'Thoughts'
"Technique/Demon/Bijuu" Talk
"Demon/Bijuu" Talk from inside
'Technique in head/Demon/Bijuu' Thoughts
Reviews
Iamshinydragonmist: Thank you!
Heartless Hokage: Not really, but with the upcoming threat I think I have an idea?
MERK FOX: I don't plan to have all of them in it unless I'm replacing someone for them.
Guest: Yes.
danweber1317: I'm glad you're enjoying it and I'll try to make them more interesting.
ShadowStalker3424: Don't worry I have a plan for Kushina (sort of). Also, the only one right now that is certain is Shisu. I don't know about Akame and Hyoshi.
Otaku-king-389: I'm just slow when it comes to writing new chapters, sorry about that, heh. And yeah! That's what I was kinda going for with Naruto and Saya. On a side note: why tf Saya so tall.
biginferno: If I were to replace anyone in the harem the Sanya girls would take their places.
Re Lovely Lover, NinjaFang1331, dragonslayerajahn, Imperial-samaB: Thank you guys a lot!
In the harem
Fem!Haku, Hinata, Kin, Temari, Yugao
Harem currently
Amaru, Ameyuri, Anko, Ayame, Fubuki, Fuu, Fuka, Guren, Hana, Hanabi, Hotaru, Ino, Karin, Karui, Kaguya, Kirai, Konan, Kotohime, Koyuki, Kurenai, Kurotsutchi, Mabui, Matsuri, Mei, Mikoto, Moegi, Natsu, Pakura, Rin, Ryuzetsu, Sakura, Samui, Sara, Sasame, Shisu, Shizuka, Shizune, Shion, Tayuya, Tenten, Tsume, Tsunade, Tsunami, Yakumo/Ido, Yugito/Nibi, Yukata
Harem changes
– Fem!Kurama: I had a plan and all… but I didn't like having the other half of Kurama be female since that wouldn't make sense at all.
+ Shisu: The girl deserves to be in it.
Chapter 22: Intermission
Kuroka easily wiped the floor with Dosu, not even wasting a minute incapacitating the Oto genin. Rock Lee quickly took down Choji, then Might Guy felt like bragging that to Kakashi, which the scarecrow jounin replied with:
"Choji isn't my student, Guy," the one-eyed jounin stated, causing Might Guy to clench his fist and turn away dramatically.
'Damnit! Once again, Kakashi has outsmarted me! But no more! There is still the final phase of the Chuunin Exams and I'm sure one of my students will fight against one of his!' The Team Guy sensei reassured himself in his head.
Kiryu won against Kankuro, much to the slight disliking of Gaara. Sasuke won against Shino, but struggled with his Curse Mark and Akame's permanent slash across his stomach. Hyoshi won against Temari although she struggled against the Suna kunoichi. Gaara wasn't happy about that.
After the matches were over, the winners of their matches met in the middle and the Sandaime began speaking about the final round. After about five minutes of explanations and drawing lots, the genin were released.
The blonde clone was on a building. He quickly made a clone and they both stared at each other for a second before the first clone disappeared.
The newly made clone sighed as he stretched before making multiple clones of himself. He turned around and yawned.
"Alright, you guys know what to do, right?" The clone asked.
"Hai," they responded.
"Okay, we got a busy day so get a move on," he commanded. The clones all nodded before flickering away. The leftover clone sighed as he rubbed his hair.
"Hey, Naruto," Temari's voice greeted from behind the clone. The Uzumaki turned around and saw Temari and Kin on the roof with him.
"Oh, hey you two, what's up?" Naruto wondered as he stood up and walked up to them.
"I gotta go back to my village, I did lose after all," Temari responded with a chuckle as she scratched the back of her head.
"You did good, Tema! We can't win every battle," Naruto complimented.
"Yeah… it just pisses me off though, but anyway, we just wanted to say bye before leaving," the sandy blonde explained.
Naruto looked at Kin and saw how her face fell.
"W-Well… I-It's been fun, N-Naruto… I… I really enjoyed all the time I spent with you and-and the girls… I just-just wish we could s-spend more time toge—" Kin didn't get to finish as Naruto suddenly hugged her.
"You are not going to die," Naruto stated.
"W-What—"
"I overheard what you said to Temari, and you are not dying."
"N-Naruto… I-I can't… I can't just put this burden on you! Y-You already have to fight Orochimaru, and now you're protecting me from him! You're also probably doing kami knows what somewhere else! You're always so busy and I don't wanna make you even busier and stressed!" Kin said as tears fell down her cheeks.
"Yeah… you do have a point about me being busy, but look, not only can I handle that, I'm not alone in doing this," Naruto pointed out, causing Kin to sputter.
"W-What are you talking about…?"
"I got the other girls, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei, Kurama, and even Gramps! All these people are willing to protect you, Kin."
"N-No, I-I can't have the Hokage defend me!"
"But why? He's always defending more and more people everyday! The civilians have kids, and that adds to his list of people to protect! You getting added wouldn't make a difference," Naruto stated.
"Naruto, I'm from Otogakure! I'm an enemy!"
"No you're not. You helped us greatly, Kin. You stopped Orochimaru from successfully carrying out his plan. If you hadn't, Kabuto would've found a way to have the Oto and Suna shinobi infiltrate this village and probably kill all of us."
"But-but—"
"Kin." The noirette turned and looked at Temari. "Listen girl, I know you feel like staying here will put everyone into danger and will just make things worse, but you have to realize that this village has a lot of strong shinobi here. You got Kakashi of the Sharingan, Might Guy, the Sandaime Hokage—God of Shinobi by the way—and a bunch of other strong shinobi. You'll be fine living here."
"I… I'm just scared… I fear Orochimaru…" Kin told as she covered herself with her arms.
"Who wouldn't be? He is one of the Legendary Sannin after all—"
"Naruto! You aren't helping!" Temari shouted at her blonde boyfriend, eliciting a giggle out of him.
"—But even though he's legendary, he's alone. I know for a fact that man doesn't trust his bodyguards, and we got his most trusted spy captured, while we have our whole nation and now we have Suna!" Naruto mentioned as he stretched his arms out. "Listen Kin, you'll be okay. I promise you."
The Oto noirette still didn't look completely convinced about that.
"Look, if you're really that worried let's just fake your death,"Temari suggested, causing the two to look at her.
"H-How would we be able to pull that off?" Kin wondered.
"Orochimaru's probably on his way to Suna right now. He must've ditched Dosu and Zaku to walk back to Oto. Those two must've left not too long ago, so we can track them down and give them Kin's fake body," Naruto planned.
"But where are we going to get a body? I don't think we're just allowed to dig up any body," Kin pointed out.
Temari slightly frowned at the little stop in their plan. "Oh yeah, you're right about that."
"Ah, don't even worry, I got it covered," Naruto said with a grin.
"How so?" Temari asked as she tilted her head.
Naruto smirked as he made the reverse clone hand seal. A clone popped up next to him, but it was clearly a lifeless version of himself.
Both Temari and Kin looked shocked at this.
"W-What the hell?!" Temari exclaimed in surprise.
"Ladies, this is my Empty Shadow Clone; devoid of all chakra! We can use the Transformation Technique to change this clone into Kin and hand it off to your former asswipes," Naruto said with a smirk.
"I wouldn't worry about that, Naruto," a voice said, causing the blonde clone to whip around.
"Kakashi-sensei?! What're you doing here?!" Naruto exclaimed, looking confused.
"Well, I was going to check on you before going to check on Sakura and Sasuke, but I accidentally overheard your conversation. Sorry, by the way," Kakashi responded as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Uh… it's no problem, Sensei," Naruto excused.
"Anyway, it's a good thing that you have Kin here, because both Dosu Kinuta and Zaku Abumi have been arrested due to being affiliated with Orochimaru," Kakashi broke the news. All three genin's eyes widened in shock at hearing that. "So, now you don't have to worry about them ratting you out or hurting you, Kin."
Kin started to cry again.
Naruto returned home for the first time in a while. He inspected his home and knew that something was wrong.
