Chapter 6, part 2: Rage is your only reward
"I am really glad that I don't have for opponent that Suna freak," Saburo said on their way back to Konoha.
"Yeah," Midori nodded, then turned towards Choji. "What are you gonna do against him?" she asked.
"Forfeit," Choji responded immediately. "Even Asuma-sensei told me so."
"That's good idea," Midori nodded.
"Who is his next opponent?" Midori mused aloud remembering the matches.
"Me or Temari," Shikamaru said, then added: "I will forfeit if I beat Temari."
"So… that means that Gaara will be automatically in third round and will fight against…" Midori paused and looked at her copied diagram of matches.
"Me," Naruto said.
"You think that you got a chance against that hiding coward from Kusa?" Midori asked, still looking at her notes.
"We will see," Naruto shrugged.
"You will win, you are immune to most poisons," Saburo waved his hand.
"To most, not to all. It would be foolish of me to just let him stab me," Naruto disagreed. "No, I will try to figure out his ability and see how it goes. Also, do you want me to send him a message or something Midori?" he looked at her.
"Hmm, I don't know? Maybe you could bring me his left feet?" Midori smiled ruthlessly, her eyes shining eerily. Naruto shivered.
"Will you forfeit against Gaara?" Saburo asked.
"No," Naruto shook his head. "I have few tricks that could put him down."
"Just be careful," Midori frowned.
"Will do," Naruto nodded, then froze. He just remembered what felt so familiar about Gaara's chakra.
"What is it?" Saburo asked Naruto.
"We need to speak in privacy. Could you guys continue without us? Shikamaru you stay," Naruto said.
"Sure," Choji nodded and continued towards Konoha along with grumbling Ino.
"So what did you need to speak about?" Shikamaru asked, hands in his pockets.
Naruto raised his hand and checked their surroundings, then said: "All three of you know what I contain, it's related to it." His friends got suddenly worried look. "I think that Gaara is jinchuriki."
"What?!" hissed Midori.
"Do you remember that moment when I said, that I could sense something weird from his chakra?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah," Saburo nodded.
"Ok, back then it really felt familiar, but I couldn't figure it out. And during that attack, with which he killed Kiba, that feeling got stronger. And I realized right now, that the familiar thing I couldn't connect with it is… the seal I have on me."
"You mean that the attack he used was powered by the demon sealed inside him?" Shikamaru asked gravely, the tone not really suited for him.
"I am not sure. You know that I regenerate so it could be similar. Or his seal is just weaker than mine. Yondaime Hokage was supposedly the best seal master since the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools," Naruto shrugged.
"That doesn't matter. You need to tell this to Hokage. Can you imagine what would happen if it got released? It could in single minute annihilate whole Konoha," Shikamaru said.
"Yeah, I know, but when we went to Suna for exams, Sarutobi told me that he informed Kazekage of my attendance. Don't you think that they already know about him?"
"That may very well be the case, but what if they don't? Let's say that there is like ten percent chance that they don't know, do you want to risk it?" Shikamaru raised his eyebrow.
"Shika is right," Midori added. "And Naruto, you know that our whole team are orphans and the thing responsible for it is currently in your stomach. We cannot risk it," she shook her head.
"You are right," Naruto nodded. "Let's go."
…
"You cannot go further," an ANBU with sloth mask told them, when they arrived to the Hokage tower.
"We have to, we have very important information for Hokage," Naruto opposed him.
"Hokage is in emergency council meeting right now, he cannot see you," the ANBU repeated.
"Is in there my father? Shikaku Nara?" Shikamaru asked. "I can guarantee that it is important."
"And you think that the emergency council meeting is less important?" the ANBU asked sarcastically.
"Yes," Shikamaru pressed further.
"Look," Naruto sighed. "Do you know who I am? What I… imprison?" Naruto asked in frustration.
The ANBU looked at him sharpy and said: "Yes."
"Then tell Hokage that there is second one inside the village," Naruto whispered.
"You mean that..."
"Yes!" Naruto snapped.
"All right, wait a moment," Then he picket his radio transmitter and said into it: "Eagle, Hawk immediately come to the emergency meeting, we have a situation!" It didn't took even thirty second before another two ANBU appeared with prepared weapons.
"What is the matter?" one of them said.
"Guard them, I have a message for Hokage. They will not leave until further notice. Importance level C2!" Sloth said. That seemed to make the new ANBU even more alert, but they only nodded. After that the sloth ANBU entered the emergency meeting room.
"What is importance level C2?" asked Naruto.
"It is codename for possible imminent danger for whole village, large scale. We learned it in the academy," Midori explained.
"Ok, thanks," Naruto nodded. Right then sloth emerged from the meeting room.
"Hokage will receives you," he said and already was pushing their group inside the room. When they entered, there was about ten different people inside.
"Hokage-sama," Naruto bowed along with others.
"Hello Naruto, you have for us supposedly very grave news," Sarutobi said.
"Yes Hokage-sama. There is good chance that you already know about it, but we thought that we should check with you," Naruto explained.
"Ok Naruto, we are listening," Sarutobi said.
"I think that here in the village is another jinchuriki," Naruto said, causing most of the present shinobi to freeze. Absolute silence followed.
"If that is true, then I assure you that we don't know about it. Could you elaborate?" Sarutobi ordered after a moment.
"You were there actually, during the fight between Gaara and Kiba Inuzuka," Naruto said. Tsume Inuzuka growled furiously.
"Please continue Naruto," Sarutobi urged him.
"Right. I could feel something weird about Gaara's chakra back then. It was weird, but familiar and it wasn't until a moment ago that I realized that it felt similar to my seal," Naruto finished.
"You want to tell me that my son was killed by some disgusting jinchuriki?" Tsume punched a hole through the table, her eyes mad with fury.
"Tsume! Calm down!" Sarutobi ordered.
"Go fuck yourself Sarutobi, I want that son of a bitch dead," Tsume spat.
"That unfortunately isn't possible, Gaara is son of Kazekage..."
"I do not care whose son he is! I want him dead! If you will not arrange it, I will do it myself," Tsume hissed.
"Tsume, please calm down. I am sure we can figure something out," Danzo entered the discussion. "But before that there are some things that we need to take care of. Firstly, the fact that one of our clan members was killed in the most brutal way and secondly the fact that we have rogue enemy jinchuriki in our village. The positive side of this is that we have only one… guilty shinobi. I suggest public assassination of Gaara.
"Absolutely not!" Sarutobi yelled. "That would damage our alliance with Suna!"
"Wait and listen to my reasoning before you deny this option," Danzo waved his hand and continued: "Member of one of our prominent clans was killed. If we won't respond to this in some way, our village will be viewed as weak. What is more, foreign jinchuriki in Konoha is declaration of war and we simply cannot ignore this. The second part is so grave that the public assassination is in fact very… insufficient solution."
