I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters from the Manga or Anime.

A Price for Peace

Chapter 41: The Placement Trials pt 3

Naruto gazed at the various holographic screens in disgust, it was all he could do just to keep his lunch down. The sight of young shinobi, several years his juniors torturing their own companions didn't sit well with the blond.

Casting a lingering eye around the large platform, where he and the other guests were watching the proceedings he saw that he was not in the minority, and most of those watching on were visibly disturbed at what they were seeing. "This is wrong," Naruto said quietly clenching his fists tightly.

Karin was nowhere near as badly affected by the sights as Naruto and the others, she had seen and done worse than this while under Orochimaru's employ, but at the same time she could understand why the blond was so angry. She had been forced to perform those tasks or risk having them done to her. The contestants in the placement trials however were freely torturing companions. "There is nothing we can do about it Naruto-kun, we just have to let things play out," she whispered sadly.

"I know I can't do anything about this. I also know that torture and interrogation is an important part of being a ninja, but to have them practice on their comrades is just wrong." Naruto replied, his fists tightening as a loud scream of agony rocketed through the speakers as the scene on the main screen changed to that of a different room.

What Naruto found to be almost as disturbing was that the members of the military seemed to be enjoying the proceedings and discussing amongst themselves animatedly who they thought had the best techniques of extracting the information, even though most of the time they were told lies. Naruto was glad that there was at least only another hour of the torture remaining.

But in that hour the the teams became all the more desperate to retrieve their information. More brutal methods were chosen and several of the so called 'prisoners' were receiving wounds that both Naruto and Karin were convinced would never fully heal. As the timer came down to the last ten minutes the guards at the top of the tower began to leave. Naruto guessed they were heading to retrieve their teams as they finished.

"I'm surprised that so few of you have been sick because of the first task," Shougo said making his presence known as he approached Naruto. The blond jinchuuriki was a little surprised, on the outside Shougo still seemed perfectly calm. "It's quite a barbaric practice, but it does serve it's purpose." the Uchiha added sadly.

Naruto frowned and eyed Shougo analytically "And they are?"

"If you can get your soldiers to go this far against their friends and allies, then they will never think twice about doing much worse to any enemy. It's kill or be killed, that is the way they deal with anyone that could be considered a threat," Shougo answered.

"No surrender huh?" Karin asked a little shocked.

Shougo shook his head. "No, if the empire lets someone live, then they're afraid that their message will spread. A man is easy to kill, an idea... not so much."

"But that would mean they kill everyone they even consider could become a threat," Naruto said a little stunned.

"That's right. The Shodai did let a few relatives of his enemies live, he humiliated them as example to anyone who would stand against the empire. But the current emperor is less willing to take even the slightest risk," The Uchiha explained.

"Still, isn't that just a little extreme?" Naruto asked.

"I agree. If you ask me it's because, even for all the emperors power, he is still nothing but a coward. He fears the people because they are oppressed, eventually someone will say something against him and because of that fear, he will kill anyone who even thinks about it," Shougo answered honestly.

"But you seem to get away with it," Karin pointed out.

"Well... I'm a bit of a special case. I'm a member of the royal family so I have certain liberties that are not awarded to others," Shougo answered slowly. He was about to continue when a loud buzzer signalled the end of the first task. "Ah man I have to go get into position for the next round. It was nice to meet you Naruto, Karin," he sighed holding a hand out which Naruto took and shook it.

A frown passed Naruto's features as he felt an object pass from Shougo's palm to his. "What tha?"

"Don't react, I can't tell you much now, but open that scroll when the second task starts," The dark haired man whispered urgently.

Naruto didn't argue and gave a quick nod to signal he understood before Shougo disappered via a shunshin. "What was that about?" Karin asked.

"I think something is going down, keep your guard up," Naruto replied softly. 'Oh Kami don't let this be a trap. But everything seems to fit, the people here have higher than average chakra levels for civilians, some are even as high as low level Chunin. It certainly puts Shougo's lecture about kill or be killed into a new light.'

"I think you're right, look there are absolutely no guards on this platform anymore," Karin agreed, he voice shaking ever so slightly.

"Do you think we should get off the tower then? We're sitting ducks up here, if we were attacked by some high powered jutsu I would probably need to use my Bijuu cloak just to save us," Naruto replied. He didn't want to draw attention to himself but if it was a question of keeping himself and Karin alive then he didn't care.