"Haku? Haku are you here?!" Naruto shouted as he looked around his house, but found no signs of Haku anywhere. "What the hell? She didn't even leave me a note or anything… I feel like Haku wouldn't do that… or maybe she just doesn't know I finished the Chuunin Exams yet… yeah, now that I think about it, that sounds more plausible." Naruto calmed down and turned around but jumped slightly when an Anbu shinobi was standing at his door. The Anbu member was wearing a black jacket with black pants, socks, and sandals. His mask was black with four white eyes.
"What the hell?!" He shouted.
"Naruto. Come see Danzo," the Anbu shinobi said.
Naruto immediately narrowed his eyes. "Wait a minute… you're not an Anbu shinobi are you…"
The shinobi didn't respond, but eventually nodded. "Correct. I am a Root shinobi. I work under Danzo."
The blonde clone scowled as he glared at the shinobi. "Why does Danzo want me?"
"He simply wants to speak to you. Nothing more, nothing less."
"And if I refuse?"
"He has Haku captured," the shinobi revealed, making Naruto's eyes widen.
"What…"
"Now, before you do anything rash, Naruto, Danzo told me to bring you back with me. If you incapacitate me and go find him by yourself, he will not cooperate with you," the shinobi quickly added.
Naruto clenched his teeth as he squeezed his hands hard. Hard enough that if he were the real Naruto, he'd bleed profusely. His pupils quickly changed to slits and his irises started changing to red, but he calmed himself down before they could fully change. "Fine. Take me to him."
The mysterious shinobi led Naruto through a series of underground tunnels, enough that the clone couldn't even retrace his steps if he tried. The two soon arrived at a large open area that had four bridges leading to the middle. Naruto saw a figure in the middle area, but his back was turned to them.
The Root shinobi continued walking towards the figure and Naruto followed. Once they arrived, the Root shinobi got on one knee.
"Lord Danzo, I have brought the Jinchuuriki as you have requested," he reported.
Danzo turned around and locked eyes with Naruto before looking down at the Root shinobi. "You did well, Jomori. You may go now."
"Hai," the boy responded before making the Tiger hand seal and flickering out of sight.
The old man and the young Uzumaki both stared at each other. One with indifference, while the other with calm hatred.
"I'm glad you didn't kill Jomori. He is quite useful to me and would have made some things difficult without him," Danzo spoke.
"How could I not? You have Haku hostage."
"Ah right, the Nami girl. She could be useful in making the next generation of shinobi. Her Ice Release is very useful," the dark-haired man pointed out.
"She is not going to be your breeding tool, you fucking bastard," Naruto stated as he narrowed his eyes.
"Ah, right, you're here to stop that," Danzo remembered. "But, do not worry Jinchuuriki, I am not here to threaten you with Haku—"
"You already did."
"—I am just here to talk to you," Danzo said, ignoring Naruto's input.
The clone raised an eyebrow. "What do you need to talk to me about that requires capturing Haku?"
"About everything that I can."
"How about we first start with you explaining all your dirty tricks like trying to assassinate the Sandaime, or leaking out the fact that I'm a Jinchuuriki?"
"Mm. If you want to start with that then we will, but first, follow me." The old man turned around and began walking away. The blonde clone followed him, but kept wary; he could feel many presences watching him.
The old man led the blonde Shadow Clone to a table with two chairs. It was as if he had planned this, but for how long, Naruto didn't know.
The blonde took his seat across from Danzo and waited as he sat down.
"I told the village about you being the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki so that they could use you as a scapegoat for their anger and worry," Danzo informed.
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Why?"
"Because the village was distraught and angry at having a Bijuu destroy most of the village. They needed a way to cope with it, so having you be the pariah was a good way of doing that."
Naruto clicked his tongue. He was about to curse the old man out, but took a second to think back about what he said and couldn't help but see that it was a good idea to keep Konoha unified and stable. Hiruzen probably saw that too and didn't reprimand him for that.
"Though of course, that alone wouldn't simply settle their feelings. Then the question of who summoned the Kyuubi would arise and I had to shift the blame on the Uchiha clan," Danzo added.
"What if it was an Uchiha that summoned the Kyuubi, though?"
"That's why I blamed the summoning on them. Because I think an Uchiha summoned it here. It was obviously under someone's control. And a Sharingan is able to subdue and control that Bijuu if they're strong enough," Danzo explained.
"But why try to assassinate Gramps?" Naruto wondered.
"That old fool is too soft, that is why. He should've killed Orochimaru back then when he had the chance, but he hesitated! And I should be dead right now, but he keeps me alive only because he doesn't have the guts to kill me. We can't have soft leaders leading Konoha, or else we will be destroyed by other countries. You understand, right? If you're too soft, you'll just get pushed over and taken over by someone stronger," Danzo explained.
"Yeah, but then you'll have too many enemies with the way you wanna handle things," Naruto pointed out.
"Not if we keep them under control."
"So basically you want to rule over everyone? Either that or kill everyone that could be a potential threat to you? If you started doing that thousands of innocent lives could be lost and people would start revolting against you. They'd start a resistance, join forces with other villages, and take you down eventually. Old man, strength can only get you so far," Naruto argued, sitting back in his chair.
"You're underestimating my abilities, Jinchuuriki. I could put this country under wraps if I became the Hokage."
"And you'd be killed within five years, give or take. I'm not underestimating you, I'm just saying it how it is. You're underestimating the people and shinobi. Just because you're powerful doesn't mean people will listen to you, even if you show them. Yeah, it'll work for a little bit before people start getting fed up and take action themselves."
Danzo sighed. "You made a point that helps me. I would just kill the resisters. People won't riot if they're only hope is taken away from them."
"But then a new one will be born."
"And I'll just kill that one."
"… Okay… but what if some new superpower comes in and takes over? Then what are you gonna do?"
"Obviously relocate and rebuild. I'll take back what was mine and start this whole process over again."
"And what if the people have adapted to your methods and countered them?"
"Then I'd adapt to theirs—are we done with this Q&A, Jinchuuriki?"
Naruto huffed before crossing his arms. "Sure, whatever. Was getting tired of asking questions anyway."
"Anyways, my point still stands. Hiruzen is too soft and we can't have that kind of leader. That is why I made Root. To carry out the missions he's too afraid to do," Danzo restated.
The clone narrowed his eyes at Danzo. "Okay, but Gramps is starting to actually do things instead of letting things slide."
"Like what?" Danzo asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We captured Kabuto, one of Orochimaru's spies, and are also enacting a plan to fend him away from Sunagakure," Naruto answered.
Danzo raised an eyebrow. "You captured Kabuto? Also that plan of yours is going to fail. I don't know how you did the first part, but the second part is just plain stupid. Defending against Orochimaru? Hah, good luck with that."
"Yeah, I get it. Orochimaru is one of the Legendary Sannin, but he's going up against a Kage, some high quality jounin, and me. We can at least ward him off," Naruto pointed out.
"Orochimaru was a contestant to be the Hokage before Hiruzen ultimately chose Minato. He was good enough to become a Kage, I'm sure he won't have problems beating one," Danzo informed. "And what can you do?"
"I can help. Gramps told me I could become Hokage right now! When he told me, it sounded like a joke, but I think he was being serious."
"Stop living in your fantasy world and look at the real one. There is just no way you can be a Hokage. For one you don't have many feats nor do you have the strength either."
"Tch. Clearly I have the strength if Gramps said I could be Hokage."
"Hah. You've fought Orochimaru before, right? How'd that go? He's still alive isn't he?" Danzo questioned with a judgemental look.
The clone was slightly shocked before remembering Danzo's Root shinobi. "No one can kill Orochimaru, he's immortal!"
"You can kill Orochimaru."
"Huh?! What are you talking about?!"
"You can kill him, but he won't stay dead forever," Danzo elaborated. "Yes, Orochimaru has that troublesome technique where he grows a new body, but that requires chakra and it isn't cheap either. If you keep on making him use that, he will either run out of chakra or won't use it until he gets more, that's when you kill him. You could also defeat him with a powerful enough fuinjutsu. And he also needs a body every three years, and currently, he is close to his death date, that's why he needs Sasuke Uchiha so badly. You could perhaps kill him right now, but it wouldn't be that easy. But the only thing is: he could be resurrected after dying. The people he's marked with Cursed Seals of Heaven are his ticket of getting revived. If someone were to find the Cursed Seal Orochimaru put some of himself in, and performed the Evil Releasing Method, he would be revived. To stop this, you have to seal or kill every person who bears his curse mark… or in your case, replace it with yours."
