Four days have passed since the preliminary round of the exams ended. During these last few days, Hiashi has been trying to figure out how to handle the issue he learned about from his daughter and nephew. Apparently there's a girl who is not part of the Hyuga Clan, but can use the Gentle Fist style. Something that should not be possible. However he has no reason to believe that his daughter and nephew would just tell him this for the sake of lying.
Truthfully he could not believe that someone would be as careless with their old clan scrolls. Typically a clan would burn old scrolls if they've made new ones to replace the old ones. This is to protect a clan's secrets from leaked out to someone who is not of the clan. It's considered a crime to steal another clan's secrets.
However stealing isn't what took place. Idiocy is, so even if he wanted to, Hiashi can't really fault the girl. Considering that she found them in the trash as Hinata told him.
The elders on the other hand are not happy. Not that their reaction was unexpected. They wanted to take action against Sakura. But knowing she was under Mikoto's protection meant she's off limits unless the Hyuga clan wants to risk facing the wrath of Mikoto herself. And Hiashi would be damned if he let that happen. He was not a fool. There's no way he would stand a glimmer of a chance against Mikoto.
Thankfully he's has a good relationship with her so the chances of that realistically happening are slim.
As of right now he was in his office, the elders felt that Sakura may be making a mockery of their clan's sacred taijutsu with her inability to not fully utilize it like those of Hyuga blood. Hiashi knew that couldn't be the case judging by Hinata and Neji's description. So to satisfy the elders, he came up with something that should hope to shut them up. He plans on going to the Uchiha residence to talk to Mikoto about it today.
Hiashi prays that Mikoto doesn't take this the wrong way. Because if she does then he's worried greatly about the future of his clan.
While he was getting himself ready to go see Mikoto. A certain white haired sannin just arrived in Konoha.
(Elsewhere)
"It seems our chosen ones are progressing much faster than we anticipated." Mayuri spoke to her two other friends. They were all in a separate space watching the events of the world take place.
"I'll say, young Sakura has come far with her bloodline for not knowing too much about it. I wish she would call it Second Gear instead of warrior mode though. Her bloodline is that of the rare gears of legend. The legend of the wolf tribe. It's amazing how close she is to achieving the true lightning of the wolf tribe. Only those with the bloodline are able to ever achieve it and it's still rare for those with the bloodline to achieve it. I and my great-great-great grandfather are the only ones who have so far who are in our tribe." Fenrir voiced his opinion.
Artra nodded in agreement. "Yes I'm quite proud of how in touch Naruto is with his inner dragon already. Heh and here I thought he'll need a lot of my help training in the dragon arts."
"When should we make our existence known to them Artra?" Mayuri questioned her long time friend.
"Not yet, it's still too early and honestly we might not even be needed yet with how advanced they are at this stage of their lives. I believe it's best to continue letting them be trained by their mother. She's done a hell of a job so far. We have no right even as gods to interfere with a mother's teachings." Artra said.
Both Fenrir and Mayuri agreed on that point. All of them are forever grateful towards Mikoto for the role she played and is still playing for their chosen ones.
"It's too bad I was too late to snatch her up. The Phoenix Clan would have loved to have her." Mayuri said more to herself.
"So if now is too soon then when Artra? Is it really ok to risk them signing different summoning contracts before ours?" Fenrir questioned.
"It shouldn't be an issue, we need them to make allies with other summoning clans anyways. This way less wars between the animal summoning clans can take place if they succeed. Besides you two did mark your chosen ones right? Then regardless of who they sign a contract with. Their marks will show that they are already connected with us. Plus I never said they couldn't sign our contracts, I said that we as in us three should not make our existence known to them yet." Artra crossed his arms.
"You make good points there. However I believe they should receive our contracts first. This way we can make sure that neither of our chosen ones learn Sage Mode from any of the other summoning clans. At least until they learn it from us first." Mayuri said.
"I agree, since they will begin soon facing even greater challenges. This battle with Orochimaru is only the beginning for them. But it will be highly entertaining to see them prevail." Fenrir voiced.
