Naruto Fanfiction
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Author's Note: Don't take this too seriously please. Just having fun with the Kage Bunshin's potential. I'm still writing The Black Apple, but am a bit more focused on my original Fiction.
Story Title: Gone Bucket
Chapter Title: The Visible Army
The forbidden technique Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Able to make the user gain experience much faster, but drains Chakra haphazardly. Other than Chakra Cost, it's also draining on the mental psyche.
It ages the mind, but not the body.
He kept surveillance on the boy for the two weeks he used the Jutsu. The day of the final test of the Chuunin Exams had come and the man felt bad for the other contestants. In the first few days, the boy had taken massive strides in progress. After those few first, the progress more than doubled.
Anger makes for good mentality and motivation. He was disappointed with the Elite Jounin Hatake Kakashi, but ultimately, also very pleased with the man. Discarding such a massive talent as Uzumaki Naruto was unforgivable, but the boy self-teaches like a prodigy.
After four days, he was proficient enough in Fuinjutsu to make a Shadow Clone perform the Gogyou Kaiin on him. Given that the Jinchuuriki could use two thousand Kage Bunshin a day, it wasn't that impressive. Taking that away, the boy became proficient in Fuinjutsu in less than two days.
Though not accurate, he'd measured a Shadow Clone as a day. Two thousand Clones training for a day equals two thousand days. Seems a reasonable calculation. Uzumaki Naruto mastered Fuuinjutsu in four thousand days. That's close to eleven years. Stated like that, it was far from impressive.
The first day he watched him create a thousand Shadow Clones in the morning, and then another in the early evening. Learning the art of hiding or concealment. He'd mastered it in a day. But for Naruto, a day was two thousand days. Which meant a day was 5 and a half years.
He'd been training for two weeks.
And on top of that, he made his Clones go through all the hassle of being a human. Like sleeping, eating, drinking and relieving himself. Although the relieving part, obviously, couldn't only be left to the clones. Most of it. Information he hadn't really wanted to acquire.
It also turned out, because of the mental backlash of the plus thousand Clone training, the original also needed to sleep. But he'd seen it confirmed on the last day that a Kage Bunshin could sleep so the original wouldn't need to. The conclusion being as long as Naruto didn't do any Kage Bunshin Training. Or perhaps not plus thousand. That was a very dangerous conclusion.
After the fourth day, he had regained the usage of Bijuu Chakra, effectively more than doubling his Chakra Capacity, but halving his Chakra Control. Gogyou Kaain had been added to his arsenal.
It took him a day to distinguish, master and seperate the two Chakra Sources. It took him another to combine them. Again, a day was not a day in Naruto's case.
Shimura Danzo was sure the boy had made contact with the Nine-tailed Demon Fox for that.
The first four days the boy used two thousand Clones a day. Twenty-two years.
The fifth and sixth half of that. Eleven years.
The seventh to twelfth, he used four thousand Clones a day, possible thanks to the Bijuu inside of him. Effectively, one day had become eleven years… Sixty-six years of training.
The thirteenth day he used a thousand Clones, he suspected to take it easy for the upcoming Chuunin Exam Finals.
The old warhawk shook his head. He had long forsaken the feeling of being amazed by other Shinobi. The First, Second and Fourth Hokage gave him this feeling.
And now this Uzumaki Jinchuuriki boy eclipsed all of them.
All accumulated, the boy's mind was now over a hundred years old. This would make for a very interesting individual.
Danzo watched him read up, train and exercise in pretty much all the Shinobi arts.
Tobirama-sensei had explained the Kage Bunshin to him and how its full potential would never be met.
There's a first for everything. Senju Tobirama was wrong.
He had decided to side with Konoha. He would betray Orochimaru.
Uzumaki Naruto will become Konoha's greatest Hokage.
He was seen all over Konoha, but no one had actually talked to him. Well, save for one person. Umino Iruka.
Kakashi had been taking a few trips back and forth while training Sasuke in a far away training field, but still in Fire Country Territory.