"But we are not sure that Gaara is jinchuriki," Sarutobi frowned.
"We are," Jiraya said as he entered the room. "Sloth informed me about the situation and I quickly checked it. There is no doubt about it. Gaara leaks tailed beast chakra like a colander water." Sarutobi frowned even more.
"Then there is nothing to think about. We should assassinate Gaara," Tsume growled.
"There is another matter loosely related to this," Jiraya said.
"What is it?" Shikaku Nara asked.
"The council was informed about the Akatsuki approximately two years ago, I believe?" Jiraya asked.
"That's right," Shikaku nodded.
"Back then we didn't knew what their intentions are and today the situation remains largely same. However, I managed to piece together something worrisome," Jiraya said gravely. "There were already two separate attacks by their members on three different jinchuriki. On both occasions the jinchuriki managed to escape, but were heavily wounded. This is only a guess, but I think that they are just testing the waters for later," Jiraya explained.
"You mean that they are preparing to collect tailed beasts?" Shibi Aburame asked.
"It's not confirmed, but yes. I think they are waiting for something and in meantime they are just testing their strength," Jiraya explained.
"What would they need tailed beasts for?" Shibi wondered.
"Does it matter? We know that Akatsuki are formed by S-ranked shinobi. Can you imagine their power if they manage to collect all nine of them?" Danzo commented sharply.
"That's true," Shikaku said with frown. "Hell, even without the tailed beasts they would probably succeed in destruction of any elemental nation."
"That means we simply cannot let Akatsuki to collect them," Jiraya said. "And there it relates to Gaara. It is common knowledge that tailed beast simply reform after some time if killed. However what is not commonly known is that that the less powerful demon is the longer it takes. And we know that Suna is in possession of the Shukaku, the one tailed demon," Jiraya explained.
"So how long it would take for Shukaku to reform? Are there some records of it happening?" Shikaku asked.
"Yes there are. Not Shukaku directly, but with few deduction I think we can count at least with thirty years. Maybe little bit more. For any demon stronger than Shukaku it would be less."
"That's promising. In thirty years can happen anything," Shikaku mused, then added: "But one dead or half-dead demon from nine isn't much."
"Yes, but it's certainly nothing to sneeze at," Shibi added.
"True," Shikaku nodded.
"Then let's vote," Danzo said. "I am for public assassination."
"Me too," Tsume hissed.
"Seconded," Shikaku raised his hand and look apologetically at Sarutobi.
"I agree."
"The same."
"It's sad but necessary."
"Let's do this," Choza Akamichi said. "I think that the matter is decided."
"Now only to decide, how will we go about it. The more public the better," Danzo said, then he smirked evilly. "I have got an idea. Gaara will fight in one month in the finals of chunin exam. We could do it there."
"But how?" Tsume frowned.
"Who from our genins will meet him?" Danzo asked.
"You cannot mean…"
"Calm down Sarutobi. We will just ask them and if they agree, completely voluntarily, they can try it. What is more it would be done inside the exam, our village would be completely protected from all repercussions. And they can even forfeit at any time. It's simply perfect opportunity," Danzo smirked.
"That is acceptable, I doubt that someone would agree," Sarutobi nodded.
"So who is facing Gaara in first round?" asked Shikaku.
"Choji," Shikamaru entered the discussion. "And he will forfeit. In second round me or Temari from Suna. If I will advance into the second round I will forfeit too," he explained.
"I see," Shikaku nodded, glad that he heard his son say that.
"And after that?" Danzo asked impatiently.
"Probably me, sir. I will have one fight before that, but I will probably advance," Naruto said.
"And do you think that you could do this? I mean, to kill him? If you manage to defeat him?" Danzo watched him with narrowed eyes.
"I am not sure sir, but I can try," Naruto shrugged. He killed enough people, who didn't do anything personally to him, but Gaara on the other hand wasn't such case.
"That is all I want to hear," Danzo nodded. "Do you need anything which could help prepare yourself for the task?"
"All possible information on Gaara. Also, someone really skilled in use of earth chakra who would be able to simulate the properties of sand. Besides that I don't know, could I get back to you if something came up?" Naruto asked.
"Certainly," Danzo nodded.
"I don't want to be pessimistic, but you really think that genin can kill jinchuriki?" Tsume asked.
"If not, we will have someone as backup. Someone who can deal with jinchuriki without any doubt," Shikaku waved his hand.
"All right, then we are done. We will send you the information on Gaara via the person who will help you train Naruto," Sarutobi said with sigh. "This is from now on an A-ranked secret. Be very careful where you speak about it. You are dismissed."
…
"Holly shit! I just witnessed high level assassination authorization!" Saburo whispered, when they got out of the Hokage tower.
"Yeah," Midori nodded. "You are really going to try it?" she asked Naruto.
"Yeah. It's not like anything changes. I wanted to fight him even before," Naruto responded. "Also, I have something that I want to try out against him."
"You and your secret training," Midori rolled her eyes. "But I don't care. I am going home, see you tomorrow."
"I don't know if I will show up," Naruto said. "If the person appointed to help me will show before tomorrow's meeting I probably will not come."
"All right, but you didn't have to ask for help you know? We have enough earth users in our team," Saburo noted.
"You can imitate sand? I am sure you could learn it, but it would be wasting of your time. You have better things to do than that."
"I suppose," Saburo nodded. "Ok, bye you two."
"Yeah, see ya later."
…
"So, what did you figured out so far? Do you have any questions?" Tenzo asked after Naruto put the papers with information on Gaara aside.
"Yeah. How can that sand of his work automatically?" Naruto asked.
"We think that it works the same way as your regeneration. It is suspected that every jinchuriki has similar... enhancement," Tenzo said.
"Ok. So what I figured from your information is that any melee attack would be suicide against Gaara and that I should always assume that he will have that sand protection. And that means that I need a ranged attack strong enough so his protection wouldn't matter. Did I forget something?" Naruto asked.
"I don't think so," Tenzo shook his head.
"Um… ok. You seem to know a lot about tailed beasts," Naruto commented.
"You could say that the tailed beasts and their hosts are something of my specialty," Tenzo said.
"Ok, can't you remove that mask of yours? We will be training a month with each other," Naruto muttered.
"I will ask my superiors," Tenzo shrugged.
"Good. I think we can start the training. Can you please create a wall from a sandstone? I have earth affinity myself but imitation of different types of rocks or soils is not something that I trained yet," Naruto asked.
"I can, but there are many different kinds of it, which one do you want?" Tenzo.
"Hmm, sort them by their ability to prevent penetration, then select the one in middle. We will try to go from there," Naruto said.
"Ok, that should be easy," Tenzo said and placed hands on the ground. "What about thickness? Twenty centimeters?"
