Previous Translations: Yorokobi - Pleasure/Delight/Joy

Yokubo - Desire/Lust

Kajo - Excess

Shifuku no Kurushimi - Blissful Throes/Blissful Suffering

Tatakainouta - Song of Battle

Zeitakuna Kutsu - Luxurious Torment

Hentai-ryu: Erokenho - Pervert Style: Erotic Fist Art

Konton - Chaos

Kanzen - Perfect

Henka - Change

Harakainokeru - Dispel

Aka-en - Red Flame

Aoi-en - Blue Flame

Kiiro-en - Yellow Flame

Orenji-en - Orange Flame

Tankoshoku-en - Pink Flame

Maho - Magic

Chishiki - Knowledge

Unmei - Fate

Nozomu - Hope

Hoho no Chenja - honestly this one is a mess, but roughly means Changer of Ways

Ryuketsu - Bloodshed

Chikara - Strength

Meiyo - Honor

Budo - Martial Arts

Ikari - Rage

Jumon - Incantation

Himitsu no Sewanin - Secret Caretaker(Keeper of Secrets)

Sento - Combat

Same no On'na - Shark-Woman

Maebure - Harbinger

Shibari no Ashikase - Binding Fetters

Kanpeki - Perfection

Reikan - the closest English word would be Inspiration, but it specifically refers to 'a divine creative impulse'

Sekkyo-sha - Preacher

Aijin - Lover

Kaen Hosha-ki - Flame Radiator (Flamer of Tzeentch)

Himeiwoageru - Which Screams (Screamer of Tzeentch)

Shikkan - Disease

Ai - Love

Zetsubo - Despair

Mi Haito - Undivided/Not Divided

Shibo - Aspiring

Koki - Exalted

Chakra no Bato - Coruscating Chakra/Chakra of Coruscation

Gyokai - Industry

In case someone somehow doesn't know, Hi - Fire

Don'yoku - Greed/Avarice

Yokuatsu - Tyranny/Oppression

Yami no Chichi - Father of Darkness/Dark Father

Raimeiton - Thunder Release, what Naruto has decided to name his mix of wind and lightning chakra

Shuryoju - Hunting Beasts (same word for plural or singular), an alternate name for Fiends of Slaanesh, best word I could find for them

Konton no Omo - Lord of Chaos

Kemonojin - a very jank way of translating Beastmen into Japanese, basically would mean Animal-Human

Gyumao - Ox Demon King

Eiyu - Hero

Gyumahime - Ox Demon Princess

Kajomahime - Excessive Demon Princess

Renkinjutsu - Alchemy

"Uh, Tsunade-sama," Shizune began, confused by a very important new detail about her master, "your, uh, your mark, on your forehead." she managed nervously, not sure how to word it. Sakura raised an eyebrow, not seeing the big deal, it made perfect sense.

Tsunade half expected the mark of Slaanesh to be there, instead it was the same eight pointed star as Kakashi or Ino around the diamond on her forehead, "Well, that's new." she mused before putting the mirror down, "Anyway, report." she ordered, unconcerned by the development.

Shizune sighed but was surprised by Sakura giving a calm and concise report, right up until the end, "-then that Kabuto bastard ran off the coward!" the pink haired girl had grown visibly irate while giving the report.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, she hadn't expected Sakura to already be able to match Kabuto long enough to force him to retreat. Then she glanced at Ino, recalling the young blonde kunoichi was learning iryoninjutsu. The woman nodded, "Alright, dismissed." she said, deciding she'd follow up on Ino later.

Kakashi wasn't surprised they were asked to wait outside the village proper, but he was surprised by the Raikage coming to see them. As best as he could tell it wasn't a henge, although he could only be certain with the Sharingan and didn't want to risk offending the Raikage by unveiling it.

Naruto stared at the large muscular man, dark skin and blonde hair, dressed more like a wrestler than a shinobi, and the man looked irritated, "The Gama Sennin comes with Sharingan no Kakashi and that new brat making waves, Gyumahime." he said, almost lightly.

"Kajomahime." Naruto corrected automatically, annoyed that his preferred title hadn't reached Kumo already.

The Raikage pulled out a small black book, "Iwa lists you as Gyumahime." he pointed out, showing off the page. Naruto frowned at the price not being any different, nor there being any special information or differing titles.

