Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1. I think I'm going to stop putting this in all the time.

AN: The Preliminaries are done! The plot resumes! Or did it ever stop? From a certain standpoint it did and from another standpoint it didn't.

"You're home early." Yugao Uzuki greeted Hayate Gekko at the door to their shared apartment, the sword wielding Tokubetsu Jonin wordlessly stepping in and wrapping his arms around her. The ANBU did not ask questions, she let him and did the same.

She did not speak, she merely stood there with him like he had done the same with her so many times.

"Hayate-kun, what happened?" The iron smell of blood was heavy on him but he had no wounds.

"I saw a girl get crippled by a psychopath today."

"…I thought it was just a rumor." She tightened her hold on him.

"I saw it happen."

"Who?"

"Gai's student, Tenten Ken. The Kazekage's son did it."

Yugao did not hide her horror at those words. She could easily understand what that would mean.

The Green Beast of Konoha was soon to go on the warpath. He treated all three of his students like his children and for one of them to be crippled, to have her career as a Shinobi ended, he would no doubt be thinking of vengeance.

For all his acting and all his exuberance, Maito Gai was still a human and could hate like anyone else. He no doubt felt hate like he never had before now with his student's career as a Shinobi most likely ended. Who he would take it out on was another question and one she didn't want ever find out.

'I guess we're lucky Kakashi is with him.'

Far away from the two, four Jonin sat at a table. Gai did not look up from his glass, not even to refill it, and Kakashi sat at his side in silence. Neither Asuma or Kurenai wished to speak. None of them could find it in themselves to be very happy with the outcome of the preliminaries.

One of their students had been crippled. He still had yet to know any information on the true extents of her injuries.

Another had been nearly fatally injured. She would be under watch at the hospital as well.

A third would no doubt be having nightmares. She would need therapy from her father.

And the entire team of the last was completely whole. The fact that they emerged unscathed made him want to curse.

"Gai…have you heard anything about Tenten?"

"The doctors fear her injuries are even worse than they originally thought." Those words were spoken with nothing in his voice. If one did not know Maito Gai, they would figure he was one of the numerous broken ANBU that would soon vanish from the village. He was not. He was simply a man locked in despair at his own failings.

"Is there anything they can do for her?" Asuma tried to speak to the Jonin across from him and earned nothing but a blank stare, Gai's dark eyes holding nothing.

"I..." Gai returned his eyes to his drink before downing it in its entirety. He let the glass drop back to the table. "I do not know if she will ever be a ninja again."

"She…" Kurenai didn't know what to say. Her thoughts swiftly turned inward. "I-I should have waited to put my team in. Hinata…she wouldn't be in intensive care right now."

"Another year wouldn't have hurt their chances." Asuma agreed with her, his thoughts on all three of his students. "I should have focused more on their individual strengths and iron out their weaknesses. They were just so good as a team…I figured there was nothing to worry about."

"I fulfilled the promise we all shared a year ago." Gai's voice remained hollow. "I alone am responsible for what happened. I was a poor teacher."

"I was hoping those three would be out of my hair by the end of these exams." Kakashi had somehow downed his drink with no one seeing his mask move. "The faster they become Chunin the sooner I can get my life back to normal."

"You should be proud of your students, Kakashi." Gai refilled his drink. "Their skills are impressive."

"I wish I wasn't their sensei." Kakashi let his head rest in one of his hands, closing his sole visible eye. "Naruto…he's going to cause too many problems to count if he honestly believes he's some kind of conqueror and with Sasuke following him…those two are naturals at combat. One is a genius and the other has Chakra reserves that dwarf most Kage. The one I have any hope for not turning out like another Orochimaru is Sakura but…she's not in the best condition right now."

"What happened to her?" Asuma Sarutobi hated Naruto Uzumaki without question but he didn't hate the girl who he was obsessed with. He could pity the girl that had given up her chance to be Chunin to save his student from going blind. She was trapped on a team with the blonde, watched by him, stalked like prey. If he was able to, if he thought he could do it, he would help her but he had seen the way his father had looked at Naruto. He didn't see the insanity, he didn't see the danger, and he didn't see an enemy.

All he saw was a boy.

Any attempt Asuma made to help her wouldn't get pass the Hokage. He was blind.

"Naruto…he decided to have a talk with her once he left. I sent a Shadow Clone out to find her and it nearly got there too late." Kakashi did not look up to see the looks sent his way by his fellow Jonin, he only silently shook his head. "It's not what you're thinking. He was only talking to her but…this is the same kid who's declared himself some kind of emperor. He didn't exactly empathize with what Sakura was trying to do with my training, what she was trying to show to everyone in the Chunin Exams. My clone listened in, didn't act until it saw him grab her. I don't know exactly what he was planning to do but my Shadow Clone got involved and dropped her off at my place."

