Aight, nothin much to say here, just thanks for the reviews, they really do give me an incentive to keep goin.

Oh, and another thing, the characters in the story. Well, the first time jump was a year, so that makes them about 14, and this second one is 3 years, so that puts Naruto and the rookie nine around 17-18, with Gai's team a year ahead, got it?

Good.

A super spectacular extra long episode! Enjoy!

Chapter 10

A lone figure jumped through the lush green trees in the thick forest of Fire Country. His clothing clashed with the green hues, as he wore mostly beige and brown clothing. On closer inspection, one could see that the figure is a young man with shocking blonde hair. It is our hero, Uzumaki Naruto, and he has returned to Konoha after a long training mission taking over four years.

As he jumped through the trees, his brown cloak billowed with every leap, air rushing past him at high velocities. He kept his face mask, but instead of the black facemask that his sensei of old favored, he instead donned a beige colored mask. His entire attire followed the same color scheme, but it was evident that the colors were not for the purposes of fashion; rather, they were for functionality. But perhaps the most intimidating aspect of his appearance was the two swords strapped to his back crossed in an X.

True to his word, Jiraiya shown him his new affinity, doton mixed with fuuton, sand. He had traveled to Suna, where he trained day in and day out on the dunes of the desert, going into town only when absolutely necessary and making sure to take off his hiate and any other tell tale signs of his ninja status. He and Jiraiya had been extremely careful the past few years to keep themselves hidden from the Akatsuki organization.

Naruto paused on a tree branch, looking back at where he supposed his perverted sensei was. He had remained back in the last town, telling him he had some unfinished "research" to finish, but he knew what that meant. Naruto had only made a face and stated he would travel back alone. It was at this pause that Naruto noticed he was only about ten minutes away from Konoha.

As Naruto looked back forward to continue his journey, he noticed a presence ahead of him. Judging by the hidden chakra signature and killer intent, Naruto assumed that this new being had detected him as well. No matter how well a ninja could mask their chakra or killer intent, he could detect them. That was one of the perks of being the container of the Kyuubi. "One of the few…" Naruto muttered.

As the ninja neared, Naruto stopped on a branch and leaned up against the thick trunk of the tree. He had grown over the years, reaching six feet. Or so he told people. In reality, he was five feet, eleven and three-quarters, but no one had to know that. Although the vertical growth was impressive from his extremely small size as a youngster of thirteen, what was really impressive was his growth in bulk. He was large, not fat, with broad shoulders. His muscles were well defined, but not massive, though one could tell that his he was as strong as a man many times his size.

As he leaned up against the trees, he sighed, waiting for the other ninja to arrive. In a few seconds, he got his wish. A Konoha ANBU appeared on a branch a few meters away and stood in a very relaxed stance. It was obviously a kunoichi, judging not only by the dark strands of hair hanging down her back in a long ponytail (standard for kunoichi ANBU, as it did not interfere with their movement), but also by her curves that Naruto took a long pause to notice. Spending over four years with a pervert tended to rub off certain qualities on someone.

"Halt and identify yourself" commanded the ANBU, exuding confidence and power, just by the way she said it.

"Hm, I'd rather not" drawled Naruto, still leaning against the trunk.

"Oh, but I must insist" the nin stated, remaining in her previous position, arms crossed and standing straight up.

"Well, since you asked that way…I must respectfully decline." And with those words, the ANBU flickered from his sight, disappearing and reappearing behind him.

She's fast! Naruto screamed in his mind, trying to spin around to meet his assailant. But he felt a tickling sensation in his back and froze.

"I have pressed a pressure point on your spine that has paralyzed you from the neck down. Try anything and I'll channel chakra into it and the effects will be permanent. Now tell me who you are and what you're doing in Konoha"

Naruto smirked and replied jauntily back to her, "You know, if I'm paralyzed from the neck down, I really shouldn't be able to do this, should I?" as he wiggled his fingers.

Beneath her falcon shaped mask, the kunoichi's eyes widened in surprise. Pulling back her hand which had previously been used to incapacitate the target, or so she thought, she thrust it forward again, this time surrounded by visible blue chakra.

