A/N - First two tasks are finally done with this chapter and from now on they prepare for the last round. Konoha is also cleaning its forces from unwanted elements.
All people that passed first part of second task were taken out of the tower by their sensei and group of Kiri ninja that was going to be their guides that were going to show them training ground. After thirty minutes of travel they stood on the edge of large three hundred meters by three hundred meters large training field, which was completely flat and bare of any vegetation.
"In the middle of this training ground are placed thirty two bracelets." Said Ao "They're your ticket to the last stage, you need to get one and channel some chakra into it. It will take you out of arena and into room outside of it. Those that won't get a one, won't pass. You can do whatever you want to get those bracelets, you have thirty minutes to prepare for it."
"But what about those that finished previous task today?" Shouted one of Ame genin "It is unfair as some of them had more time to rest."
"Life is unfair." Replied coldly Ao "Get used to that thought. As I said, you have thirty minutes to prepare for it and we will begin."
o-0-o
"I should suspect such thing from Kiri." Sighed Naruto "After all their graduation exams were bloody and they like killing."
"Wonderful" Muttered Shikamaru "We need to work together to survive it."
"Modified Ino-Shika-Cho?" Asked Naruto "You would attack ones that would get past me, Neji, Hinata, Lee and Sasuke. And Tenten would support us from a long range."
"That's propably a best idea." Said Shikamaru
"What about you using Mokuton?" Asked Sasuke looking at Naruto
"No" Naruto said "That's one of aces I don't want to reveal, at least not yet."
"We can't just injure them." Said Sasuke "We need to either knock them out or kill as they won't hesitate with killing us."
"If you see that redhead from Suna with a gourd on his back, do not approach him." Added Naruto "He is crazy and wants to kill."
"Lovely." Muttered Shikamaru "Anything else?"
"No" Said Naruto and focused on other teams, which were also talking how to get this task done.
o-0-o
Thirty minutes quickly passed and before they could think too much it started. Naruto grasped hilt of Raijin no Ken, while to his right stood Sasuke in his hand his katana. Behind them were Hinata, Neji and Lee, while behind them stood Tenten and Ino-Shika-Cho trio, which was preparing to unleash one of their combination attacks.
When signal was sounded they charged onto the field heading towards pile of bracelets that were in the middle of it, same as others team did. So far nobody was firing any jutsu as they hoped to get to the bracelet before other teams and thus save their chakra for later. Naruto sensed hail od shuriken coming from his left and threw some on his own to block them and moments later he was rewarded with clang of metal hitting metal as shuriken clashed with each other.
However moment of fighting approached faster and faster as they were getting closer to those bracelet, as well as closer to other genin and not many were going to let that change escape them, when they could at least try to get it. Naruto blocked tanto that tried to remove his head and responded with his own lunge which ended inside of someone chest as he opened his flank and allowed Naruto to kill him. He sensed troubles behind and when he was turning he saw person split in half by bloodied katana held by Sasuke, while Hinata and Neji moved closer to them, unleashing flurry of strikes at whoever got close.
"Thanks" Said Naruto when he saw that Sasuke saved him
"No problem" Replied Uchiha and looked around, it looked like bloodbath. Ino-Shika-Cho unleashed their attacks and they saw Chouji charging through the genin to their right while directed by Shikamaru shadow. Everything was covered in blood with plenty of dead bodies strewn across the field, all of them were covered in blood and gore as they already fought some.
"We need to hurry." Said Naruto as he gazed towards bracelets lying on the ground in the middle of the field "Or we will be late." When he said those words Sasuke nodded and charged straight ahead, followed by Naruto and rest of their group. They slowly moved forward hacking, slashing and killing and injuring genin all around them as they were getting closer to their prizes. Soon they were covered in blood from head to toe as they cleaved bloody path through the crowds of genin, getting closer and closer to their targets.
