Kitty: YAY I'M UPDATING EARLIER THAN EXPECTED!!!

Naruto: YAY!!

Kitty: I had a three hour early dismissal so it allowed me to updater a hell of a lot sooner than I was going to

Naruto: Yup but after this chapter there is going to be at least a two week wait for the next chapter cause she is going to be working on her Mengetsu no Kitsune fanfiction before working on the next chapter. When the chapters come out is all up to whether or not she gets writer's block

Kitty: Yup. Anyway now onto the chapter!


"The final match is about to begin. Will Sasuke Uchiha and Kitsune please come down to the arena."

Everyone was on the edges of their seat. This was the most anticipated match. From the rumors about Kitsune, they had known he was a shoe-in for the final match and because one of the surviving Uchihas was to be his opponent, everyone knew this was a match not to miss. Apparently everyone knew this because the stadium was packed to its max with spectators and there were still many others trying to jam their way inside.

"Begin!"

A hush fell over the crowd as everybody waited with bated breath for the two fighters to begin the match.

The two stared each other down, gauging the other's prowess. An unheard signal seemed to go off as both fighters disappeared at the same time. Blurs of black and dark blue dashed across the field. Only the most experienced Jounins could even process the fight.

So far the two were sticking with taijutsu. Sasuke's moves emphasized speed and power, using quick jabs and kicks, while Kitsune's were fast and seemed to flow from one movement to another with the grace of water all while staying on the defensive. The assassin would wait till the last second then swerve his body out of the way and follow up quickly with a counter attack while blocking another attack that was coming in. The fox assassin's fighting seemed to almost be a dance instead of the fluid and speedy dodges and counterattacks it was composed of. The grace and flawlessness of his movements had Gai and Lee in tears and spouting out non-sense about the beauty and youthfulness of his style.

The fight continued with the two on equal grounds, neither seemed to be tiring or gaining the upper hand on the other. Punches and kicks flew at each other yet they were always dodged or blocked so neither had landed a solid blow as of yet.

Kitsune suddenly surprised Sasuke by breaking out of his defensive taijutsu and slipped into an offensive jutsu that moved with the speed and unpredictability of lightening. Using attacks that the blunet could barely keep up with, Kitsune distracted Sasuke then grabbed the other's arm and threw him at the stadium wall.

Sasuke retaliated against the attack by twisting his body around and used the wall to propel himself back at Kitsune. Using the extra inertia, Sasuke started throwing a flurry of punches at his cloaked opponent before throwing him at the wall like Kitsune had done to him earlier.

"Katon: Soudai Hidama no Jutsu"

An enormous ball of fire flew at Kitsune who had just rebounded off the wall.

Kitsune charged his hands with chakra and cut though the flames only to find that Sasuke had followed behind the blast and had a chakra charged punch waiting for him. Unable to dodge, the hit impacted his mask and cracked it. When he impacted the ground, dirt flew up, creating a dense cloud of dust that blocked everyone's flew of Kitsune. After a second or two it seemed Kitsune had recovered because an amused chuckle echoed through the stadium, its source was within the dust cloud

"It seems everyone will now know my identity a bit earlier than expected." Kitsune's voice penetrated through the cloud. "Originally I was going to reveal myself after this match but I guess I no longer have a choice considering you've destroyed my mask.

A blast of wind dispersed the dust cloud revealing Kitsune with his hood off and a cracked mask. Everyone could now see his golden locks.

Guess he got them trimmed. Tsunade briefly thought as she watched. Kitsune had apparently gotten his hair trimmed and she suddenly recognized the style as that of the Yondaime's. Can't wait to see their reactions when they see his face and how much he looks like his father. An evil smirk settled on her features. This was going to be amusing.

Time seemed to stop as the mask slowly chipped away and fell pieces to the ground revealing bright blue eyes, a lightly tanned face, and six distinct whisker marks.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked in a strangled voice.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Duh! Who else do you know that has blond hair and whisker marks? Aren't you supposed to be a genius or something?" he asked sarcastically.

A vein bulged on Sasuke's forehead. "Dobe" he said from between clenched teeth.

Now it was Naruto's turn to gain a tick mark on his head. "Teme" he growled out.