The only female member of Team Seven could never really be bothered with Naruto. While relationships within the team had improved some, it wasn't enough for the members to seek each other out on days off. So, Sakura hadn't spoken to Naruto for the past two weeks.
Obviously, Sasuke didn't either as he was training with him.
The Third was too busy with affairs between the Sand and the Leaf, as the Kazekage would be attending the final exams.
The only one who had truly spoken to the boy was Umino Iruka, in the Ichiraku Stand. He didn't feel like prying too much into it, so the Copy-nin hadn't bothered to grill Iruka about Naruto.
The small talk between Naruto and the owners of Ichiraku didn't count for conversation.
It had been a rough two weeks for Sharingan no Kakashi. Sasuke was as motivated as he was boring. Outside of his ambition to kill Uchiha Itachi, Kakashi considered Sasuke's company insulting. It was like spending two weeks with a pebble that was too small to be thrown. It even almost killed his Icha Icha books, having read through them far too often.
Almost.
After this Chuunin Exams, he would give Naruto all of his time. The son of Namikaze Minato deserved so much more. Even if Jiraiya was supposed to pick him up and train him in these last two weeks.
But a not so little bird had told him that hadn't happened.
Naruto didn't want to be found, even by the Legendary Hermit. The Third had sent an ANBU Squad out, who had confirmed the boy was definitely in Konoha. That was enough for the old man to not worry too much about it.
Truthfully, Jiraiya hadn't been searching that hard either, despite being the boy's godfather. The time for the training will come eventually. Rumours of an impending attack had both Jiraiya and Hiruzen rather busy, anyway.
He came back early and sent Sasuke to the Stadium ahead of himself. He wanted to talk to Asuma, Gai and Kurenai so he had sent them a message the day before. He was hoping one or more of them could temporarily keep his students busy while he took Naruto out for a serious training trip. He had a lot to make up for.
First though, he needed to know how Naruto knew who his father was. The resemblance was uncanny, sure… But still, that was a pretty high-ranked secret. He needed to make sure the boy would remain quiet about it. Even if it was a tad bit late to start about that now.
He was tardy in more than one thing, after all.
Tranquility was key to control. If you're not calm, you might ruin a possible, wonderful future situation. This way, you can control the 'What-If.' Stay composed and you'll be able to read the perfect way to deal with anything.
Calm down. Take it easy. Don't overload yourself. Steady as she goes. Senjutsu Bijuu Kumite, baby. Chakra, Nature Energy and Ninshuu? Kurama had taught him well.
Who needs summons when you can use Kage Bunshin no Jutsu? But, really.
With asshole aliens like the Ootsutsuki walking around being able to cross dimensions in the blink of an eye, should he really be worried about facing S-ranked wannabe criminals like the Akatsuki?
Fuuinjutsu was a possible solution.
Fuuinjutsu created by a combination of Senjutsu and Bijuu Chakra was the complete answer.
Who knew?
Uzumaki Naruto had become totally immortal and it was so simple.
He just wasn't ever really there.
Something was off.
The clown was quiet, in deep thought. He recognised the look, he was in contemplation. As if wondering how to deal with a conundrum. He was much the same.
He wore this look whenever he was in the classroom, contemplating on setting all his classmates on fire or not. Especially the annoying, noisy ones.
They knew and know who they were and still are. If killing Itachi wouldn't satisfy him, he wouldn't mind killing all of them to see if that would work. He would enjoy it, truly and deeply.
The young Uchiha had become highly proficient in the Lightning Element. It would win him the match against Sabaku no Gaara, who was proficient in the Earth Element. After that crazy kid, he would be facing Naruto or Hyuga Neji next.
His teammate wasn't weak, but even he knew that Hyuga Neji was last year's top rookie and stronger than that crazy powerful Rock Lee. Chances of Naruto winning were pretty slim.
But Naruto was laid back. Extremely so. His eyes could detect anxiety and fear in one's body. Naruto had neither.
