SithLordNilis: Say what.

Marmot95: I apologize for disappointing you. And he will gain something. There are two things Naruto gains from the Chunin Exams - this one - and all of them are jutsu. One because of Sasuke's powerup which he still doesn't know about and one because of his loss to Gaara. All of which make him a deadly shinobi. Also, technically him not making it to the finals is useful for the Leaf in the upcoming war. Tobirama made it, Minato got famous with it. Gaara will become the same Gaara in the show, just more powerful. I love the Gaara in the show WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY to much to do that. And you're REALLY gonna like Hinata vs Neji, Sakura vs Sasuke, and Lee vs Gaara. They will be the "big 3" fights of the finals, and you'll be surprised on who wins all of them.

ytygr: Yes, Naruto will not be the one to change Neji in my story. Someone BETTER will do that. And of course he's gonna prepared. He's Naruto.

: Yup, as expected people are angry, slightly rightfully. That fight - from when I did everything and how I wanted it to go - was honestly 50-50. And I don't hate canon...there were just some spots that could have been improved. If I really wanted, I could say why the hell was Tsunade not there during the attack? Or why the hell did Hiruzen even LET her leave, despite what she wanted? Or remove all the characters stupidity - which would be nice - but isn't going to happen. Why would I stay close to canon anyways? It's FANFICTION. Now, Gaara without using Shukaku, simply his sand, versus Naruto without using Kurama, as shown, Naruto wins that fight. Gaara using Shukaku versus Naruto using Kurama, Gaara wins, which will be explained in this chapter. I could care less whether or not I lose readers. Honestly, I planned this fight out since the beginning of the story idea, and like I said, if people don't wanna accept it bite me. Naruto by no means looks like a pussy. Also, why does him not having the toad contract mean he has to join ROOT, which he WON'T be doing by the way - although they'll be playing a bigger part during the war? He is getting trained by Jiraiya. And the summoning contract he gets is actually more useful than the toads. And so what? Because of lineage he has to get it? He gets a lineage contract ANYWAYS. Also, I did spell that right. The one I used is the overall species of the bug, I wasn't being specific on that, and I apologize.

ZyiareHellsing: Why have I not noticed Hellsing is in your name? You sir, are awesome. Anyways, that was my goal.

hurrdurr: I did label my story right and I know the definitions. The upcoming war is the darkest part of my story. Then again, if someone really actually knows how the Narutoverse works, they'd realize that it's about ninja, meaning that it's going to be dark no matter what. As a wise I think anime character once said, "War isn't heroic. War isn't fun. War must be filled with despair. They are dark, terrifying...ghastly." My grandfather who is a veteran agrees with this, and as such, I'm sticking as close to that as I can while remaining in my boundaries for my story. In my opinion, I have not pushed out of the adventure/romance area.

dubhrms: Yes I know. And did I not say no character in my story is a Mary Sue. I will not include OC Mary Sue's. Even OC's can die in my story. How would you know what Margaret is like? I haven't even used her in a fight yet. Yes she has three natural affinities, so do several other people in the anime. That does not mean she is a master at all the affinities. I get its not a flame - I wouldn't care if it was - and I get you are concerned, however trust me there is no need to be. When she fights, you'll see.

Naruto secret jutsu: Naruto is reaching the finals...just not in this Chunin Exams. But thank you. And yup, no Zabuza Edo Tensei, which honestly sucks. Although in an upcoming story Zabuza is a main character so YAAAAAAAY! That is One by the way for my pole. And like another one on there. Can't remember. Edit: I said one. Which is literally a FT story with no crossover. MY FAULT! I meant Family Matters, lol.

CainOmega106: So someone did remember that. The reason why is explained partially in this chapter and more so when the war starts. However even then all the reasons are not given, although Naruto does mention one. See if you can spot them. Naruto vs Neji will happen, it just won't be as serious, sadly. Something BETTER HAPPENS. Anyways Gaara losing an arm is very serious. Not per say in physical abilities but in terms of psychological damage. Think about it. I guy who has never been hurt in his entire life losing an army to the very first guy that landed a blow on him, that's got to mess you up.

