Disclaimer: Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

Bijū/Summon Speaking

Bijū/Summon Thoughts

Naruto mental reply

! - dattebayo

Warning: There will be graphic depictions of violence in this chapter.

Edited 4/22/16

Chapter 37

Act 4: Plowing through Roots

1 hour earlier - With Team 7 and Itachi – Main Level 1 - Root HQ

Team 7 and Itachi had just dispatched a few of the Root guards at the main entrance and began to cautiously move forwards. It had not taken them long to reach the secret entrance and, so far, it seemed Naruto's map was actually valid.

This fact gave Kakashi some relief that perhaps this "Makoto-chan" person, Naruto's clone had described, might be somewhat genuine. Still, Kakashi wouldn't rule out Danzō using her as a sleeper agent to lure Naruto into the actual trap.

It was well known that Root kunoichi would use every little advantage they could to complete their objectives and several high-level lords deaths by spouse were suspected to be Root kunoichi playing the long game. Seducing and marrying their targets to become moles before killing them when the order came several years later. Sometimes, they would even purge their own children unless they showed enough talent to be recruited into Root.

As the group moved through the hallways picking off a few surprised defenders, it seemed that the intel the Hokage had received yesterday was correct and that Danzō had moved most of his forces to different bunkers to help with the counter attack. It was logical if he had planned to secure the Daimyō for his plot. This information was excellent news for their assault team.

Sasuke and Hinata were really concerned for Naruto's safety now that they had breached the base. With the alarm seals blaring loudly any guards would, most likely, be jumpy and may take drastic measures if they hadn't already subdued Naruto and done something terrible to him. Hopefully, they would find the idiot in time and then proceed to pummel him for being so stupid. How could he trust anyone in Root?

Hinata wasn't even denying that she was jealous. That Naruto would so willingly follow this "Makoto-chan" with her obvious sob story. She mentally shook her head; Naruto could be so naive about certain things.

Sasuke was tense with exhilaration and anxiety. That bastard Danzō would pay for killing his family, finally! His anxiety was focused entirely on Naruto's situation. What if they were too late and he was already mindless?

They could have easily sealed away his memories by now if they haven't been torturing him instead. He had heard rumors of suicide seals in the brains and tongues of Root operatives. What if Danzō already planted those on Naruto and was going to use him as a trap?

'Naruto, you better be okay you baka.' Sasuke thought.

Kakashi's thoughts ran along a similar vein as Sasuke. What kind of seals had they already placed on Naruto by now and how would he be affected? Root had some seals that were simply impossible to remove because they tied them to fragile organs that would just collapse under any significant chakra manipulation from an external source. Those seals required operations to apply, but it was highly likely that Danzō had some highly skilled medical-nin in his organization.

The Hokage had told him that the Kyūbi made threats about placing seals on Naruto and that he would cause Naruto harm if they did so. Naruto believed that the Kyūbi was helping him but what about if they put control seals on him? Would the Kyūbi still help him or would he rather cut his losses and reform ten years from now?

If they got out of this alive, he would have to chew Naruto out good for this. After the Sandaime and Tsunade had their turn, of course. He could play the wise counselor after Naruto got reamed by both Hiruzen and Tsunade but he shook that thought off. Better to drive the point home by getting in line for the ass kicking the boy would receive for this if nothing seriously bad happened to him.

His thoughts were interrupted as they approached another large room. Kakashi and Itachi sent forward a pair of Kage Bunshin to test the waters while they stayed far back from the opening.

A nasty water and lighting combination dispelled the scouting clones and prevented them from entering the room. The fact that the combination consisted of unfamiliar jutsu managed to impress Kakashi. There weren't many combinations that he hadn't seen in all his years during Anbu. Kakashi glanced at Sasuke, who had his Sharingan active along with Itachi. He might have to try and learn that one off Itachi later.

Itachi countered with a Bunshin Daibakuha (Shadow Clone Explosion) before the group charged in and engaged the Root members. Kakashi quickly took note that all the defenders were primarily focusing on blockading the North Wing.

'Naruto's map turned out to be more helpful than I could have imagined.' Kakashi thought as he caught one defender rushing in from the east by surprise and slit his throat with a kunai after using Shunshin.

Danzō must have already moved towards the exit as soon as they killed the entrance guards. Kakashi hoped they could get there in time to support Neko and her team before Danzō decided to jump ship. Neko could be in a lot of trouble if Danzō had a significant escort with him.

With Hinata watching their flank for ambush attempts, Sasuke released a wave of Raigeki (Lightning Strike) to stun a few Root members forming seals in the Northern hallway and cancel their jutsu before charging in with his chokuto, passing by Itachi, who had distracted the front line of defenders.

Charging the stunned Root trio, Sasuke slashed two through their necks with a horizontal slash before he sidestepped while pivoting to bring down his chokuto to cut the third Root member diagonally down his torso effectively gutting him.

Itachi had caught half of the Root defenders in a seamless genjutsu the minute they saw him enter the room and made eye contact. Now, Kakashi was helping him mow down the hapless Root members by slitting their throats with their kunai or ninjato in Itachi's case.

They both had to Kawarimi when some kunai and several blasts of cutting wind headed towards them from someone using Fūton: Shinkūgyoku (Vacuum Sphere)

Both Kakashi and Itachi countered with Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball) sending the pair of fireballs down the hallway where the wind attack had just torn through. There were a series of explosions and a few screams confirming that, at least, two defenders were hit by the attack.

Hinata hid around the corner and watched with her Byakugan as one Root member tried to sneak in from the southern hallway behind them. Hinata waited for him to draw closer and start forming hand seals before stepping out and unleashing her Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams 64 palms) on the Root member, severing most of his organs with cutting blasts of chakra instead of sealing tenketsu.

