"What the, why is the pervy sage here?" Naruto asked.
"I should have known he'd do that, Chronos you always were crafty." Death said. "Well as long as I'm working with him, Jiraiya let's take care of these four."
Jiraiya just stood silently before pulling out a kunai.
"It's some form of possession jutsu, we need to get past Jiraiya in order to find this Chronos person." Kakashi said.
"Wait, but who can handle Lord Jiraiya?" Hinata asked nervously.
"I'll handle him, you three focus on Death." Kakashi said while revealing his sharingan.
"Right, we'll take her down." Naruto said. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu."
"Ninja Art Summoning Jutsu." Jiraiya said emotionlessly.
"Time for the brats to perish." Death said as her scythe began to glow even brighter.
Suddenly Death sprinted towards Sasuke and slashed at his head.
"Got you." Sasuke said as he grabbed Death.
"What, my scythe is lethal to anyone." Death said angrily.
"That's true, but clones are a little different." Sasuke said before bursting into flames.
"Nice one Sasuke." Naruto said with a grin.
"Flame Clone Jutsu." Sasuke said calmly.
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"Lord Jiraiya, you need to listen to me." Kakashi said. "You don't need to fight us."
"I hate to tell you this Kakashi, but Jiraiya isn't in his right mind." Gamabunta said. "He's in some sort of trance and I don't know how to break it."
"We need to defeat someone named Chronos, he's using a jutsu to control lord Jiraiya." Kakashi said dodging another fire jutsu.
"Bunta, the oil." Jiraiya said absently.
"Wait that might work." Kakashi said while jumping to his team. "Sasuke, use that jutsu the moment he attacks."
"Right, I'll take care of this." Sasuke said calmly.
"Fire Style: Toad Flame Bomb." Jiraiya said.
"Ninja Art: Flame Control Jutsu." Sasuke said calmly.
"Not bad kid, you're pretty skilled." Gamabunta said.
"You brats are dead, this is where I end you." Death said angrily.
"This isn't working, we need a way to stop her." Hinata said.
Suddenly Naruto felt a shock shooting through the back of his head. "What the, wait that just might be enough."
"What do you mean Naruto?" Kakashi asked.
"I don't know why, but a jutsu just came to me." Naruto said before performing hand seals. "Summoning Jutsu: Reanimation."
"What?" Death asked in disbelief. "How can you use that jutsu?"
"Naruto, that's a forbidden jutsu." Kakashi said. "What are you doing?"
Wait, could that be the reason, Hinata thought to herself. "Kakashi-sensei, I think I know what's going on."
As Hinata said that, a coffin rose out of the ground.
"The reanimation ninjutsu is a technique developed by the second hokage, but he declared it forbidden. The only person to use the Reanimation since then was Orochimaru." Kakashi said.
"That's it, Naruto's using Orochimaru's jutsu." Hinata said. "He used something called Soul Tether Jutsu."
"That explains it, Orochimaru linked his soul with this kid." Death said. "Consider yourself lucky, I can't kill you as long as the snake is alive."
"Wait, how do you know about that jutsu?" Hinata asked nervously.
"Simple, in exchange for our base of operations I taught Orochimaru three of my jutsu, of course they won't work against me." Death said calmly.
Suddenly the coffin Naruto summoned opened revealing the person inside it.
"Wait, what am I doing here?" Haku asked.
"I'll explain later, but right now we could use your help." Kakashi said.
"Before I help you, tell me." Haku said calmly. "Is Zabuza alright?"
"Yes, he actually joined our village." Kakashi said.
"That's good, alright allow me to handle this." Haku said calmly. "Secret Jutsu: Crystal Ice Mirrors."
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"To think that he would be able to use the Reanimation, Death you can't win." Chronos said sadly. "Your jutsu is almost completely used up, I only hope that the preparations will be complete in time."
With those words, Chronos turned to look at a glowing clock.
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"What is this, I've never heard of your jutsu?" Death said nervously.
"It's a powerful jutsu that's going to take you down." Naruto said confidently.
Suddenly Death's scythe stopped glowing and she fell to her knees.
"Wait, what's going on?" Sasuke asked.
"My jutsu, I guess I underestimated you four." Death said weakly. "I guess you'll be meeting Chronos after all, if I keep fighting I'll kill myself."
"In that case just tell us which way to go." Kakashi said. "Oh and Naruto undo the reanimation."
"I'll give it a try Kakashi-sensei, Reanimation jutsu release." Naruto said just before Haku disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Right, well I suppose you've earned it." Death said. "Chronos is east of here, you'll know when you've arrived."
Suddenly Jiraiya collapsed to the ground.
"Oh man, the pervy sage." Naruto said. "Shadow Clone Jutsu."
With a quick nod, the two clones picked up Jiraiya and started back for the leaf village.
"Alright, now we just need to capture this Chronos alive and bring him back to the village so he can reverse whatever he did to lord Jiraiya." Kakashi said calmly.
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"Naruto, is lord Jiraiya alright?" Shizune asked as the clones walked up to the village gate.
"He'll be ok once we catch that Chronos person." said one of the clones.
"Well that's good at least, I'll get him back to the hospital." Shizune said.
"Thanks, don't worry we'll make sure everything works out." said the other clone.
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"Hold on, before we rush in headfirst it might be a good idea for you two to explain what Chronos can do." Kakashi said. "After all you did encounter him when he attacked lord Jiraiya."
"Well, all he did was stop time, but it didn't work on us for some reason." Naruto said.
"He probably didn't think it would matter if you could still move." Sasuke said.
"That's true, and we don't know what else he can do." Hinata said. "Well, he did take control of Jiraiya."
"True, but that might be because of the knife he stabbed Jiraiya with." Sasuke said. "He might be even stronger than that."
"Sasuke's right, we need to be careful." Kakashi said. "Let's get going."
(Death has been stopped by a combination of the Reanimation, and her own jutsu running out. Next chapter squad seven will finally encounter Chronos. As always any reviews or critique is appreciated.)