"Maybe we should," Karin said with a short nod. If she was being honest she was scared. Yes, she had improved greatly over the past few months training with Naruto, but that didn't mean she was ready to take on what she could only assume was an army of highly trained shinobi.

Naruto gripped her hand and the pair began to move towards the edge of the tower. However before they made it to the end the whole platform began to descend quickly. Falling all the way until the tower was no more. Naruto and the others now stood in a large clearing, surrounded by dense forrest.

"Welcome to the start of the Second Trial," Naruto and the others looked up into the sky where there was a large projection of Gouhara with a subtle smile on her face. "This years trial will be a little different. While the main goal of defeating another team and stealing the item they have been given to protect, before making to their assigned exit is the same. We have in play this year a bonus round; where teams can earn large sums of money and of course, impress the judges."

The sky filled with a projection of the group of civilians that had been on the tower, and a list of names followed by a value was shown at the side. "What's going on?" a woman in her late twenties asked, her voice shaking.

"Looks like we have become part of this sick game," A man around the same age said, his voice weak with defeat.

"Each target has a different value on their heads. If you kill one of the targets, you earn that amount." Gouhara explained while fear and panic was starting to settle in with the unwilling contestants. "There is one target however that is to be captured alive!" she added as a large picture of Naruto filled the holographic screens around the arena. "His capture will grant the team that retrieves him the choice of what division in the empire that they join... Now I will of course, not put our poor civilians in a no win situation. If they capture the main target and bring him to any of the exits before they are killed, then they can have their freedom... Enjoy." Gouhara said with a grin before a loud buzzer signalled the start of the second task.

"Well this isn't good," Naruto mumbled as the pained and desperate eyes of the civilians turned his way.

Karin, Tenji and Rea made their way to surround and guard Naruto from any possible preemptive strike from the other sacrificial lambs. "Don't even think about touching him!" She barked threateningly, yet it did nothing to change the look in the civilians now angry eyes. "Even if you do capture him, do you really think you can make it to an exit without running into the enemy? Besides they won't keep their word anyway, as far as they are concerned we are all as good as dead anyway."

"How do you know?" an angry man in the crowd yelled.

"I... I guess I don't," Karin sighed. "But look at what they do to their own people. They gain nothing by letting you go."

Naruto meanwhile opened the scroll that Shougo had given him, he was used to harsh gazes and killing intent sent his way. The scroll contained a large map of the arena with several places marked as places well hidden, easily defended, or potential camps. At the bottom there was a hastily written letter on a separate torn piece of paper.

"You probably know at this point but this exam is a trap set up to be your public execution. We know you have the ability to manipulate Chakra, and are hoping to kill you before you become a threat. I can help you, but you will need to make it to the exit my comrades and I are stationed. Head to the southern border, we control the southernmost three exits. If you arrive at any other we have been given orders to kill you all on sight. Shougo Uchiha."

"If you don't believe Karin-chan then read this, it should be enough to convince you that it was all a trap and they have intention of letting any of us live," Naruto said flatly. The truth was he was trying to contain his anger, but if he reacted now he would lose a potential element of surprise.

"He's right, the guards are under orders to kill us as soon as they see us," A man said loudly enough that the rest of the group could hear.

"But why? What did we do wrong," a woman asked her voice breaking from fear.

"Everyone here has a large chakra level... well large for civilians anyway. They see that as a possible threat to the empire and all threats need to be eliminated." Naruto answered.

"Then what are we going to do? We're as good as dead already, left to be killed for sport," an older man probably in his late thirties with dark hair that was just starting to grey at the edges said while collapsing onto his knees.

"It's not over yet!" Tenji said urgently. "As long as you're still alive then then there is hope. We need to head south just like the letter said."

"It's not that simple, a large group is going to be easy to track, its also slower moving as one group," Rea replied.

"We can't just abandon them Rea. Shougo is interested in saving Naruto, so he is the key in all of this... He's also strong, he can keep us safe," Tenji said urgently.

"Keep us safe? They are members of the military, even if they are just recruits a single one would be able to kill us all!" a woman bellowed.

"I doubt it," Karin scoffed. "Genin level shinobi are no match for Naruto-kun and myself. Still with that said I wouldn't want to run into more of them than we have to," She said confidently. Picking up a stick from the ground Karin began to draw a rough copy of the map. In the dirt. "This is us in the centre," she said pointing at a small circle. "We need to get to one of these three exits here and we have about fifty miles in between."

"Then we have a team of recruits at each entrance that are probably making their way here now as we speak," Rea pointed out.