She stepped back around the corner when the body collapsed in a heap and continued to monitor all the hallways around them with her Byakugan.

"There is a higher concentration of them towards the north, probably about 15 more total," Hinata called out as they finished off the rest of the Root members in the room.

"Any sight of Naruto or any other prisoners?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't see Naruto's chakra anywhere," Hinata said in a concerned tone. "He must be further down because I can see everything on this level and the two levels directly below us. There must be a few more levels below those two since I can see more reinforcements appearing from out of my range of vision." Hinata said.

"Danzō is our priority. We will just have to hope Naruto is okay and search for him once Danzō is contained," Kakashi said with a sigh.

Hinata and Sasuke nodded as they took up the rear position and proceeded further towards the North wing.

Current time - With Naruto – Sub-Level 3

Naruto finished off another group of Root operatives with Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Blade Jutsu). He was starting to run out of chakra and might have to use a full scroll soon to refill.

That was the second group of scrambling operatives he had managed to catch off guard and kill without too much effort. The first two groups had been quick to react to his presence, and his tattered clothing reflected it. Even with defensive clones, he had been unable to evade backlash from jutsu or even projectiles without taking some damage. Naruto had to wonder just how long he had been distracted by the events with Makoto that these agents were just now scrambling to defend the base. Wouldn't they have mobilized immediately? Naruto couldn't help but wonder if this had all been part of Danzō's plans in some way.

"These hallways are too narrow to evade in. You must make your way to a larger room and rest. Instead of clearing the halls yourself, use a clone to flush and lure any more prey on this floor to that place and finish them off before we continue forwards." Kurama instructed.

'Soon, Kurama. I want to make it to his office first and get any evidence and scrolls in case he manages to escape. This bastard has to go down today no matter what.' Naruto said as he rushed down the hall and made a left.

He had heard some faint explosions above him and felt some tremors but wasn't concerned just yet. He would be more concerned when those demolition seals Kurama had pointed out, began to glow.

Naruto slowed and began to creep down the hallway leading towards Danzō's office with the newly dubbed Makoto in his hand. He had no real experience with a blade at all, but it was easy to slash or stab Root members in the chest as they emerged from their small rooms unprepared.

Naruto created two clones once he neared the end of the hallway and after carefully examining the door for seals, he backed off and sent one clone in to open the door.

The clones scanned the room and managed to detect a few trap seals that he recognized and countered with chakra absorption seals to drain them, making them deconstruct in a safe manner. It was thanks to Shino that Naruto had discovered this way of disabling seals. Being familiar with the structure of seal arrays, he knew that causing individual lines to fail could cause the seal to collapse entirely if it no longer had the proper containment or focus kanji. Naruto had developed a few chakra absorption seals that targeted these lines specifically but it was still a work in progress, and he wouldn't attempt it on any unfamiliar seals.

Assigning the two clones to guard the hallway into the office while he worked, Naruto began grabbing all the scrolls and papers and sealing them away into a storage scroll. He had five scrolls filled just from the desk drawers and filing cabinets before he even began to look for hidden storage places.

Luckily he found a supply of blank scrolls that used to quickly create a few more storage scrolls before he searched any further. Danzo's office had taken up more than he had anticipated. It seemed that he kept meticulous records of all his actions, judging from the various archive scrolls labeled by month and year.

Once the scrolls were done, he began looking for hidden switches, doors, or seals along the walls and on or under all the different furniture in the office. He found a safe hidden behind one of the filing cabinets and studied the seals.

"Hmm. That one is dangerous. Chakra absorption will not work on it as it is tied to blood." Kurama commented.

'Damn, this probably has all the good stuff too.' Naruto said.

"It may break if we apply my chakra in abundance within proximity to it but not directly on it," Kurama commented.

'That would probably draw everyone and their mother if I activate your cloak here.' Naruto said as he looked out the doorway.

"Tch. As if, childbearing females would not be a threat to me. All mortals are insignificant before me." Kurama said with a snort

'It's a figure of speech, Kurama. It just means it will bring more than the expected amount.' Naruto said with a hint of amusement.

"Why didn't you just say that instead of making references to females who have given birth? Unless, you are still affected by those herbs from earlier." Kurama grumbled.

Naruto just sighed. 'No. I'm fine. Honest. You took good care of that.'

"I doubt you need to be concerned about using my chakra, given the circumstances. The snake has bigger things to worry about. I sense your companions are closing in on his guards." Kurama said.

"Got it. Time to hurry up then as I still need to hit that jutsu library as well. You know the bastard has to have all kinds of jutsu stored away. Maybe we will find the jutsu we need for the plan in here.' Naruto said as he began to link with Kurama.

"That is true, kit. Good thinking," Kurama said.

Naruto activated his initial chakra cloak and placed his hand directly below the safe letting Kurama's drift up the wall and over the seals.

The seals on the safe began to waiver before they self-destructed and the door to the safe simply fell off.

Naruto deactivated his cloak and peeked inside the safe. There was a neat pyramid of six, ancient looking scrolls in the vault and several, very large, stacks of ryō. Not as much as he was hoping for, but it was better than nothing.

Naruto merely shrugged and pulled the scrolls out and set them aside on the desk before he sealed all the ryō into one of his arm wrap seals that were empty. Might as well make good use of it.

He then began looking at the scrolls and had to grin when he saw what they contained.

"Not what we needed for the plan but useful fūinjutsu and ninjutsu all the same. That last one is most impressive, and you should keep that close with your Hiraishin scroll." Kurama said.

'Yea. Who would have thought the old bastard would have the Nidaime's secret to creating water jutsu without water nearby? The thought that it was just a chakra exercise is pretty amazing when you think about it.' Naruto said in awe as he read the exercise and a few assorted jutsu.

