very well then. In order to pass my test, you must summon three toads from the bottom tier, one from the middle tier, and two from the upper tier."

Naruto blinked. His test seemed to be too easy. "Is that all?"

Gamabunta laughed. "Hai. You only get one chance, so do it right."

"But…it seems too easy," mused Naruto.

"Did you already forget that you do not have access to the Kyuubi's chakra?"

Naruto's eyes widened. 'Oh shit! I don't even know how much control I need-I've had to adjust my control because of aneue's chakra in my system, even if I wasn't accessing it!'

'Guess I'm just going to have to go for the lower tier first. Hopefully, that'll give me the time to figure out how much control I need.'

Naruto bit his thumb and flashed through the seals for the Kuchiyose. He focused on his control as hard as he could and let out as much chakra as he used to make two Kage Bunshins before he slammed his hands on the ground. As the usual smoke cloud appeared, Naruto held his breathe; he hoped that he hadn't used too much chakra.

As the smoke cloud disappeared, Naruto's eyes widened. 'H-how? How did he end up here? He's high up on the middle tier; there's no way I used that much chakra!'

"Yo Naruto-niisan! What's up?" Gamakichi said as he waved at him.

Naruto could barely wave back before he dispelled him. 'How? There's no way he should have been summoned!'

Gamabunta laughed. "I can tell from your facial expression that you weren't planning on summoning my son, were you?" Seeing Naruto shake his head, he continued. "I guess you should think about what happened before you try summoning again."

'When I normally summon, I need to focus on control while I just give a minimal amount of chakra for the bottom tier. So I guess now I would need to have enough control that I would be able to walk up a waterfall and a lot less chakra now.'

With that in mind, Naruto flashed through the seal again. Before he slammed his hand on the ground, he focused intensely on his control and only let enough chakra to summon half a Kage Bunshin. This time, when the smoke dispersed, there were three summons from the bottom tier. Among the three were Gamachibi, who cheerfully waved at him. Naruto smiled and waved back before he dispelled them.

'So if enough chakra to make two Kage Bunshin was enough to summon Gamakichi, then I would probably need enough control to stand on a flowing river and enough chakra to summon…eh, about eight Kage Bunshin.'

Naruto performed the seals for the last time and slammed his hands on the ground. Almost instantly, a smoke cloud far larger than the previous two had been appeared.

When the smoke cleared, Naruto smiled. 'I did it, I passed the first test! I'm not sure why summoning was so different.'

Gamabunta nodded to the two upper tier level toads-both were almost as large as he was, but one carried a spiked club while the other carried a massive axe. The two toads gave the boss toad a nod in return before they disappeared.

"Gamabunta-sama, if you don't mind me asking, why was it so difficult for me to summon? I should have known that your test wouldn't be easy," grumbled Naruto.

"I am not sure why, but I have a theory. Do you constantly have to focus on your chakra control when you are about to perform a jutsu of any type?"

"Hai. Jiraiya-sensei said I had to compensate because I had Kyuubi's chakra in me, even if I wasn't accessing it."

"I think that he was only partially correct. Foreign chakra is not meant to be housed in another living body. The natural chakra will attempt to repel the foreign chakra, even if the foreign chakra is just sitting there and not attempting to overwhelm the domestic chakra."

"In your case, ever since your birth, your chakra has been battling the Kyuubi's chakra, in an attempt to force it out of your body. Of course, no matter how much it tired, it would never be able to get rid of it due to the seal that the Yondaime Hokage used."

"As a result, your chakra reserves have been growing and getting stronger on a daily basis. When you were cut off from the Kyuubi's chakra, the chakra that you were using was all yours. Even if you aren't consciously tapping into the Kyuubi's chakra, you were still using a small amount of it, enough of it to disrupt your control."

"So when you used your own chakra, it was almost as if you were accessing your chakra for the very first time. Even though it is your own chakra, it felt foreign to you. During the Trial, did your chakra feel different than usual?"

"Hai. It felt…I can't really describe it, but it felt different. It was almost as if I was using soldier pills."

"That's what I thought. I think that you don't even know how strong your chakra is. As I said earlier, your chakra was constantly battling the Kyuubi's chakra even though you weren't accessing it. As a result, whenever you used your chakra it was 'tired'. So when the Kyuubi's presence was cut off, your chakra was fully 'rested'. As a result, your chakra was at full strength, a level that I doubt you have often felt."

Naruto scratched his chin as he thought. "Hmm…I guess that makes sense."

"Since you have finished your Trial, I would like to go next," Katsuya said as she crawled forward.

Gamabunta gave a nod to Naruto before he retreated back into the shadows.

'I wonder what I'm going to have to do to pass her Trial. Maybe I have to break her into a thousand slugs with one jutsu…'

--

"Explain to me why you agreed to this stupid alliance."

"How many times do I have to tell you that you should not be so rude to Orochimaru-sama? Disrespect will not be tolerated!" Kabuto scolded.

"Hmph. If he really cared about me being polite, then he would have done something about it years ago. I'm still waiting for an answer."

"Ku ku ku ku ku. Sasuke-kun, does it truly bother you so much that you will be forced to work alongside your aniki?"

The three Oto shinobi were alone in one of Orochimaur's hideout. They rarely trained in Oto; if they did show up there, it was just to show their faces or give orders. The ninjutsus that Sasuke learned were highly destructive; it wouldn't do to damage their own village.

Currently, all three were underground in one of Orochimaru's large rooms. It was dark, and only a single candle illuminated the room. There was just enough light to make out their faces.

"If I said yes, would you break off the alliance?"

"No."

"I'm still curious as to why you agreed to it. By myself, I'm stronger than any Konoha shinobi."

Kabuto shook his head with disbelief. After three years, Sasuke's arrogance was still going strong, and only growing. Even if he was defeated, he refused to believe that his noble Uchiha blood could be defeated.

Kabuto knew from records that the Uchiha were infamous for their arrogance, but Sasuke-sama's was even stronger than what the records had suggested. He had finally reached the conclusion that since the villagers and shinobi of Konoha praised everything he did (even if it was terrible) and handed him whatever he wanted on a silver platter, his arrogance grew to an unbelievable amount.

"Of course you are Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said gently. The fact that he was forced to make an alliance with Akatsuki and two other blundering villages had put him in a foul mood. If he had to deal with a brooding Sasuke-kun, then he might do something that he would regret.

"What's the battle plan?"

"Sasuke-sama, you shouldn't press Orochimaru-sama for such information! Information as vital as that should be kept secret for as long as possible!"

Sasuke glared at Kabuto before he returned his gaze to the Hebi-Sannin.

"You will tell me the battle plans. If I approve of them, then I will take part in the invasion."

"And if they aren't to your liking Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru questioned.

"Then I won't take part in the invasion."

Kabuto frowned. If Sasuke-sama did not have the Sharingan, then he would have killed him long ago. Orochimaru-sama deserved to be respected, not insulted.

Orochimaru just started laughing. "Ku ku ku ku! Your part in the invasion is not as important as you might think. However, I would love to see the faces of the Konoha shinobi when they realize that they have to fight against their 'precious Uchiha.' Very well, I'll tell you the plans that we have made…so far."

"Start talking. I don't want to waste my time listening to you when I could be training."

"As you know, the attack will take place in nine months. When the time is up, we will attack from the north. Iwa will attack from the north-west and Kumo will attack from the north-east. I'm sure that Akatsuki will circle around until they find a weak spot and then attack."

"It's seems to be a sound strategic plan, but why is Akatsuki the only group that will attack from an unknown location? Even the Hokage will realize that we will most likely attack from wherever our respective villages are."

"But it will be much easier for our armies to travel there. Besides, if a majority of the attacks take place on Konoha's northern front, then they will dedicate more shinobi to defend their northern wall. This gives openings for the Akatsuki to come in from the other sides, as well as several strike teams."

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. That was a good plan…a very good plan, but he wouldn't admit it.

"One more question. Why do we have to wait nine months before we attack? Why not attack as soon as it takes us to muster the shinobi?"

"Sasuke-kun, Iwa and Kumo need more time to muster their shinobi, and they need more training. Even though they are among the established Hidden Villages, they are not ready for war. At least not yet. Also, the Akatsuki has a few…loose ends to tie up. But why complain? This just gives us more time to find more candidates to give a cursed seal to."

"Hmph. I'm going to go train," Sasuke said as he turned around and walked out.

"Oh Sasuke-kun? Just so you know, you may have to fight alongside Itachi-kun. If that happens, I expect you to be on your best behavior and work with him. I don't want you killing him…yet," Orochimaru stated.

As soon as Sasuke heard Orochimaru's words, he stopped. He slowly turned his head and faced Orochimaru. His Sharingan was activated and the three tomoes were rapidly spinning in a circle. The young Uchiha's killing intent and chakra levels rose dramatically.

"If he comes in my sight, I will kill him! The alliance can go to hell for all I care!"

Orochimaru had enough; Sasuke-kun had been getting away with far too much lately. It was time to remind him of his place. He raised his killing intent until it was far higher than Sasuke-kun's.

Sasuke froze with fear. As hard as he tried to will his body to move, it wouldn't budge a single inch. 'Kuso! It's just like that time in the Forest of Death!'

"My dear Sasuke-kun, are you questioning my orders? Need I remind you who the strongest shinobi in this room is?"

After a minute of watching Sasuke tremble with fear, Orochimaru lowered his killing intent until it was just noticeable. "Have you had enough?" When he saw the Uchiha nod, he said, "Then go and train."

As soon as Sasuke walked out of the room, Orochimaru stopped projecting any killing intent.

"Orchimaru-sama, is it wise to keep him around? He is getting more and more arrogant and rebellious with each passing day. If we have to, we can just take his eyes out and transplant them into your body. His body isn't that impressive anyways; there are far more worthy candidates."

Orochimaru thought about Kabuto's suggesting for a moment. To be honest, he had been thinking of the same thing for quite a while. "No, that would put me at a disadvantage. I would be unable to deactivate the Sharingan, so it would constantly drain my chakra. I'd like to avoid that if it is possible."

Kabuto nodded in agreement. "Would you like to go and inspect the most recent candidates to receive the cursed seal?"

"That's a good idea. While we're at it, we can go and check on those that received it last week," Orochimaru said before he walked out of the room.

Kabuto blew out the candle and followed in Orochimaru-sama's footsteps.

If either one had stayed around longer or had the light illuminated more of the room, then they would have noticed that there was an additional occupant in the room.

As soon as the intruder was sure that the Oto shinobi weren't coming back, he left the room. Luckily, no one noticed the furry little visitor leave and head towards Wave country.

--

Naruto watched as Katsuya slowly crept forward into his view. He hadn't seen the Slug boss before; when Baachan had summoned her, he was unconscious.

However, he did know what Katsuya was capable of. During his training trip with Ero-sennin, he had hounded the Gama-Sannin for information about his teammate and ex-teammate's summons. The information that he had received was very enlightening.

From what he had heard from Ero-sennin, Naruto thought that the most dangerous ability of Katsuya's was the ability that allowed her to break into thousands of smaller slugs. Each slug was capable of independent thought, and they could form back into her larger form within a few seconds. Her acid wasn't anything to ignore though.

"I'm afraid that my test isn't one that requires physical strength," Katsuya apologized in her gentle voice. "Rather, it will test your heart."

'There goes my theory having to break her into a thousand slugs with one jutsu…'

"Excuse my question Katsuya-sama, but how will you be testing my heart? And what do you mean by my heart?"

"With a question Naruto-san."

"Okay, ask away Katsuya-sama!" Naruto confidently stated.

"You and one other person are fighting against an enemy in an isolated location; the enemy is an assassin and his target is my ally. The enemy is strong, very strong. No reinforcements will be arriving. In addition, you are unable to access the Kyuubi's chakra, meaning that you won't have a near infinite amount of chakra at your disposal or heal at an accelerated rate. Are you following me so far?"

"Hai. An ally and I are fighting against a strong enemy, and reinforcements will not be arriving. My ally is the assassination target of the enemy. Oh, and I don't have access to Kyuubi's chakra."

"Very good. Now, your ally is one Hyuuga Hinata and the enemy is Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto's breathe was caught in his throat. Of all the two people that could have been put into the question, she had to pick these two!

"Now on to the next part. The Uchiha is holding Hinata-san by the throat and a Chidori is ready to be shoved into her stomach. If the attack connects, Hinata-san will not die instantly. However, she will bleed to death no matter what you do; you are too far away to bring her to a hospital and there are no iryo-nins near you to help her. It will be a very painful death."

