Chapter Eleven

Heyo sorry for the wait, but here it is, hope you like it. I tried my best to edit it well.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, more people would have seen Naruto summon Gamabunta.

All hell had broken loose the minute Gaara ripped through the stadium wall. An explosion had gone off in the Kage box, and the stadium had filled with Oto and Suna nin. The shinobi of Konoha had immediately sprang into action, fighting against the nin, and releasing those caught in the genjutsu so they could evacuate.

Jiraiya and Hiruzen stared down the Kazekage. "Drop the act. We already know it's you, Orochimaru." The white haired Sannin said.

"Jiraiya, Sarutobi-sensei. It's so good to see you both!"

"I'm going to fix the mistake I made years ago, and stop you from touching Konoha ever again, Orochimaru…" Said the Hokage, The last word spoken with extreme distaste. A massive purple barrier appeared around the rooftop.

"Seems my nin have made themselves useful and things went according to plan." The traitorous Sannin flashed through hand seals, and called out his jutsu. "Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation"

"What! No way!"

Three coffins burst from the ground, the third however shook before it returned to the ground.

"At least the Death God is on our side in this matter it seems, eh? Sarutobi-sensei?"

"Indeed it does Jiraiya, he would never so willingly just let go of young Minato's soul." Replied the elder shinobi.

"Saru?" Questioned Hashirama looking upon the Third Hokage.

"It seems my jutsu was used to bring us back from the dead brother." Said Tobirama, quickly recognizing the situation.

"Only you could make such jutsu that are stupidly reckless, Tobirama!"

"Fight for me, Hokages." Orochimaru called out as he jumped forward and slammed a kunai with a control talisman into the necks of both Hokage.

"Ah Saru, it seems we no longer have control of our bodies." Said the Second Hokage. He flew forward immediately being countered by Sarutobi. The current Hokage threw the Second at Jiraiya, who proceeded to put a rasengan through the his chest. Hashirama immediately engaged Sarutobi in a bout of taijutsu, and the monkey summoner took the upper hand at the last moment. Thus began a massive battle that the Anbu who had collected outside the barrier had never seen the likes of before.

Sakura and Rikka stood back to back fending off Oto and Suna nin, they were being pushed to the limit and if nothing changed they would die. That was until a flash of blue light and the sound of chirping birds ripped through the air and Kakashi tore through the nin surrounding the girls.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Called the pinkette. Another leaf jounin landed next to Kakashi.

"Thanks for saving my student as well Hatake."

"You know I protect my comrades, Yuta." Kakashi eye smiled at the black haired jounin.

"Alright let's wipe the floor with these shits!" The newly arrived jounin shouted.

"Naruto!"

"Got it!"

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

"Fire Style: Fireball jutsu!"

The boys were firing off jutsu in an effort to push the enemy jinchuriki away from the village.

"I'm going to kill you, Uchiha! I'll feed you to mother!"

Gaara continued to run, but Naruto and Sasuke were forced to stop. The figures of Temari and Kankuro appeared in between them and their target.

"Temari, continue on with Gaara. I'll handle this."

"But-"

"Shut up and go Temari!"

Naruto and Sasuke had a stare down with the puppet user. They knew they couldn't just run by him. But their problems were solved by a separate Konoha shinobi. Bugs swarmed around the three ninja as the Aburame made his entrance.

"You two go, I never got my match, so I'll have it now instead." Said the stoic bug user.

"Right!" The two boys sounded off.

"I won't let you past me!" Yelled Kankuro, who moved to intercept, but was halted by a wall of bugs courtesy of Shino.

Temari watched as Gaara began his transformation.

"Where's the Uchiha! I want his blood!"

"Gaara you can't forget the plan!"

"I don't care about the plan! I want to prove my existence! Shut up, or I'll kill you Temari!" Gaara said, the beast slowly fighting to take the boy over, almost half his body was consumed by the One Tail's smaller form. At this moment Sasuke and Naruto decided to drop in. The Uchiha took half of Gaara's transformed arm off with his Chidori.

Gaara's focus immediately shifted to the black haired genin. However as he moved to attack, he felt a speed enhanced powerful kick place itself in the small of his back, launching him away. Gaara growled. "Sand shuriken!" He yelled as his sand turned into deadly weapons that flew at the two shinobi. Temari had long since pulled back to the minimum safe distance.

The boys began spamming their combination jutsu, trying to turn the sand into glass. And it did work, but when the jinchuriki began ripping apart the ground in order to make more, they knew this would be troublesome. Eventually Naruto had a plan.