"Sasuke watch out!" Yelled Naruto as he saw genin from Kusa that faked his death and appeared behind Sasuke, only to receive three kunai that embedded in his skull killing him where he stood. Naruto charged forward and moments later stood near Sasuke as they cleaved path for the rest of their team as they tried to get closer to their target. Naruto noticed blading coming from behind and rolled out of the way allowing Sasuke to deal with that genin, as Uchiha simply split neck of him in half, killing him on the spot.
After several minutes of such slaughter they managed to get to their prizes, Naruto grabbed nearest one and threw it backwards towards Tenten who was nearby, she caught it and threw it at Shikamaru, who grabbed and activated it, thus disappearing from the field. Next to disappear was Ino, followed by Chouji, Tenten, Lee, Hinata, Neji, Sasuke and finally Naruto.
o-0-o
When Naruto once again opened his eyes he saw that he was in some room with other genin that passed that bloody exam and awaited arrival of proctor, most of them was covered in blood, gore and grime. Everybody was looking in each other direction with a lot of wariness visible in their behavior, as if they weren't sure what was going to happen next, but most of them lowered their weapons and hit them back in holsters or scabbards. As if they were trying to remove as much tension as possible and to rest as all of them were bleeding from various smaller or bigger wounds and wanted to simply relax. Few moments later doors opened and through them walked in Ao.
"To those that passed congratulations." He said looking around "You have six weeks to prepare for the next stage, that is final round that will be held in Konoha. You will know who is going to be your opponent on the day of finals as we want to give all of you even chances and make it more exciting, not only for you, but also for those that will be watching you. Those from other villages will be escorted there by one of our ninja and jonin-sensei of their team, people from our village will come with me."
Genin nodded and watched as after Aoi walked in several jonin from different villages and came to pick up their teams, Konoha Nine walked towards theirs the moment they spotted them.
"Good teamwork and nice performance." Said Kakashi when he saw them "Due to the fact that the tournament is series of one on one fights, you will need to find a teacher for that time. As training as a team would be stupid as you would learn what your opponents know."
"Hai" Nodded genin and followed their jonin out of the room and later out of the building, where they were joined by one ninja from Kiri that was tasked with getting them to Konoha border.
o-0-o
Travel to Konoha passed without any interesting events and after three days of travel they were in front of Konoha gates where they split, each of them venturing in their own direction. Naruto jumped onto the nearest roof and ran towards Senju compound as he wanted simply rest after this exam and to forget what happened during it, it wasn't the most pleasant exam he ever saw. He also needed to think about possible teachers for this period before the exam as he needed to prepare for it, he had couple of ideas, but he needed to choose the best one. He was considering Yamato, Tsunade and Jiraiya, each of them had certain advantages and disadvantages.
Once he was in front of the compound he quietly sneaked inside and ran through it heading to room he chose as his own as he badly needed a shower and to change clothes as those weren't the freshest ones and that was putting it mildly as for last few days he was wearing them as he was fighting, killing enemies and trying to survive during that exam. He smelled of blood, sweat and death, which wasn't the most pleasing smell. If he was going to be honest with himself he would said that he stank.
"I see that you got back from the exam." Said Shizune when she saw him
"Can you not mention it?" Asked Naruto as he sat on the porch, finally in fresh clothes and not smelling of blood. "I still can smell blood all over myself."
"What it was?" Asked Shizune with mild interest visible in her voice. She didn't remember any reason for person to smell so bad after exam.
"Battle royale." Simply said Naruto "I passed it and now I need to find who would show me a thing or two before the last stage."
"I can show you even more of poisons, antidotes and healing jutsu." Promised Shizune "You didn't mention who will be your enemy, why?"
"Because I don't know." Said Naruto "I will know on the day of the finals. I wonder whose brilliant idea was that."
"Mine" Said Tsunade "So that I could earn a lot gambling and betting on you. But I will help you with training, I will also get Jiraiya to help you with it as he should be close. From what I know about what you know you need to polish your knowledge and get medical ninjutsu and sealing to decent level. While with second I won't help you much, but with first I should be able help you rather easily."
