Hello guys, I'm sorry for taking so long but I was very busy this week so this just came out from the "Microsoft Word" (might be some errors)
I hope you like it and leave your thoughts about it
For OuroborosKai I realized I didn't explained it but there is a reason for that thing with Kimimaro's loyalties
Have a nice week!
Chapter 7
It had been two months since the last Chunin exams and Konoha organized an exhibition on his own even his some people accused them of sabotage the normal exams, they could say it was a response to A's interference so Naruto had everything under control
This time there would be only people from Konoha or Hi no kuni in the stadium no nobles or rich people from other places to show the strength of Konoha's next generation; The proctor this time was Kakashi because he would be able to control Neji or Sasuke in case some of them tried to kill some of the other competitors
The first fight was announced between Sasuke Uchiha and Chouji Akimichi so both kids went to the field and after greeting each other Kakashi ordered to start; Sasuke was obviously faster than Chouji and while the big boned kid wasn't that effective without the Nara and Yamanaka counterpart he was a heavy hitter so he just needed one or two hits to win but he was going to be very careful and smart to land those hits
Sasuke jumped to kick him, but Chouji used his partial body expansion to enlarge his right arm and toss him aside with a very rough landing but the Uchiha got on his feet and tried a different approach making some hand seals before shouting "Fire Release: Great Fireball" and the dangerous flames went towards Chouji who used the Body expansion technique to enlarge his whole body and using the Meat tank to use the spinning as a shield from the fire and to push Sasuke
But the Uchiha was able to predict even Chouji's spins thanks to the Sharingan so he used a lightning enhanced kunai to stab the Akimichi and force him to drop the transformation then he charged again but much to his surprise the fatty kid took one of the Akimichi's special pills so he power rose and caused a temblor with a hit from his hand making Sasuke to drop on the ground again and then another partial expansion to enlarge his hand and put the Uchiha against the ground with a force bigger than he could lift on his best day
The strategy was good and would have worked two months ago but now Sasuke had another tricks under his sleeve and covered his had with lightning chakra forcing Chouji to release him with a painful discharge and the next step was throwing some kunai around the place forcing Chouji to retreat to a specific place to activate a trap with ninja wire trough the kunai holes to electrify him or that would have been the idea if Kakashi hadn't cut the wire declaring Sasuke as the winner
"I think Chouji showed good potential and combat effectiveness" said Hiruzen to Naruto and Jiraiya who were in the main position of the stadium as the maximum authorities
"I agree…if this wasn't a match between ninjas from the same village he could have pressed him to death in that hold" added Naruto to second Sarutobi's assessment
"Well that Sasuke kid is quite the star I think he's more than ready" commented Jiraiya getting approval nods from the two other men because with that victory Sasuke practically got a promotion thanks to the trap's set up and the preparation and anticipation that showed while Chouji was able to show good Chunin abilities too "This seems like an excellent idea Naruto" added finally the only remaining sanin in Konoha
"Now it's Shikamaru and TenTen turn" shouted Kakashi calling said genin to the central field so after some moments both were in position despite the Nara's complaints about the gender of his rival and said rival answer 'the kid is right…this is troublesome' thought Kakashi before giving the order to begin the combat
Unlike Konoha's surroundings the battle field was just a place with some ground and lots of room to cast ninjutsu and while last time there were trees and a pond this time someone probably forgot them
Shikamaru knew he has a difficult time because just like Shino he wasn't a frontal fighter, he was more like a supportive ninja who helped another man to deliver the finishing blows but this time he had to show something or he would be sent to another exams again and again until he got promoted 'that's is way more troublesome than fighting this girl' thought the lazy Nara
Tenten took a scroll and summoned a great amount of kunai knives shooting them to Shikamaru's direction forcing him to avoid the weapons; the kunoichi knew something about the Nara's techniques so she had to keep away from Shikamaru but the problem was that one of his abilities was using chakra wires to control her weapons and that didn't worked so far so it was a great price for her safety
Shikamaru tried his shadow imitation technique but his shadow's projection wasn't able to reach the kunoichi who even jumped backwards putting more distance between them so the Nara took two kunai with paper bombs attached to them and aimed for the girl who jumped away to stay safe from the explosions