Kakashi was relieved to see it, but Jiraiya already knew that Iwa didn't seem to know Naruto's parentage, the Sennin had forgotten to mention it to the younger pale haired jonin.

"I think there's more to this though." The Raikage began in a dangerous tone, staring down the young horned blonde in question, "Yugito tells me this yokai is on a training mission with you two," he said, surprisingly the blonde just nodded in agreement, "and why would both Sharingan no Kakashi and Jiraiya, of the Sannin, be training one A rank genin." he pondered out loud, almost mockingly, as if the answer was obvious, "So why is Konoha's Jinchuriki in Kaminari no Kuni, Jiraiya?" he asked threateningly.

Jiraiya was surprised by the leap in logic, but he assumed Kumo's information network was better than he anticipated, Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief, worried the Kage had deduced something far different. The Raikage noticed both responses, but assumed they were facades that didn't match up.

Naruto continued to frown as he cocked his head to the side, "Uh, we just need to ask if you were going to really be joining in on Chunin Exams." he spoke up, then he realized he didn't know why that was important.

It was enough for Jiraiya to compose himself, "Yeah, we wanted to be sure Kusa wasn't trying to pull a fast one on us, just being careful in case they planned on impersonating you, Raikage-dono." he explained the reasons behind their mission.

The Raikage considered this an excuse, but a valid one that he couldn't ignore, "Tell your Hokage-dono that I'll see her at the meeting between the village leaders." he said shortly, seeing how they'd react. To his surprise the two older shinobi dragged their student away, a little rude but he supposed they'd confirmed what they claimed they were there to confirm.

Shikamaru wasn't sure what to expect from Maemi, the Imp who had been training shinobi in Kajojutsu. To his pleasant surprise she just played some shogi with him, commented on his laziness in an almost lazy manner herself, and practically let him go without a hitch.

Given the scandalized and jealous looks he received, he assumed the Muse was normally quite the slave driver. So he took his getting away with only a game as an accomplishment and never mentioned it to Ino, insisting that he was sometimes busy from training with Maemi. Shikamaru knew his kunoichi team member would eventually catch on, but until then he had a good thing going.

For her part, Maemi just saw exactly what Shikamaru was, a lazy genius. She knew he'd be more useful if she was on his good side as a tactician, he didn't even really need her encouragement to be capable in combat, although he'd likely fall behind without any motivation the Imp didn't really concern herself with that.

Hanako finally caved, not fully but she did agree to enjoy a smoke and drink with the others she lived with. The woman thought the Imp looked far too pleased, and the Muse even insisted that smoking come before drinking, insisting that the order the body absorbed the chemicals was important and dangerous if done wrong. Hanako had disregarded this warning, drinking first to see how the others reacted to the smoking.

On seeing them having fun, she'd relented and regret it immensely. Her world was spinning, every thought like it had to swim through viscous fluid to reach her consciousness, or whatever was left of it. For a moment to woman thought she might throw up as Karin and Maemi tended to her, "Warned you." the Imp said in bored tones, as if such things should be common knowledge.

Naruto stared at the blacksmith's house, he wasn't too used to small town blacksmith's, and Jiraiya had insisted on coming into this small townstead for the inn but his travel companions both suspected the hotsprings was the real reason. The young blonde had been trying to figure out what prompted this town, unaware that his sensei already knew there had been an iron mine nearby but had dried up while the town was still young.

What had Naruto's attention was not the workshop of the smithy, it was the fact the man had set up a sword as a clothesline, "Why are you using a sword as a washing pole?" he asked once the tanned old man came out of his home to work for the day.

The man raised an eyebrow, "Because it's the right length, and no one will buy the damned thing anyway." he answered, figuring that would be the end of the conversation as he got to work repairing horse shoes.

Naruto frowned as he didn't think it was a very good answer, "Why not?" he asked, noticing that most of the shop was full of farm equipment, a few kunai and kama but no shuriken.

The old smithy sighed, "It's made of some heavy metal, heavier than iron or steel and much stronger. Some Kumo nin insisted it would make the strongest sword in the world and demanded I make the weapon a nodachi." he explained as he worked, mostly showing patience because he recalled his mother teaching him not to be rude to yokai in case they take offense and blight the land or something.

