Konoha's Mortuary

"Where did you get this corpse?"

"Not me but Itachi did."

Minato glanced at Tsunade before looked at the corpse of Kabuto that missing his jaw, an arm, legs and several organs. According to Tsunade, Itachi and his Anbu squad found Kabuto's corpse five minutes away from the entrance of Forest of Death.

She also was informed by Itachi that he saw several scratch mark that seems to be caused by wild animal. There are also massive craters with boiling lava and several burnt skeletons that belongs to Kabuto's teammates.

"Kabuto huh? Orochimaru's former assistant that betrayed him by framing him for experimenting against dozens of children and adults to replicate the power of Shodaime with the help of Hiruko. How can he slip through Konoha's security is unknown to me but this shows that I need to improve the security level." said Minato to Tsunade. He then continued, "What I'm going to tell you is that something that only Nidaime-sama, Sandaime-sama and the Council know about it."

Tsunade looked at the serious Minato and nodded her head. The Yellow Flash took a deep breath and said, "I believe a war is coming."

Tsunade gasped and looked at Minato. A war is coming?

"Naruto left a message to Ibiki that Suna and Kumo sent their Jinchūriki for participating the Chūnin Exams. At first I'm quite suspicious about them due to our relationship with them after the previous war but when you called me here to see Kabuto's corpse. I can't deny that our enemies is going to destroy this village during the exam."

"Enemies..."

Minato nodded, "Kumo, Iwa, Hoshi, Ame... Even the new village that known as Oto might be our enemy... Even Suna too."

Tsunade replied, "But Suna has been our ally since the previous war!"

"I know but there's a high chance that Suna will be our enemy. Do you know that the Wind Daimyō started outsourcing mission previously given to Suna to Konoha instead." said Minato to Tsunade. "This is the reason why I believe Suna will be our enemy."

"Our allies?"

"Thanks to Obito, Kiri and Yami are still our allies." replied Minato to Tsunade.

Tsunade asked, "Your son told Ibiki that Suna and Kumo sent their Jinchūriki? How did he knew they are the Jinchūriki?"

"I'm not sure but for now, I have no choice but to continue the exam since I don't want them to know that I know they're planning to attack us."

"Without Heaven?"

Yakumo raised her eyebrow and looked at the message on the notice board before took out the Heaven scroll. Satsuki took the scroll and looked at it.

"Maybe the message tell us to open it." said Satsuki which she did causing smoke to come out and immediately Naruto stood in front of them with his fighting stance.

Once the smoke is gone, they were relieved to see Iruka, their academy instructor who's staring at them proudly.

"Good to see all of you!" greeted Iruka happily to his once academy students.

"Iruka-sensei? What are you doing at here?" asked Satsuki to Iruka.

"I'm here to congratulate those who pass the second phase of the exam!" replied Iruka.

Yakumo asked, "Does that means.."

"Congratulation! All of you passed the second phase of the exam! Now, once you enter the tower, you will meet your sensei who will inform you the next phase, the elimination phase. Ja ne!" Iruka then disappeared in a burst of smoke.

Naruto and his team then entered the tower and saw Obito talking to Kakashi and Rin with other jōnin. The elder Uchiha then noticed his students and waved at them happily which only Yakumo replied by waving at him while Satsuki only smirk and Naruto... just Naruto.

"How's the survival phase? Is it hard for you?" asked Obito to his team.

"Well, can't say anything since we were ambushed by Kumo team. Naruto managed to rescue us though." said Satsuki with embarrass tone as the memory of her getting beat out of the shit by Yugito haunts her.

"Really Naruto? That's good-"

"I was ambushed by Iwa and Kumo with one of the Kumo is a Jinchūriki."

Every jōnin immediately shifted their attention to Naruto when they heard the word of Jinchūriki. Satsuki and Yakumo were confused and looked at Naruto.

"Satsuki, Yakumo, head to the arena now." said Obito with a stern voice to his students which they reluctantly did. "Explain."

"We were running and suddenly I was kicked away. I then engaged Iwa-nin, the Tsuchikage's granddaughter with her team and Kumo-nin, the Jinchūriki and her team." replied Naruto.

Kakashi asked, "Are you sure that Kumo-nin is a Jinchūriki?"

Naruto nodded, "Yes, she even used her Bijuū's power to fight me."

Rin said, "And you survive!? That's unbelievable!"

"Believe it or not, she's the Jinchūriki of Nibi. I also face against the Jinchūriki of Suna." replied Naruto to Rin.

Kurenai then asked, "But how did you know they are Jinchūriki?"

"Kabuto slipped it out when he informed us that they have a beast."

Asuma asked, "Kabuto? Orochimaru-sama's former assistant that betrayed him?"

"The one and only but you don't have to worry about him." said Naruto as he heading towards the arena. "Because I killed him."

They then watched the apprentice of Senju Tobirama walking to the arena as he said, "A war is coming."