The Nara tried that tactic again and the result was the same but then he rushed to the stadium wall and running on that he tried to get closer to the girl who ran in the opposite direction until she wasn't able to move "Shadow imitation success" said Shikamaru surprising Tenten who just now was able to see the shadow trend coming from behind her 'so he cornered me into the wall's shadow and then used the shadow of the wall to reach me unnoticed' realized the kunoichi looking at the field "Well it's a good thing a came prepared then" said Gai's student before smiling and start shaking her head undoing her hair but dropping three flash bombs on the ground making a very bright light fill the place
Shikamaru stayed on the stadium wall but Tenten was closer to the center of the field 'She's clever…those bombs make enough light to disrupt her own shadow and release her from the technique' analyzed Shikamaru
"It's time to end this!" said Tenten thinking the flash bomb was only a one time trick so it was time to bring the big guns "Twin Rising Dragons" shouted before putting two storage scrolls on the ground before they rose with Tenten who began shooting an endless amount of thrown weapons
Shikamaru thought it was wind of a joke from fate but the same distance Tenten was so adamant to keep between them was now protecting him from the quick impact with all those weapons before he had more time and space to dodge them and while he was trying to figure a way to get out of that situation Naruto was thinking along the same line 'Despite Shikamaru's weakness with long range fighters in this time it is like a two sides weakness with Tenten having the short range distance so none of them can fight at his best…precisely a good way to show what they are capable of in though situations' pondered the Hokage watching the genin's fight
Tenten had the precaution of shooting unchained weapons because if she used a real wire or chain Shikamaru would use it to extend his own shadow but she suddenly found herself frozen and the worst part was his opponent wasn't even doing the stupid hand seal so he could attack her easily "I think you know the position you are into so I'll ask you to give up" said Shikamaru with a threatening trench knife
'That was smart' thought Naruto while Sarutobi repeated the last move in his mind 'Tenten is a resourceful girl but she needs to be more careful when she's attacking because she couldn't see Shikamaru with those spins and he used the same knife than my son to trap her' concluded Hiruzen after the match "Shikamaru is clearly as smart as you expect from Shikaku's son so I vote for promote him" stated Jiraiya getting approving words from the rest
"Now it's Neji and Lee's turn" said Kakashi calling the remaining students of his eternal rival and Lee looked as energetic as always while Neji looked at him with a superiority air without knowing the real extent of Lee's power
Both kids stood on guard, Lee was happy because just before starting Gai-sensei had said this battle would prove he could be a splendid ninja using just taijutsu so he could use all his power to show Neji and the whole village the result of his training, usually Gai wouldn't be so fool to let Lee use all that power against Neji but he trusted in Kakashi to stop things before they got too dangerous "Fight" said Kakashi and before Neji could blink he saw Lee on his face "Leaf Whirlwind" said the green dressed ninja kicking Neji very hard
The Hyuga got serious and turned his Byakugan on because he didn't remember his teammate had that speed "Were you holding back in our spars or missions?" asked a serious Neji "Maybe but this training had some restrictions I've just been authorized to ignore this time" answered Lee who didn't want to make his teammate suspicious after this test was over "I hope that helps you to put a fight" said Neji with a cocky smile
Neji moved very fast into Lee's guard with the intent of hitting his chakra points but the Konoha's Beautiful Green Wild Beast dodged the strikes and went for a lateral kick that Neji blocked and thanks to his eyes was able to counterattack hitting some chakra points in Lee's leg but the problem for him was that Lee's chakra coils were so little that he could close all his points and the bowl haired kid would keep getting up
Lee moved in a blur surprising Neji when he got at his feet and gave him an upper kick that sent him flying but when he tried to trap Neji he used the Kaiten in midair throwing his teammate away
It was an excellent fight between two taijutsu specialists because while Neji had technique and versatility Lee's speed and strength was second to none in genin ranks so they traded blow per blow for a while because the usually quick disable from the Hyuga style wasn't enough here; Neji wouldn't try to kill Lee aiming to his organs so he had to use pressure points another branch of the Juuken while Lee was trying to find any crack in Neji's defenses