"However, you can save her life…by killing the Uchiha. The Uchiha has his back to you; you have enough time to use a ninjutsu on him or slice his throat with a kunai. What will you do?"

Naruto didn't know what to think. He didn't want to lose Hinata-chan ever. Especially not now, not when he had just realized how much she truly meant to him. Besides, she didn't deserve to be killed; she was far too kind, too gentle for her life to be snuffed out like that.

However, he didn't think that Sasuke deserved to die either. He was his best friend…no, his brother. He couldn't kill his brother even if he wanted to. Besides, Naruto knew that deep down, there was still some good in Sasuke.

But what would he do? Even though he knew that the situation was just hypothetical, he knew that it could happen. Maybe not with Hinata, but with any other Konoha shinobi. It was strange, but Katsuya's question sounded strangely familiar to him. Suddenly, it dawned on him and he mentally chuckled to himself.

'Heh…guess Enma-sama was telling the truth-aneue and Katsuya must have been good friends before. After all, their questions were very similar.'

His revelation didn't help him with Katsuya's trial. What to do? Kill the girl that he loved or the boy who just as well might be his brother? There was only one thing to do.

"I…I would do neither of the options!"

Katsuya was surprised. This was the boy that Tsunade favored? It seemed that he was nothing but a coward, unwilling to face the harsher side of the shinobi life. Behind her, she could hear the boss summons tense and shift uneasily in their spots.

"Are you saying that you would just turn your back and run?"

"No. I just said that I wouldn't choose either of your options."

"Explain," Katsuya stated tersely.

A sad smile covered Naruto's face. "Katsuya-sama, I've never been very good at following the rules and doing what I'm supposed to do, so I would create a new option."

"And that would be?"

"I would use Kawarmi with Hinata-chan, so I would be in her spot and she in mine. As soon as I can, I would impale myself upon Sasuke's Chidori. I'd use one hand to break his arm with the Chidori. Then I would use my free hand to grasp the hand around my neck and break that arm too. Finally, I'd use my head to knock him out."

"You wouldn't kill him?" Katsuya asked.

"No."

"You will die, and then the Uchiha will find someway to kill Hinata-san," warned Katsuya.

"I will die, that I am sure of. But no, Sasuke won't kill Hinata. He's unconscious, remember?"

"Then when he regains consciousness, he will kill her. I doubt that Hinata-san will be able to kill him, even if it wasn't in cold blood."

"You're right. She wouldn't be able to kill him. I'd tell her to disable all of his chakra points and then carry him back to Konoha for me."

"She's not strong enough to carry both of you," Katsuya pointed out.

"I know. I'm already going to die, so why force her to carry me? You already said that we were too far away for help."

"So you would force her to leave the person she loves behind?"

Naruto was startled. 'How…how does she know that she loves me?'

It took him a moment to regain his senses and gather his thoughts. "I would. I'm already dying, so there would be no point for her to stay with me."

"You would die alone?"

Naruto let loose a sad chuckle. "I grew up alone and by myself; being alone for a few more hours won't bother me."

"Naruto-san, you seem to be a bit calm about your death," observed Katsuya.

"That would be because I am. I want to be the Hokage; how could I be a good Hokage if I'm not willing to give my life for the people that I care for? If I die protecting those that are precious to me, then I would do so willingly."

For a moment, silence reigned. Then Katsuya started to laugh. Her laughter angered Naruto; did she think that his idea was idiotic? Just before he could make a retort, she spoke.

"Naruto-san, at the beginning of your rant I thought that you were going to run away! I can't believe that I thought that! Now, I can see why Tsunade favors you."

Naruto just blinked in confusion. "Ano…does that mean that I pass?"

"Yes Naruto-san, you pass. And you deserve it!" she proudly stated.

Before he could celebrate though, Enma spoke up.

"Then I will go next. Prepare yourself!"

--

"Hokage-sama, we should plan for a preemptive strike! We need to hit them hard and fast!"

"Why bother when we know when they'll come to us? It would be way too troublesome to attack ahead of schedule. If we do that, then they would know that we know of their invasion and then they would change the schedule. Besides, if we just wait then we'll be able to train and prepare properly."

"That is a logical choice. If we properly prepare for the invasion, then we will have the opportunity to cripple their forces. Once their forces are crippled, then if we do launch an attack, it will be much easier to secure a victory."

The points just brought up started a fresh wave of arguments. Tsunade just sighed and put one hand over her face. Jiraiya frowned and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She glanced up from her seat and gave Jiraiya a slight smile.

The Village Council had been called in order to discuss what should be done next. Currently, they were in a conference room in one of the many rooms in the Hokage Tower. They were all seated at a rectangular table, with Tsunade at the head and Jiraiya standing right behind her.

At the last meeting, they were told of the coming invasion. Usually the Council met at the beginning of each month, but with the information that Naruto had given them, it was necessary to meet much more often.

The issue at hand was whether a preemptive strike should be launched or not. Much to Tsunade's surprise, Danzo wasn't the only one who wanted to launch a preemptive strike; several Clan Heads, Kohamru, Hoharu, and the civilian members supported him.

Most of the Clan Heads supporting Danzo weren't major clans, but their support gave Danzo more strength than he should have had.

Tsunade wasn't sure why her sensei's old teammates wanted to launch a preemptive strike; most of their moves were made to gain more political power. As far as she could tell, Tsunade didn't see how they could gain more power. The civilian members just wanted the fighting to take place far away from their homes and businesses. If it meant that more lives would be lost, that would be fine with them as long as they still made money.

The major Clan Heads though, were supporting Tsunade and her plan to wait for the enemy to come to them. It made sense that they were supporting her; after all, their clan members would be the ones who did the most fighting…and dying.

"Hokage-sama, I demand that you tell us how you came across this information!" Danzo shouted.

"From Jiraiya's spy network. How else would I have gotten word of the invasion?"

"Is the informant reliable?" questioned Koharu.

"Hai," Jiraiya responded. "I trust him with my life."

"What is his name?" Danzo pressed.

"For my informant's personal safety, I will not release the name," Jiraiya firmly stated.

Danzo narrowed his one good eye. Over the past year or so, he had made multiple deals with Orochimaru. In exchange for information, Orochimaru had created an alliance between them. During the invasion, Danzo and his Ne ANBU would join forces with the invading shinobi and kill any who resisted.

After the battle, Danzo would be instated as the Hokage. And that, would be the start of a new age for Konoha. No longer their shinobi be 'tree-huggers' or cowards. They would be ruthless and efficient killers.

The fact that one of Jiraiya's spies had knowledge of the invasion worried him. The Godaime Hokage even knew when the invasion would take place, something that Orochimaru had refused to tell him until it was time to attack!

If the two loyal Sannin knew of the invasion, how much more did they know? Did they know that he was a traitor? Did they know that he had close to seventy shinobi in his Ne forces?

Before he could panic any further, he forced himself to calm down. It wouldn't do to give himself away; there was still a chance that they didn't know of his betrayal.

"How do you plan on preparing for the invasion?" questioned Yamanaka Inochi.

"I'm sending various teams with the most potential to go and train for two months. With enough training, they will be a force to be reckoned with."

"Hmmm…and by having multiple teams out of Konoha, it will give us an excuse to add more guards to the walls and our enemies will think we are doing it because we have less shinobi at home. An ingenious plan Hokage-sama," Shikaku said.

"Hokage-sama, can you tell us which teams you are sending out on the two-month training missions?" Chouza questioned.

Tsunade sighed. She couldn't hide the information that she was sending out the so called Rookie-Nine and Gai's team. She doubted that the Council would approve of a group mainly composed of Chuunin was getting 'special treatment'.

"Well…I can't tell you all the teams that are going, but I can tell you this: The 'Rookie Nine' and Gai's team will be going." Tsunade held her breathe and waited for the explosion about to erupt.

She wasn't surprised when she saw the Council members erupt into another argument. At least, the parents of those going on the trip weren't screaming for her blood. They seemed calm enough.

"Hokage-sama, I must object! Why are you sending such inexperienced shinobi on the training mission? The two months of training could make or break our defenses! Send some of my men!" 'Because it'll give me the chance to send a message to Orochimaru and tell him that the invasion is not a secret anymore.'

"I stand by my choices. And what do you mean by your men? If I remember correctly, your men would be the Ne ANBU forces. However, the Yondaime Hokage disbanded that group," Tsuande stated with narrowed eyes.

Danzo mentally screamed. After all this time, how could he have slipped now? "He did disband my forces. When I say 'my men', I'm just referring to the men who used to serve under me. They're still alive and performing missions for Konoha; it is simply a habit of mine to call them 'my men'."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow but she didn't argue her point. She was sure that he still had his Ne ANBU around.

"Hokage-sama, will you tell us why you decided to send those particular teams?" questioned Aburame Shibi.

"None of you can deny the fact that those teams are among the strongest that Konoha has seen in years. With more training, they will be strong enough to be Jounin. In fact, after they complete their training I will give them the choice to go on a mission to see if they are worthy of the rank of 'Jounin'," Tsunade explained.

"Jounin? That is rather…ambitious of you," Shibi stated. "Most shinobi are usually Chuunin for three to four years before they even consider being evaluated for the rank of Jounin."

"Unless they're a genius like that Neji-kid," Shikaku lazily stated.

Hyuuga Hiashi would have swelled with pride if he wasn't in front of the Council. "Hai. But Neji is an exception. He is the only Jounin from the 'Rookie Nine' and his team to reach the rank of Jounin while the others are all Chuunin I believe."

"Not quite Hiashi-sama, not quite," Homaru stated. "After all, the Demon is still a Gennin."

At the mention of Naruto, the atmosphere in the room seemed to darken, much to the displeasure of Tsunade and Jiraiya. It would seem that even after all these years, the hatred for Naruto still remained.

"The Demon is still a Gennin?" a civilian Council member asked. "I'm surprised that he was able to graduate from the Academy."

"We should have killed him when he was born," another civilian Council member spoke up.

"Hell, we should kill him now!"

Tsunade had finally heard enough and slammed her hands down on the table; she wasn't about to stand by and hear the Council talk about the person she thought of as a son like he was nothing more than a piece of garbage.

Jiraiya put his hand on Tsunade's shoulder; both in an attempt to keep her calm and keep her from jumping up and killing everyone who insulted Naruto. He was extremely close to attacking them himself though.

"Enough! Uzumaki Naruto is simply the container of the Kyuubi, not the Kyuubi itself!"

"We have yet to see proof of that," countered Danzo. "If you let me train him, then I'm sure that I'll be able to determine whether he is a demon or not."

Tsunade snorted. "Yeah right. Like you care. All you want is to make a weapon out of him!"

"He does have a point though. Hokage-sama, how can we be sure of where the Demon's allegiance lies?" questioned Koharu.

"First off, he is not a demon! His name is Uzumaki Naruto! If I hear any of you call him by anything other than his name, then you'll know what it feels like to fly," Tsunade threatened menacingly. "And what makes you think that his loyalty lies elsewhere?"

"He let Uchiha Sasuke leave!"

Tsunade turned to face the civilian Council member who spoke up. "Made him leave? Of course, how could I have forgotten? He gave the Uchiha Orochimaru's cursed seal, right? Kami-sama, how could you even think that he made the Uchiha leave? Anyone who spent time with him would know that he would sell out his own village for power!"

"Liar! He saved us all from the Shukaku during the Oto-Suna invasion three years ago!"

Jiraiya and Tsunade shared looks of disbelief before their faces hardened in anger.

"What the hell made you think that was him?" proclaimed an outraged Jiraiya. "Are you saying that you actually believe that a Genin was able to defeat Shukaku, the one-tailed Bijuu?"

"If it wasn't him, then who? He was the only one who had the power to save us all," a civilian Council member stated.

"It was Naruto who defeated Gaara!" Tsunade shouted. "Now, why would you think it was the Uchiha who defeated him? If the Chidori, his strongest attack, wasn't able to stop him when Gaara was in control, what made you think he would be able to defeat him when Shukaku was in control?"

"Hatake Kakashi told everybody that it was his prized pupil who defeated Shukaku," Chouza stated.

"I remember how all he did for a week was tell everyone who would listen how the Uchiha defeated Shukaku and because of that Konoha wasn't attacked by a Bijuu again. It was rather troublesome," Shikaku said.

Jiraiya and Tsunade were both stunned. They had known that Kakashi had favored the Uchiha and trained him exclusively, but to go as far as to lie to the whole village about who defeated Gaara? That was too far. Tsunade vowed that they would have a…talk about his behavior as soon as she could.