"Make it thirty so we have some reserve," Naruto answered. Tenzo nodded and willed his chakra. In next moment five meters wide and two meters tall wall emerged from the ground.
"Nice," Naruto commented. "I should probably test if I can penetrate it," Naruto said and pulled out his sword and stabbed it few times. "Hmm, it does crumble a little bit, but there is no way I can penetrate this with steel alone," Naruto said and channeled wind chakra into his weapon, then assumed a proper stance and stabbed it again. His sword sink into the stone up to the hilt, though Naruto could feel a resistance.
"Impressive," Tenzo said.
"Tell me, how many types of sandstone are there before the strongest one?" Naruto asked.
"Between this one and the last there are another eight different types."
"Ok. Please create the wall again but from sandstone two levels stronger," Naruto requested. Tenzo nodded and did so.
"It has completely different structure," Naruto said when the work was done and he could see the result. "And it doesn't crumble at all. Nice work."
Tenzo nodded. "See how you will do against it." Naruto raised his sword again with his wind chakra and stabbed it, but this time he managed to penetrate only about ten centimeters.
"I suspected that this would happen," Tenzo said.
"Me too, but let me try something else first," Naruto said and this time channeled the wind chakra into his sword as condensed as his chakra control allowed. Then stabbed the wall again. The result was same as with the first wall.
"That was… scary," Tenzo said. "From this sandstone are build walls of Sunagakure, you know."
"That may be so, but look what happened to my sword," Naruto said and handed Tenzo his weapon. It was covered with countless deep scratches.
"That did your wind chakra?" Tenzo asked with surprise.
"Yes. I could try to get better control over it so even higher condensation wouldn't damage my sword, but for that I would need at least another half a year," Naruto shrugged.
"I see. Then it's good thing that you won't be using melee attacks on Gaara," Tenzo stated.
"Yeah," Naruto agreed.
"So, what ranged attacks you can show me?" Tenzo asked.
"I have only two things that could work against Gaara, and one of them isn't for public usage. At least not yet," Naruto said.
"It's something you created?" Tenzo asked.
"Not entirely, I just… improved it," Naruto scratched his neck.
"So what about the other thing?" Tenzo asked.
"I will show you, I suppose I don't have a choice, but you will keep it secret. This one I created completely alone," Naruto said.
"Sure," Tenzo nodded.
"Ok, so let's move a little bit further," Naruto said already walking. When they were about forty meters away, Naruto pulled out one kunai. He stretched his hand toward their testing wall and with his chakra raised the kunai about fifteen centimeters before his fingertips. Then he reached out for the air around him and started to compress it behind the kunai in one very small point. After minute or so, when his forehead was cowered in sweat, he coated the kunai in wind chakra and spin it until it was just a blur. Then he released the compressed wind chakra behind the kunai in direction of the wall. The air tore its way out with angry hiss, striking the kunai and sending it away so fast that it was invisible for a mere eye. In the next moment there was a loud impact as the wall was easily penetrated.
Tenzo sweated and stared at Naruto. "Where the hell did you get idea to create something like this?" he asked incredulously.
"It just occurred to me," Naruto shrugged. "And besides, wind chakra is needed for it so there is practically no chance that someone in Konoha would try something like this.
"It cannot be done with normal chakra?" Tenzo asked.
"No. If you compress normal chakra into one point and then release it, it will not explode but slowly disperse in the air. Similarly to a paper when you crinkle it," Naruto explained, then added: "Because of that, techniques like Rasengan exists. The centrifugal force partially imitates the expansion characteristics."
"That's interesting point of view," Tenzo mused. "But there is a problem to this attack, it takes too long to set it up."
"I know. That will be probably the biggest part of this training. And if even then I won't be able to use it quickly enough I will probably use clones as distraction."
"Good, let's get to work."
…
Naruto woke up in very uncomfortable position. He was sitting on a chair, his hands bound to it behind his back. His legs were in similar state. But the most worrisome fact was, that he was naked.
Naruto looked around, instantly recognizing Anko's or, if you wanted to be pedantic, their flat. That caused Naruto to shiver. Was it normal to shiver in fear and anticipation in your own living premises? Probably not. Naruto let out a shaky breath. Then turned towards the opening door.
"You know Foxy, you should have told me when you had an opportunity," Anko smiled at him wickedly, while licking her lips. The only thing she had on herself was an oversized shirt. Of course, that is if you ignore the whip she held in her right hand.
Naruto gulped. "I don't suppose that I could tell you now?" he tried.
"Oh, don't worry Foxy, you will tell me everything, but you will not avoid your punishment," Anko purred and patted his left thigh.
"Umm, please?" Naruto wriggled uncomfortably.
"Quiet Naruto," Anko swiped his thigh. Naruto yelped painfully.
"You know that I couldn't tell you anything," Naruto growled.
"Maybe?" Anko smirked. "But you could still pull me aside during those five days," she shrugged, then raised her whip again. Naruto growled and created – behind his back - Rasengan in his hand, easily cutting the ropes with it. And moment before the whip could land for the second time, he caught Anko's wrist and twisted the whip out of her hand.
"Sorry Anko, but you will have to try harder," Naruto smirked at her.
"Bastard," Anko growled, but in that moment Naruto was already behind her. He caught her wrist and forced them behind her back. With kick of his leg he turned the chair around and sat on it, forcing Anko to bend over his lap.
"What do you think that you are doing?" Anko growled at him, but surprisingly didn't move.
"Oh, just returning the favor," Naruto said and pulled up her shirt. "Anko, Anko. Not wearing any panties? You sure are a bad girl."
"Naruto!" Anko hissed warningly. However her ass was swiftly slapped afterwards. Anko moaned.
"Do not hiss at me Anko," Naruto warned. "You brought this upon yourself," Naruto sighed dramatically.
"Go fuck yourself," Anko snapped, forcing Naruto to punish her again. Three hard slaps followed, eliciting another long moan and causing her to wriggle impatiently.
"Had enough?" Naruto asked, while patting her behind.
"Kiss my ass!" the purple haired women threw at him angrily.
"Oh? You know, you seem to be enjoying this a little bit too much," Naruto commented. "Maybe I should just listen to you? Hmm?" Naruto said, already bringing his lips to Anko's red behind. Anko moaned, but suddenly yelped upon another hard slap. She shuddered.
"I think that we should take this somewhere else," Naruto said in low voice, taking Anko into his arms, then disappearing in their bedroom.
…
Naruto woke up thanks to the annoying sun rays. He turned to his left, where naked Anko was lying. She moved her left hand in effort to remove a tickling strand from her nose. Unfortunately her sleepy self didn't seem to be able to manage it.
After another few moments Naruto finally took pity on her and moved the hairs behind her ear.