"Jyuuken!" she cried, revealing her Hyuuga bloodline. Her hand impacted with his back and the blonde haired shinobi slumped. The ANBU breathed out, relieved that she had been able to make up for her previous mistake. The jyuuken she had just used should have caused his heart to implode on contact. But something was wrong. She inspected the nin closer and found that not only was he still breathing, but he was chuckling. For the second time in a minute, her eyes widened. As the nin straightened out, the ANBU noticed that the area she had struck began to disintegrate. Out of the strange nin's back, sand began to sift down to the forest floor. When she had attacked him with the jyuuken, she had only forced chakra into an armor of sand surrounding the target's body. She suddenly realized that the same armor that protected him from the jyuuken also protected his pressure point from being accessed properly.

"Heh heh, aggressive little kunoichi, aren't we?" asked Naruto mockingly, turning to face her.

Hyuuga Hinata was confident in her abilities. She never backed down in a fight. But for once, a strategic retreat seemed like a good idea. She jumped back from the trunk that she and the blonde haired shinobi were sharing, putting some distance between them. She had been surprised twice already, and it was beginning to annoy her.

"I will repeat myself only one more time. Identify yourself and state your business."

"Hmph. I will repeat myself only one more time. I refuse." Naruto replied, mimicking Hinata's tone.

"Then I am forced to fight" conceded Hinata, sliding into the familiar gentle fist fighting stance.

"Hm, Hyuuga eh? You stuck up bastards may act like you have a stick up your butts all the time, but there's no denying your battle proficiency."

"You act as if you know all about my clan, but you are not from Konoha. Are you here to steal the Hyuuga eyes? Are you a Kumo (Cloud) assassin?"

"Nope and nope again. One more question wrong and you're out!" Naruto playfully teased.

"Are you always this annoying?"

"Hm" Naruto hummed, as his body seemed to flicker out of existence.

"Byakugan!" cried Hinata, calling upon her powerful dojutsu, giving her the ability to see in 360 degree vision. She audibly gasped as she saw him racing towards her from behind. She dove out of the way just in time, dodging a spinning kick meant to separate her head from her shoulders. She landed gracefully on the ground below the branch she had been standing on and was forced to dodge again as a flying kick came from above. As she rolled out of the way, she noticed the sizeable crater that the impact of his kick had created. She mentally made a note to avoid such an attack in the future.

The ninja stood back up and straightened his broad shoulders, smirking. Throughout his training, Naruto had picked up a bad habit. During a fight, he would often test his opponent, something that could mean his defeat in a serious battle. However, he was so used to sparring against Jiraiya that he never really went all out and as a result, mostly tested his opponents, learning of their weak spots and their strong points, but never really exploiting them unless he really needed to.

Naruto smirked and dashed forward, lunging with a right hook. Hinata raised her left arm to intercept it, but rather than block, she instead used her palm to gently push his forearm out of its original trajectory and allowed it to continue moving. Rather than take the impact to her palm, she allowed it to glide, shifting his fist's trajectory very gently, causing it to sail over her head, leaving his side exposed for a swift kick to Naruto's ribs.

Naruto stumbled forward, clutching his ribs and this time tried a different strategy. This time, he dashed forward at her, like before, but before he came within five meters of her, he flickered behind her, sweeping his leg low in an attempt to knock her down. But Hinata's all seeing eyes allowed her to see the attack and jump, evading the sweep kick. Frustrated, Naruto attacked blindly again, coming at her with a flurry of kicks and punches, each met with the same defense he had met with his first attack. A strange guard that never allowed any direct contact and that left him open for attacks every time he attacked. He decided it was like fighting water. You could hit it as hard as you like, and you would make contact every time, but you could never really score a solid hit.

Naruto jumped back, pondering the situation. The ANBU before him was no pushover. No ANBU was. But for some reason, he couldn't even lay a hit on her, and she stood there in the same position as before, barely breathing hard. He decided that if taijutsu couldn't beat her, then his ninjutsu would just have to make up the slack.

In his opponent's mind, similar thought were racing. Hinata was surprised at the resiliency of this strange blonde enigma, as she had landed several sound blows to softer points of the body. Yet he continued to attack as if nothing had happened, only pausing a second to acknowledge the hit and perhaps rub it a few seconds, only to continue his assault. She decided that if her taijutsu couldn't beat him, then her ninjutsu would just have to make up the slack.

"Futon: Great Breakthrough!" they both cried in unison. (A/N: from now on, my jutsus will be in English, except for perhaps the beginning part, i.e. futon in this case. Japanese is just too much trouble.)

Both of the shinobi caused huge gusts of wind to blast from their respective locations at each other, attempting to knock the other down. But all that resulted from the two powerful attacks was a loud boom as the two winds clashed. After that, there was only silence and stillness. Hinata was surprised that her attack had been countered so easily by this strange ninja, but not as surprised as Naruto. He had always thought his ninjutsu was superior to most other people, and being in a stalemate was not his idea of superiority.