"It was definitely Naruto who defeated Shukaku and helped Gaara regain control of his body," Jiraiya firmly stated.

"Impossible! How the hell could the De…I mean Naruto," Homaru said, barely managing to catch his mistake of calling Naruto 'Demon', "defeat Shukaku?"

"He summoned Gamabunta to help him when Shukaku took control over Gaara's body," Jiraiya answered.

The Council was stunned. How could Gamabunta, the personal summon of Jiraiya and the Yondaime, lower himself by letting the very Demon that he had fought against years ago summon him?

"You lie! The Demon wouldn't save our village! He probably told the Shukaku to attack us!"

Jiraiya felt like shoving a Rasengan in the civilian's face. "Are you calling me a liar?!"

"Please calm down Jiraiya," Koharu stated. "Do you have any proof?"

"Do you?" Jiraiya retorted. "Besides the word of Hatake I mean. Anybody who was there?" When no one spoke up, Jiraiya spoke up. "Well, luckily I do. Just ask Gaara who defeated him. Or I could summon Gamabunta and you could ask him yourself."

The Council members who didn't believe that Naruto had saved their village paled. The Toad boss's temper was legendary; it was rumored to rival that of the Godaime Hokage. Nobody, not even Danzo was willing to face that if they could help it. And the Kazekage was rumored to be friends with the demon brat.

Tsunade looked at the clock mounted on the wall. "The meeting is over. You all know that what has just been discussed is not to be disclosed to anyone outside of this room. Unless of course, the part about Naruto being the true victor over Shukaku."

Slowly, the Council walked out of the room and headed their own way. Tsunade stopped Jiraiya from leaving.

"Would it be possible for you to get a few toads to keep an eye on Danzo? I don't trust him; he might try to send a message to Orochimaru telling him that we know of the invasion."

"I could, but why should I? Just summon some of your slugs," Jiraiya whined.

"You know just as well as I do that your toads are better for spying than my slugs. If they needed to relay a message to me, it would take them much longer to get the word to me than it would take for a toad to get the message to you," hissed Tsunade.

"Fine, fine, fine. I'll do it okay? You might want to make sure that you have an ANBU squad ready in case we need to apprehend the messenger or him," warned Jiraiya.

"I'll get on it, you just summon the toads," grumbled Tsunade.

'Naruto…I truly hope that you're okay. The Trials that you're taking sound dangerous. I don't know what I would do if I lost another precious person. Even though I never told you this, I think of you as my son…so stay safe,' thought Tsunade.

--

Naruto couldn't help but feel impressed as he saw the Monkey boss walk forward. Everything about him exuded power and confidence. His very walk seemed fitting of a king. Of course, it probably helped that Naruto could see Enma's rippling muscles beneath his fur.

"Before we start, I have a question for you: What is the most important weapon a shinobi can possess?"

Naruto barely had to think about his answer. Ero-sennin and aneue had drilled it into his head so many times that it was almost instinct to answer.

"The mind," he responded.

Enma blinked in surprise. He had thought that the boy in front of him would have said ninjutsu or muscle. The mind was the last thing that he thought would come out of the shinobi's mouth.

"Would you mind telling me why you think it is the strongest?"

"Well Enma-sama, the mind controls everything. Without the mind, one wouldn't be able to memorize the order of hand seals used for jutus or the proper stances for taijutus."

"But more importantly, a strong mind will keep a shinobi from losing their sanity. With a weak mind, shinobi will either go insane or break. Thus, a strong mind is the most necessary tool for a shinobi."

Enma was once again surprised. The blonde shinobi in front of him seemed to be radically different from the one that Sarutobi had described to him.

"Very well. I must say that I agree with your opinion. Are you ready for your trial?" Enma questioned.

"Hai."

"Now then, my Trial will be like Katsuya's in the sense that it is just a question."

"You are an ANBU Captain and currently have seven ANBU members working under you. You were sent on a routine reconnaissance mission when you received that a nearby village will be attacked by a large force of Oto shinobi in two days. Knowing this, you send word for reinforcements, but it will take at least three days for them to arrive."

"The village is of no real importance; it's just a group of villagers barely able to produce enough food to survive. This village is located in a valley surrounded by mountains. There is only one trail that leads in and out of the valley."

"Knowing this background information, you must make a choice."

"Your first option is to stay put and wait for reinforcements to arrive. Once they arrive, all of you head towards the mountain and set up an ambush for the Oto shinobi. By taking out this small army, you will be dealing a major blow to Orochimaru. However, by choosing to wait for reinforcements to arrive, you are condemning the entire village to death."

"The second, and last option, is to command your squad to go to the village right away, forgoing reinforcements. You and your squad are able to reach the village one hour before the Oto shinobi. Evacuating the villagers is not an option; it would take far too long for them to leave. Therefore, you only option is to fight a hopeless battle; you have to hold them off for roughly a day until the reinforcements from Konoha arrive. By choosing this choice, you will be able to save a majority of the villagers, but you will be condemning you and your squad to an inevitable death; you may die during the attack or you may die from your injuries later."

"Which option do you pick?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment. To be honest, the thought of dying scared him. If he died, then so would his dream of becoming Hokage. If he died, he would never get to eat at Ichirakus again. If he died, he would never get to see his friends again. But most importantly, if he died, he would never get to tell Hinata-chan how he truly felt about her. Was giving his life for the lives of nameless villagers worth it?

As he thought about his decision, he closed his eyes to imagine what the village would be like. It would probably be filled with farms and houses. There would be a river flowing through it. While the men worked in the field and the women took care of the house and babies, the children would run around barefoot having fun. Suddenly, he saw the Oto shinobi coming down the only trail leading in and out of the village.

The villagers would look up; the children looked excited to see new comers, but the adults looked frightened, for they would know that the Oto shinobi weren't here for fun. Suddenly, kunai started raining down from the sky. The children started screaming in terror while the men and women ran to protect the youth.

As soon as the first volley of kunai ended, those who could, rose to their feet and attempted helped the wounded to the relative safety of their houses. The Oto shinobi started to charge down the trail, overwhelmed by their bloodlust. All the men that could walk gathered their farming tools and stood in the entrances of their house, ready to give their lives for their families.

Naruto imagined what the fields looked like now. They were littered with the bodies of those that had died from the kunai volley. There were several parents lying lifeless over the body of their child. Their sacrifices weren't in vain though, for several children were helpless struggling to get free from the weight on top of them.

'They weren't even shinobi, yet they would do the duty that I was afraid of doing. And to think that I want to be Hokage…how pitiful,' he thought with tears in his eyes.

"I…I would take the second option," Naruto answered in a low voice.

"Why?" questioned Enma. 'Maybe, just maybe Sarutobi wasn't being an optimistic fool when it came to this boy.'

"It is the right thing to do, and it is my duty as a Konoha shinobi to protect all Konoha shinobi, no matter the importance they have to Konoha."

Enma shook his head. "It is not your duty to give your life for them. Besides, it's not only your life that you will be sacrificing, but those under your command. What type of leader will you be if you lead them to their death in a battle that will not harm Konoha?"

"Did you know that it is my dream to become Hokage? A Hokage must be willing to give their life for any Konoha citizen, whether it is a shinobi or civilian. Therefore, it would be my duty to die for these villagers."

"As for you second question, I wouldn't dare to make a decision of that caliber without first consulting my squad about it. I would give them the option to wait for reinforcements or follow me to death. Even if they all decided to stay, I would still go on to the village by myself."

Enma's eyes visibly widened. "You would take on a small army of Oto shinobi by yourself?"

"Hai Enma-sama, I would. I said I would die for the villagers, didn't I?"

Enma shook his head with disbelief. "I can tell that you aren't lying. It's not often that one comes across a human that is so…self-sacrificing."

Naruto chuckled. "I don't see why you're so surprised. The Sandaime gave his life to protect Konoha during the invasion three years ago. The Yondaime gave his life to seal Kyuubi within me. And to be honest, I think that fighting your former student and fighting the strongest of the Bijuu are far worse than fighting against an army."

"I am still amazed that you are willing to face an entire army for people that you don't even know. Hell, they may even hate you for being the vessel of the Kyuubi!"

Naruto closed his eyes and a sad smile crossed his face. "During my training trip with Jiraiya-sensei, I realized that no matter what I did, many will still hate me for holding Kyuubi. Even if I were to save their lives, they would still hate me."

Enma raised an eyebrow. "I have to admit, I am not as naïve as Yondaime that I would believe that the villagers wouldn't hate you, but I think you are taking their hate a bit far. Many people would change their thoughts of you if you saved their life."

"No they wouldn't," Naruto replied. "During the invasion three years ago, I saved the entire village from being attacked by Shukaku, who at the time had taken control of Gaara. But I could understand why nobody thanked me for that; no one was there besides my teammates. And Sasuke was the only one who was conscious."

"What I couldn't understand is why nobody thanked me when I saved them. I bet that you didn't know that I made Kage Bunshin to help defend the civilians, did you?"

Enma shook his head. "No. I did not know that. At the time, I was busy fighting alongside Sarutobi."

Naruto sighed. "I killed a lot of Suna and Oto shinobi…well, at least my Kage Bunshin did. One memory that I got from stands out in particular…I haven't been able to forget it, even after three years."

"One of my clones was running jumping from roof to roof in the financial district, looking for any civilians in danger. He found one pretty quickly; it was a young couple, and they were surrounded by two Oto shinobi and one Suna shinobi. It was pretty easy to kill them because they were distracted; all it took were three kunai thrown straight at their heads. After they were killed, my Kage Bunshin jumped down to make sure that the couple was alright."

"Instead of thanking me, they just glared at me. After mumbling something about the 'demon', they threw rocks at me. I'm sure that they were planning on killing me or something, but since it was a Kage Bunshin, it just got dispelled."

Despite Naruto's attempts, tears started to trickle out from underneath his eyelids. "All this time…and I still remember the looks on their face…"

Naruto opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling of the room that they were in. "When I found out that I was the jinchuuriki of Kyuubi, I told myself that I would win the respect of the villagers one day. I figured that if I became Hokage and protected everyone, then they would stop hating me."

"I realized how foolish that was during the invasion. The incident I described wasn't the only one; it was just the most painful one. The others didn't go as far as to hurt me, but they did run away from me and call me names."

Naruto looked down from the ceiling and directed his gaze towards Enma. The Monkey Boss was surprised by how moved he was by the boy's eyes; they seemed to be full of pain and sorrow.

"As I already told you, I realized that I would always be hated. But…if being hated means that those who hated me would still be alive…then I am willing to be hated for as long as I live."

"You have gone through so much, yet you still want to protect the villagers…it makes no sense," admitted Enma. 'Well Sarutobi, it would seem that you were right and I was wrong. Naruto-san holds no hatred towards those who have harmed him. I know that if I were in his position, I would have killed those who hated me long ago.'

"Like I said, I would willing fight an army and die for them. For my precious people, I would face shinobi armies from multiple armies and Akatsuki."

Enma scratched his chin in thought. The boy's wording regarding his precious people were…different. Who would use an example like that? Suddenly, it dawned upon him.

"Are you hinting at something that will come in the near future?" questioned Enma.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't plan on anything as drastic as that, because I doubt that I would be able to kill many of them. However, if I had to do it in order to buy time for them to escape or prepare further defenses, then I would do it in a heartbeat."

"You…you are an amazing person, you know that?"

Naruto just shrugged. "I would do what anybody would do. It is the right thing to do after all."

Enma shook his head. "No, not many people would do it. They would know that it is the right thing to do, but their fear would take over and they would run. But you, you wouldn't run or take the coward's way out. And for that, you pass."

Naruto couldn't help but smile. For some reason, the fact that he earned Enma's respect made him feel great.

Enma smiled at the young blonde shinobi. "I know that if Sarutobi was here, he would be very proud of you Naruto-san."

Naruto smile widened. It felt good that someone that was extremely close to his "Ojiisan" would tell him that.

"Now that this Trial is over, I will administer the next," Hikari stated.

Enma gave a slight nod to Naruto before he turned and walked back to the shadows.

'Sarutobi…if only you could see how bright the "Will of the Fire" has gotten in him. Now, if only those who hate him could see it…'

--

"Kaachan?"

"Hmm?"

"When will Naruto-niisan be back?"

"I don't know Inari-kun. He said that he would be done in a day or so," Tsunami asked.