"I feel sorry for her." Asuma knocked back the rest of his drink, letting the glass hit the table with a 'thunk'. "She seems like a good kid."

"She is." Kakashi looked at his empty glass, doing nothing to refill it. "She has potential that I still find hard to believe but…she has confidence issues that Naruto isn't helping. Neither is being on a team with someone like Sasuke too. She thinks she's weak, worthless when compared to those two, doubts herself and her own strength. She doesn't believe me when I say she can be great, she can't prove it to herself so she thinks I'm just lying to her to get her to train harder. She doesn't believe me when I say I'm not."

"Hinata was the same for a while." Kurenai looked to Kakashi, the Jonin feeling her eyes on him but not raising his head. "She's so gentle that the Hyuga mocked her for it, called it a weakness and she believed them. She has a little sister that they made her fight. She didn't want to hurt her so instead she let her beat her. They only talked down to her more after that. By the time she finally came to me, she was a mess. She didn't believe she was strong, couldn't manage the confidence to look me in the eye or talk without stuttering. She's skilled, innovative for a Hyuga I expected to adhere to traditions like all the others, and quick to act if she thinks someone's in danger. She's changed recently. She has a crush on your student and, while I disagree with her motivation, she's improved." Despite the current state of her student, she was proud of her and it showed in her voice. "The old Hinata from a few months ago would have let that Puppeteer get in her head and she would have forfeited after everything he said. But the new Hinata? She nearly beat him…" She fell silent. She could remember the blood on the ground, the blood that had stained Hayate's Flak Jacket, and the blood that was her fault.

"Hinata will be okay." Kakashi was the one who spoke his reassurance. "She'll be able to attend the finals at least."

"I'm so glad for that." Kurenai covered half of her face with her hand as she sighed. "I can't wait for her to see your insane student again and let him get in her head even more."

"Maybe Neji will beat him." Kakashi didn't sound hopeful. "Ino can do the same to Sasuke if she has the right plan."

"I'll be sure to tell her you said that." Asuma looked to Gai. "What about your student, Lee, what is he going to do to that Puppeteer?"

"I did not ask him." Gai had downed the contents of his glass before speaking. "I am not fit to instruct him as I am now. He has made a vow to battle Gaara and he intends to do so. I will say this if nothing else, Rock Lee is one who honors his word, if he promises to do something nothing shall stop him. It is his Ninja Way to overcome all obstacles that are placed before him. If he cannot summit them, he will find a greater challenge to undertake and surpass his limits to do so." He paused. His eyes became dark. "I would not wish to be the Puppeteer in his way."

"That…kid is going to fight your student, right?" The bearded Jonin turned to Kurenai and she gave him a shaky nod. She quickly knocked down the rest of her glass, refilling it, and doing the same. He laid a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Aburame are a tricky bunch when they have so much time to prepare."

"You're not worried about Shikamaru? He's fighting his sister." Kakashi only received a halfhearted laugh from the Jonin across from him.

"She doesn't stand a chance against Shikamaru." Asuma spoke his words with such conviction that he earned the eyes of each of the Jonin there. None of them questioned his statement but they didn't agree with it as wholeheartedly as he did. "He's going to become a Chunin. Trust me."

"Confidence almost doesn't suit you." Kurenai leaned her head against his shoulder.

"It is good to have it." Gai looked at his refilled glass for a moment before pushing it away. "I am going to go visit Tenten."

"I'll go with you." Kakashi was already rising, stepping out of the booth. "I'll even race you." He laid on hand on Gai's shoulder, the shifts in his mask showing he was smiling.

"…I think I am up to a race." Gai offered his own much more visible, if small, smile in response as he laid his hand on the opposite shoulder. "We have not had one in quite a while."

The two paid their part of the bill before leaving out the door. Kurenai and Asuma watched them leave before the bearded Jonin pushed away his drink, Kurenai's breathing steady as she rested on his shoulder.

"Those two are more like brothers than best friends." The red eyed Jonin's words were met with a small smile from Asuma.

"Yeah, they are."

The two Jonin were content to spend the rest of their time that night together. They would eventually leave but that was hours from now.

In the hospital, Naruto Uzumaki stood in a simple room. His Legate barred the door along with his Praetorians. None were to enter the room until he had left, his orders were clear.

