Birthright

by Ocean's Fury

During the battle in Wave, Naruto falls off the bridge. With a mix of luck and destiny aiding him, he was fished out of the river by the Raven of the Uchiha clan, Itachi. Under him, he learns to defend himself, as well as his heritage. He finally returns to Konoha after two months, forging his own path through trials and hardship to discover who he is and how strong can he be.

6. Blue Eyes and Red Sands

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Naruto Shippuuden. I only own the plot.

---

November 9, fifteen minutes to noon

The spectators of this bell test were growing bored. Incredibly bored. It had been only a few minutes since Team Seven had ran off into the forest with Kakashi in pursuit, but now most of them could see what was happening.

Some of the crowd, such as Lee and his sensei, were having a conversation on a specific type of taijutsu.

"YOSH! Sensei, what style of Taijutsu was Naruto using? It was so YOUTHFUL!" Rock Lee was bouncing up and down on his heels excitedly. "It looked a little like the Gōken, yet the stances and movement were nothing like it."

Gai had a thoughtful look on his face. He had seen the style once before. While Naruto's style was a variation of the original, Gai recognized it was the Sokudoken, or if you were feeling informal, the Speed Fist.

The Speed Fist was a Uchiha clan taijutsu, like the Gentle Fist was to the Hyūga. However, unlike the Gentle Fist, it was not a common style among the Uchiha. Aside from Naruto, Gai had only met one person who was proficient enough to use it.

Uchiha Itachi. The infamous Raven of the Uchiha clan, though was skilled in the use of the taijutsu he preferred Kenjutsu if his genjutsu wasn't an option.

Of course, the simple reason of Itachi practiced it to any degree labeled it as an evil and vile style, but that Naruto used it as well clearly told Gai the jinchuriki was holding back, and had at the very least met Itachi. The Sokudoken was a Uchiha clan taijutsu that could only be taught by another Uchiha, or by Gai himself to a degree.

"It's... a unique style Lee, called the Sokudoken." Gai told his student, a frown clearly visible on his face."It's not a style that you would want to learn. It's unyouthful."

Lee stopped jumping up and down at that, confused by Gai's tone. "But Sensei, I do want to learn it! I have to learn every taijutsu style-"

"If I had a choice, I would've never learn anything about that style." Gai interrupted, his tone catching many by surprise and halting their own conversations. He sounded as if he genuinely hated that style of fighting. "That Style is a Uchiha clan taijutsu. However, because of the raw speed and high stamina needed for it, only few even bothered to try to learn it, and even fewer succeeded. Those that did... they will be remembered for the wrong reasons Lee."

Gai of course, didn't say the entire truth. He didn't say that Naruto likely was taught the style by Itachi, or that Lee would've been a natural with the speed fist.

Rock Lee frowned and looked down at the ground in front of him, pondering Gai's words.

Next to him, Nara Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. Yet another piece of the puzzle added into his mystery of Uzumaki Naruto.

'Remembered for the wrong reasons? Is he worried that Naruto might do something against the village or something?' Shikamaru wondered briefly, before he threw the notion out of his mind. 'Naruto would never go against Konoha.' He thought confidently. 'But that is Uchiha based... and even Gai is refusing to teach it to Lee. What is so bad about it?'

His blond teammate at the other end of the crowd however, completely missed the conversation. She had zoned out and started to stare at the wilderness in boredom.

"Where the hell did they go?" Ino finally moaned out.

When team seven disappeared into the forest, they didn't come back out at all. It was weird for Naruto to stay out of the spot light like this, but given that Kakashi had been utterly throttling them on and off for a good couple hours, it wasn't surprising that they ran either.

Neji had activated his Byakugan to scan the forest, finding that Sasuke and Sakura were still hidden from Kakashi almost at the other end of the training ground. 'What is the dead last doing? Is he really going to take a beating to protect his teammates?' He wondered. While he thought that Naruto was an utter failure, he felt a smidge of respect for Naruto's courage.

He cleared his throat and said out loud "I can see the Uchiha's chakra signature still hidden far from Kakashi along with Haruno... but Uzumaki is preparing to face Kakashi head on."

"... He's doing what?" Ino asked in a deadpan while Shikamaru face palmed. Choji groaned at Naruto's idea, thinking it was utterly stupid.

Team eight seemed to agree with the other rookie team. Shino simply sighed to himself, mumbling things only he could hear.

"What a fool, trying a failing tactic twice." Hinata said whilst shaking her head. Her Byakugan was active as well, and she did not need Neji's commentary on what was happening, able to see it for herself.

Neji looked closer at Naruto's chakra pathways, and saw his eyes lighting up almost like a homing beacon for him. "No... he isn't." He interjected, though the sharper jonin shinobi caught the lack of any form of respect from the branch Hyūga to the clan head's daughter. "He's channeling his chakra through his eyes in the same fashion of a Hyūga or Uchiha would... why would he do that...?"

The ice in Hinata's eyes while staring at Neji was unnerving to most, though Neji didn't even flinch. It was more than a rebellious fire like before, something was clearly wrong with this picture to Kurenai. 'A branch house member would've been killed where they stood for speaking like that to a main house member.'

Shikamaru's eyes bulged out of his sockets at Neji's words. 'Nothing is making sense... a taijutsu style that even Gui frowns at and channeling chakra through his eyes? Just what happened to him while he was gone?'

A thought occurred to him, before he trashed it. 'Is he a Hyūga or a Uchiha? No... the Uchiha always had black hair and eyes, and the Hyūga always had pearl white eyes. But then... who is he?'

"Why would Naruto channel chakra to his eyes?" Ino asked herself out loud, the same question running through Shikamaru's mind running through hers.

"Damn you, Naruto..." Unlike the rest of the genin, who seemed confused by Naruto's play, Kiba was growing angrier by the second. He was growling softly to himself, clenching and unclenching his fists repeatedly.

How did Naruto gain enough power to even consider fighting a jonin one on one for fifteen minutes? He might have been an idiot, but even Naruto knew better than to do that without thinking they had a puncher's chance at yanking the bells off Kakashi.

'Naruto isn't supposed to be able to make dragons out of flames, survive going toe to toe with a jonin, and be adept in two different chakra natures naturally before making it to chunin.' He thought bitterly.

And he certainly wasn't supposed to have a reason to channel chakra through his eyes.

Shino saw the frustration on his teammate's face, and understood it though he didn't feel the same way. Ever since they had met, Naruto had a knack for doing things no one else could do. The only problem was that he would only apply this to pranking people when they were younger. "It would seem that Uzumaki-san has yet another trick up his sleeve."

The Nara clan heir nodded his head in agreement. His sensei caught the look on Shikamaru's face, the same when the Nara was given a puzzle that he was trying to solve.

"Troublesome."

---

"Ow!" Sasuke winced as Sakura worked on healing his shoulder. The two other members of team seven were safely hidden away so that Sakura would be able to have enough room to work on healing Sasuke.

"To think, Naruto actually thinks he can get the bells on his own." The Uchiha snorted. "Once an idiot, always an idiot."

Sakura pursed her lips. "...I don't think he thinks he can win." She admitted to the Avenger. A genin taking on a jonin? Yeah, that's in the catergory of an ant fighting an elephant.

It won't end well.

Sasuke snorted at Sakura's response. "Of course he doesn't think he can win." Sasuke replied. He was condescending, not an oblivious prick. "He's doing this to spare the two of us a beatdown."

The Uchiha felt a little angered by this. In the back of his mind he remembered that Naruto essentially did the same thing for them on the bridge, and how that played out.

'Here we go again.' He thought. Last time, it was only thanks to Naruto the rest of them survived. Now though, Kakashi wasn't there to help Sasuke butcher the remains of the army after Naruto cut it in half.

The pink haired girl moved her hands down lower onto Sasuke's arm, making the Uchiha give an involuntary wince. "He always was too noble for his own good." She said quietly, not really speaking to Sasuke and more so to herself.

Sasuke grunted in agreement, ignoring the fading aches in his arm as he remembered all the good things Naruto did around the village. Whatever money he didn't spend, he watched Naruto donate it to the very orphanage that booted him out at the age of five, in his spare time, he was throwing out advice at Saratobi Konohamaru before they left for Wave, or when they were all younger and he protected Hinata from a bunch of older kids that didn't even make it in the shinobi life.

Heck, Naruto was probably still going to be like that if Sasuke thought about it, he'll probably help around the village whenever he got the chance. He was too much of a good person not too.

Sasuke began to hear the distant sounds of fighting, just whispers on the wind. It hurt his pride almost as much as his shoulder that he wasn't participating because of an injury.

What made it even worse was that he was left handed and it was his right shoulder that was hurt. That infuriated him to no end.

'This is a test of teamwork... and only one person is even trying to win anymore.' He thought, though he wouldn't admit it out loud that technically meant that Naruto outlasted him, again.

First it was the bridge, now it was the retake for the bell test. 'I'm not going to let Dobe get the better of me... not again.' With the faint sounds of fighting still ringing in his ears, Sasuke stood up. He ignored the flaring pain from his shoulder and Sakura telling him to sit back down.

"We need to help Naruto win the test." He declared, looking back at Sakura. His hand was holding his shoulder still, and he was only putting weight on one leg as he stood.

The pink haired girl again was shaking her head. "You said it earlier, we're in no shape to help Naruto right now." She said with finality in her tone. It wasn't that she didn't want to help Naruto, it was more that she didn't want Sasuke stuck in the hospital for a month overexerting himself.

"I want to become a chunin next month, and if Kakashi thinks our teamwork is rusty than we won't be able to participate." Sasuke said back, trying to use the most logical explanation he could. "So come on and let's go help Dobe get the bells."

"I'm a medic, I can't go into a combat zone." Sakura replied, before she said again "And you're still hurt. Badly."

Sasuke stared at her for a moment before he began to argue again. "We can't just sit here and do nothing while he gets pummeled for fifteen minutes. I only lasted that long because I was smart enough to run!" He began to ignore her advice to stay out of the fight and go to help Naruto in any way he could. However, when he took a step forward he promptly fell down onto his face and bit back a scream.

Apparently he hurt his knee as well. 'Great. Just what I needed, another reason she won't let me go.' Sasuke thought bitterly.

Sakura sighed and moved over to where he was, helping him sit up. "We can't help Naruto right now. Like I said, I'm not worth much for combat and you are seriously injured."

She put emphasis on the last part, which made Sasuke glare at her. She glared back defiantly, not moving an inch. It was quite the anomaly, since Sakura had always done what he wanted in the past.

"We still need to help him out." He insisted, trying to brush off her hands but failing to do so.

"We'd only get in the way." Sakura repeated yet again.

"But the last time we let Naruto fight on his own, he nearly lost his eye and fell off the bridge." Sasuke brought up what sounded like a very good point in his book. "I refuse to sit here and do nothing-"

Sakura pinched a nerve in the back of Sasuke's neck, making him fall unconscious immediately. It was a trick a lot of medics knew to use on stubborn patients when they didn't have anything to knock them out with.

Knowing he was going to be angry when he woke up, she gave a tired sigh. 'He'll get over it... I hope.' She placed her hands back on his shoulder and continued the process of healing his body.

---

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu." Naruto's voice held a serious tone while he spoke, a single clone popping to life next to him before they both rushed Kakashi.

"What, no witty banter?" Kakashi asked jokingly, receiving silence. He mentally shrugged and met them both head on, catching a punch from Naruto in his hand while the clone tried to sweep out his legs. He tried to kick down at the clones face, but Naruto got in the way and threw his leg upwards.

'He's good at working in tandem with himself at least, so I know there's room for improvement.' Kakashi thought, flipping backwards on his hands before deflecting a punch coming at his nose. The other Naruto, he didn't know if it was the clone or not, aimed a quick kick at his side, trying to knock the bells off his hip. Kakashi grabbed them both by the base of their skull and flipped over their heads, throwing a shuriken at them both.

Neither of the shuriken were aimed to kill of course, only scratching their arms on their sleeveless side. The clone popped from the attack, but Naruto continued to fight on without it. "Amai Agoongaku." Naruto tried to kick Kakashi in the chin, but his leg was pushed up by Kakashi's hand to miss the jonin's head. Before he could get his foot back on the ground, Kakashi countered up the strike with a punch towards Naruto's midsection.

Naruto blocked the punch with his other leg, jumping up and letting the fist hit his knee. He was sent backwards, slamming his feet onto the ground and skidding on his heels across the fallen leaves and twigs.

Before Naruto even stopped skidding back, he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

'Shunshin.' Kakashi thought, glancing all over the place to find him. When he did, he saw Naruto was in his blind spot on his right and had his fist rocketing towards Kakashi's cheek.