Wolvmbm: Gaara was definitely wounded, psychologically, which was the point of the entire fight. And yup, Naruto's faith and desire to protect his precious people can't compare to Gaara's will to survive. Right now. Hiruzen wouldn't care that Naruto lost in terms of personally - at least as him losing faith in him - however as a military power he knows what needs to be done. They will grow even more powerful. Hinata will comfort him, because Naruto is damaged, he's just hiding it.

: Breaking the seal? You mean him freeing himself. Well I honestly don't know. Now, I actually came up with an idea, that requires me to go back and do something. Kurama knows Naruto's mom...thanks to something I ain't gonna mention right now. And yes, Danzo in my story is a dick, who TRULY does not give a fuck. The Kakashi and Anko thing wasn't meant to be taken literally...

Captain Hammer: Yes, remember how Naruto won. Summoning Technique. Naruto doesn't have that in my story, and more is explained too. I'm not forgetting my own community, I'm doing what I planned, if you don't like it, bite me.

Scarease: Not telling, although he gets stronger.

Kit: Lololol, no. Sorry about that lol. And he does.

Writer with bad Grammar T-T: Who doesn't have bad grammar. Cause you don't. Naruto in canon was able to beat Gaara's mini-Shukaku form because of the massive amounts of clones, which Naruto did not do in my story. Note how he used his own chakra to do that, when Naruto was low on chakra already, and was actually losing more - more on that is explained later. Yes he goes two tails and still loses as partially explained by Kurama and partially explained later. It is logical - I did the math - and it was in the sake of the plot, yet it would have happened anyway.

For those of you saying i'm not gonna change Gaara, really? You honestly think they won't have a rematch? REALLY?

Establishment

Naruto's eyes shot open, his body rocketing upwards before he flipped, landing on his feet as he glared at the window, his body on high alert. He surveyed his surroundings before he fell on his bottom, panting hard. He glanced to the side, the adrenaline in his blood slowly fading.

"…The hospital," Naruto mumbled, standing slowly and shakily. 'Kyuubi…what happened?' He got no response. Naruto frowned, climbing back on his bed before closing his eyes.

XxX

Naruto appeared in his mindscape, a frown on his face as he looked at the massive chakra beast in front of him. The Kyuubi lifted one eyebrow. "Oh, so you're finally communing with me huh?" Naruto nodded. He frowned. "Judging by the fact that we're on the hospital…we lost." The Kyuubi snorted. "No! YOU lost." Naruto snorted back at him. "But you were the one who gave me chakra!"

The Kyuubi rose, its nine tails swishing dangerously behind it, before it brought its snout close to the gate of the seal. "Look here human, I'll explain why you lost and I did not." Naruto was silent, eagerly wanting to understand how it was his fault that he lost to Gaara.

"The major factor in why you lost is because of the fact you're afraid." Naruto was silent. His body slowly began to shake, his eyes burning, but not with upcoming tears.

With rage.

"What do I have to be afraid of! The most terrifying thing in the entire world is trapped inside of me and can't harm me!"

The Kyuubi snorted. "Please kid, I can see it all over your face. You're afraid of using my chakra. You yourself are stronger than the host of Shukaku, however he has no fear when wielding Shukaku's chakra. You fear using my chakra. I have no idea why you would fear something that makes you powerful, no, something that makes youunbeatable but you do." Naruto frowned. "And how did you come to this conclusion huh?"

"Your chakra control. When using your own chakra you control it fairly well. By no means is it exceptional, but it's decent. However, when you use my chakra it is pretty piss poor. Yes you were capable of using more of my chakra, by draining all of the other chakra you had at your disposal. You used your own chakra to enlarge your chakra shroud, not mine. And when you actually do happen to use my chakra for something other than enhancing your physical condition, you drain it to fast. None of your jutsu equivalates to a single tails worth of my chakra, yet using basically one jutsu you wear all of it out."

Naruto was silent. Even he, for all he was worth could not argue with that. It did make a lot of sense when you thought about it.

"Moving on to reason number two. This relates to Gaara. His sand has three entities controlling it. One is Shukaku, one is himself, and one is some other being. I don't exactly know what, but that's what allowed him to win. Shukaku's sand was the sand that attempted too kill you. The sand inside of his gourd is his own sand. However…the gourd itself is made up of that other entity. The being controlling the gourd got him away from the true explosion, while dimming it down by launching itself at your jutsu. The combination allowed the Jinchuriki of Shukaku to live, however, he did lose an arm in the process. The combination of these factors is the reason why you lost. If one of them did not exist, you would have won."