The two first contestants were making their way to the fighting grounds. The remaining ones were to move up to the balcony.
As his eyes landed on Neji, he saw complete confidence, arrogance and no small amount of impatience. The Hyuga really wanted to stomp his teammate into the ground.
The Uchiha would actually like to see Naruto win here, but that would be unlikely.
'He seems… preoccupied? He's not even thinking about fighting?' He was well practiced in reading body language and facial expressions. He could pinpoint insecurity and confidence easily enough.
Some would say he was direct, none would say he was subtle. "You're going to forfeit, dead-last?"
Said dropout looked up from his hand, as he was staring at it, to shoot him a look of casual neutrality. "Let's just start, I'm not in the mood to be here very long."
An eyebrow raised and a grin surfaced on his face after hearing that. "Rest assured, I'll be shortening those expectations." He snarked, his grin growing in intensity.
Naruto didn't even shrug at that, opting to simply stare from Neji to the proctor.
Shiranui Genma seemed a bit confused, staring back at the blonde of the two contestants. He did shrug. "Start the match!"
Neji rushed forward in amazing speed, but as soon as he was about to hit Naruto, the blonde split in two and Neji flew through between them. The Hyuga hadn't made contact.
Not letting himself be caught off guard, Neji quickly turned without losing his balance whatsoever and relaunched himself at who he believed was the real one.
The same thing occurred, however. Now there were three Naruto standing there. Considering him with slight curiosity.
Instead of attacking again, Neji jumped back and activated his Byakugan. 'What's this? He didn't call out any Jutsu. This is no Genjutsu either, they're real bodies.' His mouth pursed, intrigued. "Interesting, what Jutsu is this?"
All three Naruto frowned. "You're my enemy, why should I give you information?"
Swallowing back some words he thought he needed to throw out, Neji rushed forward again, Byakugan this time assisting him.
And yet, the same thing happened. Now there were four of him. More than doubling his speed, Neji went all out attacking all the Naruto around him, but….
Every hit, kick, bash and even knee and elbow attacks… They didn't connect. His eyes couldn't detect a Jutsu at work. It wasn't Genjutsu. And these clones were real bodies, not normal Bunshin. Adamantly, he simply increased his tempo and effort, lashing out at any clone he could. Time was running and he had been doing a good job hitting nothing but air for close to five minutes.
He was simply doubling the count of his opponents as he went. In fact, he had yet to even truly touch him.
Neji narrowed his eyes as he quickly backpedalled to observe the situation. There were now over fifty Naruto in front of him, all staring at him in boredom. 'I can't see which is the real one...' Despite the problematic situation, Neji remained calm.
"It doesn't matter how many clones you have, a thousand times zero is still zero."
"Sure. But what about time and space?" One of the Naruto responded rather gently. "One of me is not zero in weight. One of me is not zero in movement. One of me is not zero in sound. One of me is not zero in perception." He then snapped his finger. "So then, neither are a thousand."
The Hyuga blinked, genuinely not understanding. "Whatever." Using quick speed, he appeared in the midst of the Naruto crowd, intent on dealing with as many of them in one move as possible. "Kaiten!"
Each Naruto that would be hit by the Heavenly Spin, simply doubled in presence, in some cases they even quadrupled. The Kaiten, it seemed, was definitely NOT the move to use here.
As Neji stopped his spinning defensive move, he was appalled to see the number of Naruto had more than doubled! 'What trickery is this?'
"You should forfeit." Two Naruto near him let out.
Finally, a glare settled on the youth's face at hearing that. "You're going to be eating those words, dropout."
"But what can you do?" One of the two that had spoken up continued. The numerous Clones had yet to move, but they were surrounding Neji. "We outnumber you. You can't touch us. You don't even know which one is the real me. You're not going to use that sixty-four loser move on a clone, right?"
Choosing to snort dramatically, Neji clenched his fists to calm down and think of a strategy. "You expect me to take you seriously? I'll see through this circus trick soon enough."
