Hello, again guys.

I didn't get many reviews in the previous chapter, did y'all forget to read it or just didn't review. As I have said earlier your reviews are important and help me further improve my writing, so please review it helps a lot.

QnA

Q:- Doest Naruto recover his spent chakra after using the dragon drive?

A:- No, he only recovers a small portion, that too after many days. Most of the chakra used will be lost, never to be recovered.

(Updated on 05 sep 2021:-

Note:- Since you guys have no patience and keep complaining of my decision to nerf Naruto, I am forced to reveal that the use of Dragon drive does not weaken him in any way besides depleting his chakra. as I have mentioned before in my earlier chapters, Dragon drive is a plot point for the future and will have its relevance explained further down the line so quit your bitching and have some patience.)

After getting briefed by Jiraiya about the mission, Naruto spent the next 3 days resting and recovering his chakra. During this time he had taken Kushina to her first, much delayed, date, she had asked Mikoto to join too but she was declined, Mikoto's argument was 'I wouldn't want my first date with the person I love to be shared with another person, no matter who she is. Besides, we have already been on a date when you were on your mission and done much more, it would be unfair of me to interfere during your time with him.

Kushina understood her sentiment and accepted her argument but when asked what she meant by 'done much more' Mikoto just blushed and quickly changed the subject.

The date was 'one of the best nights of her life according to Kushina. Naruto had secured a small spot on the top of the Hokage monument, the exact spot they used to go to when they were kids, and prepared a small table with candle lights and his own home cooked meal for dinner. He had even gifted her a light green kimono with red swirls on it, which she wore, as an apology for delaying the date.

The date went excellent with Kushina throughly impressed by Naruto's thoughtful gestures and his delicious meal.

At the end of the date, Naruto once again surprised her with beautiful fireworks show and a kiss which lasted for many minutes but it still left her wanting for more. They then spent rest of the night talking about their past and their future.

Xxx On the fourth day, Morning xxX

Now, standing at the the village gate with his team, Naruto kissed Kushina goodbye as he entered a sealing array. Mikoto was deployed on a mission, so she couldn't make it to wish him goodluck.

"Have you prepared for the mission? " Naruto asked after Kushina left them to attend her own duties.

Kakashi just gave a confident nod while Nawaki and Anko gave a loud and excited,

"Yes!".

"Do you know what our mission is?" Naruto asked as he did a final check of the sealing array.

"We will provide backup to our forces present in Ame and help them in defeating Hanzo of the Salamander" Kakashi replied.

"No!" Naruto replied in a firm voice "Under no condition are you to ever fight against Hanzo, if a fight with him is immenent, retreat immediately, do not wait for anyone, just run. None of you are strong enough to face him".

"But.." Nawaki started but was immediately interrupted.

"No buts!" Naruto snapped "If you can't follow a direct order, I'll make sure you'll be doing D-ranked missions for the rest of your life, if you are still alive that is."

This immediately made him shut up.

"Kakashi" Naruto started, this time addressing him, "When I am not present, you are incharge of the team. Make sure to keep them in line. This is war, any moment can be your last so don't drop your guard, even for a second." Kakashi nodded, determination clearly in his eyes.

"Now, give a final briefing so we are all on the same page" Naruto requested as he stood in the centre of the array with Kakashi, Anko and Nawaki surrounding him in a circle.

"As Jiraiya-sama had informed us, he would set up a safe zone near Ame and install the hiraishin seal which you gave him, we would then teleport there and lead a small group of shinobis which he left behind to keep the place secure and meet him at the rendezvous point. From there we will slowly push inwards towards the village while securing the area. "

Naruto nodded, "Do you all have the seals I gave you?"

The three immediately nodded and showed him the seals. Naruto took the seals and explained them it's use once again.

"This" He said pointing at the seal "Is an filtration seal, use it when you become poisoned or when one of our ninja is poisoned, it will immediately isolate the poison and remove it from their system. I have given each of you five of these, so use it carefully as its only usable one time".

"This" he said pointing at another seal "is for-"

He was interrupted as Nawaki loudly interjected "We know!".

"We have studied a little fuinjutsu so we know what most of these seals do, plus, you have already explained it to us 3 times before." He yelled in frustration.

Naruto grunted in annoyance but still stopped his explanation and returned them their seals.

" OK, any questions?", he asked after he instructed them to hold each others hand and form a circle around him inside the seal.

"Why are we using Hiraishin to travel?".

"Why didn't we leave with Jiraiya and the others?".

"Can I go to pee?".

Naruto sighed and quickly slammed his hands in the centre of the seal.

"Hiraishin no jutsu"

With that they dissappear in a bright flash leaving behind charred ground.

Xxx Few kilometres away from Ame xxX

Naruto and team appeared in a small clearing with 2 ninjas lying on the ground holding their eyes.