"Your showing was admirable Tenten." He did not reach out to touch her or offer comforting words. "Your defeat spoke nearly as much as victory would have, if not more." Blue eyes looked into blurry brown, the amount of medication in her system making it a herculean effort to keep her eyes open. Taking in all of Naruto's words were an equal feat but she was a student of Maito Gai, she set out to break her limits everyday she trained. "I have heard of your plight." His eyes moved away from her own, looking to where her limbs had been rendered immobile by the hospital staff that held little hope for her. Her entire body was bandaged after the hospital had learned of the full extent of the damage. "Know that hearing such words pain me as I had great plans for you, plans I see no reason to see rendered nothing but a dream."

His centurions, for whatever reason, enjoyed the company of the older Genin. He did not know why but he did not need a reason. Just as the Legate was present to be a source of hate, a lightning rod in some sense, she was necessary as a companion.

Their devotion to her had made it a difficulty to calm down a majority of them calling for blood from Suna. He wished this had all happened at a later date in time, where the fury of the Orange Legion he commanded would be well known, but it was not to be. It had happened when few even truly knew of his might, knew of the strength of his Legion, the glory of his Empire. Sunagakure, the Land of Wind, would be another conquest in the end but it could not happen now. His Praetorians currently kept order through force. They sparred and they spoke with the men of his Legion, with his Centurions. He had instructed them to channel their aggression into tasks that would lead to the inevitable conquests of Sunagakure. He had feared they wouldn't listen to him, that the centurions would march their men out to battle, but they had.

He would never admit it to anyone but he doubted even the Praetorians, his most loyal soldiers, could remain apathetic as he wished for them to be. It was truly his first time looking upon the girl named Tenten and he could see why his centurions, why his entire Legion it seemed, could find enjoyment in her company.

It was not her beauty, nothing could compare to Sakura-chan, but it was the look in her eyes. Knowledge, passion, hardships, triumph, and, burning above the others now, the likes of sorrow and despair. All this and more burned within them with an intensity he had rarely seen. A man like Kaiza could possess the same but never for long, Tazuna at times as well from the story a centurion told him, and even Silver Fang's eyes could possess such intensity. Passion burned in bright blue oceans, desire, a thirst for conquest, and more needed for a conqueror shined in his own.

Tenten had flames like no other in her eyes. She was truly someone that deserved admiration for those he set as commanders of his glorious Legion, devotion from those who would be responsible for the soon to be world renowned might of his magnificent Uzumaki Empire.

"I will not see your career end here." Naruto fell to a knee at her bedside, one of his arms crossing over his chest, his fist closed tightly over his heart, and the other fell to the hilt of his blade. "I will not see the fire in your eyes dim. I will not allow anything of the like." His voice was steady but the promise in it was clear. "You will not be forced to become a girl who may only dream of what the future could be, you will not be given a fate so unworthy of one such as yourself."

He drew his blade, steel singing through the air before he plunged it into the ground before him.

"You will take your place within my glorious Legion, become a pillar of the might of my Legion, this I swear." Blue eyes shined with conviction, with absolute certainty. "I do not care what I must do, what price I will pay, you will not be rendered to such a state for longer than it takes. I will not allow such a thing."

"Tenten Ken, on my word as Caesar, you will be healed."

Outside the window, two Jonin renowned for their strength and skill set together in silence, listening to Naruto's proclamation, his promise. Kakashi did not know whether to sigh or not. Naruto, for once, seemed to not want to declare he was conquering something. From the way it sounded to him, he honestly cared for Tenten. Why? He had absolutely no idea. He would most likely need to read dozens of ANBU reports to even begin to understand the why of any action taken by Naruto Uzumaki.

Regardless of why he was doing it, the masked Jonin knew the Genin, the most likely future Chunin and more, was not one to make proclamations like that lightly. He had no doubt in his mind that the Uzumaki would manage to make good on his promise and, when that day came, he only worried how indebted Gai would feel to his psychotic student.

'Why couldn't you be like you were before that night?' Kakashi wanted to speak out loud but didn't need to be detected. Already, it was more of a struggle than it honestly should be to remain hidden from the clones Naruto made use of. They watched the room from afar and he had been rather busy using Genjutsu on them from this range.

He wasn't called a prodigy for nothing through. He was very much capable of it.

His sole visible eye turned to Gai, the Taijutsu master's eyes locking with his own.

We need to talk. Now. The message was silently conveyed.

Of course. He couldn't disagree even if he wanted to.

Without a single word, the two vanished without a sound.

"Caesar." Sasuke's voice called from outside the room, knocking echoing from the door moments later. The Caesar turned away from the bed Tenten laid in, returned his sword to his side, and left the room without another word.

"What necessitates my presence, Legate?" Naruto looked into the red and black eyes of the Sharingan without concern.