Uncanny, all the clones scratched the back of their heads. "Are you sure? We know where your blind spot is, Byakugan user."
A pebble hit Neji on the back of his head.
Turning in anger, he saw one Clone chuckle at him, having obviously thrown said pebble.
"Could be a Shuriken the next time, you know." Another Clone warned teasingly, right in front of him.
"Or a Jutsu." Another quipped.
Both clones were attacked, but… they simply doubled in presence and Neji hadn't come close to touching them.
"What to do when Taijutsu doesn't work?" Two Naruto, from behind him, asked genuinely. "Quite problematic for a Hyuga, huh? You have any other things you can throw at me?"
Instantly, Kunai flew from his hands. He watched the Kunai sail through the crowd of clones and pierce the side of the arena wall.
Not willing to believe his eyes, he watched in despair how the Kunai didn't hit any Clones, but….
Doubled any Clone it had sailed through to.
A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his head as he truly considered the situation in front of him. His eyes were good… He could instantly tell there were two hundred and fifty nine clones around him. They were all Kage Bunshin, all genuine bodies. All with the same Chakra running through them.
"Are… Are you just going to use Clones?" Neji tried valiantly, not liking where this was headed. His Byakugan could not tell which one was real. "The dead-last loser is a coward as well?"
One Naruto nearby seemed amused. "A coward?" He chose to repeat the word. "A coward, huh… Is being a coward a bad thing? Does the coward not outlive the brave? Can the coward not tell the story better? Hyuga Neji, are you brave, then?"
"Uzumaki Naruto." The proctor suddenly interjected, not liking how he had to meander through the Naruto Clone crowd. "Are you not going to participate in this match?" There was a warning in his tone.
One Naruto right in front of Genma turned to look at the proctor over his shoulder. "I haven't even shown myself yet… Do you really want me to start the fighting?"
He turned back to Neji and nodded to the boy. "I can take him out whenever I choose to, proctor-san."
"I'd like to see you try, dead-last! Do it, I'll give you five seconds!"
The Naruto Genma had talked to nodded once again. "I'll do it in two."
He couldn't see either! The entire area was shrouded in Naruto's dense, blue Chakra. Between all those five hundred clones, even his Sharingan couldn't tell where the real Naruto was!
There were three Sharingan Eyes watching the battle, and both users had the same conclusion.
Uzumaki Naruto had just devised a whole new way of fighting.
Uchiha Sasuke felt panic in his body. There was some sort of Chakra around every Clone that activated the Kage Bunshin whenever Neji, or apparently even a Kunai, came close. Why wasn't Neji just using wide Elemental Jutsu to get rid of all those clones?
That should surely work… right?
Hatake Kakashi's Sharingan was a bit more evolved, but he didn't see any more than Sasuke's did. "How devious… Seems he has trained his Kage Bunshin up to a level unseen before." There was a sense of pride in him, seeing sensei's son dominate a talented opponent like Hyuga Neji.
Of course, there was still the shame he felt from his actions weeks ago.
"Sakura-san."
She couldn't believe what was happening. Of course she knew Naruto knew the Kage Bunshin, she just never expected him to use it so… wisely. The pink-haired girl was seated in the crowd of the stadium next to Yamanaka Ino, when Ten-Ten had spoken up from behind her.
All the Genin that lost their matches in the previous round were seated together.
"I don't understand what's happening." Neji's female teammate admitted. "There should be no Genin able to give Neji a hard time. Wasn't that blonde kid really… how to put this nicely… untalented?"
She would take offense to that, if Sakura really cared about her blonde teammate. Truth was her mind was always just and only on Sasuke. "Y-yeah..."
Ten-Ten's eyes were narrowed as her gaze travelled down to the fighting area. "That boy… He's really dangerous. I can tell. Any and all attacks are just… making him stronger."
"Yeah, Naruto's got some nice tricks, Sakura! He's actually pretty good, being able to block Neji like this!" Ino hollered. "Your team is better than I thought, I really figured Naruto was the loser in your team! Turns out you are!"