Naruto was silent, his body shaking before he fell to the ground. "So what you're saying is…"

"Is that the reason you lost is all your own."

Naruto's body shook, before his fist clenched. "Damn it…" he mumbled.

XxX

Naruto's eyes snapped open. "No way…that's not true. I'm not afraid of this guy. He's the one who is sealed within me."

Naruto stood, opening the window as he looked down at his clothes. He was dressed in a hospital gown. He glanced at his actual clothes, yet sighed. They were in shreds. It looked like he would need to get some new ones. He sighed, jumping from the window. He shot from rooftop to rooftop until he landed on top of his apartment. He jumped down, before unlocking the door. He closed it, a sigh on his face before he opened up his closet.

He grabbed a short-sleeved black shirt, before putting a gray plate of armor over it. He then slipped on black pants, and wrapped bandages around his forearms. He sighed, glancing up. "I lost…but the next time I fight, I'll become stronger. I'm gonna go train."

Naruto nodded to himself, leaving his apartment and locking the door. He looked towards the forest surrounding his home before he shot towards it. He refused to be weak. After several minutes he landed in the middle of the forest, looking at his body. "The seals," he mumbled. "I'm not used to maintaining that level of speed. I have to keep them off so I get used to maintaining that level of speed." Naruto nodded before he cursed. "Gaara beat me because of my lack of chakra control and speed. Alright…let's work on that."

Naruto jumped grabbing ten leaves from a tree before he placed them on each of his fingers using chakra to keep them there. He then tensed his legs before he shot off, three leaves falling off instantly. Naruto cursed, slowing before he went back to pick up the leaves.

"Apparently it's not good enough as is."

XxX

Three hours later Naruto was exhausted. He fell on the ground, his body shaking furiously. He slowly stood, his legs shaking under his weight. Naruto cursed. 'I'm already exhausted…and it's so freaking early!'

Naruto sighed, falling on the ground once again, his legs incapable of holding his body weight. He then heard shuffling, and adrenaline jumped into his veins. He quickly stood, spiraling towards the sound before he clenched his fists, his eyes narrowed. 'I'm too exhausted to actually fight. Running is my best option, and if I have to fight...I'll have to use the Kyuubi.'

Naruto however relaxed when he saw who it was. "Lee, Guy-sensei."

The duo of taijutsu experts flipped, both of them covered in sweat as they walked on their hands. "Naruto-kun," Guy said. "When did you get out of the hospital?" Naruto groaned. "I technically wasn't checked out. I left after I woke up. I feel fine."

Guy nodded. Lee smirked. "I knew it! Your youthful energy would not allow your defeat at Gaara's sandy-palms keep you down. You are training correct?" Naruto sighed. "Yeah…although I'm burnt out after only three hours. And I feel as if I'd made absolutely zero progress." Guy smirked a devilish idea coming to his head. "Naruto-kun…I implore you to train with us." Naruto's eyes widened, before he smirked.

"I think that's a great idea."

Lee and Guy gave their nice guy pose, their teeth twinkling. Naruto blanched, taking a step back. 'I'm probably gonna regret this.'

Lee and Guy then nodded. "For stopping to talk, we will do 800 laps around the village on our hands in two hours!"

They then flipped onto their hands and took off at impossible speeds. Naruto paled, fear growing in his eyes as he swore he felt the laughter of everyone who ever attempted to take Guy's training at his back.

"Fuck me," he mumbled, flipping onto his hands and beginning his slow trek around the village.

XxX

Sakura cursed, her arms strapped to a tree as Anko's snake summons launched themselves at her. She cursed, weaving and ducking before she had to dodge Margaret's attempts to lethal attack her, using only her legs. Sakura glared at all of them.

"You are all freaking sadists."

"We know," They responded before they continued their assault.

XxX

Naruto cursed, landing on his back. He felt as if his lungs were exploding out of his chest and as if Haku was stabbing him with her senbon in all of his pores. "You two do this…every day," he barely got out, taking pauses between breathes. Lee and Guy stood above him, both of them nodding. "Yes, basically every day."