Suddenly Lee took some distance and he started to gather some energy at this point Neji had two choices before him he could wait and see all his power's extent or he could interrupt him in order to avoid greater damage but that would mean he considered him a threat and that was against everything he believed (fate)
What Neji trusted the most were his eyes so he believed in his Byakugan telling him Lee's power was rising too much so he dashed to him using a Juuken strike to the chest that forced him to stop his channeling letting him open just the first chakra gate then both kids took some distance before the final charge between them
Both ran to each other and thrown the final strike so Lee tried to kick Neji while the Hyuga aimed a powerful Juuken strike to the bowl haired kid many ninjas even older than them were surprised to see their speed and ability but in the last instant Kakashi appeared between both of them grabbing Lee's leg and Neji's forearm before doing a light twist and tossing them to opposite directions
What Gai, Naruto, Jiraiya and most senior ninjas were able to see was Lee's leg almost touching Neji's face while the Hyuga's palm was practically burning Lee's clothes before Kakashi stopped the match
The jounin's decision was to declare that fight as a draw while Konoha's authorities discussed about the next match because it was Ino Yamanaka's turn but she wasn't strong enough to beat one of the winners so it was Naruto who told Kakashi to announce a triple threat fight between Ino, Chouji and Tenten
"The final match will be a three way fight with Ino Yamanaka, Chouji Akimichi and TenTen all against each other" stated Kakashi getting cheers and approving shouts from the stands
Said ninjas got in the field in a triangle-like position each one was looking to both opponents with the corner of his eye, but when Kakashi gave the signal it was Tenten who rushed the fight; she knew the others were teammates so she assumed there could be some kind of alliance against her so she had to take one of them out and shot some dangerous spears towards Ino who was quite frightened with the weapons choice
Meanwhile Chouji transformed into the Meat-tank form to roll over Tenten so the kunoichi had to stop her initial attack and went for melee weaponry to face Chouji leaving herself exposed "Mind-transfer technique" said Ino making a square hand sign with both her hands, Chouji was looking a little confused because usually they would wait for Ino's or Shimamaru's technique to hit the enemy but now Ino was the enemy and he wasn't really sure if he was able to attack her, but the blond had another agenda and using the hilt of Tenten's sword knocked Chouji out before surrendering the match to herself, Genma stated Ino as the winner of the match and while the Yamanaka girl was happy with the accomplishment none of the main ninja leaders was too exited about that match
"Well at least we know the Ino-Shika-Cho formation has good cohesion…but that kid is a little soft for my Chunin's standards" concluded Jiraiya after watching the last match while Sarutobi agreed with him and the youngest of the three was still looking at the match
"It was unfortunate for Tenten but she had very little chance against these two but I'll have to speak with Gai about spread her abilities to the next exams" stated finally Naruto looking at the weapon mistress
…
In the end Sasuke Uchiha, Shikamaru Nara and Hyuga Neji were promoted to Chunin; Sasuke's promotion was earned through prior preparation and having hidden aces on his sleeve while Shikamaru's was thanks to his sharp mind and Neji's was for his combat skills and the overcome of the fate curse, because Naruto and Sarutobi saw in the last moments of the fight he acknowledged Lee as a threat on his level and tried to disable him and that was a good judgment he wouldn't be able to do six months ago
Neji and Shikamaru celebrated the promotion with their respective families and Hiashi saw this as the chance to give him Hizashi's last message, that letter opened Neji's eyes because he was ready for truth now and reading that his father chose to sacrifice himself for the clan and the village wellbeing put peace on his hearth
Shikamaru on the other side wasn't that happy because he knew with the new range came more responsibilities but after the invasion and the current tension between the great ninja villages he wanted to be able to take the decisions and be able to protect his friends