"A loser you tied with, pork girl!" She retaliated easily, although her thoughts agreed. 'Naruto…'
"With a technique like that, I don't see anyone beating Naruto with just Taijutsu." Chouji was seated next to Ino, happily eating from a bag of chips. "Shikamaru can still catch him with his shadow."
'But that's useless if he catches a Shadow Clone.' Ten-Ten thought. 'Neji is the strongest guy in the Exams, but…. seems like Naruto is a very bad opponent for him.'
"How disappointing. Konoha Genin are really too easy."
Gaara was hearing his sister's words, but he usually ignored his siblings' unnecessary chatter. When he went and decided to kill Rock Lee in the hospital, he was slowed down by a Genin able to stop him with his shadow long enough for the boy's sensei to intervene. Not all Konoha Genin were useless.
And that guy… Maito Gai. He was definitely strong. He would need mother awake to be able to kill him.
"I thought that Hyuga Neji was really strong and that blonde shrimp really weak." His brother spoke this time. "Seems like there's always a bad opponent for everyone. The brat can spam clones and hide his real self. Tricky, but not something poison smoke can't fix." The puppeteer, as always, was full of himself.
"Or a Wind Blast or two." Temari agreed, patting the fan on her back fondly. "It seems like that Hyuga girl doesn't have any Jutsu able to cover a wide area. Except for that spinning technique that didn't pan out so well."
"Uh, Temari, that's a Hyuga boy."
The blonde Suna Kunoichi shrugged. "I hope that Naruto kid knocks him out cold. Guys like that Hyuga Neji are a real pain to deal with."
"Be quiet." The Jinchuuriki warned. "Neither of those two insects are difficult to deal with."
A little further away from them were Nara Shikamaru and Aburame Shino. Sasuke was leaning over the railing between the Sand Siblings and them, body language very tense.
"Man, more trouble than it's worth. I'm going to forfeit against Naruto." The Nara griped.
"If so, you're better off forfeiting against me, Konoha brat." Temari taunted. Shikamaru shot her an exasperated look.
"It is a peculiar event." Suddenly, all heads turned to Shino. He spoke in a soft manner that made everyone listen. Even his bugs couldn't tell where the real Naruto was hiding. "Why? Because all the Shadow Clones down in the arena… are Shadow Clones."
'Does he have a Doujutsu? Aburame don't have special eyes, do they? Is that why he's wearing glasses?' Temari thought.
'How can he tell when even my Sharingan can't tell? Does he have special bugs?' Sasuke had heard Shino, but didn't turn his eyes away from the battle.
"It's simple. I put a bug on the single Naruto before the battle commenced. Somehow, all the Naruto Clones have clones on them of my original bug."
He then lifted his right arm to show a bug on his index finger. "Of this particular bug. Which has returned to me after Hyuga Neji's first assault."
All of the remaining participants didn't completely understand and one of them, Sabaku no Gaara, didn't care.
"What this means?" Shino paused for dramatic effect. "That the real Naruto is still in hiding."
Nothing works without Chakra. The opposite should ring true. Everything works with Chakra. How to hide yourself? Many would say use as little Chakra as possible or, if possible, none at all. That's stupid. How can you hide yourself sticking out like a sore thumb?
Hiding in plain sight is the best way to hide. Whoever played hide and seek should know this.
So… Hide yourself with Chakra in Chakra.
Naruto had become the immortal ghost within an army of Clones.
No one was seeing him at the moment. He could tell because he was walking around his army, Neji and the proctor and none were sensing him. He could also tell that no one in the crowd was seeing him as he moved to the walls of the stadium and simply sat down.
He stole this idea from the Hidden Mist Technique. But that technique was too… out in the open. One could always just bomb the entire area with wide enough Jutsu. To kill the mouse in the haystack, you set the haystack on fire.
No, he needed something better.
Momochi Zabuza became the Mist in the Hidden Mist Technique.