Tsunami sighed; Inari had been just short of having a panic attack ever since he saw her come home with a bag of medical supplies. Being naturally curious, he asked her why she had decided to go buy more medical supplies when they had more than enough.

When he found out that they were for his "aniki", he had started to worry. After all, he knew how strong Naruto-niisan was, and if he had to ask for help, then he must be doing something extremely dangerous.

Tazuna had to physically restrain Inari from charging into the forest in order to find the Konoha shinobi and help him with his trusty crossbow. Both his mother and his grandfather had to convince him that Naruto was strong enough to take care of himself. Inari had resigned himself to sulking around the house, similar to what he used to do before The Great Naruto Bridge was built.

"Is he still moping around?" questioned Tazuna as he walked in the house.

"Hai," responded Tsunami. "I think that the only thing that will snap him out of it is Naruto's safe return."

Tazuna raised an eyebrow. "Huh. I knew that he admired the kid but this? This is bordering on obsession."

Tsunami smiled and started laughing. "I know what you mean. In fact, one of his teachers came to me and told me the same thing. It seems that whenever they have to write a paper, Inari-kun always seems to drag Naruto into it somehow. It's the same with all of the other students I hear."

Tazuna started laughing and reached for his saki bottle hanging on his waste. "Hah! Now that is funny! How many papers do you think that the teachers get about Naruto? The teachers must have been furious, being forced to go complain to every parent about their kids writing about Naruto!"

"Well, that's the thing. The teachers aren't complaining about the students' habit of writing about Naruto, they're encouraging it!"

Tazuna just stared at his daughter. "What? Just because he has a bridge named after him? Damn it woman, think of how popular I would be if you had let me name it, 'The Super Awesome Bridge That Tazuna Made?' Why is that gaki so popular?"

Tsunami whacked her father on the head. "Otousan! What have I told you about your language? Besides, it isn't because the bridge is named after him that people flock to him. It's because he's courageous, caring, and strong at the same time."

Tazuna rubbed his head in an attempt to quell the rising bump on his head. "When I walked into the store to buy my saki, I heard a few girls talking about how they were in love with 'Naruto-sama.' Pretty ridiculous if you ask me; I mean, they haven't even met the gaki and they claim to be in love with him."

Tsunami grinned; she loved to see her father get angry when he was jealous, and she was about to make him more jealous than he had ever been in his life. "Well, it's probably not just those girls. When I was talking with my friends the other day, the unmarried ones were grilling me for everything that I knew about him. When I asked them why they were so interested, they started talking about how they wanted to get to know him a bit better. Even my friends that were married were lamenting the fact that they were married and that their husbands weren't more like Naruto!"

Tazuna's eyes widened in disbelief. "You mean that Naruto has older girls falling for him?!"

Tsunami giggled. "Not only that, but as I was walking through the market today, I overheard almost every girl talking about how wonderful Naruto is. If you ask me, I think that Naruto has captured the hearts of every female in our village."

The old man had to sit down in his favorite chair. "Damn him! What's he got that I don't?"

"Well, he has an image of being a bit…exotic considering the fact that he is a shinobi. But more importantly, he doesn't think that he's better than the rest of us 'commoners'; he talks to everyone equally and he has a big heart. The fact that he's really good looking doesn't hurt either."

"Damn that brat! Remember how he used to be short and annoying? I can't believe how much he's changed," Tazuna remarked.

"Hai, he has changed a lot. I just hope that he doesn't get too injured doing whatever it is he's doing. If he comes back severely injured, then it would break Inari's spirit."

"Better not let any of the female population of our village find out that he's injured," warned Tazuna. "If they do, then our house will be flooded with gifts, flowers, and get-well cards."

Tsunami paled, thinking about what a mess her house would be if all those people came to visit their 'Naruto-sama.' "I hope he comes back at night…"

Now it was Tazuna's turn to laugh. "Hah! Knowing him, he'll come back in the middle of the day and walk through town, just to make an entrance!"

--

Hikari flew out of the shadows without making a single noise. Naruto didn't understand how she was able to fly without making a single noise; even the smallest of birds made noise when flying.

"Naruto-san, are you ready?"

"Hai."

"Brace yourself."

'This is going to be hard…I don't know what her fighting style is. I'll start out with taijutsu, then I'll move to ninjutsu.'

Naruto eased himself into a basic 'ready' stance; from this position, he could easily switch into an offensive or defensive position.

Hikari blinked in surprise before she started laughing. Her laughter soothed Naruto's raging nerves and washed away his tension, leaving no anxiety in him.

'Hikari-sama's laughter is like Hinata-chan's laugh,' Naruto thought as he recalled one of the few times he had heard her laugh. He realized that she didn't laugh very often; he silently decided to do whatever he had to do in order to hear her laugh more often.

"Naruto-san, I think you misunderstood my words. I meant to mentally brace yourself."

"Hikari-sama, I don't understand," admitted Naruto.

"I will be going through your memories; you may feel some discomfort."

"What?! Why?!" Naruto proclaimed.

"In order to make sure that you are walking upon the path of justice. I will not allow anyone to have the power to summon the Kitsune clan if they have any dishonest intentions," explained Hikari.

"I swear that I will not abuse that power!"

Hikari stared at Naruto with hard eyes. "Then why do you refuse to let me see your memories? If you have nothing to hide, then you shouldn't have any reason to refuse me entrance."

"Because they're mine! They're private!"

"I swear upon the honor of the Phoenix clan that I will keep the content of your memories to myself. Neither the other Council members, their clans, or even my own clan will know of what I see; I will just tell them whether you pass or not."

"No," Naruto stubbornly replied while he crossed his arms.

"Why?" Hikari pressed.

"Because…they're the only thing I have that I can claim that are completely mine! They're what make me unique! I will not let anyone else see them!"

Hikari's eyes softened with understanding. It was only natural for people to be protective when it came to their memories. For an orphan who didn't have anything else that could be claimed as something unique to him, she was asking quite a bit from him.

"Naruto-san, I understand your trepidation, but I promise you that I will be as brief as possible. It shouldn't take more than five minutes. You won't feel a thing."

"Will…will I be reliving the memories as you view them, or will I be unconscious?"

Hikari's eyes widened in surprise. From the information that she had gathered from the young shinobi beforehand, she thought that he would be a bit dense. Her opinion had changed as she watched him go through the other Trials, as she realized that he wasn't as dumb as he led others to believe. His current question however, surprised her.

"It can be done either way, but the few times that I have used my…ability, the one being tested usually prefers to be unconscious. You see, it saves them from having to go through the memories that I choose to pick. If you are conscious, it will seem as if you are reliving those events. By that, I mean that every emotion you felt you will feel again, you will feel the pain of every wound that you received. However, it is your choice."

"I…I want to relive every memory."

"Very well. Brace yourself!"

With a thud, Naruto's body fell to the ground. Hikari had positioned herself before she started her Trial so she would lean against a wall when she started to view Naruto's memories.

For a few movements, neither moved. Then, Naruto started to groan and his eyes flickered open. With a grunt, he managed to heave himself up onto his feet. He quickly wiped at his eyes, in an attempt to get rid of the tears that had formed; viewing a few of the darkest moments from his childhood had shaken him more than he wanted to admit.

Hikari noticed what Naruto was doing and kept her eyes closed in order to give him some privacy. After a few moments, she pushed herself off of the wall and managed to stand up on her two shaky feet. Her eyes were filled with compassion.

"Naruto-san…I am proud to say that you pass my Trial. Even from just viewing a few of your memories, I know that you have walked upon the path of justice your entire life."

That being said, she turned around and flew into the shadows. Her flight was not as graceful as it was when she had left the shadows however. It reminded Naruto of the many times that he had seen Ero-sennin trying to walk after he visited a bar.

Bahamut's eyes narrowed as he saw Hikari's ragged flying. 'Hmm…for her to fly in such an unsightly manner means that something she saw really shook her up. He must not have any bad intentions, or she wouldn't have passed him…oh well, time to see how well he will do against me!'

Naruto smiled; he was just one step away from completing the Trials. However, he was a bit anxious; Kyuubi had told him that at least one of his Trials would involve a physical fight, and he hadn't had that one yet, so it had to be next.

Suddenly, Naruto felt a presence behind him. He turned around and came face to face with Bahamut. It took all of Naruto's willpower to keep himself from running away. Instead, he held his ground.

"Hah! You got guts ningen, I like seeing that in my opponents…especially when I get to eat those guts!"

Naruto paled. Even though his aneue had reassured him that Bahamut-sama wasn't bloodthirsty, he couldn't help but be intimidated. He wasn't looking forward to this Trial one bit.

--

Hinata put the scroll down and wearily rubbed her eyes. She had just finished memorizing the scroll that Yamato-sensei had given them on the location and results of pressure points. With a small sigh, she sat back and recalled everything that she had done during today's training.

After she had hit Kiba-kun's pressure point, she went into the house and grabbed a quick breakfast. After eating, she headed towards her room and proceeded to memorize the scroll. The scroll was surprisingly hard to memorize because in addition to just hitting the pressure points, there were several that could be hit in conjunction in order to have different results.

After an hour of studying the scroll, she decided that she needed to take a break from the scroll. She went outside, found an isolated clearing and started to practice her Jyuuken. Her goal was to be able to defeat Neji-niisan in a one-on-one fight.

When Kurenai-sensei woke up around ten a.m., she was furious that no one had bothered to wake her up. Yamato-sensei had managed to calm her down by reasoning that her child could be harmed if she did not get enough rest.

She continued training in her family's taijutsu style until she stopped for lunch. After she ate, she resumed studying the scroll. It had been drilled into her not to train right after eating; if she did, then she would almost surely lose the contents of her meal.

Shortly after, Kurenai-sensei gathered the three of them in order to review the team formations that they had learned over the years. They moved from formation to formation until they were able to make the transitions with little or no flaws. Once that was complete, Yamato-sensei took over and told her sensei to go rest in the shade of a tree.

For his second lesson, he decided to teach them more formations; however, this time instead of reconnaissance formations, these were battle formations. Yamato-sensei had created the formations last night after he had gathered sufficient information on their skills. Some of them needed minor tweaks, but once those were made, they worked perfectly.

After they perfected them, it was around five p.m. Yamato-sensei decided to give them two hours for dinner and to rest before they would meet up again. She had told Kiba-kun that it would be better for her if they met instead of having him pick her up. He had told her to meet him at the riverbank at five-thirty.

She decided to use the time before her date in order to finish memorizing the scroll. It took her a few self-tests before she was able to get them all correct.

Now, it was time for her date. She got up and walked out of her room and headed towards the riverbank. She hoped that Kiba-kun wouldn't mind her training attire; after all, they were on a training mission and it wouldn't be practical to carry fancy clothes with her.

Kiba carefully laid out the food that he had bought back in Konoha on a picnic blanket. Akamaru sat obediently by his side. He reached out and patted his faithful ninken on the head.

"Akamaru, tonight is the night that Hinata-chan officially becomes my girlfriend!" he stated with confidence in his every word.

Akamaru gave a concerned bark.

"I'll take care of it. After tonight's date and Hinata-chan sees how great I am, she'll never even think about Naruto again. She'll make a great mate, don't you think?"

The large dog just moaned pitifully. Kiba reached out and scratched behind Akamaru's ears.

"Don't worry about her taking your spot, that'll never happen! You will always be my right-hand man…errr dog, you hear? And besides, once she's my mate that makes her your mate too. We'll share her okay?"

Hearing his master's statement confused the dog. Share? What did he mean? Akamaru tilted his head in confusion and let out a confused bark.

"Eh, I'll have her cook for you and all that. After all, I am the alpha male. That means that I can get her to do whatever I want her to do. I only have to act all goody-goody and be Prince Charming until I can claim her."

Akamaru gave an excited bark. Having someone cook for him was always good, especially if that someone cooked as well as Hinata did; sometimes, she would give him her leftovers, and they tasted good. Furthermore, she knew where the best spots to scratch him were at.

Kiba leaned forward, getting closer to Akamaru's ear and whispered, "Once I claim Hinata-chan as mine, I'm sure that I can convince her into having a threesome between us. You can stay as you are now or you can use Juujuin no Jutsu. And if she refuses, then I'll just order her to; I mean, the alpha male can force the females to do whatever he wants them to do."

Akamaru almost died from excitement as he heard his master's statement. To be able to share his master's future mate in such a way was the best gift he could ever get. Happily, he jumped on his master, knocking him on his back and started to vigorously lick his face. Silently, he pledged his eternal loyalty to his master.