"Very well, it's agreed that it's time for them to receive our contracts. During their month of training, we shall make it happen." Artra spoke.
"It's a good thing each of us have acting leaders of our clans. This way we won't have to show ourselves to approve of them. It also helps that each of our acting leaders know to approve of them once they meet with the chosen ones." Mayuri told them.
Artra and Fenrir nodded in agreement.
(Konoha)
"Hey it's been awhile you two." Naruto said out loud.
The blond genin was at the Konoha Cemetery. He decided that today he was going to visit his birth parents. This is one of those things that he kinda keeps to himself. While he's not ashamed of it by any means. It's something that he likes doing alone, so he keeps it a secret from his family.
"I doubt you two know this, but the chunin exams are happening. I'm in the finals thanks to all the hard work I've put in over the years. I'm really confident in my chances against Gaara as I am now. But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop training. I still have a long way to go ya know?"
He stopped speaking for a moment. Naruto glanced down at the flowers he put down for them. Red flowers for Kushina and yellow flowers for Minato. Thankfully their graves were right next to each other.
Speaking up again. "In case you are wondering, mom is doing fine. A few weeks ago we met Tsunade and brought her back home to Konoha. So mom has been even happier than normal. Besides all the Iwa and Orochimaru nonsense, life has been good for all of us. I do wish you guys could see how strong I've gotten. Not only me but Sasuke and Sakura too. I'm sure you guys would've loved those two. I know I do." He grinned softly.
Naruto spent about an hour there just babbling about random things. In some ways he felt that the spirits of Minato and Kushina were listening to him as he went on. Eventually he felt that it was time for him to leave.
"Well I better get going, I'm getting hungry and I need to go over some of my notes for a new seal I'm working on. I'll be sure to stop by with some new flowers before the finals take place. See you guys later." Naruto waved then walked away from the gravestones.
He never noticed the soul forms of Kushina and Minato staring right at him with proud and happy smiles on their faces.
While walking out of the entrance, he heard his name being called.
"Yo Naruto!"
The blond saw that it was Kiba who called out to him. He wasn't alone either, both Hinata and Shino were with him. Can't forget about Akamaru either.
"Oh hey you guys." Naruto greeted them with a smile.
"Hi." Shino said.
"H-Hello Naruto-kun." Hinata vowed to not pass out in front of him.
"What are you doing here?" Kiba asked.
"Visiting my parents." Naruto answered.
"Parents? But you're an orphan and was adopted. What do you mean parents?" The Inuzuka wondered.
"I mean what I said, just because I'm an orphan doesn't mean I didn't have parents. How do you think I was made Kiba?"
Kiba, still feeling sore about his humiliating loss towards Naruto, spoke foolishly. "It doesn't matter how you got here loser! I heard your birth parents never even wanted you anyways. Word around is that your father was a failure as a man and your mother was a street whore who was raped by your pathetic excuse of a father. You think you're better than me because you won our fight? Get real, you're nothing. Nothing but a fucking disgusting demon in disguise like my father called you before he died! You should be put down like the demon you are!" He roared in anger.
Shino and Hinata were shocked by Kiba's outburst. They couldn't believe what he just said to Naruto. Akamaru was shocked as well.
"Kiba how could you!" Hinata voiced in anger.
"I'm disappointed Kiba." Shino frowned.
While it does hurt being called a demon by one of his peers. Naruto is not going to let Kiba's words get to him much if at all. The Inuzuka isn't the first one to call him a demon and probably won't be the last. He does want to punch the hell out of Kiba though.
"Are you done now? Is this because I won our first without even trying? Because if it is then you need to get over yourself Kiba. If your loss bothers you so much then do something about it and go train to get stronger. Rather than wasting your breath insulting me." Naruto looked at Kiba with a bored expression.
Kiba growled. For some reason, just seeing the expression on Naruto angered him even more. He felt that as an alpha male, he's being disrespected by a lesser man.
Taking out a kunai from his holster, Kiba charged towards Naruto with malicious intent. "DIE NARUTO!"
Naruto raised an eyebrow at the Inuzuka. 'Is he serious? How stupid can he get, doesn't he realize his consequences? Hm guess not, oh well guess he'll have to learn the consequences of his actions the hard way.'