Uzumaki Naruto became Chakra in his Hidden Chakra Technique.
"Do you really want me to start the fighting?"
He turned back to Neji and nodded to the boy. "I can take him out whenever I choose to, proctor-san."
"I'd like to see you try, dead-last! Do it, I'll give you five seconds!"
The Naruto Genma had talked to nodded once again. "I'll do it in two." He held up a finger. "One."
The real Naruto, submerged in Chakra, threw a Senbon coated in paralysis poison. It pierced Neji's neck in the back in a non-lethal way, having flown straight through his blind spot.
"And..." Everyone, the proctor, the crowd and the remaining participants, were completely confused when Neji simply fell to the ground, not being able to move, but definitely conscious.
Not willing to reveal his Ghost Technique, Naruto had quickly merged with a Shadow Clone, leaving none the wiser. He could choose any and all Kage Bunshin to replace himself with, as they were all dancing in his Chakra anyway. He chose the one Genma had just asked to actually participate in the match.
He then dispelled all the other Kage Bunshin. Naruto didn't say a word as he locked eyes with Genma and simply pointed at Neji's struggling body on the ground. After a short moment of inaction, from either party, he rolled his eyes and grabbed a Kunai from one of his pockets and swung it suggestively.
Shiranui Genma snorted in amusement. "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"
"Nice match, Hyuga Neji." The blonde waved shortly before deciding to make his way up to the participant area.
'That was the easiest victory I've ever witnessed. This kid is going to be big.' Genma thought as he watched Naruto slowly walk away. 'And didn't he mention he hadn't even shown himself yet?' His eyes narrowed.
Medic-nin came in to cure Neji from the easy paralysis drug. The Hyuga boy was fine, but definitely spooked. He noticed the Needle one of the Medic-nin had plucked out from the back of his head. "You're lucky it was only a Senbon..." Genma drawled, chewing on his own. "As he said earlier… that could have been a Kunai."
Hyuga Neji was easily Chuunin Level. In fact, he could probably outmaneuver all average Chuunin. And yet, he was so easily dealt with by Uzumaki Naruto.
It spoke volumes.
Shimura Danzo was not a betting man. But even he would bet that Konoha's Jinchuuriki would probably be around Jounin Level now. That performance just now would surely promote him to Chuunin.
Despite the minimal effort, he had efficiently shut down an opponent of high level. He wasn't playing the game, he created the game.
His lone eye traveled to the Kazekage, seated next to Hiruzen. He would throw that whiny little Uchiha brat in Orochimaru's arms, were it nor for Itachi's lethal responses to that. For all the good the Sharingan did, those Uchiha sure were emotional crybabies.
Perhaps he should see to it no one else would possess the Sharingan. Hn, maybe he should just go after Itachi and that upstart Nagato? Perhaps it was time to talk with Hiruzen about an S-Ranked Mission alongside the pervert Hermit.
While he didn't get along with Jiraiya, surely if they worked together they'd make short work of Akatsuki.
Perhaps he should take back Yakushi Kabuto as well, although he suspected Orochimaru had thoroughly brainwashed him already.
Danzo had decided. Root would be focusing on Akatsuki's annihilation from now on. Uzumaki Naruto would have a problem if something puny like Akatsuki distracted him from reaching his true potential.
"How? Neji just fell down all of a sudden! Looks like he got hit by something, but I didn't even see any of those clones throw anything! I was watching!" Let it be known that Ten-Ten and weapons went hand-in-hand. If weapons were being thrown, she would be the one to notice it.
"There's so many of them, though... I'm sure one of them threw something, we just missed it." Sakura was much calmer, but not any less impressed. Naruto won this round and made it look easy!
He hadn't even attacked once! Or he did once, but no one saw. All he did was perform the Kage Bunshin and simply overwhelmed the area and his opponent with it.
"That was pretty badass. But also lame." Ino let out, not really knowing how to feel. "Is it me or was that match one-sided?"