"What's happened to them?" Nawaki exclaimed as he quickly left the sealing array and helped the 2 of them up.

Kakashi quickly followed, after checking their headband to make sure they were allies, he used his medical scanning technique to find out what is wrong with them.

Naruto meanwhile was breathing a bit heavily as the hiraishin took a lot of his chakra then he anticipated.

"His retinas have burned off" Kakashi informed as he applied a bit of medical jutsu to ease his pain.

"They must have stared at the seal when we flashed here, the bright light probably fried their eyesight" Naruto replied as he collected himself and walked towards the blind ninjas.

"All of you, do a perimeter sweep, I'll see what I can do to help them".

Team Kakashi quickly left the clearing and did as they were told.

Naruto approached the ninja Kakashi was diagnosing and placed his hands on the ninjas' eyes.

"This will sting a bit", he informed and activated his special healing palm technique.

Soon, the blue light from the technique died down and the ninja blinked a few times to clear his eye sight.

Naruto quickly went to the other ninja and healed him too, this one didn't have as much damage to his eyesight than the previous one.

"Thank you for your help" The first ninja started "My name is Hyuga Hizashi and as my name suggests I am from the Hyuga clan" He then gave a deep bow as a sign of respect and for helping him.

Naruto paused for a second when he heard his name, 'Hizashi hyuga, he is Neji' s dad!! ' Naruto realised in shock but quick managed himself and continued his healing.

"No need to thank me" Naruto replied as he finished healing the other ninja "And please don't bow before me" He quickly added and straighted Hizashi.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki Uchiha by the way" Naruto introduced and offered him his hand "Its a pleasure to meet you".

Hizashi, after a little bit of hesitation, shook his hand and replied "Yes, we know. Jiraiya-sama informed us that you would be arriving today, we were just surprised by how you arrived, hence the little mishap.", he replied, laughing embarrassedly and pointing towards his eyes.

"Does your technique usually blind everyone?" the other ninja remarked as he rubbed his eyes.

"No" Naruto replied "It doesn't, Hizashi probably had his Byakugan on, the sudden flash of the technique must have burned his retinas as he was not ready for it. It didn't do much damage to your eyes since they are not as light sensitive as his".

Hizashi looked surprised that Naruto correctly guessed what happened but didn't say anything in response.

"I am Shin, by the way" the now named Shin introduced himself "Its an honour to meet you" He continued and quickly offered his hand for a handshake.

"Likewise" Naruto replied but before the conversation could continue any further team Kakashi returned from their perimeter sweep.

"Sensei" Kakashi started "The bright flash probably alerted the enemy of our location, we should move as soon as possible".

Naruto nodded and instructed them to quickly seal all the supplies which were left behind for them.

As they begun to move towards their randezvous point, Naruto inquired,

"I thought, Jiraiya was gonna leave an entire squad behind. What happened?"

"We were ambushed on our way to Ame" Hizashi replied "It was like the enemy already knew we were coming, we lost a lot of our shinobi in that ambush, Orichimaru suggested that only the two of us stay behind" He continued, pointing towards himself and Shin, "Since, I could detect any enemy with my Byakugan and Shin could provide backup, if a fight was imminent."

Naruto hummed as they kept on running.

After running for an hour or so, Nawaki asked

"Sensei, we have been running for an hour now, why haven't we met even a single enemy ninja, we are already in their territory yet we haven't encountered any one, not even a civilian."

"I don't see anyone nearby" Hizashi informed as he looked around with his Byakugan "It looks like this entire region is empty".

"It's not," Naruto replied as he continued to run "We are being followed for 15 minutes by now, they seem to be keeping their distance at the edge of your sight."

"Should we fight them" Anko asked.

"No, atleast not yet, let them follow us. Don't give them any clue that we know of them". Naruto instructed as they all kept on running.

After running for few more minutes, they came across a lake.

"The randezvous point is just beyond this lake" Hizashi informed as he continued to walk towards the lake.

"Stop" Naruto whispered "I guess, they already know where our randezvous point is, that is why they didn't attack us earlier. They knew we would have to cross this lake, so they set the trap here".

"But, I still don't see anyone here." Hizashi informed as he slowly moved away from the lake and towards his group, his Byakugan on the entire time.

"The lake" Naruto replied and he acted like he was catching his breath "They plan to attack us when we have no cover or any way to run."

Hizashi discretely glanced at the lake and noticed something off about it.

"Its stuffed with chakra" Hizashi replied.

"Correct, they seem to already know of your Byakugan and have prepared accordingly, this entire setup was a trap."

"What should we do?" Kakashi asked, as he discretely slipped hin hand in his pocket.