"Hmph. That was one powerful mortal, he created the original Hiraishin that your father became famous for as well as the Kage Bunshin technique that you use," Kurama said grudgingly.

'Yea. Tobirama was a real badass. It must be why jiji is so powerful as well.' Naruto said as he sealed away the Nidaime's scroll along with the Hiraishin scroll in his hidden micro storage seal on his torso.

Kurama helped him create the tiny seal inside his belly button which would always be protected from damage by the Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Seal), as long as he was alive.

After one more quick sweep of the office, Naruto sealed away the remaining storage scrolls. He kept the vault scrolls and ryō separate while storing all the important looking documents into his shuriken pouch.

Naruto then picked up the scent of several strangers heading his way, and an abnormal grin came onto his face.

'Guess we managed to fish out the remaining Root on this floor. Let's prepare a nice surprise for them.' Naruto said as the dark grin on his face grew when he pictured a wind charged fire dragon blitzing down the hallway incinerating groups of Root.

"It truly pleases me when you cleanse all the filth with fire, but Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu should suffice for your chakra reserves right now. Then you should recharge with the full scroll and head up." Kurama said.

'Got it.' Naruto replied before he felt his guard clones get dispelled by shuriken. He began to run through the hand seals for Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu and waited with anticipation for the door to be kicked down.

Naruto still had the unusually feral grin on his face as he thought of cutting through the Root members with his wind jutsu. Naruto's normally blue eyes were darker than usual, his circular pupils were beginning to take a more oval shape while his whisker marks darkened.

30 minutes earlier - With Team 7 and Itachi – Main Level 1 North Wing

"I think we have managed to flush out the remaining forces below or they are holding back significantly for a pincer maneuver. I haven't seen any more people on the floors beneath us or coming up the stairs." Hinata said as she continued to scan with her Byakugan.

"You said there were only three more signatures ahead of us now and that they are waiting?" Kakashi said with suspicion.

What was Danzō waiting around for? Was he waiting for them or reinforcements?

"Yep. The other Anbu team that came with us have been engaging and neutralizing stragglers exiting or entering the base from their position, but that's all," Hinata repeated as she looked towards Neko's team.

"Do you think he has taken Naruto somewhere else?" Sasuke asked.

"It wouldn't make any sense for him to do so. Naruto gave us a map of this base and the Root operative he ran off with headed here specifically. Pakkun confirmed his scent in the base before he dispelled. It could be possible, however." Kakashi said.

"He must be waiting because he has Naruto-kun in his grasp," Itachi said.

"Why do you think that?" Hinata said uneasily.

"Danzō knows we have him trapped by now and that the invasion has likely failed to remove the Hokage like he expected since we are here invading his base. It wouldn't be hard for him to deduce that we were sent here to remove him because the Hokage had determined his involvement in everything. He will use Naruto-kun as his bargaining chip to try and escape if he can't kill us himself." Itachi said.

"So you think he has Naruto under guard somewhere in the lower levels then?" Kakashi asked.

"If he hasn't moved him elsewhere already. It is possible that they subdued him here and carried him off through the entrance he is waiting by before we even arrived. If the team he used was skilled enough, they could have accomplished all that in the 30 minutes that elapsed between him leaving with the operative and the clone relaying the message to us." Itachi reasoned.

"Guess there is only one way to find out, and that is to catch that bastard and beat it out of him," Sasuke said with gritted teeth.

"Stay calm, Sasuke. Torune and Fū are very dangerous opponents. Remember not to touch Torune's skin or let him grab a hold of you or his poisonous insects will kill you in seconds. Fū is just as deadly with his Yamanaka mind techniques. Be wary of him turning one of us against each other during a fight." Itachi said seriously.

"Be ready for anything team. Remember, don't lose your temper no matter what Danzō says about Naruto," Kakashi warned.

Sasuke and Hinata nodded.

The team moved down the hallway and into the final open room before the Northern most exit.

Danzō stood there with and impassive gaze on his face and his unbandaged arm resting by his side clutching his cane. Torune and Fū stood in front of him in defensive positions.

"So, Hiruzen finally grew some balls did he? It's unfortunate that he won't survive this invasion. Will you leave Konoha defenseless without it's new Hokage?" Danzō said confidently.

"Unless Tsunade-sama dies in the battle, I think Konoha will be just fine. She was already approved by the Daimyō to take over the Hokage position yesterday actually." Kakashi said nonchalantly.

"The Daimyō will see things my way soon. Don't concern yourselves with that," Danzō replied.

"You're assuming that you will be leaving this base freely then?" Itachi said.

"Quite freely. None of you are strong enough to stop my guards or me." Danzō said dismissively.

"Is that so? Then why haven't you simply left already, if you are so certain?" Kakashi said.

"Please, Hatake, do not take me for a fool. You know full well I won't leave without my newest weapon. Especially after all the work, I put into obtaining him." Danzō said with a smirk.

"Oh? and how much work did you put into obtaining this new weapon of yours?" Kakashi asked.

Inwardly Danzō was fuming that he was unable to unsettle these fools with that news, he knew that Kakashi and Itachi were of the Will of Fire school who believed that emotions were important for shinobi and other foolish nonsense. Perhaps a more specific push was needed.

"The attack I orchestrated on the orphanage was just the start, of course. He had to close himself off from others and abandoning that foolish cheerful nature of his was only his first step in the right direction." Danzō sneered, "For a while, he was becoming a true shinobi. He had improved himself immensely by forsaking bonds with others, but he was not properly guided and was convinced to embrace his foolish emotions instead of discarding them entirely."