Sasuke smirked and slid into a ready position. "Why don't we finish this?"

Naruto shrugged and smirked. He bit his thumb and rubbed the blood on his open palm. "Sure. I'll also show you exactly why they call me Kitsune" Naruto slammed his hand to the ground. "Kitsune Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

An explosion of fire engulfed Naruto and formed a dense cloud of smoke once again concealing Naruto within its depths. A vicious hiss sounded through the stadium and a giant red paw shot out of the smoke. The rest of the smoke was whipped away by nine long red tails. The crowd watched, frozen to the seats in fear and wonder as they saw the Kyuubi emerge from the smoke with Naruto on its head.

"Kyuubi, Nine-Tailed Inferno!" Naruto called out from on top of the foxes head.

All nine of Kyuubi's tails lit up with flames that seemed to light up the entire stadium. Without warning, the Kyuubi lashed out towards Sasuke with its tails, sending the flames flying at Sasuke. The Uchiha stood there and braced for impact for the attack was much to large to dodge. When the attack hit he was flung back against the arena's wall and knocked unconscious with severe burns covering his body.

The announcer stared at the fallen Uchiha in shock before clearing his throat. "Winner….uh Kitsune!"

Nobody clapped, still frozen to their seats in terror at the site of the Kyuubi who was now curling up in a ball. Naruto leapt off of Kyuubi's head and walked over to Sasuke and started using healing jutsus on the burns and bruises. When he finished he stood up and was about to go back over to Kyuubi when a loud voice penetrated the silence.

"GAKI!!"

Naruto froze in fear before turning slowly to face Tsunade who had trudged down to him and now looked ready to strangle him. Discretely he searched for an escape but found none.

"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU COULD SUMMON KYUUBI YOU GAKI?" Tsunade roared in rage and started chasing him around the area.

"Kyuubi-nii-san told me not to tell you because he wanted it to be a surprise" he shouted as he ran around searching for a safe heaven. He spotted Gaara walking down the steps of the bleaters and ran behind him. "Hide me!" he pleaded as he hid behind the red head.

Gaara sighed and side stepped as Tsunade readied a chakra packed punch at where Naruto's head was. Just as the punch was about to land, a long red tail grabbed Naruto out of harms way and carried him over to Kyuubi.

"Thanks Kyuubi-nii-san" Naruto said happily then turned to look at Gaara. A pout appeared in his face. "Traitor" he mumbled. Gaara merely smirked while looking behind Naruto. Naruto turned around and paled when he saw the entire Rookie 9, Neji, Lee, Tenten, and their senseis glaring at him in a demanding manner. "Umm….hi?" he said meekly.

Sakura and Ino didn't say a word as they bopped the blond on his head and started dragging him out of the arena. The rest of the group followed after along with Gaara and Tsunade not far behind.

Naruto was finally released from their death-grip only to be handcuffed around his wrists and ankles and tied to a chair. He sweat dropped at all the precautions they used. It wasn't like he was going to run away or anything but now that they had done this he was starting to contemplate it while questioning their sanity.

Everyone took a chair and sat around him in a circle looking very stern.

"Talk now" Sakura said sternly.

"Uh…about what?"

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!" she roared, nearly blowing Naruto over with the sheer force of her yell.

"All over the place." He answered vaguely.

Sakura gained a tick mark on her head and she started cracking her knuckles in a threatening manner. "You will give us the details of exactly where and what you have been doing while you were gone or else I'll resort to my method of extracting information" she threatened with a malicious grin on her face.

Naruto gulped and nodded. "Alright, alright I'll tell you everything OK?" he relented.

The group scooted closer, ready to hear his story. Naruto took a deep breath and began his tale of what he had done while away.


Kitty: O.O well I can see it now. My email account will be full of death threats thanks to that cliff hanger. (continues to eat banana while thinking up ways to avoid her emanate doom)

Naruto: (nods) yup your toast

Kitty: Well….anyway, the next couple of chapters will tell about Naruto's adventures while he was away and will also help you understand his relationship with Gaara and how he befriended Kyuubi and met up with Itachi.

Naruto: so please review and if you want to read more stories don't actually kill her just threaten her

Kitty: gee thanks. Your support for me is wonderful

Naruto: You're welcome!