Chapter 7
It had been a week since the semifinals in the tower at the forest of death and Naruto found himself wondering around the village, bored out of his mind. He could train for the final, but he trained all the time anyway and already knew what he was going to do so there wasn't much point going overboard.
Shino was training with his family for the next month and Hinata was still in hospital. He had gone to visit her only once to check she was ok and tell her he would be facing Neji in the finals.
Her reaction wasn't a surprise to the blonde, fear; she had been scared of what he would do to him. They had spent the next hour talking and Hinata had told him what had happened with her uncle and the caged bird seal. She hadn't let him leave until he had promised not to kill Neji; he was a lot of things but never a liar. He would keep his word and not kill the Hyuuga, but that wouldn't mean he wasn't going to make him wish for death.
The grin that spread across Naruto's face as he walked at the thought of what he had planned for the foolish Hyuuga made several villagers practically run away in fear.
The seal on Sasuke's neck that the old man had asked him to study was one thing that he didn't find boring. He hated to admit it, but there was no denying that it was a true piece of art. The way the snake had fused the seals into one without killing the host outright was impressive, but from what he could see it would still kill 8 out of 10 people that it was applied to.
It was actually because of the seal that he was in the village now. The Hokage wanted him to meet with a seal master to try and compare notes. Apparently the guy had been working on the seal on Anko-chan for several years and with Naruto's results from the completed version they might be able to remove it completely.
The only thing was that the old man didn't actually tell him who it was he was supposed to meet; all he knew was that they would be at the Konoha bath house and that he wasn't allowed to kill him, something that had made the blonde pout when he was told.
When he finally arrived at the bath house Naruto spent the next 10 minutes searching the area for the mysterious seal master. It was on his third time circling the fenced area that he came across an odd sight.
Sat at the fence to the women's bath was an old man with his face pressed to a small hole in the fence that he had obviously made and a small note pad and pencil in his hands. He wore a grey shirt and pants with a red sleeveless jacket. He had a strange forehead protector with the kanji for oil in the middle and two small horn-like protrusions on either side of it and long spiky white hair that trailed to his hips.
Naruto didn't know his name but he did remember him. It was the man that would come and upgrade his chains when he was in the School.
The grin on the blondes face stretched wider as he realized what the old pervert was doing and silently made his way over to the man without him realizing.
XXX
Jiraiya was having the time of his life, the women in the bath were some of the most beautiful he had ever seen. And the size of their tits was giving him a nose bleed. He was getting so much research done he could make an entire book out of what was before him!
The fact that it was the kunoichi only bath just made it better; they were always the best because of all the training.
So engrossed in the sights before him he didn't even notice the blonde boy sneaking up behind him with a large stick until it was too late.
The scream that escaped the toad-sannin's mouth was so loud it alerted the women on the other side of the wall to his presents and had them all rushing to get towels to cover themselves up.
The reason he had screamed was because of the large wooden stick that had been shoved up his ass.
Tears falling down his face he desperately tried to pull the stick out, completely forgetting the fact that he had just been caught by a group of sexy kunoichi.
When the group of now pissed off women arrived, fully clothed, at the other side of the wall it was to an old man crying on the floor with tears in his eyes and a large stick poking out his ass, and a blonde boy rolling around on the ground a few feet away laughing.
Figuring out what had happened they all gave grateful grins in the blonde's direction and moved to surround the still crying Jiraiya.
For the next 10 minutes the group of kunoichi proceeded to beat the white haired pervert to within an inch of his life. Satisfied that he had suffered enough they left the man on the ground, bleeding and bruised, with the stick still in his ass.
Finally getting control on himself Naruto stood up and made his way over to the downed sannin.
Looking up at the boy Jiraiya could only say one thing.
"Why?"
Grinning down at the man Naruto bent and picked up the note book and gave it a quick look over, then tore it up and stomped it into the ground in front of the perverts face.
"I don't like perverts, if I catch you doing this again I'll use a red hot metal pole instead of this stick."
As he said this, the blonde reached out, grabbed the stick and gave one big pull, causing the sannin to let out another, more subdued scream and through the stick into a bush a few feet away.
"So, can you walk or am I going to have to carry you, I want to make a start on the seal and the old man says you are going to help. So get the hell up already, you'd think you never had a stick shoved up your ass before."
"... Have you?"
"Hell no, that would hurt like hell."
It was at this point that Jiraiya was able to get a good look at his blonde tormenter.
Long blonde hair, tall, covered from head to toe in thick whit bandages, the only reason he didn't recognise him sooner was the change of clothes.
Despite what had just happened the old sannin couldn't help the smile that spread across his face at the sight of the boy out of his chains. Then the first part of his words hit him.
"Seal, you're the one that the old monkey got to help me?"
"Yep"
"You"
"Yep"
"I'm not going to survive an entire month with you, am I?"
"Probably not"
"Alright then, well at least all my affairs are in order already."
"That's the spirit."
XXX
Over the next two weeks Jiraiya and Naruto spent almost all their time in the blondes cave leaning over seals.
The reason it was only almost was because the toad-sannin had tried several times to sneak off to spy on women.
Every time he was caught and every time the boy would come up with a new punishment.
The first time Naruto had put an enraged weasel in the older man's pants, the second had found Jiraiya tied upside down with a gag in his mouth suspended above the men's bath. The third had, well the end result had him running around the village being chased by an army of women.
But by far the worse was when the blonde had given him a wedgey that had made his voice sound like he had been sucking on helium. After the first week he had given up for fear of his health, and his manhood.
Despite everything that had happened Jiraiya had to admit he was impressed with the young blonde's skills when it came to seals, he knew that it wouldn't take long for the boy to surpass him in every way.
Between the two of them they had broken down the cursed seal to its bear components and found out that without seeing the other half of the seal they didn't have enough information to attempt removing it.
When they had come to this conclusion they decided to spend the rest of the time looking over some of the seals Naruto had been working on, some basic, some odd, some brilliant and some impossible.
The things the blonde could do with a seal amazed Jiraiya, the complexity of them, the fact that he had come up with the ideas himself and that they actually worked was beyond impressive and like so many before him the old sannin found himself wondering if the boy was a genius or just completely insane. Or that far more scary option of both.
XXX
The finals were a week away and Naruto was, yet again, bored.
He had enjoyed torturing... working with the sannin but he was going to be working with the old man making sure everything was prepared for the invasion that was to come.
Wondering the village yet again he soon found himself standing outside a very familiar ramen stand.
It had seen better days, the wood that it was made from looked like it was going rotten and the red blind that was used to cover the front had several holes, not big enough to see the people inside, but almost.
Standing outside the stand brought back many memories from his childhood, and unlike most, they were good.
This was one of the only places he had felt happy, one of the only places he had been accepted. Old man Tuchi and his daughter Ayame had been like family, they fed him, clothed him and cared for him when he was hurt and the hospital would send him away.
He hadn't set foot in there since he was released, hadn't seen the old man and Ayame for 5 years. It wasn't that he had forgotten them, he would never forget them, but he didn't feel he had a right to see them. After everything he had done, the way he was now, it just wouldn't be right.
They wouldn't care for him, not now; the insane killing machine that he had become was nothing like the sweet, lonely boy they knew. If they saw him now he knew they would hate him just like everyone else.
Letting out a sigh at the memory, Naruto turned away from the store and was about to make his way down the street when he heard a gasp from behind him and the sound of bags falling to the ground. The next thing he knew someone had latched them self to his back and started to cry into his bandages.
Normally when someone grabbed him and started crying it was followed by screaming and hitting, but this time it was different. Guessing from the hands that had wrapped around his waist he knew it was a woman, and the faded burn marks on her hands told him she cooked. He was so shocked by the woman's actions that it took him a full 2 minutes to comprehend what had happened.