"One-sided." Ten-Ten grumbled, repeating it mockingly. She was not liking how easily the strongest member of her team got punted out of the Chuunin Exams by a Rookie Genin using nothing but a Clone Technique. "That Naruto kid… Kage Bunshin, right? That Jutsu seems way too strong!"
"Actually, they dispel after a single touch." The female member of Team Seven explained. "It's convenient, but one clone isn't very strong. It's quite easy for us during spars to deal with Naruto."
She meant Kakashi and Sasuke usually dealt with it easily, not her.
"Well, Neji failed in dispelling even one!" Ten-Ten was not having it.
"Yeah… Naruto got a lot faster. I guess he really worked on his Taijutsu these past few weeks."
"Hn. I expected better from that Hyuga. Even if Naruto hides among his Clones, any decent Shinobi should have a Jutsu capable of taking out big numbers." Sasuke was impressed, however. Naruto played this one out like a true Shinobi. He wanted to fight him now.
"The Hyuga usually don't have to focus on learning any techniques outside of their Clan's." Shikamaru surprisingly jumped in on the conversation Sasuke was having with himself. "Because of their Byakugan, they can get close to any opponent, anyway."
Sasuke seemed to think whether Shikamaru was worthy enough to respond to, before relenting. "That certainly backfired."
"Yeah..." Shikamaru closed his eyes. "Who'd have thought? That dead-last dropout of our class is actually pretty smart and dangerous. It seems to me he wasn't even trying."
"If that shit impressed you, you should drop out." Kankurou sneered at them. "We'll be bulldozing all over and through you little shits."
Shikamaru seemed to have fallen asleep, while Sasuke had his eyebrow raised. "Doll tricks aside, what can you really offer? My Sharingan can see your Chakra Threads." The message being 'you're not my opponent.'
'The glint of that needle came out of nowhere.' Was the thought of all the higher-ranked nin having observed the match.
Kakashi had his eyes narrowed. 'It was almost as if someone else entirely threw that needle.'
Judging from how the needle was being inspected on the sidelines, he wasn't the only one thinking this. But Naruto's presence on the needle (skin, fingerprint, smell, Chakra) had been confirmed by all necessary judges.
But that brought him to a very startling conclusion. 'Naruto can hide from the Byakugan and the Sharingan… My nose couldn't sniff him out either.' He would have to ask an Inuzuka with a better sense of smell and an Aburame that had watched this match whether they could sense him throughout it. If not, that could become very problematic very quickly.
"Kakashi-san." Came a voice from next to him.
As luck would have it, Ebisu was a Sensor-nin.
"Were you... able to pinpoint the real Naruto's exact location during that match?"
Alright, he didn't like where this question was leading him to.
'Unbelievable. To think a Genin fresh out of the Academy could make even me feel restless...'
Eyeing his Jounin Instructor, he couldn't help but feel envy. 'I have only one Technique capable of dealing with him and it's a final resort, even.'
Maito Gai did not like this. He was sure none of the others knew how serious this was. A Genin capable of these feats? Someone so young already capable of fighting a man like himself to a standstill?
As he witnessed, speed would make no difference. That means that it didn't matter how many Gates one opened, you'd only be feeding him more power. How terrifying and ingenious. And he was probably the only one capable of pulling it off.
Was it the Uzumaki Blood or the fact that he had the strongest Bijuu inside of him?
Will other Jinchuuriki also be able to fight like this?
This feeling was unpleasant. Maito Gai didn't worry very often.
As soon as he had walked an inch off of the fighting area, Naruto's Chakra Presence completely vanished.
He was about to use Shunshin to appear in front of Naruto, but… He couldn't sense or smell him anymore! He just saw him walk out of the fighting area, so perhaps there was still lingering Chakra.
Feeling weird for revealing his Sharingan for this purpose, Kakashi narrowed his eyes to see not even a single trace of Naruto's Chakra. That was impossible! He had completely overloaded the entire area with his Chakra to fight Neji this way.