Kiba started laughing. He couldn't believe how happy Akamaru was. The offer he had just made wasn't just for Akamaru; he had always wanted to try a threesome like that. Besides, it would be great to use a ninken to break the will of any female…not that Hinata-chan was very dominant in any way.

He guessed that her submissive attitude was one of her attributes that attracted him to her. Kiba was constantly thinking of all the lecherous acts that he could force her to do. It made him hard just thinking about them.

In the distance, he heard footsteps coming towards him. He turned to face the direction of the footsteps and took a sniff. Kiba smiled as he recognized the scent of lavenders; it could only be Hinata-chan.

After a few seconds, she came into view. Even though she was only wearing her regular outfit, Kiba was still amazed at her beauty. Everything about her was perfect-he beautiful silk smooth hair, her amazing legs, and most of all, her giant breasts.

"H-hello K-kiba-kun," Hinata said. Looking over the food that Kiba-kun had laid out on the blanket, she couldn't help but be impressed. The food must have been expensive, if the steaks that in front of her were of any indication.

"Hi Hinata-chan. I hope you're hungry, because even as hungry as Akamaru and I are, I don't think we can finish all this food unless you help us!"

Hinata just smiled at her teammate's statement. She knew that Kiba could finish all of the food in front of them by himself, not to mention if he had Akamaru with him. The two could eat more than anyone she had ever seen eat, except for the Akamichi. 'And Naruto-san,' a small voice in her head said.

She shook her head to clear it of all those thoughts; she had to stop thinking of Naruto-san like a pitiful fan-girl. He was out of her reach now that he was with Sakura-san. It wouldn't do to think of him all the time anymore, especially not when she was on a date with Kiba-kun.

"Hai, I am v-v-very hungry. Today's t-t-training was v-v-very tiring."

"Yup. There's so much to memorize," Kiba said as he handed Hinata a plate of food.

Hinata took the plate and started to eat some of the rice that was next to the vegetables and steak. After she swallowed the small bite of rice, she stated, "Ano…if y-you n-n-need some help w-w-with memorizing the p-p-pressure points, I could h-h-help you. I just f-f-finished m-m-memorizing them."

Kiba thought about it for a second. If he said yes, then he would be able to spend more time with Hinata-chan, but that would mean that he would actually have to work because he knew that she would make him learn them. If he said no, then he wouldn't be able to spend that extra time with her.

'What am I thinking? I don't need to go to a study group in order to spend more time with Hinata-chan! After we're an official couple, then instead of studying, we'll just go on dates!'

"No thanks Hinata-chan. I don't really need to memorize the pressure points."

Hinata frowned. She knew that he hated learning anything out of a scroll or a book, but he had never gone as far as to disobey a direct order. "Ano…I don't t-t-think that would b-b-be a v-v-very good i-idea," she admitted.

"Why not?"

"It was a direct o-o-order from Yamato-sensei. B-b-besides, it may be v-v-very helpful to know h-how to render an opponent unconscious i-i-instead of dealing a k-k-k-k-killing blow."

Hinata was not so naïve to believe that she would be able to be a kunoichi and never take a life, but that didn't mean she liked it. During fights, she would always try to reason with her opponent before fighting. If that failed, then she would always try to stop the fight as quickly as possible before anyone got hurt by immobilizing her opponent. Dealing a killing blow was the last thing she wanted to do.

Kiba on the other hand, had no qualms about killing. In fact, he seemed to favor killing his opponents rather than knocking them out. He wasn't a blood-thirsty maniac or anything like that. It was just easier for him to extend his claws and slice his opponent's throat than to knock someone unconscious. Adding the fact that he always had to prove that he was the alpha-male made Kiba a rather vicious fighter.

He just shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, doesn't really matter. I mean, as an Inuzuka I go for the killing blows. Inuzukas have claws and brute strength for a reason, which is killing," reasoned Kiba.

Hinata's frown deepened. "Well, i-i-if you're s-s-sure…"

"Come on, enough talk about training. We just spent an entire day of training and still have a few more hours before we're done for the day. Let's talk about something else, okay?"

"H-hai," she answered before she took another bite of her food.

Kiba tried to make some small talk with Hinata, but all of his attempts yielded few results. She would answer his questions, but she seemed to be deep in thought about something. Seeing as he wasn't getting anywhere, he decided to sit back and enjoy the food and the presence of his future girlfriend.

The taste of the food didn't really register in Hinata's brain. She was sure it was good if its appearance was any indication, but she was busy thinking about what she was doing. Even after all the mental debates she had with herself regarding Naruto-san, she was still confused.

'Naruto-san has found someone else to be with, and so should you,' reasoned one voice in her mind.

Another voice in her mind spoke up. 'But Sakura-san doesn't love him nearly as much as you do.'

'That may be true, but Naruto-san cares for Sakura-san more than anyone else in the world. There's no way that you have a chance of getting together with him now,' thought the first voice.

Hinata had to agree with the first voice so far. If she was truly honest with herself, then she knew that this voice of her was right. The second voice was the one she wished was right, but deep down, she knew that it wasn't right. It would have been nice, but Hinata couldn't afford to chase after impossible dreams anymore.

'You should still confront him,' urged the second voice. 'You saw them kiss once! That doesn't mean that they are a couple now! If you do not have the courage to tell him that you love him, then at least tell him that you would like to date him!'

'Ha! That would be the worst thing to do! Naruto-san would hate you for trying to break apart his perfect relationship! Just date Kiba-kun! He's strong and it's obvious that he likes you, so what are you waiting for? You don't have to woo him over or anything!'

Hinata found herself starting to agree even more with the first voice. By ignoring Kiba-kun, wasn't she doing the same thing that Naruto-san had done to her? Besides, she knew how much it hurt to be ignored by the person one admired. Maybe having Kiba-kun as a boyfriend was all she needed. Maybe…just maybe, it would dull the pain that was eating away at her heart.

'I can tell that you think that you will never be in a relationship with Naruto-san,' admitted the second voice. 'However, are you sure that you want to date Kiba-kun? You aren't trying to drown your sorrow by dating someone else are you?'

Hinata opened her mouth to answer, but before she could the second voice interrupted her. 'No, don't answer it now. Take your time and think of your answer. If you aren't using Kiba-kun as a means to escape your sorrow, then by all means, become his girlfriend. If you find that you are using him to leave behind your sorrow, then…well, just don't do anything you would regret later on.'

"Hinata-chan?"

Kiba's voice shook Hinata from her mental debate.

"Hai?"

"This is nice, isn't it?"

"Hmm? Hai, it is nice. The trees are so beautiful out here."

"Trees? Ya, they're really something huh? Anyways, I was wondering…well, would you like to be my girlfriend?"

Hinata froze as she heard Kiba-kun's question. Her most recent mental debate came to mind, and the last question that the second voice had given to her resonated in her head. 'You aren't trying to drown your sorrow by dating someone else are you?'

Was she trying to drown her sorrow? She knew that some people used alcohol to escape the harsh realities of life, but could the same be said of relationships?

"Hinata-chan?"

With a deep breathe, Hinata steadied herself and prepared to give an answer. It would be one of the biggest decisions that she had ever made in her life.

"H-hai. I would like to b-b-become your g-g-girlfriend," she answered.

Kiba's face lit up. "Really? That's great!"

Suddenly, the two heard a whistle, the signal that their dinner break was over.

"Lousy timing, eh Hinata-chan?" Kiba asked. Hinata just gave him a slight smile and nodded.

The two walked towards the house that Yamato had built for them to use, ready to start their next training exercise.

'Am…am I doing the right thing?' wondered Hinata. 'I…I think I am. It feels nice to be wanted by someone...For once…for once, I think I did do the right thing.'

Looking back in retrospect, Hinata would realize that it was not the right thing. In fact, it would be one of the worst things that she had done…with the worst only to come.

--

"The final Trial that you have to pass will be the hardest yet," warned Bahamut. "My Trial is unlike the other Trials that you have passed. Are you sure that you want to proceed?"

"Hai Bahamut-sama."

"Very well then. In order to pass my Trial, you must break one of my incisors," the dragon stated as he opened his mouth to reveal his teeth.

Naruto paled. The incisors were the largest of the dragon's teeth; they were easily the length of his entire arm. He stood there for a few moments, thinking of ways to break Bahamut's incisor. Suddenly, he was flying across the room and hit a wall. As he hit the wall, the breath was knocked out of him for several seconds.

As he struggled to regain his breath, Naruto tried to figure out what had just happened. He looked over to where he was standing just moments ago and saw Bahamut standing there; his tail swished back and forth ever so slightly from side to side.

'Bahamut-sama must have hit me with his tail. But why couldn't I see his movements? A summon the size of him shouldn't be able to move without me seeing it.'

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. The giant dragon was no longer occupying the spot that he was just at. Suddenly, Naruto remembered his aneue's words regarding the dragon boss-'He can fly much faster than you would think someone of his size can fly'

With that in mind, Naruto pumped his some of his charka to his feet and pushed off of the ground. As he was in the air, he managed to catch a glimpse of Bahamut. From his vantage point, all he managed to see was a black streak flash by where he was just standing moments ago.

'Heh, managed to avoid his attack. Guess he's not as fast as aneue said he was.' As he finished that thought, Naruto started to fall back towards the spot he had launched himself from.

'Guess it's a good thing that I used chakra in that jump, otherwise I would have been sliced into pieces. Now, if I used Rasengan, would it be strong enough to break his-Aaarrrghh!'

Naruto's thoughts were interrupted when an unbelievable amount of pain made itself known to him. As soon as he landed, he dropped down to his knees and clutched his stomach with his hands. He immediately felt something warm and sticky-his blood.

After taking a few deep breathes to steady himself, he moved his hands from his stomach in order to see the extent of his wound. His eye's widened in shock as he saw the extent of the damage.

There was a single bloody slash leading from his right hip to his left shoulder. The slash was at least four inches wide. Blood was gushing out of his wound. It was then that Naruto remembered that he couldn't count on his aneue to heal his wounds.

'Kuso! I should have kept some of my bandages instead of giving them all to Tsunami!' Naruto thought angrily. He gently removed his shirt before he grabbed a kunai and cut his shirt into several log strips. He grabbed them and wrapped them around his wound.

As he was placing his make-shift bandages on, he noticed that his entire stomach was basically one giant bruise.

'It must've been from his tail,' mused Naruto. 'Guess I'm not as fast as I thought I was…'

"Is that all you have? Have you not the courage to attack me? I would have thought that you would at least try to break one of my incisors," Bahamut taunted.

Naruto followed the sound of his voice and attempted to pinpoint where the dragon boss was. "So says the one hiding in the shadows. If you stepped into the light where I could see you, then breaking an incisor would be no problem," he retaliated.

After every attack, Bahamut had retreated to the shadows. It was a very effective tactic; most shinobi relied too much on their sight when they were fighting.

"Bah. Do you honestly believe that you will be able to relay on your sight all the time? What if your opponent was to use Kirigakure no Jutsu? You would be in the same situation," Bahamut shot back before he stepped into Naruto's view.

"Touché Bahamut-sama, touché. But I would have an easier time making out their form in the mist than in this darkness."

"Not if you are too badly wounded to move," the summon countered. "And I thought you were a good fighter. I guess I was wrong; I mean, you haven't even managed to scratch me, while I bruised you and drew first blood."

"That's because you cheated! You never said when we would start the fight!"

Bahamut snorted and a puff of smoke was released from his nostrils. "Cheated?! Are you a samurai or a shinobi? Samurai worry about honor on the battlefield, not shinobi! Shinobi are supposed to take every advantage that they can get! Besides, will your enemies tell you when they're going to attack you?"

Naruto thought over the summon's words carefully. He supposed Bahamut-sama was right, even if he didn't want to admit it.

"Why haven't you attacked me? You had a perfect opportunity to defeat me while I was putting on my bandages," questioned Naruto.

"I don't attack my opponents while they are down or on their knees. It goes against my code," answered Bahamut.

"And you lectured me about having honor and cheating on the battlefield? I hope you will excuse me, Bahamut-sama, but are you a walking hypocrite?" questioned an outraged Naruto.

"Foolish ningen, this is different," the dragon answered. "If I was fighting against an opponent who committed heinous crimes, then I would kill without hesitation, even if that opponent was on the ground, groveling for mercy!"

"However, in your case I chose not to attack while you were down because from what I have heard from the others, you fight with honor. However, this doesn't mean that I would go as far as to tell my opponent when I am about to attack," Bahamut finished.