By standing in place, Naruto let Kiba stab him in the stomach with the kunai. Next Kiba took out another kunai and stabbed Naruto in his shoulder. The blond did grit his teeth a bit. He was used to minor stab wounds such as shuriken and kunai being lodged in his arms or legs. Being stabbed in the stomach in a new experience for him however. Nothing he couldn't handle but the pain was still there.
Kiba backed up and smirked. He was satisfied with what he had done.
Hinata and Shino were beyond shocked by what they just witnessed. Hinata felt something break inside of her once she saw Naruto cough up blood. Taking a step forward, her Byakugan activated instinctively. Before she realized exactly what she did. Hinata gave Kiba a several fierce strikes to his tenketsus to block off his chakra.
Kiba cried out in pain as he fell to the ground. When he turned his head around. His eyes widened in fear seeing the look Hinata was giving him. In all the years he has known her, Kiba has never seen Hinata look so angry.
"KIBA WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! HOW COULD YOU STAB NARUTO! HE'S OUR COMRADE!" Hinata raged at him.
That's when Kiba's eyes widened even more once he realized what he just did. 'W-Wait..what did I just..?' He questioned himself internally.
"ANSWER ME KIBA!" Hinata yelled.
"I-I-I d-d-don't kn-" He stuttered.
Shino cut him out with a cold tone. Colder than anyone ever heard him speak before. "That's not good enough Kiba, you just tried to murder a comrade. Over a simple loss in a match." You could hear the disgust in his tone.
Akamaru couldn't even look at his master anymore. He felt betrayed by him with his actions. So instead he was checking on Naruto. "Arf! Arf!" He rubbed his head against the blond's leg.
Naruto grinned softly at the ninken. He always liked Akamaru, so did Kurama surprisingly. Another thing he was greatly surprised about is Hinata's actions against Kiba. And he thought he witnessed a different side of her during her fight against Sakura.
"I hope you realize the consequences of your actions dog boy. You're the son of a clan head just like I am and you attempted to kill me. You also know the law regarding Konoha shinobi attempting to murder another fellow Konoha shinobi." He spit out some blood.
"Are you ok Naruto-kun?" She instantly felt stupid for asking such a obvious question.
To her shock and relief, Naruto waved off her concerns. "I'm fine, I'm an Uzumaki so I have a healing factor that's kicking in. It's stopping the bleeding."
Hinata and Shino were pleased to hear that.
"So what do we do about him." Shino gestured towards Kiba.
"I'm going to bring him to the Hokage for questioning. This is not going to end well for his clan. He basically just declared war on the Uchiha by attacking a child of the clan head." Naruto made a seal-less shadow clone to place a paralysis seal on Kiba and carry him.
Hinata and Shino understood the consequences of Kiba's actions in full. Being clan heirs, they are required to know the laws of their respective clan. They hate how they their former comrade made his idiotic decision.
"I see, we'll leave you to take care of that then." Shino said.
"Yeah, do you mind if I use you two as witnesses? I'll need it to support my claim." Naruto asked.
"I don't mind at all Naruto-san, you have the backing of the Aburame Clan. I will make sure my father knows of the situation." Shino replied.
"Same with me Naruto-kun, you have the backing of the Hyuga as well." Hinata spoke up.
Naruto felt grateful towards their gesture. He didn't expect to have their clans backing him.
"Thank you, I'll see you guys around." The blond and his clone used shunshin to go to the Hokage's office.
Imagine the old Hokage's surprise when the young blond suddenly shows up in his office.
"Naruto…" He trailed off seeing the blood and stab wounds. "What happened?" He questioned.
"This." Naruto pointed to Kiba. "Idiot stabbed me twice because he couldn't get over the fact that he lost in our match in the prelims. I was making my way home until I ran into him and his team. He not only insulted me but he insulted my birth parents. Then he broke the law by calling me a demon. I don't know why you still have up that law but that's not important. Since it's still active that means he broke it. I also have witnesses being his own teammates. The heir of the Aburame and heiress of the Hyuga."