"Now, such nonsense will no longer be an issue and Naruto will be quite an effective tool now that I did away with such useless idealism. It won't take long to train him properly with the memory seals I designed for him." Danzō said confidently.

"It matters not what you think. You will not be leaving this place unless you are in shackles or a body bag." Itachi said.

"Maybe, if you're lucky, Naruto will save you," Kakashi added as he lifted his hitai-ate to reveal his Sharingan.

"So be it. If you fools do not fall in line, then I shall have to replace you with better." Danzō said before giving the sign to attack.

Itachi and Kakashi opened up their attacks with Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu and Fūton: Daitoppa while Sasuke used Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flower Jutsu) with three volleys of shuriken thrown by himself and Hinata.

Fū used Doton: Doryūheki (Mud Wall) to wall off their section of the room, effectively defending against the incoming jutsu, and forcing Team 7 and Itachi to fall back to avoid being hit by the recoil since the wall sprung up in close proximity to them.

'Shit. We will have to be careful with our big jutsu in here, or the whole damn place could collapse on top of us.' Kakashi thought.

Fū canceled his chakra to the wall letting it drop before he attempted to use his Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch) on Hinata.

Torune sent out a poisonous cloud of insects towards the group which was augmented by Danzō using Fūton: Shinkūgyoku (Vacuum Sphere) to speed up the spread of poisonous insects.

Kakashi used Fūton: Daitoppa again to keep the poisonous insects at bay, crushing most of them when the two wind attacks collided while Sasuke used Raigeki (Lightning Strike) to try and stun Danzō and Torune while the wind jutsu was still active.

He knew that it would be weaker than usual by traveling through wind chakra, but he had put more chakra into the attack hoping to make up for the elemental disadvantage.

Fū was unaware that he had been trapped in a genjutsu by Itachi right off the bat and fell to the ground temporarily disabled until his mind recovered from the failed Shintenshin no Jutsu. His attack completely missing Hinata as she was not in the position that Fū believed she was in.

Danzō countered Sasuke's Raigeki with Fūton: Shinkūha (Vacuum Wave) spitting blades of wind from his mouth to weaken and disperse the Raigeki completely.

Hinata ran through seals for Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu with Sasuke and they both sent their fireballs towards Danzō and his group.

Itachi, seeing his brother and his teammate forming hand seals, created his Bunshin Daibakuha and henged it as a rock while they prepared their attack. Once both Hinata and Sasuke had finished their seals, Itachi sent the clone charging in to take down the Doton: Doryūheki they created to repel the fireballs sent in their direction.

Danzō and Fū were sent flying back by the force of the explosion, but Torune had been off to the side and was unaffected by the concussive blast. He rapidly created another Doton: Doryūheki to block the incoming fireball and save Danzō and Fū from being burned to death.

Torune had been sneaking a wave of poisonous insects close to the group using the ceiling and walls during the previous exchanges of attacks. The bugs were able to advance unnoticed while the smoke from the colliding jutsu still hampered visibility. Once the bugs were close enough to attack, he commanded the insects to flow down and latch onto Team 7 and Itachi.

Hinata, however, had been suspicious of Torune's distance and spotted the insects early. She called out a warning before using Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation) to shield the group from the bugs while Kakashi used Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder) to fry them.

After that series of events took place both sides eyed each other waiting for the next exchange of jutsu and trying to formulate a plan to bypass the other team's defenses. Danzō knew it would be foolish to get involved in a close range battle with the Hyūga girl, even if she was just a genin. He didn't want to waste his Mangekyō until Itachi decided to bring out the big guns with his Mangekyō.

Torune and Fū would only last so long in this type of battle, given the talents of the team in front of him, and genjutsu was out because of the three Sharingan users arrayed against him.

He might be forced to reveal his trump cards in this battle. Being stuck in this room was a huge disadvantage as he would likely harm himself just as much with the restricted space. If he weren't waiting for Makoto's arrival with Naruto, he would have taken this battle outside.

Team 7 and Itachi were also thinking over their situation as the pause in the fight ensued. They were also wary of entering a close range battle with Torune still on the field, and they knew Danzō was capable of dangerous paralysis seals. Fū might have been hesitant to use his clan jutsu in the beginning, but they couldn't rule him out completely just yet.

Kakashi and Sasuke took advantage of the lull in combat to use Naruto's chakra seals for their next round of attacks. Sasuke handed one to Itachi to use after he felt his take effect.

Itachi's used the seal immediately, and his eyes widened when he felt Naruto's chakra surge through his body. It was quite the rush. He had been filled in by Sasuke, during the training period, about its benefits but had never had the opportunity to use one. Needless to say, he was very interested in seeing how he could improve his own chakra reserves and pathways by using them.

Itachi suddenly had an idea and signed his plan to the others behind his back as they waited for Danzō and his guards to make their next move.

With Naruto – Main Level 1 – West Wing – Root HQ

Naruto drilled another guard with a Rasengan before proceeding down the hallway towards the Library. He had lost count of how many Root he had torn through between sub-level 3 and the main level, but he wasn't bothered in the least.

In fact, he was actually enjoying himself, surprisingly. Before, he would have been afraid of getting caught up in the battle and losing control of himself, but right now, he felt empowered. The thrill of battle was flowing through him, yet there was no overwhelming bloodlust rearing its head. He didn't feel like he needed to hold himself back in the least. Instead, he felt as if he had been cutting loose against every foe he ran into, and he felt fantastic tearing through the filth called Root.

Naruto strolled into the Library nonchalantly while his clones took up a flanking position at the doors. Naruto looked around briefly and realized that there was no way he could take everything. The library was quite extensive, so he moved towards the book registrar and began browsing through it to pick out any unfamiliar or interesting jutsu for him to take.