He also noted that when Naruto moved, his body almost seemed to blur with orange streaking behind him.

Kakashi ducked under the punch and again countered it with a punch to Naruto's midsection, but instead he found Naruto's foot crossing his face first.

The Copy nin fell back, more surprised than actually injured. He didn't let his back hit the ground though, landing on his hands to push himself back up and hit Naruto in the nose with his elbow.

Naruto stumbled back, unwittingly giving Kakashi room to go through hand seals for an attack.

"Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga."

Lightning arced off of Kakashi's hand, taking a loose form of a snarling wolf. The wolf dashed through the air, looking like a true beast of the wild as it sprinted towards the Jinchuriki.

As fast as Naruto was, not many people had the right to claim they could outrun lightning. The attack struck what Kakashi thought was his chest, but instead, all that he found was a clone of ravens.

But before Kakashi could even look surprised, he watched the branches get blasted wide open and heard Naruto's voice.

"Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga!"

The same move Kakashi just used was shot right back at the copy ninja, who barely was able to leap up into the air to dodge it.

'Right, sharingan eyes...' Kakashi thought, the wolf beneath him smashing into the ground while his red eye met Naruto's blue ones in a stare. 'So that's how everyone else feels about their moves getting stolen... but what's up with him, he's never been so serious before.'

Naruto lunged off the tree branch he was standing on, a kunai in his hand. He planned to drive the kunai straight through Kakashi, fighting as if he was fighting an enemy of Konoha like he was ordered to.

Something that again caught Kakashi by surprise. Every time a genin was told to come in with intention to kill, they always failed to do so. Yet Naruto appeared to be more than willing to run a kunai through Kakashi at the moment.

Kakashi caught Naruto's extended hand by the wrist to protect himself, the small blade inches away from his sharingan. While they fell back down to earth, Kakashi planted both feet right into Naruto's sternum, driving the wind out of the genin's lungs while throwing Naruto at the same tree he lunged off of.

The jinchuriki flipped in the air landing softly on the thick oak tree, a light aura of chakra emitting from his hands and feet as he stuck to the tree bark. He watched as gravity sent Kakashi back down to earth, the copy nin's sharingan eye staring right into his again.

'The intensity in his eyes... It's hard to believe he's the same person as the kid that risked his life in Wave for us.' He thought. Seeing Naruto's sharingan was unlike anything else. It was only in the first stage, unable to do the same things as Itachi's sharingan, yet Naruto just held an edge in them. They were both intimidating and entrancing to see.

'I wonder though... genjutsu was your weakness before, it likely still is to a degree.' Kakashi decided, casting a light genjutsu to test his theory.

Kakashi looked up at Naruto, expecting him to continue to fight without missing a beat, yet the blond was hesitant to rush him this time around. 'Did he notice the genjutsu?' Kakashi wondered briefly.

"Kai." Naruto said softly, dispelling it with a flickering thought. Such a basic genjutsu, something that not two months ago he had no chance at detecting let alone escaping.

Naruto's face remained stoic for a moment, before he let a smirk cross his face. "I was the student under Uchiha Itachi, you know. He's sort of made a name for himself off of genjutsu." As he spoke, he began to stand up while sticking to the tree with his feet.

Kakashi chuckled. He wasn't quite as serious as Kakashi initially thought. "I guess you were, huh?"

Naruto face hardened lunged down with an axe kick, though Kakashi moved out of the way of the attack, letting Naruto's foot smash into the ground where he once stood, kicking up tree leaves at the raw speed.

As Naruto got up and faced Kakashi, he noted that Kakashi's posture was relaxed and grew confused. Why was Kakashi relaxed? They were in the middle of a fight, the absolute last place you want to relax.

"I was right about your eyes though, wasn't I?" Kakashi continued, his voice getting serious but his stance remaining the same. "You're at least chunin level, I'll give you that. But you're still not up with me. Not even close."

"What-" Naruto's question was interrupted with Kakashi all but teleporting in front of him, barely even a blur for Naruto's eyes to follow before getting backhanded across the cheek with enough force to knock Naruto clear off his feet.

The scarred genin was sprawled over the ground, a tree root coming up like a fist into the small of his back upon landing. For well over a minute, Naruto felt like he couldn't breath with the wood hitting him like a nail.

The copy ninja all but appeared in front of him, sending his fist down at Naruto's face like it was shot from a cannon to knock the jinchuriki out cold.

However, yet again Naruto managed to escape, this time covering himself in a poof of smoke at the last second, and letting Kakashi's fist go through a board.

Kakashi retracted his fist, his eyes surveying the terrain to find Naruto. 'He's elusive, second time he managed to escape.' He thought, his sharingan looking around for Naruto.

Naruto however didn't go far, leaping out of a tree directly overhead in a sharp downturn.

"Feidotu Burraku!"

Naruto smashed his elbow down onto Kakashi's skull, catching him well off guard. The jinchuriki drove Kakashi face first into the ground with his elbow, landing on his feet in a crouch above the copy ninja.

Kakashi disappeared in a poof of smoke, making Naruto do a double take. "You can't do that, that's my thing!" Naruto seethed.

"That was a decent tactic you used." Kakashi spoke, yet Naruto couldn't pinpoint the source of his voice.

The jinchuriki continued looking around, saying aloud. "No one ever bothers to look up."

Kakashi chuckled, but a second after the statement left Naruto's lips, he was blocking a powerful kick to the side of his head with his arms.

Unfortunately for the genin, the kick was still strong enough to launch him straight for a tree, hitting it with a hard thud.

Naruto growled inwardly, glaring up at Kakashi. He watched Kakashi going through hand seals, his eyes copying the motions.

"Fūton: Ookami Houkou." Kakashi shot out a compressed ball of air at Naruto, similar to an air bullet, but there was something a little more alarming about it. Instead of a simple lance like ball, this was shaped into the face of a snarling Wolf, which gave out an ear splitting howl as it rocketed towards Naruto.

Naruto winced when he heard the roar, the term earsplitting having never been more literal. He felt his ears pop in his skull and had to cover them with his hands. He dropped down onto one knee, but when he looked up, he was about to get blasted straight through the tree.

Kakashi watched as the wolf's head collided right with the tree, blowing it and several others into nothing but splinters. He narrowed his eyes, noting that he didn't hit Naruto. If he did, there would've been a cry of pain.

Kakashi almost let out a groan of exasperation as he scanned the terrain once again. 'This is the third time he's pull this... I'm losing my touch.'

However, unlike the times before, he couldn't find Naruto at all. He spent three entire minutes looking for the Uzumaki, and in a timed test with only around ten minutes left to go, that was an awfully long time.

When he finally found Naruto, Kakashi was at yet a different end of the forest, much closer to the crowd yet still well out of their site. The river towards the entrance of the field cut through here, splitting the land into two pieces of forestry.

However, it was where Kakashi found Naruto that left him curious. The genin was currently using Chakra to stand on the water with a relaxed posture, showing Kakashi that Naruto had included acute chakra control to his regime under Itachi.

"Alright Naruto, you brought me here." Kakashi said. "Do you have a Suiton move you want to use on me?"

Naruto said nothing, only smiling. His eyes continued stare up at the last student of the Yondaime Hokage, before he went through a series of hand seals.

Kakashi was confused, because in honesty he was expecting Naruto's seals to be for a water jutsu, but instead he watched Naruto do the familiar fire jutsu that seemed to act as a go to for him.

"Katon: Karyū Endan no jutsu." A dragon formed around Naruto, but this time it did not coil around him but seemed to circle directly above the water. Steam formed in the air, beginning to shroud the river but not doing much to hide Naruto.

The dragon flew for Kakashi to flay him alive, while the copy ninja countered Naruto's attack with a defensive move.

"Doton: Chikyuu hinan Sho."

A thick dome of earth surrounded Kakashi, the dragon smashing straight into the earth towards where Kakashi Hatake should have been standing.

When the dust cleared, the dome was in shambles, pieces chipped off and parts broken away. It completely fell apart after the blast, showing Kakashi was unscathed.

However, the copy ninja when he noticed that the steam had turned into a near fog-like blanket of gray, this time doing much more to hinder his vision.

"Suiton: Suidan no jutsu."

Kakashi turned to the side just in time to get hit in the side by a torrent of water, blasting him straight back into a tree and knocking him into a daze.

While hidden in the mist that was rolling off the river, Naruto stood still for a moment, panting like a dog. 'That took a lot out of me.' he thought, his hands resting on his knees. 'I need to practice using Suiton a lot more, because that took way to much chakra for something that wasn't too high of a rank... and even then it came out a lot weaker than any of my wind or fire jutsu. Not having an affinity for a move sucks.'

"You do know that with the sharingan, you don't really need to worry to much about affinities." The Kyuubi said in the contours of Naruto's mind. "You had zero natural talent with earth or lightning, yet now you have added both to your skill set as well as picked up a powerful wind jutsu in the span of seven minutes, three of those you spent setting this trap."

Naruto watched as the foggy mist evaporated around him yet Kakashi was no where to be seen. 'I still need to train in using it. Besides, wording it like that almost makes me feel like a thief.' he replied.

The Kyuubi snorted. Naruto hadn't picked on that his eyes were meant to do exactly that. "Uchiha are thieves. It's one of the reason they were once so feared, because they can turn your greatest strength into just another piece of their arsenal, while outside of battle it could copy handwriting and the sorts. It sharpens your sense of sight and your reflexes. It can also have other powers for other Uchiha, such as paralysis by intimidation, forced sleep, teleportation, and elite genjutsu and ninjutsu attacks at the next stage of a sharingan eye."

Naruto had heard about those. But he wasn't certain he could unlock it, with his eyes being different from the norm. 'But still, it's almost an unfair advantage for me, I have a ninjutsu specialist for a sensei!'

The Kyuubi smirked behind the doors of its cage. "It would be unfair, if you weren't best suited for an up close and personal type of approach to combat, such as Itachi whenever he can't land his opponent in a genjutsu. However, there are still some moves that you cannot copy, such as your father's Rasengan."

'I still remember how to learn a jutsu,' Naruto said back, still excited about learning the move from Kakashi later. 'I had to learn almost my entire arsenal in the span of a few months so that I wouldn't rely to much on a my clones.'

The fox just up and started laughing out of the blue, which was a little more than a nuisance for Naruto in the middle of a fight. "Knowing the Author, he's going to pick something corny like the Orange Streak of Konoha as your nickname in future bingo books but it should be Arsenal. It's actually a cool name!"

'...What?' Naruto finally asked, sweat dropping. 'What the hell does that even mean you big furball?'

The fox didn't reply.

Naruto mentally shrugged and returned his full focus on the fight at hand. He still couldn't see Kakashi anywhere, eventually being forced to return to the land to search for the copy ninja.

'This isn't a trap if I've ever seen one.' He thought dryly, cautiously stepping onto the forest floor.

However, the moment his foot touched the ground, a hand erupted through the earth to grab his ankle.

Naruto jumped up and out of the way, Kakashi emerging directly where he was about to step. While Naruto landed back on the water, Kakashi was now standing at the edge of the river in a battle stance.

The copy ninja's natural instinct was to attack on Naruto on a larger scale with ninjutsu, but he chose to remain more defensive to see what else Naruto could do.

He watched Naruto going through hand seals before the blond brought his hands to his mouth.

"Fūton: Shinkūgyoku no jutsu!"

Naruto shot small spiraling balls at Kakashi, who darted to the left in an effort to dodge them. Naruto kept shooting at Kakashi, forcing the copy ninja to run in circles on and off of the river and around Naruto.

'Alright, enough of this.' Kakashi thought, disappearing in a poof of smoke reminisce of one of Naruto's favorite tactics. He reappeared right in front of Naruto, his fist about to collide with the jinchuriki's jaw.

Naruto barely was able to get his head out of the way, his arm swatting Kakashi's fist to the side before he spun around from the momentum, and he tried to hit Kakashi with a backfist.

Kakashi blocked the hit easily, his left hand crashing into Naruto's kidney which made the Jinchuriki arch his back in pain.

The copy ninja continued his attack, moving his other arm from it's spot blocking Naruto's attack and hitting Naruto right under the chin with his elbow.

Naruto was sent through the air, though he managed to land on his feet by catching himself in a hand stand. He flipped back onto the land safely, rubbing his jaw.

When Naruto picked his head up to look back at Kakashi, he saw the copy ninja about to hit him with a lariat. Naruto hit the ground and let Kakashi's arm sail harmlessly over his head, before he tried a quick snap kick that would kill a civilian on Kakashi, aimed for the jonin's jaw.

While the blow would've knocked Kakashi for a loop if it landed, Kakashi was able to dodge it by taking a step back and leaning his head towards the sky.

