A/N: I would like to thank everyone that added this story to their favourite and follows as well as everyone that reviewed the last chapter.
"Ero-Sennin, you have been acting weird."
Chatter and giggles filled the stadium as Naruto placed her hands on either side of her hips, head tilted to the side as her mentor tore his eyes away from one of the female heroes. He blinked at the sight of her and put down his own notebook before raising his own eyebrow at her.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be preparing for your own match?" Naruto pressed her lips into a thin line and looked down at the arena, where her teachers and various helpers helped to tidy up the mess that her two classmates had made. It probably would be another five minutes before the second round of matches could begin.
Naruto finally shrugged and flashed him a smile. "You have been acting weird since the matches begin but you looked really weird during Uraraka and Bakugou's fight."
Jiraiya closed his eyes and blue eyes fixated at him, waiting for him to either explain or to lie to her. Only the chatters of the audience members could be heard as her mentor open his eyes, brown eyes fixated on her bright blond hair and then it looked down at her blue eyes. He took a deep breath and quirked his lips into his smile.
"When I watch that Bakugou fight that Uraraka, I remember Minato." Naruto blinked and raised her eyebrow at her mentor. He leaned forward and looked up at the blue skies. His black eyes seemed faded for a moment and the man turned to her. "Oh, he doesn't have the Fourth personality but that guy's ruthlessness remind me of the Fourth."
"Was he ruthless?"
"Sometimes Minato could be gentle but he could be ruthless when he has a goal in his mind," Jiraiya sighed. "I didn't realize this until his own exams when he fought his opponents. No one actually thought he would be ruthless especially when he fought against that opponent."
Naruto blinked. "Which opponent?"
"My friend's student." Jiraiya sighed and a smile played on his lips. For a brief moment, there seemed to be water leaking out of his eyes and Naruto blinked her eyes when she saw that there were no tears in his eyes. Must have been my imagination. He smiled. "I thought he would go easy on her when I consider his feelings."
"What do you mean?"
Jiraiya looked down at her and blue eyes blinked when those black eyes looked less like black stones and more like ebony. His hand reached out to her, hovering above her head and he dropped his hand on top of her head. She looked up and faltered at the sight of his eyes. Was he really seeing her? Or was he trying to replace her with an image of someone else?
She knew he cared but she doesn't fully knows if he saw her as her, or the child that his student chose to make a jinchuuriki.
"Did you know that Minato was a romantic at heart?" She blinked and shook her head as Jiraiya snorted and let out a laugh. "He was in love with my friend's student since the moment he saw her in school. He must have been nine but he fell in love with her."
"How could he know he was in love with her if he was nine?" Naruto wrinkled her nose and Jiraiya shrugged, looking just as mystified as her. She chewed on her bottom lip and leaned against the wall, blue eyes fixated at Endeavour. The man doesn't make any facial expression if anything his eyes seemed faded out and his lips pressed into a thin line.
"You know it is because he was so obvious in his love with her that we all thought he would just be distracted and let her win," Jiraiya shook his head. "But he did the complete opposite, surprising his teammates and everyone in the village."
His lips twitched downwards and he took one heavy breath in, as if just taking a breath was difficult for him. Maybe it was because the bond between a genin team and their teacher is usually strong. Naruto nibbled her bottom lip and her mentor let out his breath.
"I knew Minato was good and he was a genius," Jiraiya sighed. "But when it came to him and his love for Kushina, I really doubt he would be capable of hurting her that badly. He would write pointless poetry, waxing about the beauty of her hair."
Naruto snorted and Jiraiya looked up at the blue sky, looking at it with a sheepish smile. The clouds strolled through the clear blue skies, almost giving it a gloomy expression and her mentor shook his head. He flickered his eyes at her and letting out a laugh.
The blonde shook her head. "Why didn't he go easy on her if he loves her?"
"I asked him the same question and you know what that smartass told me?" Naruto blinked and jerked her head at the title that her mentor gave for his student. She shook her head and the white-haired man let out a laugh.
"His mother would have killed him for taking it easy on her," Naruto blinked and Bakugou's words echoed in her own ears. Her mentor frowned and shook his head. "I found it hard to believe because his mother was a really gentle woman that hated fighting, which is weird when I think how she married a shinobi. She would have been horrified at what he did."
Jiraiya pressed his lips into a thin line and knitted his eyebrows together as if a thought came to him. He tilted his head and then furiously shook his head as if whatever thought in his head sounded completely crazy to him.
Naruto poked her tongue against her cheeks. "Did your friend's student felt happy that he didn't go easy on her?"
Jiraiya snorted. "She was more pissed off that he beat her and vowed to beat his wimpy ass to the ground."