When he emerged on the first level and was fighting his way through the Central wing, Kurama had told him that the chakra flares from the North had calmed for the moment and that the battle might be over. Naruto had been concerned that he had missed the fight and was torn between meeting up with his friends or pillaging the Library for rare jutsu. After a minute of indecision, Naruto decided that it would be better to take what he could from the Library while he had the opportunity. It would suck that he wasn't directly involved in Danzō's death but finding all the rare jutsu and fūinjutsu would more than make up for it.

Naruto left a clone henged as an insect near the stairway he had emerged from on the 2nd sub level of the base, in case his team made their way down to look for him in the lower levels. He probably should have gone directly to them, but something told him he needed to make his way here first while he could.

Now that he had a moment to calm down and was perusing the list of scrolls and books kept in the library, he realized that fighting his way through another dozen or two Root operatives from the Office to the Library had left him tired, and his chakra was getting low again. Naruto didn't know what to think about the groups he had run into. They had been easier to take out than he had expected. Only the team of Root that had swarmed Danzō's office had provided a difficult challenge and caused him some injuries, but Kurama had taken care of those quite easily.

"It must be the weaklings or rejects of the group as they have been quite easily dispatched." Kurama agreed.

'So far, it doesn't look like there is too much of interest in here. Maybe I should just take all the high-level Fūton and Raiton scrolls since they are rare for Hi no Kuni.' Naruto thought.

Naruto sensed something faint in the distance and was distracted for a moment. It was similar to what he felt in Myōbokuzan and when he had stretched his senses out early as he followed Makoto, but it wasn't consistent, and he had no idea what it could be.

"The battle has begun once again between the filth and your companions. You seem to have started developing some minor chakra sensing ability. It must have been exposure to the Natural chakra in the summoning toads home." Kurama noted.

'I suppose that will be really useful then. I think with your abilities combined with mine I will have no excuse for anything to sneak up on me, eh?' Naruto replied with a smirk. Naruto had completed scanning the registrar and began moving to the shelves to pick out the jutsu he wanted to take.

"Hmph. If you aren't distracted, you should already have all you need. The chakra sensing will aid in determining the affinity of potential threats and their levels of power if you do develop the ability further. We will try some training when you travel with the Toad sage to see if it is possible to increase it." Kurama said.

'I know shishō said that Sage mode can detect anything chakra related while it is active. You think that maybe, somehow, I got a part of that ability?' Naruto asked as he scanned over the sections looking for the jutsu he had found in the registrar.

"It is possible you just have some remaining balanced chakra in your body causing you to have minor sensing capability until it is dispersed. The only way we can know for certain is to try and develop the skill further. With how inconsistent you are sensing the chakra flares, I suspect that it is just remnant chakra." Kurama replied.

'Eh, it's no big deal then. If I do, great. If not, I will just wait until I can learn Sage mode.' Naruto said with a shrug.

Naruto picked out several scrolls from the Raiton, and Fūton sections, and two from the Katon and Doton sections. He sealed those away and went over to the historical section.

"What have you found of interest over here?" Kurama said curiously.

'It seemed like there was an account of some of the things you described that we needed for the plan. It's a few old scrolls and a book that described historical artifacts of power from legends or second-hand accounts. Maybe it will point us in the right direction.' Naruto answered.

He pulled several scrolls out and one book from the historical section before flipping through the book quickly.

"Hmm, this looks promising indeed. Keep those separate from the rest we do not need the others discovering your interest in these, or they may begin to piece the plan together. We can not allow the filthy mortals to learn of this." Kurama said.

'Don't worry, Kurama. I'll be real careful with these. As soon as we are done here, I'll have clones transcribe them into blank books using a fūinjutsu cipher. Only shishō will be able to figure it out if he has the right key.' Naruto said.

"Be wary of revealing these things to B as well since Gyūki is still not on board with the plan just yet. He will most likely try to dissuade you from it as well until we can convince him." Kurama said.

'Okay. I won't even mention anything about it around them then. What's going to happen to Shukaku anyways?' Naruto said as he finished sealing up the things he found.

"They will contain him in Konoha until the war with Suna is concluded. We will be able to gain access to him remotely now that I have created a link, but there was no time to discuss it since I had to rescue you from your lust." Kurama said in an amused tone.''

'Whatever, I thought it was normal for me to go through this kind of thing during my maturation phase.' Naruto grumbled as he stored away the sealing scrolls he filled and created a few more clones to scout ahead as insects.

"You might need to find some woman to rut with before you can master those urges at some point," Kurama said in a nonchalant tone.

Naruto was red faced at the thought.'NO! I'm not going to do... that with some random person. I mean I almost did with Makoto-chan, but she was pretty, and I did still care for her in some small way.'

"What about the white eye vixen? She lusts after you," Kurama noted.

'I don't think that's a good idea. That could cause problems. Immense problems since they frown on that kind of thing amongst teammates.' Naruto said as his blush deepened at the thought of him and Hinata together.

Hinata was much prettier than Makoto was, in his opinion, and while he had to admit that he found Hinata's eyes intriguing, the emerald of Makoto's eyes had always mesmerized him. Naruto had always been more interested in a girl's face then any other part of her body and the eyes and hair were the first things he would take notice of.

"You might be surprised when you meet the vixen again. Your thoughts have been altered by the gas as the hormone has begun dispersing through your body at a much faster rate than before." Kurama replied.

Naruto hung his head at that thought. 'Oh man, all that awkward stuff that Shizune-nee told me about is going to start now. Great. At least, I will be gone from the village during most of it. I just hope shishō doesn't tease me too much about it.'