Naruto thought of himself as strong, and the sword was even longer than his tachi, his longest blade which Maemi had measured to be 78cm but of the two the nodachi clearly had the more straight blade, "I want it, how much." he decided, figuring he could gift his tachi to one among his harem when he got home. His mind already picturing how cool it would look, from what he could see under the clothes the scabbard was a similar dark blue to his current scabbards, albeit much lighter in shade, and the handle was wrapped with white silk and had a light blue tassel.

The blacksmith raised an eyebrow, "Who are you?" he queried, not wanting to sell the weapon to some bandit as he got the impression the blonde was confident it was possible to wield it.

"You may address my magnificent self as Naruto-sama! Kajo no Ninso and future Hokage!" Naruto declared boisterously, hands on his hips and chest puffed out proudly.

The smithy considered this, selling to foreign shinobi wouldn't look good, but every Kumo ninja who had stopped in on his village on patrols or just passing through had regarded the weapon as a joke, all insisting the one who had originally commissioned it was insane, "Well, the man who commissioned that blade there died, to my knowledge, leaving me with half the pay for it as an advance before he kicked the bucket at least, but it was a hard metal to work with I tell you, near impossible to fold." he began, talking his product up now that he had a customer on his hands, "So I'll need at least a couple of hundred thousand ryo to cover the cost of labor and the quality of the finished product." he high balled, wondering if the young blonde yokai would even have the money for the weapon.

Naruto cocked his head to the side, "You're using it as a laundry drying pole." he pointed out dryly, pointing to the very weapon that was still being used for that purpose, "I'll give you a hundred thousand." he shot back, having learned something of haggling from Maemi and Haku after the Imp learned how he'd negotiated the price of the ice user.

"Deal." The old smith agreed, taking time from his work to lower the nodachi from its place, tossing his clothes haphazardly over the backs of chairs as he struggled to carefully lower the sheathed weapon.

Naruto grinned, taking the long weapon, only for his grin to falter as he stumbled before catching the weight of the weapon. He noticed the smug look on the man's face and pulled out the requested ryo with a determined expression, surprising the man before lifting his prize up over his shoulders and stomping away heavily with it.

The blacksmith had half expected to lose the sale when the young blonde had barely been able to lift it, and wondered why the young yokai had insisted on taking the weapon anyway. He supposed a normal child wouldn't be able to lift the weapon at all, but even shinobi had turned their noses up at the weight of his weapon, telling him to try his luck with samurai.

"Weird that Konoha hires yokai now, but whatever." The old man muttered to himself as he returned to work.

Neither Kakashi nor Jiraiya had any idea what metal the sword was made of, "Why is it so heavy?" the Sannin asked, surprised to find how difficult it was to lift, "Can you even swing this?" he wondered, barely managing a swing himself, the weight of the weapon throwing him off his stance and overextending his strike further than he intended.

"No idea and not yet." Naruto answered with a shrug, "The old guy said it was special heavy metal, hard too, he said it was hard to fold or something." he recalled and Kakashi sighed, lamenting that only his blonde student would purchase a weapon he couldn't even use.

Jiraiya knew it wasn't his, but as he was the one holding it he decided to test the blade, performing a downward swing at a long fallen over tree. The blade sunk right through the tree, splitting the log as the blade descended slightly into the packed earth beneath, "Oh wow." he muttered, impressed because he hadn't used any chakra, "Well, this is too heavy to be of any use in combat." he decided, giving it back to Naruto who struggled to wipe the debris off his new weapon and sheath it.

"You go through swords like most people go through sandals." Kakashi commented, more amused than annoyed by this. He assumed the blonde could use it like a kenjutsu form of weight training, so no big waste.

"Why did you just have a hundred thousand ryo on you anyway?" Jiraiya asked, raising an eyebrow when the question confused his blonde student.

"Where else would it be? Hinata-chan and the others have enough money to look after themselves while I'm gone." Naruto pointed out, revealing to his sensei that he carried all of his money on him.

Most of the rest of Naruto's journey back to Hi no Kuni with his sensei was spent listening to Jiraiya attempt to explain the convenience of banking, using his own banking book as an example.