Naruto thought over this new information for a moment and nodded. "I see… but why tell me this?"
"Well, you're already in Suna aren't you? He's going to attack there next, and it would benefit all of us if Orochimaru was out of the picture for a while," Danzo told.
"Hm… I guess you're right… but what do you want in return? You've given me some really useful info, I'd imagine you want something back."
"Two favors." Naruto looked skeptically at him for a moment before settling on a narrowed gaze.
"Why two?" Naruto asked.
"Because I want to teach you a technique that might prove useful against Orochimaru."
"I see…" Naruto looked at the table for a moment before sighing and looking back up at Danzo. "Alright, I'll learn this technique, but what about Haku?"
"I'll release her to you after we're done with business here."
Naruto hummed and nodded. "Alright…"
"But still, you being over there in Suna is dangerous. Not only are we vulnerable, but you could also get yourself killed either by Orochimaru, or Suna themselves," Danzo pointed out.
"It's okay, we made an alliance with Suna. We aren't enemies since we share a common enemy at the moment," Naruto stated.
"And what about after?"
"Well… we'll still be allies."
"And how do you know for sure?"
"Uh… I'm dating the Yondaime's daughter…" Naruto said. "If that has any merit to it…"
It was silent for a couple of moments before Danzo smirked. "Boy… you have just been moved up on my tolerance list."
Naruto raised an eyebrow, he had a feeling this conversation would turn out weird.
The Naruto clone with Danzo was in a spacious and empty training room. He took a deep breath before making the Bird Dragon hand seals.
"Wind Release: Shinryu." Suddenly, three geysers of wind shot up in front of Naruto and soon started spinning around, forming three tornadoes. The tornadoes rose higher in the air before conjoining together and soon formed a dragon out of the tornadoes. Naruto threw his hand down and the dragon leaped forward, slamming into the ground and from its head to the end of its tail, it started dispersing into powerful and immense gusts of wind that were cutting deep into the walls and floors of the room. As the technique went on, the clone could feel straining in its body as it protected itself from the sharp wind along with Danzo.
'How powerful is this technique?!' The clone asked itself as it watched the end of the dragon disappear into wind. After the wind cleared up and a few moments passed, the clone turned and looked at Danzo. "I did it."
The old man nodded before clapping his hands. Jomori appeared in front of him, on his knee.
"Hai, Lord Danzo," he spoke.
"Lead the Jinchuuriki to the cages and release the girl," Danzo ordered.
"Hai." Jomori stood up and walked past Danzo, standing in front of Naruto. "Let's go." The clone nodded as Jomori led the way out of the room and through the maze of hallways that was the Root facility.
The Root shinobi and Naruto arrived at the holding cells and the boy stopped in front of Haku's cell. The girl was on a bed, laying down facing the wall, but when she heard two sets of feet approach her cell, she got up. She glared as she saw Jomori, but it faded when she saw Naruto behind him.
"N-Naruto…?" Haku asked.
The clone smiled. "The one and only—well, if you don't include the clones I made, heheh…"
Haku smiled at his joke as Jomori unlocked her cell and opened it. "Alright, you are released, Haku."
The Ice Release user nodded and got up before leaving the cell. Jomori closed it and began walking away. "I'll lead you two out of here, come on now."
The blonde and noirette nodded as they followed Jomori. The boy eventually led them out of Root. They arrived on a hill that overlooked Konohagakure. Both Haku and Naruto were blown away at the wonderful view. The clone turned around, but Jomori was gone.
"Huh, he's gone," Naruto mumbled before turning back around and looking at Haku.
The girl looked at him and smiled more. "Thank you for coming to get me, Naruto. I knew you would."
"Of course, I can't leave one of my girlfriends missing, can I?"The blonde joked. Haku giggled as she agreed. "Anyway, how did you get captured?"
"I don't know. I thought my years of light sleeping and instincts would've alerted me of that boy's unnatural presence, but I didn't even pick up on him at all. And, well, I got captured just like that," Haku responded with a shrug.
"Did that old man say anything to you?" Naruto wondered.
"All he said was how amazing it was that you were able to bring an Ice Release user to Konohagakure."
Naruto looked over the village and narrowed his eyes. 'So, he was testing my composure I assume… Damn…'
"Something wrong?" Haku inquired as she slightly tilted her head.
"Hm? Oh, nothing's wrong, don't worry," the blonde clone responded.
"Mm, okay. Did you and that old man talk about anything?" Haku wondered.
"Eh, just asked him questions about things and had a little discussion, but after that he taught me a technique that might help against Orochimaru."
"O-Orochimaru…? Wait, what?! Since when were you fighting Orochimaru?!" Haku questioned as she fully looked at Naruto.
Naruto's eyes widened as he silently cursed. "I forgot, you're not up to speed yet." The clone sighed as he sat down and gestured to Haku to do the same. When the girl sat down,\Naruto explained to her about Orochimaru's plan, the plan to stop it, and everything else in between that was important to share.
After Naruto was done explaining everything to Haku, the girl was left slack-jawed.
"That… is a lot to take in…" Haku said, trying to process the new information.
"Mm… Sorry for putting it all on you at once," the clone apologized.
"N-No, it's okay…"
"So, how are you—" Naruto got interrupted by Haku hugging him. "W-What's with the sudden hug, Haku?"
"I'm sorry I can't be of assistance to you, Naruto… I'd love to help, but I don't know how…"
Naruto hummed as he returned the hug back. Don't worry, you hugging me will be of huge help."
"Huh? H-How so?" The girl wondered as she looked at Naruto's face.
The young Uzumaki smirked. "Now I know I need to hug you again after this is over, heheh."
Haku stared at him for a second before cracking a smile and hugging him again. "Anything for you, Naruto, and you better win."
"I don't plan on losing to that snake bastard."
"Good, cause if you did, I'd freeze over the afterlife just to find you and beat your ass," Haku threatened as her hug tightened, making the clone sweatdrop.
"G-Got it…"
Another Naruto clone walked onto the Inuzuka's clan compound. He made it through, waving at the different Inuzukas and their dogs before arriving at the main house. Right before he was about to knock, a weight was thrown on his back.
"Ack!" The blonde Shadow Clone quickly whipped his head back and his eyes widened. "Yoko?! How do you keep on getting on my back with me detecting you?!" He grabbed the pup and moved him in front of his face, the orange dog staring at Naruto.
"Arf!" He barked.
"Yeah, I missed you too, bud," Naruto put the dog over his shoulder and was going to knock again, but the gate opened itself. On the other side of the gate was Kuromaru. The old dog looked mildly annoyed. Once he saw Naruto, his eye narrowed.
"You're troublesome, blondie. First you mess up Tsume and her alpha-beta system, and now you brought a girl to stay here to be protected by Orochimaru… what the hell are you doing?" Kuromaru asked.
"Uh… listen, the first one wasn't my fault. Blame Yoko for starting it all." Naruto pointed at the orange dog that shot him a glare. "And the second part was a quick decision I made. I didn't want her living in the part of Konoha that I live in so I had to put her somewhere safe. And being with Tsume is probably the safest she could be."
"Your reasonings are sound… but it's still troublesome to deal with…"
"Listen, once I get a better apartment—or maybe even a house—I'll take Karin back. In the meantime, she's gotta stay with you," Naruto told.
The dog rolled his eye as he turned around. "That's not all you have to take care of…" Kuromaru led Naruto and Yoko through the main compound and into the house. As soon as they answered, they heard yelling.
"Kami damnit, Kiba! I tell you what to do and you can't even fucking perform it properly!" Tsume shouted.
"Grah! Shut up, you old hag!" Kiba shouted back.
"Good grief… they're so loud…" a voice spoke. In the living room, there was a girl with Karin. The girl had long brown hair styled in a ponytail with two strands framing her face, large black eyes, red lipstick, and red gang markings on her cheeks just like Tsume. She was wearing a black v-neck shirt with pink shorts.