Naruto let out a breath to calm himself down before he peeked out of the library door and down the hall. He still had probably another 100 yards or more to go before he reached where Kurama said he sensed the battle.

Naruto debated going to the armory and storage area to find any potential special weapons and items, but he scrapped that thought when his insect clone sensed a large group of reinforcements heading towards the North wing from the South wing.

He had to slow those reinforcements down if his friends were still battling Danzō. He briefly looked at the map and saw that if he made a left and made his way to the East for a few yards, he could use an access tunnel to cut them off at the central crossroads and hold them there before they reached his friends.

Naruto frowned when he realized Sasuke had been correct; he would end up holding off all of Danzō's lackeys while Sasuke got to finish off Danzō.

Naruto sighed, he really wanted to kill Danzō himself, but he supposed this was his punishment for falling into that stupid trap. He would keep them safe from the ambush and hope that they finished the bastard off themselves. He would just have to focus on Orochimaru like Sasuke had told him.

Naruto used his last full chakra scroll before he made his way to the access tunnel and ran full speed to the crossroads. Emerging from the tunnel, he saw that he was still ahead of the reinforcement group and began to study the area around him to formulate a plan.

The crossroads of the main level was a 15 x 15-foot square room that linked the main hallways to each wing. With only two hidden access tunnels to concern himself with, he rigged those two with a few kunai traps before he created 40 super-powered clones to essentially block the crossroads with clone bodies and tons of combination jutsu. His only shot at holding off these many people would be to flood the hallways between the central room where he was located and the larger rooms that were located about 30 yards from the central crossroads.

Naruto had his clones mostly lined up against the wall inside the central room with a group of 5 setting trap seals along the walls of the larger room to catch Root members off guard when they avoided the combo jutsu flying through the hallway.

Both Naruto and Kurama had the same feral grin on their face at that moment, as they thought of super heated flames, cutting winds, and waves of shuriken and kunai flooding through the hallway and tearing into a tightly clustered group of Root members, causing massive damage and pain. Their bodies clogging the hall as they were burned and shredded by his attacks.

Naruto briefly thought it was strange that he was enjoying killing so much but remembered that they were filth that needed to be cleansed. He pushed the thought aside to think about later.

Had Naruto looked into a mirror at that moment he would have seen that his eyes, while still blue, were now feral slits just like Kurama's. His whiskers were darker and more jagged while his canines had grown, but he had no claws on his hands.

With Team 7 and Itachi – Main level 1 West Wing – Root HQ

The battle had resumed and currently Hinata was repelling Danzō and his team's attacks with her Kaiten while the others worked to put Itachi's plan into action.

Kakashi had slammed his hands on the ground after using Raiton: Amigumo (Spider Web) creating a grid on the ground that limited movement inside the narrow rectangular room even more.

Itachi and Sasuke both ran through the hand seals for Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu (Great Dragon Fire) while Hinata completed her Raiton: Jibashi ahead of their dual attack. Her lightning dancing forwards towards Danzō, Torune, and Fū to take down any earthen walls formed by Doton: Doryūheki.

Danzō used Kawarimi to replace himself with a stray shuriken near the back of the room to get out of range of the lightning from Hinata. Then he quickly ran through hand seals before using Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Formation Wall) to everyone's surprise.

Torune and Fū were not so lucky, however, as they were unable to Kawarimi with anything in time. Instead, Torune created Doton: Rokkudōmu (Rock Dome)to surround him and his partner while Fū created another Doton: Doryūheki in front of the dome to block Hinata's Raiton: Jibashi.

The lightning dispersed after crumbling the mud wall, but the fire dragons slammed into the earthen dome causing the room to shake violently and the dome to shatter.

Everyone took a quick glance at the ceiling and were relieved to see that the roof was not falling in on them, but the walls surrounding them had large gashes and cracks from the force of jutsu impacting against each other.

Torune and Fū sustained moderate burns and damage from flying rock pieces of the dome, but they were still able to fight, for the most part.

Fū was surprised to see Hinata charge through the smoke and begin pummeling him with Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams 64 palms) before she could finish, however, Torune moved in to try and grab her and infest her with his poisonous bugs.

Both Root members were caught completely off guard when Hinata used Kawarimi to switch places with Itachi Uchiha. They had no time to react when Itachi formed a ram seal and blew up in both of their faces, revealing he was an exploding clone.

Torune was severely burned and lost his right arm and left leg from the Bunshin Daibakuha as he had been stepping in to grab at Hinata when the clone took her place. His left arm was in bad shape, and his hives of kikaichū and rinkaichū had mostly perished from the concussive force of the exploding clone. Torune would not survive for much longer.

Fū took mostly concussive damage from the blast and was slammed into the wall next to the entrance causing him to spit up a significant amount of blood before his slid down the wall unconscious. Fū received a severe concussion and some internal bleeding which took him out of the fight entirely.

Danzō scowled and decided to lead the fight outside so he could unleash his full power. His reinforcements should be arriving soon, but he couldn't remain in this narrow room now that his guards were down. Danzō turned on his heel and began to sprint up the hallway towards the entrance; he was intercepted by Neko and her Anbu team who come rushing in when they felt the explosions.

Danzō threw up a quick Doton: Doryūheki to block the hallway off temporarily while he scrambled to come up with a plan to get out of this mess. He just had to find a way to stall for just a few more minutes so the reinforcements hidden in the sub-levels of the south wing would arrive. They should be here at any moment if they were following the emergency plan correctly.

At this point, Danzō figured that Makoto had failed to acquire Naruto. He would have to cut his losses after this while his reinforcements distracted these worms and he escaped using Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Hiding Mole). Then he would trigger the demolition seals to finish them off and destroy all the evidence.