"S'ke I'm gonna spam some water clones up, I'll prep a couple extra water jutsu too, get your Chidori ready!"

"Got it." Forty Naruto copies filled the area. Five of them began flashing through hand seals. "Water Style: Raging Waves!" They all exclaimed, shooting water all over the partially transformed Suna nin, but dispelling the clones that had used the jutsu as it had drained their chakra. The remaining clones began to attack Gaara, engaging in taijutsu but getting dispatched as they attacked.

Naruto body flickered beside Sasuke putting his hand on the Uchiha's shoulder. "I'll get you close." The boy nodded in response and they disappeared with the blond's technique. Reappearing behind the Suna nin, Sasuke charged forth from behind him.

"Chidori!" A burst of sand threw him off, but he still managed to bury his arm in the shoulder of the beast side of the enemy nin. "Shit!" He yelled when the sand began to encase his arm. However the water that was now covering the redhead amplified the electric shock of the Chidori causing him immense pain. Naruto quickly flickered next to him, and immediately disappeared with Sasuke in tow.

"That was too close, Sasuke."

"I know, but it doesn't matter right now."

"Ninja Art: Play Possum Jutsu!" They heard the redhead call out, and watched in confusion as the boy slumped over, apparently asleep. But they both recoiled in shock as the full form of the One Tails filled their view. Towering over them, the massive beast began to laugh.

"I'm finally free!" The massive beast chuckled once again.

"Fuck, Sasuke. Go! Get out of here!"

"What the fuck do you mean!? You can't possibly think you're gonna fight that thing alone Naruto!"

Naruto turned to Sasuke, a solemn look adorning his face. He chuckled lightly. "You're a lot different than you used to be Sasuke. It's a change for the good. But this...this is a fight for jinchuriki, and that's what I am. I'll do this for the village."

"Naruto! I'm not gonna leave you here you loser."

"Neko! Glad you're here, please clear the area."

The newly arrived ANBU stared at the boy for a moment before she nodded and forcefully grabbed Sasuke and leapt away. She arrived at a location a distance away from the now free tailed beast. Gathered there, were a good amount of chunin and genin, along with a few jounin. The rest of the Konoha nin were still fighting in the village, but this group had been sent by Kakashi to backup the two boys. But upon release of the One Tails, a squad of ANBU had arrived giving orders for no one to engage.

"What the hell! We can't leave Naruto there to fight alone!"

Sakura, with Rikka and Ryuko in tow came running up to the ANBU. Shikamaru and Kiba found their way over quickly as well, having heard Sasuke yelling.

"Naruto's is fighting that thing alone!?" Sakura shouted worry in her voice.

"Right now, Naruto is the only one capable of fighting that beast. At least until Lord Jiraiya and Lord Third Hokage finish their fight." The ANBU responded blankly. "Know your place genin. Stay put. That is an order."

"How can you possibly say that when Naruto is a gen-.." Shikamaru started, only to be interrupted by the massive figure of Gamabunta appearing on the battlefield. When all the nin looked closely, some having fought in the battle thirteen years before, they saw the massive toad along with a cloaked figure upon its head facing off against the beast.

"Is-is that the Fourth!?" A chunin shouted.

"You should know that isn't possible." Neko replied.

"Just look at the cloak, you can tell. That's the same one Naruto was wearing." Shikamaru commented.

"Sorry to summon you for such a fight, Lord Gamabunta. But I didn't have much of a choice."

"Tch. It's fine brat, last time I was summoned for a fight like this, it was your Fourth Hokage atop my head."

Naruto smiled at the toad boss's words. "I need to wake the jinchuriki that is hidden inside the head of the One Tails. Any ideas?"

"We'll have to blast the sand loose to expose his body, then you should be able to get a solid enough hit in on him to wake him up."

"Got it. Know any water jutsu?" Naruto asked his massive ally.

"I'm a toad idiot, of course I know water jutsu."

"Right sorry Chief. Alright light him up with what you got and I'll do what I can to add to it."

"Water Style: Liquid Bullets!" The massive toad shot multiple bullets of water at the beast, on the ground the water became a rainstorm.

"Kakashi-sensei said if I were to pump enough chakra into this, it has potential to go from a C-rank jutsu to an A-rank." Naruto quickly shot through the hand seals. "Water Style: Raging Waves!" Naruto and Gamabunta's water jutsu combined, slamming into the Tailed beast with so much force it ripped away some of the sand on its head, exposing Gaara's body.