Naruto was left open though, spinning around from the momentum of the missed kick. Kakashi aimed his fist into the center of Naruto's back, which drove Naruto up into the air.

Where he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"Oh come on!" Kakashi let out, frustrated beyond belief how many times Naruto had done this same tactic, and how many times it actually worked. "I thought you were trying to take the bells off me, not run from me!"

"I am going for the bells."

Kakashi turned around to the river, and found not one but ten Naruto's standing in a half circle around him, going through hand seals.

The copy ninja paused for but a moment to note that nine of the clones were soaking wet, which not only gave away which one was real, but where he hid them.

"Fūton: Ookami Houkou!" They all performed this technique, with a few aimed at his chest, another few above his head, a few more to his left, a few to his right, and the last bit at his feet.

Essentially, Naruto was guaranteed to hit Kakashi.

"Gah!" Kakashi put his arms over his chest, getting blasted straight back into the woods and crashing through a tree. The ground where he stood was torn straight through, leaving a scar on the land.

'Note to self. Stop showing Naruto my ninjutsu.' Kakashi thought, groaning and dusting off his flak jacket. That's the second time Naruto had turned Kakashi's own attack right back on him, and damn they hurt.

As soon as Kakashi stood up, he had to defend himself from a barrage of punches and kicks by the clones. He was easily dodged every attack, seeing them coming an instant before they were thrown.

However, trying to land a counter was another story. Naruto's own sharingan was active with his clones as well, and unlike Kakashi, Naruto body could withstand using it for an extended period of time before getting winded.

Thus they were at an impasse. Kakashi was mostly playing defense or fighting punching bag, while Naruto was fighting almost strictly to get the bells.

The copy ninja again took notice that there were only nine Narutos around him, all soaking wet. Kakashi smirked beneath his mask, realizing they were all clones.

He kicked the closest clone away, going through hand seals in but a second before slamming his palms down on the ground.

"Raiton: Jibashi no jutsu!" Lightning pulsed through Kakashi's hands and traveled on top of the soaked grass. When it reached the first clone's ankles, it immediately turned into lightning filled smoke, a feint blue outline of Naruto's body still flickering in the air moments after the lightning pulsed through his body.

The other clones were defeated that same moment, disappearing in a poof of smoke. Kakashi frowned when he saw that Naruto again escaped him.

In all honesty, Kakashi was beginning to think Naruto wasn't even trying to win and just milking out jutsu from Kakashi. What was this, the third one he's been able to copy already?

Naruto had been watching his clones fight while using his chakra to stick to a tree a safe distance away. He glanced up at the sky, so that the Kyuubi could tell him how much time he had left.

"six minutes, brat. Time to kick yourself into a higher gear." The fox said. He frowned in his cage when he saw Naruto hesitate, a feeling of doubt starting to creep into him that he should just flee. "I know you're not going to run Uzumaki Naruto. Prove your worth as a man here and now, or I will plague your sleep for a week with dreams of the Ichiraku's going out of business."

That got the reaction he was looking for. Naruto's face hardened while his jaw clenched, and the vessel lunged off the tree so hard that the chakra on his feet made the bark explode on the tree, large dents forming in the wood.

Kakashi's eyes snapped up upon hearing the bark break above his head, able to see Naruto's fist aimed at his head. He blocked the attack deftly with his arm, a gust of wind forming when Naruto's fist connected. Using his free hand, Kakashi aimed a punch at the airborne Jinchuriki.

The attack hit him in the center of his stomach and driving the wind from his lungs. Naruto flew back into the same tree he stuck too earlier, catching himself before face planting by putting chakra on his hands.

'He's well versed in such a simple skill.' Kakashi thought appraisingly, watching Naruto let himself land on his fee. 'Earlier, he was able to incorporate it into his fighting style. I wonder if I could teach him how to use that tactic more effectively.'

"Five minutes. It's now or never brat." Naruto heard the fox say to him, and he stared at Kakashi, sky blue eyes seeming to burrow straight towards the copy ninja's soul. Naruto was aware of how little the time was that remain, as was Kakashi.

"Alright sensei, I'll give you round one." Naruto said, noting that none of his attacks seemed to actually hurt Kakashi while Kakashi had nearly knocked him out on every attack. He slipped back into his stance, letting Kakashi do the same.

"But now, it's time for round two."

---

Itachi tightened his grip on his katana as he stared down Sasori of the Red Sands, or more precisely one of Sasori's many puppets, Hiruko. The scorpion like puppet was as intimidating as usual, like a lion glaring at you from five feet away.

Only the Lion had a turtle shell on its back and a long scorpion tail while hiding a man inside it.

Oh, and it could shoot out capsules of lethal gas and at the same time, hundreds of razor thin needles at a time in rapid succession. If that wasn't overkill, each and every needle was covered in a poison that rendered a man paralyzed for three days before effectively killing them.

Yeah, totally a lion.

Itachi couldn't use genjutsu on Sasori. It was odd, but somehow, the puppet Sasori hid in prevented him from using it.

'He prepared for this encounter... I knew I should've attacked them sooner.' Itachi thought. He disliked the alternative methods he had at fighting, being a man who simply wanted to end a fight with as little bloodshed as possible. He made a single one handed seal, and attacked.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu."

A large fireball was blasted at Sasori, who did nothing to avoid the attack. The fire consumed him completely, an attack that should've easily destroyed Hiruko along with Sasori.

Yet when the smoke cleared moments after, Sasori was completely unharmed inside Hiruko, while the puppet itself had not one mark on it aside from the loss of its Akatsuki cloak.

Sasori chuckled inside Hiruko. "I've made some modifications since the last time we saw each other Itachi. Let's see how long you can last."

The puppet swiped at Itachi with it's scorpion like tail, aiming to decapitate the Raven of the Uchiha.

Itachi held his katana up and blocked the swipe, shoving the chain-like blade away before it could wrap around his own weapon. He shifted his grip on his katana before put his foot right into Hiruko's face, shoving it back whilst flipping backwards to provide some space between them.

"Katon: Hōsenka no jutsu." Itachi fired several balls of flame at Sasori in a circle. This time, the attacks did a little damage, slight charring at the edges of Hiruko's arms.

Sasori chuckled darkly inside his puppet, a noise that chilled Itachi. None of his attacks to this point had proven effective in the slightest, while Sasori had yet to really even begin to fight back.

The puppeteer must've sensed Itachi's plight, his laughter growing louder. "Tell me Itachi, are you certain you want to try to do this? You can always run away." He said, his tail waving towards the steps behind Itachi.

Itachi glared at Sasori. "You'd kill me before I made it to the stairs." He said back. While he was admittedly nervous, running away was not only cowardly but foolish.

Besides, fortunes favor the bold.

"I'm curious though... who said anything about wanting to run away Sasori?" Itachi asked challengingly. "Having doubts in yourself are we?"

The puppeteer's voice lost its mirth. "No. I simply wouldn't want to ruin those eyes of yours... be a shame to turn the great Uchiha Itachi into a puppet without them."

Itachi smirked back coyly. "Just like it's a shame that Sasori of the Red Sands spends his days playing with dolls?"

Though it was through Hiruko, Itachi could practically taste the utter rage coming out of Sasori's eyes. "They are puppets!" He roared, Hiruko's tail coming down at Itachi's head to resume the battle.

Itachi rolled out of the way, the tail shattering the earth where Itachi once stood. Itachi stood up quickly, seeing Hiruko opened its mouth before shooting out a capsule at Itachi, letting it hit the ground a few feet in front of the Raven. Almost instantly there was purple smoke surrounded Itachi.

'Poison.' Itachi thought, holding his breath. Knowing of Sasori's affinity for crafting them, Itachi was positive that there was poison in the gas.

Itachi was forced to hold his breath for a solid minute, holding still and using this as a chance to take a break. The smoke finally started to clear, and in another thirty seconds, it should dissipate harmlessly and Itachi could breathe again.

"Oh no you don't." Sasori chuckled inside Hiruko. Again, the puppet opened its mouth and fired off a bushel of needles, all coated in poison. He fired directly into the mist, thinking that Itachi couldn't see him.

And he thought correctly. The thick purple smoke while dissipating, was still thick enough to prevent even his sharingan from seeing through it too much.

However, Itachi still had other senses. He hit the floor to prevent himself from getting impaled, rolling to his left behind a marble column, which was still enveloped in the poisonous smoke. He made a few hand seals before bringing his hand to his mouth and exhaling the miniscule breath still in his lungs as a last resort.

"Fūton: Daitoppa no jutsu!"

The poisonous gas was blown away instantly from the gust of wind, letting Itachi slump forward and gulped down the fresh air into his burning lungs.

While he wasted those few moments, Sasori was not standing idly by. The puppet master's mouth curled into a smile beneath Hiruko, and he darted towards the marble column and tried to wrap his tail around it to slice Itachi to bits.

Itachi's eyes widened before he placed his free hand above his head and channeled chakra through it, making it sticky. He flipped up into a crouch on the column as the tail wrapped around it to squeeze the life out of him, utterly shattering the column into millions of pieces.

Itachi jumped off the falling marble and threw a kunai at Hiruko's face as a way to buy himself space.

The blade bounced off harmlessly, only able to chip away a substantial portion of the face mask but revealing the shiny silver color of metal underneath.

Itachi landed on his back in a backwards summersault up to his feet. 'That's not normal metal.' He thought, seeing a feint bluish hue to it, something that in firelight shouldn't be visible. 'That's made of the same metal used to make Chakra weapons. It's also good for blocking genjutsu attacks, and is incredibly resistant to elemental attacks.'

Sasori saw Itachi narrowing his eyes, chuckling silently. "So you already were able to figure out some of my modifications... no matter, I just need to be delicate about how I kill you... don't want to ruin your eyes before I add you to my collection."

Itachi tensed, now knowing that his usual moves wouldn't do much of anything to this puppet now, which made him contemplate activating his Mangekyō for Amaterasu, or even for his Susanoo.

'I can't engage it up close, I'd be nothing but diced meat unless I can find a way to actually break down his armor.' He thought, but he still thought against activating his mangekyō. 'The Susanoo wears out the user if they use it for too long, it's too risky right now... but If I can hit him with the Amaterasu, I'd be able to end the fight relatively quickly! No... that's too risky too. If he manages to get out of his puppet and has another weapon waiting to use on me, I'd be a sitting duck.'

So in short, he didn't have many options. Most of his jutsu were Fire style, though he did throw in water, wind and lightning for a bit of a mix, but lightning would likely prove to have the same effect as fire and there isn't a source of water he could use down here for a move above D rank.

'I could try that jutsu... but no, it's not ready. I haven't perfected it yet. It's liable to blow my arm off if it back fires.' He thought again failing to come up with a solution.

Sasori smirked inside Hiruko, seeing Itachi's expression resemble a cornered rat. "What's the matter Itachi, already backed into a corner?" He mocked.

'Ninjutsu will have to work for the moment... I'll just have to kick it up a notch.' Itachi decided, going through hand seals once more.

"Katon: Karyū Endan no jutsu."

A dragon of fire formed around Itachi, snarling down at the Sasori inside Hiruko before Itachi before it rammed straight into Sasori's puppet.

Unlike the fireball, this was a much more powerful attack, one that nearly smashed through the tortoise shell atop Sasori's back. It chipped the wood and metal away until it was all but broken, but it didn't breach through the armor-like puppet around Sasori completely.

"I don't know Sasori, are you sure you're not the one in the corner?" Itachi smirked, seeing the puppet almost in shambles. He charged forward again, hoping to break Hiruko open and force Sasori out.

He struck at the puppet's face out of basic instinct of 'hit the bad guy in the face', watching its arm come up and let the blade collide with it. With a loud clang, the wood beneath the blade was cut straight through to reveal the metal layer beneath, just as it was with the face and the shell of the puppet.

'I should aim for the shoulders.' Itachi thought, his blood red eyes flickering to the rolling balls attaching the arm to the torso. 'If I can render its arms useless, I could smash this puppet easily.'

However, this proved to be easier said than done. Sasori saw Itachi's sharingan eyes analyzing the best areas to attack, and sent his tail straight for Itachi's head like a spear.

Itachi brought his sword up and braced his free hand against the flat of the blade. He let the razor sharp point of Hiruko's tail smash right into it, sending sparks through the air between them. Hiruko, being stronger, was able to push Itachi back and drag the Uchiha's feet across the floor.

Itachi was finally able to shove Hiruko's tail to the side and began to charge forward, but again Hiruko's reach advantage played its part as Itachi was forced to raise his katana once again to deflect Hiruko's tail.

The Uchiha pushed the attack away, but all Sasori did to counter was swing it around and try to bash into his other side. Itachi was forced to spin around and block with his katana once again, exposing his back to Sasori.