"Ero-sennin is in the village?" Asked Naruto as he looked at Tsunade
"Ero-sennin?" She asked, until something clicked in her mind when she started laughing "That's the best name for that pervert I heard in a long time."
"I'm a super pervert, not a normal pervert." Said Jiraiya as he jumped onto the ground in front of Naruto and paled, when he noticed same look in eyes of Naruto and Tsunade, one that promised pain and suffering for him. He also felt plenty of chakra being gathered in their fists, which spelled danger for him. "Fine, fine, fine, I didn't say a thing." Jiraiya quickly added as he moved away from those two, so he could avoid those chakra enhanced punches that were prepared to be unleashed at him.
"So Ero-sennin are you going to teach me all advanced fuinjutsu?" Asked Naruto "As I recently discovered that it is quite handy in the middle of chunin exam, especially ones used to seal curses and other nasty things."
"What did happen?" Asked Jiraiya with narrowed eyes as one person came into his mind.
"Your third team-mate appeared in the middle of the exam." Explained Naruto "He knocked me out and marked Sasuke with his seal which I sealed with Fuja Hoin."
"Not a bad idea with that seal." Said Jiraiya "But I think more permanent solution is needed. Tell your friend to be here in week or so as I should be able to cover seals that you will need to fix it during this week."
"How dangerous it is?" Asked cautiously Naruto as he knew a thing or two about seals
"Really dangerous." Said Jiraiya, thinking how to describe this seal as it was vile and dangerous thing, really dangerous and vile thing. "They try to possess the mind of person that they are placed upon, Itachi isn't stupid so he will know what to do when he will see it on Sasuke neck. He will probably reinforce it rather heavily and wait for you or me to solve it for good."
"You say it like I should know how to do that." Said Naruto looking at his godfather.
"Yes" Nodded Jiraiya and looked at Tsunade "Did you show him sealing room underneath compound?"
"No" Said Tsunade "I thought he already found it."
"No, I didn't find any sealing room." Said Naruto after a moment of thought, he thought that he knew all ins and outs of Senju compound, but apparently he was quite wrong as it seemed that there was more to it.
"Than I think it's the time for you to see it." Said Tsunade as she rose from place where she was sitting and motioned for Jiraiya and Naruto to follow her through the maze of corridors inside of the compound. After few moments of walk they arrived in a part of compound that Naruto never saw before. "You won't find it unless you know where to look for it, it was done in such way so it could stay safe." She explained as they continued walking, after few more minutes they stopped in front of large wooden doors engraved with an image of Senju trident. Walls around them seemed to be thicker and more resistant than they were anywhere else in the compound. Tsunade walked forward to them and pressed her hand against them, when she did that doors creaked and slowly opened.
"Wow" Managed to say Naruto when he saw what was behind those doors, there was a rectangular room with made out of wood with every single inch of it covered in runes and signs that strengthen seals that were created in it. In the middle of it was a raised dais, which was used as an altar during sealing process with another sets of signs and runes surrounding it, both strengthening as well as containing ones so vile and dangerous things weren't able to escape the trap and try to latch onto something else.
"I had the same reaction when I saw it for the first time." Said Jiraiya "It can be used to seal almost anything and unless you allow it, nothing I mean nothing will escape it as those doors are heavily reinforced and once sealing is started they lock themselves. Also if you have Kongo Fusa you will be able to even further reinforce it as it was designed having Uzumaki in mind and your Kekkei Genkai."
"I have those chains." Said Naruto as over his shoulder appeared golden glowing chain with sharp end, whole body of it covered in streams of kanji so small that almost impossible to see and read. Those were seals covering those chains and ones that made them so scary as they were able to trap anybody or anything user of them wished to trap.
"Should I know about something else?" Asked Tsunade as she looked at Naruto. She was living with him in this compound for something like four months or even more and she was still learning new things about him.
"I don't think so." Said Naruto as he ran through a list of his abilities and Kekkei Genkai "No, I'm sure that I mentioned every single one of them."