Naruto however wasn't paying much attention, "I don't really sell anything across the nation like your books though, so all my income is in Konoha anyway." he pointed out to one of the only points he thought counted, annoying the white haired old man with his disregard of all the other points about financial security.

Eventually the Sennin gave up, unable to convince his student that protecting your money yourself was more effort than it was worth. Kakashi didn't get involved, he saw what both sides were getting at and figured it was best to leave them both be.

Finally, they were back in the highlands leading down into Konoha. Naruto noticed a small shrine at the village they'd stopped at on the way up to the steppes, but they were traveling home faster than they went to Kumo and were making good time so he didn't have the opportunity to go check it out.

It was a pity, and the blonde tried to come up with a way to remind himself to check it out at a later date, but he was distracted by a noise off in the distance. As he turned towards it and tensed his legs, his sensei noticed him, "What is it?" Kakashi asked, used to dealing with animals that turned towards things he couldn't detect. The fact he'd thought of his student as an animal for a moment confused Kakashi slightly, making the man wonder what prompted that subconscious thought.

"I hear fighting, probably with one of our patrols given where it is." Naruto answered, trying to focus on if any of the individuals were people he knew, but with the distance and the overlapping sounds of metal clashing he couldn't make out anything distinct. Jiraiya was glad that minor amounts of urgency was enough to get the young blonde to drop the ore-sama business, he found that embarrassing despite his own kabuki antics.

Kakashi glanced to Jiraiya for approval and received a shrug, taking it as 'good enough' he nodded to the blonde and two sensei followed their blonde student towards whatever battle was happening.

Kiba was having a bad day, on patrol with Tenten and those two chunin who always seemed to be together, usually at the gate, sometimes they had Naruto with them which confused the Inuzuka a little. The patrol wasn't even a Konton patrol, but Sakura and some Inuzuka had checked up on them earlier so back up was a ways off.

This wouldn't be an issue if Tenten hadn't unleashed 'the ultimate shurikenjutsu' and tossed a fuma shuriken covered in what Kiba had assumed were kibaku fuda. Instead most of them released a cloud of white powder, but the Inuzuka hadn't had time to analyze what it was before the four kibaku fuda hidden among the Fuin tags had ignited, creating a massive explosion with whatever that white powder had been.

So now Izumo and Kotetsu were unconscious, Akamaru was transformed into a copy of Kiba, and the two were trying to fight off the enemy who had not been caught in the explosion. The Inuzuka couldn't even tell how many Tenten had caught with her explosion, at least four that he'd seen but there were five dismembered feet around the blast radius, at least he thought they were all feet.

Kiba wondered what was wrong with those marked by Slaanesh, even Sasuke seemed sane in comparison to the nonsense he'd seen Naruto, and now Tenten, pull. He noticed the kunoichi fending off a pair of older Oto kunoichi with a three sectioned staff, "That explosive fuma shuriken was inefficient." he said dryly, hardly able to believe he was forced to be the voice of reason, he was the youngest genin on the mission besides Akamaru technically.

Tenten just grinned, "It was so cool though!" she insisted, hopping back to put some distance between herself and her opponents as Akamaru tore up the ground between them with a Tsuga. Kiba used his own Tsuga to tear into a cloaked man going for the ninken with a wakizashi.

"Does it seem like there are more Oto shinobi than usual?" he wondered.

Tenten nodded, "Yeah, better armed too. I think I got six with that fuma shuriken but there's still a lot of them." she agreed as the two pulled back to defend their unconscious allies.

Then Naruto arrived, startling the two genin with his new fur armor and very long sword strapped to his back. The blonde didn't bother with the oversized weapon for now, readying his katana as he landed before leaping and performing an iaijutsu slice that cut the head off of one shinobi, following up with a slash to the throat of another, bringing the sword back again for a third cut that caught his opponent under the eye before he landed.

Each subsequent target after the first was cut less deep, but only the third avoided a fatal injury and was visibly startled by the appearance of the horned young blonde adorned with golden fur, the mane of the lion making it obvious what kind of animal his new mantle represented.

This left Kiba, Akamaru, Tenten, Naruto, and six enemy Oto shinobi, "What the fuck?" the one with a cut under his left eye asked, raising a wakizashi defensively.