He heard a clicking sound before turning his head around. He saw Hiruko's mouth was open once again, and dozens upon dozens of needles shot at Itachi from neigh point blank, all gleaming in the dim lighting and coated in poison.

'A single scratch and I am as good as dead.' Itachi thought, shoving Hiruko's tail away once again, though this time he spun around from the momentum and leapt into the air like a cyclone.

He was still spinning in the air as he used a single hand seal.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu."

He brought his hand to his lips as a fireball burst to life. However, instead of aiming directly for the puppet, Itachi was aiming at the needles that were flying directly where his exposed back had been a moment prior.

He landed on his feet a moment later, flames still licking the ground between Sasori and Itachi. He narrowed his eyes at the puppet in front of him, glancing back behind him.

The thick door to Pein's study had not opened since the start of the fight. Surely, he could hear the sounds of combat had he been inside. Yet... there was no sign of the S-ranked shinobi that was even more powerful than Itachi.

Itachi was brought out of his thoughts when Hiruko attacked again, lifting his bulkier left arm. Clicking sounds were heard before missile-like capsules poked out of his arm.

They launched at Itachi, who heard a feint hissing noise.

It was too late before Itachi realized what was about to occur, and before he could try to dodge the attack, the capsules exploded in a blast of fire and smoke.

'Got him...' Sasori grinned, before it fell. 'what's this?' Sasori narrowed his eyes in confusion upon seeing Itachi still standing, missing his arms and his clothes almost evaporated, yet he Uchiha had a blank look on his face, as if he hadn't just got blown up.

However, when a raven popped out of his mouth bearing sharingan eyes, Sasori's eyes went wider than dinner plates. Itachi's body exploded into a flock of crows that flew right overhead of the puppeteer and his puppet.

The next thing that Sasori knew, Hiruko's left arm was clattering on the ground. "Karasu no Taron" was the phrase he heard, finding Itachi was in his blind spot, his foot extended into the joint where his arm met his shoulder.

If not for the red robe he was wearing beneath Hiruko, that would've been the first time anyone had seen his person in the last twenty years.

Gritting his teeth, Sasori sent Hiruko's tail to swat at Itachi once again, but the Uchiha simply leapt backwards and out of the way.

'Now I have something I can exploit.' Itachi thought with a grin, though it faded upon Sasori's shell seem to open up, a large metal tube coming up above his head. The tube was aimed for the center of his chest, gears whirring until it was locked in place. His frown turned into a look of utter dread as he heard a clicking noise.

"Now..." Sasori mumbled, before he screamed at Itachi in utter insanity "you DIE!"

A loud banging noise filling Itachi's ears. A cannonball launched through the air at him, rapidly moving closer to him to tear through his body.

Itachi couldn't dodge it, he was certain of this. A red-hot piece of metal flying at him fast enough for a normal pair of eyes not to be able to see, even he would get grazed if he tried to dodge it.

And losing an arm would just be a slower death than letting it hit him in the chest.

Fortunately for Itachi, he was well adept in ninjutsu.

"Doton: Doryūhek no jutsu." Itachi placed his hands on the ground, but instead of the wall forming in front of him, it formed beneath his hands. It elevated him about ten feet into the air before the cannonball collided with it, shattering it into fragments.

While he was airborne, Itachi went through more hand seals, aiming for the cannon. He aimed to end the puppet along with its master once and for all with this attack, because if this didn't at least put the cannon out of commission, he was doomed.

"Katon: Gōka Messhitsu no jutsu!"

This was no ordinary jutsu, setting a ball of flame on Sasori to explode on the puppet master. Oh no, this was a steady stream of flame as if breathed from a dragon itself. The marble floor seemed to melt between the puppeteer and Itachi, the entire room was illuminated as if like the sun was directly overhead.

The attack hit, managing to not only melt the cannon itself, but it also shattered the tortoise shell beneath it. The hole made by the missing limb seemed to weaken the rest of the side, causing it to shatter under the stress of the attack as well.

A blur wearing a red cloak darted out the side of the puppet before Hiruko completely imploded. There were several burns and tears in the cloth, especially the now nonexistent hood area.

Sasori's exposed shoulders were a deathly pale, completely unhealthy like he had never seen the light of day. His hair was a deep red, though it was completely natural. If Itachi wasn't in a life and death fight with one of the more skilled members of the Akatsuki, then he would've described Sasori as a can of mayonnaise with ketchup on top in terms of appearance.

But Sasori wouldn't let the Uchiha see his face.

"You can't fight me with your back turned to me Sasori." Itachi said blankly, his grip on his katana shifting again.

Sasori sighed, stripping off the ruined red cloak before discarding it. He had hoped not to snap his streak of keeping his face hidden from his enemies, but it appeared that record was set to fall. He wore no shirt beneath his cloak, his black pants coming up to his waist. "I suppose not... but it has been such a long time..."

The puppet master turned around, and instead of seeing a fifty something year old man, Itachi saw someone who could've passed for younger than himself. A large cylinder stuck out of his chest, thumping oddly.

Rather than gap at Sasori, Itachi took it all in stride. 'I've seen weirder things.'

Sasori grinned like a maniac while pulled out a sealing scroll, before proceeding to open it.

And out popped another puppet.

Itachi paled as a cold lump formed in his throat. "Is that...?"

"Since I had to use this." Sasori finished his exclamation with a wicked smile on his face, the body of the third Kazekage of Suna popping to life in front of him.

---

Naruto loved the pressure. He felt the weight of his whole future on his back right now, and he absolutely loved it. He only had five minutes to pass this test, to grab the bells off of Kakashi's waist. And he was confident he would succeed.

"Round two it is Naruto," Kakashi acknowledged the jinchuriki's previous statement. "Bring it."

Naruto smirked as sprinted at Kakashi at blinding speed, Orange streaks the forming behind him from his movements.

Kakashi leaned his head left and right over and over again to avoid Naruto's attacks, each punch narrowly missing their mark by a hair.

This went on for well over thirty seconds, until the copy ninja caught Naruto's next punch by the wrist before yanking Naruto closer to him and clobbering the boy in the face with a heavy right hand.

Naruto was sent sprawling back, that punch hitting harder than any other that Kakashi had thrown prior. He wiped his mouth and rushed back at Kakashi without a second's hesitation.

'His persistence would do a lot more than annoy most other opponents.' Kakashi thought, seeing a bruise forming where his fist had struck Naruto's face. 'By the time the test was over, that bruise should fade thanks to the nine tails.'

The copy ninja caught Naruto's fist again and slugged him in the mouth, reminiscent of what he had just done to Naruto moments prior. This time though, after Naruto got up to his feet he didn't charge in head first right off the bat.

'I gotta stop holding back...' Naruto thought, channeling his chakra to the seals on his to the gravity seals on his arms and legs 'Kai!' The weights turned off, and Naruto smirked confidently and shot at Kakashi again, though this time the copy ninja noticed a rather large burst in speed.

'He just took off the gravity seals.' Kakashi realized, going to catch Naruto's fist but this time not reacting fast enough. The punch stung, but it didn't send him stumbling back.

He brushed off the punch and blocked Naruto's next attacks with his arms, before aiming a kick for Naruto's sternum. Kakashi was surprised when Naruto managed to catch his foot with one hand and spin Kakashi around to expose his back.

Kakashi felt Naruto's fist hit his back, and again though it stung it didn't knock him back or make him stumble. Naruto's legs might've been accustomed to the heavy regiment of weights and thus reaped the benefits, but he had only had weights on his arms for less than a day now.

'In all honesty, his arms are weaker than normal because they're just bone tired. He probably slept with the weights on too.' Kakashi continued to spin until he was facing Naruto again, crossing his fist into Naruto's face once again, though this attack was only the first from Kakashi.

Naruto's head snapped down toward the ground, leaving an opening for Kakashi's other hand to hit him in the nose in the form of an uppercut, knocking the boy airborne.

Kakashi then spun on his heel and delivered an utterly devastating kick into Naruto's stomach, forcing the boy to vomit blood.

'Can't... breathe...' Naruto's face seemed to be permanently gasping for breath, yet not able to get any air. His body felt like shattered glass, unable to even move as Kakashi's foot held him suspended in the air.

Kakashi removed his foot from Naruto's stomach, letting the jinchuriki drop down to his hands and knees. He watched as Naruto coughed more blood onto the ground, still gasping for air.

Blood began to run down the left corner of Naruto's nose, along with both sides of his mouth. He couldn't even move to defend himself from the swift kick to the face he received from Kakashi, launching him back into a tree.

Naruto groaned. He had double vision, seeing two Kakashis walking towards him almost as if he was a predator stalking his prey. Shaking his head, Naruto pushed himself up to his feet, which again proved to Kakashi how high his drive was. The copy ninja gave a soft smile of pride, though from Naruto's perspective his face remained unchanged behind the mask.

'You inherited your mother's stubbornness.' He thought, watching Naruto wipe the blood off his face with his currently sleeveless arm.

Naruto went through hand seals, his face hardening into a look of determination. 'I am going to get those bells... even if I get put in a hospital for them.'

"Tajū Kage Bunshin no jutsu." Naruto growled out, letting a dozen clones pop to life around him. They circled Kakashi, inching closer and closer before they all finally pulled out their kunai and charged.

Kakashi ducked and weaved out of the way of their attacks, backhanding or kicking any clone that gave him an opening. Compared to the army Naruto could normally summon in a battle, he found the ten clones not to be much of a challenge.

However, upon landing a solid punch into the face of what he thought was the last clone, he was surprised when Naruto hit the ground hard and didn't dispel.

'What?' Kakashi heard a hissing sound behind him, and turned around to face it.

What he saw was one of Naruto's more reckless ideas. And considering that Naruto thought a kamikaze attack through a dragon made of fire was a good idea, that was saying something.

A clone of Naruto was about to punch him square in the face. That part was perfectly normal, Kakashi would've been surprised if Naruto wasn't trying to hit him.

The dangerous part was what was slapped on his hand. It was basic, and honestly it was kind of sloppy, but it showed a small degree of knowledge in Fuuinjutsu. Regardless of how basic the knowledge it was, it was lethal none the less.

Mostly because it was an explosive tag.

Naruto's fist collided with Kakashi's face in a haymaker punch, though before the explosion that followed, the clone of Naruto felt his hand crashing through a log of wood.

The clone harmlessly self-destructed, to which Naruto cursed under his breath as he stood. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw Kakashi's foot sailing straight for his head.

Naruto let himself fall forward to avoid the attack, and tried to sweep out Kakashi's legs. However, the copy ninja just gave a little hop, grabbing Naruto's extended left ankle in a clench.

"Ryouken no Kuishibaru." Kakashi twisted Naruto's ankle painfully, a sickening crunch filling Naruto's ears before unbridled pain coursed through his left leg and made him bite back a scream.

Kakashi knew it was harsh, but this test had already exceeded any expectation he could've set for team seven, and it all but ended fifteen ago, back when Naruto decided to engage him one on one.

This was now a test to see exactly what Naruto's limitations were, to see just how far he was willing to go to win. That included how high his pain tolerance was.

Using his good leg, Naruto pushed Kakashi off of him before rolling up onto his feet. He winced when he put weight on his ankle, but he was able to ignore the flaring pain thanks to an adrenaline rush.

'Hey fox, you want to help me out on the broken ankle?' Naruto asked mentally, still biting back his urge to yell out in pain.

The fox gave a snort. "I'm a little busy fixing the lung your rib went through when Hatake nearly made your chest cavity collapse with that kick. You'll have to live with the ankle injury for a little longer. By the way, I hate to tell you this, but you have just three minutes before noon."

Naruto clenched his teeth as he bit back the urge to scream again, this time more out of frustration than pain.

"Three minutes Naruto, we both know you can't win in that amount of time. Give up, it's over." Kakashi's tone was not mocking, not arrogant, but honest. It was obvious now, at least to Kakashi, that Naruto had no chance to knock the bells off officially before time ran out.

If they started fighting maybe ten minutes earlier, it might've been an entirely different story of course, yet to Naruto, he still fully believed he could win.

"Too bad sensei. I'll fight to the bitter end." Naruto panted back as a reply, making Kakashi smirk.

Kakashi watched Naruto slip back into his stance, and did the same.

Naruto rushed at Kakashi, a failing tactic but the only one he really had. None of his ninjutsu had proven entirely effective, the attacks that did land did little more than knock Kakashi down.

Even the attacks that did hurt Kakashi, the copy ninja would get up and hit Naruto back just as fast and twice as hard. In taijutsu, Kakashi had broken his ankle, his ribs, and likely his nose and jaw. Naruto probably had a concussion too, he was feeling a tad light headed.

