I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters from the Manga or Anime.
A Price for Peace
Chapter 43: The Placement Trials pt 5
Naruto and his clones sped rapidly across the countryside, the changing portions of the landscape designed to slow the contestants down and give a changing battle field didn't affect him at all. The edge of the giant arena was gradually growing larger and larger at the edge of the horizon, each step brought the blond closer to their destination. The full moon illuminated the landscape, the silvery glow allowing Naruto to see easily without even needing chakra to enhance his vision, at any other time he would have considered it hauntingly beautiful.
Naruto knew it was only a matter of time before the empire would have troops intercept him, and because of this he had been scanning the area for any shinobi that would be either approaching, or moving between his group and their destination in case of an ambush. In the past hour the blond and his clones had to change paths several times in order to avoid teams of Genin level shinobi that were obviously camping for the night.
Despite the anticipation of an impending attack it came as quite a surprise that by the time he felt any sizable foreign chakra signatures heading in his direction, they were almost at the exit. In fact it made it an easy decision to separate from his group and go it alone. Naruto stopped as his clones changed direction hoping to put some extra distance between them and the approaching shinobi. 'Alright, lets see what this empire is really made of,' he thought preparing himself for what he had to do.
'You gonna let me out to play?' Kurama asked a little eagerly. If there was one thing that Kurama still hated above all else, it was an Uchiha, and the fact that this particular branch of the clan were directly related to Madara didn't help.
'Not just yet, I don't just want to defeat them, I need to humiliate them so they question whether or not they can ever defeat me. It's the only way to assure our safety for a longer period of time. They are so set on being all powerful and hate all weakness. I think they need to experience what it feels like to be the one on the receiving end, so that they feel helpless for once,' Naruto replied seriously.
'Isn't that a little far from your attempts to have everyone understand each other?' Kurama asked.
Naruto looked quite sad as he nodded his agreement. 'You're right, and I do want that, but I also have seen this empire in action, this won't be solved by simply talking to them, they're to set in their ways.'
'I'm surprised you came to that realisation without more prompting,' the fox said a little impressed.
Naruto didn't bother responding, he could feel the approaching shinobi begin to spread out in an attempt to surround him. But then Naruto didn't really care, his first job was to give Karin and the others in his group the time to escape the area, then cause as much destruction as humanly possible, which for Naruto was quite a lot.
Naruto came to a stop in a large clearing scattered with large rocks, some the size of houses, "This spot looks perfect, small tactical area, I can keep the numbers that I'm in direct contact with to a minimum if I need too," he said to himself, while running around the small area to assess any well hidden locations.
'I'm shocked, you're actually thinking like a ninja, and not like... well you,'
'Hey!' Naruto yelled in indignation, completely ignoring the group of ten empire shinobi that was currently landing in a large radius surrounding the blond, evidently to prevent him from escaping the area.
"Priority target located," one of the shinobi said speaking into a small radio. "Target seems distracted, so far unaware of our presence," he added but then froze when he heard a voice behind his ear.
"Oh I know you're here, I just don't care," Naruto said casually.
The group froze in shock, none of them saw him move. Then again he didn't move, Naruto was still standing in the centre of the clearing. The Naruto behind the empire shinobi dispelled itself quickly, but the message had been sent, if Naruto wanted to he could have killed the man already without even lifting a finger.
"So how are you going to do this, you going to attack, or if you wan't I can embarrass you all one at a time," Naruto said with a smirk, he didn't really want to admit it, but he was excited. He was a shinobi and this was his way of life, he loved a good fight.
"Oh that's it, I'll take this guy, you guys just watch!" a man with spiky silver hair said with a scowl. The silver haired man seemed to shimmer out of existence, before reappearing behind the blond his fist cocked back in preparation to land a powerful blow.
Naruto while unable to follow his movements easily still rolled forward just as the mans punch was about it hit. "Phew you're much faster than the Genin I fought with your blood limit, So I'm guessing this is going to be lesson one huh?" he said with a smile.
"Lesson one? What the hell are you talking about?" the silver haired man asked.
"Taijutsu!" Naruto yelled, his fist flying forward aimed right at his opponents face.