Turning to look at her over his shoulder Naruto was greeted with the sight of a tear stricken Ayame. She looked almost exactly like he remembered, the worn brown dress, shoulder length brown hair tied back into a ponytail. She was even wearing the same white apron he had always seen her in when she worked behind the counter. The only thing that was different was that she looked a little older and the dark marks under her eyes.
It was then that he heard her talking, slightly muffled because of the way she had her face pressed into his back.
"We thought you were dead. Five years, five years and nobody knew where you were. Why didn't you come sooner?"
He didn't know what to say.
This wasn't right; she was supposed to hate him, why was she crying for him when she was supposed to hate him? Maybe they didn't know what he had become?
"I think you have me mistaken for someone else."
She didn't show any sign that she had heard him.
"When Hokage-sama told us what had happened and that you were released we were so happy, but you never came back. We waited and waited but you didn't come."
All thoughts that she didn't know who he really was flew out of Naruto's mind.
This wasn't right! Why didn't she hate him like all the rest? Why would she be happy?
Before he could ask Ayame let go of him and, after quickly collecting the shopping bags that she had dropped, pulled him into the stand.
The inside wasn't much better than the outside. The counter was worn and the stools had seen better days, one of them was actually missing the seat.
"Dad, he's back! Naruto's back!"
They both heard the sound of pottery falling to the ground in the back of the store and the hurried footsteps that followed it. Bursting out of the door behind the counter, an out of breath Tuchi ran up to the blonde and pulled him into a bear hug, tears in his eyes.
Naruto said nothing, frozen in place.
When he let the boy go, Teuchi took a step back to get a proper look at him and a small frown crossed his face.
"When the hell did you get so fucking tall?"
Staring blankly at the two people in front of him as Ayame pulled out a frying pan and hit her farther round the head for swearing Naruto was about to run when he was pulled to one of the seats at the counter, a menacing aura surrounding both father and daughter as they looked at him.
"You're not going anywhere. You're going to sit down and eat the ramen we are going to make you and then you're going to explain why this wasn't the first place you came when the Hokage let you out of that place. Got it?"
Debating in his mind if he should just turn into a mouse or something and run, Naruto let out a sigh and started telling them about his life since they had last seen him, leaving some things out of course.
XXX
For the next few hours they talked.
Both Ayame and Teuchi had been saddened at the way he was chained, but had laughed at some of his antics since he had got out. He didn't tell them he was the Faceless Blacksmith, or that he had killed so many people, but did tell them some of the things that had happened in wave.
And in turn Naruto learned why the stall was in such poor condition. Apparently they had been turning away anyone that spoke bad about him and it didn't take long for word to get around that they were 'demon lovers'. Because of this business had been very slow and they were having a hard time getting by.
It was when Naruto was finishing his 50th bowl of ramen that the flap opened and in walked Zabuza and Haku. But what surprised him was that they were followed shortly by the team from Mist and their Jonin sensei.
When they saw he was sat there both Zabuza and Haku quickly hid their surprise and walked over to greet him.
"What the hell are you doing here brat? I'd have thought this place too boring for you."
Grinning at the older ninja Naruto stood up and flicked him in the forehead.
"No-brow! How you been?"
They could all see the tick mark that was forming at the back of Zabuza's head.
"Until now, good."
"Aww, don't be like that, you know you love me really.
"If I had my sword I'd cut you in half."
"And if you did that I'd rip your eyes out and replace them with your balls."
"Mummy boy"
"No-brows"
"Scarecrow"
"Overcompensate much with that huge sword you're always carrying around."
"What did you say?"
They carried on like this for the next ten minutes, throwing insult after insult at each other. For Teuchi, Ayame and Haku it was very entertaining but for the 4 Mist-nin, it was one of the strangest things they had ever seen, something that was clear by the slightly shocked looks on their faces.
Just when it looked like the two were about to start fighting Haku intervened.
"It is good to see you Naruto-san."
"Oh, hey Haku-chan, so you're out of the hospital?"
"Yes, they released me about a week ago."
"Still hanging out with duck-ass?"
The blush that came to her face was all the answer he needed.
Nodding his head Naruto turned back to the counter and ordered another bowl of ramen, his fight with Zabuza forgotten.
"So any reason you 6 are together and not trying to kill each other?"
At his words they all froze and the room was filled with an uncomfortable silence.
Unaffected by the tense atmosphere, Naruto pulled his new bowl towards him and started eating.
Sharing a quick look with his fellow Jonin Zabuza nodded and sat on the blonde's right and ordered some ramen. He was shortly followed by Haku and the other girls with Haku next to Zabuza, Akasha next to Naruto, leaning toward him, her sister next to her and their sensei and Mizore at the end.
When they had all received their orders Zabuza turned to Naruto and spoke.
"You already know the girls; this is their sensei, Mei Terumi, an old friend of mine."
Without looking up from his bowl Naruto replied.
"Meaning you used to fuck her."
Both Zabuza and Mei nearly choked on the ramen and the others started laughing.
After finally getting a hold of themselves Zabuza and Mei, with red faces, turned to the still eating blonde and, clearing her throat, Mei asked.
"W-what makes you say that?"
"I can smell your perfume and no-brows actually had a bath, this is the first time I can remember smelling soap on him."
The blushes on their faces, if possible, increased ten-fold.
Lifting up his bowl Naruto drained the last of his ramen in one go. When he was finished the blonde turned away from the counter, jumped off his seat and moved towards the flap. Just before he left Naruto threw a role of money onto the counter, much to everyone's shock.
"Food of the gods, that's for today, when I was little and for whatever they order, treat them well old man."
And with a wave of his hand he was gone.
Nodding to the Mist-nin, Tuchi moved to the back of the store to talk to his daughter and give them their privacy.
All mirth gone from their faces Mei turned to Zabuza.
"Are you sure he can help?"
"I'm sure; you weren't there, that kid can do things you wouldn't believe. The fact is he scares the shit out of me."
The surprise on the Mist-jonin and her genin's faces was clear.
"You're joking right."
Shaking his head and eating more of his food Zabuza seemed to get a far off look in his eyes.
"I don't know what they did to him, but whatever it was... the kid is broken. People think I'm a demon because of the things I do, but I always have a reason and a limit to what I'd do. He has no reason, no limit; he could, and probably will, do worse than anything I could ever do. This is why I don't like your plan. He would probably agree to help us if I told him he could kill people."
"You have your ways and I have mine."
Shaking his head and nodding towards Haku they both got up and started heading out.
"Whatever, just remember I warned you."
XXX
The sound of thousands of voices echoed around the village, all talking about one thing.
It was the day of the finals for the Chunin exam and people had been coming from all over the elemental nations to watch a group of teenagers kick the crap out of each other. Dignitaries and commoners alike had come to watch and all were excited to see what would happen, and of course, make a few bets.
The arena that was to hold the exam was the biggest building in the entire village, bigger than even the Hokage tower, with enough seats for all. The shadow it cast over the crowd as they made their way through the large archway was intimidating for any that hadn't seen it before.
But something none of them were expecting was to hear the sound of a violin over the excited chatter as they came into the seating area. The sound stopped almost all conversation as it reached their ears and all eyes were drawn towards the center of the arena.
It had been set up to look like a real landscape, with uneven ground and a few trees it was as real as they could make it. The ground was just dirt, no grass growing or flowers; the trees were small but would be enough for cover and spaced out so it wouldn't be an obvious hiding spot.
And in the middle of the arena was a tall blonde boy covered in bandages, eyes closed, sat on the ground playing a beautiful black violin with a red lining. It also had red strings with the bow being in the same colure scheme. The music being played seemed to hypnotize the crowed, drawing them in. None could look away.