Konoha's Arena

"Welcome and congratulation to all of those of you who passed the survival test and I'm sorry for your loss." said Minato as he glanced at Team Kurotsuchi and Kiri Team. He then continued, "Now, since there are too many of you passed the test, I've no choice but to reduce the numbers for the final phase of the exams."

A cough from a sick pale of tokubetsu jōnin caused Minato to look at him and nodded his head, whispering don't push himself which he laughed at it.

"Excuse me for my interruption, my name is Gekkō Hayate. I'm your proctor for the third phase, the elimination. There are 34 of you who passed the test so we have no choice but to eliminate it. Now, if there's any of you don't want to participate, raise your hand."

After five minutes of no participators raising their hands, Hayate instructed them to see a monitor board on the wall. In two seconds, they saw the name of Hyuuga Hinata and Hyuuga Neji.

"Everyone except Hinata and Neji please leave the arena." said Hayate to everyone who did what he asked. Then he turned his attention to the two Hyuuga. "The rule is simple, no killing. If I deem it is too extreme, then I'll stop it. If your opponent is knock out or give up, then you're the winner. Understand?"

"Yes proctor." said Neji as he took the Gentle Fist fighting stance.

"Understood." replied Hinata who did the same thing.

"Now fight!"

Neji smirked and said, "Why don't you give up? It's worthless to try to defeat me. We both knows who is the loser between us."

Hinata replied, "Give up? In your dreams Neji and treat me with full respect because I'm going to make you submit to me."

The memory of her younger self meeting the young Naruto made her angry as she dashed forward and attacked Neji's vital points which Neji parried every attack but she's slowly getting faster.

'She's fast! This is impossible! When we were kids, I always embarrass her in front of her father!' thought Neji before he received a kick that sent him flying away. "Damn you..."

"I'm gonna put some dirt in your eyes." said Hinata with an arrogant face. She then had a minor flashback of meeting a certain blonde.

"C-Can I be your.. f-friend?"

"No."

"B-But why?"

"Your shyness cringe me a lot and I hate it. I rather befriend with a rat than you."

Hinata clenched her fist tightly and dodged Neji's kick before jumped away. The two of them charged at each other as they screamed,

"Hakke Sanjūni Shō!!"

Two strikes.

Four strikes.

Eight strikes.

Sixteen strikes.

Thirty-two strikes.

Their jutsu cancel each other, causing them to jump away to think a better idea to knock out their opponent.

At the spectators' seat, Kiba and Shino watched Hinata with awe. Kiba then looked at Kurenai and asked, "Sensei, did you give her a special training or something? She never act like this before. She always been silent and observing."

Kurenai replied, "After being embarrassed by Neji and her sister, Hanabi, she came to me to make me break her shyness so that she can be a true kunoichi. I did what she asked for and even sent her to my friend, Anko."

"That's a risky but good move, Kurenai." said Asuma as he inhaled his cigarette.

"It is a good reward but from what I know since that day, she became to hate someone." said Kurenai to everyone who puzzled about what they heard.

Back to the fight, Neji decided to trick Hinata by avoiding his jab but she saw through the trick and instead of avoiding, she blocked it and struck Neji's face with the back of her fist.

"Hakke Kūhekishō!!"

Hinata extended both of her hands and sent a powerful compressive chakra from her palms at Neji, knocking him off his feet. She then rushed at him and tried to attack him but forced to jump away when he performed Hakkeshō Kaiten.

She threw several kunai at Neji which again he performed the Hakkeshō Kaiten, deflecting those kunai.

'Guess he's not a really prodigy. Performing that jutsu over and over drains your chakra a lot.' thought Hinata as she kept throwing shuriken and kunai at Neji but he kept protecting himself.

"Yo Hinata! Stop doing those! Are you idiot!?" screamed Kiba at Hinata.

"Shut up dog breath!" screamed back Hinata to Kiba which made everyone except Naruto laughed while Kiba felt terribly embarrassed.

Neji chuckled and said, "You should stop just like he asked."

Hinata didn't said anything and kept throwing her shuriken and kunai and when she saw Neji exhausted, she quickly rushed at him and struck his tenketsu before broke his kneecap and ribs with her punch and prepared to strike his throat with her finger but Kurenai, Hayate, Kakashi and Asuma stopped her.

"Enough, that's too far." said Hayate to Hinata who scoffed at him.

"Surrender, peasant." said Hinata with icy tone to Neji who refused, causing her to knock him out with a powerful kick to his face.

"Winner by knock out, Hyuuga Hinata!"

Everyone then watched Neji being carried to the infirmary while Hinata went to her team as the name of the participants appeared on the board.

Namikaze Uzumaki Mito vs Uchiha Satsuki.

"Kick her ass Mito!"

"Beat the shit out of her, Mito-nee!"

Mito smiled at her siblings and walked down to arena and stopped in front of Satsuki. The two of them exchanging an angry glare before their attention shifted to Hayate.

"You know the rules. Begin!"

"Katon : Gokakyū no Jutsu!!"