Naruto frowned. "Guy-sensei, Lee, who made it to the finals?" Guy sighed. "I was wondering when you would want to know about that." The master of taijutsu sat down, a serious look on his face. "Sasuke, Shino, the puppet user from the sand, Sakura, Lee, the fan user from the sand, Gaara, Neji, Shikamaru, and luckily Hinata. They take place in a month."

Naruto smiled at the good news. "That's good…Hinata made it along with Sasuke, Sakura, and you Lee. I'm surprised Shikamaru made it though…I would have thought he would have been too lazy to do so. I guess he's really improving on what he wants to do in life huh?" Lee and Guy shook their heads. "No, he's actually irritated that he made it."

Naruto laughed before he sighed. "Gaara…he's dangerous. Whoever he fights, their lives are in danger." Guy nodded. "Yes, Lee is prepared though." Naruto's eyes widened. "What! Lee you can't fight Gaara! Tell him Guy, you must know what he is! Lee could die!"

Guy nodded. "I have told Lee what Gaara is and he is prepared. As his sensei I am worried, however it is his decision to fight. I have faith that he will win."

"Faith? He'll need more than faith! Gaara is powerful, he has a Bijuu inside of him!" Guy nodded. "And Lee has the Gates…it will be a victory in our favor. Just trust me."

Naruto cursed. He wanted to shout, he wanted to scream. He did not want Lee to die. Naruto stood, glaring at Guy before he took off into the woods, his eyes burning with righteous rage.

'Does Lee have a death wish? Why isn't Guy stopping this! I have to take care of Gaara…no matter how much trouble I get in.'

Naruto continued to shoot towards the village, before he paused, hearing whimpering. He frowned, dropping down before he saw something completely unexpected. He saw a thing with glowing red eyes and trimmed black fur, that was did not conceal the hard muscle the thing had. Seven spikes shot out of its back, trailing towards its tail that ended in a trident-like tip. It had saber-tooth tiger-like fangs, and carnivorous teeth, and long, pointy elf-like ears. Part of the bones of its rib cage were also showing. However, the creature was lay on the ground, a spike sticking out of its hind leg.

The creature looked at Naruto, its eyes narrowing as it began to growl. Naruto frowned, stepping closer, yet the thing began to glow, blue fire licking off of its body.

"Well that's creepy…and kinda cool."

The beast snarled, ignoring the spike it it's hind leg. "Look, I'm just trying to help. I'll be on my way as soon as we're done here." The beast snarled, but nodded, causing Naruto's eyes to widen as he continued to slowly walk forward. "You can understand me?" The creature nodded, before it licked its nose. "I'm not idiot, human."

Naruto jumped, before he calmed down and pulled out the spike. The creature grimaced before the wound rapidly healed. Naruto frowned, before looking at the creature. "What are you…" he mumbled. The creature looked at Naruto as if he was an idiot before it stood, it being the same height as Naruto when it stood. "I'm a hellhound."

Naruto's eyes widened. "No way…a hellound! That's cool!" The hellhound snorted. "Depends on how you look at it. After all, being hunted by Kumogakure and Sunagakure isn't exactly cool."

Naruto frowned. "Why are you hunted by them?" The hellhound snarled. "Trophies. They want us as trophies, the slime. We should tear their throats out." Naruto frowned. "That's…excessive…"

"They've killed thousands of our kind! I'd say we're being kind by letting none of them live!" Naruto frowned, although he nodded. "I guess…yeah that makes sense." The hellhound nodded, before it sniffed Naruto. Naruto raised an eyebrow, slightly put off by the creature. The hellhound smirked. "You have a good heart..." Naruto frowned. "It's one of the many abilities of a hellhound. We can tell who has a good heart…who would do anything to protect the ones that they care about. It's how we choose."

"Choose?"

The hellhound laughed, although it sounded dark, as if it was mocking Nrauto's imminent death. "How we choose our summoners. If we like you we allow you to summon us and nullify some of our abilities while also being capable of using some depending on if you master the Hell Verse. However, it also goes to show that you have our protection."

"Protection?" The hellhound nodded. "You see…it means you are immune to our stares. If you look into our eyes three times, it means your death is imminent. You will be immune to that."

Naruto frowned. "That sounds…dark." The hellhound nodded. "It is. We are the guardians of death for a reason."