"Alright brat! We're going to need to do a combination Transformation Jutsu! I need something with teeth and claws so I can grab him!"

"Got it Chief Toad. One Nine Tailed Fox coming right up!"

Naruto and Gamabunta focused their chakra together, blending it and surrounding the toads body.

"Transformation Jutsu!"

"Transformation Jutsu!"

A plume of smoke enveloped the area, and out of it sprinted the Nine Tailed Fox. The two beasts tangled and clawed at each other for a few minutes before the transformed toad finally managed to pin the damn Racoon down.

"Go kid!"

"Right!" Naruto yelled as he flickered into existence next to Gaara atop the beast's head. "Wake up fucker!" He called slamming his fist into the other boy's head.

"I just got here! I don't wanna go already!" The beast yelled as Gaara's mind took over once again. Noticing the beast's body hadn't dissipated yet, Naruto grabbed the boy by the shirt and put two quick punches into his face. The body of the beast cracked and crumbled as it fell to the ground.

"You can go home now, Lord Gamabunta. I'll take it from here." Naruto called to his summon, as he jumped down to a treetop.

"Got it. Good luck kid." The massive summon disappeared in a cloud of chakra. Gaara landed in a tree across from Naruto, and leveled a glare at the blond. When the toad boss' sword popped out of existence, Gaara and Naruto launched at each other. Naruto quickly took the advantage and he connected a right hook to the Suna nin's face, sending the boy to the ground. The blond quickly flickered down behind him. He stood over the crumpled nin's body, the redhead's eyes stared at him in fear.

"How, how can you be so strong!?" Gaara began slowly crawling back as Naruto approached.

"Because, there's people I love in that village, hell I even love the village itself." The blond continued to walk toward the fallen jinchuriki. "We didn't talk much during our fight. But we didn't have to. I could see it in your eyes, and I could feel it in how you fought." He now stood over the Suna jinchuriki, a sad smile adorning his face.

"No! Stay away! Get away from me! I won't let you end my existence!" The terrified redhead screamed.

Naruto crouched down in front of the boy and placed his hand on the nin's shoulder. "It's almost unbearable isn't it? That loneliness and pain. The crushing weight of it all bearing down on you. It's so much it's suffocating. Looking at you Gaara, I see what I could have been, had I not found the ones who accept me as me. I know what it's like to be a jinchuriki, I hold the Nine Tails after all. But Gaara, your siblings, I can tell they love you. Cultivate that love and become strong with them. And if you need a friend, well we jinchuriki need to stick together y'know!"

The figures of Kankuro and Temari dropped from the trees behind them. "Get away from Gaara you bastard!"

Gaara stared at Naruto wide eyed at his words, and even more so at the concern showed on his siblings faces. "Temari…... Kankuro…... That's enough this fights over."

Naruto smiled at the redhead, when suddenly his eyes shot wide. "The old man's chakra! It's so small it's like he's….NO! No way." Naruto was almost in a panic but he put on a brave face. "You three get out of here, more Konoha nin are coming. You need to get a move on."

As Kankuro picked up Gaara he looked at the blond shinobi in awe. Not only had this guy beat Gaara, he had done it in a way that hadn't left him on the floor with nothing left. The damn kid looked like he could take on a couple more shinobi before dropping. "Uh thanks I guess, we'll be off." With that the sand nin took off into the trees.

"Kankuro….Temari…..I'm sorry." The redhead groaned out.

"Uh don't worry about it." The catsuit boy replied.

Of the nin who appeared in the small clearing to meet Naruto, a few had expected to find a scene like they had when the Third Hokage had found Minato after the Ninetails attack. They hadn't expected to find a tired but definitely not down and out Uzumaki Naruto standing there like he hadn't just single handedly dealt with a tailed beast.

"I subdued the One Tails. But the nin escaped." He said calmly.

"Naruto are you ok!?" Shouted Ryuko and Sakura.

"I'm fine, but look I have to go." He disappeared heading back to the village.

The group of shinobi watched in slight awe. They all began to look at each other in disbelief, before the ANBU in the group ordered them all back to the village to deal with any remaining threats.

Naruto meanwhile arrived just in time to see Orochimaru flee the rooftop of the Kage box. Quickly he rushed into where the barrier had previously protected. He quickly found the Hokage's chakra and slid to a stop at the dying man's body. "Old Man!"

The old Sarutobi chuckled, realizing just who had managed to make it to him first. "Naruto." He coughed lightly, blood coming out.