While the loss of rare jutsu and scrolls he had in this base would be lamentable, he, at least, had all his rare items and copies of most of the library in his main estate. It would only be the historical scrolls and books that would be lost, which was not a major blow to his efforts. Some of those artifacts were rumored to have strange and destructive powers, but he could always track down another copy or more leads on the item's locations themselves.

Danzō turned towards the group and prepared Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon) to try and flush the group away from him and out towards his approaching reinforcements.

Itachi and Kakashi countered with Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu and the twin fire dragons reduced the water dragon into steam.

Kakashi took another chakra seal to prepare his next attack. He had created a clone while Danzō had tried to flee from the base, knowing that Neko would prevent him from escaping. His clone should be in position now. Giving the signal to Hinata and Sasuke, he waited for his opening.

Sasuke used Raiton: Gian Yari (False Darkness Spear) at Danzō, who countered with Fūton: Shinkūgyoku launching several spheres of cutting wind chakra at the group.

Itachi ran through the hand seals and used Katon: Karyūdan (Fire Dragon Bullet) which overpowered the wind spheres and grew hotter as it approached Danzō

Danzō was forced to use Izanagi for the first time as he couldn't perform a water technique strong enough to block a wind laced fire attack of that magnitude and his wall blocking the hallway to the entrance had dissipated, which meant he now also had a squad of Anbu at his back.

As Danzō phased back into existence in under a minute, to spare his other 9 remaining Sharingan, he was shocked to find himself grappled and dragged partially into the ground before Kakashi charged at him with Raikiri ready.

Kakashi's clone had been waiting underground using Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu to wait for Danzō's reappearance from Izanagi so that it could use Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu) and keep him in place for Raikiri to strike. It was pure luck that Danzō emerged within his range, but Kakashi wouldn't complain.

Team 7 and the others had been warned about Danzō's grotesque arm of Sharingan and the ability Izanagi by Itachi before they confronted Danzō. It had been a startling realization for Sasuke when Itachi revealed the truth to him. If he had confronted Danzō, he would have died in vain thinking that he had managed to kill the bastard only to be cut down by a surprise attack.

Danzō scowled as Kakashi's arm was driven into his chest and Izanagi teleported him into the hallway. Danzō took the opportunity to flee into the larger training area before the crossroads and hopefully meet up with his reinforcements.

Itachi and Team 7 chased after Danzō with a clone leading the way to trigger any traps laid by Danzō. They were not surprised that he was fleeing from them. The Hokage had said that Danzō, while powerful, always tried to avoid a stand-up fight when possible unless he was completely confident of an easy victory. Otherwise, he would prefer to let his forces distract you while he used his wind affinity at range.

Danzō was surprised to run into a group of Naruto clones who wasted no time attacking Danzō with a flurry of shuriken followed by Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone) and Fūton: Daitoppa while two more completed Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Blade Jutsu)

Danzō had no choice but to use Izanagi for two minutes to escape the massive barrage of wind enhanced shuriken, and cutting blades of wind from Naruto's surprise attack, but Danzō was fortunate that most of the clones had dispersed from using up their remaining chakra.

Two clones charged in and began engaging Danzō in a sloppy taijutsu fight. Danzō scoffed at the terrible form displayed by the jinchūriki and was easily able to block and counter their attacks using his left arm and sword cane wielded in his right arm.

Usually, Danzō would not engage in taijutsu if he could afford it since he feared sustaining damage to his Sharingan arm, but with the poor display of taijutsu shown by the clones, he decided to dispel them instead of using Kawarimi to gain distance and dispelling them with a jutsu. He also wanted to save his replacement jutsu for when Team 7 eventually arrived. Seeing Naruto's clones made Danzō snarl in anger as he knew that the damn demon brat was holding back his reinforcements. His operatives would not be utilizing their full power since all of them knew he wanted Naruto subdued not killed.

Danzō failed to realize that Naruto had developed the strategy of making his clones use sloppy taijutsu by watching Shikamaru during the preliminary rounds. Opponents were more likely to remain in range and simply block and counter his clumsy attempts. If they displayed too much skill, then the opponents would maintain distance or use more complex attacks to destroy them quickly, and he gain an opportunity to plant the seals.

Danzō didn't realize that he now had a level 3 gravity seal and a chakra draining seal planted on his left arm.

With no more Naruto clones in sight, Danzō began trying to make his way towards the battle he could hear between his reinforcements and the jinchūriki who had escaped.

He scowled when he felt the gravity seal kick in, he was barely capable of standing! The brat had tricked him with that foolish taijutsu display; he could hardly move with the damn seal on him and his chakra was draining quickly. Danzō began to remove the seals on his arm when Izanagi triggered again because Sasuke had finally caught up with him and had driven a Chidori through his chest.

"Just die already! You son of a bitch!" Sasuke yelled as Danzō vanished only to appear back in the hallway towards the exit.

Danzō had to send a Fūton: Daitoppa down the hallway to blow Neko and her support team back into the security room before the entrance he had hoped to use in his escape. Now that it was evident he would remain cut off, he turned and quickly used Fūton: Shinkūha (Vacuum Wave) to send more cutting blades of wind at Team 7 and Itachi.

Danzō then used Shunshin to move back towards the crossroads entrance in a desperate attempt to reach his reinforcements, but he was slowed and getting low on chakra fast. Now he couldn't even use Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Hiding Mole) to escape as he planned. His only choice was to reach his reinforcements before he could crush these insects. Then he would make that damn brat pay for putting his filthy hands on him.

He couldn't believe these worms were ruining everything he had worked so damn hard to accomplish. All because of that fucking demon brat, he was losing everything.

Now, Danzō just wanted revenge on that little shit who had brought everything to ruin around him. He had just the jutsu to do it too if he could reach the little bastard. He had five more Izanagi to get it done.