"Consider this a threat." Naruto said cheerfully before flowing Futon chakra into his katana and leaping at the one who had evaded his third swing, this fourth horizontal swing carved right through the blade of the man who had no defense against a Futon infused chakra-to. The blade went through metal, flesh, and bone far easier than a sword should, faster than the man could dodge and sending two halves of the wakizashi, the arms, and upper body of the man back towards his own allies as his legs fell to the ground at Naruto's feet spilling blood and guts to the ground.

Naruto frowned, looking down at the gore he'd caused with a bit of disgust, "How is that a threat?" Kiba wondered as the remaining Oto ninja moved to escape, only for a duo of Kakashi's kage bunshin to halt them with forearms to the throats, the fifth seeming to get away before the real Kakashi grabbed her by the neck and landed on a branch overlooking the ruined battlefield.

"The threat was for his allies." Naruto answered as he inspected the edge of his katana, pulling out a cloth and wiping it clean before he sheathed it.

"Did you guys see the explosion?" Tenten asked eagerly.

Kakashi and Jiraiya were both confused, "No, but my magnificent self could hear it." Naruto answered smugly, the blast had actually drawn his focus to the place despite the distance but he left that part unsaid as the Inuzuka spoke up again.

"Why are you wearing fake lion fur made of gold?" Kiba asked, pointing at Naruto's new clothing.

"It's real, this golden lion was attacking a small farming village, and it had the same mark Slaanesh-kaasama gave my magnificent self so of course-" Naruto began to regale them with what had happened.

Jiraiya didn't want to hear it again, "Naruto-chan here killed it because it couldn't be tamed and took its hide for himself." the Sennin explained.

Tenten inspected the clothing curiously, "Huh, must be heavy." she noted, "Too warm when summer comes too I bet." she mused, then her attention was drawn to the nodachi, "What's with the new sword?" she asked.

Naruto grinned, "It's very heavy." he revealed, taking it off his back to show it off to Tenten. The girl balked at the weight in her hands, not quite as heavy as Lee's weights obviously, but still way too heavy for the size and shape of it.

The kunoichi frowned as she examed the design of the blade, "No tsuba, pretty typical since this type of sword is more of anti-cavalry weapon, these sized weapons aren't for close quarters." she rambled slightly, "What is this made of anyway?" she wondered, trying to think of the metals she knew, the weight was comparable to gold but unless it was an alloy she didn't recognize or it had some kind of steel plating over top of gold that was impossible and she could tell that the latter definitely was not the case.

Naruto shrugged, his shoulders feeling better not to be carrying the weight of the weapon for a moment, "The old man didn't say actually, he just called it a very heavy metal and complained it was hard to fold." he explained.

Tenten considered that, "So we know it's dense and hard." she mused, returning the blade but curious about how it would work, the metal wasn't chakra conductive, just very dense. The kunoichi considered the weapon for a moment longer, "Are you actually strong enough to swing that thing effectively?" she asked.

Naruto shrugged and unsheathed it, going for a swing and sending himself flying with the momentum he failed to stop, not thinking to stick to the ground with his chakra until it was too late to attempt, "Remember the tree walking-" Kakashi spoke up.

"I get it!" Naruto snapped, standing up and trying again. This time he went for a basic downward swing instead, his hooves sunk into the ground as he halted the downward momentum but his shoulders and arm muscles protested the maneuver with pain, "Well, not effectively," he mused, surprising his sensei who had been impressed by the swing, then he did a horizontal swing and needing to spin on one leg to slow the momentum before he could halt it even with his chakra keeping him to the ground, "but my magnificent self will master this nodachi." he declared with a proud grin.

Then Kakashi finally noticed Izumo and Kotetsu, "They good?" he asked.

Tenten nodded, "Oh yeah, they just got caught on the edge of my new bakujutsu!" she said proudly, "They weren't burned, so I guess the concussive force knocked them out cold." she added with a shrug.

Naruto sheathed his nodachi and returned it to his back, hopping over to inspect the damage himself but Kakashi was there first to check their vitals, "Well, they'll live, we should probably get back to Konoha and report the size of this attack." he said, "I guess we should get those corpses to the development team." he added with a gesture to the Oto nin they'd captured.

"I didn't take a suicide pill." One of them spoke up dryly, the others sweating nervously as they had already taken theirs but hadn't been aware the jonin had noticed.