"Old man hang on! There will be medics here soon, you'll be alright!"

"Naruto….I cannot be saved. I will die here, so you must listen."

"No! Old Man! You can't die alright! You're the Hokage for fucks sake. You can't die!"

"Naruto." Sarutobi said again, commanding as he felt Jiraiya land next to the two of them. "Listen boy. You've come far as a shinobi. One day it will be your turn to be Hokage, of that I have no doubt. The Will of Fire is strong within you my boy, as it was with your mother. Be strong Naruto. You've made me, your mother, and Konoha proud. I hereby promote you to chunin, for your feat of removing the threat of the One Tail, Shukaku from the village."

Naruto cried over the old Hokage as the man coughed some more. "Naruto, one day when you are Hokage, there's something I'd like you to remember…." He coughed up some more blood, and looked at the end of his life.

"Anything Old Man…" Naruto said biting back tears.

"When the tree leaves dance….one shall find flames. The fire's shadow will illuminate the village, and once again…. tree leaves shall bud anew…. as Hokage, you must remember this, and never let go, of your Will of Fire…." With those last words, Sarutobi Hiruzen coughed once more, ruffled the hair of the boy who had brought light into his world for many years, and promptly died.

The funeral only served to make Naruto more depressed, as he watch from atop the Third Hokage's stone head. He cried silent tears, thinking of the many times the man, who had acted almost as Naruto's grandfather, had taken him for ramen. He looked to the sky as it began to rain, as if even the gods wept over the death of the God of Shinobi. "The fire's shadow will illuminate the village…...huh."

He felt Jiraiya land next to him, but he didn't bother to say anything. "So I made sure to let the jounin commander, along with the council know of your promotion to chunin."

"Thanks."

"Naruto….in this world, a lot of people you know will die. One day I would like to find true peace. To have a world where everyone understands each other. But…."

"But Konohagakure comes first. I too would like to see your dream come true, Jiraiya-sensei. However, Konoha must always be first in my mind. Because this is the village full of my friends, and the people I love. This is the village the old man, and my mother gave their lives to protect. I can never let that go to waste. I must ensure the safety of Konohagakure, no matter what."

"Well said my little apprentice. Now we've got a mission."

"A mission, Jiraiya-sensei?"

"Yup. You see, Konohagakure needs a new Hokage. They asked me to, but I can't be Hokage. So we need to go find my old teammate Tsunade." Naruto leapt back from the Sannin landing a few feet away, anger consuming his facial features.

"What the fuck! The old man just died! How the fuck can you just replace him like that!" Naruto growled out at the toad Sannin.

The older man looked at the boy sadly. "Naruto… Sarutobi-sensei meant a lot to me too, however Konohagakure is weak right now. We can't afford that, first off because we are going to go to war with Otogakure. Suna has already re-entered a treaty with us because they were tricked by Orochimaru. If we don't get a new Hokage soon, and show the other nations we aren't weak, it could spark the Fourth world war."

Naruto reigned in his emotions and settled himself. "Yes sensei...I understand. I'm ready to leave whenever you are."

"You don't wanna say goodbye to your friends first?"

"Right now I just want to get out of this village sensei."

"That's fair. Go pack and meet me at the North gate in two hours."

"Yes sensei." With that both shinobi flickered off. The Hokage monument was silent once again.

Two days later, some of the Konoha genin teams met up around a barbecue joint. "Shikamaru, you're a chunin now, so do you know what happened to Naruto?" Asked Sakura.

"It's a drag to go off rumors and such, but I heard he showed up before the Hokage died. And that he was promoted to chunin by Lord Third before he passed." The Nara sighed. "If I guessed he's on a mission."

"Why would they give Naruto a separate mission without his team though?" Ino inquired.

"Because," a stoic voice interrupted. "In the same way I trained under Kakashi for the finals, Naruto trained under Jiraiya of the Sannin. If I guessed, I'd say Jiraiya had something important to do, and decided to take Naruto along."

"Sasuke, you don't really think Naruto is on a mission with a Sannin do you?" Kiba popped in this time.

"Yes, I really do think so. I'm off on a mission with Kakashi and Sakura to do border patrol. We're all about to get very busy."

"Are we really going to war with Oto?" Asked one of the twins Naruto had met in the forest. Team Twelve, consisting of Takarada Ryuko, Kasahara Roku, and Kasahara Aiko, had run into the rest of the genin as they were heading through the village. Sakura had promptly invited them along for a meal, which they had graciously accepted.