"I see." Hiruzen said as Naruto's clone tossed Kiba on the ground. Kiba avoided the harsh gaze of the Third Hokage. He felt very intimidated.
"Anbu!" Hiruzen called out. Several anbu members appeared before their leader. "Take him to the T&I department for questioning and I want his mind checked. Once done tell Ibiki I want him in a holding cell until a decision is made about his actions." He ordered.
"Yes Lord Hokage." The anbu answered collectively. One picked up Kiba then each member left using shunshin.
"Any particular reason you let him stab you?" Hiruzen wondered.
"To see if he was really going to go through with it. Plus for his safety, it's better if the situation was handled this way. Because I can certainly guarantee that Kiba would've been gravely injured if not outright killed by any of my family members if they heard about his attempt to kill me. They would've stopped at nothing until they were satisfied. He's better protected being locked up than he is being free. I didn't even touch him once besides my clone carrying him. Hinata is the one who hit him once he had done the deed." Naruto answered.
Hiruzen sighed. 'It's always something involving this boy. To be honest I'm grateful for his smart decision making. We would've lost various members of the Inuzuka Clan if Mikoto and her kids were to break into their compound in search of Kiba. I wouldn't have been able to do anything about it either since Kiba's actions were a declaration of war towards the Uchiha Clan in a way. Although this will not end well for the Inuzuka at all. Once word gets around, their reputation will probably go down the drain. Especially with the type of political power Mikoto has. Hopefully her and Tsume can work something out.' He thought to himself.
"Good decision making, you may have the mindset to be the Hokage, Naruto." Hiruzen smiled a grandfatherly smile.
The blond still isn't too fond of Hiruzen. "Maybe, but there's no way I can be cooped in an office all day everyday. It's just not my style, besides why should I be the leader of the people who hurt me multiple times in my childhood? I'm already doing them a great service by being a shinobi to protect them. They don't need more unless the situation requires more out of me. For now all they are getting is my services as a shinobi. Nothing more." His tone held conviction in it.
Hiruzen respected the blond's opinion. He knows if it was him, he would've left this village a long time ago. It makes Hiruzen feel extremely guilty at his attempts of trying to manipulate Naruto when he was younger.
"It never hurts to think about it Naruto. I can see the same thing I saw in your father inside of you. You have great potential to be the leader of this village." Hiruzen said.
And now he just annoyed the hell out of Naruto. "Excuse my disrespect, Hokage-sama, but I did not come here to be coerced into being a future Hokage candidate. I came here to report a fellow shinobi who attempted to kill me. I've done just that. I will take my leave, I'm sure you will be seeing my mother and possibly godmother soon." His tone was curt. He disappeared out of the office using shunshin.
Hiruzen winced at the tone. "Yeah he's still pissed at me." He sighed. "Guess I can keep trying to make it up to him by making sure Kiba faces a severe punishment." He decided to get another anbu to go contact Tsume Inuzuka.
While Naruto was taking care of his problems. Over in the Uchiha residence, another one was being discussed.
"Ok Hiashi, let me get this straight. You want Sakura to fight against three hand picked opponents of the elders choosing to satisfy the elders because they can't handle the fact that someone outside of the Hyuga can use juken?" Mikoto wanted to make sure she heard correctly.
She was sitting between Tsunade and Sakura. Shizune was holding Tonton in her lap while sitting in the other chair. Kurama is resting in Tsunade's lap. He only has one of his tails showing so Hiashi doesn't start suspecting anything. He's enjoying the feeling of Tsunade's fingers brushing through his fur.
Hiashi is sitting across from Mikoto. "Yes."
"Seriously Hiashi can't you tell them to shut up and deal with it? You're the clan head in case they forgot." Tsuande wondered while still running her hand through Kurama's fur.
"Trust me Tsunade-sama I have, that's exactly what stopped them from taking action against Sakura. I told them that they would be facing the wrath of Mikoto if they dared go out of their way to harm Sakura." Hiashi replied.
"Damn right they would, stupid old fossils don't know who the hell they are dealing with." Mikoto glanced at her daughter. "What do you want to do Saku-chan? It's your choice."