"Oh good, we have one live prisoner." Kakashi added cheerfully, having assumed they'd all taken some kind of lethal poison tablet without his notice. Those things were easy to hide and hard to detect.

Naruto and Tsunade were surprised to see each other, "What the fuck did you do?" the woman asked bluntly.

"Killed a tiger, tried to kill some birds, almost caused a diplomatic incident, bought a new sword." Jiraiya interrupted, giving the bullet points version of events.

"It was a magic lion, with golden fur as you can see." Naruto insisted, not denying anything else on the list as it was all technically true, "So what's with the new mark, Tsuna-baachan?" he asked, pouting slightly, "I was hoping Slaanesh-kaasama would mark you, y'know?" he added childishly.

Tsunade sighed, "Well it makes sense I'm Mi Haito, from what I've heard. It'll help keep the village balanced, at least a little." she explained lazily, unaware that her wording concerned the purple eyed genin slightly as he considered it.

"Well," Jiraiya spoke up, "Raikage-dono said he'd see you at the meeting between village leaders, so it seems he was indeed invited by Kusagakure, not trying to pull the wool over our eyes there." he explained, giving a very brief mission report.

"There was a really pretty blonde woman too, probably roughly Shizune-chan's age." Naruto mused out loud, Kakashi figured that would be what he fixated on.

"Get out of my office you horny brat." Tsunade demanded in a flat tone, prompting the young blonde to practically prance out the door, "I love that kid, but he needs to be humbled at some point." she mused.

Kakashi scoffed, "With the chunin exams coming up? Unless Kumo has been hiding an A rank genin of their own the only challenges Naruto will have are his own team and maybe Gaara." he pointed out, amused by the situation, "Sasuke doesn't seem to think he could touch Naruto with taijutsu alone, but he seemed pretty calm about that so I honestly have no idea how a fight between those two would go right now." he confessed.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, "You don't even know which of your students is stronger?" he wondered.

"Probably Naru-chan," Kakashi added with a shrug, "but Sasuke has a lot of tricks he doesn't show, he hides his abilities until he first uses them. I have no idea what he's actually capable of." he revealed.

Tsunade considered the genin she'd been training lately, "Sakura has become a lot more focused," she mused, "but I'd have to agree." she decided, "However, she might be a match for them, she apparently managed to fend off Kabuto Yakushi in a challenge." the Hokage revealed to the surprise of the two men still in her office, "The result of the fight was inconclusive, but the fact that she held her own is impressive in its own right."

Kakashi nodded in agreement, "Once these genin are chunin, I'm never taking more genin." he said lazily, "I'll never top this batch anyway," he explained with a shrug, "and I should focus on the Konton Gundan after these next Chunin Selection Examinations." he finished.

Tsunade thought that was a shame, "Hm, Naruto-kun will end up Jiraiya's apprentice then." she revealed, "I'll be taking on Ino Yamanaka as an apprentice once she makes chunin myself, so don't think your students won't need you after making chunin." she continued, "Sasuke may be a rude little shit, but he needs your guidance, and Sakura would benefit from a more focused effort training her in the fields she wants to improve in." the woman lectured.

Jiraiya was surprised to hear about Ino, and while he did want to take Naruto as an apprentice, he was still disappointed with the lack of contract with the toads. Kakashi just nodded, "Oh yeah, I'll help them out still, they'll be my cute little students even as chunin after all." he agreed with an amused chuckle.

Haku wasn't sure what to make of Naruto's latest outfit change, especially the new sword. The others were all confused as well, Hanako wasn't even present, sulking in her room still after being sick off the drugs everyone else enjoyed.

Maemi heard the tale about the 'Kajoshishi' and knew immediately it was a Chaos Beast, but wondered how it came to be marked so specifically, "You did well to take it's hide for yourself, Naruto-sama," she assured, "of course it's yours by right." she added, reaffirming the thoughts of the young blonde and stroking his ego all at once.

"My magnificent self would prefer to maintain carrying six swords, so uh, who is good at kenjutsu?" Naruto asked, confusing the others, "Because I was thinking of just giving my old tachi to Haku-chan y'know." he continued, "Haku-chan has good speed but isn't good if overwhelmed in close quarters, so a sword with decent reach should help with that, right?" he asked and Maemi nodded.