Karin laughed awkwardly as she watched the mother and son arguing. The girl was wearing a white shirt with gray shorts.
"What's going on here?" The clone asked the dog.
He sighed as he looked at the ground. "Kiba is trying to learn an advanced technique, but he's being stubborn and won't listen to Tsume."
"Ah, I see. Sounds just like him." Naruto understood as he shook his head.
"Yeah, he's giving Tsume a headache and is only tiring himself out and making himself angrier. If he won't take a suggestion, then he's going to go nowhere with this."
"Why are you trying to best Naruto anyway?! I mean, I understand if he's stronger than you and you wanna beat him friendly and shit, but you seem like you have a grudge against him," Tsume wondered as she hit Kiba on the head.
"Tch, I do! That jackass beat me without even trying! I can't get disrespected like that! Especially in front of the other girls there! I have to get stronger so I can beat his ass!"
"Oh I see. You're jealous, huh?" Tsume guessed. "Also whaddya mean 'beat his ass?' It's too late for that now, you're outta the Chuunin Exams, dumbass."
"No shit, Mom! I meant if we just wanna fight each other, I'll beat his ass!" Kiba explained as he glared at Tsume.
"Hah! Good luck with that! The kid is way stronger than he appears to be. You aren't getting close to him any time soon, kid," Tsume stated as she laughed.
Kiba growled before turning away and jumping out of the backyard. Tsume turned around and noticed the blonde.
"Naruto! Hey, what's up?!" Tsume greeted as she walked into the house. "And you brought the dog as well."
"Hey Tsume! I just came by to see Karin, and you of course," Naruto responded.
Both of the other girls turned around once hearing the blonde's voice. The redhead's eyes widened as she stood up and smiled.
"Naruto! How'd you do in the exams?" Karin asked.
"Oh yeah, I'm in the final round!" The blonde clone exclaimed as he pointed at himself.
"Wow! Nice job, Naruto!" Karin complimented.
"Heh, congrats, runt, but just know you still haven't finished the exams," Tsume congratulated as she crossed her arms.
"Yeah I know, but I'm just one step away from winning it all," the Uzumaki stated with a smirk.
The other Inuzuka in the room looked between Naruto and Tsume with a confused look before her eyes landed on Tsume.
"Uh… Mom? Who's the blondie? And the dog…" She asked.
Tsume turned to her before looking at Naruto. "Oh yeah, you guys never met. This is Naruto Uzumaki. He's a genin competing in the Chuunin Exams," Tsume introduced. "And that's his… that's Yoko. He's not your pet is he?"
"Nope, just a companion," Naruto corrected.
"Wait, is he the kid that used to cause a lot of trouble around the village?" She guessed.
"Used to. I don't do that anymore," Naruto confirmed with a chuckle.
"And he knows you how?"
"He knows a friend of mine, we got introduced to each other," Tsume answered. The girl looked between Tsume and Naruto before nodding.
"Okay, well, I'm Hana Inuzuka. Nice to meet you, Naruto," Hana introduced herself as she put her hand out. Naruto accepted it and they briefly shook hands. He then looked at Tsume.
"Oh yeah, what was Kiba yelling at you for earlier?" Naruto wondered.
"Tch, he wanted to get stronger so he asked me to teach him a powerful hiden technique, but got frustrated when he couldn't do it properly. That kid just wants to do things his own way and doesn't bother listening when I tell him what to do," Tsume told, sighing after her retelling of events.
"Oh I see. He wants revenge for what I did to him," Naruto concluded.
"Hm? What'd you do to him?" Hana inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"Simply beat him. We were doing one-on-one's and I went up against him. I beat him," the clone replied with a shrug.
"Well, us Inuzukas can be quite competitive," Tsume added.
"Oh I can tell. Your whole demeanor screams pride and confidence," Naruto agreed.
"Hehe! You already know it, runt!" Tsume ruffed his hair up before backing up.
"So, how've you been, Karin?" Naruto asked as he turned to the redhead.
"Oh! Me? I've been… pretty good. I don't have to worry about Orochimaru or Kusagakure finding me all thanks to you. And I've liked living with the Inuzukas so far. They're really nice!" Karin informed as she smiled widely.
"Oh really? That's good to know! But uh… what about Kiba? He hasn't been bugging you?" Naruto asked.
"Um… no. He's mostly avoided me…" Karin responded.
"Probably because you know Naruto," Tsume guessed as she shrugged. "Must've heard our first conversation and didn't want anything to do with you."
"Well… I'm fine with that. He seems troublesome anyway," Karin said with a slight chuckle.
"Heh, you could say that again," Tsume agreed as she rolled her eyes. "Damnit. Hana can you go and find Kiba and get him back here? Drag his ass if you have to. I don't have the time to deal with his shitty behavior."
"Got it, Mom." Hana then looked at Karin. "Hey, you wanna try that new technique of yours while we look for him?"
"Yeah, sure! I'll see you later, Naruto!" Karin and Hana ran out the house while Naruto waved at them. He then looked at Tsume as she was looking at something else.
"Something wrong, Tsume?" Naruto wondered as he nudged the Inuzuka clan head.
The older woman let out a sigh before turning towards Naruto. "Yes… there is…"
"Well, lay it on me, what's up?"
"The Fire Daimyo's nephew wants to marry Hana…" Tsume revealed.
Naruto blinked twice. "Oh."
"Yeah."
"Can't she just… deny it?"
"Naruto, you can't simply deny something from someone who has more power than you," Tsume told.
"How important is the Fire Daimyo?"
"He's the one who forms alliances with other countries, allows what our hidden village is allowed to do, and sets our entire budget. Also they have the highest power in politics… you really don't wanna get on his bad side unless you got the Hokage backing you up or somethin'," Tsume explained. "Also his nephew is a man child… if he doesn't get what he wants, he'll throw a hissy fit and strong arm people, most likely the Fire Daimyo, to get what he wants."
"Wow, he sounds like a pain in the ass," Naruto commented with a huff.
"That's because he is. Me and Hana went to meet him and my Kami was he unbearable! That man is such a pervert and it's so obvious! It was such a mistake wearing a dress that showed off my cleavage… he would just stare at me and Hana's chest all the time and even incited the Daimyo to look! Ugh, if he wasn't so important I'd have punched him! But he probably knew how important he was so he kept on looking!"
"Well… you do have beautiful boobs…" Naruto pointed out.
The Inuzuka woman blushed. "Now's not the time for that…"
"Right, sorry." The boy then got an idea and looked up at Tsume. "Wait! Why not just have Hana marry someone else?"
"Huh?" Tsume asked, a bit dumbfounded.
"Yeah! Just have Hana marry someone secretly and then respond to the Daimyo's nephew saying she's already married!" Naruto fully explained.
Tsume thought about it and thought it was a good idea, but there were some problems about it. "It sounds like a good idea, but who's gonna marry her?"
"I dunno. When do you have to respond?"
"Tomorrow."
Naruto's eyes widened upon hearing that. "Well shit we don't really have time to go over the list of people who she could marry and she's gone so we can't ask her for her choice either… well Tsume, looks like you'll have to decide for her."
Tsume hummed in agreement before crossing her arms and looking at the ground. 'There really ain't anyone who I'd want marrying my daughter… she also doesn't know many people like that either… and most of the Inuzukas who are close to her age are afraid of her cause of me… shit…' She furrowed her brow as she thought harder, then caught the blonde Uzumaki standing patiently next to her. She looked at him before looking at the ground, her posture slouched a bit and her demeanor sullened slightly.
'Naruto is the best choice right now but… why do I feel… jealous? I shouldn't feel this way… this is saving my daughter from being a douchebag's wife, Tsume! But… No, this isn't the time for that,' the woman thought as she shook her head.
Naruto watched in confusion as she saw her eyes change emotions in the timespan of seven seconds before he could slightly see sadness and something else in her eyes. It briskly went away once she looked back at him.
"Alright, I choose you, Naruto," Tsume announced.
"M-Me? Why me exactly?" Naruto wondered, pointing at himself.
"Because I can trust you. Out of every male I know, I can trust you. Don't ask why, I don't really know myself either, but I know for a fact I can," Tsume responded.
Naruto slightly blushed, but he cleared his throat and nodded. "Right, I understand."