"I have something you will be interested in." In his hands he held a scroll that he extended to Naruto. He no doubt had it given to him by the centurion currently on a knee before him, his head bowed and his fist over his heart. "Written inside are the matches of the finals of the Chunin Exams in a month's time."

"You know me too well Legate." Naruto broke the seal, a simple swirl bearing the emblem 'I' on it drawing his attention in a curiously raised eyebrow before his eyes turned to the Legate. "The First Cohort reported on this? Why delegate such a task to some of my most veteran fighters? Why not enlist another more suited for such a role?"

"Yes, the First Cohort is responsible for this. They and your Praetorians remain the most abundant of your forces so close to the village and trusted to move information such as this with all due haste. Additional information, such as the matches, individual profiles, and anything else deemed useful, will be awaiting your review within the renovated Uchiha district." Sasuke held another scroll in his hand as the centurion rose once Naruto laid a hand on his shoulder. "Within this scroll is far more sensitive information from a group of your Praetorians, they are stationed close to Kikyo Castle, where the foreign Shinobi are to stay."

"What use is this information to me?" Naruto did not accept the scroll, the centurion fell into step behind the Uzumaki on his other side with the Legate of the Orange Legion on the opposite. "I do not see any reason to concern myself with the living quarters of my enemies."

"The living quarters are of no use to you Praetor, the Praetorians discovered something intriguing concerning the one responsible for Tenten's injuries." The centurions spoke up from Naruto's other side, the rows of Praetorians standing against the walls forming twin ranks as the three passed. "He is-"

"I do not care." Naruto paused mid-step, the two leading officers of his forces quickly coming to a halt and their fists rose to cover their heart as they bowed their heads. "Praetorians, do not leave Tenten unguarded. She is to be in your sight at all times." Naruto's order gained a silent nod from the Praetorians as they turned back to the room and silently spread down the hall. The blonde Uzumaki did not spend much time in the hall, he continued on his way with the centurion and Legate swiftly following him once more.

Neither of the two commented on the monumental act or the reasoning behind it.

'You must have made Praetor very angry, Sakura-chan.' The centurion did not let anything show on his face as he followed after the man identical to him yet so different at the same time. 'Why do you not accept Praetor's devotion, why spurn him and allow your beauty to be hoarded away by one as uncouth and underserving as Silver Fang?'

Naruto passed by the hospital staff hidden from his presence, terrified of the blonde after he had entered the building. His Praetorians guarding the lobby did nothing to bring an end to the terror, their presence truly only added to it.

"Naruto Uzumaki." A brown haired ANBU stood in the lobby regardless of the palpable fear of the hospital staff. His arms rested at his side and his mask firmly in place. "The Hokage will have you present yourself to him in his office tomorrow morning."

Nothing else was spoken, the ANBU vanishing before any word could be said in return.

"Legate."

"Yes Caesar?"

"I want to know who that was."

Such disrespect would not be tolerated.

"Of course." Sasuke's Sharingan seemed to shine with some unmistakable amusement. "Will you be appearing before the Hokage? You have already told me of your plans for tomorrow. This will interfere in them."

"I, as a loyal Konoha Shinobi, am always ready to meet Sarutobi-jiji." Naruto grinned as he spoke, his blue eyes becoming dark as the trio began their march from the hospital once more, Praetorians escorting them through the streets and towards the Uchiha district. "Have the area scouted before my arrival."

"It shall be done." The centurion vanished from his side without wasting another moment away from his new duty. A hundred of the Orange Legion's soldiers would be responsible for insuring the safety of the one who would lead the Uzumaki Empire to heights surpassing all others, rendering them but pale imitations of what it would become when guided by such a man as Caesar.

Far away from the Uzumaki, the Hokage and another man looked down at the crystal ball that observed the blonde. One shined with almost amusement at what they had seen while another was dull, the events of today making him numb. The depths of the crystal ball grew clear dark as the image of the blonde's face faded from it.

Silence filled the office, the only two occupants not speaking to one another at all. There were only two, not even the ANBU remained with the presence of the Hokage's visitor rendering their presence worthless.

"So, that's his kid then?"

"Yes."

"I don't know what you're so worried about old man, he seems fine."

"Just observe him for a moment, you'll understand why I'm so worried by the start of the finals."

"If you're really so worried, let's drink the night away."

"A shared drink with my old student after all his time away 'researching'? I feel honored."

"You should, not many people can say they drank with the Toad Sage."

"It's probably too many, you lightweight."

"What was that? Bring it on sensei, I'll drink you under the table!"

AN: Who is Hiruzen drinking with? Is it obvious? Beyond the obviousness of who's going to show up soon, overall opinion of the immediate aftermath so far?