Naruto began making seals with his hands again at high speeds, only to see he was being matched by his opponent.

"Earth Dragon!"

"Water Dragon!"

The two dragons made of earth and water, respectively, roared as they charged forward and lunged at each other, opening their jaws as if to swallow up the other. With a loud crash they met and both attacks dissipated.

Shit! Her ninjutsu is just as good as mine! Ok, I'll go for a combo attack!

Naruto made more seals, this time creating an earth clone, and at the same time concealing himself underground with the Inner Decapitation technique that he had learned from Jiraiya early in his training. He knew from experience that Hyuugas didn't check underground often. He had Neji to thank for that.

Hinata, not noticing this change was worried about herself. What else can I even do? This guy…he may be even stronger than I am!

Strengthening her resolve, she dashed forward again, striking with her deadly Jyuuken strikes that could cause incredible internal damage with just a touch. After her first experience with his sand armor, she figured if she was able to channel enough chakra into her strikes she may be able to push some through it into his body. Each strike, however, was dodged, or blocked at her forearm, protecting him from her dangerous glowing hands.

She back flipped and in midair began to make more seals she yelled "Kaze no Yaiba!" In her hand formed a sword made entirely of wind, allowing it to cut through almost anything. She again attacked, this time not with the gentle fist which she had almost perfected, but her kenjutsu, or blade skills. This time, she caught him off guard, striking with all her might slicing his stomach open, causing him to bleed…dirt?

The earth bunshin fell apart in front of her and her Byakugan searched for her true opponent. She whipped around to see Naruto charging forward at her, another earth dragon at his side. She jumped to the side to avoid the dragon, who roared in anger as it crashed through several trees, but that left her open for Naruto to incapacitate. He put her into a full nelson, his grip feeling like an iron vice.

"Gotcha" he muttered into her ear.

"You wish" she shot back, as she dissolved into water.

A mizu (water) bunshin!

Before he could react, he felt a breeze as he looked behind him carefully. Hinata stood behind him, holding the Kaze no Yaiba to his neck, prepared to kill him without hesitation. But before she could do anything else, Naruto smiled childishly and thrust his body at her. In her surprise, she sliced of his head, but was again surprised to find it was a second earth bunshin.

Feeling the same vice-like grip encircling her from behind, she unintentionally released her Kaze no Yaiba. He again put her into a nelson, holding her harms and head, preventing even the slightest movement.

Damn! There were two clones…and the other must have been hiding underground…

"So, are we going to keep fighting? Cuz if so, I should really kill you now"

Hinata slumped. She was in major trouble.

"Kkkzz. Hinata? I'm comin. Be ready" Hinata, surprised at the sudden noise in her earpiece made a slight nod, something that no one would notice unless they were looking for it.

"So, what should I do now…? Wait for sensei? Or just go to Konoha now?" Naruto mused out loud.

"How bout this? You go to hell!" yelled a new gruff voice. Naruto looked up as a spinning vortex sped in his direction. Surprised, he let his grip lighten for only a split second, but that was all Hinata needed. She twisted out of his grip and with surprising agility, slipped out completely and flipped over his head, this time holding him instead of the other way around.

Naruto's eyes widened, but his quick reflexes caused him to instinctively jump to the side, taking Hinata's light form with him for a ride. He landed ungracefully on the ground and found both of his opponents standing a short distance away from him. He stood up slowly and brushed himself off. The two ANBU stood still like two statues, waiting for him. The new arrival had the mask of a vicious dog, or wolf, or some other canine, Naruto couldn't tell.

As he readied himself, the dog masked ANBU began to run towards him, and yelled "Gatsuga!"

Naruto jumped to the left, and instantly began looking for the second attack he knew was coming, but to no result. Suddenly, in fluidity that comes only from practicing a technique thousands of time, the second drill attack that had been hiding from view behind the first veered off and sped directly towards Naruto, suspended in the air and unable to dodge.

Naruto, realizing he would not be able to avoid the attack, instead thrust his hand forward, earning an audible shock from the Byakugan user below him.

Kiba stood beside her and asked "What is that guy doing?"

"He's…using a chakra technique to stop Akamaru…He's expelling large amounts of chakra from his palm and spinning the chakra at high speeds to counter Akamaru's spin…"

"So, it's like a barrier of chakra?" Hinata slowly nodded her head in agreement, watching the chakra spin and wondering why it seemed so familiar. Above them, Naruto was winning the battle between himself and Akamaru.