They didn't even notice that the other contestants were stood around him.
Like the crowd they were in a trance, the only exceptions seemed to be Shino, Gaara, Temari and Kankuro. Even Neji was entranced; though he hid it well behind a scowl. As more and more people came in the seats filled up and soon enough it was full of people, all looking down at the strange boy.
Up at the top of the arena in a small booth set up for the Kage's Sarutobi sat in a chair listening to the music, but unlike the crowd he wasn't affected by the genjutsu laced into the notes. He loved to hear Naruto play, it was the only time the boy didn't seem like he was about to rip someone's throat out.
Stood next to him acting as his guard for the exam was Jiraiya, looking down at Naruto with the same look on his face as his old sensei.
The only other people with them though were the Kazakage and his bodyguard, both wearing white robes and clothes to cover their faces. The only thing that told them apart was the blue and white hat that rested atop the Kazakage's head.
The Mizukage wasn't able to come because of the civil war and no one knew anything about the Otokage, at least, as far as Orochimaru knew. The second the snake-sannin stepped into the booth Sarutobi knew it was him and signaled Jiraiya to be on guard.
When he was sure that the arena was full, the aged Hokage stood and walked to the edge of the booth so all could see him. Clapping his hands to get their attention he felt a sweat drop form on the back of his head when he realized Naruto was still playing.
"Naruto, can you stop, I need to address the crowd!"
At the words the blonde halted his playing and sealed the instrument in a seal drawn on his right leg and sent a pout to the Hokage.
"No fair, I was about to make them dance the funky chicken."
Shaking his head at the boy and turning to the slightly dazed crowd Sarutobi announced they were about to begin.
As he said this a man appeared next to the group of young ninja.
He had shoulder length brown hair and a Konoha headband tied to his head like a bandana with the metal plate at the back. He wore the normal jonin uniform, a blue body suit and a flak vest. In his mouth was a senbon and his face showed indifference to what was going on around him. Stepping towards the group he announced, in a bored voice.
"Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji, get into your positions. The rest of you go to the competitor's box and wait for your turn."
When they had all left except the two boys the man turned to them. Seeing the Hyuuga in his family stance and the blonde just stood there smiling he shrugged his shoulders and started his speech loud enough for all to hear.
"Right, my name is Genma Shiranui and I will be the referee for the finals of the Chunin exam. The rules are simple, first to fall unconscious or die will be the loser and move on to the next round. If I tell you to stop or your opponent surrenders you must stop and if you fail to comply you will be disqualified. Understand?"
At both there nods he raised his hand in the air and dropped it down, signaling the start of the match and disappearing in a swirl of leafs.
The entire arena went silent; waiting to see which of the boys would make the first move.
For a moment neither of them moved, both staring into each other's eyes, Neji's cold and Naruto's gleeful.
"You should give up, fate has already decided that I will win this tournament, a worthless piece of trash like yourself has no chance against the might of the Hyuuga clan."
The smile on the blondes face turned into a wide grin at his words.
"So you're a psychic?"
"Excuse me?"
"Well, you claim that fate has already declared you the winner, but even if that was true the only way you could know that is if you were psychic."
"I'm not a psychic."
"So you were just bull-shitting, you must have really low self-esteem if you need to try and scare someone like that to give yourself an edge in battle."
The cold expression on Neji's face turned to anger.
"How dare you insult a Hyuuga, we are the strongest cl-
SMACK!
The arena was filled with stunned silence at what had just happened.
Getting up off the ground with a hand on his left cheek Neji looked at the boy in front of him with a mix of both shock and anger.
"What did you just hit me with?"
Giving a curios look to the item in his right hand Naruto shrugged and through it over his shoulder.
"A kitchen sink I found in an ally, it had a dead cat in it when I found it... can't remember what I did with it."
Pushing his rage back down so he could concentrate, Neji got back into his stance and charged Naruto without another word.
As soon as he got within striking distance he sent a strike straight to the blonde's chest, hoping to end the match early and kill the boy for insulting him.
What he wasn't expecting was for Naruto to bend back away from his strike so far that his head almost touched the floor. Instead of standing back up Naruto carried on with the movement and brought his feet up to kick Neji in the stomach with both his feet, sending the Hyuuga back several feet.
Though he was slightly winded Neji was able to stay on his feet, being more careful of the blonde.
This time when he was within range he sent a chakra powered strike to Naruto's right arm and followed up with another to his waist. Both were avoided with practiced ease and he received another kick to the stomach.
Instead of rushing in this time Neji took a step back to try and assess the situation. From what he had seen in the prelims the boy had a strange Jutsu that made it so he could change his body, but for some reason he wasn't using it. This meant one of three things; it had a drawback that made him reluctant to use it, he was saving it for later or he didn't think he was worth using it on.
The thought of this no-clan ninja looking down on him made him so mad he wanted to kill him, but his pride wouldn't let him show it.
Another thing he had noticed was that the blonde was extremely flexible, something he was using to his advantage to avoid his strikes.
Taking this into account Neji decided to wait for him to attack.
But instead of attacking Naruto put his hand in his kunai pouch and pulled out a pair of black fingerless gloves.
Remembering what had happened to the Rain-ninja; Neji quickly jumped back to what he assumed would be a safe distance.
Without looking towards the Hyuuga Naruto started to pull the gloves onto his hands.
"You know, seals are truly unappreciated in the world of ninja. If you know what you are doing you can make them do anything, from an explosion tag to a strengthening seal. You can even use them to replace hand seals, but enough of that."
Slamming his right hand on the ground Naruto called out.
"Seal of the Seven Sins: Circle of Wrath"
Just like last time when he activated the gloves a seal shot out of his hand and spread out. But unlike the last time it was a different seal and the circle covered the entire arena floor, the whole one hundred meters, lighting the arena up with the same eerie blue light as in the prelims.
Bracing himself for the crushing weight to hit him like it did the Rain-ninja, Neji almost laughed when nothing happened. Turning to the blonde he let a small smirk cross his lips.
"Your seal failed, I don't feel anything."
"This isn't the same seal as the one I used in the exams."
Without explaining what he meant Naruto ran to Neji and sent a right handed punch to his stomach, which Neji used as his chance and sent a strike to his wrist. Taking his chance Neji quickly followed up with a strike to his upper right arm, forgetting the seal completely.
Jumping back with a smug look on his face the white eyed boy looked at his work and it was then he noticed the glowing blue seal on Naruto's stomach and, following the boy's eyes, saw an identical seal glowing on his own stomach.
The grin that came to the blondes face was starting to make him nervous.
It was then that he felt pain in his right arm. He was so surprised that he forgot to keep up his calm act and, grabbing his arm in pain, let out a yell.
Hearing laughter, Neji turned back to Naruto to find him laughing.
With a scream of rage Neji lunged at Naruto and hit him in the stomach, only to double over in pain. Looking at the blonde he let out another scream when he saw the grin still in place.
Getting back up he started to strike him over and over again, ignoring the pain. The grin never left Naruto's face.
"You know, Hinata told me about your clan... and you're father."
He could feel the rage building.
"Shut up"
"Shame that you would spit on his memory like this."
"Shut up!"
"All this talk about fate and how it's pointless to fight it, but that's exactly what you're doing now."
"I SAID SHUT UP!"
Finally giving into his rage Neji sent a strike straight to Naruto's chest.
Naruto didn't even try to stop him, just stood there and let him hit him. The strike sent him flying back from the Hyuuga several feet and both collapsed to the floor, blood coming out of their mouths.
"Well, that was fun; you're not dead are you? I promised Hinata I wouldn't kill you."
Getting to his feet Neji glared at Naruto, breathing deeply and ripped his head protector off his head. Revealing to all, the seal placed on his forehead.