Sakura stared down Hiashi for a moment. Hiashi stared right back and was slightly shocked by the cold shiver he felt down his spine once he got a good look of her emerald eyes.
"No offense Hiashi-sama, but truthfully I don't see why I should go out of my way to please your elders. I don't give a damn about their pissy fit about me being able to use your clan's taijutsu style. It's not my fault some idiot decided to throw away clan scrolls." Sakura told him bluntly.
Sasuke snorted, he was sitting next to Shizune except he was on the ground. Shizune had her hand running through his raven locks.
"I don't blame you for feeling that way. Which is why I have a proposition for you. If you do this for me, I will give you a copy of all of our clan's jutsu as long as you agree to never teach them to anyone else but the members of the Uchiha Clan. I will also be open to allying the Hyuga Clan with the Uchihas." Hiashi said.
Well this certainly wasn't an expected response. Everyone was shocked by his proposition. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Sakura smirked. "Well you got yourself a deal! Just let me know when to be there." She told him.
Hiashi nodded. "Tomorrow at noon at the Hyuga compound would suffice. We can work out the alliance and so on after your fights are over with. I'm truly sorry to ask this of you Sakura-san."
Sakura shrugged. "It's fine I was going to tell you to kick rocks until you mentioned that good deal of yours."
Everyone sweat dropped at her answer. Hiashi nodded and excused himself.
"Well that was something." Sasuke noted.
"I know right? More free Hyuga stuff!" Sakura beamed.
Sasuke snorted. "That is true, he didn't even say you had to win in order to get it either."
"I wonder what made Hiashi-sama make such a generous offer? I mean clan heads don't typically give away their secrets to outsiders." Shizune spoke.
"He knew Sakura had absolutely no reason to agree to help him out. If those old fossils would have tried anything against Sakura, it would've backed fired on them greatly. Hiashi had no choice but to offer something worthwhile in order to get Sakura to agree. This is more so the elders will leave Hiashi alone rather than Sakura." Tsunade said.
Mikoto sighed. "I wish he would handle his own issues instead of coming to my daughter for help. But at least we get more out of this than he does."
"So how confident are you in your juken Sakura? Think you can beat veteran experienced users of it?" The slug sannin asked.
"I'm confident but it's not like I'm a master in it. I only agreed because of the free jutsus and alliance. I should be able to take down at least two of them though. I know a way to take them out quickly." Sakura answered.
"And that means she'll blow them out of the water." Sasuke said.
Shizune, Tsunade and Mikoto all nodded in agreement.
"Who is cooking dinner tonight?" Sakura asked, she wanted to change the topic since fighting against members of the Hyuga Clan wasn't important to her.
"It's supposed to be Naru-chan's turn." Her mother answered.
Tsunade scoffed. "Let's hope he doesn't make ramen this time."
"He won't, he told me before he left that he wanted to cook steak and rice for dinner." Shizune said to her master.
"Really? I assumed he was going to really cook ramen." Mikoto sounded surprised.
"Same here." Sasuke, Sakura and Tsunade agreed simultaneously.
They all kept talking for awhile until Kurama suddenly shot up in Tsunade's lap.
"What's wrong Kurama?" Sakura asked.
"Naruto." Was all he said before he hopped out of Tsunade's lap and ran out of the house.
His partner was laying out cold several feet from the house. Kurama could see blood leaking out of his mouth and wounds. He wondered how did Naruto get like this. It's not many people in Konoha who stand a chance against his jinchuuriki.
"NARUTO!" Shouted the rest of the family.
Immediately they rushed to his side. Mikoto being the first there followed by Tsunade then the rest. The slug sannin did a diagnosis on him.
"Tsu-hime what's wrong with him?" Mikoto had worry etched in her tone.
Sasuke, Sakura and Shizune all were worried.
Tsunade sighed but grimaced after a moment. "He's fine but he's been poisoned by a mild poison that's already being countered by his healing factor. His and Kurama's are working over time to destroy it. As for his wounds, they are mostly closed up but for some reason stopped. So that's why there is still a small amount of blood leaking from them. One in his stomach and the other in his shoulder. Neither are deep enough to really worry about. Let's get him inside."