"Suiton : Teppōdama!!"

The giant fireball and the jet water cancelled each other as the two shinobi jumped at each other and threw shuriken. At first Mito able to deflect Satsuki's shuriken but due to Satsuki's Shurikenjutsu is really good thanks to Itachi, she received several deep cuts from the shuriken.

The wounds however were healed thanks to the Kyuubi. Mito then smirked and quickly charged at Satsuki and engaged in a fierce Taijutsu match.

Mito performed a low sweep kick to make Satsuki fall but failed when she jumped to avoid it. The Uchiha then performed a somersault Mito which she barely avoided it before jumped away to have some space.

The Uzumaki then threw three kunai at the Uchiha which the latter deflected with her own kunai but one of Moto's kunai released a thick smoke, forcing Satsuki to activate her Sharingan to track her movement.

'Luckily it just a normal smoke. Not some kind of chakra enhanced smoke or something like that. Fool, I can see you clearly.'

Satsuki saw Mito came at her and avoided her roundhouse kick. The Uchiha then punched Mito's abdomen and planted a kick to her chin. Satsuki then repeatedly punching Mito and knocked her away, sending her crashing into the wall of arena.

"It's over. You're weaker than I thought." said Satsuki before she walked away and looked at the proctor. "What're you waiting for?"

"Winner is-"

Hayate was interrupted when he and everyone felt a surge of evil chakra from Mito. Before Minato could react, Mito already stood in front of Satsuki with a menacing glare and demonic red aura surrounding her body.

"Shit." whispered Satsuki before she received a powerful punch by Mito that caused her to fly away.

The Mito that possessed by Kyuubi then tried to end Satsuki's life by jamming a kunai to her skull but Naruto saved her by kicking Mito so hard that she knocked out and freed from Kyuubi's influence.

"Getting little slower in your golden age, Hokage-sama." mocked Naruto to Minato as he went back to spectators area.

"Hokage-sama, who's the winner?" asked the confused Hayate to Minato since Naruto interfered by saving Satsuki from Mito who was about to kill her.

"Satsuki is the winner." said Minato as he went to his unconscious daughter and picked her up before disappeared via Shushin.

"Winner, Uchiha Satsuki!"

The Konoha-nin cheered as Satsuki walked to them and smiled before stared at Naruto and said, "Thanks again, Naruto."

Naruto only nodded his head and watched the monitor board.

Kurama Yakumo vs Hayami Nisa.

"Make me proud, Yakumo-chan." said Obito to Yakumo who nodded and high five Satsuki while looked at Naruto.

"Good luck." said Naruto to Yakumo who grinned madly and rushed to the arena. She then gazed at her opponent, a Hoshi-nin with short wavy greyish white hair and grey eyes.

Nisa wears black tube top, matching tight leather pants with grey buckle belt and a pair of lace up boots. She also wears fingerless gloves with metal plates, pouches on her hips that clipped via the belt and a kunai storage on her right hip.

"Ready everyone? Hajime!"

Both combatants charged at each other. Yakumo delivered a fast jab that Nisa avoided effortlessly and struck her face with her knee, temporarily stunning her before knocked her away with a powerful spinning kick.

Yakumo gritted her teeth and wiped away the blood on the corner of her lips as Nisa mocked her by saying, "Sting doesn't it?"

"Genjutsu : Shibari!!"

Nisa made a mistake when she stared directly at Yakumo's eyes causing her unable to move, feeling chains wrapping around her body and limbs tightly.

"Eat this!"

Yakumo ran at Nisa and struck her chin with her knee as hard as she could before punched her onto the ground. When Nisa rose up, Yakumo performed Magen : Narakumi no Jutsu.

At the spectators' seats, Naruto figured out Nisa's weakness. He crossed his arms and believed that Yakumo has a chance to win if she continue fight her opponent in Genjutsu.

As for Nisa who just witnessed her greatest fear, she decided to just end this fight even though she's mentally tired. When Yakumo ran at her with the attempt to trap her in another Genjutsu, Nisa released a very bright light from her eyes, causing Yakumo to stun temporarily.

"This is the end for you!" screamed Nisa as her arms transformed into demonic-like and punched Yakumo several times as hard as she could.

Nisa performed a low sweep kick and slammed down her heel to Yakumo's abdomen and jumped on her knees, breaking her kneecaps.

The screaming Yakumo then was lifted to the air by her neck before she was punched in the stomach several times and knocked out with a powerful punch.

"Winner by knock out, Hayami Nisa!"

As the medic squad delivering the unconscious Yakumo to the hospital, everyone stared at the monitor board and saw the next opponent.

Namikaze Uzumaki Nawaki Vs Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto.

Nawaki gasped and whispered, "Oh fuck."

Thanks for the review of characters' development and about the cringe part. I try my best to fix it. Hope you enjoy this chapter and I'm sorry if it feels sooooo boring cause I was rushing for the next chapter after I received the news of my granduncle was admitted to hospital for stroke.

Stay safe all of you.