Karin nodded. "Exactly, so if they all move straight for this location then we will have no chance to escape. In fact the longer we wait the smaller the gap between groups of the enemy will become. If we move as one big group or not is irrelevant at this point, all that matters is we make a move south as soon as possible."

"We also have one more thing that will work to our advantage," Naruto said calmly.

"What's that?" Rea asked struggling to see how any of this could be seen as advantageous.

"Each team is competing against each other. They need to defeat another team as well as target us, we are just a bonus that they think poses no threat. They will fight each other in order to have a better chance of passing their exam," Naruto reasoned.

"That's a good point but not something we can bargain on, either way I say we get moving south as quickly as possible. At walking speed it will take a few days to make it there," Karin said knowing that she and Naruto could probably cross the distance in no time at all if they wanted to. 'A genin would probably need about six hours to cross this distance and we have already wasted close to ten minutes arguing about our next move.'

as an unorganised group the civilians all began heading south, nobody seemed to be interested in really forming a group or having anyone as their leader. Naruto guessed they really didn't see any point in it, many of them had already seemingly given up hope. Regardless Naruto, and the group from their village stayed close together and so did a few others who seemed to have a little more faith in their plan.

The traveling was difficult having to travel with people who couldn't use chakra. Even the experienced jungle travellers like Tenji and Rea found moving around in the dense jungle designed to be a challenge to aspiring shinobi. "How much more of this jungle is there?" Tenji whined.

"At this speed, probably a little under an hour," Naruto replied quickly gazing at Shougo's map.

"I wouldn't be so eager to exit this forested section of the arena if I was you. Once we are in the open sure we may cross the ground faster, but everyone for miles will be able to see us," Rea reasoned.

"You're right, we will need a distraction," Naruto said while in deep thought. 'There is no way we will be able to pass the next ten miles unnoticed. It's a suicide run.'

"So what do we do?" A young man a few years older than Naruto asked, he was well dressed for someone from the south though and seemed to be a little more calm than some of the others.

"I can handle the distraction. If the empire wants a show, then I will give them one," Naruto replied with a frown.

"I can help," Karin said eagerly, she didn't want to let Naruto do anything reckless on his own.

"No, I need you to keep everyone else here safe. I know you can do it," Naruto said calmly.

"Are you insane!? Thats as good as sacrificing yourself," the better dressed man stammered.

Naruto shook his head, his will already set on what needed to be done. "I'll be fine, believe it."

"If you say so. Hell if you want to throw your life away like that, then who am I to stop you," the man replied a little gravely. Naruto didn't reply, deciding that silence was the best option, the more animated their discussion the easier it would be to find them.

They continued on in silence one thing that struck Naruto as odd, was that despite being in the middle of an incredibly dense forest, there was no sign of any animals not even insects. He wasn't necessarily complaining but it made the whole experience seem surreal, the forest was just too calm.

As they approached the edge of the forest Naruto's group slowed to a stop at the edge, in front of them lay a large expanse of open planes. The only cover they could see was a few large rocks and the odd small tree. 'We will definitely be at a disadvantage here. But if a fight starts the same can be said for the enemy,' Karin thought.

"Okay, I'll go first make a big enough racket to draw everyone's attention. The rest of you need to make a run for the next area," Naruto said pulling out the map and laying it on the floor for everyone to see. "The next area seems to be a large rocky area and there is a well hidden cave right here," Naruto continued pointing to a safe area marked on the map.

"Thats the Rendezvous point?" Karin asked.

"Yeah, I'll meet you there, looks like a decent place to camp for the night. Keep everyone safe Karin-chan," Naruto smiled, leaning in for a quick kiss before taking off leaving the map behind.

"Alright sit tight and wait for Naruto-kun's signal," Karin sighed, she didn't like him running off on his own but knew there was not much she could do about it.

"I can't believe that he actually thinks he will be coming back from this," the well dressed man said shaking slightly, he knew there was little to no chance of them making it through this open area.

"Just wait and see, there is no way Naruto-kun will lose to a bunch of kids," Karin replied confidently. 'The truth is, Naruto and I could have left here already and be half way back to the village if Naruto wanted to, I guess he doesn't want to abandon the people who are believing in him.'

Naruto stepped out onto the field and cast an eye to either side relieved to see that so far no other group of the civilians had made it to this area. 'So how should we do this?' he thought calmly as he strolled out into the open.

'Well you could go all out, summon me and we could blow this whole stadium to hell?' Kurama replied.