Yoko suddenly barked, causing Naruto and Tsume to look at the orange dog.
"He said we should get the rings for the marriage. We need as much proof as possible if we want to ward off this man from Hana," Kuromaru translated.
"Ah! You're right about that, Yoko! Let's go then! I'll be back soon, Tsume!" The Inuzuka nodded as Naruto rushed out the door with Yoko, leaving a saddened Tsume with Kuromaru.
The dog sighed as he began walking away. Before he left the room, he turned around at Tsume. "Listen, Tsume, the boy has multiple girlfriends… and is about to have a wife… there's nothing stopping you from joining one of the two."
Tsume's eyes widened as a blush lit up on her face. She didn't say anything as her dog left the room.
'Wait a minute… He's right!'
As Naruto got back to the clan compound with the rings in a box, he found Tsume sitting on a chair, reading a book with a blush on her face.
"Uh… Tsume?" The blonde Uzumaki asked as he entered the living room.
The Inuzuka clan head jolted as she shot her head up and saw Naruto standing in front of her with a box and a concerned look on his face.
"Hey, Naruto! I didn't hear you come in. I assume you got the rings?" The brunette asked as he set her book down.
"Uh… yeah, but they were pretty expensive. Who knew rings could cost so much," Naruto confirmed with a little chuckle.
"Kid, there for a special occasion, of course they're gonna be expensive," the woman pointed out with a deadpan stare.
"Oh, yeah, you do have a point…" Naruto realized as he scratched the back of his head while Yoko looked at him with the same stare as Tsume.
The older woman slightly chuckled as she stood up. "Well, lemme see the rings."
"Huh? Oh, here you go," Naruto said as he handed the box over to Tsume. She grabbed the box and opened it, showing two simple, slim, silver rings. Tsume raised an eyebrow as she looked at Naruto.
"These are pretty simple, Naruto," she stated as she looked at the rings again.
The clone's eyes widened as he gawked at Tsume. "T-The other rings were way higher than any ryo I had! Those two rings alone almost cleared out my wallet!"
"Huh, really? I thought you'd get paid enough to buy these and still be safe," Tsume thought, closing the box and handing it back to Naruto.
"Tch, if only! Not to mention, I have girlfriends and I had to buy them stuff also, so I'm not exactly steady floating here."
"Ah, once you become a chuunin, it'll get easier," Tsume said.
"I hope so, otherwise, I'm gonna go broke soon," the clone joked.
"Oh now you're just being overdramatic," the clan head called out as the blonde clone chuckled along with her.
The chuckling died down as Tsume blushed slightly. "Um… speaking about girlfriends…"
"Hm? What's up, Tsume?"
"Well, when I was thinking about who I should choose to be Hana's husband, and the choice was you, I was jealous, because she got to marry you before me. But then, Kuromaru mentioned how you had girlfriends and…" The woman sighed as she slumped her shoulders. "I just wanted to know if maybe… I could also be one of your girlfriends…?"
The clone stared at her with wide eyes.
"L-Look, I know it's weird that I'm asking this of you… b-but y-you're dating Yugao a-and if she could be one… then, I could be one too… right…?" Tsume brought up with a nervous smirk. When Naruto didn't respond, she got more nervous and started slightly fidgeting. "U-Um… well, b-back then, when you first came over and all t-that stuff happened, you… sorta kinda messed up my alpha-beta system and showed you were the more dominant one… and I may have gotten a bit too attached when I could let you have reigns over me… b-but—"
"Tsume," the clone interrupted her.
"Y-Yes…?"
"You don't need to explain yourself. Yes, you can be my girlfriend."
"J-Just like that…?"
"Yeah. I mean, you're beautiful, hot, cute, sexy, and I could definitely see myself falling for you. You don't need to worry about your imperfections getting in the way because they're what make you… you, and so attractive also," the boy explained with a smile.
The Inuzuka's eyes widened as she stared into Naruto's blue ones. She then leaned down and kissed Naruto, but before the clone could reciprocate, she backed away with a content smile.
"... Thank you, Naruto," the woman thanked with a slight bow.
"Yeah, no problem…"
"When I'm ready, I'll ask." Naruto nodded at that, and a second later the door opened with Hana carrying a struggling Kiba inside by the scruff of his sweatshirt with KArin behind them.
"Grah! Let me down, you asshole!" Kiba demanded as he swiped wildly.
"Ugh, do you ever shut up?" Hana wondered as they made it to the living room and found Tsume, Naruto, and Yoko there.
"Hey Mom, hey Naruto. We found Kiba," Hana informed as she raised the boy higher in the air.
At the mention of Naruto, Kiba stopped struggling as he saw the blondie. "N-Naruto?! What the hell is he doing in our house?!"
"Uh, I was here to check on Karin," the blonde responded. The Inuzuka boy looked at Karin and growled as he looked back at Naruto.
"Kiba. Stop being a bitch. Accept that at the moment, you're not as strong as you want to be. Once you do that, you might find learning the new technique easier than before," Tsume told her son as she crossed her arms. The boy looked up at his mom before scoffing and looking away, muttering a "fine" before Hana dropped him.
"I'll be in the backyard," he told as he left the living room. They all watched him leave before Tsume sighed and turned to Hana.
"Well, since that's out of the way let's move on to more pressing matters," the clan head said. "Hana, you're getting married to Naruto."
"What?" the girl in question asked as her eyes widened.
"What?" Karin asked as her eyes widened also.
"Yeah. To stop the Daimyo's nephew from marrying you, you're marrying Naruto," Tsume explained.
Hana was stunned for a moment before she shook her head. "M-Mom are you serious right now?! You're forcing me to marry a boy I just met today?!"
"Well, you were gonna get married to a man you just met yesterday who's also a massive pervert and disrespectful, as well as a man child," Tsume pointed out.
"I–Well–But, why not let me choose?!" Hana questioned.
"Cause I have to respond tomorrow, and unless you know anyone who wants to get married to you, by all means tell me, otherwise we're gonna have to stick to Naruto."
"Also, we don't have to act like couples or anything. All we have to do is get married on paper and bam, you can go back to your normal life, I won't interfere with it," Naruto added with a shrug.
Hana looked at him with a baffled look before sighing as she closed her eyes. "Is this really the only option…?"
"I mean we could get the Hokage to deny it, but who knows how badly that might turn out," Tsume replied. "At least with this, Shun can acknowledge he can't do anything about the marriage lest he wants to ruin his reputation."
"I… I see…" Hana said as she looked at the ground. The others watched as she thought hard about this before sighing.
"... Alright fine… I'll go through with this."
"You sure?" Tsume asked. "I mean, you can always get a divorce some time later if you don't wanna be seen as married anymore."
"I guess… but for now I'll just go along with it. I mean, there's really no one that comes to mind I could marry, so Naruto's the best option I guess… and you do know him so that's a plus. If you chose him he has to be trustworthy."
"Damn straight. Alright, let me get this private marriage organized…" Tsume grumbled as she left the room, leaving Naruto, Hana, Karin, and Yoko left.
"You okay Karin?" Naruto asked as he looked at the redhead.
"Y-Yeah… Just surprising you're getting married is all, heh," the girl responded.
"Mm.. yeah now that you mention it, you do have a point. I never thought I'd be getting married so soon," the clone said as he put a finger on his chin.
"Well anyways, I'm gonna clear my head of this mess, I'll see you later Naruto and Karin." Hana waved at them as she left the room.
It was quiet for a moment before Naruto turned to Karin with a smile. "So, you wanna show me this new technique you're working on?"
Karin brightly smiled at Naruto before rapidly nodding her head. "Yes!"
"Alright then, let's go outside and you can show me."
A few hours later after Tsume got the marriage organized and had a priest come over, Hana got done clearing her head and fully accepted the situation. Naruto Uzumaki and Hana Inuzuka officially got married that day, making Hana Inuzuka an Uzumaki.
Naruto walked onto the Eleventh Training Ground and saw Team Guy doing various sorts of training with Might Guy watching over them.
"Hey Team Guy!" Naruto greeted, putting his hand up. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned around to see the blonde Uzumaki. Neji groaned and turned back around, continuing his training while Rock Lee and Might Guy smiled at him, greeting him back. Tenten just looked at him indifferently.