"Hm. You're tough, but you're no demon" he muttered as he gave one final push, throwing Akamaru forcibly away. For the first time, Naruto saw the white dog, who had grown so much that he was up to Kiba's chest even while on all fours. Akamaru landed gracefully on the ground and growled, fangs bared.

"Kiba, did you…"

"Yeah, I did already, it should only take another minute or so…"

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"WHO'S KUNAI IS THIS? C'MON, FESS UP! FINE, DETENTION FOR ALL OF YOU!" yelled a very angry Akamichi Chouji. It was five minutes before the bell and the Academy students were running wild. A soft knock caused Chouji to spin around and face the open door.

"Hm. Chouji. There's something going on" his oldest friend said lazily as he lifted up the small metal device on his belt. A small red light was blinking on and off at the tip.

"Hm? A distress call? OK KIDS, YOU CAN LEAVE A LITTLE EARLY TODAY. REMEMBER TO DO PAGES 135-136 FOR HOMEWORK!" he screamed as he slipped a smooth white bear mask over his face. He looked back towards Nara Shikamaru who had also slipped his falcon mask on. "Where's Ino?"

"HANDS OFF YOU LITTLE PERV!" screamed a familiar voice. Chouji looked behind him to see another ANBU with a cat mask on caught in the bustling stream of children all trying to escape out of a single doorway. Shikamaru motioned with his head to the window and all three leapt out towards the forest, every step bringing them closer to the disturbance, causing the light to flash faster and faster.

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Hinata and Kiba were not faring well. Against any other shinobi, they would have probably already won, but this guy was unbelievable. Not only was his sand an annoying hindrance, but every wave of fighting he had a new trick up his sleeve. At least he hasn't used those swords yet, she thought warily as she flipped over him, eyeing the two sheathed blades.

"Dammit! Where is our backup!?" Kiba cried in frustration as he was fought back again. He had scored a few decent hits on him that would make most other shinobi at least wince, but this guy didn't even acknowledge the hit. He only kept up his relentless attack. But what annoyed Kiba most was the feeling that he was only playing with them, testing them.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Kiba yelled, making a cross with his fingers. Ten more clones popped into existence and encircled Naruto. His eyes widened a little from his bored look but he remained otherwise unimpressed.

"Tsuga!" all of the Kibas exclaimed, attacking him all at once. Naruto decided at this time he would try something he never had even attempted. In theory, it should be easy enough…

"Kaiten!" he yelled, almost comically. He spun sloppily and quite slowly, but his chakra output made up for it. Hinata's jaw almost hit the floor as she saw him with her Byakugan, completely surprised that this shinobi even knew of the legendary ultimate defense. Sure, it was ugly, but nevertheless, it was effective. The enormous chakra defensive technique blew away all of the clones, as well as the real thing.

Naruto stopped spinning and breathed out. He was dizzy. So dizzy in fact, that he thought he saw three of the Hyuuga ANBU. As they ran towards him, he realized that there were, in fact, three of them, all running towards him with kunai ready to impale him.

As Hinata neared, she saw the disoriented ninja make a few seals, and then she was forced to jump back. The ninja not only had his sand armor, but apparently could also use his sand as a defensive shield, just like the Kazekage. Her quick reflexes kept her from impacting with the sand, but her clones were not as lucky. Usually, a wall of sand would not make Hinata retreat, but this particular shield of sand had spikes emerging from it.

Naruto, still on his knees, released his sand defense. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to keep it up long enough, but he was feeling better now. As he tried to stand up, he discovered his limbs were locked up.

"Hn. Kage Mane no jutsu success." (A/N: I've decided to do Japanese when I feel like it. And right now I feel like it. ANY ONE GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? GOOD. I DIDN'T THINK SO.)

Naruto strained his eyes to look up into the corner of his vision and he saw three more Konoha ANBU. Him versus five ANBU was pushing it. But the dog user ANBU was already pretty injured, and also almost out of chakra. The Hyuuga he wasn't too worried about, as her gentle fist was almost useless against his armor of sand. But these next three. He would have to test them to see how strong they were. The first two subjects of his testing had sorely disappointed him.

"Ino. Do it" drawled the ninja who was immobilizing Naruto.

"Hai! Shintenshin no jutsu" the blonde female whispered, holding her arms pointing at the vulnerable Naruto. She slumped and Naruto felt another mind enter his.