Her lips twitched at the comment and a laugh bubbles in her stomach but Naruto stopped the laugh from coming out. Instead she just scanned the various crowd members and her blue eyes landed on Uzushiokage and his bird friend. He seemed to be smiling and chatting, only to stop talking and lifted his eyes up to look at her.
Green eyes met her and Naruto stared back at him. He flickered his eyes away from her and shifted to Jiraiya, eyes widening and excitement lit his eyes. Another fan of his books. The excitement faded and then a frown decorated his face.
He darted his eyes to the two of them.
Naruto shook her head and focused her eyes on her mentor. "And why did you act weird with Uzushiokage? You looked like you saw a ghost."
Jiraiya jerked his head at her. "Uzushiokage? Where did you hear that title?"
Naruto blinked and opened her mouth, only to close it when her eyes caught sight of the time on the digital screen. She sweated, bowed down and apologized before dashing straight to the tunnels. Oh god, she was going to be late for her own match.
She would ask him again later.
"Now, it's the moment that you've all been waiting for— the first match-up of the second round!" Present Mic's voice flooded the stadium and wind seemed to be licking against Naruto's cheeks. Blue eyes looked up at the clear, bright sky.
My time to shine. Naruto shoved her hands into her pockets as she walked to the top of the arena. Crowds of people stared down at her, eyes lighting up with excitement and whispers broke out but they seemed slightly blurry to her. She took a deep breath and focused on the raven-head rising up the steps in front of her.
Your chance to show the world what you can do.
"He was relentless in his attacks against his opponent and is a person with a powerful quirk," Present Mic declared as the crowds roared with life. "It is Tokoyami Fumikage."
Time to show everyone not to underestimate me.
The crowd continued to roar, cheering and clapping as Tokoyami came to a stop across the arena in front of her. His eyes focused on her, never showing much emotion not even worry for what she could potentially do to him. No one will stand in my way of winning this whole thing.
Naruto kept her expression blank. "I look forward to fighting you, Tokoyami."
Her classmate bobbed his head and flickered his eyes to the various crowds surrounding them. "This will be a worthy battle for us. I will finally see how Dark Shadow and I will fare against you."
A smile did not decorate her face but the girl nodded, eyes focused on her classmate. This was not just her chance to show everyone what she could do but a chance for her to see how she would fare against other people's Kekkai Genkei. Had she gotten stronger? Or was she still the same person from three years ago in terms of her strength?
She flickered her eyes to the stands and blinked when she saw the various smiles of her classmate.
"And over here, the one that I'm currently rooting for to win the whole thing—the girl that has shown us so far that she is not someone that you could easily take the number one spot, it is Uzumaki Naruto!"
Roars erupted at his announcement.
Tokoyami gazed at her. "I will break your winning streak."
Naruto blinked and stared at the camera, wondering if Hinata was watching over her and seeing that she improved from last time. Her eyes shifted back to her classmate and nodded, accepting his decree of attempting to overtake her spot.
"Begin!"
Without a moment of hesitance, Dark Shadow slithered out of Tokoyami's stomach and charged straight at her. Naruto narrowed her eyes, hands curled into a tightly wounded fist as the creature hovered above her, ready to smash her. He dropped down but the blond-haired girl grabbed hold of the creature, hands squeezing it.
Dark Shadow gasped and withdrew itself.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Several clones appeared and Dark Shadow bolted straight at her, crashing and smashing her various clones. A smile played on her lips as the blond-haired girl jumped up, air swooping passed her hair as Dark Shadow smashed her final clone.
She pressed her fingers together and made fifty other clones. They nodded their heads together, grabbing hold of her as a couple of the clones landed on the ground. Dark Shadow flickered around as Tokoyami attempted to attack one of her clones.
Deception is key.
Dark Shadow charged straight at her, smashing and crushing her various clones until it came back to her. The dark creature snarled, lips curled into an evil scowl and tried to enclasped her with his own claws but Naruto grabbed a hold of it. A punch to the gut will mean another person in the recovery room with Recovery Girl.
She yanked it and began to swing it around before sending him flying out of the ring. The remaining of her clones smiled, rubbed the back of their shoulders as Dark Shadow retreated back into Tokoyami, effectively stopping her in her tracks.
"Now it's our turn!" Her clones roared and charged straight at Tokoyami. One clone punched Tokoyami up into the sky, hands clutched around his stomach as another clone jumped up and wrapped their arm around Tokoyami's neck, smashing him down to the ground.
It is not over yet.
Even though her classmate crashed down to the ground, he stood up. His legs wobbled slightly and there was a bit of blood leaking out of his beaks but his eyes seemed to flash with a bit of an excitement. She curled her lips into an excited smile.