"Good" Nodded happily Tsunade "Meet me on the training ground outside, it's time for your true training to begin."
"Why do I have a feeling that I won't like it?" Weakly asked Naruto
"Because gaki she is dead serious right now and when she is in this mood she is scary." Said Jiraiya looking at Naruto, who paled and gulped when he thought about what Tsunade was able to do when she wasn't going at full power.
o-0-o
"What the hell is happening to my chakra control?" Asked annoyed Sasuke as another Hosenka didn't work as it should be.
"Did you have any seal placed on you?" Asked him Itachi, who was watching his otouto attempts at mastering Katon jutsu and they weren't as good as they were during that training before the exam. Also from what he knew from Naruto, Sasuke was able to do Hosenka without full chain of seals.
"I had" Nodded Sasuke "Two to be exact, first one by Orochimaru" When he said those name Itachi hissed and his eyes morphed into Sharingan "And second one by Naruto."
"And here is your problem." Said Itachi as he moved closer and looked at those seals visible on Sasuke neck "While Naruto did what was right at that time, he used temporary solution to this problem and it isn't subtle one. So until he will be able to remove that seal ans knowing him he is digging through scrolls that he has about all kinds of seals and ones that ANBU managed to get from various Orochimaru hideouts. There is little sense in working on any ninjutsu as you will get only frustrated by it, so instead we will work on kenjutsu, taijustu and miscellaneous things that will be helpful facing various opponents as you don't know who you will be facing in this tournament. So how good are you in shurikenjutsu?"
"Good enough." Said Sasuke glaring at his brother.
"Where did I heard those words?" Muttered Itachi as he remembered his yellow haired friend that said the same thing when Itachi was training him few years ago. He cut short his musings that were getting nowhere and looked at Sasuke "Do you know how to hit twenty targets, four of them in your blind zone?"
"No" Admitted Sasuke, knowing well that lying would be a little pointless as aniki would see through it easily.
"So we will start from it." Said Itachi as he looked at Sasuke and later around the field, there were twenty targets so showing it would be rather easy for him. However learning and mastering it by Sasuke was a completely different story as there was a difference between those two things. "Key to it is..."
o-0-o
Hinata ducked under Juuken strike coming from her father and responded with her own, she could see that she was getting better in taijustu and this style was a godsend for her as she was able room finally fight in a way that felt natural for her and in one that she didn't like. She was able to keep up with her father as they were sparring so she could prepare for chunin exams. Neji was also included in those training session, much to displeasure of clan elders as they had troubles with accepting the fact that member from the Branch Family was learning jutsu previously only used by the Main Family. However they couldn't do much as they were only advisors to clan head and couldn't override his decisions, and since he was personally training them, they couldn't influence trainers to accidentally injure or kill Neji.
"You fight much better than you did." Said Hiashi during one of breaks between training sessions "Change of the style helped you, even if elders are displeased with it they can do nothing about it. Neji you are faring really well."
"Thank you, Otou-sama" Said Hinata bowing lightly.
"Thank you, Hiashi-sama" Neji said moments later.
"I think it is time for me to show you ultimate defense of our clan, Hakkeshō Kaiten which is able to stop almost every single attack coming your way and in case of projectiles send it in random direction, which means you need to be careful with when and how you use it as you might injure your friends or people that you try to protect when using it." Said Hiashi as he looked at his students, while elders frowned upon idea of them learning other jutsu than their clan taijustu he allowed their sensei to teach them other things as he knew from his own experience that whole Juuken was a powerful tool, it had some minor or major flaws, depending on person point of view about them. "It looks like this." As he said those words he started rapidly spinning in place, chakra pouring out of every single tenketsu of his body and forming a glowing blue sphere around him, that was able to protect person using it from enemy attacks. It was also one of the most guarded clan secrets and elders were going to raise hell about Neji learning it, but they couldn't do much. They would activate seal on his forehead and they would have nasty end as he would be able to track down who used it or Tsunade-sama would do that.