The hellhound opened its mouth before flames shot from it, forming a flaming scroll. Naruto jumped, before the scroll solidified before it opened, revealing only one other name inside of it. "Who is that?"

The hellhound smirked. "That woman…she's…so powerful she became a legend. Her name…it's…impressive actually. The first Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko. Mito Uzumaki. She was…the only human that mastered the Hell Verse."

Naruto's eyes widened. "First Jinchuriki…Uzumaki…" he mumbled. 'That cannot be a coincidence. She shares the same last name as me and apparently was the first Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. I didn't even know their were others! I never thought my last name meant much of anything…I think I'll check up what the Uzumaki are all about then…if they are a clan anyway. And then I need to check up everything I can find on the Kyuubi no Yoko.'

The hellhound raised an eyebrow before it breathed white-hot flame onto Naruto's hand. Naruto screamed in pain, before he glared at the creature. "What the hell are you doing!" The hellhounded gestured towards the scroll. "Tap your burned hand on the scroll. It will heal you…and it will also allow you to summon us."

Naruto glared at the beast before slamming his hand on the scroll before he felt a cooling sensation. He lifted his hand, noticing the trailings of his hand on the scroll before it snapped closed and burst into flames. The hellhound nodded. "Congradulations Uzumaki Naruto. You are now a contractor of the hellhounds. My name is Fenrir. I will be your personal summon, however know that I am not the most powerful. If you truly need a powerful ally, pour in all the chakra you can young Jinchuriki. My father will come…he will stop any foe you may face."

Fenrir then smirked, however it did not look natural on his face before he vanished. Naruto smirked. "Wicked…summoning contract. Wait….HOW DO I SUMMON YOU!"

Naruto could have sworn he heard laughter before handseals seemed to appear in his mind. He smirked, "Yeah…hellhounds…weird…but cool."

Naruto then blacked out.

XxX

Naruto's eyes snapped open before he groaned. "God damn it," Naruto said, noticing the design of where he was. "Back at the hospital. Guy must have taken me here."

"You're wrong kid…it was me."

Naruto's shot up, flipping in midair as he landed, glaring at the man standing in his room. "Who are you," he said, his body tensed. The man was tall with waist-length, spiky white hair that was tied into a pony tail with two shoulder-length bangs framing both sides of his face. Red lines shot from his eyes like blood, and a horned forehead protector with the kanji for oil rested atop his head. He had a notable wart on the left side of his nose. He had a green short shirt kimono on, with matching pants, under which he wore mesh armor that showed out of the sleeves and legs of his outfit. He had hand guards, wore a simple black belt, and geta. A red haori hung from his body, with two simple yellow circles on each side. A scroll was on his back. There was a tattoo on his left palm.

"Who are you," Naruto said. The man smirked and began to dance. "Jiraiya of the Sannin. I found you in the forest and brought you here. Sensei said to take care of you…train you up. I think I know why now."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Jiraiya…of the Sannin. The Jiraiya, of the Sannin? I can't believe this. That means jiji told you to train me! You're joking right? I'm gonna be trained by one of the Sannin?" Jiraiya smirked. "Yeah kid. It must feel awesome right?" Naruto smirked, "YOU BETTER BELIEVE THIS IS AWESOME! When do we start?" Jiraiya smirked. "Well, you seem fit, so how about right now?" Naruto nodded furiously.

Jiraiya gave a devilish smirk, "Good."

XxX

'…All respect….gone.'

Naruto blanched as the supposedly 'almighty' Jiraiya of the Sannin peeped on the girls swimming in the waterfall below them. "I thought you said we would be training!" Naruto screamed, pointing a finger at the pervert. "You're just using this as an opportunity to peep on woman, you stupid pervert!"

Jiraiya's eyebrow twitched before he turned. "Don't insult me boy…I am no pervert…I am….A SUPER PEVERT," screamed the blushing man, making grabby motions with his hands. Naruto felt like he needed to barf. Jiraiya sighed at the lack of enthusiasm. "Look, if you're not going to train me I'll go check on Hina-chan before I get back to training."

"Hina-chan," Jiraiya said lecherously before he felt a great deal of killing intent. "If you peep on her I'll castrate you with a rusty carving knife," Naruto said lowly. Jiraiya paled and slowly began to back away. 'For a brat he's exceedingly scary,' the man thought before he nodded. "Right, well then since I don't really have much to train you in for a month I'll teach you how to summon."