"Yeah the war with Oto is on. The only thing is it's going to be easy for Konoha and Suna at first. We'll be able to crush most of Otogakure, but the problem will be it's almost a guarantee that Orochimaru will resort to hit and run guerrilla tactics." Shikamaru drawled out.

"Hn. Sakura, come on it's time for our mission with Kakashi."

"Hey Jiraiya-sensei?"

"What's up brat?"

"Can you teach me something on the way?"

Jiraiya laughed loudly. Looking over, he smiled at the boy. "I've been planning to teach you a jutsu, actually I've been planning to teach you two of them. One needed permission of the Hokage, but I never got the chance to ask. But I'm going to teach you anyway."

"You're going to teach me two?"

"Well depending if you get the first one down fast enough."

"Alright what is it?"

"Pay attention brat. This is the Shadow Clone Jutsu." Jiraiya made the hand seal and a clone popped into existence next to him. "It's a jutsu that splits the users chakra to make the clone. The difference between this and the standard clone, is this clone is solid, and is also able to perform jutsu. I want you to try now Naruto."

"Alright here I go." Naruto said calmly forming the clone seal. He focused his chakra and closed his eyes. Hearing a pop he opened them and looked to his right. Staring back at him was a perfect copy of himself. "Whoa."

"Naruto most jounin can only make one or two. But with your chakra levels, we have a huge opportunity. I'm going to teach you a forbidden jutsu that would kill anyone but you."

"Are you sure I should learn it sensei?" The boy asked nervously.

"I'm sure. Now do the same seal. But push as much of your chakra out as you can. They call it the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu."

"Got it." The boy said, determination filling his eyes. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A loud popping sound filled the air, and surrounding Jiraiya and the boy were copies in the hundreds.

"Woah! This is impressive! It's perfect! Naruto I'm gonna make you strong! Now in groups dispel the clones until you have like ten left." The older man ordered.

"Alright." Naruto smiled at his sensei. They were now left with ten copies of himself.

"My clone is going to take one of yours off into the trees for a minute Alright?"

"Ok..?" Naruto said questioningly. The two clones scampered off, only for Naruto to look at his sensei in slight awe. And then his expression changed to disappointment. "Alright awesome I get the memories, but really? You're a super pervert? That was the best thing you could say?" At this, the Sannin just chuckled loudly.

"Naruto… with this technique, we can get you to learn and master jutsu in days, rather than years." Jiraiya smiled down at the boy. "However before that I plan to teach you a jutsu, but you can only use one clone during training. And any time you train anything else with large amounts of clones, I need to be there, and you need to be careful and dispel the clones in small groups so that the mass amount of memories flooding your brain doesn't scramble it. Understood?"

"Yes I understand sensei." Naruto replied. "So what's the next one?"

"This one I can guarantee, will take you longer. After all it took the Fourth Hokage three years to develop, and it took me three months to learn."

"The Fourth Hokage made it!?"

"That he did." Jiraiya held his arm out and began to form a ball of chakra in his hand. "This, is the Rasengan." He laughed at the absolute awe prevalent on the boy's face. "It's the absolute pinnacle of shape manipulation."

"Jiraiya-sensei...how do I learn this!?" At this he was hit in the face with a water balloon.

"Catch." The Sannin called tossing another at the boy, who caught it effortlessly. "Now watch." The balloon began to shake and become bumpy, before it popped. "The first step is rotation. Now get to work."

"Yes sir!"

It was early evening as Naruto and Jiraiya arrived in the small village. The boy was extremely tired from the constant training he did along the way. Jiraiya checked the two of them into a hotel. After they had settled he turned to the boy. "I'm going to the bar, I'm gonna see if I can dig anything up on Tsunade alright? You stay here in the room. Train if you'd like, or sleep you look tired. I'll be back brat."

"Alright see ya in a bit Jiraiya-sensei."

With that Jiraiya left the building, Naruto shut and locked the door behind him. He spawned ten shadow clones and they sat about the room reading through books and scrolls on fuinjutsu. He had inquired to his sensei about the art of sealing, and it had almost excited the Sage that the boy had interest in it. Naruto himself sat cross legged, working on the rotation step of the rasengan.

Naruto was jolted from his concentration, when he heard a knock at the door. He stood and walked over, he didn't even think twice about opening it.

"You're going to come with us, Uzumaki Naruto."

Knock knock who's there? Anyway that's all for now, more updates Monday most likely, but maybe even earlier! It depends on how much time I can devote to writing. Anyways see ya, Darling in the Fox out!