Haku considered it, "I suppose I do know how to wield a sword." he answered, "I'm no shinobigatana or kenshi though, shurikenjutsu and ninjutsu are my specialty." he reminded, but he accepted the weapon and put it in his sash, clearly very pleased to have the weapon despite his words, "So if anyone else wishes to pursue kenjutsu seriously I do not mind handing this over." he added, looking specifically towards Hinata and Karin.

The two more official harem girls, one actually set to marry the young blonde eventually, both had no interest so they shrugged, "You're good, pretty boy." Tayuya said lazily, more interested in mastering her flute based genjutsu. Kin was more interested in shurikenjutsu herself, but trained with Otogenjutsu similarly to Tayuya. Isaribi remained silent, not wanting to be involved with any more violence personally and grateful to the others for being ready to protect her new home.

Kakashi had some good advice for his students, and was eager to give it, seeing Sakura's new axe only made him more certain of himself, "Practice swinging your weapons consistently, eventually your muscles will get used to it and you'll have more control and expend less stamina with each swing." he lectured. Sakura stared at him as if what he said was obvious while Naruto nodded sagely as if what he had said was some great wisdom.

The jonin was happy at least one of the two appreciated him, then he glanced at Sasuke and his wooden bo, the staff was the least impressive signature weapon but the Hatake recalled the strange jutsu the young Uchiha could channel through the unassuming weapon.

Watching Sakura's efforts, Kakashi mused that the pink haired kunoichi might have the hardest time, her weapon wasn't just heavy, it was oversized. Naruto had an advantage in that his ridiculously heavy sword was at least a well balanced sword. Sakura was dealing with an axe that was sized for something bigger than a human, the jonin could tell immediately that it was even larger than an axe actually designed for an adult human.

So Sakura had a weapon that was not only heavy, but most of the weight was on one end of the weapon, while all Naruto had to deal with was the handle only being bigger than an adult would need for two hands, but all around far more balanced than an axe. The blonde would likely be able to effectively use it by the Chunin Exams with how he practiced, while Sakura might not be fully ready by then. Kakashi supposed he'd only find out for certain by encouraging the girl to train, Genkei was being a big help there at least by insisting it was absolutely possible.

Then the jonin noticed something strange, "Why is your hitai-ate made of gold now?" he asked Sasuke.

The Uchiha didn't even blink, "Magic." he answered bluntly.

Kakashi was not expecting that answer and there was a long and awkward silence as the implications of that actually being quite possibly true set in, "Carry on then." the jonin decided it probably wasn't a big concern.

Tenten had asked about what kind of metal Naruto's new sword could be made of, and after giving a description the smith who worked behind the weapons store she was a part timer at had one answer, "Sounds like tungsten, kind of rare, naturally present in some iron deposits up north." the man explained as he hammered shuriken blades into place, "Heavy as gold when pure they say, harder than steel." he added.

Tenten wondered where the young blonde had found a sword made of that kind of metal, she supposed he must have come from somewhere in the north when he rescued her patrol. She noticed the grey haired old man seemed less interested than herself, "Aren't you interested in this sort of thing?" she asked curiously.

"Nope, I just make weapons, practical weapons for regular shinobi, that legendary weapon nonsense is a gimmick anyway." The blacksmith gave his thoughts on the subject, Tenten kept it to herself but she disagreed.

"Gaara says hello." Shikamaru said as his greeting towards Naruto, startling the blonde, Kin, Hinata, and Karin who all recalled the monster. Haku took a moment to recall the auburn haired sand wielder, having only spectated the finals of those examinations.

Naruto cocked his head to the side, "When did you see Gaara?" he asked.

"Mission, top secret." Shikamaru bluffed, not wanting to discuss it. Partly he didn't want the blonde to train extra for the Chunin Exams, he was going to have enough trouble catching up.

"Okay, we'll see him at the Chunin Exams anyway." Naruto said cheerfully, startling everyone as this was the first time he'd mentioned it was coming up, "My magnificent self will show you the pinnacle of kenjutsu then!" he declared proudly, unsheathing his nodachi unsteadily and managing a stance to practice in.

"Wow, you're insane." Shikamaru commented blandly before turning to leave.