Naruto frowned in frustration. If Bahamut-sama's words were true, then the only reason that Naruto was able to bandage his wound was because he was on his knees. 'Huh, I'm pretty pathetic right now…gotta figure out how to break that incisor!'

The young shinobi took a deep breathe before he jumped to his feet. As soon as he got to his feet, Bahamut retreated into the shadows. Naruto sighed in frustration as he lost sight of the giant dragon.

'This is a problem…I haven't really worked on training my other senses to help me in a fight if I can't see my opponent. Hearing is out because he's way too quiet when he moves. My nose isn't strong enough to smell him. I can't taste or touch him either. Guess I have to make a way to get him to be visible.'

Naruto toyed with the idea of pushing charka to his eyes in order to improve his eyesight, but he quickly pushed that idea away. That was one of the first lessons that he had learned from Ero-sennin during his three year training trip. The Gama Sennin had constantly stressed the idea of not pushing charka to his eyes, ears, nose, or tongue in an attempt to improve their effectiveness.

Other shinobi were able to do that with success, but not Naruto. At least, not with the level of charka control that he had. While his control had improved dramatically, it still wasn't enough to be considered safe to use on those vital parts of his body. If he pushed too much charka to a body part, then that body part would either explode from charka overload or be damaged beyond repair.

Seeing as reinforcing his eyes with his charka was out of the question, Naruto started to think of the seals he knew. The only seal that could help was one that would light up the entire room, but considering the size of the cavern and the complexity of the seal itself, he didn't have time to set it up. If he was going to draw that seal, then he would be unable to dodge or attack; unless of course, he was on his knees while he was drawing.

Naruto frowned. He didn't want to take advantage of Bahamut-sama's honor. Even if he wasn't willing to call it honor, Naruto decided that he would call it honor. Suddenly, Naruto figured out the solution to his problem. It was so obvious, that he didn't realize how come he didn't think of it before.

Suddenly, he saw movement in the corner of his right eye. Acting quickly, he rolled forward and jumped to his feet and started running. He let out a hiss as he felt a stinging pain coming from his back. Since he didn't have time to stop and check out his wound, he guessed that he received another wound from one of Bahamut-sama's claws. Seeing as blood wasn't gushing out, Naruto considered that it was just a scratch compared to his other wound.

Naruto just stood there completely still, sans his eyes, which were constantly darting around, looking to see where the dragon boss would attack him from next. When he was relatively sure that he wasn't about to be attacked, he resumed his thoughts.

'Man, all I have to do is use a Katon ninjutsu and that should shed some light. If I use a C-class Katon ninjutsu, I know I have more than enough charka to do it enough times to find Bahamut-sama!'

Without wasting anytime, Naruto quickly flashed through several hand seals. "Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu!"2 He took a deep breath before he exhaled and launched a giant fireball towards the area that he had last seen Bahamut-sama.

Naruto was quite pleased that his plan had worked. The area around the fireball was illuminated, at least until it hit the wall and dispersed.

He started to quickly form the hand seals again and repeated the Katon ninjutus.

"Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu!"

"Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu!"

"Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu!"

"Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu!"

Finally, with the fifth fireball, Naruto was able to find Bahamut. Well, it would be more appropriate to say that the dragon boss let himself be found, seeing as he didn't move and let the fireball hit his chest.

Before the dragon could move, Naruto disappeared in a flurry of leaves and reappeared on top of Bahamut's head. Before the stunned dragon could react, Naruto quickly formed a Rasengen in his right hand and jumped off of Bahamut's head.

As he fell, he twisted his body around and stuck his left hand in the dragon's right nostril. Ignoring the feeling of snot on his hand, he squeezed the thin membrane inside the nose, causing the dragon to roar in pain.

As soon as Bahamut opened his mouth and revealed his teeth, Naruto shoved his right hand towards the root of the dragon's left incisor. The glowing blue ball of charka made contact with the incisor. For a moment, nothing happened as the Rasengan fought to break the giant tooth.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Naruto noticed that his Rasengan was shrinking. His eyes widened in surprise; his Rasengan had never shrunk in size.

'Why…why is it shrinking? Are Bahamut-sama's teeth like Kisame's Samehada? No, they can't be…I probably have to feed more charka to it! I've never had to sustain a Rasengan for so long before, so I never realized that it would disappear if I didn't keep a constant supply of charka going.'

With that in mind, Naruto fed his Rasengan more charka in an attempt to get it to its usual size and power. Slowly, the Rasengan started to grow in size; Naruto smiled as he felt it start to gain its power back. His smile faded away when he realized that it was getting too unstable.

'Kuso! I put too much charka in it! I should have realized that this would happen, especially after that training I did with Ero-sennin. I have to get all this charka under control or get blown away!'

Naruto's Rasengan started to show signs that it was getting out of control. Instead of the usual smooth sphere of charka, this Rasengan's charka was pouring out of the sphere. He closed his eyes in order to keep himself from getting distracted. Naruto was concentrating so hard on getting his Rasengan under control that sweat was pouring down his face.

Just as he started to get his Rasengan under control, Naruto felt as though someone had turned on a vacuum and was sucking him up. He opened his eyes in order to see what was going on.

Naruto froze as he saw realized what was happening. 'Oh no…Bahamut-sama must be getting ready to breathe fire!' He really hoped that his guess about what was going to happen next was wrong.

Peering deep into the dragon's mouth, Naruto saw flames start to build up in his throat. 'Kuso! If I let go now, I'll be slashed by his claws, but if I stay here, I will be burned alive!'

Suddenly, Bahamut started to exhale. Naruto saw the flames start to race towards him. His mind raced as he tired to figure out what he could do to survive.

'If I let go from this height, my legs will break from the impact, even if I reinforce them with my charka. If I had access to aneue's charka, then that wouldn't be a problem. I can't use any ninjutsus one handed, and I need to keep holding on to Bahamut-sama's nose. Hmmm…I guess I have to use the Rasengan!'

Naruto moved his Rasengan from Bahamut's left incisor to the middle of his mouth. He started to pump much more charka than was needed to sustain it. The size of the Rasengan was much larger than his Odama Rasengan, but it wasn't nearly as stable as the Odama was.

As soon as the flames hit Naruto's huge and overpowered Rasengan, the two attacks fought for dominance for a second before they both caused a huge explosion.

Bahamut was simply stunned from the explosion while Naruto was thrown back against the wall. He hit the wall quite hard and started to fall down towards the ground. Naruto turned around and tried to stick to the wall using his charka, but even with the help of his charka, he wasn't able to stick to it. Finally, he managed to grab a ledge before he hit the ground.

"Ningen…are you crazy?"

"Hee…Bahamut-sama, are you saying that my plan scared you? Did I do the unthinkable and hurt you?"

Bahamut snorted. "Ha! As if I could be damaged by an explosion like that! It barely stunned me! But you on the other hand, you were caught up in the explosion!"

Naruto looked down to see the extent of his wounds; he was surprised to see that his shirt was non-existent. He didn't feel any blood gushing out, so he guessed that the pains he was feeling came from burns.

First, he checked his arms. His left arm was fine, but his right arm, the one that had been holding the Rasengan during the explosion, was badly burned in a few places; third degree burns if he was correct in his assessment.

He frowned as he checked the rest of his body. He had burns all over his chest and legs.

'This is bad…I can't keep on fighting with these burns…I need to end it now, but how? Rasengan isn't strong enough. I need to use a cutting ninjutsu…something like Chidori.'

Naruto started to mentally go over all the ninjutus he knew. There wasn't anything that he knew that would help him cut the incisor off. The strongest ninjtusus that he knew were better suited for destroying, not piercing or cutting. All of a sudden, Naruto had an idea.

'I wonder…Asuma-san used his wind charka to enhance his trench knives, which allowed them to pierce rocks and trees. Seeing as how my Rasenshuriken is made with wind charka, then it should be able to cut just like wind charka!'

'But now I have to figure out how to get enough time to form it…it still takes a while to get it ready. Plus, I also have to figure out how to get up to him. I could try Shunshin no Jutsu, but I doubt that Bahamut-sama would fall for the same trick twice,' pondered Naruto. 'Guess I have to wing it as I go.'

Naruto formed a single seal and whispered, "Kirigakure no Jutsu."3 A thick mist covered the floor and completely enveloped Naruto. The mist only came up to Bahamut's ankle, but it was thick enough to prevent him from finding Naruto.

Bahamut lowered his head, attempting to find the young shinobi. As he got a bit lower, he was able to make out Naruto's form.

If any of the other Council members were in his position, they wouldn't have been able to find Naruto, with the exception of Hikari. After all, their eyes were designed to help them see through clouds. And since the two often flew high above the view of any ningens; that meant that they had to fly through clouds.

'This mist isn't that different from clouds,'he realized as he lowered his head even further.

Bahamut's eyes widened in surprise as he heard several voices cry, "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"4 He tried to lift his head out of the mist, but he was too slow. Ten roaring dragons made of water came rushing towards him and hit him in the face.

'There's no way that he was able to pull of ten of those by himself; he must have made Kage Bunshin. But the question is, when? When did he pull it off?'

The amount of power behind the water dragons surprised Bahamut. He wasn't really hurt; more stunned than anything else.

"Doton: Doryuudan!"5

"Katon: Karyuudan!"6

Multiple flaming mud balls were suddenly flying towards the dragon's exposed throat. Bahamut roared in anger and swung his tail through the mist. He felt it impact with several light objects and heard the familiar 'poof' that is heard when Kage Bunshin are dispelled. The mist was temporarily displaced by Bahamut's tail swing, but it quickly reformed.

With a grunt, Naruto managed to get two of his clones to launch him into the air. He had a Rasen Shuriken already formed in his hand. He felt the wind blowing through his hair as he rushed towards the dragon boss.

Bahamut was focusing on dodging all the flaming mud projectiles and water dragons that those pesky clones were launching at him. He wasn't able to dodge all of them though, seeing as they were so small compared to him. Those that did hit stung like hell.

Suddenly, the dragon's keen eyes picked up a disturbance within the mist. He couldn't get a clear view, from his spot, but he wasn't willing to stick his head back in the mist. All he could tell was that something was making the mist start to spin around in the middle of it. It wasn't enough to clear the mist, but it was just enough to be noticed.

'Hmmm…if he follows the same pattern, then this ninjutsu will be a Ryuudan of some element. If I didn't know better, I would say it would be a Fuuton Ryuudan, but there's no such thing,' Bahamut pondered.

Suddenly, in the midst of the elemental dragons flying towards him, Bahamut saw several orange shinobi flying towards him. The clones weren't just charging in randomly; rather, they flew at him in groups of three, forming human chain by linking their arms together. One held a Rasengan that was similar to the one that he had been exposed for earlier, but this one was…different. It seemed to resemble a Fuma Shuriken.

"You ready? After this move, your incisor will be mine!" the horde of Kage Bunshin.

"Foolish ningen! There's no way you could jump up from the ground and expect to break my incisor!"

Bahamut was right. Naruto wasn't near the dragon's head, but that didn't deter him from his goal. The Kage Bunshin at the lead of each trio threw the other two above him, giving the other two an additional push to help them reach Bahamut's face. The process had to be repeated once more, before they were in range to attack with their Rasen Shuriken.

The dragon boss was surprised. He wouldn't have thought of using Kage Bunshin to propel other Kage Bunshin to reach him. 'But now, I have to figure out where the real one is.'

The first Naruto to attack him came from his left side. Bahamut head butted the charging Naruto, choosing to attack first. To his surprise, his head passed through nothing.

'Regular Bunshin?'

A tickling sensation on his right arm drew his attention away from being surprised. He flailed his right arm, effectively throwing the Bunshin against the wall. To his surprise, this Bunshin exploded into a cloud of smoke when it hit the wall.

'So, he's using both types of Bunshin to confuse me. A good plan, but I don't lose focus so easily!'

Unfortunately, Bahamut had more to worry about than just the Kage Bunshin and Bunshin attacking him. There was still a good number of Kage Bunshin down in the mist that was still sending out elemental dragons to attack him.

Unseen by Bahamut, four Kage Bunshin headed towards his feet. All four of them jumped up and held on to the massive dragon's ankle. As soon as the Kage Bunshins were in position, they whispered, "Bunshin: Bakuha."7

The ensuring explosion was so powerful that the mist was blown away. Not that Bahamut noticed though; he was actually roaring in pain. Through the pain, he managed to think, 'This ningen actually hurt me!'