Naruto kept up his attack, throwing punch after punch, kick after kick. Nothing was more than a glancing blow to Kakashi, though every time his left foot hit Kakashi Naruto nearly buckled to the ground.

Kakashi ducked under the umpteenth attack aimed for Kakashi's head, and aimed a jab for the jinchuriki's stomach.

Naruto blocked the attack with his other arm, shoving it to the side before he tried to strike at Kakashi with an elbow strike to the crown.

"Feidotu Burraku!" The attak did next to nothing though, connecting with Kakashi but not enough momentum behind it to do more than momentarily delay Kakashi's next attack.

Kakashi rammed his own elbow into Naruto's cheek, the older shinobi sending Naruto stumbling back. The copy ninja didn't give Naruto any breathing room though, back on him and attacking him within a second.

Naruto blocked the punch aimed at his head, his good foot driving into the dirt. With his free hand, Naruto drove a fist right into Kakashi's chin.

It was more of a desperation attack, but it did the trick better than his previous one.

However, before Naruto could capitalize, Kakashi jabbed him in the ribs with the back of his hand, hunching the boy over slightly. Kakashi followed up with a right fist going across Naruto's face for the umpteenth time.

Stumbling from the attack, Naruto could only throw up his arms to block a kick to the other side of his face. His good foot was driven straight into the ground until there dirt was between his sandal and his heel, Naruto finally managed to shove Kakashi's leg back and try to hit Kakashi with a kick to the face from his bad ankle.

Kakashi leaned back, Naruto's foot just out of reach of his face. However, with a large reach advantage like Kakashi had over Naruto, he was able to land a solid punch right into Naruto's chin.

Naruto was forced to flip backwards to stay on his feet, though Kakashi again gave him no room. Though Naruto had proven he was fast, faster than any thirteen year old Kakashi had seen, in close range with Kakashi it meant little. The fox was already working overtime just to keep Naruto standing, a broken ankle would hinder Naruto's speed and agility greatly.

'Damn it.' Naruto thought, blocking another punch from Kakashi. 'I can't win like this, I need to be able to move around!'

"Breathing is more important at the moment, what with a halfway crushed chest cavity." The fox stressed the last part to get it through Naruto's head. Naruto noted that the fox sounded exhausted inside his mind, as if he was running a marathon. "If it makes you feel better, it'll be healed in another three minutes or so."

'I don't have three minutes.' Naruto shot back, ducking out of the way of a kick from his sensei. The jinchuriki threw a punch at Kakashi's face, but the copy ninja again just leaned back again, letting Naruto's fist fall short.

Kakashi rammed his knee up into Naruto's stomach, hunching the blond boy over before he brought his knee back up and hit him in the face.

Naruto was sent stumbling, finding himself backed against a tree. Kakashi was already on him yet again, his fist about to slam right into his face.

'This is the best opening I've had since he broke my ankle.' Naruto thought, putting his hands against the tree above his head. He channeled chakra through them, letting him stick to the bark on the tree.

Naruto pulled himself up out of the way of the punch, letting Kakashi slam his knuckles into the stump of an oak tree. Kakashi's sharingan eye followed the boy's movements, but his body wasn't fast enough to react to what he saw.

Like a dart, Naruto lunged straight for Kakashi, his fist smashing right into the jonin's face. Kakashi was forcibly thrown to the ground, while Naruto landed in a roll up to his feet behind him.

For a moment, Kakashi was unmoving. Naruto was about to shout to the sky he actually knocked out a jonin, his own sensei, when he saw Kakashi put his hands behind his head and flip himself back up to his feet with his back turned to Naruto.

Naruto groaned exasperatedly. "Why won't you just let me win this one damn it! Why can't you just fall down and say I landed a lucky shot! Come on!"

Kakashi chuckled mirthfully, turning around and looking at Naruto over his shoulder. "Because if I did that, it would mean that you actually managed to beat me. Sorry Naruto, but this fight is going to end right here."

The copy ninja disappeared in a cloud of smoke, making Naruto's eyes widen.

The Jinchuriki knew this trick, having performed it several times in this test alone, yet he was powerless to stop what was about to happen. The copy ninja's fist collided with Naruto's cheek from the side, hitting him with the force of a sledgehammer. If Naruto had looked over his shoulder, he would've seen the jonin standing in his blindspot, channeling chakra into his fist before crashing it into Naruto's face.

Naruto's vision was swimming, the world wouldn't stop spinning. Half his face was now buried in the dirt, his left eye staring right at the sun.

He had never been hit so hard in his entire life. It was that simple, not when Orochimaru had played around with him and inadvertently helped Naruto awaken his sharingan, not while Itachi tried to beat him senseless for him trying to fight Orochimaru, and certainly never before his ninja career. If he was going to be truthful, it felt like he got punched by Kami herself.

Kakashi was crouching over him. Time had expired as he pretty much knocked Naruto right into next year, noon finally having rolled around. Yet... Naruto didn't know that. "Is that all you got Naruto? I'm disappointed."

For a moment, a tense silence followed Kakashi's statement. The nine tailed fox openly gaped at Kakashi inside his cage, not believing what he was seeing. Was Kakashi actually goading Naruto into getting back up?

Naruto didn't move at first, his face still halfway buried in the ground. Then, Naruto pushed himself up to get his face out of the dirt. "I refuse..." He growled softly, barely above a whisper. He kept pushing himself up slowly, every muscle in his body feeling as if it was on fire.

'If I wasn't sealed in him, Naruto would've already passed out.' The fox grimaced. It was a curse and a blessing, his healing abilities. Mostly it was a blessing, because in truth the only way for Naruto to truly die with the fox sealed in him is if someone ripped him out, or decapitate the blond. However, it was also a curse, because Naruto could endure more punishment than most normal humans.

Naruto managed to push himself up to his hands and knees, lifting his head to look up at Kakashi. The copy ninja had a mask to hide his face and give nothing away. "I refuse to be beaten..." He growled again. The whiskers on his cheeks were darkening, but his eyes remained blue.

Kakashi eyed Naruto whilst taking a step back, patiently waiting to see what Naruto would do. He watched Naruto struggle up to his feet, a soft breeze blowing past his ear. Kakashi gave a smile upon hearing Naruto's voice fill the air in a defiant battle cry.

"I refuse to lose!"

---

Neji could not believe what he was seeing. As he gave the rest of the Konoha genin the play by play, he felt his respect for Naruto rising with every passing second. It was obvious that though the time was up, Naruto's absolute defiance of fate spark something in him.

At the beginning, he agreed with Hinata. Naruto was nothing but a desperate fool trying to defy fate in a feeble attempt. He was a loser, fated to be nothing more than just another body in Konoha's ranks. But as the fight went on, he saw that the gap between Naruto now and the one Neji perceived was as vast as the Valley of the End. Not only was Naruto fighting hard enough to was force Kakashi to actually try against him, a feet Neji was not sure he himself could do, but he was also still protecting his team.

With this in mind, he was positive that he wasn't the only one who felt his respect for Naruto rise. All the genin present were left in awe at what Neji described, though there were some who outright didn't believe him.

"There is no way Naruto is doing any of this." Kiba said with crossed arms, staring at the forest with a narrowed gaze. "Absolutely no way he is doing this." Akamaru yipped in agreement atop his head.

"And why can't he? Did you read the report of that mission in Wave?" Shikamaru asked without looking at Kiba. The shadow user was staring up at the clouds without a care in the world, lazily laying face first against the chain-link fence. "They had the legendary Hatake Kakashi with them, one of the strongest shinobi in all the elemental nations as well as the last living student of the fourth Hokage, and he was beaten one on one by Zabuza initially. If not for Naruto and Sasuke, Kakashi would be dead, and that was months ago. Why can't Naruto have improved since then?"

"Because he didn't even pass his genin exam properly." Kiba shrugged. "And in case you forgot, it was Naruto and Sasuke that saved Kakashi, and that was by luck."

"What a drag." Shikamaru sighed, closing his eyes while adjusting his face on the fence. " You don't see what Naruto did, do you?"

"What are you talking about Shikamaru?" Kiba snorted. "We can't see anything, genius."

"Not that. " Shikamaru shot an annoyed look over at the ninken user, muttering "It's too troublesome to explain to you Kiba, make Shino do it."

Kiba raised a brow and looked over at Shino. The bug user didn't look at him, or if he did Kiba couldn't see thanks to his glasses. "Naruto found a sensei while he was gone, Kiba." The bug user said to his teammate in a neutral tone. "It was obvious the moment he began using Elemental ninjutsu. Why? Because Naruto wasn't near that level before he left."

Ino tuned Kiba out from there, her thoughts running wild. With what Neji was describing, they all had learned a lot about Naruto. He hadn't given up yet, that wasn't really all that new, but what was new was that he was able to defend himself against arguably the top jonin in the entire village one on one, even if it was a losing battle. He was tough too, a lot tougher than she ever gave him credit for. Getting up after the punishment he had endured was impressive to say the least.

Yet there was one thing that bugged her. Neji said that Naruto was channeling chakra through his eyes, and then said Naruto was able to copy Kakashi's attacks. She was certain that she wasn't the only one to wonder on it, but that was almost exactly what a sharingan and was able to do. Naruto couldn't possibly have something like that, could he?

She remembered back to the conversation Team Ten had with him when he first returned, trying to figure it out.

"You baka, where the hell have you been for two months! People thought you died and you come home and act like nothing happened!"

"Uh..." Naruto rubbed his neck sheepishly. "I was trying to find out about my family... since no one knew anything around here, I figured I could ask around elsewhere before I made it back home... I didn't think people would care that I was gone, sorry."

Ino was taken aback by that response, as was the rest of Team ten. It was hard for them to remember that Naruto never had anyone that cared about him, growing up in families full of cousins and uncles and the whole works.

"I was also training though," he added quickly. "I met new people and learned new techniques. Who knows, maybe if my team works on working together, two of us'll pass the chunnin exam next months!"

'Learned new techniques... there's no way he learned all those attacks and still make time to learn a new taijutsu style as well as get that fast.' She thought. 'What is he hiding?'

Fortunately, she had a genius for a teammate, albeit he was extremely lazy. "He did say to us that he met new people and learned new techniques, remember Shikamaru?" Ino looked over at the future Nara clan head for his input.

The shadow user glanced at her and nodded lazily, his eyes drifting up to the clouds out of habit. "He just didn't say who he met."

"My guess is that he met an S-rank ninja or someone like that." Tenten said, speaking for the first time almost all morning. "Because a chunin just doesn't have moves like that."

Shino pressed his glasses closer to his eyes. "The odds of him meeting an S-ranked shinobi are extremely low. However, given circumstance, an Argument could be made for it. Why? Because Naruto's rise in strength and speed could not be achieved without a proper teacher."

Kiba didn't speak, rolling his eyes at the impossibilities they were sprouting. It was an outrageous thought that Naruto met a S-rank ninja that not only was willing to teach him, but wasn't considered a traitor to his nation.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes in thought at the notion. While the odds were low, Shino and Tenten were certainly right to consider that a possibility. However, there were only a select few that reached that status, and even less that wandered around the elemental countries.

'Okay, Naruto was unquestionably the weakest before he left in the eyes of many, and now it was hard not to already consider him Chunin level. He would've had to meet someone extremely strong, but even more patient if he was Naruto's sensei while he was under him. Naruto's still about as bright as a rock.' Shikamaru narrowed his eyes further in thought. 'Given that Naruto has shown he can use both fire and wind ninjutsu, His sensei obviously could as well. He still seemed to be a happy go lucky idiot, but he's not nearly as hyper as before. I don't know if he's still a loudmouth, chances are he still might be. But then he used a crow clone to escape an attack from what Neji said. That alone only points at...'

Shikamaru's eyes suddenly widened at that, the notion so out of this world he was almost certain he was wrong. But the foreboding taijutsu style, the ability to use both Katon and Suiton jutsu without having to copy them, the crow clones, and channeling chakra through his eyes in particular screamed otherwise.

Shikamaru glanced up at Asuma, who raised a brow back. He knew Shikamaru was trying to ask him a question, but he didn't know the answer to it.

The Nara looked back at the trees, realizing that not even his sensei knew the truth.

'Why did Uchiha Itachi train you, Naruto?'

---

"I refuse to lose!" Naruto screamed to the heavens, pushing off the ground and lunging at Kakashi with his good foot. He slammed his fist as hard as he could into Kakashi's jaw, a crack filling the air as the Jonin was blasted straight through a tree and back towards the river in the back of the training ground.

Kakashi groaned, rubbing his face. That punch might've actually dislocated his jaw. 'Was it a desperation attack or is there more to it?' He wondered, watching Naruto dart towards him. Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi saw a bird watching them both intently over Naruto's shoulder, an ordinary looking pigeon. Something was off about it though, a bird shouldn't have caught his eye in the middle of a fight.