Sasuke on the other side didn't have a family to celebrate with so he was quite surprised when he opened his house's door and saw the Hokage on his couch "What's the meaning of this?" asked a very confused Sasuke who didn't expect to see Itachi's best friend on his house "I think you earned some truth so please take seat" answered a very serious Naruto getting Sasuke's full attention "This is one of Konoha's deepest secrets but your clan was trying a coup" said Naruto making Sasuke's eye mouth open in shock "Your father Fugaku and some elders in your clan were powerthirsty so a masked man who claims to be Uchiha Madara played with them filling their minds with plans and arrogance so they ordered Itachi enter the ANBU to spy the village and the Hokage's potential response to this attack but they underestimated your brother's love for Konoha so in the end he was a spy for the Hokage to tell him about your clan" added Naruto explaining the full situation to Sasuke "The real problem started when some of the council elders got word about this because Danzou tried to make a profit from the situation and ordered Itachi to kill the whole clan to protect the village while Sarutobi and me were looking for a peaceful solution but your brother lost hope in the clan when they accused him of Shisui's murder and knocked me out to carry on this last order sparing only you" explained the blond Hokage making Sasuke's tears come out "he loves you even more than the village so he asked Sarutobi to protect you from Danzou or foreign threats… but when I woke up and realized the whole thing I killed Danzou for his treachery and fired the elders when I got the hat" finished his explanation giving some time to Sasuke to process all of this
The young Uchiha was pondering about everything "Why did Itachi say that thing about hating him?" asked Sasuke a little confused because now it seemed he sacrificed himself for the village as a very loyal ninja but when they met he didn't leave that impression on Sasuke "Because Itachi always tries to be a martyr and he wanted for you to kill him avenging the clan and erasing all evidence about the Uchiha's treason" was Naruto's honest answer
Sasuke was thinking about it because the Hokage was one of the people who knew Itachi the most and he could feel he was being honest "Why do you tell me this now?" asked the young Sasuke again "Because in the last chunin's exams Itachi and I talked and I kind of ordered him to follow a new plan and that doesn't end with you killing him" said the jinchuuriki before taking a breath "I want for you to train as hard as you can to become strong because there is going to be a world war sometime soon and Akatsuki is going to use it as a distraction to strike so I need Itachi and you to protect Konoha while I deal with the enemies" confessed Naruto making Sasuke smile because he would be appreciated on his own and not as Itachi's brother
After the speech Naruto left Sasuke to think about it and left his house happy with that outcome because he didn't like Itachi's end of the story he believed he could make things work for everyone and he would use every ounce of his power to do so
…
..
It had been three months since Konoha's special exams when the blond Godaime Hokage got an expected letter, it was from the Grass village's leader asking for help to protect themselves from the Iwa's ninjas they spotted though spies and wide patrols; Naruto knew Iwa was going to attack sometime soon and it would probably be a small village close to Konoha to test their response and that led him in this position…What to do about this?
Jiraiya was away in one of his travels but he had a toad summon him "Hi sensei…I wanted to ask you to watch over the village in my absence" said Naruto surprising the toad sanin before giving him the letter "Are you going there by yourself?" asked the super pervert worried about his godson
"I'm taking my old team as bodyguards" answered Naruto because he trusted a lot in his kids and knew they were able to lift their own weight if things got hard but he was quite confidant on his own abilities "Well if you think that is the best course of action I'll keep Konoha's safe in your place" assured Jiraiya before someone entered through the door "I would like to join the team for this mission" stated Sarutobi Hiruzen in a formal brown robe with a visible battle armor under it
"Were you spying on us sensei?" asked a surprised Jiraiya who wouldn't expect that kind of behavior from the old professor "That wasn't needed I knew Fewks when he arrived to the village" answered referring to the legendary eagle from Grass country that was known as the fastest bird in the elemental countries. Naruto and Jiraiya were his students so both of them knew about his feelings because Sarutobi thought a ninja's legacy was his death and for that reason it wasn't honorable dying from age in a bed while he could die protecting a whole village from a foreign invasion "I don't like the idea but I can't deny you that right…well welcome to the team" answered an unhappy Naruto because he knew Sarutobi was looking to die on that mission 'I'll not let you die on my watch old man' promised himself the blond Hokage before asking and ANBU to gather his students for the mission
After everybody knew about the mission details and Konoha's authorities were informed about Naruto's departure the five ninjas began their travel
….