Danzō realized how arrogantly foolish he had been confronting this team as he did. He must have been slipping in his old age just like he accused Hiruzen of. Konoha would be in ruins because of this, and it would be partially his fault. If they just gave him the Kyūbi brat, then everything would have worked out just fine.

Danzō managed to remove the gravity seal before he had to use Izanagi again to avoid another fatal jutsu that Kakashi sent at him. He kept Izanagi on as he quickly ran towards the crossroads with Team 7 hot on his heels.

Canceling Izanagi when he entered the hallway without any resistance, Danzō used the last of his chakra for Fūton: Shinkūha Renpa (Vacuum Wave Barrage) and spun in a circle as soon as he emerged from the central room. This move sent several sharp cutting winds down all of the pathways in the crossroads and behind him for good measure to drive Team 7 and Itachi back down the hallway leading towards the training area. He then threw several explosive tags behind him and detonated them to block Team 7 off from reaching the crossroads.

Naruto had seen his clones tag Danzō with the seal and disperse after he destroyed them but a sudden charge by a group of Root members coming in from the east and south hallways redirected his attention. He had just completed a Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu and was forced to Kawarimi with a clone when the group countered his wind attack with three Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu.

Naruto was caught off guard by the cutting winds sent by Danzō and the blades of wind slammed him into a wall with a large gash across his chest. The force of the attack knocked the breath out of him, and he coughed up some blood as he slid to the ground, dazed by the forceful impact against the wall.

Danzō saw that he hit the real Naruto and charged forward, stabbing Naruto in the leg with his sword cane and pinning him to the ground so he wouldn't be able to avoid his final attack. Naruto cried out again as Danzō dug the sword through his thigh and twisted a little to ensure the blade was fully lodged into the floor.

Danzō knew he wouldn't survive, but he had his Ura Shishō Fūin (Reverse Tetragram Sealing) to ensure that the fucking demon brat would go to hell with him. His suicide seal would ensure that the Ura Shishō Fūin would trigger and seal the brat away in his corpse. Hopefully, the demon brat would be burned alive when the cremated his body.

Danzō had finally lost his mind completely. He had been steadily losing his mind for years but with Root being as secretive as it was and Danzō being so capable of hiding his emotions, no one realized that he had essentially gone senile until his missions had begun to go sideways more often.

With each failed mission he would lose quality operatives and the losses expounded on one another until he no longer had any more talented agents who could make up for his insane plans.

As he continued to lose his best agents, he continued to blame everything else for going wrong and had fixated on Naruto as the cure-all to his problems. Now, his inflated ego and insanity had finally caught up with him. His crazy dreams of world domination caused him to take short cuts and enact less sophisticated plans with obvious flaws.

Flaws that his mindless tools wouldn't dare point out because they obeyed Danzō's every order to the letter and were incapable of providing criticism. Especially when Danzō had no qualms about cutting them down to achieve his own goals. He had just proven that by eliminating his only chance at escaping alive by flooding all the hallways with cutting wind chakra to take Naruto out. Danzō had taken out his reinforcements without even realizing it.

Naruto was low on chakra from blockading the crossroads of the base. Even with all his clones fighting with him and flooding the hallways with powerful combinations. He had whittled the large group of 40 down to a few dozen but had been losing ground to the remaining members before Danzō finished them off for him.

"You ruined everything you filthy demon. If you had just fallen in line like everyone else, none of this would have happened! The invasion wouldn't have happened, and the Hokage wouldn't be dead because of you." Danzō snarled

Naruto gasped in shock at the news and tears began to come to his eyes.

"That's right! While you were busy screwing pretty little Makoto, your precious Jichan died, and Konoha is burning to the ground all because of you! I'm gonna make sure I send you back to hell for what you have done." Danzō spat.

Danzo performed several hand seals to trigger the demolition seals for the entire base; then he ran through the hand seals to activate his final attack and trigger the seal that would give him a heart attack. It only took a few seconds before Danzō clutched his chest and started to cough before he fell to the ground, dead. Several seals lit upon his corpse as he collapsed before the seals began to spread across his body.

Team 7 and Itachi had been trying to get through the rubble blocking the hallway, but when the entire base became lit up with an eerie red light, they knew the situation had gone from bad to worse.

"We have to run, NOW! The whole base is going to explode!" Kakashi said as he saw the demolition seals flare to life.

"NO! We can't just leave Naruto like this!" Sasuke yelled out as the ground beneath them began to rumble, and cracks were beginning to form along the walls and floors.

The demolition seals on sub-levels 5 and 4 had already triggered, and the structural integrity of the main levels began to weaken. The demolition seals on sub-levels 3 and 2 were already in the final stages and about to explode, which would cause substantial structural damage to the main level before the main level seals finished demolishing the base leaving nothing larger than a small boulder remaining.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, but we have no choice. We only have a few minutes to flee." Itachi said.

Sasuke just remained stunned as his eyes began burning and tears were pouring down his face. He couldn't believe that Naruto would die like this. His only friend would die because Danzō was a cowardly bitch.

Sasuke didn't even notice that Itachi had thrown him over his shoulder and began to run because he was so stunned with disbelief.

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata started to cry as Kakashi partially dragged her towards the entrance. She was running along with him, but Kakashi was much faster, and he wouldn't release her arm.

Kakashi and Itachi made it out of the base with a minute to spare before they saw a large black orb appear out of the ground and swallow everything inside of it. The orb eventually disappeared and left a huge crater in its wake which collapsed after a few more subterranean explosions made the ground tremble from the force.

Hinata clung to Kakashi and cried while Sasuke collapsed on the ground and yelled in anger and grief.