"This is the sign of enslavement among the Hyuuga clan given to us at birth for no other reason but to be the slaves of the main house! You have no idea what it's like to be treated like nothing because of a seal that you had no choice in!"
"Wow, you're really retarded, you know that."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Getting back up and placing his hand on his stomach.
"Use you're all seeing eyes and tell me what you see, I know more then you could ever understand."
Doing what he was told Neji looked at the boy's stomach and, when he concentrated, he could just make out the seal on his stomach under the one that was visible for all to see.
He barely took notice of how he couldn't actually see what the boy looked like under the bandages, at the sight of the seal Neji lost all reason and made to charge yet again. What did he know of his pain, what did he know of the pain of losing the only true family he had because of the cowardliness of another?
When he was close enough Neji got into a stance and announced.
"Eight Divination Signs, Sixty-Four Palms of the Hand!"
For the next minute Naruto was as helpless as a training dummy as he had all his chakra points sealed.
When he was done Neji took a step back and looked down at the blonde. Then fell to his knees and started hacking up blood. Glaring at the still form off Naruto, he and all those watching were shocked when the blonde burst into a puddle of blood.
Still coughing, Neji shakily got to his feet and looked around the arena for his opponent.
It was then that the sound of a violin filled the air just like before the exam started. Turning to look at one of the trees the young Hyuuga saw an uninjured Naruto sat at the top on a branch, playing his violin and grinning down at him.
The fact that he didn't have a scratch on him was the most shocking.
"What the hell is...going on?"
"It's called a Blood Clone; I found a reference to them in a history book and recreated it. One pint of blood and half of your chakra and you have yourself a clone that can take a hit and has about twenty-five percent of the caster's overall chakra. I switched with it after I first sent you back, nobody saw because they were all looking at you."
The implications of his words hit Neji like one of Gai-sensei's fists. He had been fighting a clone the whole time that was only a fourth as strong as the original. Neji had barely been holding out against his enemy to know that he was only fighting a cheap knockoff cemented that Neji never had a chance. Looking at the seal that was still on his chest he suddenly saw the fin line of chakra that was connecting it to the seal on the ground.
Seeing what he was looking at Naruto laughed, never stopping his playing.
"Like it, another seal I made, or remade I guess. I got the idea from an old religion I read about that could make someone share their injuries, but I went one step further. Something I didn't explain about my Seven Deadly Sin seals is that they react to both emotion and personality. The more you are guilty of the sin that the seal represents, the stronger the effects, take Wrath for example. Whatever you do to me happens back to you but, and here is where the true genius comes into play, the angrier you are the more damage you receive."
Realization suddenly bloomed in Neji's white eyes, which had just turned off the Byakugan due to the loss of chakra to maintain it.
"You had your clone make me angry to make the damage more severe."
"Yep"
It was at this point that Neji fell face first to the ground and had just enough strength to turn around onto his back and look up at the sky.
The music stopped and he could hear the sound of feet hitting the floor and footsteps coming towards him.
"You said you knew what it was like to have a seal ruin your life."
He couldn't see him, but Neji knew he was right next to him.
Looking down at the prone form of the Hyuuga, Naruto got a thoughtful look in his eyes and looked around at the crowed.
Now that they were over their shock at what had happened almost all of them were cheering and screaming for him to finish the boy off.
It sickened him.
He had a reason why he could kill without remorse, they didn't. What right did they have to call for the blood of another?
Taking a deep breath Naruto reached up and slowly started to remove the bandages on his face.
The whole arena fell silent when they saw his face, the scars and missing parts of his face. The fact that it looked like it was melted. The fact that he was still grinning even though he didn't have a whole face made it look all the more sinister.
Turning from the crowed to the horrified face of Neji Naruto said loud enough for all to hear.
"I am the True Horror of Konoha; a representation of what this village is truly like behind the mask they have made for themselves, I am this village's biggest regret!"
Just before Neji lost consciousness Naruto bent down and whispered so only he could hear.
"You think that all the main branch treats you like a slave, but tell me this, has Hinata ever used the cage bird seal on any of you?"
It was this that was the last thing he heard before being pulled into the sweet abyss that was unconsciousness.
XXX
By the time Genma turned made it to the boys Neji was out and Naruto had, thankfully, replaced his bandages. It had looked bad from a distance; he didn't want to see it close up.
He had to admit, he was impressed, and the boy had just defeated one of the favorites in the finals without even getting a scratch. If anything it was more like jonin level, not chunin.
XXX
As soon as he declared Naruto the winner the blonde was gone and the medics ran out and took the Hyuuga to the medical bay. But when they got there they were all shocked to find a dead cat stuffed in the boy's jacket.
XXX
Up in the Kage booth Sarutobi had a sad look on his face, he couldn't even deny what Naruto had said, he was a representation of everything bad about the village. But hopefully after the exams that would change.
Next to him Jiraiya had the same face as the Hokage. It was the first time he had seen under the bandages and it sickened him what had happened to Minato and Kushina's son. But what really got to him was that he could have prevented it. If he had taken the boy like he was supposed to this would never have happened. With Minato's death and Kushina disappearing on the night of the attack it should have fallen to him to look after the boy, but he couldn't, not so soon after Minato's death.
And he would always regret that.
XXX
As he made his way up the stairs to the contestants box Naruto ran into both Shino and Dosu. The sound-nin sent him a small, almost unseen nod and walked on, but Shino stopped and looked at him for a moment.
"Would it be pointless to ask if you are ok?"
"Yep"
"Very well"
Without another word Shino started to make his way to the arena floor, but stopped when Naruto spoke.
"Remember what we talked about, the less of them there are, the easier it is for us later."
"I understand"
As he made his way to the contestant's box, where the rest of the genin were waiting for their turn to fight, Naruto's thoughts went to what was about to happen.
He didn't really care if other Sand-ninja joined the attack, Sand, Sound; it was all the same to him. The only real difference it made was how many he could kill. They knew that Orochimaru was going to signal the invasion at some point during Gaara's match, but now that Shukaku wasn't a problem anymore it would undoubtedly change his plans.
Thoughts of different ways the snake could alter his plans plagued the young blondes mind as he got to the top of the stairs and walk into the box.
All eyes turned to him as he made his way to the ledge and stared out at the arena floor as both Shino and Dosu got ready to fight.
No one said anything as they watched him.
His face had been just as big a surprise to the Leaf-genin as it had the Mist and Sand. The only ones that didn't have a sad look on their faces were Shikamaru, who had a contemplating look in his eyes, Gaara, who knew how hard it could be for the life of a jinchuuriki and Akasha, how just looked on as if nothing had happened.
Walking over to the blonde Gaara and his siblings stood on either side of him and looked down at the fight.
"We will not be fighting in the invasion, as soon as the signal is given me and my siblings will be leaving for our village."
Casting a sideways look to the redhead next to him, Naruto grinned, then looked back to the arena.
XXX
As soon as the fight started Dosu had ran at Shino and tried to hit him, which the bug boy had dodged with ease. They could all see the smirk in the Sound-nins eyes turn to confusion and then slight fear as he jumped back just in time to avoid the exploding bug clone as it went off, thousands of bug that had started to fly towards him as soon as they took their original form.
When he had gotten to a safe distance Dosu had lifted his arm and, turning it so his forearm faced the incoming swam, flicked the metal bracer he had on his wrist. The effect was instantiations; the swarm became erratic and started to fly in all directions before falling to the ground, stunned.
When he was sure they wouldn't be a problem anymore Dosu turned his back to them and started looking around the arena for any sign of Shino.
This turned out to be a big mistake.
As soon as he turned away the now stunned bugs disappeared in a cloud of smoke and out of it leaped Shino, his arm drawn back in preparation of a strike.