"Nothing" Naruto replied as he sat under a tree where the rain fell the least. "I have lost some of my chakra due to the teleportation and then the healing, we should rest here for some time till I have recovered my chakra, by then if they don't attack us, we will launch our own assault".

He then took out a ration bar and started to munch on it.

The rest soon followed and sat besides him and ate their own ration bar but kept an vigilant eye on their surrounding.

An hour had already passed, it was noon by Naruto's estimate, he got up from his meditative stance and walked towards the lake.

"Can you see anyone in your peripheral" Naruto asked Hizashi as he did some light stretching.

"No," He replied "Either they are being extremely cautious or you have made a mistake in sensing them".

Naruto hummed and stopped near the edge of the lake.

"When I give the signal, run" Naruto quietly muttered.

"I know you are all here" Naruto loudly announced and completed a set of hand seals and raised his arm towards the sky.

"Show yourself and surrender, I promise I would let you all live" He continued as a bolt of lightning suddenly shot from his raised hand and connected with the dark clouds above.

He lowered his hand and again exclaimed

"That was your last warning".

The lake was still for several seconds but soon huge water dragon suddenly rose from it and crashed in their position.

"I see movement" Hizashi announced "The surrounding enemy are moving towards us, fast. The ninjas in th lake are also coming out and preparing an assault".

Naruto sighed and landed a little away from the lake.

"Get ready" He informed and faster than any of them could follow, completed a set of hand seals.

"I gave you a choice" Naruto yelled "but you chose death" He then slammed his hand on the ground and exclaimed,

"Now begone, Kirin (Thunder Clap)".

There were loud rumbling in the sky as Hizashi widened his eyes in shock and awe as he witnessed the technique before anyone else.

Soon, an enormous dragon made entirely of lightning peaked through the clouds and made itself known.

The enemy ninjas halted their assault and looked up in fear, colour draining from their faces as they witnessed the Dragon give a loud roar and dive towards them.

Some tried to run away while some accepted their fate. As soon as the dragon made contact with the lake, an enormous explosion of water and electricity shook the ground. The explosion soon covered most of the lake, increasing in size and destruction. It lasted for many minutes, the after shock of the explosion uprooted tress and sent them flying halfway across the village.

The lake which was earlier filled with water and hundreds of Ame ninja was now only a huge crator, water from the rain and the surrounding lake was now falling in it and covering it up.

Everyone stood in shocked awe as Naruto deactivated the barriers he had used to protect them from the flying debrie, water, electricity and random body parts which were now scattered all across them.

"If you didn't get it then I'll clarify, that was your signal to run." Naruto spoke as he started a slow jog, coming out of their stupor, the team soon followed him as he ran across the empty lake.

"You Fool!" Tsunade yelled as she smashed her fist against Naruto's face, sending him flying out of the cave they were currently camped at, "What the hell was that, you probably alerted the entire village of your presence".

Naruto and team had only ran a few hours before they met up with Jiraiya and his team. They had to apparently changed the randezvous point since it was already compromised, the enemy had ambushed them there and many had lost their lives.

It was only thanks to Hizashi's byakugan that they were able to meet up with Tsunade's team so soon. Jiraiya had left behind chakra markers that could only be seen by a Byakugan, following those helped Naruto and Co reach the new meeting point.

"Tsunade-sama" Hizashi started "We were ambushed by the Ame nins, they had surrounded us long before we reached the lake, they probably planned to attack us when we were crossing it so we wouldn't have any escape route, it was only because of Uchiha-San that we escaped without having to fight them".

Tsunade calmed down a little after hearing to his reasoning but still kept an angry expression on her face.

"That wasn't the most troubling part" Naruto continued as he wiped the mud from his face and came back inside, "Its seems like we were surrounded from the moment we flashed here, the enemy was hiding just outside the range of Hizashi's Byakugan".

"Meaning?" Nawaki questioned he scratched his head.

"It means" Kakashi replied "This entire mission was compromised long before they came here."

"That does seem true" Jiraiya replied as he adopted a thinking expressions, "We were ambushed way too many time for it to be a coincidence, even our randezvous was comprised, we lost too many soldiers before the fighting even begun".

"It seems that someone from Konoha tipped off the enemy" Orichimaru stated, "We walked right into the enemy's trap".

Everyone went silent as they processed the information, the only sound in the cave was of the fire wood creaking as it burned and the rain outside.

"It doesn't matter now" Naruto got up and dried himself using a small fire jutsu, "Since our original plan has been compromised, we must make a new one and carry on with the mission."

"Is that advisable though?" Orichimaru questioned "The enemy already knew of our mission, we have less than 10 of our total Troups left. I think we should abort the mission and return while we still have a chance. The odds are heavily stacked against us."

"I agree with Orichimaru-san," Anko replied, "We wouldn't stand a chance if we are cornered again. While, I do think Naruto-sensei is strong, extremely so, I don't think even he can fight against a whole village."