Unless…
Unless Naruto didn't fight at all. It would be explainable if all of that, and the first Naruto that started the match…. had all been Kage Bunshin.
Helpless. He had felt completely helpless when Naruto was twirling that Kunai around his finger, while he was squirming and struggling on the ground like a useless infant. The feel of Naruto's gaze on him in that moment was clear.
He could have killed him whenever.
He felt ashamed as he made his way to the area where the ones who had lost their match had to go to. A simple enough changing room with a shower.
Two Seconds. As promised. He would never forget this moment. This learning moment.
He checked himself in a mirror and could not help but feel disappointed. While he was taught never to underestimate his opponent, underestimating Uzumaki Naruto the Dead-last was kind of inevitable.
Slapping himself on the cheeks gently, after washing his hands, he couldn't help but sigh. This defeat left him feeling hollow. He was completely fine. Even the wound the needle left behind in the back of his neck was gone, as it was a minor wound any Med-nin could deal with.
"Uzumaki Naruto, huh."
Reviewing the match, it couldn't have gone any other way. The blonde had simply overpowered him from the start. It was quite unnerving.
He would have to learn Jutsu capable of destroying a big, wide area.
Thinking back on the match…. Would that make him go at him seriously?
Because that was the truth. Naruto had not even fought him seriously.
Naruto was seated close to Sasuke and Shikamaru, but the duo couldn't sense him. No one could. He had completely perfected all Concealment Techniques and had merged them all into one using Fuuinjutsu and Chakra Overloading.
If you can summon animals and other people… why couldn't you summon space? Or even… time? Fold them over one another?
The next match was about to start and Naruto was curious whether Orochimaru would make his move immediately or later.
The talk with Shimura Danzo a few days ago had been enlightening. Especially, after talking about the Suna and Oto Collaboration, the Fuuinjutsu and Hiraishin topics.
His Fuuinjutsu was topnotch, but the Hiraishin required some serious time consuming effort. It would have to wait until after he confronted Tenbin no Jugo and Kaguya Kimimaro.
For that, he would have to let Orochimaru escape and then follow him out.
His speed and quick execution of lightning techniques were giving him the upperhand, but none of his techniques were strong enough to get past both of Gaara's Defenses.
Thankfully for Sasuke, Gaara was too slow to touch him.
Up in the stands, Kakashi wondered if not teaching him the Chidori was a good move.
It didn't really matter as Kabuto performed the Feathery Sleep Genjutsu.
Naruto remained hidden as he watched Konoha get attacked by two Shinobi Countries.
'With Gaara unleashing the Shukaku, that would keep Jiraiya busy, but not for very long… Danzo has closed the defenses around Konoha, so most reinforcements won't be getting in to help the Suna and Oto forces inside.'
He eyed the Shishi Enjin Barrier in an unimpressed manner. 'Everything costs Chakra. The Hyuga really should be quicker on the uptake.'
Having witnessed Orochimaru perform the forbidden Edo Tensei had been a nice bonus lesson. After close to half an hour of the First and Second Hokage fighting the Third and his Great Ape Summon Enma, a group of Hyuga had finally used an advanced Jyuken on the Shishi Enjin.
Turns out Orochimaru's strength was quite sapped in using the Edo Tensei. Presumably, he had to control the two Hokage in some way. His performance here left much to be desired. he was interested however, in how his arms were sealed away by the Third.
And then the moment he was waiting for came. He watched four of Orochimaru's underlings take Orochimaru and flee from the scene.
He quickly gave chase, undetected.
No one noticed Konoha's Jinchuuriki running out and over the gates of Konoha. Perhaps some day, he would thank Danzo for the notes on the Hiraishin, but…
He would probably not be returning to Konoha for a very, very long while.
TBC
Remember Naruto saying he wasn't in the mood to be here for very long at the start of this chap?
Next Chapter:
"You're very cunning… You're not even really here, are you?"
The blonde Jinchuuriki grinned at Orochimaru. "Who knows?"
D.D
Fun writing, hope you enjoyed reading!