Seeing his opponent out of the corner of his eye, Dosu was able to move out of the way just in time to avoid the long needle like weapon as it shot out of the young Aburame's sleeve. But what he wasn't accepting was for another to come out of the other and impale him in the stomach.
Unlike in the prelims when he faced Zaku, this time when Shino backed away he didn't offer Dosu the chance to surrender and raised his hand in the air. Seeing what he was doing and remembering what had happened to Zaku, Dosu's eyes went wide.
"Wait-"
When he clicked his fingers the sound echoed around the stadium, shortly followed by the agonized screams of Dosu as his body was eaten from the inside out. The bandaged covered boy fell to the ground a squirmed in pain for a few moments before going completely still.
Without even waiting for the waiting for Genma to declare him the winner, Shino turned his back on the corpse, recalled his bugs and walked calmly to the tunnel back up to the waiting area.
XXX
Seeing that his team mate had finished, Naruto turned to Temari and Shikamaru, who had joined then at the balcony when the match had started.
"Go as far with your fight as you can without killing each other."
"I thought we needed to save our chakra," said a lazy Shikamaru
"Don't want the snake to get suspicions. If he sees you both holding back he might realize something is wrong to early."
Both teens looked at each other for a moment, nodded their heads and walked towards the stairs just as Shino came up.
XXX
When he got to the arena floor Shikamaru couldn't help the sigh that escaped his lips as he looked to the steel faced kunoichi standing across from him. This was going to be so troublesome.
Taking a kunai out of his pouch and getting into a loose defensive stance, the young Nara nodded to the proctor to let him know he was ready.
The moment the match started he jumped away as far as he could in order to avoid the wind attacks that the Sand-nin sent towards him. For the first few minutes of the match it was the same, he would try to catch Temari with his shadow while she would send an attack at him whenever he got close.
At some point Shikamaru found himself hiding behind one of the few trees that had not been destroyed by Temari. After sending a look to the sky and finding the sun directly over the stadium, the lazy Nara made a choice and released the henge he had on himself.
The cloud of smoke that burst alerted Temari to his position and she sent a strong blast of wind at the tree, cutting it in half. But when the smoke cleared there was no sign of her opponent.
Before she could react, a she felt a kunai pressed to the back of her neck, forcing her to drop her fan and surrender.
As soon as she did the kunai was taken away from her neck and she turned to find a boy in a black and red bodysuit and mask without eye holes fall to their knees, panting heavily.
Reaching up to his head, Shikamaru pulled off the mask and fell back and looked up at the clouds.
When he still hadn't gotten up after 5 minutes, Temari got a tic mark on the back of her head and, grabbing him by his left leg, dragged him back to the waiting booth. This was met with many wolf whistles from the crowd, causing her to blush.
XXX
After Shikamaru and Temari's match, there was a 10 minute brake.
When they got to the booth Temari, who was still dragging the Lazy Nara, through him into a corner at the back of the room and went to stand with her brothers. Because of the way she had thrown him, Shikamaru found himself upside down with his feet next to his head.
Walking up to the downed boy, Naruto stood over him for a moment before standing on his head and smiling at him.
"How you doing?"
"I'm exhausted and can't feel my arms and legs."
"Sounds like a night in with a girlfriend, you know I think Temari likes you."
"... Why are you standing on your head?"
"I thought it would make it easier, you know with you being upside down."
"Why not just turn me back around?"
"This way was more fun."
Before Shikamaru had time to think of a retort to that the insane blonde put a seal on his forehead, got back up and walked back to stand with the Sand-ninja and Shino, who was having a whispered conversation with Kankuro.
Before long the seal on his head started to glow and within a few minutes his chakra was full restored. But instead of getting up, the lazy genin closed his eyes and went to sleep.
XXX
When the 10 minutes were up Gaara and Sasuke made their way down to the arena floor. They both knew what they needed to do. It was their job to put on a convincing show until Orochimaru set off his attack.
The light hit them as they walked out of the tunnel and into the arena, the crowd cheering loudly at what was probably one of the matches they had been waiting for, and bet the most money on.
Just like the other the two stood across from each other in ready stances and waited for the match to start.
Gaara had borrowed some of Temari's makeup, much to Naruto's amusement, to darken the rings around his eyes so it looked like he hadn't slept. Ever since Naruto had fixed his seal he had been able to sleep without any risk so his rings had lightened, but not disappeared.
As he stood with his arms crossed and his eyes locked on the Uchiha, he tried to put as much killing intent into his gaze as he could.
The moment the match started Sasuke jumped back to avoid a tendril of sand that had tried to grab him while running through had seals.
When he finish he sent a large ball of fire at the sand, turning it to glass.
When he saw the sand turn to glass Sasuke's smirked and spread through a large amount of hand seals.
"Fire style: Dragon Bullet!"
The dragon shaped fire charged towards the red head, leaving a large scorch mark on the ground.
Making no attempt to dodge, arms still folded, and the dragon hit Gaara dead on and a cloud of smoke rose from the impact zone.
Not wanting to get caught off guard Sasuke, who was panting from the strain that particular jutsu put on his chakra coils, moved away from the smoke.
Before it cleared fully another tendril of sand burst out of the ground between his feet, wrapped itself around his ankle and hung him in the air.
The smoke cleared for all to see a large wall of sand with patches of glass in it protecting a stone faced Gaara, arms still crossed.
Still tired from using the Dragon Bullet that Kakashi sensei had taught him, Sasuke was unable to do anything as the sand slowly made its way down his body.
"Hey! Duck-ass! If you don't win I'm tying you to tree in the forest of death and using a bigger fish this time!"
Sasuke's eyes shot wide open.
He didn't need to look to know who had said that and, knowing Naruto, the blonde would keep his word to the letter.
Just as the sand was about to cover his face the raven haired boy replaced himself with a branch that had been broken off one of the trees from Temari's wind attacks.
Using the switch as cover, Sasuke ran up on Gaara from behind with one of his short sword in hand and made to smash him on the back of the head with the hilt.
The instant it made contact with the Sand-ninja's skin he burst into sand, which lurched back and tried to wrap him in a cocoon of sand.
Reacting quickly, Sasuke used another replacement with the same branch as before and escaped the sand just before it swallowed him whole.
Reappearing in a swirl of sand at the opposite end of the arena, Gaara looked at the now panting Uchiha and a small smirk spread across his face. Speeding through hand seals and slamming both his hand on the floor the red head announced in a voice early above a whisper.
"Earth Conversion Jutsu"
The ground under their feet started to shake and, slowly at first but picking up speed, it turned into sand. The arena had just become a miniature desert.
His smirk turning into a full blown grin, Gaara went through more hand seals.
"Sand Cocoon Jutsu"
At his words the sand around his feet rose up and encased him in a sphere of sand, a small eye forming about a foot above it.
This was what Sasuke had been waiting for, speeding through hand seals of his own, holding his right wrist he gathered his chakra and announced.
"Chidori!"
As the lightning coated his hand Sasuke ran forward, Sharingan blazing, and charged the sphere. As he ran he was forced to dodge multiple sand spears that erupted from the sand and tried to impale him.
When he was only 3 meters away from his target Sasuke jumped up in the air and slammed his lightning coated fist straight through it.
For a moment nothing happened, the entire stadium silent. Then the silence was replaced with an ear splitting scream.
"BLOOD! MY BLOOD!"
Pulling his hand back and jumping away from the now frantic boy everyone could see the blood on the young Uchiha's hand.
XXX
"Your brothers a better actor then I thought."
Up in the competitors box all the Naruto, Shino and Shikamaru were preparing for what they knew would happen next as the sky was filled with small white feathers.