"Thanks," Anko mumbled.
Naruto didn't say anything. Instead he started slowly scratching the back of her head.
"I could get used to this, you know?" Anko said quietly.
"You are welcome to," Naruto murmured, while continuing. However he had to do something wrongly, because Anko suddenly hissed and quickly moved away from his hand.
"Sorry, did I…"
"No, it's not you," Anko shook her head and forced herself to sitting position.
"Then what happened?" Naruto frowned.
Anko sighed and said: "Look at my neck." Naruto shrugged and did as asked, then hissed. Therw was a seal on her neck.
"That's seal?" he asked.
"Yeah," Anko confirmed.
"What does it do?" Naruto inquired with frown.
"We are not entirely sure. It was a parting gift from my traitorous teacher," Anko started. "He decided to get rid of me, while using me for one of his experiments. This is the result. What we know about it is that that it somehow transform my chakra, empowering it while active. The downside is that it makes me practically a berserk. Fortunately Jiraya put some suppression seal on it and it doesn't bother me too much," she explained.
"Hmm, but why do I see it for the first time today?" Naruto asked. "It wasn't there a few days back."
"Because Orochimaru was in the second phase of the chunin exam. He went after Sasuke and I encountered him there, in my stupid attempt to take revenge on him," Anko chuckled bitterly. "He defeated me, mostly thanks to this seal. It can be used for torture, so…"
"You went alone after Orochimaru? Alone?" Naruto asked in disbelieve.
"I know it was stupid, alright?" Anko muttered. Naruto looked at her for a moment, then shook his head. It wasn't his place to scold her.
"Sorry. But if you ever again decide to go after him, tell me. I will help you," Naruto said.
Anko looked at him and rolled her eyes.
"I mean it," Naruto reiterated, while getting out of the bed.
"Alright, jeez," Anko muttered.
…
Naruto stood on the balcony of Arena and watched the duel between Shikamaru and Temari. Choji just few minutes ago forfeited his match and was now standing just a few meters from Naruto.
"This is quite boring," Midori said. "He is just dodging her wind attacks."
"I really wish he would defeat her, but as it looks, I will not be that lucky," Tenten sighed.
"Look! Shikamaru seems to be already really tired. If it will go like this for much longer, she will hit Shikamaru," Ino said aloud, worry in her voice. And she was right. All vegetation on the stadium was already destroyed and Shikamaru was slowing down. And it seemed that Temari was even increasing her pace.
In the next moment Shikamaru seemed to stumble and fell on his knees. He looked worriedly at Temari, who was smirking with her fan raised above her head. Then she send another blast of wind at Shikamaru, who didn't managed to dodge.
"No!" Ino cried as Shikamaru's silhouette was hidden by the wall of dust.
When the dust settled, Shikamaru was however standing few meter from Temari. His garb was torn on several places, but other than that he didn't seem to be hurt.
"Hello," Shikamaru smirked at Temari and plucked a kunai from his pouch.
"How the hell did you dodge that, and why I am unable to move?" Temari growled.
"That would be telling," Shikamaru's smirk got even wider and threw the kunai in the air. From the shadow on the ground raised a shadowy tentacle and plucked the kunai from the air, then pressed it to Temari's throat.
"Forfeit or I will be forced to do something troublesome," Shikamaru ordered.
Temari growled at him furiously, but then reluctantly realized that her situation was untenable and forfeited.
"Winner, Shikamaru Nara!" Genma announced to the applauding public, while Shikamaru returned back to his teammates.
"How did you do it?" Ino demanded.
"Not telling," Shikamaru responded. Ino huffed and turned away.
"Naruto Uzumaki and Dergo Fiteru inside the arena please," Genma called.
"Be careful Naruto, he don't have to use only poison with that invisibility technique of his," Midori warned.
"I know," Naruto said and jumped over the railing down into the arena.
"So we meet again," Dergo greeted Naruto.
"Yeah," Naruto said.
"I would like to know, how you managed to save that teammate of yours," Dergo asked.
"And you expect me to tell you?" Naruto snorted.
"You will tell me," Dergo shrugged. "Once you will be poisoned and pleading for an antidote."
"We will see about that," Naruto shrugged and turned his head towards Genma.
"Are you both prepared?" Genma asked. Both genins nodded.
"Then… Begin!" Genma cried and jumped back, Naruto did the same thing only with shunshin, while carefully watching Dergo, who almost immediately disappeared. Naruto sighed and crouched in position in which he could use shunshin almost instantly and concentrated on his detection technique. He limited the range of the technique to the arena only, but the small area was practically flooded with his chakra. And that probably saved him, because in the next moment he sensed miniscule stir of chakra and instantly shunshined to the side, avoiding cloud of senbons.
"You know, it's not nice to attack from behind," Naruto commented in bored manner.
"How did you dodge that," Dergo asked with angry scowl.
"Again, you expect an answer?" Naruto smirked with tilted head. Dergo hissed angrily and disappeared again. Naruto pulled out two shurikens with his right hand and waited. In few moment he could sense slight chakra stir to the left of him. He shunshined away in random direction and simultaneously threw the shurikens. However he hit nothing and what is more the Kusa genin wasn't visible. Naruto frowned. He could still sense on said spot the chakra stirring. That meant some chakra was active there... Maybe an explosion tag?
Naruto was however forced to interrupt his thought process, because he sensed something to his right and had to dodge again. He could see Dergo this time, who was visibly frustrated. He spat on the ground and disappeared again. Naruto decided to try something little bit more risky. He run through the seal sequence for Great Breakthrough, but didn't released it and waited. Another stir came again few meter to his right and Naruto instantly released his prepared attack in said direction, then again shunshined away, shurikens coated in wind chakra already prepared in his hand. He heard quite yelp and with a flick of his wrist he threw the shurikens. He heard cry of pain and Dergo became visible again.
"That technique of yours is pretty impressive, but you are relying on it too much," Naruto commented when he could see that one his wind powered shurikens tore through Dergo's left hand, cleanly severing it. The other shuriken missed. Naruto paused and checked his surroundings. He became for a moment little bit too sure of himself.
"Do you forfeit?" Naruto asked.
"Yes," Dergo nodded.
"All right, but I will be keeping that hand of yours. We had to severe Midori's feet to save her, so this seems as good… compensation," Naruto tilted his head and with chakra string picked the arm.
"But her leg is ok," Dergo argued.
"Yes, but it took real long to fix it," Naruto waved his hand in uncaring manner. "But there is another problem, you see, I don't need this arm so I suppose I can just destroy it," Naruto said, pulling his sword out."
"No! Wait! Please… don't do it," Dergo begged.
"Hmm… I suppose I could trade this arm for something. And you know, I think that the perfect price for it would be the antidote for Kiss of the Crimson Lotus," Naruto smirked evilly.