Everyone nodded, Kurama carried his friend inside and the others followed behind him.
It wasn't until an hour later when Naruto woke up.
Mikoto was the first to notice him stirring awake.
"Uugh stupid Kiba." Naruto groaned as he sat up.
"Naru-chan!" Mikoto pulled him into a tight hug. They brought him to the living room.
"Hey mom." The blond relaxed into his mother's arms.
"Mind explaining what's exactly happened bro?" Sakura asked.
Naruto frowned. "Kiba tried to kill me."
"What?!" Sasuke and Sakura shouted.
Naruto nodded, he gave his family a run down on what happened. None of them were happy in the slightest with Kiba's actions. Sad to say, Naruto made the right choice by doing Kiba this favor. Otherwise the poor fool would be in for a world of pain.
"Passing out is my fault, I was too reckless and I shouldn't have stopped my healing factor to show evidence to the Hokage." Naruto said.
He earned a hit on the head from Mikoto, Tsunade and Sakura. That resulted in him having a bruise on his head.
"Damn right you were reckless but it all worked out I guess. Mikoto you better demand reparations out of Tsume for her son's actions." Tsuande told her sister.
"You don't have to tell me Tsu-hime, I already planned on it. Her son just put her in one hell of a bad position. If she knows what happened yet then she must be pissed." Mikoto replied with a smirk.
"Not as pissed as I'll be the next time I see that mutt Kiba." Sasuke growled.
"You probably won't see him again. He broke multiple laws. If you do see him it won't be for a long time." Sakura voiced to her brother.
"Isn't he a clan heir though? Wouldn't they go easy on him?" Sasuke asked.
His mother shook her head. "Perhaps if he was an only child. However he's not, he isn't even the eldest, his sister Hana is by a few years. Technically, she's the rightful heir. I believe Tsume only bestowed the title to Kiba because Hana didn't want to be the heiress."
"Even if that helped clan heir or not, the stupid boy tried to kill a child of clan head. It's not a simple thing you can just sweep under the rug. In some cases what Kiba did can be seen as a declaration of war to one clan from another." Tsunade continued.
That caught the attention of the three genin. All three of them couldn't help but feel bad for the Inuzuka clan if it ever came down to that.
"Kiba's mom must be about to piss herself if she knows what happened." Naruto voiced in amusement.
Kurama laughed. "Can you blame her kit? She must be shaking at the prospect of her entire clan facing the wrath of Mikoto here. Man I would pay to see her slay some mutts."
"No humans?" Sakura's voice held curiosity.
"That's a given, mutts are just a bonus. Well except Akamaru, I won't lie. I like the little pup somewhat." Kurama replied with a smirk.
"Hey what kind of monster do you guys take me for? Do you really think I would go as far as to slaughter their clan over this?" Mikoto asked, feeling somewhat offended.
The Flame Goddess of Destruction received 6 expressions that told her they believed it wholeheartedly.
"Hmph." She crossed her arms. "Ok so maybe I'll leave some of the kids alive." Mikoto admitted, she knew of what she would do just as they did.
"Yeah that's if they don't get caught in the crossfire of your Amaterasu flames." Tsunade said with Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto nodding in agreement.
"How is your relationship with Tsume-sama anyways Mikoto-chan? Are you two still friends?" Shizune wondered.
"Oh yeah we are, but Tsume knows how I am when it comes to my babies. Konoha as a whole can burn to ashes if it comes between the village or my kids. I'll pick my kids every time and if they try anything against them. Konoha will suffer my wrath as far as I'm concerned. I already let the higher ups get away with the massacre. Next time there isn't a next time. Anyways yeah I have a good relationship with Tsume. To be honest as long as Kiba suffers severe consequences, the only thing I'm going to ask of her is reparations. Tsume already has enough on her plate to deal with." Mikoto answered.
Sasuke spoke up. "Sooo...do you think she's still about to piss herself like Naru said?"
Mikoto smirked. "Oh Sasu-chan...she's terrified."