"Your argument is understandable" Jiraiya replied, "But, the success of this mission is extremely important, that is the whole reason why the Hokage appointed us to this mission. If, by chance, Hanzo allies himself with Kumo or any other nation for that matter, we will lose this war for sure. So, retreat is not an option for us. "

" Then, how do you plan to proceed " Tsunade asked.

" I think we should split up", Naruto replied, "we will have a higher chance to stay hidden that way".

"I agree", Jiraiya nodded "We can cover more ground too thay way".

"And how are we going to find Hanzo," Orichimaru questioned.

"I can help with that" Naruto replied, "I am a sensor so it won't be a problem for me to detect him with some concentration", as he said that he kneeled and pressed 2 fingers on the ground.

After a few seconds passed, Naruto opened his eyes, "Hizashi" He started, "How far can you see with your byakugan?", he questioned as he dusted his pants.

Hizashi felt uncomfortable to answer that question as the secrets of byakugan were considered clan secret but he relented and answered it anyway.

"I can see everything around a radius of 2km and when I focus, I can see till 5km in only a single direction"

Naruto nodded, "It seems the enemy knows of that range too" he informed "I sense hundreds of chakra signature surrounding us in a 8 Km radius, there are many others hidden near us too but none of them seem to be willing to come close."

Most of them were shocked by this revelation

"Are we surrounded again?" Anko questioned, a little horifed.

"Yes" Naruto replied "But no need to worry, they don't seem intrested in fighting us right now, if I had to guess, I'd say they are waiting for Hanzo's command."

"And what about him, where is he?" Orichimaru questioned, utterly impressed by Naruto's abilities.

Naruto pointed to his right and replied "He is around 15 Km that way, he is slowly making his way towards us with his army, by my estimates, it will take him around a day to reach here."

"Is he strong, can we defeat him?" Jiraiya asked as he started to pack everything into his storage seals.

"He is far stronger than the three of you" He said pointing towards Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orichimaru, "He is around the same level as Sakumo Hatake, atleast that is what I sense with his chakra alone. There is no telling how strong he really is until we fight him."

"My father is that strong?" Kakashi questioned with shocked eyes.

Naruto laughed and ruffled his hair "I think he is far stronger than Hanzo, he is definitely stronger than Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orichimaru combined. Believe me, even I wouldn't want to face him alone when he is serious. It was a pity he couldn't come, he was given a mission elsewhere".

"So, what's the plan" Naruto asked after everyone finished packing.

"As you said, we should split up" Jiraiya started "We know which direction he is coming from so we can be a step ahead of him and ambush him this time." He took a stick and drew a rough outline of Ame.

"According to you, he is currently here" He marked a spot on the ground "We should all split up and make our way here" He marked a point halfway Hanzo's position, "We should clear this area and kill as many enemies we can, then setup an ambush".

Everyone nodded, it seemed to be a good plan so far.

"Naruto, take your team and settle here. Orichimaru, you take the remaining squad and position yourself here. Tsunade, take Hizashi with you and go here. I'll go alone and try to collect as much information as I can and reach here." Jiraiya explained as he drew 4 crosses around the point. "When Hanzo reaches here, we will all attack at once and kill as many as we can before we face him, then, we can fight him together and defeat him " Jiraiya finished and looked around to see everyone looking at him in surprise.

"What?" He snapped, everyone quickly averted their gaze and agreed to his plan.

"I didn't know Jiraiya was this capable" Naruto silently whispered to Tsunade.

"He may be perverted to his very core but when push comes to shove, he never disappoints" Tsunade whispered back and got up from here position, ready to leave.

Slowly, everyone left the cave and proceeded to go as planned.

"Aren't we leaving sensei?" Nawaki asked, they were all surrounding Naruto, he had yet to move from his sitting position.

Naruto didn't answer, after a few seconds he got up and slowly made his way towards the cave entrance.

"Did you understand the plan?" He turned around and asked.

All three of them nodded, "Good" He replied as he turned away from them. "You will have to proceed ahead without me, I will not be helping you in anyway from now on. This is an opportunity for you to truly test your skills and see if you have what it takes to be a great ninja one day. I'll meet you at the planned location till then you are on your own. Goodbye and goodluck. "

With that said, Naruto slowly started to vanish from his position until he completely dissappeared.

The three of them stood dumbfolded for a few seconds after which Anko questioned.

"Did sensei really left us to fend for ourselves behind the enemy lines?".

I know there wasn't much action in this chapter but you have to understand that because of Naruto's reputation and his bounty in the Bingo book, most ninja will try to avoid him if they can and would only attack when there isn't any other choice, like I showed in the Lake scene. Anyway, write your thought about the chapter and any questions you may have.