Even the three girls from mist were checking their equipment although Naruto wondered how the hell they knew about the invasion.
What none of the people watching in the stadium knew was that Gaara was not actually hurt. The blood on Sasuke's hands was the result of a blood packet Gaara had to make it look like he was hurt, Garra simply maneuvered Sasuke to hit it with his Chidori which had exploded.
The ploy had worked perfectly.
XXX
The moment Orochimaru had seen the blood he had sent out the signal, expecting Gaara to go berserk.
This meant they were able to partially control when he would start the invasion.
The moment the crowd was asleep a group of ninja appeared in a puff of smoke and shun shined them away in large groups.
No sooner had this happened then another large group of ninja appeared, these wearing head protectors with the symbol for the Sound village.
Looking around in slight confusion at the empty seats they didn't notice the sand they were stood on moving.
It exploded to at them in a huge cloud and, before they could even scream, it solidified around them and blood exploded out of the large cocoon.
Turning to were the sphere of sand had been moments before; Sasuke looked at Gaara with a questioning look.
Shrugging his shoulders in a bored manner the red head just let a small smile cross his face.
"Old habits die hard"
"Ha-ha, you got that right"
Appearing next to the Sand-ninja, Naruto slung an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a headlock, the other genin appearing moments later.
"That was a good show"
"I can't breathe"
Laughing at his word the blonde let go and looked up at the strange purple box that had appeared at the top of the Kage's booth and shuck his head before turning to the large group of Sound-nin that was filling the stadium, being careful to avoid the sand after what had happened to their comrades.
Naruto then turned to Gaara, Temari and Kankuro
"I would get out of here if I were you it is only going to become more hectic. Take out any sound ninja as you leave if you can."
The sand trio nodded before jumping leaping out of the stadium. As the sand siblings left many sand ninja noticed and immediately began to fall back, knowing that Gaara was supposed to be the distraction that kept the leaf ninja distracted.
Naruto watched his friends leave before he focused on the task at hand.
Taping a small seal on the inside of his wrist three large scrolls appeared in a cloud of smoke in front of the group.
Looking at the scrolls curiously Sasuke walked over to the insane blonde.
"What are they for?"
"Remember that Jutsu I used in Wave?"
How could he forget it?
Seeing the boys nod, Naruto continued.
"Well, this is the completed version. They each contain a parade made of blood clones, each shifted into a different creature. The problem I had with making them was that a blood clone doesn't get a bloodline when it's made, so I had to shape them as I made them."
Both Sasuke and Shino's eyes widened while the others, that hadn't seen the jutsu he was talking about were confused.
Walking up to the blonde with a slight sway of her hips Akasha leaned over the scrolls.
"So that's why it didn't change when you were fighting the Hyuuga, it just couldn't."
"Yep"
Picking up the waist high scrolls the blonde throw one to Shikamaru and one to Shino, keeping the last for himself.
"Go to different points in the village and releases the seals."
Nodding their heads they were about to leave when the blonde stopped them.
"Oh, and put these on."
Turning to the boy they were just in time to catch the small rings that he had thrown to them. They were made from a very dark type of steel and were covered in tiny seals.
"What are they for?"
"They let you lead the parade."
Without further question they jumped away in opposite directions, Shino going north and Shikamaru and Sasuke going east.
That left Naruto, the three Mist-ninja.
Nodding to the to the Mist-ninja, he made a Shadow clone and sent it off with the last scroll before turning his attention back at the purple box and jumped to the roof.
XXX
As they made their way through the village with a scroll that contained an entire army, Shikamaru was struck by just how many Sound-ninja there were.
They didn't seem that strong, cannon fodder at best, but there were so many of them that they were able to push their way through the village because of their numbers alone. For every Leaf-ninja there were about ten Sound-ninja.
Putting those thoughts to the back of his mind they made their way to a street that had become overrun with Sound-ninja. They had surrounded a group of ten Leaf-ninja and were moving in for the kill.
Quickly slipping the ring on his finger, Shikamaru bit his thumb, running it on the top of the scroll and through it into the air, unreeling it in the process and channeled some chakra into it.
The air was filled with a thick white smoke and when it cleared it was to the sight of a thousand demonic... creatures, standing on the roofs of the street.
The smoke had been enough to draw the attention of the Sound-nin away from the group in front of them.
When they saw the mass of creatures looking down at them with hungry eyes many lost their nerve and tried to run.
But before they could get far the voice of Shikamaru rang out.
"Kill the Sound-ninja and help and Leaf-ninja you find!"
All eyes were drawn to the voice that had seemed to be layered by several others when it gave its command.
The ring on Shikamaru's hand was glowing a faint blue and both his eyes had glazed over.
But before any could get a better look at him, the horde sprang from their positions on the roofs and crashed into the Sound-ninja like a meteor hitting earth.
XXX
Shino had little trouble getting to their destination.
The Ninja academy of Konoha was completely surrounded by Sound-ninja and, though the teachers were putting up a good fight; it looked to be a losing battle.
At the front of the group of Chunin was Iruka, his scared face set into a determined scowl as he sent a kunai into the chest of one of the Sound-ninja, only for another to take his place before he hit the ground.
They could see the students stood at the windows with scared looks on their faces as the teacher were getting pushed back further and further to the school.
Putting the ring on his right index figure, Shino bite his thumb and let a few drops of blood fall onto the scroll. Kicking onto its side he pushed it towards the Sound-nin who had yet to notice them.
Seeing the scroll rolling towards them Iruka let out a warning to his fellow teachers, thing it was an exploding tag of some kind. The scroll burst into smoke and when it cleared the Sound-nin that had surrounded the school were trapped in a circle of laughing demons.
"Protect the Academy and its students."
The voice that came from Shino's mouth had a weird echo to it that made it seem like several people were talking at once.
As soon as the commanded was given the creatures surged forward.
XXX
In the stands of the stadium many fights had broken out between the jonin and Sound-ninja.
In the center of the arena turned desert stood the Mist-ninja. Whenever one of the Sound-ninja got to close for comfort one of three things would happen.
One, they would look at the pink haired girl and stop in place to stare at her before getting their throats slit.
Two, they would be hit with a strange kunai that seems to be coated in a nasty poison thrown at them from the purple haired girl.
Or three, they would be cut to pieces by a long, red whip that was coming out of the white haired girls palm that looked like it was made from blood.
XXX
Naruto landed on the roof where the Hokage, Jiraiya and Orochimaru were fighting in the large purple box to see a four ANBU stood on the outside watching the battle inside.
Walking up to one in a cat mask the blonde inquired.
"So, why are you on this side when the fight is in there?"
Turing to look at him out of the corner of her eye, the cat masked Anbu pointed to a blackened corpse laying a few feet away, smoke still rising of it.
Getting a curios look in his eyes, Naruto walked up to the purple wall and pocked it with his finger. The flesh on his finger was burned away and when he pulled it back it looked just like the corpse on the ground.
Nodding his head in thought, the young blonde took several steps back and charged at the wall.
The Anbu moved to stop him but were too late; he hit the wall and was consumed by fire.
XXX
Jumping back from his former sensei and teammate, Orochimaru sent a quick glance to the body of whomever it was that had tried to get past the barrier.
"It's time I ended this, Impure Resurrection Jutsu!"
Slamming his hands to the floor ground the Snake-sannin stepped back as three swirling purple portals appeared on the ground and three wooden coffins slowly rose from them. On each coffin was a number, 1, 2 and 4.
Realizing what he was trying to do Sarutobi made to throw several kunai at the coffin labled with the number four but was stopped by a hand grabbing his wrist. Turing to see who had stopped him, the old Hokage came face to bandaged face with Naruto.
"What are you doing, I have to stop him!"
He got no replay and when he turned back to his old student it was too late.