Naruto smirked, biting his thumb. "Like this," he said before he weaved through handseals. He then slammed his hand on the ground, Jiraiya shouting out in worry as a puff of smoke appeared.

Fenrir appeared before Naruto, looking at him curiously. Jiraiya's eyes widened with horror.

"Why have you called upon me, Naruto?" Naruto shrugged. "Showing the Sannin over here that I could use the summoning jutsu." Fenrir sighed. "Do not call on us unless you actually have something for us to do Uzumaki." Naruto blanched, "Sorry Fenrir," was the last thing the hellhound heard before it disappeared. Naruto looked at Jiraiya, a smirk on his face however he was surprised when he saw Jiraiya's expression.

"What is it," he asked. Jiraiya was silent. 'To possess the hellhound summoning contract. If Naruto learns the Hell Verse…I can't imagine anything good coming from that. No matter what I must stop him from learning the Hell Verse. Kushina and Minato wouldn't want that. He'll be targeted by…everyone.'

Naruto frowned, walking up to Jiraiya and poking him. "You okay there pervert?" Jiraiya snapped out of his stupor, a frown on his face. "Yeah I'm fine. Anyways, since you can't have two summoning contracts I'll teach you something else. I think you might like it. It was created by the Yondaime. It's called the Rasengan (Spiralling Sphere). I have a couple water balloons on me, so make this count."

Naruto nodded, already excited. He was going to learn a move created by his idol! Jiraiya grabbed a water balloon, holding it up, before he swirled chakra in it, unbeknownst to Naruto. The balloon burst almost instantly.

"That," Jiraiya said, handing Naruto ten water balloons. "Do that by the end of this day and I'll actually teach you the technique."

Naruto smirked, grabbing a water balloon. "It can't be that hard," he said, channeling chakra into the sphere. However, the chakra began to build up at a singe point, exploding and soaking Naruto's hand, yet still ending in failure.

"I did it!" Naruto said. "That was really easy." Jiraiya blanched. "No you didn't. One part of the balloon cannot burst, it must all burst at the same time if you get what I mean." Naruto frowned, irritated that apparently he had failed yet he nodded. He grabbed another balloon.

"The end of the day is too easy," he mumbled, slowly beginning to channel chakra into the balloon. "Don't patronize me. I'll finish this up, in a single hour."

XxX

Hinata weaved between Hiashi's strikes, ignoring the pride on his face as Hinata trained with him in front of the elders. She was progressing quickly. Hiashi spun on his foot, dancing behind her before launching a palm strike. The girl cursed, yet spun barely blocking the strike, yet she was sent off balance and Hiashi capitalized, launching himself forwards. Hinata panicked, leaning backwards, her hands touching the floor before she pushed off, kicking her father in the chin before she landed on her feet, dropping into her stance.

Hiashi smirked, rubbing his chin. "I felt that."

"Wrong!" they both heard, causing them to turn towards the elders of the Hyuga Clan. "You fool! The Hyuga do not do fancy backflips to kick their opponents! You are a disgrace!"

The elderly Hyuga stood, walking towards Hinata, a snarl on his face. "Move Hiashi, I will teach this girl some manners!"

Hiashi bowed, moving away although he glared at the man. He was not stupid. He knew the man was going to attempt to brutalize his daughter, but he could not do anything. Despite being the head of the Hyuga Clan even he had to obey certain laws. And one of those was that the Hyuga Clan elders had ultimate power, even more than him. Every decision he made first had to be run by them. If they disagreed, he disagreed.

He hated that.

The elder moved onto the field and dropped into a stance. Hinata narrowed her eyes, although her nerves ate at her. She did not think she was prepared to fight an elder in combat, at least not for a long while yet. The elder then shot forwards, holding nothing back like Hiashi was before he slammed a strike into her temple. He then spun around her, lashing out with several precise hits that all landed on Hinata's tenketsu, despite the elder's Byakugan not being activated. Hinata crumpled to the ground, unable to move.

"And that is how you fight, scum," the elder said before he spat on the girl, leaving the father and daughter. Hiashi shook in rage, his body releasing massive volumes of chakra that slowly began to coat him. "I'll kill him," Hiashi said, standing as the chakra began to form something similar to armor that represented a lion. Hiashi stood preparing to go attack the elder until he heard a soft "No."