"Let's save that as a plan B," Naruto chuckled in response.

'Well you're no fun,' the Kyuubi huffed. 'In that case find a high point and spike your chakra. It should give everyone a good show.'

'I guess that would work, but there might be teams without a sensor, I was thinking a little more along the lines of something that would make a lot of noise. That way we can get everyone's attention that could see, hear or feel my presence. It will give the others the best chance to slip by unnoticed.' Naruto replied with a grin, still moving very quickly across the field until he was sure that he had moved to about half way. "It will feel good not having to hide my chakra for once, it's been a real pain ever since we have been here," he said out loud when he finally came to a stop and climbed on top of a large boulder and took a seat cross legged.

The process of entering sage mode only took a few seconds now for Naruto and he relished the peace and tranquility it brought to be one with nature as the natural chakra began to flow into and out of his body. 'Well if you want to get everyone's attention, then this certainly is the way to go,' Kurama laughed as his chakra flooded the area and a clone appeared by his side.

Karin's eyes shot wide as she felt Naruto's chakra spike, she was in awe at just how much chakra the blond Uzumaki possessed, but she could also feel the slight traces of his sage mode, even without using her unique sensory ability. Then suddenly the silence was broken by a massive bell like screech. Almost instantly the large monitors floating in the sky all changed to show Naruto standing with a Rasenshuriken held above his head.

"What the hell is that!?" Tenji asked in shock.

Karin didn't really know how to answer, this wasn't a jutsu that Naruto would use haphazardly. It appeared as though Naruto noticed the screens had all locked onto his position as well and allowed a confident yet somewhat feral grin to appear on his face. "You want a fight!?" they heard his voice magnified through the same monitors, as if broadcasting his defiance to the entire empire, telling the world that he would not go down easily. "Then come and get me!" he Roared.

"Is that our sign to move?" Rea asked absolutely stunned by the show of power. For the first time she was actually thinking that maybe,just maybe Naruto could get them out of this.

Up in the main spectators box Gouhara had a hungry look in her eyes, she had never seen such an amazing jutsu before. "Gouhara-sama, what is the meaning of this. You told me that everyone here was untrained civilians from the southern villages! What is going on here?" A tall man with greying orange hair and a large dark green robe said angrily.

"They are, this boy must be special indeed. Oh this is fun isn't it," Gouhara replied a mad glint in her eye as she enthusiastically gushed over the prospect of seeing what would happen next.

"So what if this peasant can produce a decent Fuuton jutsu," Joli, Gouhara's daughter scoffed. "If he has no training then the recruits will take him down, it's only a matter of time. Besides, a jutsu with that much compressed chakra would be unstable and heavy, there is no way that it won't have any kick back."

"So you're saying it's a close range attack?" a large bulky man in a long red robe asked a little confused with what he was seeing.

"Of course it is, there is nobody who could possibly use a jutsu like that as a projectile even if it does look like a demon shuriken," Joli scoffed.

Gouhara however wasn't so sure, in fact she was giddy with excitement. 'Oh I want to see what beautiful destruction he will cause,' she thought willing for the first fight to start in ernest. "Has any team noticed that man's presence yet?" she asked struggling to hide her impatience.

"Yes it looks like five teams are on rout to intercept our little trouble maker, first team will show up in under a minute." Tetsu said, his voice void of emotion. 'This is what you are capable of? No this is just a show, to draw people in...' "It's a trap!"

"What are you talking about Tetsu?" Joli said casually.

"You have to stop those teams from intercepting Naruto, they will be destroyed. You need to send in our advanced squads to deal with him at once," Tetsu replied urgently.

"What and end the games?" the old man in green scoffed. "Tetsu-kun you may be my brothers son and will one day take over as the head of our clan, but you need to know your place."

"Besides, if we stop it now then we miss out on the show!" Gouhara laughed, her eagerness for a blood bath there for all to see. Gouhara was no fool, she had done the maths and knew that if a jutsu like that would hit someone there would be nothing left to find. She also was aware that if someone was willing to use something like that to draw attention to themselves they were confident and had enough chakra to waste.

"You are going to sacrifice the recruits for sport?" Tetsu asked, his voice weakening.

"Of course, what do you think these trials are, the world would be so very boring without a good fight," Gouhara replied. "So what do you think those tribal markings are around his eyes? I don't remember seeing them earlier on when we focused on him to give the contestants their main target."

"I don't know, perhaps its a new Kekkei Genkai?" the man in red mused.