The real Naruto saw Bahamut's mouth open when he started to roar in pain and lunged towards the exposed incisor. He threw his right hand forward and shoved the Rasen Shuriken against the giant tooth. This time, Naruto made sure to sustain his attack with the necessary amount of charka and control.

Suddenly, both combatants heard a loud cracking sound.

Without warning, Naruto started to fall forward into Bahamut's open mouth. Thinking quickly, Naruto threw out his left hand and grabbed onto another tooth, which prevented him from falling into the giant dragon's mouth.

'What happened?' wondered Naruto. He checked his surroundings to see if anyone had tired to push him in. As his eyes wandered over to the incisor that he had targeted, he realized that he had fallen because the incisor that he had been targeting had been broken off. When it broke, Naruto simply lost his balance and started to fall.

Bahamut lowered his face down to the ground and stared at Naruto. Naruto figured that the dragon wanted him to get out of his mouth, so he let go and jumped to the ground. It was still a good ten foot drop, so he made sure to reinforce his feet with charka. With a wave of his hand, the remaining Kage Bunshins were dispelled.

"You did well ningen. You did very well."

Naruto picked up the broken incisor and offered it back to the Dragon boss. "Bahamut-sama, I am very sorry for breaking your incisor. Please, forgive me," Naruto pleaded.

The Dragon boss just stared at the young shinobi in front of him. "Bah, what are you sorry for? I told you to break it didn't I? Besides, it'll grow back in a day," the dragon said, reassuring the shinobi.

"Arigato. Would you like to have your incisor back?"

"Hmmm…keep it. One day, you may find that you will need it. You should know that my teeth never dull, and it is very hard to break, as you have just found out."

"Arigato, I am in your debt Bahamut-sama," Naruto replied before he sealed the incisor in a scroll.

"Well, rest for now ningen. You have passed my Trial, but I have to meet with the rest of the Council to come to a conclusion," he stated before he flew back to the others.

"Hai," Naruto stated before he sat down. He ripped off his pant legs and used the strips of clothing to replace the blood soaked bandages.

'You did very well otouto, I'm proud of you.'

'Arigato aneue. It was much harder than I thought.'

'Well, what did you expect? They are the bosses of their clans; did you expect them to be pushovers? Just so you know, Bahamut-sama was holding back during his Trial.'

'I kind of figured that out. I still can't believe how tired I am.'

'Well, remember it's because you don't have access to my charka. You not having any access to my charka is like an Inuzuka never using soldier pills.

'I'm tired, so very tired.'

'Then rest, and rest well. I will wake you when you are needed.'

'Arigato aneue.'

Naruto felt his eyelids getting heavier and heavier, until they closed and he entered a dreamless sleep.

--

Unseen by everyone in the Council Chambers, there were eight figures watching them. In fact, these figures had been watching everything that had happened since Naruto had arrived there. Each of these figures was wearing identical black cloaks with hoods on, so there were no distinguishing features showing. The only difference between each form was the height and width of each.

"Aniki, it would seem as though he did rather well, didn't he?"

"Hai otouto. He did very well. Though I'm surprised that his tactics were so well planned out."

"Well, what did I tell you two?"

"I guess you were right. Glad to know that aniki and I weren't wasting our time when we trained you!"

"My otouto is correct. It would seem as though the Will of the Fire burns strongly in him."

"Hmph. I don't see anything burning in him, except for a strong desire to fight and win. He's determined that for sure, but I still think that Will of the Fire thing is a load of crap."

All four of the voices were obviously male. The first three sounded as if they belonged to old men, while the fourth voice sounded much younger than the previous.

"I'm afraid that I have to disagree with you. While I don't see any proof of him having this 'Will of the Fire', he has gotten much stronger since our last encounter. He knows the true secret to becoming truly strong," a fifth voice stated. Unlike the previous three voices, this one belonged to a teenaged female.

"Heh, if he keeps this up, then who knows how much stronger he'll become? He will definitely become Hokage at this rate!" This was a new male voice, and it seemed as though it belonged to someone of the same age as the younger male voice.

"Not unless the entire village will let go of their hatred of him," a young woman's voice stated darkly. "Or has your faith in Konoha once again blinded you to what they have done to him?"

"I haven't forgotten," the voice replied. "We both saw what he had to go through, remember? But once the villagers see him doing everything he can to end the upcoming war, then there's no way that anyone in Konoha will think ill of him again!"

"The Trials are over," a male voice stated. Unlike the other male voices, this one seemed to be old beyond belief and was had a very deep tone. "Thus, I think it is time for us to go."

"Awww man, do we have to?" questioned the voice that believed Naruto would become Hokage.

"Hai. Now, come," ordered the voice. "I have let you watch the Trials and you have seen that Naruto-san has passed. It is time for us to go back."

With that being said, one of the figures disappeared and left only a cloud of black smoke behind. Reluctantly, the remaining seven figures disappeared and left similar clouds of black smoke.

--

"So, we have reached our conclusion then?" questioned Enma.

"Hai. I will go and wake Naruto and inform him of our decision," Gamabunta replied.

The massive toad walked over to Naruto's motionless form. He placed his pipe in his mouth, took a deep breathe, and blew a puff of smoke towards Naruto.

Naruto started to cough as the smoke threatened to fill his lungs. His eyes started to water up from the smoke. 'Gah! Aneue, what happened to waking me up?'

'I was about to, but then Gamabunta acted faster than I could,' apologized Kyuubi.

"Oi, wake up. You've slept long enough," Gamabunta boomed.

"How long was I asleep for?"

"About forty minutes. We had a very long discussion regarding your case."

"And?"

"It's not my place to tell you. Well, at least not yet; we have to get back to the others before the verdict can be announced."

"Fine, fine," Naruto answered impatiently. Naruto had to sprint just in order to keep up with the Toad boss who was walking at a leisurely pace.

They soon reached the spot where Naruto had appeared when he had answered the Council's call. He sat down on his knees and waited for the verdict.

"Uzumaki Naruto, are you ready to hear the verdict?"

"Hai Gamabunta-sama."

"You showed that you can think while you are under pressure. You were able to analyze how much charka and control to use when you no longer had access to the Kyuubi's power. For being able to think under pressure, I am pleased to say that you have passed my Trial," the toad stated in a formal voice.

"You have your priorities in place correctly. You demonstrated that you were more than willing to sacrifice your life in order to save your precious people. While your plan was noble, you should prepare yourself for the fact that you may have to kill the Uchiha in the upcoming invasion," warned the slug.

"Hai. Kyuubi has already lectured me on that, and if it comes down to it, I will kill him. I will regret it, but I will still kill him," Naruto replied.

"You have demonstrated that you are a good leader. You didn't let the power go to your head, nor did you look down on the civilians for not being shinobi. In fact, you did the opposite-you gave your life for them," the ape stated.

"Your heart is still pure, despite everything that you have gone through. Therefore, I believe that you will be able to wield the immense power of the Kyuubi and the Kitsune clan without being corrupted," the phoenix stated.

"Your fighting skills are extremely impressive. Not many are able to get close enough to break my incisor, let alone have an attack that will break it. You are very strong, and will only get stronger as time goes on…and you have access to the Kyuubi's charka. However, your beliefs are far too idealistic for the life of a shinobi. You must learn that the life you have chosen is a dark one, one filled with blood and death," the dragon stated.

Naruto's jaw tightened in frustration. He knew what Bahamut-sama said was true, but Naruto had decided to live his life differently. After all, he had created his own nindo after the death of Haku and Zabuza.

"And so," Gamabunta stated, "I am happy to inform you that your request has been granted."

"May you have better luck than the last summoner for the Kyuubi," Enma gravely stated.

"Arigato," Naruto stated before he bowed.

'Aneue, did you hear that? I did it! I really did it! You're going to be freed!'

Kyuubi was smiling inside her cage. She had never thought that her otouto would have been able to pass the Trials on his first time. 'Yes, you did it. I can't tell you how thankful I am. I am forever in your debt,' she formally stated.

'Eh? You don't owe me anything aneue. This is what families do-they look out for one another and they don't need to be repaid.'

Kyuubi was stunned. Neither one of them had ever called the other family. Sure they had called each other 'younger brother' and 'older sister', but Naruto thought of so many people as his brothers and sisters. It warmed her heart to hear Naruto openly call her family.

'Otouto…thank you. Thank you so much.'

'You're embarrassing me, you know that? If anything, I'm in your debt. I mean, you've healed me all these years and lent me your charka when mine wasn't enough to get the job done.'

Before the two could start arguing again, Hikari spoke up.

"Well, let's free the Kyuubi from that seal, shall we?"

"Ano Hikari-sama, won't that kill me?" questioned Naruto. "The Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara, died when Shukaku was extracted from him."

"That's only because the ningens used a bastardized version of the extraction process," Bahamut answered.

"Despite his crude language, he is correct," stated Katsuya. "You will not be harmed."

Naruto hesitated for a moment before he nodded his head. "Alright, free Kyuubi from her cage."

The five boss summons surrounded Naruto and started to channel their charka so it glowed around each one of them. Each boss focused part of their charka to the seal, in an attempt to free her.

Suddenly, in a flash of red light, Kyuubi appeared sitting on the ground. She blinked a couple of times in an attempt to get her eyes to adjust.

Naruto was amazed as he saw his aneue out of his mind for the first time. He had never seen her full body; the most of her that he had ever seen was half of her face. The cage that she had been stuck in due to the Yondaime's seal prevented him from seeing her whole body. Now that he had the opportunity to see her whole body, he decided to take advantage of it.

Kyuubi's fur was a bright red and it reflected the beams of light that shone on her coat. When she yawned, Naruto noticed the size of her teeth. They weren't as large as Bahamut-sama's, but they were still formidable. Her largest teeth, her incisors, were probably as long as half of his arm. He could see the muscles moving beneath her fur; they weren't large enough to make her appear to be bulky, but rather it made her look lean, much like a cat…or a fox.

The most amazing part of her however, had to be her nine tails. They each swished in different directions, making it seem as each one had a mind of its own. Instead of being overwhelmed with fear of Kyuubi, Naruto felt happy. He was so happy that Kyuubi was freed from her prison and able to move around freely, something that she hadn't been able to do for sixteen years.

'Hmmm…the textbooks don't do you any justice, aneue.'

'Stop that otouto, you're embarrassing me.'

'Huh? You can hear me? Oh ya, you said that we would still be able to share thoughts. How about your charka? Will I still have access to it?'

'Hmm…I don't think so.'

'Oh, oka…wait! What am I going to do when I go back to my body?! I don't think Tsunami can heal these wounds!'

'Oh…ano…oh! Some of my charka should still be in your system. It should be enough to heal your wounds.'

'I hope you're right aneue.'

'Of course I'm right,' scoffed Kyuubi.

"It is good to see you again Mikomi-chan," Katsuya stated.

"Mikomi-chan?" questioned Naruto.

"Didn't you know?" questioned Hikari. "The Kyuubi's name is Mikomi."

Naruto turned to face Ky…Mikomi. "You never told me your name was Mikomi!"

Mikomi managed to look sheepish at Naruto's question. "Well…after I attacked Konoha, I decided to stop going by my name. After all, I wasn't worthy of my name at that point."

"Mikomi…Mikomi…" Naruto repeated slowly. "I like it. It's a nice name, and it suits you."

"Arigato otouto," Mikomi stated.

The five Council members shared a glance with one another. Mikomi, the Kyuubi, the strongest of the nine Bijuu, called a mere mortal 'otouto'?

'This ningen…he is far more than what he appears to be if he was able to win the respect and affections of Mikomi,' thought Bahamut.

"As sweet as this is, there are other things that we have to deal with," Hikari stated.

"What is it that you want to talk about my friend?"

Naruto was stunned. "Friend? You're friends with Hikari-sama?"

"Friends?" Katsuya stated. "Hikari-chan, Mikomi-chan, and I were…are nakama."

Naruto just blinked in surprise. "Okay…you have any other connections to powerful summons that I should know of?"

Mikomi hummed in thought. "Hmm…not really. At least, none that I can think of at the moment."

"Let's get to the point, shall we?" Bahamut gruffly questioned.

"Hai," Hikari stated.

"Naruto," Gamabunta stated after he took a deep breathe from his pipe. "As you stated earlier, many Summon Clans will be battling in what may be the largest shinobi war. Some will be fighting alongside you, while you will be fighting others. Do you think that the power of the Kitsune clan will be enough to help turn the tide of the war in your favor?"