"But there isn't antidote for that," Dergo reacted.
"Yeah I was told the same thing, but I don't think so. You are too much of coward to be using something like that and not having antidote on your person. So… I will not repeat myself. This is your only chance. You will give me the antidote right now, or I will shred this," Naruto waved Dergo's hand, while rising his sword.
"Wait! Alright!" Dergo said. It's in my pouch.
"So throw it at me."
"I can't, I will bleed out," Dergo said weakly, while clutching his wounded arm.
"Hmm, ok. I will take it, but one wrong movement and you are dead," Naruto said and very carefully approached Dergo, but instead of opening the pouch he cut it from Dergo's belt and took it whole. Then quickly backpedalled.
"It was pleasure to trade with you," Naruto smirked and dropped the arm. Then returned to the balcony, while Genma announced his victory to the startled crowd.
"That was sick Naruto," Saburo smiled.
"It was cruel," Ino muttered.
"Maybe, but it secured Naruto's promotion," Shikamaru said.
"How can you be so sure?" Ino frowned.
"Because Naruto didn't only won, but also obtained antidote to one of the most used poisons. At least for assassinations. It's not commonly used in combat, that's too dangerous and messy with something like that, but assassination? Sure," Shikamaru said.
"Here Midori, it's yours," Naruto handed her the pouch. She took it with unreadable expression. "Hide it somewhere. Many would like to get their hands on it."
"I will, thanks," she nodded.
…
"You seem to have some talented genins. The last one was especially… efficient," Kazekage told to Sarutobi.
"Naruto had same unfinished business with that grass genin," Sarutobi said, but had a frown on his face.
"But still wasn't blinded by it," Kazekage noted lightly on the outside, but inside he was very angry. Kabuto was most probably dead and even though his mind was protected against mind interrogation, Orochimaru wasn't sure how much would he give away willingly. Orochimaru grimaced. Ibiki and especially his ex-apprentice Anko were very resourceful in terms of torture. Also, Anko would surely notice Kabuto's body alternations and connecting the dots. Orochimaru simply wasn't anymore sure if he should proceed with the invasion or not.
…
"Will you give up? This fight is useless, someone like you doesn't have a chance to beat me," Naruto heard Neji.
"Oh boy, he just signed his death warrant," Saburo facepalmed.
"Neji can be pretty annoying, but he is the strongest genin from entire Konoha," Tenten sighed.
"And he figured that how?" Saburo snorted. "I certainly don't think that Guy would said that to him."
"He was never defeated," Tenten responded defensively.
"It's starting," Shikamaru drawled, interrupting them. Neji turned on his Byakugan and immediately run at Midori, who just send eight shurikens at him, followed immediately by several kunais, forcing him to stop and deflect them with his gentle fist. Meanwhile Midori created several fire clones, keeping them as defense close to her.
Neji deflected the last shuriken and was about to deflect the kunais, when he noticed the explosion tags on them and was forced to use his ultimate defense, Hakkesho Kaiten. Unfortunately for him, Midori resumed throwing and he was forced to keep the jutsu up, which was quickly eating on his chakra. When Neji had enough of it, he dropped it and shunshined right towards Midori, determined to cripple her hands and making her useless. With wince he ignored the shuriken which hit his right shoulder and continued his movement. Midori however immediatelly shunshined from her spot, while detonating her clones. That was usually her defense against Naruto when they spared.
Neji saw the chakra buildup in the clones, but it was too late to dodge. The explosion caught his side and threw him several meters away. Just as he hit the ground, single senbon hit his left leg.
Neji moaned and slowly picked himself up. He plucked the senbon and shuriken from his body and dropped it to the ground. "You will pay for this," Neji growled.
"No I will not," Midori smirked. "That senbon was poisoned, you have about… thirty second before your whole body will be paralyzed."
Neji growled and ran at her, but midway his legs got tangled and he dropped down on his face.
Midori approached him slowly. She pushed Neji with her boot and rolled him over to his back, then stepped on his chest with smirk on her lips.
"What did you said about me not having chance?" she asked sweetly, watching his mad eyes. She licked her lips in satisfaction and added: "I hope that you realize that from now on you are my bitch, little arrogant Hyuga. When I say bend, you will bend. When I say lick, you will lick and when I say swallow you will swallow," she purred loudly for all to hear.
There was moment of astounded silence then disbelieving laughter filled the whole arena. Midori ignored it, picked up her equipment and left.
…
Hiashi sat completely paralyzed. He wasn't sure what emotion he felt more acutely. The humiliation, the furious rage or the helplessness. At least he wasn't alone, little Hanabi who were sitting next to him was completely speechless too.
…
"Please, don't say anything," Sarutobi massaged his temples. But Orochimaru was too much of sadistic bastard to miss such opportunity.
"That was just priceless. I am sure Hyuga clan is now very glad that you have such promising kunoichi in your midst," he laughed.
…
When Midori returned to her friend, Saburo didn't say anything. He just raised his right hand and spread his fingers with smirk on his face. Midori returned the smirk and slapped his hand with hers in loud high five.
"That wasn't very youthful," Lee said with grimace. "Look what it did to Hinata."
Everyone turned to the mentioned person, who was completely white in face, hands covering her mouth in expression of utter horror.
"Was that necessary?" Hayate asked, but then added: "You know what? I don't want to know." Midori smirked and moved her blonde hair behind her ear.
"It's your turn Lee," Guy entered their balcony.
"Yes sensei!" Lee yelled and was already in the arena.
"Yours too Saburo."
"I know," Saburo nodded. "I just wanted to say that I am sorry."
"For what?" Guy asked with confusion.
"For me being shinobi, not martial arts fighter," Saburo said and left the balcony. Guy looked suddenly worried.
"What does he meant?" Tenten asked confused.
"You will see," Naruto said and looked into the arena where Genma was already starting the match.
"I was looking forward to this match," Lee said enthusiastically to Saburo.
"I wasn't," Saburo responded.
"Why not?" asked Lee. "We have finally chance to measure ourselves."
"And that's the problem. I am not here to measure myself, I am here to win," Saburo said and released his already prepared genjutsu. It was one of the most trivial genjutsu one could create, but in Lee's case it was enough.
Saburo pulled out paralyzation tag and approached Lee, then without any ado put it on his neck.
"Winner, Saburo!" Genma announced to the confused audience.
"That bastard," Tented growled angrily. "Why would he do something so cruel?"
"It was maybe cruel, but it will probably save his live one day," Shikamaru said. "Anyone who can use at least some form of genjutsu would be able to beat him. And that means practically everyone," Shikamaru shrugged.
"Exactly," Naruto added. "He simply cannot became shinobi like this. Not because he would be easy target but mainly because no one would be able to count on him. In team, especial here in Konoha the fact that you can rely on someone to do their job is incredibly important. And that simply isn't possible in Lee's case."