The man turned, to see Hinata standing behind him, clutching her wounds. "Father…that's your trump card in getting the power returned to its rightful place after the second generation of elders stole it from the clan head. You have to keep it a secret."

Hiashi frowned, the chakra fading before he nodded. "Your right Hinata…but I think you're ready now." Hinata's eyes widended. "Father…you can't be serious. That's your most powerful jutsu!"

Hiashi nodded. "There's no way you'll be able to use it to such a high degree by the time the finals come around, however you have proven yourself. Besides you will need a trump card against your cousin. This is the perfect one. The Juken: Gādianraion-shin (Gentle Step: Guardian Lion God)!" Hinata's eyes widened, her eyes filling up with tears as she bowed to her father. "Thank you so much, father!" Hiash smiled. "Now, go see Naruto. I know you want to."

XxX

Hinata burst into Naruto's medical room, expecting to see him there, yet she was surprised when she didn't. She looked around, finding his clothes before she saw a note on the bed. She grabbed it, opening it. She began to read it aloud. "Hina-chan, since I know it's you, sorry I'm not here right now. I'm off training, but don't worry, I'll visit you in a few days. I really need to get stronger though, and I think I found just the person to help me do that. I won't ever lose again."

Hinata sighed, placing the letter back on the bed. "I guess he's really messed up because he lost to Gaara. We have a lot to talk about…"

"Where is Naruto Uzumaki?"

Hinata turned on her foot, her eyes widening with fear as Gaara stood there, the hole where his arm once was now cauterized as he glared at her. The cork of his gourd popped off, sand slowly beginning to spill onto the floor. "I said, WHERE IS NARUTO UZUMAKI!"

Hinata gulped, before she grabbed onto the courage inside of her. She would not bow to this…thing. She took a slight step forward, narrowing her eyes. "I don't know, and even if I did I wouldn't tell you!"

Gaara snarled, sand rising. "Then die."

Gaara's sand rushed forwards, however it was suddenly sent flying by three successive strikes. Hinata's eyes widened, not expecting to see her father glaring at Gaara. "Look here boy," Hiashi said. "You attempt to harm my daughter again, and you will not be walking away with your head intact and the Ichibei within you, understand?"

Gaara snarled, preparing to attack the Jonin-level ninja, however a large amount of killer intent burst from Hiashi causing Gaara to back off, despite the insane smile on his face. The unstable Jinchuriki left the room, however Hiashi remained, grabbing Hinata's shoulder. "I was wrong Hinata. There is no time for breaks. You need to master the Juken: Gādianraion-shin (Gentle Step: Guardian Lion God), and you need to master it as quickly as possible. In the meantime…I think it's time you learned how to stop sand."

XxX

Ibiki, Hiruzen, and Shikaku Nara stood in a war room, going over different plans of attack. So far they had planned out who the special operation teams were and who would be rotating their tours in the war on the three main fortresses. Suddenly a person burst into the room.

"Lord Hokage! The recon force you sent back just returned, only one member is here."

Hiruzen sighed, nodding to the young man, send him in. The young man nodded before waving his arm. Ebisu walked into the room before the young man left, closing the door behind him.

"Ebisu…what happened on the mission," Ibiki asked, his tone serious. Ebisu was shaking, and wounds were all over him. "…". The man said nothing, instead just placing a scroll onto the table before he felt to the ground. Shikaku rushed towards him, placing a hand on his neck before he sighed, shaking his head.

Hiruzen's eyes hardened. 'Already…the first casualties of war. Damn you Orochimaru!'

Hiruzen opened the scroll, revealing three storage seals. He frowned, his sharp and experienced mind already knowing what was coming next. He unsealed the scroll, revealing three decapitated heads, all with Konoha headbands.

"Iwana Akame, Mujini Anano, Manabu Akado, Ebisu, thank you all for your sacrifice. I promise it will not be in vain."

Don't wanna type this. Wanna get back to watching Supernatural on Netflix. UUUUUUUUUGGGGHHHH! That's why this chapter took so long. So in summary, Hellhounds, yes, secret Hiashi super awesome ninjutsu, yes, Gaara being a psycho, yes, war upcoming and Orochimaru being a dick, yes.

AND SUMMARIZED.