"Key to this jutsu is knowledge about direction in which your chakra spins and how to manifest it outside of your body as when you are using it you push it outside of your body..."
o-0-o
Naruto was looking at simple in theory seal that was placed on one of his Tou-san kunai, one that allowed him to jump to those kunai using his famous Hiraishin jutsu. It seems simple as there was a beacon and blood seal, and couple of other supporting seals, yet he couldn't figure out how to get them working for himself. He and Jiraiya spent last few days working with various seals until they got to space-time ninjutsu and barriers, and Naruto tried to understand this seal. He also had copy of seal used by Senju Tobirama and while it made more sense to him, it was so inefficient that he simply discarded it as useless as he would waste too much chakra and time with each jump.
"It doesn't make any freaking sense." He sighed after fifteenth or so attempt at solving this riddle, he felt like he was close to it, yet he was far from it.
"There was a reason why your father was considered a prodigy in terms of sealing." Said Jiraiya as he looked at another burned piece of paper "While having Hiraishin would be nice, you don't need to master it as you have more than enough other options handy. So instead I suggest you focus on seals used to contain bijuu and ones to solve the issue of that mark on Sasuke."
"I guess you are right." Said Naruto as he crumbled last remains of failed seal and threw them into a bin that stood nearby, almost full with them.
"So how does this mark looks like?" Asked Jiraiya as he near Naruto who took clean sheet of paper to write it.
"It looks similar to this." Said Naruto as he drew a crude drawing of that mark, three tomoes close to each other.
"So it is Cursed Mark of Heaven." Said Jiraiya as he looked at that drawing "Crude seal and very simple, but annoying to deal with. From what I know about it, it has three functions. First one is to gather nature's chakra, second is to try to influence mind of person which received it and last one is locked in this stage, I don't know what it does. To deal with it you need a seal that will push it out of his body and into the air, thus allowing it to go away or be destroyed."
"What about such seal?" Asked Naruto as he did a rough sketch of modified Fuja Hoin, it was similar, yet different at the same it. Also it wasn't designed to contain, but to push out foreign chakra and interferences.
"It might work." Said Jiraiya as he looked at it, but he quickly spotted ways to improve it and added few things. "But you need to add those four prongs, so it can be better anchored into his chakra network. Also second ring will support main matrix of it, while normally it would be a little pointless, when dealing with such seals it's better to be safe than sorry." He explained what he added. "Also having Tsunade close by would be a good thing as those seals like to have traps in them and Kami only knows what can happen when you will crack it open."
Naruto only nodded and once again looked at that seal, contemplating what to do with it and how he could improve it even further as with those modifications made by Jiraiya it looked more solid, way more in fact as nothing should be able to escape from it. Unless someone knew how it was designed and was able to spend hours, upon hours looking for small cracks and holes in it that could be used to weaken and breach it.
It was one of reasons why Naruto loved fuinjutsu, it wasn't about simply repeating jutsu, it was more about creating your own solutions as there was only a certain set of seals and rest was slightly different for each school of sealing or even master. As some preferred one was of doing things, while other another and both were correct. Only difference between them was how effective they were and how they looked, between some could be also a difference in how final effect looked, but not in all cases.
"You suspect that Hebi-teme placed something nasty inside of that seal that isn't visible?" Asked Naruto as he looked at Jiraiya.
"Knowing him most certainly and it is propably a really dangerous thing as he believes that if he can't have it, nobody can have it. Which means that it can be anything from a simple seal locking Sharingan to suicide one." Said Jiraiya with a frown "That's why I want Tsunade to be there, so she can heal him if we find something nasty."
o-0-o
"Nice group of participants." Said Hokage as he looked through the papers about second stage of chunin exam "Thirty-two genin, twelve from our village, three from Suna, three from Kiri, three from Kumo, one from Taki, two from Ame, three from Kusa and three from Iwa."