Blocking the punch from Naruto, Kakashi sent his foot crashing into the Jinchuriki's hip.

Naruto rolled on his back, getting up to his feet and lunging at Kakashi in but a moment. Again, Naruto's punch was blocked, but this time, Naruto used that to his advantage. Channeling chakra through his hand, he yanked Kakashi closer to him, and clobbered the copy ninja in the face with his left fist.

Kakashi flipped from the momentum, landing atop the river. Naruto steeled himself and charged again, adrenaline pumping through him to dull the pain throughout his body. They engaged in yet another taijutsu battle, Kakashi blocking every attack Naruto used while Naruto did the same.

The Copy Ninja finally did manage to catch a punch in the chin from Naruto, who tried to follow up with another to Kakashi's stomach, but he found himself hitting nothing but air.

Kakashi leaned to the side, letting himself fall down and putting his hands on the water. The jonin did an impromptu cartwheel, kicking Naruto across the face.

Skidding across the river and to the other side of the shore, Naruto watched as Kakashi flip back up to his feet. He was weaving through hand seals before the jonin even got back onto his feet.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu."

Naruto breathed a ball of flame at Kakashi, steam forming beneath it from the river as it traveled across it towards Kakashi.

"Suiton: Suijinheki no jutsu." Kakashi countered, placing his hands on the river in front of him. A dome of water rose around him, forming a protective bubble.

The fireball hit the bubble, turning into nothing but steam. Kakashi let his guard down momentarily, thinking he had a chance to breathe.

Of course, he found out the hard way that he was mistaken, a fist crashed into his face and throwing him off the top of the water and through a tree.

Kakashi groaned, before ducking beneath a flying knee from Naruto. He rolled away from the tree as Naruto smashed into it, hitting it hard enough to crack the tree.

"I guess you're not interested in a ninjutsu battle?" Kakashi asked jokingly.

Naruto didn't reply, rushing again. He cocked his fist back as he charged, hoping to smash it into Kakashi's face.

That didn't happen.

Kakashi ducked under the punch, jabbing Naruto in his ginger ribs and cracking them all over again, the bones still on the mend from earlier. He followed up with another punch into Naruto's torso, hitting the boy right in the gut and hunching him over.

The copy ninja proceeded to try and drive his knee into Naruto's nose, but Naruto blocked the attack. Naruto rammed his head into Kakashi's stomach, trying to wrestle the jonin to the ground.

Instead, Kakashi shoved him off his leg and slam his other foot into Naruto's chest a tad harder than he probably should have. Naruto was absolutely blasted straight out of the woods, bouncing harshly off the ground multiple times yet somehow he didn't collide with a tree. When Naruto finally stopped flying, he crashed face down right in the front of the training ground and right back into the crowds view for the first time since they ran off into the woods.

'Damn you Kakashi...' Naruto thought, spitting the blood from his mouth and struggling up to his feet. He didn't dare look behind him with his sharingan active, still afraid of their reactions.

Kakashi shunshinned across from Naruto, a knowing look in his eyes. He had an advantage now, seeing Naruto roll still didn't want others to see his eyes.

And with his entire graduating class all watching, Naruto essentially had to fight with his back to a wall at all times.

From what the crowd could see from when he rolled up to his feet, blood was dripping down both corners of his mouth and down the left side of his nose. Bruises dotted his face and neck, and there were scratches all over his neck.

His hand seemed to be broken, he had another arm holding his ribs and his ankle was at an awkward angle, pointing his foot inwardly towards his other one. His right sleeve was missing from earlier, and they could see nasty bruises all over his forearm.

In short, he looked like crap.

"Kami..." Asuma murmured, seeing Naruto's battered form. He clenched his fist and stared on utterly flabbergasted at Hatake's brutality. "Kakashi'll kill him if he keeps going like this." He said quietly to himself in an alarmed tone.

"My eternal rival..." Gai was about to say something in defense of Kakashi, but he came up with nothing. Even he understood how far you were able to push your student in a simple spar that this was.

Kakashi gave Naruto the 'come here' gesture with his hand, smirking beneath his mask. "Come on Naruto, I could've sworn you were stronger when you left." He goaded Naruto again.

Kurenai openly glared at Kakashi when she saw this, physically having to be held in place by Asuma.

Naruto grit his teeth, going through hand seals while still not looking behind him.

"Fūton: Shinkūgyoku no jutsu."

Naruto shot a compressed ball of wind at Kakashi, who shunshinned out of the way. Kakashi landed right in front of Naruto, aiming a punch into the genin's throat that nearly took off his head.

Naruto rolled in the dirt towards the crowd, his eyes clenched closed in pain. He remembered where he was and sat up before opening his eyes, bringing his hand up to his throat while still sitting on his rear.

"That's a broken collarbone." The kyuubi mumbled in a tired voice. "I'll get to that... later..."

'Oi, don't fall asleep on me now of all times, I need you awake and healing me!' Naruto screamed back at the fox to wake it.

"Oh, I'm not falling asleep... just getting tired of fixing your bones every three seconds..." The kyuubi shot back, momentarily wide awake before his eyes drooped again. He finally began fixing Naruto's ankle, wordlessly channeling his chakra through the seal and into Naruto's body.

While he was having this conversation, Kakashi took full advantage of Naruto's daze. His fist crashed into Naruto's stomach, lifting him off the ground and letting him float in the air for a moment. As Naruto fell back down to earth, Kakashi kicked Naruto's exposed chest, breaking the same ribs for a third time and propelling Naruto smash into the chain fence.

Naruto could feel the eyes of everyone on him, but he didn't dare to look back.

He dodged another punch from Kakashi, his back still against the fence. He grabbed the chain-links above his head, using them to pull himself upwards and kick Kakashi straight in the chest with his good foot.

The attack knocked Kakashi backwards, giving Naruto more space to work with. 'I can't rush him again... I can't take much more of this.'

"No, you really can't." The fox muttered. "If I have to fix your ribs one more time today, you will not have a proper night of rest for a year."

'Duly noted.' Naruto thought dryly. In truth, he wasn't even tired. That was what was confusing him, he felt as if he could fight for another day but his body could only absorb so much before he fell and couldn't move.

While having this discussion, he failed to realize exactly what had just transpired, more focused on battling Kakashi. Unintentionally while pushing Kakashi away, he let the person who was currently directly behind the fence see his face.

And it just so happened to be one Nara Shikamaru that saw his sharingan eyes.

'What was that?' Shikamaru thought in disbelief. He didn't understand what he saw, only seeing it for but a moment. But he did see, Naruto's eyes had three comas around the pupil and a dot in the center, exactly how a sharingan eye was. However, unlike a normal red pupil, Naruto's were sky blue, much lighter than his normal eye color.

Shikamaru looked around, hoping someone aside from him had seen them, but it was for naught. The only person who was even standing next to him at the moment was Choji, and of course the Akimichi chose the perfect time to rummage through his pocket to pull out a new bag of chips.

"... Troublesome." He muttered under his breath, watching the fight with a more critical eye.

Inside the grounds, Kakashi must've sensed Naruto was at his physical limit, like a shark smelling blood in the water. The boy was too hampered by injury to try and use his fast paced offense, stuck hoping Kakashi didn't smash his skull too hard.

"Come on Naruto, give me a little to work with. I thought you weren't the dead last anymore?" Kakashi said tauntingly. "How are you going to get the bells from me if you can't even attack?"

"Because I'm still the best damn shinobi in all of Konoha, Dattebayo!" Naruto snapped back at the jonin, before realized what he said. 'I really wish I didn't have that tick...'

Never the less, Naruto went through hand seals before he attacked.

"Fūton: Renkūdan no jutsu." Naruto launched a compressed ball of air straight into Kakashi's chest, blasting the copy nin backwards.

'Even with his body utterly shot, he still has the energy of a hummingbird.' Kakashi watched Naruto go through hand seals again, using his go to technique.

"Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

And there was yet another demonstration of Naruto completely insane chakra reserves. Having blasted out B ranked elemental Ninjutsu left and right almost nonstop since this test started hours ago, here he is summoning fifty shadow clones without trying.

What was scary was that even Kakashi could tell none of it was chakra from the Kyuubi, with the various injuries still on Naruto's body. The fox was doing all it could to heal them, completely ignoring Naruto's own reserves.

'A few years, he'll be a complete freak of nature.' Kakashi praised in his head.

Some of the clones charged at him, though their speed was significantly slower than normal with the injuries finally starting to wear away Naruto's stamina.

Kakashi didn't even have to try against the clones, slapping them around both figuratively and literally. He did notice Naruto wasn't trying to fight him any more though, more or less just trying to grab the bells whilst throwing a punch at Kakashi to catch the copy ninja off guard.

It didn't work.

"Shouldn't one of you guys step in and stop this?" Ino asked, wincing at the sight of Naruto getting pummeled without mercy. She looked over at Asuma, clearly looking uncomfortable watching this.

Than again, so did Asuma. The chain smoker couldn't even look anywhere but the 'spar', and he nearly went over and attacked Kakashi himself in rage because of it.

Still, Kurenai was more than able to answer. "It's frowned upon for a jonin to get involved in a team activity, under any circumstance." She explained. "Though Kakashi has taken this too far..."

"Or maybe not far enough." Asuma snapped his gaze over to the sound of the voice, as did Kurenai. Gai was watching the fight intently, not paying them much mind though not even two minutes ago the Green Beast of Konoha was with them in thinking that Kakashi had crossed the line.

"Think about who he has as students, who they are like." Gai told them simply. "They are almost a replica of Kakashi's own team from when he was a genin. The prodigy like himself in Sasuke, a medic like Rin in Sakura... Who would that mean Naruto is like?"

The genin had absolutely no idea who Gai was talking about, never hearing about Kakashi's genin team. However, the jonin had known them quite well, and Asuma blinked owlishly. "Obito? You're comparing Naruto to Obito?"

"I am." Gai nodded. "It's why he's pushing Naruto particularly hard, he doesn't want to see the same thing happen to Naruto. And after the bridge... it almost did."

Kurenai frowned, biting back a very unladylike snort. "They... do have similarities." she interjected hesitantly. "Naruto and Obito both were the dead-last graduate of their respective generations, but that's really all that's left since Naruto came back."

"No, it isn't." Gai shook his head. "Obito would've been Naruto's uncle Kurenai, unless you forgot who Naruto's mother was."

"You guys know who Naruto's parents are?" Shikamaru whipped his head around sharply, more for finally having an excuse to look away from the beating than any other reason.

The other genin followed his lead, looking at the adults. It was the common thought that Naruto's parents were simple civilians, not known by elite jonin.

Now, apparently that thought proved false.

Kurenai gave Gai a deadpan stare, while Asuma facepalmed. The Green Beast of Konoha had a sheepish face now, rubbing the back of his neck at the amateur mistake he made.

In between the punches Kakashi was laying into him, Naruto overheard parts of their conversation, losing his focus on the fight when Gai spoke of his parents. It came back to bite him though, as not even a second was needed for Kakashi to punch him in the mouth and rock him into oblivion.

It wasn't a haymaker punch, but given that Kakashi had been smashing Naruto up and down the training grounds for the better part of three minutes, it still hurt.

Naruto hit the ground face first, groaning before he sat up. He tried to stand, but fell on his rear end in exhaustion and just sat down for a minute, not even caring if Kakashi hit him.

"You know Naruto, taking your eyes off of your opponent is going to come back and bite you pretty hard." Kakashi quipped amusedly. He stood idly by, not moving to continue the spar.

Naruto groaned while rubbing his face, spitting blood onto the grass. "I'm still going to take those bells from you."

Kakashi looked amused by the statement. "If I wanted, I could've knocked you out at any time. You are a genin Naruto, a highly skilled genin with an enormous pain tolerance that just doesn't seem human, but a genin none the less." Kakashi pulled the bells off his waist and tossed them both to Naruto, who gapped in confusion. "If someone as strong as say... Iruka fought you as hard as they could, you would lose."

Naruto looked at Kakashi owlishly, not understanding. The test was over? Just like that?

The copy ninja sighed. "It's almost ten minutes after noon." He explained, pointing up at the sun. It was hard for Naruto to tell time off of the sun, having never learned how to.

But to the demon fox inside him, it was as easy as closing his eyes. "It's 12:07 pm." The fox mumbled tiredly, not really looking at it as his focus was on the more pressing matter of healing Naruto's injuries.

'You knew the time was up?' Naruto asked.

"It wasn't important to Hatake, I saw no reason to tell you that you had already failed if he didn't." The fox replied.