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"Hmmmm" mused Yamanaka Ino, as she opened her eyes in a dark, wet, dungeon corridor. "This must be his mind. I guess this is some kind of mind defense…"

As she continued through the corridors, she felt drawn to a certain point. As she neared it, she entered a last hallway that seemed to lead to a much larger cavernous room. As she began to walk forward to enter it, the strange shinobi appeared before her, blocking her progress.

"Stop. Get out of my head woman" he spat, crossing his arms.

"What's in that room?" Ino asked inquisitively, trying to peer around the broad shouldered nin.

"Nothing. Now get out before I force you."

"Hah! You don't understand, in your mindscape, my power is only limited by my will!" she scoffed, as plates of silver armor appeared on her body, and a large katana appeared in her hands.

"Limited by your will hm? Well, let's see if this works both ways…" as he said these words, gold armor began to appear on him, as well as a large axe in his hands. "Let's rumble."

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"Gyaaaah!" yelled Ino, as her body fell backwards into Shikamaru's arms.

"Ino! What happened?" Shikamaru asked worriedly.

"He…he blocked my jutsu! That's not even saying it! He hurled me back! I didn't think that was even possible…" Ino trailed off, losing her confidence.

Hn. Well, that was disappointing. Naruto thought, still frozen in place by Shikamaru's Kage Mane.

Naruto began to push against the force that held him down, causing Shikamaru's attention to snap back towards the target.

"Shit! He's fighting the Kage Mane! Chouji!"

"Way ahead of you Shika!" Chouji yelled over his shoulder, already halfway down to the ground. In midair, he turned into his infamous meat tank and impacted on the ground, spinning and began to roll towards the immobile blonde shinobi.

Naruto saw the attack out of the corner of his eye and began to push even harder. All of his muscles were screaming but he continued to push them to their limits. Shikamaru was in even worse shape, sweating and shaking as he struggled to keep his jutsu from breaking. He was amazed by the incredible strength that was causing him to slowly lose his hold on him.

Chouji continued to roll at high velocities towards the shinobi, but at the point of impact that he expected to make contact, he only rolled through empty space. He released his meat tank and found that the shinobi had escaped Shikamaru's Kage Mane.

Naruto had rolled out of the way in the nick of time. Had he been only a few seconds slower, he would have been seriously injured by the ANBU's collective attack. He paused to regain his breath and his composure. It wasn't every day that he took on five ANBU. Before he could completely recover, two new figures appeared before him. He looked up from his kneeling position and saw another two ANBU. SHIT! HOW MANY GUYS ARE GOING TO COME AFTER ME?!

"Please stop fighting." One of the new arrivals said very passively. His long brown hair was tied in a tightly wrapped pony tail. Neither he, nor his partner was wearing masks. All of the other ANBU visibly relaxed.

Thank god! It's the captain! thought Yamanaka Ino, breathing a sigh of relief.

"You…you hurtsh my f-f-friendshhh," slurred the other, slowly rocking back and forth.

"Lee, calm down." commanded the other.

Naruto, in horror, looked at the apparently very drunk Rock Lee. He was doomed.

Lee gave the ANBU captain a disgusted look. "You don't tell me wh-what to do you shhhhtupid shhhhtick up your ashhhhhhh Hyuuga" he muttered, as he whipped out a flask from his weapons pouch and took a long swig.

"Shhhhooooo, what are your commandsh, oh "Great and wonderful captain"?" Lee asked, giggling at his sarcasm.

Naruto looked up in confusion at the interaction between these two new arrivals.

"Identify yourself and your business or be taken down intruder." Hyuuga Neji was not in the mood for this. Already, five ANBU had been deployed and they still hadn't come back with results.

If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself…

"Uh, why does everyone keep saying the same thing over and over?" asked Naruto, smirking as he picked himself off the ground. "Well, I'll give you the same answers as I gave the other Hyuuga. No, and no."

"Well, in that case…" Neji trailed off. Then, without warning, he thrust his palm forward, blazing with chakra, connecting with Naruto's chest. Naruto went flying backwards from the force behind the thrust and collided with a particularly thick tree trunk. As he slid down, he went limp, faking unconsciousness. Neji remained expressionless as he walked up calmly and confidently to inspect his handiwork.