"Hey, Naruto! Are you here to train your muscles with us?!" Rock Lee wondered.
"Haha! Good choice, Naruto!" Might Guy agreed, doing his signature thumbs up and grin.
"Sorry Guy-sensei and Rock Lee, but he's here for me," Tenten apologized as she walked up to Naruto.
"Huh?" Both Lee and Guy asked as the latter lost his grin.
"Oh! I remember now!" Lee suddenly said, getting out of his confusion. He then threw up a thumb and grinned like Guy would. "Have fun you two!"
Tenten groaned and rolled her eyes. "Let's just go before this gets worse…"
"Thanks Lee, have fun with your training!" Naruto grabbed Tenten's hand and they both disappeared in yellow flashes.
Naruto and Tenten reappeared on top of the Hokage Monument. Tenten's eyes widened as she looked over Konoha.
"Woah… this is a wonderful view…" she commented as she gazed.
Naruto smirked. "I know right, it's amazing." The clone looked over the hidden village for a couple more seconds before turning around and walking away from it. Tenten noticed and followed him.
Naruto soon stood over a spot of grass and the brunette raised an eyebrow.
"Wait… where's the picnic stuff?" Tenten wondered.
Naruto tapped his chest and a red blanket came out. He set the blanket down before tapping his chest again and a picnic basket came out. The blonde sat it down on the blanket and sat down himself. He patted the blanket and Tenten sat down on the blanket too. Naruto opened the basket and took out a black bento box. He opened it up and sat it down before grabbing two plates and placing them in front of himself and Tenten.
The brunette looked at the contents inside of the box and felt her mouth water when she saw the delicious food inside. There were four rice balls, four tamagoyaki, some teriyaki chicken, and some inari sushi.
"Wow… did you cook all of these yourself…?" She asked.
Naruto nodded. "Yup. Didn't take that long surprisingly." Tenten looked up at him before looking back down at the bento box. "Well, go ahead! Don't want them to get cold now!"
The brunette nodded and took half of everything in the box. She did a quick prayer then dug in by taking the sushi first and eating it.
The girl quietly shrieked in delight after eating it. "Oh my Kami! This is so delicious!"
The blonde clone chuckled as he took the other half of the food. "I'm glad you enjoy it."
The girl finished eating and cleared her throat. "Alright, down to business. What's up with you and having multiple Bijuu?"
"Well, I only have one and that's the Kyuubi. As for the Nibi and Sanbi? Well, the Kyuubi has gained a new power that allows it to use the other Bijuus' powers," Naruto summarized.
Tenten quirked an eyebrow at the summary. "But the Kyuubi's never been able to do that! So how'd that happen?!"
The boy sighed. "There's this… thing inside me that allows the Kyuubi to be able to do that."
"Huh? That simple? But wait, what's this thing that's inside of you? What can it make you do?"
"Well it's only simple cause I'm making it simple. It's more complicated than that, but I'll spare you the details. This thing inside of me allows me to have more chakra than I already have—"
"As if the Kyuubi wasn't enough? Doesn't a Bijuu give you more chakra than an average jounin?"
"Yeah, no doubt about it. The only thing that's different is how much more chakra does a Jinchuuriki have compared to another Jinchuuriki. Since I'm the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki, I have a lot more chakra than the Ichibi's Jinchuuriki, but now, with this thing inside of me, I have way way more chakra than him."
"I… can't possibly imagine that. How does it feel having so much chakra to spend?"
"Honestly it's great! I could just use techniques all day and I wouldn't even notice I used some of my chakra!" The clone exclaimed with a grin.
"It's hard to imagine all of that chakra is being stored in a body as small as yours," Tenten commented as she grabbed a bento box and opened.
Naruto deadpanned at her. "Yeah, yeah, I know I'm not as tall as everyone else."
The brunette giggled as she took a bite out of the meal. "You know, I'm not really satisfied with the explanation you gave me, it was pretty vague, but this lunch will make up for that."
"I'd rather your head not hurt trying to explain this to you," Naruto replied as he stole a piece of the meal she was eating.
"… I was gonna eat that, you know…"
"Magemage, there is plenty more that you can eat."
"But I was going to eat that one."
"There is—"
"I was going to eat that one," Tenten interrupted, staring dead at Naruto.
"Alright, alright, you can have the rest of the picnic basket…" Naruto said as he moved the basket closer to Tenten. The brunette made a happy noise as she continued eating.
It was quiet for a moment as Naruto watched Tenten eat his cooking before she sighed a bit sadly.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at the sudden shift in moods. "What's wrong?"
"Your teammate, Sakura Haruno I believe, is really strong… and I just feel kinda bitter from losing to her so humiliatingly…"
"You didn't lose that badly, you put up a pretty good fight against Sakura," Naruto said in hopes of raising her spirits slightly.
"… But I still lost to her and I hate losing. It just makes my dream even farther away to reach…"
The blonde clone slightly tilted his head. "And what's your dream?"
"To be a legendary kunoichi like Tsunade… but if I can't even pass the Chuunin Exams… then my dream isn't possible…"
"Tenten, you know you don't need to pass the Chuunin Exams to become a Chuunin, right? You can be promoted by the Hokage through Guy."
"Yeah but… it just doesn't sit right with me… I want people to see that I'm a strong kunoichi… and the Chuunin Exams helps with that…"
"You can also be seen by doing missions and helping other villages. The Chuunin Exams isn't the only way to be seen."
"… Yeah, you're right… I guess this is more of me losing to Sakura then it is about failing the exams…" Tenten said as she chuckled slightly.
"Well, you can always fight Sakura again, and who knows, maybe you'll win against her," Naruto said. "Use this loss as an opportunity to get better and stronger."
Tenten ate a piece of sushi as she pouted. "But how do I get past her chakra cloak or whatever it is? She just absorbs my attacks like it's nothing!"
"Well it has to rely on her chakra, and Sakura is a normal kunoichi when it comes to chakra. If you can avoid her for as long as possible, she won't be able to use her chakra cloak, but other than that, I don't know. You'd have to ask the girls who fought her," Naruto responded with a shrug. "I haven't fought her with her chakra cloak so I don't exactly know how it works."
Tenten hummed as she ate before sighing. "Okay… but are those girls still in the village?"
"Dunno. Haven't talked to 'em since the second phase of the Chuunin Exams… but maybe they are still around…"
The brunette hummed again before resuming her eating. It was quiet for a moment before Tenten spoke up again.
The girl lightly blushed as she seemed to be eating faster than before. "… You're a good cook, Naruto…"
"Hm? Where's this coming from?"
"Listen, I'm just acknowledging what's true!" She defended herself as she pouted.
"You're so cute when you're pouting," Naruto noticed as he poked her cheek.
The kunoichi growled before flinging a piece of sushi at Naruto. "Hey!" Tenten giggled before eating another piece.
A Naruto clone and Sakura were out on the third training ground.
"So, you wanna learn Fire and Wind Release? What for?" Naruto asked the pinkette.
"I just… had an interesting idea that I wanted to try out. And yeah, Kakashi can probably teach me this better than you can… but I can't find him anywhere," Sakura responded with a shrug.
"The man can only be found when he wants to be," Naruto said as he shrugged as well. "Alright, whatever, let's get started with this Fire Release first."
"Well… I already know how to make it, I just can't use it," Sakura clarified.
"Oh, then this should be easy! We'll just use a really easy fire technique!"
"Is that the Great Fireball Technique…?"
"Nope! In your case, it's the Flame Bullet technique. For this technique, you just need to make oil in your mouth and add some fire into it to ignite it," the blonde clone explained, putting his hands on his hips.
"… I've never made oil before, Naruto."
"It's easy. All you gotta do is make hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Then after you do that, make the Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger hand seals and blow out, and don't forget the fire!"
Sakura narrowed her eyes at him before looking off to the side. After a few seconds of thinking she hummed then nodded. "Alright, I can do that."
"Oh, thought you'd need me to explain the science part."
"Hush, I'm not dumb, Naruto," Sakura told as she chuckled.
The clone smiled, chuckling as well. "You're right, I'm speaking to The Great Sakura here, my bad."