In front of them were three open coffins, revealing the Shodaime, Nidaime and Yondaime Hokage.
Both the Shodaime Hokage and Nidaime Hokage started to moved and stepped out of their coffins, but the Fourth didn't move.
Getting a confused look on his face Orochimaru stepped closer and picked the body of the Fourth. It didn't move.
"What the hell?"
Hearing laughter behind him the Snake-sannin turned to find the blonde boy pointing at him and laughing.
Before any of them could act the blonde stopped laughing and, in a burst of speed that caught the three Kage level ninja by surprise, grabbed the body from the coffin and ran back to where he was standing.
Looking at the pale faced man across from him, Naruto ginned.
"Thanks, I've been trying to find a way to get him his body back for almost three years now."
"What are you talking about?"
"You were able to summon the body but not the soul, which, it just so happens... I can."
Orochimaru's face when even paler when the boy said this and quickly stabbed a kunai into the back of both the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage's heads with a seal attached to them.
"Stop him! Kill them all!"
Without a word both men ran forward, heading straight for Naruto.
Looking to his right at both the Sandaime Hokage and Jiraiya the blonde boy spoke as quickly as he could.
"I'll explain later, stall them, the snake can't move while he's controlling them. I need time to get this done."
With only a moment of hesitation the two men ran to meet their opponents.
Jiraiya engaging the Nidaime Hokage and Sarutobi the Shodaime Hokage.
XXX
At some point during the fights the Shodaime had created a small jungle inside the barrier and Naruto had been lost from sight.
Leaning over the body in front of him he worked quickly, drawing seals over its entire body.
'This had better work flashlight'
...
'It will'
XXX
The strain was starting to show on Orochimaru's face as he kept supplying the chakra needed to keep the Shodaime Hokage and Nidaime Hokage fighting. His plan had been for it to only take a few moments for them to kill Sarutobi, but with Jiraiya and then the Kyuubi brat showing up it had become a very dangerous situation.
If he stopped supplying chakra to the Hokage, he would be able to move and retreat with his sound four, but if he did that Sarutobi and Jiraiya would be on him in moments.
It was while the snake-sannin was preoccupied with the fights that he didn't notice the blonde blur sneaking up on him from behind.
By the time he was able to sense it he was too late to act.
Orochimaru was prepared for many things to happen, from a kunai in the back to a fire ball hitting him in the face, but what happened next was something he could have never expected. Patting him on the back Naruto walked around to his front in a calm way and looked him in the face.
"Hey, I don't think we've met. I'm Naruto, but you can call me, "DEAR GOD MAKE IT STOP!" if you want."
Despite the situation the pale faced sannin couldn't help the sweat drop that came onto his face.
Sitting down in front of him the blonde boy took out a few kunai and started to use them to juggle.
Confused as to why he didn't try to attack him Orochimaru decided to try and get some answers.
"Why aren't you trying to kill me?"
"Hm, oh well, if I did you would just release the flow of chakra to your puppets, but if I wait than when you do that it will be easier for me to fight you."
'Dam, he's right, if I keep this up I'll be an easy target!"
Getting up off the ground Naruto put his hand in one of the kunai pouches on his hip and pulled out a black permanent pen.
For the next few minutes Orochimaru was forced to stand and do nothing while the boy draw on his face.
When he was done Naruto took a step back and admired his work.
The man in front of him know had a pair of glasses drawn on his face along with tow swirls on over his eyes and a goofy grin over his mouth.
Losing his patience with the insane blonde Orochimaru lost concentration on his jutsu and grabbed him by the collar.
"Enough, now I'm going to enjoy killing you slowly and painfully!"
The grin never left the blondes face and just as the snake-sannin's cheeks bulged out and he was about to spit a horde of snakes onto the boy he was hit in the face by Jiraiya and almost sent flying into the barrier. Just before he made contact with the purple wall of death it vanished and the four Sound-ninja that had been holding it jumped up, grabbed the snake like man and shun shined away.
Not happy that they were getting away Naruto took out his two scythes out from behind his back and through them in their direction just as they were disappearing in a swirl of leafs.
The scythes started to spin in mid are like a pair of buzz saws and disappeared along with the five ninja, just as a scream of pain was heard echoing around the village.
Turning to the shocked faces of Jiraiya and Sarutobi, Naruto grinded.
"Well, that was fun."
The next few minutes were spent in complete silence, both Sarutobi and Jiraiya just staring at the insane blonde in front of them. Naruto just stood there, looking off into empty space and humming to himself, when suddenly his face lost its grin looked annoyed.
"That freak took my scythes!"
Both elderly ninja faced faulted at his words, after everything that had just happened he was pissed that he had lost his scythes.
Waving off the ANBU that were rushing over to check on him Sarutobi let out a breath and walked over to Naruto, patted him on the back before getting a serious look on his face.
"Naruto, what did you do with the body?"
Turning to look at the old man Naruto looked confused.
"What body?"
"The body of the Yondaime"
"What?"
"The blonde man"
"Oh, I forgot about him"
All those on the roof sweat dropped at that, even the Anbu.
"Flashlight is over here, he was weak from the transfer so he couldn't fight."
"What do you mean weak, Naruto, the Yondaime is dead."
The boy just grinned and led them to a small clearing in the trees that the Shodaime had made. There, sitting in a meditative position with his legs crossed was a tall blonde man in a white trench cloak with flames on the bottom.
They were all stood in shock when he opened his blue eyes and smiled at them.
"Hey, so what have I missed?"
XXX
Flashback - Three years ago - Naruto's cell
XXX
Naruto sat in his cell, the seals on the walls and chains glowing blue in the over wise dark room. It had been two years since he was locked in here, nothing to do and the only company being the Kyuubi in his own mind.
Over the last two years he found himself in his mind more often than in the real world, but how could blame him.
After his first meeting with the oversized fox in his head Naruto had done a little redecorating. Instead of the dark sewer with blood flowing through it there was now a full scale village, to be more specific, Konoha. It had all the same buildings, the shops and houses, even the Hokage tower. But unlike the real Konoha, this one was like a ruin. The buildings were in disrepair and the ground was dry, vines grow over what was left of the buildings and walls. The sky was always dark, with a blood red moon casting a red glow over the village.
Another thing that was different was that instead of people walking around the streets there were strange creatures that could have been straight out of a nightmare, which, as it so happens, they were.
Naruto had learned long ago that most of the buildings were gateways, doors that led to different memories. He could walk up to any building and find himself in the past.
Another thing that he had learned was that the creatures that lived in his mind, while being a part of him, were separate at the same time. He had asked Kyuubi about it and was told that they were all his different personalities, emotions and thoughts given form.
He was currently walking down the street towards the Hokage tower. When he was in his mind Naruto didn't have any scares, not that he would care if he did. The only reason he didn't hide them with a shift was because it was funny to see people's reaction to what he looked like when he took off the bandages. He was wearing a white shirt with an orange spiral on the chest and a pair of lose black shorts.
Walking next to him was a beautiful girl in her mid-teens. She stood at about 5'7 in height, with long red heir that she let fall lose down her back and on top of her head was a pair of red fox like ears. Her breasts were at least a D cup and she had curves in all the right places. The blood red kimono she wore did little to hide her figure and left very little to the imagination, it stopped just a few inches below her hips. She wore a pair of tight black shorts with nine red tails sticking out at the base of her spin. Her face seemed perfect in every way, from the curve of her lips to the pair of firer like red eyes.
Yes the Kyuubi was a girl, and not just any girl, what might be one of the most beautiful girls in the elemental nations. The first time she told him Naruto had laughed, that is until she shrank right in front of him and changed into the woman that stood next to him now. That in itself wasn't the problem; it was the fact that she had been completely naked.