Before he was close enough to touch the unmoving nin, however, a sharp voice crackled over his earpiece. "Neji-kun! Get away now!" The sheer urgency in Hinata's voice caused him to jump backwards without a second thought, probably saving him from being seriously injured, as milliseconds after Neji had hastily retreated, spikes of sand shot up out of the ground he had been standing on.

As Neji landed gracefully next to his partner, the strange blonde intruder stood back up.

"Heh. Almost gotcha there!"

"Hm. Lee…" Neji trailed off, knowing that he really didn't even have to say anything. After working with the same partner for over four years, they began to think on the same lines, often knowing what to do in a fight before the other said anything. As he looked at the space Lee had been standing in a moment ago, he only saw a flurry of leaves as Lee disappeared.

"Konoha…" Lee muttered, his torso low to the ground as he rushed the blonde.

Naruto also began to run towards him. As they began to approach each other, only those with the Byakugan could track their movements.

"Senpu!" they both cried, as, in another flurry of leaves, they disappeared and reappeared facing each other, already in the air spinning, swinging kicks that could topple trees. The two legs met with a resounding boom, shockwaves from the force behind the blows rippling out to the ANBU surrounding the two ninja.

"In-incredible!" murmured Kiba, as he felt the shockwaves bombard his body.

The two kicks finally separated and the two battling ninja jumped back from each other. Lee nodded his head in recognition to his opponent. Not only had he matched Lee's move somehow, but he had matched his strength as well, not an easy task. Lee stepped back and took a long gulp of his flask.

As he put it back into his weapons pouch, he struck. With blinding speed, he lashed out at Naruto, sending a flurry of punches and kicks at him. Naruto tried to block and dodge, but Lee's drunken fist techniques were impossible to predict and even harder to keep up with.

As he was sent flying backwards by one particularly strong kick, Naruto began to strategize. What has beaten Lee before? He began to think back to all of the battles that he'd seen Lee lose. Which, sadly, was not many. Lee's leg had been crushed by Gaara's desert funeral, but Naruto didn't want to cripple Lee, just incapacitate him. Perhaps…Yes! That was what he could do!

As Lee rushed him for the second time, Naruto watched carefully as his attack came at him. The first punch was a feint and Naruto saw the true attack coming beneath his guard, aiming for his stomach. As Lee's leg got closer, sand began to form, creating strange spikes, blocking his attack. They didn't look exactly like spikes, rather, more like…bones.

Naruto smirked at Lee's dumbfounded look as he shoved Lee back and began his own assault. Every time one of Lee's attacks would penetrate his defense, Naruto just used Kimimaru's strategy and used his sand to form a defense on his body. Finally, Naruto was able to catch him with four particularly well used earth bunshin and the inner decapitation technique, one of Naruto's favorites.

Try as he may, Lee could not escape, and he was reduced to hurling profanities at the chuckling blonde shinobi. However, as he looked up from his fight, he found the remaining shinobi surrounding him, with the shadow using one in the back, whispering into his communicator. Then, in unison, Naruto noticed a slight head nod. He wouldn't have noticed it had he not seen seven shinobi do it at the same time.

He was intrigued at what kind of strategy Shikamaru could come up with. From what he could remember, Nara Shikamaru was quite a strategist and would always come up with an effective plan. As he remembered some of the plans Shikamaru had devised, Naruto began to feel a little nervous, searching for the attack and the attack underneath the attack.

The first attack was announced quite loudly from directly behind him.

"Gatsuga!"

Naruto whipped around and rolled to his right as the first vortex skimmed the ground harmlessly, but the second whirlwind of claws was right behind him and was able to compensate. This time Naruto had no choice but to jump straight up, as Chouji had blocked off all other escape routes with his oversized hands. However, as he jumped up, he saw Kiba attack yet again with another Gatsuga. He's getting troublesome he mused.

"Earth Dragon!"

A large dragon shaped column of mud and earth threw itself at the spinning form of Inuzuka Kiba and threw him backwards, knocking him out. However, Naruto noticed that where he landed, he was directly in between the motionless form of Kiba and the blonde kunoichi who had entered his mind earlier. Ino probably, Naruto deduced.

"Shintenshin no jutsu!" she yelled, holding her hands before her aiming at Naruto. He dodged quite easily, secretly amused at the sloppiness of the attack. However, as he dodged, he found he had again done exactly what they had planned. As he moved to dodge the mind body switch technique, Naruto saw a black band of shadow move towards him. Again, he dodged, this time by jumping straight into the air. Relieved that he had dodged Shikamaru's shadow, he hadn't noticed that someone had snuck up behind him.