"You two sound like Neji. He also always repeats that Lee should just give up and leave shinobi corps," Tenten muttered.
"But that is not what we meant. I think he can be very good shinobi, but he simply has to be able in some way resist genjutsu. I don't know how, but he has to. And if it's not possible, he could became for example taijutsu teacher in academy. That would be really positive change from that idiot Mizuki," Naruto shrugged.
Tenten wanted to respond, but just then Genma called Shikamaru and Gaara into the arena. Shikamaru sighed and entered the arena where shortly spoke with Genma, who shortly after that announced: "Shikamaru Nara forfeits, winner is Sabaku no Gaara." Audience formed mainly by Konoha villagers didn't liked that and let their disappointment be known.
"I want to fight, I need to prove my existence," Gaara said angrily, baring Shikamaru's way.
"Gaara, let Shikamaru leave or I will be forced to disqualify you," Genma snapped.
"I want to fight," Gaara repeated, when Naruto then got an idea. He jumped inside the arena and made his way towards Genma.
"Shikamaru forfeited, I will fight Gaara now," Naruto said.
"But there is scheduled another fight before that," Genma frowned.
"Yeah, but we are both rested. Gaara thanks to forfeits. Also Midori and Saburo fought recently, so…"
"Ok, that seems reasonable. Gaara, do you agree with this change? Naruto will fight you now," Genma asked.
"As long as I got to prove my existence, I don't have any objections," Gaara nodded and in Naruto's mind confirming that he was really mad.
"All right. Shikamaru, you can leave," Genma urged the genin, who didn't have to be said twice.
"Are you two ready?" asked Genma and got nods in response.
"Then…Begin!" Genma cried and shunshined away, Naruto doing the same, carefully watching Gaara for any movement. However Gaara didn't do anything, he just simply stood and stared at him. Naruto created four wind and four earth clones and send them at Gaara. However the moment they became any threat to Gaara, his automatic sand defense protected him. Naruto created several other clones and ordered them to keep the view between Gaara and himself blocked. Then pulled out a kunai and started power up his prepared technique. He also sensed, that in meanwhile Gaara became annoyed by his clones and created several sand clones, which started destroying Naruto's clones one by one. They went through the first clone line quite quickly, and advanced on the second line.
"Keep them occupied," Naruto yelled, but was calm. He managed to decrease the time necessary for preparing the technique to about thirty five seconds and that even with light power up.
The space between Gaara and Naruto opened, revealing five sand clones, one directly before Gaara, but Naruto didn't care and released the attack. The kunai before his hand disappeared, instantly piercing the sand clone and the automatic defense, then tearing its way through Gaara's chest. In the next moment it impacted into the arena wall with loud crushing noise. Cracks spread over the surface of the wall, similar for a moment to that of spider web, then the wall crumbled down.
Gaara looked down at his chest in complete consternation. As if he didn't understand what happened. Then his knees buckled and he collapse on the ground, his lips moving in silent scream.
Naruto didn't look at the audience and simply left the arena.
…
Orochimaru cursed. This wasn't happening. Not only that Kabuto was dead, but now the same fate met even Gaara. The Gaara who was target of countless assassination attempts, dies in freaking chunin exam. Orochimaru frowned. He didn't really paid that much attention towards the attack, but something with power to completely ignore Shukaku's defenses was something impressive. Orochimaru looked down at the blonde boy. He turned towards Sarutobi and said: "This will have severe repercussions on our alliance."
"No it won't. In fact this is very lenient punishment. Did you really think that we would not found out that you have insane jinchuriki in our village?" Sarutobi responded calmly.
Orochimaru's head snapped towards Sarutobi. He could sense that the calm was only a facade. Did they knew about the invasion? Could this be just coincidence or was it planned? Was it possible that Konoha was prepared for the invasion? Orochimaru cursed again. There was simply too much variables.
Orochimaru turned to his left towards his guard and without any words signalized him: "Mission abort!"
…
Jiraya sat in one of the highest placed seats in Konoha arena. He was breathing in long but jerky breaths, trying to calm himself. He reached for his handkerchief and wiped the rivulets of sweat from his forehead and sighed.
"Idiot, I was an idiot," Jiraya cursed weakly and run his hand through his hair in nervous manner. He finally realized what was escaping him the whole time. And it was so obvious, that he wanted to go and bang his head on concrete wall.
The problem was simple. The technique Naruto used should not be possible with the seals placed on the boy. Jiraya wasn't any expert on chakra control, but he knew enough about it and about the seals he placed on Naruto, that he could be sure. The technique displayed was simply something, which should be absolutely beyond Naruto's reach. Except it wasn't. And that meant, that at least some seals placed upon Naruto were broken.
Jiraya wiped his forehead again and frowned. The most worrisome part of this was the fact, that Naruto's memory seal could be broken too. Jiraya dismissed the notion to inform Sarutobi, because that would not end well for Naruto. Sarutobi would probably put in place even more drastic measures and that didn't sit well with Jiraya, whose conscience was already guilty enough. He regretted putting the seal on Naruto for over decade now, and he certainly didn't plan to allow Sarutobi to repeat that… atrocity. That said, Jiraya would still check if his suspicions were true or not and the easiest place to do so, were the academy records.
…
Naruto slowly ascended the stairs to the balcony. Now, when the assassination was done, he wasn't sure if he shouldn't have refused the task. Naruto sighed and entered the balcony, then cursed. He forgot that the Suna genins were there. And by the look of his friends, they weren't happy about the situation too.
"You bastard! Why did you kill him?" Temari came to him and slapped him with such force that it turned his head sideways. Naruto winced and looked at her, then on the boy who was dressed like an idiot. He unlike his sister didn't appear too angry. His expression was more that of disbelieve.
"You are Gaara's siblings, right?" Naruto asked, rising his hand to stop Hayate and Guy from interfering.
"We are," Kankuro responded.
"Then I am sorry for happened," Naruto said and looked straight at Temari. "If you will wish in future to take revenge for this, I will understand. Be it assassination or formal challenge, I will be waiting."
Temari was silent for a moment, obviously taken aback. She frowned for a moment, then asked: "Why did you kill him? That wasn't accident, I saw what you did!"
Naruto looked at Shikamaru and his teammates for a moment, then answered: "Several reasons, but I cannot talk about them here. If you want, find me after the exam ends."
Temari wanted to argue, but Kankuro placed a hand on her shoulder and said: "We will."
…
"So, who do you think will win? Midori or Saburo?" Hayate asked Naruto, when Genma started the following match.