"Yes" Nodded tired Shikaku "Iwa hates us, Kumo hates Kiri, Ame and Kusa hates us, Kiri hates Suna. Ame, Kusa and Suna are plotting together with Oto against us and Kami only knows who. Placing them so that they won't kill each other will be a challenge. Also putting those reinforcements from Kiri and Kumo will be a pain, so that they won't be spotted by our friends or his spies."
"So Kumo agreed to help us?" Asked shocked Hokage, as he didn't expect Kumo to be so helpful as it didn't like Konoha and vice versa, but apparently they liked Orochimaru even less and they weren't going to let this occasion pass by. Maybe the smelled occasion and wanted to replace Suna as an ally of Konoha, due to rumors that Suna found itself on bad side of Konoha.
"Aye" Nodded Shikaku "Four hundred shinobi, forty Storm under command of Darui. He will arrive with them three days before summit, so we can coordinate and run some drills with them. Kiri is sending two hundred shinobi, sixty Sharks, whole Kiri no Shinobigatana Shinchinin Shu under command of Kushimaru. Are you bringing Naruto into command for this operation?"
"Yes" Said Hiruzen "He needs to get experience and assuming our rumors about Suna jinchuuriki are true, he will be the one responsible for stopping him. So it will be better for him to know what is going on. I will assign two squads of ANBU to be near him at all times, in one of them will be Yamato. Itachi and Kisame will be leading our ANBU reserves to stop ones that will get past our lines."
"Sound plan" Nodded Shikaku "What about evacuation plans?"
"We will wait with execution of them until the moment of attack or they will get spooked. I would like to execute them sooner, but the risk it too great." Said Hokage "Make it clear to shinobi that Naruto can override them if he needs to as he should have the best knowledge what is going on thanks to that bond between all bijuu and jinchuuriki. So I don't want to heat about any protests against his orders."
"I will do that." Nodded Shikaku "What about seating of our guests during finals as leader of Kusa will arrive. Along with all Kage that will be here two days before finals as it is when Summit will start."
"Place him below me and Raikage so we can kill him quickly if needed." Said Hokage "Tsunade and Jiraiya will be with me as guards, so we should be able to deal with Orochimaru if he will appear. Pass a word to Ibiki that he has free reign in dealing with all known spies and suspected ones week before the finals, it would be a typical sweep before arrival of other Kage."
"I will do that." Said Shikaku as he rose from his seat. There were perks of being a jonin commander. One of them was knowledge of what was going on and full unlimited access to classified data. "I think those are all major points and other will be covered at later time."
o-0-o
Sasuke entered Senju compound as he was told be Naruto and looked around as it was a different area than he was before. It seemed to be almost alive with power and knowledge that was hidden inside of the building.
"Good that you are here." Said Naruto when he saw Sasuke "Follow me as otherwise you won't find this room and I found a permanent way of dealing with that gift left by Orochimaru."
"Good" Nodded Sasuke "It was getting annoying as it messed up my chakra flow and my control of it."
"So that's why I want to destroy it completely." Replied Naruto as he led Sasuke to the sealing room beneath Senju compound. After few minutes of walk they were there. "Lay on that altar and remove shirt as I will need to write quite a lot of seals on your body."
Sasuke nodded and walked to altar that was placed in the middle of it, he managed to notice Jiraiya and Tsunade standing there. He laid on it and soon felt signs being drawn on his skin as Naruto and Jiraiya were placing seals that were going to deal with that gift.
"On three." Said Jiraiya looking at Naruto who slowly nodded and channeled chakra into his fingertips in certain pattern that was going to activate this seal, while Jiraiya prepared to disable Fuja Hoin that was placed around that Cursed Mark. "One, two, three." When Jiraiya said three he slammed his hand onto seal around Cursed Mark which caused scream of pain from Sasuke and moments later Naruto activated seal that he had drawn moments earlier. When he did that Cursed Mark started pulsing and glowing red as seals were fighting for dominance, after few minutes from that seal shot out stream of hot ink, mixed with blood and things that were hard to describe. Naruto jumped away from this before it could hit him as it could be toxic.