.
In the grass village the situation was quite dire because their scouts found about a big army coming from Iwagakure in three days' time so they sent a letter asking for Konoha's help but they never expected for the third and fifth Hokages to come and they were with some promising clan heirs being these Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame
So both Konoha's leaders took command of Grass's troops waiting for the enemy's arrival Naruto and Sarutobi took the front position because Naruto wanted something very little people was willing to do before him; by taking a direct approach he was able to kill a great number of enemies so he wanted to force the Tsuchikage to came out to stop wasting his ninjas because usually Kage-level ninja were able to slay thousands of subordinate ninjas unless there was some S-rank between them and there was another risk in the stamina of the first kage on the field because if he tired himself before his enemy equal came to the battlefield he wouldn't be able to fight properly but Naruto's stamina was like no one else thanks to the Kyubi and the sage mode
Naruto and Sarutobi were in the front line, the melee grass ninjas were next with the long range specialist and in the back lines the support ninjas and his team the blond was reading himself for the battle but suddenly a black pattern appeared on the ground to his feet "No…No-NO!" he shouted because he knew what that meant so he looked at Sarutobi who had the most peaceful smile he ever saw on his face "NO-" shouted one last time before disappearing in a smoke cloud
"What was that Sandaime-sama?" asked a Grass ninjas to the legendary Hiruzen Sarutobi "An unexpected reverse summoning but don't worry because that ninjas will not be enough to cross this line" stated the third Hokage with a confident smile before he was surrounded by Naruto's team "What is the meaning of this?" asked Sarutobi
"Hokage-sama asked us to protect you" answered Hinata without looking at the old man's face "Well let's see if you can keep up with me" said Hiruzen back with a grin "Summoning technique" said the professor "What's going on Sarutobi?" asked the monkey king Enma "We're protecting an allied village from Iwagakure's forces so this is the last time I'll call upon you" confessed the experienced ninja crossing a meaningful look with the summon who transformed in the adamantine staff
With Naruto's and the grass leader help they set a wide trap field but that was just to keep the local ninjas happy because as expected Iwa's ninjas attack begun with a heavy landscape makeover with an amazing number of earth release techniques
….
In a very far location Naruto appeared in front of Kabuto and the Akatsuki-response team and he had the angriest face any of them had seen before "What happened? Where are we?" asked Naruto coldly so Kabuto just pointed behind the Hokage making him turn back and see a pair of Akatsuki, it was Kisame and Itachi and all of them were in the middle of Mizu no kuni if all the sea around them was some indication
"Itachi stop playing…the old Sandaime is dying somewhere else and I'm done waiting for Akatsuki's move" stated Naruto surprising everybody even the Uchiha so he took out his tonfas and looked at Kisame "Any last words?" asked Naruto with a serious voice tone; he knew what he said to the Akatsuki Response team about Itachi but they had the worst timing ever and this man was going to pay "Heh-" Kisame was going to laugh but a hard hit on his face sent him very far away
'It can't be…I barely saw him move' thought Mei watching that exchange between the Hokage and the mist's missing ninja because she was S rank on her own so she was supposed to be able of fighting guys like this
'I had never seen Naruto so angry' thought Itachi who was a little off after the loss of his cover as an Akatsuki spy 'I don't know what's happening with the Sandaime but it must be something serious if he's so upset' reflexed thinking about what the Hokage said 'But Kisame is one of his worst opponents in the whole world so this is like a real test for him' realized finally because Naruto was a ninjutsu specialist but Kisame neutralized most of ninjutsu