"Hard to tell. It depends mainly on what each of them managed to learn in secret. You can see that what they are doing right now is just their usual spar. Midori creates army of fire clones and slows Saburo down, while he with his stone skin is immune to her poisons and the fire clones do very limited damage to him," Naruto shrugged. "Saburo could probably use the earth walking jutsu to get at Midori."
"Not really. She can, thanks to her water affinity sense disruptions in the ground. Of course that wouldn't probably work in desert and similar places," Hayate said.
"So that was the reason why she used that water jutsu at the start. To deny Saburo attacking her from bellow," Naruto nodded.
"That's right," Hayate said.
"What is Saburo doing?" Naruto frowned. His teammates just created five different seals and then his skin color changed from brown to dark gray.
"Oh, that's surprising," nodded Hayate impressed. "That is advanced version of the stone skin jutsu. It's called iron skin and is much harder to damage," he explained.
"That sneaky bastard," Naruto smiled. "With that he will be completely immune to Midori's clones."
"Yeah," Hayate nodded. "She needs to pull out something new, or she will lose." Just then Midori quickly made several seals and summoned large wave of water, which tore into the ground before her just a moment before Saburo closed distanced between them. Then the stream grabbed Saburo and forcefully slammed him into the wall several meters behind him.
"Nasty thing that," Naruto winced. Saburo however quite quickly picked himself upright and emerged from the pile of mud. He then powered another jutsu and pressed his palms on the ground, which started to shook and in next moment the whole ground was cowered with twenty centimeters high stone cubes.
"What the hell is that?" Naruto frowned.
"Tripping ground. It makes movement much harder for someone who isn't used to it," Guy said from another side. "Especially useful against martial art users, though it can be also used for catching an escaping enemy."
"But it seems that Midori has response for that," Hayate said as another wave of water appeared. This time significantly larger and calmer than before. It flooded the whole arena, hiding the nasty surface and forcing both competitors to use water walking.
Naruto snorted. "They are perfect counters for each other. Also, they will be out of chakra if it continues like this. Look how labored their breathing is."
"Yeah, but it looks like Saburo is doing little bit better. He is repeating the previous technique," Hayate said just as stone pillars rose about one meter above the water level and it seemed that Midori didn't have enough chakra for another water jutsu. She instead pulled out kunais and hit every single stone pillar in Saburo's vicinity.
"That's vicious. They are covered in explosion tags," Naruto's eyes widened. Just then Yuhi Kurenai entered the balcony and approached her remaining team members. She spoke to them in very quiet manner and when she was done, all three of them had on their faces simultaneously solemn and subdued expression. Yuhi Kurenai straightened and turned towards Hayate.
"You raised the most crazy, ruthless and insolent team I ever saw, Hayate. They are perfect, congratulation," she said with slight smile.
"Thanks," Hayate nodded.
"The fight is ending," Shikamaru interrupted them. "They are both out of chakra and Midori destroyed most of the pillars, while Saburo dodged that with shunshin. Midori ran out of the ammunition a moment ago and now they are both just waiting, thinking what to do."
"Hey Sabu, draw?" Midori asked with tired smirk.
"Yeah," Saburo nodded.
"That's not possible, someone must advance into the finals," Genma denied that option.
"I will just forfeit anyway," Midori shrugged. "Naruto is better than me and my chakra is wiped out, so tough luck," Midori picked herself and slowly made her way from the arena.
"That," Saburo said and followed her.
…
"So you think I am better," Naruto smirked at his two companions, when they all were seated around the table in some restaurant.
"Dream on," Midori stuck her tongue out at him. "I was just tired."
"That," Saburo said. "Also, I didn't show all of my trumps. That would be stupid."
"Yeah," Midori agreed and bit into one of her sushi pieces.
"Um… I would like to speak with you guys about something," Naruto started.
"Then speak," Midori rolled her eyes. Saburo nodded.
"It's about what I want to do as a chunin," Naruto started.
"What would you do? We will go on missions, just without Hayate," Saburo asked in confusion.
"That's is the problem, I do not want to do that," Naruto sighed. "I want to enter the hunter division."
"And you couldn't mention this a little bit sooner?" Midori asked sarcastically.
"I wasn't sure if we would became chunins," Naruto shrugged. "But I would be really surprised if one of us wouldn't be promoted after today."
"And you want us to become hunters along with you?" Midori asked.
"I would welcome it, but it is quite a big decision," Naruto scratched his head. "I don't want you to decide to follow me just because of me. For it to work you should want to become hunters, not just become one for the sake of keeping this team unbroken."
Saburo nodded, frowning. "Tell me, why don't you want be just normal shinobi?" he asked.
"Sorry, but that is personal. I will just tell you that I like the fact that hunters have much bigger… freedom in what they do and how they do it," Naruto explained.
"It has to do with Hokage, doesn't it?" Midori pressed. "You just want to be as far away from Hokage as possible. Will you tell us finally what Sarutobi did to you, that you would go to such lengths to avoid him?"
Naruto sighed. "You know me too well. I… the only thing I can tell you is that he simply betrayed me. I don't trust him and never will," he whispered.
"In that case I don't think I can follow you," Saburo shook his head. "I don't really want to become hunter, that isn't the reason why I became shinobi. And what is more, I don't have anything against Sarutobi." Naruto nodded and looked at Midori.
"You know Naruto, I wouldn't mind becoming hunter, but I think that it's too soon for me. I need a little bit more training before that. Maybe in two years, if you are still alive, you can ask me again. What is more, I really want to ask Hokage for access into the archives so I can test myself for a bloodline."
"Ok," Naruto nodded. "Then good luck to both of you. I really liked to work with you both."
"The same Naruto, and don't die," Saburo nodded and patted his shoulder.
"Yeah," Midori smiled, then placed her hand on the table. "Let's promise something to each other here," she said and motioned for her teammates to do the same, then she continue: "Let's promise that we will become great, that we will become legends and one day one of us will have his face carved into that big mountain, so that there is at least one good looking." Midori smirked, but her eyes challenged them both, daring them to accept. To promise that they will stay apart from the rest.
Saburo chuckled and shook his head, but said: "I promise, though you are still crazy bitch."
Naruto nodded. "I promise! We will become legends and we will make Hayate proud. We will prove that even normal orphans can became great and that one doesn't need some old and wrinkly Sannin to do so!" Naruto added, with light growl to his tone. He didn't intended to become Hokage, but he certainly could help one of his friends to become one.
"We promise!" they chorused.
…
"Hi Shikamaru," Naruto said and lay next to his friend, so he could watch the clouds too.
"Hi. Are you here for a reason?" Shikamaru asked.
"I just spoke with my team about what we will be doing if we get promoted," Naruto said. Shikamaru looked at him.
"I am going to enter the hunter division," Naruto said.
Shikamaru frowned. "Midori and Saburo aren't?"