"He is unconscious, but other than that fine." Said Tsunade as she checked vitals of Sasuke once Cursed Mark disappeared "It seems that there were no gifts left by Orochimaru.
"But amount of chakra needed for this was huge." Managed to say Naruto before he hit the floor as he lost consciousness from exhaustion caused by destroying that Cursed Mark and amount of chakra used during it, it would probably kill weaker shinobi.
o-0-o
"I guess I like to pass out from exhaustion." Said Naruto once he woke up few moments later once Kyubi refilled his reserves with his own chakra.
"Typical chakra exhaustion." Said Tsunade "Kyubi already fixed it."
"Not for the first time." Said Naruto "He did that already for few times."
"Once you are rested we will renew your training." Said Jiraiya "It is time for you to learn combination jutsu with Toads."
"Finally!" Shouted Naruto in excitement as those were one of things he wanted to learn the most. To be continued...
o-0-o
A/N – Sorry for cliffhanger, but I love them...
Reviews:
"Have you never seen a quote they look like "this"." – I explained more that few times that I was using Word that was set to Polish and quotations mark in Polish are written differently. End of topic.
"so I just finished reading what you have so far and other than grammatical errors that are here and there this is this a great story incredible actually I can't wait for your next chapter" – Grammatical errors will happen at all times and I try to spot as many as I can, but some will evade me.
"Unfortunately what a lot of idiots don't understand is how power the rasengan and rasenshurikin is. They're A class and S-class. 99 percent of the other jutsu you see on Naruto are literally C, the luck ones B. Fireball, lightening hound, mudballs all that other crap is leagues out of the rasenshurikin. So before you diss it remember it was that jutsu that defeated madz, kaguya, obito, pain, zombie brother. All those other flashy jutsu failed. Just because they look cooler does mean they are. Check the wiki.
Anyway im dropping this story. Sasuke now has both rasengan and chidori so he'll have both rasenshurikin and kirin, way to overpower him. And monkeys really! Senjutsu is much cooler than turning into a useless staff."
Yes Rasenshuriken is powerful, nobody will argue about that, but it's boring. Same as Rasengan which almost screams what will be the next attack and unless you manage to pin down your enemy or you use spam of clones with it, he has a good chance to evade it.
About fight with Madara at the end, honestly it was rather lame, either Madara wasn't paying attention to them or Kishi just wanted to finish it quickly. For Kami sake, Madara was as strong as Hashirama when he didn't have Rinnengan, so he should beat them into the ground without any problem. If my zombie brothers you mean Hidan and Kakuzu, than Hidan was buried alive thanks to some intelligence, clever thinking and few weak jutsu. About Kakuzu, yes Rasenshuriken killed him, but almost destroyed Naruto arm in the process.
About flashy jutsu, what is a point of using a club (Rasenshuriken), when scalpel (Doryūdan) will work just fine. For your knowledge, Sandaime Hokage managed to fight Orochimaru and his two summons to a standstill without using any really flashy jutsu. Same with Itachi who for multiple times fought various teams and people to a standstill without anything over A-rank, yes he didn't have a lot of chakra, but he had perfect control of it. Also if he wanted to use them, he could use them without any problems as he should know a lot of them.
Not to mention that during long fights using A and S-rank jutsu can lead to your defeat as enemy can simply try to delay the fight and force you to lose your chakra, while he waits. So weaker jutsu are better as you can use them without losing too much chakra, which means you can use them freely.
Sasuke won't have Rasenshuriken as he don't have Fuuton chakra and Rasenshuriken is based on it, about Kirin, who said he will have it. He might not even develop it in this story.
I choose Monkeys as his primary summons as they are rarely seen, are quite interesting and give plenty of options for him during battles. About senjutsu, it's honestly overrated as it doesn't give that much power compared to other things and risks that come with it are rather big. It gives him fancy taijustu and some sensory power, which isn't that much.
"the fight between naruto and zabuza was an eye opener for him.. will zabuza taste more of naruto abilities?" - we will see about that, it will be a surprise for all of you.