Sakura slightly growled as a small blush came to her cheeks before she put her fingertips together and started concentrating. She first formed some of the chakra in her mouth to water and heated her mouth up to a certain point. Once she felt all of the water turn into vapor, she quickly sucked in a bit of air and began mixing the two together. She felt liquid start pouring and filling her mouth.
Sakura made the Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger hand seals. 'Fire Release: Flame Bullet!' She blew out the newly made oil with a bit of fire and ignited it in midair, making a flaming bullet.
The bullet hit a tree and exploded in a blaze, setting a couple trees on fire as the target one was blown up and the bottom half was on fire.
"Wow, good job Sakura!" Naruto complemented. He made the hand seals for the Water Trumpet and blew out a streak of water on all of the trees on fire, extinguishing the flames.
"Heh, thanks Naruto," the pinkette said as she rubbed the back of her head.
"Alright, that was good, but that didn't exactly teach you about Fire Release now did it?"
"… Not really. Kinda just added fire to oil."
"Exactly, but you did apply fire to something else, so that's a start," he said. "Now this time, you're gonna do the same thing but before you spit out the oil, split it into parts and continuously fire it while applying fire constantly."
The girl nodded and looked at the direction of some trees. She repeated the process of making oil, but after, she split it up and began firing it like her Gatling Gun technique and simultaneously applying fire to it.
The result was a constant stream of fire that continued to extend until it reached a tree. The tree was set on fire and grew exponentially as Sakura continued blowing out. She soon stopped and was a bit surprised at the damage she caused.
Naruto sprayed down the tree with water before turning to look at the pinkette. "Nice job, Sakura! That was actually really good!"
"Thanks, Naruto, but it was mostly you who helped me learn."
"Aw save that for after I teach you about Wind Release." Sakura giggled at that. "Alright, next is the Sickle Weasel Technique since it's pretty easy to start off with. For this one all you gotta do is make the Snake Dragon Bird hand seals and swipe your arm–or arms—horizontally and a blade of wind should form."
"Sounds easy enough, let's see if I can do it," Sakura said as Naruto backed up. The pinkette focused on a tree and took a deep breath before making the Snake Dragon Bird hand seals and swiping one arm horizontally.
Sakura made a giant blade of wind that shot forward and sliced through two trees before exploding and blowing most of the leaves off of nearby trees. Her eyes widened at the destruction she caused and she quickly whipped around to look at Naruto.
The clone blinked twice. "Huh, good job but uh… Next time turn it down a notch, heh…"
She continued looking at him before they both heard creaking and turned to see the two trees Sakura cut down fall and crash into other trees. The pinkette looked back at Naruto as the blonde scratched the back of his head.
"… At least you did the technique."
After Sakura practiced controlling her chakra output, they took a small break laying against one of the few trees that weren't sliced.
"So I know that you're doing this to be a better kunoichi and expand your jutsu, but there's something else, isn't there?" Naruto guessed as he looked at his teammate.
The pinkette, who had her eyes closed, hummed a bit before looking at the blonde clone. "Yeah, there is something else."
"And what may that be, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Well, to be honest, I just thought of it while fighting Akame and Hyoshi. I'm trying to create a kekkei tota."
Naruto stared at her for a moment, processing what she said before his eyes widened and he jolted up. "WHAT?!"
Sakura smiled as she looked away. "Yeah… it sounds ridiculous but look, I got it all under control. After you taught me Fire and Wind release I feel like I can do it now."
"… Well, you're extremely smart, so you must know what you're doing. I trust you, Sakura," Naruto said as he sat back.
The pinkette brightly smiled at her teammate. "Thank you, Naruto." She got up and walked away from him before turning around and taking a deep breath. She closed her eyes and made the Dog → Bird → Tiger hand seals.
"Cloud Release: Volley Fog." As soon as she finished, fog suddenly emitted from Sakura's body and shrouded her from sight. Naruto's eyes widened and he was about to get up, but suddenly stopped as he felt a presence behind him. He turned around and saw most of Sakura's body covered by a black fog. They both stared at each other before the fog over her disappeared and so did the fog she created.
"… That was amazing…" Naruto commented after a moment of silence.
The pinkette blushed as she scratched her cheek and smiled. "Uh… th-thanks, Naruto…"
A Naruto clone was walking around the village looking for a certain jounin squad leader. He began walking aimlessly for a while before coming across the Konoha graveyard. The blonde clone saw his sensei standing over two gravestones and couldn't help himself but walk up to him.
"Yo, Kakashi-sensei… Sorry to disturb you, but I just wanted to thank you way earlier for capturing Zaku and Dosu," Naruto explained as he stood next to Kakashi.
"Oh, hey Naruto, and yeah it's no problem, anything to help out my cute little genin," Kakashi said as he closed his eye.
Naruto smiled back at his sensei before looking at the tomb stones. "Obito Uchiha and Rin Nohara… who were these two, if you don't mind me asking?"
Kakashi sighed longingly. "These two were my teammates fifteen years ago…"
Naruto's eyes widened at hearing that. "Holy shit… fifteen years ago…?"
"Yep. I was twelve at that time and was recently promoted to jounin…" Naruto's jaw dropped. "… The Third Shinobi World War was happening at the same time and we were sent out on a mission. Your father was our sensei and he was tasked to fight on the front lines while we were tasked to blow up the Kannabi Bridge. After we got into Kusagakure, two Iwa shinobi cut us off and kidnapped Rin. Me and Obito had an argument about shinobi rules and whatnot and he left to go save Rin while I continued on with the mission. During our argument Obito said something to me that really… stuck with me and caused me to go help him save Rin. During our fight with the Iwa shinobi my left eye got cut but we won our fight and saved our teammate. Unfortunately, one of the Iwa shinobi was still alive and caused a cave-in. Obito died during it while me and Rin escaped. I eventually killed the Iwa shinobi. Sometime later, Rin was captured and had the Sanbi implanted in her. I was tasked to save her, which I did, but we later got surrounded by Kiri shinobi. I was going to use Chidori on one… but she jumped in front of it and I stabbed her through her heart… she wanted to die by my hands… but I still feel guilty about that and about what Obito told me…"
Kakashi looked at Naruto before grabbing his hitai-ate. "Back in Nami no Kuni, you saw my Sharingan, so you must've been wondering how I got one."
"… Yeah…" Naruto confirmed while nodding. Kakashi took off his hitai-ate and revealed his Sharingan to Naruto.
"… When Obito died, a rock had landed on the right side of his body, completely crushing it and leaving his left side to remain. It's a miracle he was still able to talk to me… but, as he was dying, he gave his Sharingan to me and had Rin transplant it into my left eye. It was his gift to me becoming jounin…" The white-haired jounin covered his eye back up.
"That's… very kind of him to do," Naruto commented as he looked at Obito's grave.
"Yeah… he was my best friend along with Rin… I miss those two everyday."
"But Kakashi-sensei… they're deaths aren't your fault."
Kakashi turned to Naruto and smiled at him. "Oh, you don't need to worr—"
"No, you don't get it, Sensei. Rin knew exactly what was going to happen to her and she wanted to die or else she'd kill everyone in the village and then she'd die in vain. You killing her did her a huge favor and I bet she was happy given the circumstances of her situation. I know if I was her, I'd rather die by a friend than anyone else I didn't know. And especially before I went rogue. You did good by killing her. That wasn't your fault anyway you were aiming for someone completely different and she got in your way. I know she wouldn't want you blaming yourself for her death, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto interrupted as he narrowed his eyes at the spiky-haired jounin. "And plus, you did all you could to honor Obito's words and wishes. You protected Rin for as long as you could and you did a good job. It wasn't your fault she got kidnapped… Kakashi-sensei, you need to stop blaming yourself for things that were completely out of your control. Neither of your former teammates want you grieving and mourning over their deaths for things that were out of their control."
The jounin stared at Naruto before looking at Rin and Obito's graves and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath before looking back at the blonde clone. "You're right, thanks, Naruto."
Naruto smiled and nodded. "Mm, no problem, Sensei."
"You feelin' hungry? I could go for some Ichiraku Ramen right now," the cycloptic jounin offered.