"That," Naruto nodded. "We are splitting. And I came to ask if you would like to become hunter with me. If you will be promoted, that is," Shikamaru sat and frowned.
"Ok, so let's assume that I will become chunin… I don't think that my dad would allow it. He wants to recreate Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Why do you think they gave us such similar names," Shikamaru said caustically.
"And do you want it?" Naruto asked, but Shikamaru remained silent. "Look. In case that you won't get promoted, there is nothing to decide. But if the other variant happens, you should be prepared for it," Naruto shrugged. "Also, think through if you would even like to be a hunter-nin, here is some info on it," Naruto handed him a small book.
"Ok, I will," Shikamaru nodded with sigh.
…
"Thanks all of you for coming," Sarutobi greeted Asuma, Guy and Hayate and their teams. "Some of you may wonder why you are here, when you didn't advance into finals," he paused and his eyes checked each of them, then continued. "The reason is that the possible promotion of one of your teammates will have impact on the rest of you. But we will be speaking about that later. Now, all of you are probably interested who will become chunin so as to not prolong this… Rock Lee, Hyuga Neji and Akamichi Choji, you will not be promoted. All of you were unlucky and in your final matches encountered your worst possible opponents, but that alone isn't valid excuse," Sarutobi said and paused for a moment.
"Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, Midori and Saburo, you all displayed during your fights ability to strategize, to keep your head cool even in dire situations and most importantly, your skill. For that I promote you to chunins. Also, because advancement into finals of chunin exam is notoriously hard to do, you all can – as a reward – select where you would like to work as shinobi. Midori, you can start," Sarutobi said.
"I would like to remain in team with Saburo and find replacement for Naruto. Also, I might seek out apprenticeship under someone, I am currently considering my options," Midori said. Sarutobi frowned but nodded and written something down, then asked: "Saburo?"
"The same as Midori," Saburo said and Sarutobi again scribbled a note down.
"Shikamaru?" Sarutobi asked and Naruto looked at him from corner of his eyes.
"I would like to enter the hunter division, Hokage-sama," Shikamaru said and Sarutobi frowned for the second time.
"I believe that your father would like you to remain in your old team?" Sarutobi asked.
"Probably, but that's not what I wish. I am not my father, neither Choji nor Ino for that matter are their parents. I would like to choose a career for myself rather than let it be selected for me," Shikamaru answered. Sarutobi nodded slowly and turned towards Naruto.
"I would also like to enter hunter division, Hokage-sama," Naruto said. Sarutobi however frowned and put his pen aside.
"I need to speak with Naruto in privacy, could you please give us a moment?" Sarutobi told to the rest of them. They nodded and left, then Sarutobi clasped his hand under chin and asked: "Tell me Naruto, why do you want to become a hunter?"
"It's just an option I like," Naruto shrugged.
"Unfortunately, I cannot allow that Naruto. You are jinchuriki and being hunter is very dangerous job. They have the highest mortality rate of all divisions in Konoha. I will have to ask you to choose another career to pursue," Sarutobi denied.
"Can I have some time to think about it?" Naruto asked slowly, but inside he was absolutely mad.
"Of course, Naruto," Sarutobi nodded. "Return, whenever you would like."
"I will," Naruto said and left the room.
"What was it about?" Shikamaru asked with frown when he saw Naruto.
"Sarutobi just denied me to enter the hunter division," Naruto spat, unable to control himself anymore. He didn't wait and quickly left the Hokage tower, forcing Shikamaru to run after him. He headed straight to their usual cloud watching spot.
"What are you gonna do?" Shikamaru asked, when Naruto finally stopped.
"Dunno, Sarutobi gave me some time to think," Naruto growled, kicking nearby tree. "Will you request to stay with your old team now?" Naruto asked.
Shikamaru snorted. "No. I actually really like the hunter option after I read something about that. Also, can you imagine how pissed off my parents will be?" Shikamaru said, positively gleeful.
"Won't they kick you out?" Naruto asked.
"I thought about that too, but I don't think so. I would be able to afford my own flat quite easily now that I am chunin. I will probably join some already existing team," Shikamaru said.
"That's good," Naruto nodded, then lay down on the ground and looked up at the sky.
"Do you see that cloud over there?" Shikamaru asked and pointed above them. "It looks like skull with crossed bones."
"You are right," Naruto said and frowned. Maybe there was finally the time to take revenge on Sarutobi, he thought angrily. Nothing guaranteed him that Sarutobi would allow him to join ANBU in the future. Or to became jonin or another million options. Yes, it was time to get rid of Sarutobi and let someone younger to take his place. Naruto closed his eyes and smirked cruelly, in his thoughts already going through his options.
…
Location unknown
An ANBU screamed in the most bloodcurdling way imaginable.
"Will you finally speak?" Orochimaru asked.
"Y-Yes," the ANBU whimpered.
"Good. Tell me, who captured Kabuto?" the Sannin asked.
"Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, Akamichi Choza and Kakashi Hatake, did most of the job. Another few members of ANBU helped too," the ANBU quickly responded. Orochimaru frowned.
"And how was he discovered?" Orochimaru asked.
"Some boy detected him. He had some sensor ability," the ANBU answered.
"Name?"
"I… I don't remember," the ANBU responded, but immediately after that screamed again.
"I will not repeat myself," Orochimaru warned.
"He won the chunin exam! Has a blonde hair!" the ANBU cried. Orochimaru looked at the shinobi sharply, but couldn't found any hint of falsehood. That meant that one boy managed to destroy his whole operation. He found and helped to capture Kabuto and kill Gaara. Orochimaru growled and with snap broken the neck of shinobi before him.
"You will pay for this boy. You. Will. Pay," Orochimaru promised.
…
"You are late," Pain addressed Kakuzu and Hidan.
"Our target could hide better than we anticipated," Kakuzu shrugged.
"Very well," Pain nodded. "Why did you called this emergency meeting Zetsu?" Pain asked.
"We have a problem," Zetsu said. "Gaara, the host of one tailed demon beast were killed during the chunin exam in Konoha." Grave silence followed.
"Doesn't matter, we will continue as planned. One less jinchuriki will not make a change," Pain responded, then added: "However, from now on watch other jinchuriki more closely, we don't need another similar happening."
…
Tobi teleported out of the room, where he was secretly listening, to his own hideout. Then picked the nearest chair and promptly - with scream of rage - smashed it against the wall. Then he grabbed a nearby glass and smashed it too.
A/N:
1) Hope you liked the second part. ;)
2) I said that I had a different plans for Gaara, didn't I? ;) Also, his deaths is partially result of the rest of Naruto fanfictions. In like 95% of them he becomes saint in flick of a finger, which quickly became boring and incredibly annoying, at least to me.
3) Again, if you liked this part, leave a review or I will haunt you in your dreams. :D
4) I apologize for the potential mistakes.