'Touché.' Naruto let his sharingan turn off, and the world returned to normal with everything speeding up. Knowing the test was over, Naruto let a tired smile cross his face and promptly laid down on his back with his arms outstretched.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, before he poked Naruto with his foot lightly. He had to make sure the blond didn't just drop dead on the spot, didn't he? Thankfully, the blond boy was still breathing, and seemed to have fallen asleep.

"So..." Kakashi looked over at the crowd. "anyone up for a hospital run?"

---

Across the training ground, Orochimaru's spy was currently henged as an ordinary pigeon. He paid little mind to the other two members of Team Seven, staring at Naruto in disappointment.

'I had much higher hopes than this... His sharingan appear to be ordinary, only a genetic mutation in looks. They didn't do anything special, not that I could see.' he frowned.

'Though his stubborn nature and his tenant did seem to make him absorb punishment like a sponge.' The teen watched Kakashi pick up Naruto carefully, walking towards the exit of the grounds while sharing words with his fellow jonin. After a few minutes, Maito Gai told his squad to go and inform the other two members of Team Seven the test was over.

'Oh well... can't be helped.' The teen shrugged, jumping off the branch and out of the training ground, letting his henge disappear. He landed on his feet and walked away leisurely, not aware of the sharingan eyes staring at his back.

---

Itachi was many things. A former Anbu commander, an S-ranked shinobi, a missing ninja, the murderer of the Uchiha clan. However, if there was one word not a soul on this earth would use to describe him, it would be cowardly.

However, when he saw the Third Kazekage, he froze in terror. Before him was one of the few Kages of any nation to be ranked with the Shodai Hokage himself in power. Itachi personally believed he simply fled Suna to live out his days in comfort and relaxation, but now he knew that the greatest Kage in a of Suna's history, the strongest shinobi from the sands in the last fifty years, had been beaten.

"Let's get this started Itachi..." Sasori's voice was much smoother outside of Hiruko, but it kept its edge of impatience. Without delay, the puppet of the Third Kazekage launched at Itachi, a vast array of blades forming a claw on his right arm popping out as if flew through the air under Sasori's control.

Itachi parried the strike with his sword, seeing purple liquid dripping off the blades. Shoving the claw away, he went with a horizontal slash at the puppets neck.

The puppet's other arm shot up to block the attack, a short metal blade popping out at the wrist. Again, it tried to shred Itachi into ribbons with its claw-like arm, aiming at Itachi's chest in a horizontal slash.

The Raven leapt back, spinning around in the air with an outstretched leg. Using his reach advantage with his legs, Itachi crashed his heel into the puppet's face, an audible crunch sounding through the large room.

For a moment, the world stilled. Neither combatant's face held a readable expression, Itachi soundlessly letting one of his feet touch the ground while his other remained stuck in the puppet's head. On the right cheek of the third Kazekage, a large crack formed beneath Itachi's foot, its skin torn and the wood broken beneath.

Then came the sand. It was as black as night, though it gleamed brightly in the deep firelight. It threatened to swallow Itachi's foot whole, which made the Uchiha yank his foot back. 'Iron sand... That's why I didn't kick his head in half with that kick.' Itachi rationalized, his face remaining blank. He didn't like it, knowing that aside from the sand, it was nothing but simple wood and skin that he hit yet he wasn't able to utterly shatter it to splinters.

"Did you forget about the Third's Iron sand Itachi? It was great defensively... but it was more suited for offense." Sasori stated, letting the puppet back off slightly. Iron sand began to levitate around the puppet, so much of it that it formed a cloud behind the third Kazekage. Sasori gave a maniacal smile before he screamed "Die!"

The Iron sand shot at Itachi at blinding speed, going fast enough to be neigh invisible in the air even to his sharingan.

Yet instead of falling dead to the floor, his chest utterly riddled with holes that Sasori could see through, Itachi didn't even react. His face remained blank, almost impassive, and he remained in a battle ready stance.

Then of course, a raven popped out of his mouth. Another raven popped out of his eye socket, before Itachi's entire body turned into nothing more than a flock of ravens.

Sasori just stared blankly, his face not showing any surprise.

"Suiton: Suidan no jutsu."

Itachi's voice came from behind Sasori, bypassing the third Kazekage's puppet altogether. The Raven of the Uchiha clan thought he had Sasori dead to rights, that the fight was efficiently over with the attack.

He was very wrong. A wall of Iron sand formed to block the attack, Sasori simply giving Itachi an amused grin.

Itachi frowned, taking note of the trail of water between the two of them now, though he had to block a swipe from the Third Kazekage's claw-like arm. 'It's fast.' He thought, seeing a buzzsaw pop out of the puppet's other arm, replacing the small blade from earlier.

"Suiton: Suijinheki no jutsu." Water flew from Itachi's mouth, though this time it was for defensive purposes. A bubble formed around him encasing him in a protective shield from the attack from the puppet when his sword was occupied.

What happened next occurred within a second. The buzzsaw shattered upon hitting the chakra infused water, the blades clattering on the floor. Then, Itachi allowed a hole to form in the water, large enough for him to maneuver his katana through it and stab forward, aiming at the joint of the puppet's right arm.

However, Sasori's eyes bulged and his fingers twitched. Itachi felt a pull on his sword, pulling the blade away from its mark by mere inches. Itachi's own sharingan eyes narrowed before tried to pull his sword out, but found that it was stuck. Something in the Kazekage's chest was holding it in place.

'Magnet release... Kami I wish it didn't exist...' Itachi watched the claw on the puppet's right arm aim for the opening in the bubble, already inside and about to impale him. He leaned to the side, the outermost sleeve on his cloak getting cut though, though his skin remained fine.

He whipped a kunai out of his pocket as fast as lightning, jamming it into the elbow of the puppet. He let go of the kunai before he grabbed his sword, delivering a swift kick into the puppet's chest and yanking his sword free.

The bubble of water poured onto the ground around Itachi, before the Raven went through a series of hand seals.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu."

Itachi let loose a fireball at the disabled puppet, the water pooled at his feet steaming and evaporating around him.

Sasori again twitched his fingers, and iron sand again formed an impenetrable wall and blocked the attack.

The puppet master seemed to grimace upon seeing the puppet's arm, flicking his wrist and making the useless arm fall off at the elbow. On the stump was a storage seal, which seemed to activate automatically and let a small scythe form in place of the clawed hand.

The third Kazekage once again charged, swinging its scythe in a long diagonal arc at Itachi.

The Uchiha leaned to the left, using his forearm to shove the scythe towards the ground. His free hand rammed right into the unmarked side of the Kazekage's face, yet another crunching noise filling his eardrums. Then, Itachi yanked his fist away before it could be swallowed by the iron sand, and swung his katana for the puppet's neck.

Iron sand enveloped the Kazekage's neck, prevented the puppet from being decapitated.

Itachi grimaced, the iron sand just going around his blade like fluid before rocketing towards his chest. Being a natural genius of combat, his instincts were sharp enough to let him dodge the attack deftly, his eyes letting him move a second before anyone else would have.

His sword, now removed away from the puppet's neck, swung towards Itachi's back, parrying another strike of the scythe. Already growing annoyed by the weapon, Itachi draped his cloak around his left hand to grasp the handle of the scythe, snapping it off.

To follow this, Itachi's foot came up and smashed into the third kazekage puppet, knocking it backwards towards Sasori.

'I got you now, Sasori.' Itachi thought, inwardly growing excited but keeping a blank face. Switching his sword and scythe in his hands, he leaping high in the air, well over the heads of Sasori and his puppet.

Itachi tossed the weaponized farming tool towards the Scorpion of the Red Sands. The Kazekage got in the way though, taking the scythe straight through its chest to protect its master.

Itachi frowned deeply. 'I need to destroy this puppet, and fast. He still has other puppets to use on me, but this one is likely his strongest.'

"Just..." Sasori paused for a moment while giving commands to his puppet, before resuming his shout. "just die already!"

The mass of Iron sand shooting down in a wide spray, Root-like spikes covering almost the entire room and shooting down irregularly.

Itachi will never know how he did it, the Iron sand impaling almost every square inch of the room, but he somehow managed to avoid getting skewered. While now, he was forced to lay in an awkward position that wouldn't allow him to stand, he was very much alive.

However, in the attack his sword was caught between the iron sand and the ground, snapping the blade clean in two.

This wasn't just a heart clenching site for him, but one that brought out a religious rage. His sword was a gift from his father, one of the few the man ever gave Itachi. It was supposed to be the sword of the future of the Uchiha clan, one that was almost a token of future greatness and untapped potential.

When Sasuke was older, Itachi would've passed it on to him if he had the chance. It might not ever see use in Sasuke's hands, being the very blade that slaughtered the entire clan. But it was the only connection Itachi had left to his family, to his home.

And now it lay broken, just as his family was.

Sasori seemed satisfied, smirking down at the Raven of the Uchiha. He moved his fingers to make Iron sand form a lethal spike directly above Itachi, hanging in the air only a few feet from his chest.

"Now Itachi, ready for a family reunion... in hell!"

Sasori brought down his hands, the iron sand coming down at him.

Itachi clenched his teeth, before turning his glare to the puppet controlling the iron sand. If it was destroyed, Sasori couldn't control the iron sand anymore.

Without a second's hesitation, he activated the mangekyō in his left eye, glaring at the puppet before growling through his teeth.

"Amaterasu!"

The flames engulfed the puppet, Incinerating it in mere seconds. However, those few seconds was all it took for the sand to reach him.

Itachi rolled over as far as he could without snapping his arm, the spike cutting through the side of his ribs, scraping all the way down to the bones.

Sasori gave a dull stare at Itachi's prone form, watching as the Iron sand simply lost its shape and fell to the ground. "I liked that puppet." He deadpanned.

"Sorry to disappoint you." Itachi grunted, getting up slowly. 'You bastard...' He finished darkly in his head.

Sasori's eyes lit up when he saw the gash on Itachi's side, a confident smirk forming on his face. "You may have destroyed my puppet, but my poison runs through your veins. You have at most five minutes to defeat me before it takes hold of you and you can't move."

Sasori continued in his head, not saying the next part out loud. 'If only I had more time to develop it, I could have cut the time down to three minutes. No matter...'

Itachi's eye twitched, blood leaking out of his eye. He kept his glare on Sasori, trying to use Amaterasu but failing to do so. He was too tired at the moment to use it, there was a chance that he'd fall unconscious after and end up caught in the blaze.

Itachi finally gave a ghost of a smile. His rage seemed to break, his arms shaking, the killing intent rolling off him like waves. "Then I'll just have to kill you in four."

"You can try Itachi." Sasori said blankly, shrugging off the killing intent. He lifted his arm and instantly red hot flames shot at Itachi.

Itachi rolled away, whilst Sasori reached behind him for another sealing scroll, continuing to speak. "I was able to defeat the third Kazekage with only a single puppet..." He opened a compartment in his chest, pulling out an uncountable number of chakra strings.

Itachi glared at Sasori with a grim look on his face. 'He turned himself into a human puppet... disgusting.'

The maniacal smile returned to Sasori's face, the chakra strings all going through the storage seal. "But with this technique, I conquered an entire nation!"

Sasori opened the scroll, saying

"Akahigi: Hyakki no Sōen."

Itachi's glare finally faded while his eyes widened in utter dread, one hundred puppets coming to life before his eyes. It was a move that Itachi had prayed he would never face, that he would never even see in his entire life. Yet, the famed Performance of a Hundred Puppets technique was being performed right before his eyes in all its glory.

"Now, you will die Itachi. Whether in a few minutes or a few seconds however, it's up to you." Sasori said. "Though if you chose to die now, you'd only be doing me a favor."

Itachi glanced down at the broken blade in his hand, before he reluctantly put the broken handle of his katana in its sheath and switched it for a kunai. Though their blades were currently the same size, only one of them wasn't broken.

"I think I'll take the third option and kill you instead." Itachi said back, twirling the kunai by the ring between his fingers.

Sasori shook his head in amusement. "When I'm done with you, I'll be sure to add you to my collection."

The puppets all flew at Itachi, brandishing their weapons.

Itachi clenched the kunai in his hand, before he ducked under a scythe that was aimed at his neck. The weapon sliced through the neck of another puppet, and Itachi kicked the scythe wielding puppet in the chin to knock it away.

Avoiding all the other strikes and letting them hit each other, he deflected a sword slash from another puppet, spinning around and catching the handle of dual sided axe aimed for his shoulder with his left hand. He stabbed the puppet in the neck with his kunai,, yanking the axe out of its grasp before pulling out the small blade in his other hand and spinning again.