"Aw hell yeah! I'm always in the mood for ramen!" Naruto accepted with a grin. 'Even though I'm a clone and don't need to eat, heh…'
"Alright, let's go." The two turned around and walked out of the graveyard but before they could go any further, a kunoichi stood in their way and stopped them.
"Are you Naruto Uzumaki?" The woman asked as she looked at the short blonde. The woman had long black hair braided down her back and bangs. She had dark eyes and was wearing a classic chuunin outfit.
"Yeah, what's up?" Naruto wondered with a raised eyebrow.
"You… You were the one that killed Mizuki, weren't you?" The woman guessed.
Naruto's eyes slightly widened. "Yeah, I am… and who're you?"
"His fiancé, Tsubaki."
The blonde Uzumaki's eyes fully widened upon hearing that. 'Oh… Oh shit…'
"L-Look I'm very sorry for killing him but—"
"Don't even. I know he was working with Orochimaru and I… I understand and I'm not mad at you or anything," Tsubaki interrupted as she put a hand up.
"Y-You're not…?"
"No. Mizuki… I did love the man, but after he became obsessed with power, those feelings faded away. He was such a nice and caring man… I don't know what possibly happened to him, but I don't think he could've reverted back to his old self, so in a weird sense… thank you."
"Um… you're welcome. I uh… didn't exactly expect this, ya know?"
"Mm, I understand this was probably too forward of me to bring up, but I finally tracked you down after having some alone time," Tsubaki responded as she nodded. "Well anyway, I'm gonna get going now. I'm glad I finally met you, Naruto, take care."
"You as well, Tsubaki." They both nodded before the chuunin walked away from the duo. "That was really strange, Kakashi-sensei."
"Eh, you get used to these sorts of things the longer you're a shinobi," Kakashi said with a shrug. "Alright, let's go."
"Hai!"
A Naruto clone was walking around Konoha trying to locate Yugao. It had been half an hour since he searched but he couldn't find the Anbu kunoichi anywhere.
The clone stopped as he looked around confused. 'She should've seen me ten minutes ago… is she on a mission?' Naruto hummed as he scratched his cheek. He sighed then walked forward, continuing on with his search.
As he looked around, he passed by the Dango Shop and caught sight of a purple-haired woman. He did a double-take before figuring out it was Anko.
Naruto walked into the Dango Shop and up to Anko's table.
"Hey Anko!" He greeted.
The woman looked up from her dango and smiled. "Hey, if it ain't slick tongue! Good job on passing the second phase of the Chuunin Exams!"
"When will you stop calling me slick tongue…?"
"When I get tired of it."
"…" Naruto sighed before sitting across from Anko. "I see you're eating dangos, like usual.
"Don't judge me. Dangos are good and are the only thing that's good."
"Tch, you haven't even tried ramen."
"Bah! As if I need to try something so subpar as ramen!"
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Did you just call ramen subpar?"
"Yeah, I did. You wet behind the ears or somethin'?" Anko confirmed as she narrowed her eyes.
"Okay children settle down now," a familiar voice told the two. Both Anko and Naruto looked to find Yugao with a dango.
"Hey Yugao!"
"Hi Naruto. Scoot over, Anko," Yugao greeted as she sat down next to the purple-haired woman.
"I figured you wanna sit next to blondie over there," Anko muttered.
"Oh hush."
"Good job on passing the second phase! I knew you'd do it!" Yugao congratulated.
"Thank you, Yugao. Though, it wasn't that hard," Naruto thanked with a shrug.
"Oh? You saying the competition's easy?" Anko asked with a smug look.
"No no, the competition isn't easy, but my opponent was. Though maybe it was due to me getting slightly mad," Naruto responded with a chuckle.
"You got mad? Why?"
"Kiba Inuzuka and what he said."
"Aw, you didn't hurt him too badly did you?" Yugao asked as she patted his head.
"Eh, only a broken back maybe. I didn't look back after I won," the blonde Uzumaki responded as he shrugged.
"Looked broken to me," Anko added, eating the last dango off of the stick.
"I see. Good job, Naruto, but if you wanted to—"
"He's not here to kill Kiba, Yugao, don't share that with him," Anko interrupted as she shot a glare at the Anbu kunoichi.
"Oh fine…" she said. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
Naruto chuckled slightly. "Anyway, what were you two doing?"
"Oh us? We were just hangin' out, why?" Anko responded.
"Oh! Me and Naruto have a date together!" Yugao remembered as she perked up.
Anko looked at the purple-haired woman with a raised eyebrow before she remembered overhearing that. "Oh yeah, I forgot you said that."
"I'm sorry for forgetting Naruto!" Yugao apologized and bowed.
"Ah it's no problem, Yugao."
"Do you want to get started right now?"
"Sure, but what about Anko?" Naruto asked as he looked at the interrogation specialist. Yugao also looked at her friend as the woman perked up.
"Wait what's happening?" Anko asked as she looked between the two.
"Do you wanna join us on our date?" Naruto asked.
Anko scoffed as she laid back. "Kid, I don't know if you know how dates work, but adding a third person is just weird."
"You afraid of being a third wheel?" Naruto asked.
"I'm pretty sure a lot of people are. No one wants to be a third wheel," Anko responded, crossing her arms.
"What if you're not a third wheel?" Naruto proposed.
Anko looked confused. "Naruto what the hell are you talking about?"
"Think of this like a bicycle. You and Yugao are the wheels and I'm the rider," Naruto explained.
"… If you wanted to date both of us you could've just said that…" Anko told.
"Well… If I said that it would've brought us to where we are now. I felt like I had to use that analogy so you'd understand."
Anko sighed as she slumped in her seat. "Well… I do owe you for taking Orochimaru's seal off of me… so sure, let's go on a date, Naruto."
"Why didn't you call me slick tongue?" Naruto wondered with a raised eyebrow.
"I just… felt like it wasn't necessary…" the snake woman responded as she looked away.
Yugao chuckled as she got out of the seat and wiped her pants. "Come on, you two, let's go."
Naruto and Anko both nodded as they both got out of their seats.
"Where to first, Naruto? Since you wanted to do this triple date thing," Yugao asked as she turned towards the blonde clone.
"Hm… okay, got it. Follow me," Naruto said as he lead the two women to where he wanted to go.
While that clone was enjoying his date with Anko and Yugao, another was with Kurenai and Hinata trying to figure out her Byakugan mystery.
"Honestly… I don't know what's going on, Hinata…" Kurenai told as she sighed sadly. "I wish I could tell you… but I've never seen a Byakugan with a black ring before…"
"Maybe try asking your father? He might know," Naruto suggested.
"Maybe… but if he doesn't know, he might make a big spectacle out of this… and that is not what I want right now," Hinata stated. She then sighed heavily. "Let's just keep this a secret until we know for sure how my Byakugan is going to evolve."
Naruto and Kurenai shared a look before nodding at the Hyuuga. "Sure, we can do that," Naruto complied.
A few hours later, after all of the extra Naruto clones were done with their business, they all dispelled, leaving one clone on top of the Hokage Monument, specifically the Yondaime's head. The clone looked out into the sunset as he stared and got lost in his thoughts.
'I have a lot to protect here. The more people I love, the more dangerous and harder it is to keep them safe… they're all capable shinobi and kunoichi, they can handle themselves… but is this right?' The clone sighed deeply as he laid down. 'I guess I can never truly know. Love is complicated as hell, and I'm no expert on it, so I shouldn't try and delve into it too much and just let things ride. The girls seem happy with this, so I shouldn't break hearts for no reason….' The clone closed his eyes. 'I just hope my main body can fight off Orochimaru… but speaking of my main body, I wonder how he's doing right now in Suna…'
Hey everyone. I'm back and rusty as hell. I don't really have an explanation other then I got lazy and kept on putting writing this story off. Also, dread from thinking about the future of this story and how different I want it to be from canon. And whooo, there are a lot of different ways I could change it with how I added a whole new village and characters. It's just complicated and I need to start thinking more outside the box. But anyway, enough of my rambling and sorry for making this chapter so long haha, I didn't mean to, I promise.
Oh! And before I forget, Happy Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, April Fools, and Easter! (Sorry if I missed some big holidays)