"Aren't you gonna train too?" Naruto asked, taking a practice swing and managing to avoid hitting the ground with his swing without hurting himself too much.

"Otousan probably has some hijutsu he hasn't taught me yet." Shikamaru answered lazily.

Shikaku looked up as his son entered the dining room, he was enjoying a cup of tea and a book so he was surprised by his son's expression, "I need A rank hijutsu that can withstand kenjutsu specialists, Hyuga taijutsu, and whatever Rock Lee is." the young Nara demanded.

Shikakau blinked owlishly, taking a sip of tea before he answered, "Isn't that a bit excessive?" he asked calmly.

"I wish it was." Shikamaru responded with a sigh, deflating immediately. Shikaku nodded in understanding, he figured his son wouldn't ask unless it was actually needed. The man was still surprised, wondering what in the world had motivated his son.

Tsunade decided Jiraiya and Yamato could be her guards for the meeting, Kakashi had the Konton Gundan to manage and the mission office could function with Shizune in charge for a few days anyway. The woman just knew the paperwork that needed her signature specifically would pile up, but she supposed that was unavoidable.

Unsurprisingly the meeting place was in Kusa no Kuni, but not the hidden village itself. A room prepared at a tavern. The Raikage was there before her, looking uncomfortable and annoyed, his two guards looked on edge. The Kusagakure no Sato no Shinobigashira was not exactly what Tsunade expected, but she didn't expect a dark haired young woman wearing a revealing outfit smoking a kiseru.

She was dressed like she worked in the red light district, Tsunade wondered if it was for distraction, as it was clearly working on Jiraiya and the woman seemed intent on ignoring the white haired man, "Two of the Sannin? Intimidating." a bespectacled shinobi dressed in jonin attire said, one of the Shinobigashira's guards going by his hitai-ate. The black haired man seemed rather neat, well dressed despite wearing the same clothes as his fellow guard.

Sunagakure was next to arrive, Chiyo along with Baki and Gaara, the youngest looking disappointed, "I told you it was unlikely Hokage-dono would bring a genin here." the jonin sensei of the Suna genin said in an exasperated tone. Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the exchange, guessing she could safely assume who they meant.

"Yet here a genin is." The Raikage spoke up, raising an eyebrow, "Arrogant for an Interim Kage, aren't you, Chiyo-dono?" he asked dangerously.

Chiyo scoffed, "Gaara is most likely to be Godaime Kazekage, he's just refusing the hat until he becomes a chunin." she explained in a huff, "Neither of his siblings have a desire for it either." she grumbled, implying that was the next attempt after Gaara.

The Raikage raised an eyebrow and considered Gaara carefully as Shibuki arrived with a pair of Takigakure jonin, "I suppose it's no matter, how are you planning to do this, Kusa?" he asked.

"I take it Hanzo doesn't come to these meetings?" Tsunade asked, relatively new to being Hokage compared to some of the others.

"I extended an invitation, but was just told to 'give directions on where they would be held to be passed on to aspiring genin cells' so I guess he doesn't think it's worth his time." The Shinobigashira scoffed, Tsunade felt a little guilty not to recognize the woman by name, "In any event, as a minor village, we've discussed this with our Daimyo and a village has been evacuated to act as the staging grounds for the examinations. My chosen proctor for the first round is an interesting fellow, so we'll be doing liability wavers at the gates of the village for all genin who enter." she explained.

Chiyo looked surprised, "That early? Got a bloodthirsty chief examining officer for your first phase?" she wondered.

The woman nodded, tapping ash from her pipe into a glass ash tray, "He loves a good fight, but he understands war, a real veteran with a head for tactics. His phase will weed out anyone who isn't fit to lead a squad." she announced calmly, "Our second phase will be the secret test, I won't give away the answer obviously." she added with a pointed look at Gaara, "I wouldn't have said that much if it wasn't obvious though, but of course, our final phase should be set to occur anywhere between a week to a month from now." she said proudly.

The Kage and Interim Kage all nodded approvingly, agreeing that it seemed the young new Shinobigashira knew what she was doing at least. Tsunade wished someone would refer to the head of Kusagakure by name though, the longer she went without knowing the more awkward it felt to bring it up. Shibuki remained silent, not sure what to make of everything, but deciding he had at least one team ready for these exams.