"Tsuga!"

"What?!" Naruto cried, looking behind him. It was Kiba! But he had knocked him unconscious, hadn't he?! As the attack made contact with his chest, he noticed that Ino's form was lying on the ground, motionless. He had been standing between her and Kiba…maybe…maybe he wasn't the target the whole time?!

But his musings were cut off as he was thrown back forcibly by the piercing fang technique. His chest burned like fire, but he was in pretty good shape he assessed. However, he was again surprised to find that Ino had gotten up and was now holding him from behind with a kunai to his neck.

"H-how?!" Naruto exclaimed. If Ino was in Kiba's body, then how was she back into the equation. He was forced to freeze, lest he lose his head.

"Hn. Kage mane no jutsu success." Shikamaru smirked, holding his jutsu control over Ino's currently mindless body.

"Yatta! Go Shika!" yelled Kiba very femininely, throwing his hand in the air and giggling like a girl.

But Naruto would not…could not stand for this.

"Hari Jizo!" As he yelled the words, his hair lengthened and hardened, causing Shikamaru to make his Ino puppet jump back, preventing her from getting skewered. However, at that time, Ino returned to her body, allowing Kiba's body to fall twenty feet to the forest floor, and for Shikamaru to release his hold on her body.

"Shadow Neck Bind!" he muttered, making seals again at a fast pace.

His shadow again flew forward, and this time made contact with Naruto. Shadow hands began to creep up his body, immobilizing his legs and arms, slowly working up to his neck to strangle to life out of him.

Still struggling to keep his hold on Naruto, Shikamaru called out in a strained voice, "Neji! Hinata! Now!"

It was at that point that Naruto noticed that on either side of him, there were two Hyuuga, in identical stances.

"You are in the range of our divination."

Oh shit

"Two strikes!" they called out, dashing forward and pressing two areas on his arms. The places where the pushed chakra into did not enter his tenketsu, as they were meant to, as his sand was able to intercept it. That did, however, leave the spot exposed, Naruto realized, as the sand became useless when foreign chakra mixed with his.

His realization became fear as the Hyuuga yelled "Four strikes!" Their next four strikes were in perfect unison, striking the spots that the other had just pressed, allowing them to sneak in under his sand which was falling from his tenketsu points like a fountain.

"Eight strikes! Sixteen strikes! Thirty-two strikes! Sixty-four strikes! Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!" They yelled together, assaulting Naruto with a barrage of strikes that to the naked eye were only blurs.

The two Hyuuga took a step back to see their handiwork. Shikamaru jumped down with them, and the rest of the ANBU surrounded the large nin, seeing if the danger was over.

"Wow. It only took us seven ANBU and a half hour of fighting…" Ino scoffed.

"Hmph. Let's go dig Lee out of the ground" Neji said plainly, hands folded across his chest.

As they walked over to their disabled team members, namely Lee, stuck up to his neck in the earth, and Kiba, still out cold, most likely worse off than before because of the twenty foot drop down from a tree.

What they didn't notice, was that the shinobi the left for unconscious fluttered his eyelids. As they tended to their wounded, Naruto got up slowly as to not alert them of his presence. He had been able to negate the brunt of the attack, thought it wasn't easy. Knowing their strategy after the first few strikes made it through his defense, he was able to concentrate all his sand on only his tenketsu, not his entire body. The concentration of the sand made it much less permeable to their chakra and he was able to stop their strikes. Well, most of them. He still had a good twenty points closed, but with a quick burst of chakra, he should be able to blow them open with force. Sure, it would burn like hell, but he was willing to take the consequences. As he took a deep breath, Hinata turned around in a mixed look of pity and worry, as she wanted to make sure the nin they had defeated wasn't in critical condition. She didn't want to kill any more than she absolutely had to. But what she saw caused her to audibly cry out.

Naruto had made it to his feet, though he was still mostly hunched over, with one of his arms hanging limply at his side. He concentrated his chakra within himself tighter and tighter until he released it and it exploded out, forcibly opening his tenketsu back up and sending a wave of chakra at the ANBU. They could all feel this, and they turned around, again, ready to fight.

"Shit! How much does it take to take this guy down?!" yelled Kiba in frustration, newly revived by some first aid by Hinata and Ino.

"More than you'll ever have mutt" shot back Naruto, talking big, but knowing that he could not hope to take them all down together.\

"Grrr…What was that?!"

"You heard me, MUTT"

"That's it! Stand back, I'm gonna take him down myself!"