"That might explain why he is able to use such a high level jutsu?" his counterpart in green replied.

"The Shodai removed all other traces of people capable of awakening a bloodline limit when he came to power or have you forgotten that?" a silver haired man, this one was wearing a blue robe in the same design of the others spoke casually.

"That was a hundred years ago, things change," The man in green replied.

"This is a pointless conversation. Kekkei Genkai or not, our laws are clear about threats to the empire. But I have no qualms with letting things play out as they are for now. Our guards are at the exits will kill any of the civilians that make it to their gates anyway," Joli said blankly.

"Oh look it's about to start!" Gouhara said eagerly, leaning forward in her chair as the first group approached Naruto at impressive speeds for genin.

On the field Naruto knew he had a decision to make, the group that was approaching him was barely fourteen years old, but he also knew that they wouldn't hesitate to kill torture or do many worse things to him if given the opportunity. 'Kill or be killed Naruto. I'm sorry to say but showing mercy here would look like a weakness, if you show any weakness then this empire will never stop hunting you. If you show them that you mean business you could still save your town and friends. Either way from this moment on things are going to change.' Kurama said honestly.

Naruto knew the fox was right. If he did what he had to do, then the enemy will think twice about coming after him later on. Naruto's eyes shot open as soon as the enemy came into a decent range. 'Sorry about this,' he thought sadly as the screeching ball of chakra shot free from his hand and landed squarely in the closest genin's chest before expanding in a massive ball of tiny blades that ripped the targets apart piece by piece. As the jutsu died down there was one survivor who had just narrowly avoided the attack taking his life at the cost of an arm and both his legs.

The young boy was bleeding profusely, he had lost his arm completely but his legs while crippled beyond repair had large deep yet fine cuts all along their length. He couldn't wipe the fear off his face as Naruto slowly approached, the pain he must have been in hadn't even registered yet as he knew that one way or another he was about to die.

Naruto leaned down at the boys side and took his ammunition pouch that was filled with Kunai and Shuriken. "I never wanted this," he said, his bangs hiding his eyes. "I came to this place to hopefully find peace, but all I get is more fighting, a world where a select few decide what someone is worth and give them no real hope of changing that. This is what Madara wanted for the Elemental Nations... it's wrong, and you had to suffer because of that."

The boy couldn't reply, he had no idea what Naruto was talking about but he did notice the blond reach into the ammo pouch and draw out a kunai. "Please... don't," he begged knowing what was about to come.

"I don't want to, but either way you will be dead in a few minutes, you're losing too much blood. At least this way you wont suffer," Naruto replied. A tear fell from the young boys eye but he nodded once in acceptance before the cold steel cliced through his neck in a single swift motion.

Naruto could feel himself be surrounded by several more teams as he stood up and flicked the blood off the offending blade. "I can see why the prize for his capture is so damn good," a boy with black hair and dark eyes sneered, clearly unaffected by the death of his companions. "This should be fun!" he cheered activating a Sharingan. Unforutnately for the young Uchiha, that was as far as he got, blood started to pour from his mouth as a Rasengan was placed squarely in his chest shredding his heart and lunges before tossing him away. The others had barely any time to register what was happening, Naruto effortlessly dismantled the Genin level ninja without breaking a sweat.

Once he had finished and tossed the last young body aside Naruto glared up at the screen that broadcast what he had done all over the empire. "You made me do this! I wanted a peaceful life!" he yelled unleashing the pain that killing the young shinobi had caused him.

Karin and the others had watched what had happened in a stunned silence. Of course Karin wasn't surprised with the outcome, and she agreed with his actions, but the speed and brutality in which he dismantled his opponents was something that she hadn't ever witnessed. "We need to move, come on. Naruto will deal with anyone who will come after us from here on out as we cross the planes," She ordered, making their group get up and run out of the tree line and into the open air.

In the spectators box there was an sense of bewilderment, a so called civilian had just taken out five teams in an instant and one even had a member of the royal family. The only spectator who seemed to be enjoying herself was Gouhara who licked her lips in anticipation of what she would see next.

End Chapter!

Back into this story for a new year, and things are just starting to pick up. Naruto is no longer hiding his abilities, so things will move a lot faster now. I hope I didn't make Naruto seem a bit heartless in that last scene, so tell me what you think. Also anything you would particularly like to see happen, let me know, I'm open to ideas from other people, I may or may not use them, but I always like to hear what other people think, it will give me a guide of where I might want to take things in the future.