He charged straight at her as Dark Shadow's claws reached out to her, ready to throw her out of the arena. A pink tongue darted out of her mouth as Naruto rolled over, blue eyes darting everywhere. He plans not to give me a chance to think or use my clones. She dashed forward as Tokoyami charged straight at her.
She shoved her fingers against her pockets, fingering for one of her homemade weapons. Smoke bombs? Would that give me enough time to take him out? A claw scratched her and the girl jumped up, eyes darting everywhere before nodding her head.
Taking out the smoke bomb, Naruto dropped it into the ground and smoke began to fill the arena. Brownish smoke wrapped and hovered around the arena just like a ghost as the blond-haired girl landed gracefully into the ground. Five minutes. She had five whole minutes to fight him while he was blinded by the attack.
"A fight in the smokes!"
Naruto pressed her fingers together and took several deep breaths as her clones appeared again. Their eyes flickered at her, lips pressed into a hard frown as they charged through the arena to attack her raven-headed classmate.
She was going to do whatever it take to win.
"That's Konoha's Jinchuuriki."
Whispers broke out in the council hall of Kumogakure as a group of elderly men and women along with A, who stroked his beard at the sight in front of him. All of them sat in chairs with their eyes fixated on the television screen, hands rubbing their chins.
"I heard from one of my spies that Konoha decided to exile one of their jinchuuriki," a member of his council declared. "Not once in these two and half years, has anyone caught sight of her but the fact she is in television means that there is some truth about the rumours."
One of the elderly men shook his head. "But to be in some television instead of being a shinobi, that is just a waste—"
"Is it a television drama?" Another member of the council tapped his fingers against the table and focused his eyes at the smoke-covered arena. "Or is it another country filled with so many powerful and wonderful Kekkei Genkei that we can integrate into our own village?"
A rubbed his chin and leaned forward, dark eyes fixated on the girl. If they wanted to keep her parentage a secret then they did a shitty job; it is clear who her father is. He pressed his lips into a thin line as more whispers followed from his advisor's words.
"Do you truly believe that this thing is not a drama?"
"The proof is in the Jinchuuriki and that red-haired man. When that red-haired man who stood up to defend those two students, who did his appearance remind you of?" Another member questioned. A grinded his teeth together as several of the members flickered their eyes together, lips pressed into a thin line as a memory washed over them. Uzumaki Kenji. The man had been a pain in his neck in the beginning of the Third Shinobi War.
But he died along with all the other Uzushiogakure's shinobi when they infiltrated them.
"He looks like a member of the Uzumaki clan," the council member declared. "I thought we annihilated them during the Third Shinobi War with the help of Kiri and Iwa. Of course we have a few of them in our mist and there is so little of them left, but it seems like the numbers are larger than expected."
Another elder tapped their chin. "They were a large and powerful clan, rivalled only by the Senju, Uchiha and the Hyuga clan. When we ordered the attack, we only broke through five of the six seal barriers that they put in place in their village."
"The old Uzushiokage was a paranoid man," another spoke out with a grimace. "One of my spies mentioned that there were talks of an escape way if anything happened to the village during their war, but they lived in such a small island that the idea seemed laughable. But perhaps the Uzushiokage was smarter than we give him credit despite his old, senile age."
A kept quiet and stared at the blond-haired girl that gave a victory sign when it was announced that she was the winner of her battle. Long blond hair, bright blue eyes and whisker marks decorated her cheeks but what stood out about her was the lack of absolute joy in her eyes. One more jinchuuriki would be good for the village. Konoha was willing to discard her but he would take her in.
He would make her an offer that she could not refuse and B would help him.
"So do we try and kidnap another Uzumaki again?"
A loud clatter was heard as another member slammed her hands against the table, eyes blazing with fury and annoyance at the suggestion. "Do you remember what happened the last time we tried to take an Uzumaki? The Yellow Flash murdered my son in order to rescue her and she had no clan to back her up at the time. We take a member right under their noses and we will have another war again."
The Raikage rubbed his chin and focused on the television screen. "But this is not just any Uzumaki. This is the child of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina and if rumors are true then we can persuade her to build a life in our village. We will offer her a sanctuary in our village and make her see that Kumo will be willing to make any wishes and desires of hers come true."
"Are you certain that she will be willing?" Another elder questioned. "She seemed to have chosen a life outside of the Elemental Countries."
"She can be persuaded," the first elder replied. "If there is one thing that an Uzumaki values it is their family and friends. If we find out which one of her friends in that country is her weak spot and used it against her then the girl will come over. Her desire to protect them will overcome any desire she has to stay there."
The second elder nodded. "And we will have a double benefit of taking her and having another Kekkei Genkai in the village."
The more tools they had, the more powerful their village will be compared to all the other hidden villages.
A/N: Please review and tell me what you think about this chapter.