"Kzzzkt. Negative, please stand by. Approaching fast and ready to take him down. Repeat, stand by."

Again, Naruto noticed the slight head nod given by all seven ANBU. Shit, something's goin down. Gotta be ready for anything.

They all waited, standing in their fighting poses, but not moving an inch. Leaves swirled around the forest, and all at once, a sound pierced the air.

B-birds? No! It's…it's…

Naruto looked up, seeing two more ANBU come at him from above. But this arrival chilled him to the bone. In the hand of the leading one, was a crackling orb of lightning, striking out in random directions and emitting a sound of chirping birds.

Immediately, with reflexes trained by hard battle year after year, Naruto whipped out one of his swords. The ANBU dove forward and thrust his hand forward, pushing one of the deadliest attacks ever known at Naruto.

"RAIKIRI!" he screamed, trying to skewer Naruto through his defense.

As the attack came forward, Naruto held the flat of his blade as a shield, holding the hilt with one hand and bracing the flat of the blade with his other palm.

"FUMETSU!" he yelled, as the Raikiri collided with his sword. Uchiha Sasuke smirked. Raikiri pierces everything, he thought, as he forced the lightning edge forward, just waiting to feel the sword snap and his hand enter the nin's torso.

But that never happened. Naruto only gave one giant heave forward, cancelling Sasuke's attack, causing him to shut his eyes as a bright flash emanated from the sword and the Raikiri. When he opened his eyes, he only saw the blonde shinobi and both swords sheathed.

Sakura had met up with the others and was now dumbstruck.

"But…but…how? The Raikiri…there's no way…it should have…it should have cut through!" she sputtered.

"What are you talking about Sakura?" Shikamaru asked, wondering what the big deal was.

"That attack…the Raikiri…that was sensei's attack. It…it cuts through anything! It got its name from when Kakashi-sensei cut through a bolt of lightning! Blocking it…it's impossible!"

"Hm…" Shikamaru turned back to the two nins, staring each other down, both frozen, yet radiating killer intent.

"Who are you" commanded Sasuke. He didn't ask questions, he commanded people to tell him things.

"You want to know who I am?! DO YOU WANT TO KNOW? Then listen up! I am the forgotten! I AM THE BETRAYED! KIRIGAKURE NO JUTSU!"

A thick fog encircled the ANBU, who instinctively formed a circle, protecting themselves from an attack at any angle or side.

"My name?! This is my name!" a voice boomed around them.

"Neji…Hinata?" Shikamaru muttered. The two Hyuuga nodded and made the seal to activate their powerful all seeing doujutsu.

"What…? It…It's not working!" exclaimed Neji. For the first time, it felt like he was in the dark. He could not see with his Byakugan, and he was vulnerable. "Why can't I activate my Byakugan?!"

Suddenly, the sound of pattering feet came from two separate directions.

"My name is…" came the booming voice, resounding around them from all directions.

Two clones of the strange blonde shinobi came racing at either side of the circle, holding glowing blue orbs in their hands.

Hinata's eyes widened at the attack and exclaimed "The rasengan!"

The clones came rushing at them and made the single syllable "U!"

The two clones were dealt with easily, as it only took a single jyuuken strike from Hinata and a Konoha Senpu from Lee, who, after causing the shadow clone to explode, took a long sip of sake as a reward. The nine ANBU retreated back into their circle after they had dealt with the clones.

Then, they heard more feet coming towards them, this time, there were four, all holding rasengan. This time, they yelled the syllable "ZU!" Again, four shadow clones were no match for the elite of Konoha, but soon after, before they could reform their defensive circle, eight clones rushed them, screaming "MA!"

This time, defeating the clones proved to be more difficult, but still relatively easy.

More clones rushed from the surrounding mist, sixteen this time, yelling "KI!"

Comprehension dawned on several of the Konoha ANBU, shaking at what they knew would come next. As the last clone fell, his rasengan creating a large crater in the earth where he collided, thirty two clones flew out of the mist, the real Naruto amongst them, screaming, "MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO!"

The ANBU were dead on their feet and could only watch in horror as thirty two deadly techniques were thrust at their faces, and halted inches away. The clones were sweating and panting. And with that, they all disappeared, leaving nine ANBU to wonder what had just happened.

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Um, yeah, if Naruto seems a little miffed, remember he doesn't know that his friends are still…his…friends…because…yeah, remember? He left, thinking they would hate him, and now he still thinks that, ergo, the hostility.

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