"Alone? No. Teamwork is the key to winning a battle or a war. Besides, Jiraiya-sensei can summon from the Toad Clan, Tsunade-sama can summon from the Slug Clan, and I can summon from the Kitsune and the Toad Clan. And I guess Konohamaru or someone else from the Sarutobi clan can summon Apes. Oh, and there are bound to be other Summon Clans that I don't know of in Konoha. And Temari has a Weasel contract," Naruto stated.

Suddenly, another question emerged in Naruto's mind. "Wait…I am allowed to have signed more than one contract, right?"

"Hai. You can have as many contracts as you want, as long as you have the blessings of the Boss Summons," Gamabunta replied. "However, that is not the problem. The problem lies in who has actually signed a contract."

Enma sighed. "The Ape Clan is often associated with the Sarutobi clan, but that is just a misconception. In actuality, only a select few from the Sarutobi clan are worthy enough to sign the contract. The only one from the clan who has proven their worth is Konohamaru-san. And while he is worthy, that doesn't mean that he's ready to sign it."

"The same goes for the Phoenix Clan. We have yet to come across anybody who is of pure of heart and with a gentle soul to be considered worthy of our contract," Hikari stated.

"No ningen has proved that they were capable of handling the power of the Dragon Clan."

"Wait…are you saying that out of the six of you, only three of your clans will be able to fight during the war?" questioned a stunned Naruto.

"No, you didn't let me finish my sentence," Bahamut stated. "If you had let me finish my sentence, I would have added in 'yet'. By that, I mean that I have deemed you worthy of holding the position as the first summoner of the Dragon Clan."

"After going through your memories, I have decided that you are as pure of heart as anyone can be. Not many can go through what you have and still long to become the Hokage. And while you are a fighter rather than a healer, your soul is gentle enough to allow you to become the first summoner of the Phoenix Clan."

"I know that if Sarutobi was still alive, he would have wanted you to be our summoner. And I agree with his beliefs; the Will of the Fire burns brightly inside of you."

"Tsunade has never spoken an ill word of you. I know that she has two apprentices, but she has yet to offer either one of them the chance to sign the contract. Why she hasn't offered it to them yet I don't know. However, I do know this- I would be honored to name you as our next summoner."

Naruto blinked in surprise. "Sign all of your contracts?"

"Hai," Bahamut stated. "I don't often compliment ningen, but you are an exception."

"He is correct," Hikari stated. "Neither one of us has ever had a summoner before, but I know that you are worthy enough to be the first."

Naruto lowered his head. It was funny how in his village he was ignored and hated by so many. When he visited Tazuna's village, he was idolized. And here in the Spirit Realm, he was being offered the chance to be the summoner of six different clans.

"I…I would be honored to sign them."

In a puff of smoke, four scrolls appeared before him. He opened each one, bit his thumb, and signed his name.

"I…I don't know how to thank all of you. With this, we may be able to win the war even though we are badly outnumbered."

"You're not done you know," Bahamut stated. "You will need to train very hard in order to use each of our clans to their fullest extent. First, you should work on increasing your charka reserves. While it is impressive, it won't be enough to summon all six of us since you don't have access to Mikomi's charka anymore."

"You will also have to work with us and our subordinates in order to learn how to be a true team," Hikari stated.

"Hai, I understand."

"You should also come back here to train," stated Enma. "Training could be much more effective if you come here every so often because we can manipulate the surroundings to whatever we need it to be."

"Should I come here everyday?" questioned Naruto.

"No," Enma firmly stated. "Humans are not meant to leave their physical body so often. It would be detrimental to your health to do so. Let's say…three times a week."

"If that is all, then I will be getting back to my body. I don't want to die from blood loss," Naruto stated.

"Hai, that is all. Good luck in your training," Gamabunta stated. "Come back when you have fully recovered."

"Otouto, I will be staying here for a while if you don't mind," Mikomi stated. "If you need me, you can still contact me with your thoughts."

Naruto smiled; it seemed that he could drop the formalities now. "Aneue, you don't have to ask me when you want to spend time with your nakama. Have fun; I know you have lots to catch up on."

Mikomi waved one of her tails over Naruto, and his spiritual body disappeared.

Katsuya smiled. "Tsuande-sama was right about him-he really is kind and thoughtless."

"You have no idea," Mikomi stated with a sad smile. "After every beating, every harsh glare, every hurtful word, and everything else those damn villagers have done to him, he still remains pure. But most of all…he doesn't hate me, when he has every right to. I can't help but worry that he harbors some hatred for me deep down. It just…hurts so much to think that someone as kind as him would hate me."

"You know he doesn't hate you, right?" questioned Hikari. "I looked through his mind and thoughts for his Trial. I spent some extra time going over what he thought of you. He loves you; he thinks of you as his older sister that he never had-that's why he calls you 'aneue'. There is no doubt in my mind that he completely loves you."

"Tell us more about his treatment by those villagers," ordered Bahamut.

"Yes, tell us. Sarutobi often summoned me to vent his feelings, but I doubt he told me everything," Enma stated with a frown.

"Well…where should I start? I guess it should start when he was a baby. The Sandaime Hokage was very busy with all the work that had to be done due to my attack, so he hired a baby sitter. Well, that baby sitter lost her family during my attack, so she was filled with vengeance. So that night, she…"

As Mikomi continued the tale of Naruto's life, the scowls on the Boss summon's faces deepened.

--

Hinata sighed. It was their fourth day of training and today had been the harshest to date. Yamato-sensei had started to teach all of them different Douton and Suiton ninjutsus. Hinata had an easy time learning the Suiton ninjutsus while Shino had an easy time learning Douton ninjutsus because those were their elemental affinities.

Kiba however, had trouble learning both of the ninjutsus, even though his elemental affinity was Douton. It wasn't because he was stupid, but because he didn't really want to learn anything outside of his clan's techniques. He would have much rather worked on increasing his endurance or his physical strength.

Kiba…Hinata had spent more time with the young Inuzuka ever since their second date. Slowly but surely any doubts she had in her mind with regards to their relationship started to disappear. It felt good to be wanted by someone, regardless of who it was.

'But do you love him or are you trying to drown your sorrow by jumping into the first relationship that you can?' There it was again! That annoying little voice in her head had yet to cease its question! Why did it keep questioning her?

Hinata sat down on her bedroll in her room and forced herself to forget about everything; she didn't need to be worrying about anything during her break. They had been given another two hours to rest and eat dinner before they would resume their training. She decided to get something to eat first. She reached into her pack and pulled out the sealing scroll that the chief had given her. She pushed some charka into it and several containers of food popped out. Hinata gasped in surprise.

Sitting in front of her was a tray of the cinnamon buns that the chief had worked so hard on. To her surprise, they were still warm and gave off such a wonderful aroma. She smiled as she realized that the same properties that allowed the food to remain fresh (or in some cases cold) within the scroll also kept the food warm. She eagerly grabbed one and took a bite of heaven.

'Mmmm…I should go share these with the others,' she thought. Hinata took another deep whiff of the heavenly food. 'Eh…maybe after I finish this one,' she decided as she took another bite of her favorite food.

--

Naruto groaned as he struggled to walk back to Tazuna's house.

After he had returned to his physical body, he felt the remnants of Mikomi's charka start to heal his wounds. Not wanting to waste anytime, he had started to walk back to Tazuna's house. As he got up, he felt extremely light-headed. When he looked down to where he had lain down, he saw a pool of blood.

'Huh, guess I didn't heal while I was in the Spirit Realm. Guess this is why aneue told me to bring an iryo-nin.' As soon as Naruto felt well enough, he headed out.

Before he was half-way there, his wounds had stopped healing. It seemed that he had less of Mikomi's charka in his body than either he or his aneue had expected. He scolded himself again for giving Tsunami all of his bandages.

Naruto was forced to cut up his clothing and use them as make-shift bandages in order to slow down the bleeding. The only article of clothing that he had left was his boxers. He prayed to Kami-sama that the female portion of the village didn't come across him right now.

Finally, after what had seemed to be an eternity, Naruto managed to reach Tazuna's house. He struggled up the stairs and weakly knocked on the door. The door opened after a few moments.

"I finished Tsunami. But I think you're going to need a lot of bandages," Naruto managed to state before he blacked out.

Fortunately, Tsunami was able to catch Naruto before he hit the ground. She managed to carry him to the guest bedroom that she had set up for him and gingerly placed him on the bed. She left the room and headed towards the bathroom in order to gather the bandages and disinfectants that she had.

When she reached the bathroom, she gathered up all the supplies in her arms. As she was about to leave the bathroom, she caught a glance of herself in the mirror. She gasped as she saw that her shirt was covered in blood. She knew she wasn't hurt, so she quickly came to the conclusion that the blood was from Naruto.

'If I have this much blood on me from just carrying him for a few seconds, then he must be in terrible condition!' she thought as she ran to his room.

Tsunami quickly reached the room and took a closer look at Naruto's wounds. She was horrified as she saw the slashes on his body. Tsunami suddenly remembered that Naruto had given her the task of bandaging his wounds after he finished whatever he had just done. She grabbed several towels and placed them against the wounds that were bleeding the most and tightly wrapped them up.

"Don't worry Naruto, I'll make sure that your wounds are taken care of," Tsunami reassured the unconscious boy. "After all, it's the least I can do for you."

After an hour of hard work, Tsunami managed to stop all of the bleeding and covered all of the wounds with bandages. With a sigh, she sat back and decided to take a breather. She decided that she would stay in Naruto's room until he regained consciousness. It wouldn't do to have the hero of their village die.

When Naruto woke up, the first thing that he noticed was that he was hungry.

'Why would I be hungry? I'm never hungry before I go to bed,' he wondered. He stayed still and pondered his question. He was rather comfortable, being in a bed and under warm covers.

'The Trials! I finished the Trials! I must be hungry because I haven't been able to eat! But…how long was I in the Spirit Realm for?'

Naruto yawned; he didn't know how long he had been asleep for, but he was still tired. He decided that he would get something to eat after he took another nap.

Before he fell back asleep, he had one final thought-'I wonder if Hinata-chan will be impressed that I can summon from six different clans now. And I'm the first summoner for two of those clans! If she's not impressed by that, then I don't know how to impress her!'

--

References and Jutsu List:

1. "I have two rules for you to remember ningen: One-I don't kill without a reason. Two-I can always find a reason to kill." This is a quote from the novel, Mass Effect: Revelation.

2. Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu- Great Fireball Technique

3. Kirigakure no Jutsu- Hidden Mist Technique

4. Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu- Water Dragon Projectile Technique

5. Doton: Doryuudan- Earth Dragon Projectile

6. Katon: Karyuudan- Fire Dragon Projectile

7. Bunshin: Bakuha- Clone Explosion

8. Mikomi- Hope, prospects, expectations. I decided to give the Kyuubi a name. I didn't want to refer to her as Kyuubi for the whole story. Note how when Naruto referred to Mikomi as Kyuubi, he used the word 'Kyuubi' as if it were her actual name. However, when the Boss Summons talked about her, they used the phrase, 'the Kyuubi'. Not sure if any of you caught that.

Author's Notes: Well, this update came out really quick! There were two main reasons for this speedy update-1) Damn the manga! Damn it to hell! Wait, forget that. Just read this week's issue, and it makes sense. Don't want to spoil it, but a bit of my hatred of Sasuke being overpowered has dissipated. However, I am still not looking forward to "Year of Sasuke". If the manga continues like how it is going, I think I'm going to be updating a lot quicker-because I'll be trying to create my own Naruto world where Sasuke isn't strong enough to go toe-to-toe with S-class nuke-nin.

2) I got a review from one of my favorite authors, VenomLord! To know that one of my favorite authors actually took time to read my story and liked it…well, that just inspired me! If you haven't checked out his work, go check it out! He writes amazing stories, and to be honest I'm really surprised that one of his amazing stories, Altered Destiny, doesn't have a thousand reviews yet! It's an amazing story, along with his other one, Life of Uzumaki Naruto.

On a side note, you have just read what I like to think of as a true battle. I don't really think that Team Eight's training with Yamato really counted as me writing a battle scene. So, what did you think? Good, bad? Interesting, boring? What do you think of it? Please let me know, so I will be able to fix anything that is missing. I need to know, because it will help me write better battle scenes-and trust me, as this story progresses, there will be large battles. This story is all about preparing for a war after all.

Please leave a review! Or flames, as long as you justify it and leave your account name or e-mail address so I can attempt to redeem myself. Or you can just visit the thread I started for this (link in my profile); I tend to respond there a lot quicker than e-mails. Thanks for taking the time to read my story!