That had been the first and only time Naruto had fainted from a nose bleed, something Kyuubi was very proud of. Ever since then she had tried to get him to do it again, but with little success. She would always flirt with him, even though he was still young, but what was age to a thousand year old demon.
To a demon like herself, the only thing that mattered in a mate was power, if they were strong, they were hot.
The main problem she had found was that despite the reaction he had had to her at first, the blonde was to put it simply, a dense idiot when it came to women and she found it too funny to tell him.
Maybe when he was older.
Naruto had never actually go to the Hokage tower, though he didn't know why, probably just couldn't be bothered. But Kyuubi told him there was something interesting that he needed to see.
As they walked down the street they were greeted by several others, a large grey behemoth, a skinny man that seemed to be made of rags and a small rabbit with glowing red eyes. When they finally arrived at the tower there was no one else around, which was strange. Walking up to the doors Naruto kicked them open, causing a loud bang to echo off the walls.
Inside it was just like the real tower, though older and a little run down. A spiral stair case running around the outside of the circler room leading to hundreds of different offenses and at the top a balcony that lead to the Hokage's office.
Not bothering with the other rooms Kyuubi led him to the top of the tower and stopped outside the door to the Hokage office.
Raising an eyebrow at her he kicked the door like he did the one at the bottom.
It was just like the real thing, the desk and the paintings. The only difference was that there was no window looking out over the village and that unlike the rest of his mind, this room was in perfect condition.
If it wasn't for the blonde guy sat in the chair behind the desk instead of the old man he would have thought he was in a memory.
The man looked like an older version of Naruto himself, with the same blonde hair and blue eyes. He knew who it was straight away.
Seeing the boy stood in the doorway Minato stood from his desk and walked around to the other side, a warm smile on his face.
It wasn't there for long.
Seeing the smile had done something to Naruto that hadn't happened in 2 years, he got angry. The grin fell from his face and was replaced with a look of absolute hatred. His skin began to ripple. Running into the room straight at the man, which apparently thought he was going for a hug, Naruto lunged at him and tried to tear out his throat.
Minato was so surprised that he was barely able to stop the now clawed hands an inch from his neck.
Neither of them noticed the laughter that came from the girl that was stood in the corner, watching the two as they rolled around the ground, both trying to get on top of the other.
After a few minutes Kyuubi walked over and grabbed the smaller boy by the scruff of his neck and pulled him off the older man, kicking and screaming.
It was just so cute.
When Minato finally got his bearings he looked up to see something that made him blush.
The boy that had attached him, that he knew to be is son, was being held in a bone crushing hug by a beautiful girl in a red kimono. She had lifted him up off the ground so his legs were kicking about wildly; the reason for this was that his face had been pressed into her large cleavage, suffocating him.
"You're so cute when you're angry Naru-chan!"
Her voice was like the tinkling of bells and the seductive way it was said made a shiver run down the former Hokage's back. If his wife was here she would kill him.
Just when it seemed the boy would suffocate the red headed woman turned him around so that he was facing Minato, but didn't releases him from the hug and the back of his head still nestled in between her breasts.
The moment his face was out of her breasts Naruto took in several deep breaths, his face red from lack of oxygen. When he got his breath back the young blonde looked at the girl holding him, all the rage at seeing his father gone, and pouted.
"You said you wouldn't do that anymore!"
Lowering her head so it was level with his Kyuubi rubbed her cheek against his.
"But you were so cute, like a little chibi kit. I just had to hug you!"
The pout still on his face, Naruto turned his eyes back to his dad, who had just noticed Kyuubi's ears and tail and had backed away.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Minato was slightly taken aback by the way Naruto spoke.
"Watch your language"
Both Kyuubi and Naruto stared at him for a moment with blank expressions on their faces, giving nothing away. Then, without warning, they both broke out in laughter.
Getting a tic mark at the back of his head from being laughed at, Minato snapped.
"WHAT'S SO FUNNY?"
Still laughing, Naruto slowly stated to speak.
"Ha-ha- you-ha- actually think-ha-ha- that I would- ha- listen to anything-ha-ha- you say-ha-ha."
"I'm your father"
That stopped them laughing.
Locking eyes with Minato again, the smaller blonde got a blank expression on his face.
"Fuck you flashlight"
XXX
From then on Naruto and Kyuubi would go and see Minato whenever they could be bothered. It turned out that he wasn't able to leave the room, which meant that he couldn't see outside. It took almost a whole year before Naruto would have a real conversation with the blonde Hokage and even then he still didn't talk much.
It broke Minato's heart to see how much his own son hated him. The look in his eyes when he saw him was almost enough to bring tears to his eyes.
As time went on he noticed several things about Naruto, two that stood out from the rest. The first was that the village must not have treated him like a hero the way he had wished and the second was that he was completely insane. It was little things at first, a random word here, uncalled for laughter there, but over time he pieced it together to a certain extent.
They never talked about the village inside or outside his head, Naruto had said in passing that he was in the Institution but before he could ask him to elaborate the younger blond had moved on to something else.
He never asked about Kushina, afraid of what he might here. The only reason he could think of for her not being there for their son was that she was dead.
The fact that Kyuubi was always with Naruto had at first worried Minato, thinking that she had done something to him that had made him like this, but his fears went away after seeing how she acted around him. It was actually kind of creepy, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, strongest of the nine, seemed to like his son.
Naruto, being the idiot he was, couldn't tell but Minato did. She would always hug him and was never far away at any one time. Taking any excuse to touch him.
When he thought about it, it was actually kind of funny.
It took a long time but the older blonde was able to get Naruto to at least be natural around him. It didn't hurt that he started to teach him how to make seals.
He was surprised when one day Naruto's voice started to echo around the room that was for all intense and purposes his prison, telling him that he had his body and was going to move him into it.
The world around him started whirl and the next thing he knew he was laying on a tiled floor surrounded by trees. A wave of sickness hit him and he found he was unable to get up.
Bending over him with a blank expression on his face was Naruto.
"Stay here"
Without another word he turned and left.
XXX
Flashback-end
XXX
Everything seemed to move at super speed after that. The Sound-ninja had retreated, at least the ones that were still alive, and the wounded had all been moved to the hospital, including Minato.
After getting an explanation about how he was alive, something to do with accidentally sealing himself in his son, Sarutobi and Jiraiya had turned to the blonde and asked why he didn't tell them about Minato.
His response had caused all in the room at the time to face fault.
"Thought I did, hey does anyone else see that lama in the corner or is it just me?"
Of cause, it was just him.
Both Shino and Shikamaru were also in the hospital. It turned out that although it didn't take much chakra to control one of Naruto's parades, it did put a lot of strain on the mind, something about a constant mental feedback to keep command over all the monsters in the parade. They would be ok, but tired for quite some time.
It was for this very reason he had given them the rings in the first place, he knew that they would be able to handle it better then one of the others.
The news that the Yondaime was back spread through the village like wild fire, through only a select few knew how. But that didn't stop the rumors.
Some of the more enthusiastic Naruto haters thought he was back to finish what he had started and would finally rid them of the 'demon brat' once and for all. Others that had heard about what Orochimaru had done thought the jutsu had gone wrong and had accidentally brought him back.
And the rest were just so happy he was back that they didn't care how.
As soon as they were brought out of the shelters hidden in the Hokage monument the people of Konoha had surrounded the hospital hoping to see him for themselves.
XXX
A week after the invasion Minato was reinstated as Hokage with very little opposition not even Danzo argued with the decision knowing he would lose. It was around this time that Minato apologized to any foreign ninja still in the village for the chunin exams including the team from Mist. It was during this time that Mei approached Minato about help with the mist civil war going on and specifically asked for Naruto's help.