Itachi cleaved through the puppet's chest with the axe, cutting it clean in two. To his right, a spear nearly came and impaled his skull had his Kunai not deflected the blow. Grabbing the shaft of the spear, he snapped it in two between his fingers and slammed the axe down through its wielder. The axe smashed into the floor, Itachi not bother to yank it free and leaving it there.

He back flipped over a strike from a club, his left hand grasping the puppet and shoving it forward, knocking down other puppets. He rolled on his back and up to his feet, continuing to fight.

Though Sasori was focusing on killing Itachi, he was impressed. Itachi was already fairing better than most did against this technique, even with lethal poison running through his veins and it was a hundred to one.

Itachi leaped into the air to dodge flail, landing with his knees on a random puppet's shoulder, snapping its neck and tearing off its head. He rolled forward, the head still clenched between Itachi's shins. Itachi let the head go while airborne, the head crashing into another puppet.

Itachi landed on the ground in a crouch surrounded by enemies. Normally not where you want to be, but he atone for this by jumping up into the air and weaving through hand seals.

"Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku no jutsu." A great flame burst forth, spanning neigh the entire side of the room and incinerating everything in its path.

Itachi landed softly on the ground, before out of the corner of his eye, he saw another axe heading for his skull. He ducked, placing his hands on the ground to stabilize himself and did a mule kick into the puppet behind him. Flipping with his hands on the ground, he turned around and felt a bucket of ice pour down his shirt. The incineration technique may have destroyed everything in its path, but that didn't include the fifty standing behind him.

'I barely have any chakra left...' Itachi thought grimly. He could feel his heartbeat slowing down due to Sasori's poison, his limbs beginning to go numb. 'If I am right about Sasori turning into a human puppet, then he has to have a living core. My guess is the cylinder where his heart is supposed to be.'

Itachi dodged the strike of a flail, placing his foot on the ball to hold it down and cleaving off the puppet's arm with his kunai. He spun around and smashed his elbow into the wooden weapon's neck, snapping it and its head off.

He pushed the puppet into the one behind it and leapt into the air, going through hand seals again. Using this would put him on his last leg, but he had a plan on bringing Sasori down once and for all.

"Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku no jutsu!"

Itachi used the same jutsu he used to down fifty puppets earlier to down the rest, landing on the ground in front of Sasori. The Uchiha glared at the puppeteer, before he collapsed onto one knee.

"Now it's over Sasori... you're done." Itachi panted raggedly, black spots filling his vision. He stumbled forward slowly, taking his time so he didn't fall on his face.

Sasori didn't reply, but simply gave an annoyed stare at Itachi like before. "You're worse than a cockroach." He said plainly, not caring that Itachi had annihilated one hundred more of his puppets.

Itachi didn't reply, mostly because he barely even registered the words. The poison was gripping him too tightly now, making the Uchiha trip and fall to his hands and knees. He desperately tried to push himself to his feet, but he just... couldn't.

Sasori watched him fall with a rising smirk, strolling leisurely towards the fading Uchiha. "Tell me Itachi, is this what you wanted? To die in the heat of battle at the hands of an opponent such as me?" He asked, chuckling. "Don't worry, I won't let you suffer any longer Itachi. I could let you lie here for a few days and die from the poison, but I'm a little excited at adding you to my collection." Sasori lifted his arm, a small cylinder coming out of his palm.

Itachi weakly lifted his head and glared up at Sasori defiantly, the tube aimed between his eyes.

"Farewell Itachi."

A thin blade shot out of Sasori's hand, piercing straight through Itachi's head. Sasori grinned madly at his triumph, until he noticed one particular thing.

There was no blood.

Sasori heard the sound of a deathly roar, and closed his eyes briefly. He opened them and looked up to see Itachi using chakra to stand on the ceiling, where he jumped up earlier.

Itachi pushed off the ceiling, rocketing at Sasori with his right hand cocked back. Flames danced around his chakra coated hand, emiting a earsplitting roar.

"MIKOTO!"

Itachi's hand pierced straight through the center of Sasori's core, the flames burning a larger hole into the puppeteer. They stood as unmoving as statues, staring each other in the eye.

Blood began to trail down both corners of Sasori's mouth, thin rivers dripping down onto Itachi's arm.

"Naming a jutsu after your mother..." Sasori said weakly before having a coughing fit, blood splattering on Itachi's unflinching face. "The Kuroi Rarion (Black Lion). It's a fitting name for the jutsu... that ended... me..."

Itachi's face remained blank as he slid his arm out of Sasori's chest, the flames still licking his fatal wound though not coating his hand. Without anything supporting his weight, Sasori fell to the floor, dead.

Itachi acted quickly, summoning a single raven to take Sasori's ring as well as his own. "Take them to Saratobi Hiruzen... and keep an eye on Naruto and Sasuke..."

Itachi watched it fly away like a dart, disappearing into the village Hidden in the Rain. He gave a soft smile, and promptly collapsed to the ground.

Before he entered the realm of darkness, he heard a single pair of footsteps. He couldn't see who was moving towards him, but he had to assume it was Pein finally leaving his study, coming to finish him off.

That didn't matter though, not to Itachi at least. He might not have dragged them all down with him, but he didn't completely fail his goal.

He at least made the Akatsuki bleed.

His eyes closed in acceptance, drifting off into unconsciousness.

---

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu- Shadow Clone. B-ranked. Instead of making fake clones that cannot do much of anything, these clones are solid. The caster can remember everything the clone does, such as what they read or what they've seen.

Amai Agoongaku- Sweet Chin Music. C-ranked. A strong kick that is aimed straight for an opponent's chin, producing a loud smacking sound through the air on contact. This attack can decapitate enemies.

Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga- Lightning Release: Beast Tracking Fang. C-ranked. By manipulating lightning chakra into their hand, the user can make the lightning expand to create the form of a hound. The hound remains connected to the user's hand, allowing them to control it during its attack.

Feidotu Burraku- Fade to black. C-ranked. An overhead elbow strike that works best when the user is above their opponent, but can be effective in most circumstances.

Fūton: Ookami Houkou- Wolf's roar. B-ranked. The user sucks in air before they shoot a highly compressed air ball from its mouth. The ball of air is shaped into that of a snarling wolf, a high pitched roar filling the air before contact with the target. Because of the large quantity of chakra kneaded into it, it explodes the moment it reaches its target, dealing an enormous amount of damage, as well as levelling anything in its path.

Katon: Karyū Endan no Jutsu- Fire Dragon Flame Bullet. B-ranked. The user molds their chakra into flames, then manipulates the shape into an Asian dragon (The ones with no wings).

Doton: Chikyuu hinan Sho no Jutsu- Earth release: Earth shelter. D-ranked. The user surrounds themselves with earth, taken from the immediate vicinity, in order to fabricate a formation of rock that is capable of protecting both the user and others in close proximity, if desired. Doing so, seemingly leaves the surrounding terrain unaltered, even when the quantity of earth used is enough to form a complete dome around multiple individuals

Suiton: Suidan no jutsu- Water bullet. C-ranked. A highly versatile technique which has many variations. After kneading chakra in their stomach, the user expels a large quantity of water in the form of a torrent towards their intended target.

Fūton: Shinkūgyoku no jutsu- Vacuum Sphere. B-ranked. The user takes a deep breath and then exhales a powerful blast of wind chakra. It can be fired in rapid succession from one shot, dispersing the attack over an expansive range, enough to make it difficult to avoid them entirely without taking any damage. Due to the properties of this technique, the expelled blasts are capable of piercing into and potentially through an opponent's flesh when they collide with it.

Raiton: Jibashi no Jutsu- Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder. B-ranked. The user generates a large amount of lightning from their hands, strong enough to shatter stone. It can pass through conductive materials to increase its range and power.

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu- Great Fireball. C-ranked. A popular move among the Uchiha clan, It is a technique where the user's chakra kneaded inside the body is converted into fire and expelled from the mouth as a massive orb

Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu- Phoenix Flower Jutsu. C-ranked. This technique creates a volley of small fireballs, which are sent flying in an unpredictable manner assaulting the enemy. In addition, the flames are controlled one by one with chakra, so avoiding them all is extremely difficult. Shuriken can also be concealed within the flames, creating an unexpected secondary surprise attack.

Fūton: Daitoppa no jutsu- Great Breakthrough. C-ranked. A technique that creates a sudden gust of wind, though it's power is determined by its user (IE, an average chunin uses it, it can destroy a part of a forest. A kage can use this to destroy an entire mountain.

Karasu Bunshin no Jutsu- Crow Clone Technique. C-ranked. A technique that produces a clone by projecting one's own chakra towards dozens of "crows". Because it uses crows as a medium, it requires less chakra than the normal Shadow Clone Technique, while still being able to perform techniques. The dozens of crows come together to form the body of a clone. When the chakra projected by the user is severed, the crows disperse, though the user is still able to continue to speak through it.

Karasu no Taron- Crow's talon. C-ranked. Where the user hits their opponent in a weak point, typically in the neck but can be aimed for a limb, driving their toes into the area. It can break bones, and if used properly, can dent metal.

Doton: Doryūheki no Jutsu-Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall. B-rank. The user creates a solid wall of earth as a form of defence. Chakra is either converted to earth within the body and then spat out to form the wall or the user can manipulate pre-existing earth to form the wall. The earth then instantly rises up and takes form. The barrier itself is also coated with chakra, making its strength incomparable to that of a normal mud wall. Because of the earth's special characteristics, the wall is highly resistant against, for instance, fire and water. Also, for a Kage-level shinobi, it is possible to create a vast volume of earth.

Katon: Gōka Messhitsu no jutsu- Great Fire Destruction. B-ranked. A technique where chakra kneaded inside the user's body is converted into fire, and then expelled from the mouth in a massive stream of intense flames that can set a vast area ablaze, engulfing the target in a veritable sea of flames. If used upon dense, combustible terrain such as a forest, the confined area can greatly increase the possibility of the target's incineration.

Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu- Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu. A-ranked. A massive version of the regular shadow clone technique, it clones mass numbers of the user.

Ryouken no Kuishibaru- Hound Clench. B-ranked. A move where the user catches a kick from their opponent before knocking them to the ground, and twists their ankle until it breaks.

Ryuuseiken- Meteor Fist. C-ranked. A downward punch that only works if one is multiple feet above their opponent, lunging with an outstretched fist to collide with their Opponent's face and smashing them into the ground.

Fūton: Renkūdan no jutsu- Drilling air bullet. B-ranked. The user sucks in air before they shoot a highly compressed air ball from its mouth. Because of the large quantity of chakra kneaded into it, it explodes the moment it reaches its target, dealing an enormous amount of damage, as well as levelling anything in its path.

Suiton: Suijinhek no jutsui- Water wall. B-ranked. This technique is a defensively oriented, a wall of water forming around the user. The water is blown out in the form of a circle around the user, and it makes for a defence without openings. It is also possible for the user to control the amount of water and duration at will.

Amaterasu-Heavenly Illumination. The jet-black flames of the Amaterasu, said to be "the fires from hell" and as hot as the sun itself. By focusing their vision upon an object the user is able to ignite the flames, ignite at the focus of the user's vision. Use of the technique puts a great deal of strain on the user, usually causing their eyes to bleed.

Akahigi: Hyakki no Sōen- Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets. Sasori's most powerful technique, allows him to summon and control one hundred puppets, ten per finger.

Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku- Great Fire Annihilation. B-ranked. A technique where chakra kneaded inside the body is converted into fire, and then expelled from the mouth and shaped into a massive fireball, which covers a wide range as well. This makes the technique extremely difficult to either avoid or contain.

Mikoto- Mikoto. A-ranked. A technique invented by Uchiha Itachi that is similar to Hatake Kakashi's famous Chidori, the user forms a ball of chakra in their hand before applying a fire nature to it, resulting in a sound akin to a roaring lion.

---

Chapter and a half done. I would've split it in half, but then both chapters would've been too small(ten thousand words each isn't small, but I was aiming for fifteen thousand words). And yeah, I still left a cliffhanger at the end there. I'm a mad genius like that.

Now, a tad bit of info to help clear any confusion. An Asian dragon essentially resembles a snake with a single whisker on either side of its snout (At least, that's how I envision them). I know this, that's why I picked it. Smaug from the Hobbit is not coiling around Naruto every time he uses the fire dragon bullet, it more closely resembles a serpent (But you know, has the most adorable stubby legs and and piss-your-pants terrifying dragon face.)

Quick question though, what the hellement is the difference between Gray and Grey? I always spell it as grey, but I always read it as gray in other stories and in school. It's frustrating me.

So, constructive criticism welcome though Flames are deleted and ignored (Tell me why my story sucks, not that it just sucks(Looking at you, Mr. potty mouth guest reviewer that did not seem to understand Naruto is a main character not only in the anime and the manga but in my story.).), PM me if you have questions, etc.