The silver haired man moved at a blur, easily blocking the punch with a smirk on his face as he knew that he could match the blond for speed. That smirk quickly turned to horrified shock however as he was unable to deal with the power behind Naruto's fist, jumping back as he grabbed his arm in pain. 'What the hell was that?'
Unfortunately he didn't have enough time to dwell on that though, as Naruto continued his assault, using a rock to push off, spinning into a axe kick forcing the silver haired man to jump back as the blonds leg slammed into the ground cracking the earth beneath him. Unlike Tsunade's strength that came from her precise chakra control, Naruto's strength came from the intense physical training he had been undergoing, and while not as powerful as his precious Baa-chan, the effect was still substantial.
Knowing he couldn't stay on the defensive, the silver haired empire shinobi shot forward in a blur, slamming his fist into Naruto's stomach. Naruto curled over apparently in pain, only to have the blond smile. "What the hell?" he asked himself as he looked down only to see his hand had been easily caught by the jinchuuriki.
He quickly tried to remove his fist and jump back but found Naruto's grasp was too tight and couldn't free himself. "Sorry, no more running," Naruto said calmly. He briefly saw the flash of fear in the mans eyes before smashing the silver haired man right through the nearest rock. "Well that's one down," he added in a bored tone.
The remaining members of the group tensed, once more they were shown that they were in over their heads. "One member down, suspected KIA, request for back up," a man with brown hair said into his radio.
"You don't need to bother, they were watching that little fight. Besides I can already feel a much larger group approaching," Naruto said, taking a seat atop the collapsed rubble of the stone used to pummel his previous opponent.
Wordlessly the imperial shinobi came to an agreement, the only way they would be able to beat Naruto was to attack as a team. Three taijutsu specialist's converged on the lounging blond, each landing a perfect hit. At least they thought they did, before the thought of victory could take hold Naruto burst into smoke. "He was a clone!?" they all asked simultaneously.
Three more Naruto's appeared, obviously they had been henged as stones on the ground, and each with a Rasengan in hand. Each clone impaled one target each, right into the ground that crumbled away into a small sand pit that effectively swallowed the now deceased trio. "Well that's odd," the three Naruto's said together surprised to see yet another sand pit. "Did they build this stadium on top of a desert or something?" he asked the remaining six shinobi who had surround the trio of blonds. "So uh, am I going to have to kill all of you or are you just going to admit that you're not strong enough and run away?"
Naruto's answer came in the form of his opponents racing through hand seals, "Our orders are absolute, we are to kill the priority target and return his head to Gouhara-sama," they chanted in an almost uniform fashion.
Naruto's cloned face vaulted as a cascade of jutsu descended upon them, the attacks seemed to combine together and exploded outwards scorching the land of all signs of life. They looked around hopeful for any signs that the blond had be able to evade their attack. "Did we get him?" one asked hopefully.
"Sorry, but not quite. Haven't you figured out how this works yet?" Naruto's voice claimed echoing from various directions meaning that they couldn't guess his exact location. "No? Okay fine I'll tell you," the blond scoffed in good spirits. "I knew you were coming from the start, and drew you in here where I quickly set up my clones to trap you here. My real body is long gone."
"So you're not even here!?" a kunoichi asked, with thinly veiled rage.
Yeah I left as soon as I was sure there were no Uchiha in your little welcoming party. "I knew I had to do something to make your superiors take me seriously," the various clones in the area explained.
"So why are you telling us this? You can obviously kill us whenever you want I can see that clearly enough. You have had us beat from the moment we surrounded you," the same kunoichi said, her muscles were tense while she was carefully scanning the area to assess where the final blow might come from.
"That's simple. For one, I know that the leaders of this empire are watching right now. These exams get broadcast all over the empire, so your superiors can pick who they want in their squads. I also know that they probably sent some middle ranked shinobi to test me. But the truth is, I doubt even a team of Jounin level ninja could trouble me anymore... man I bet I could so kick Kakashi-sensei ass now," Naruto chuckled, fondly remembering the old team seven.
"Who the hell are you, there's no way you're just some civilian!?" the kunoichi demanded, her voice cracking while several of her team began to back away in hopes of escaping.
"I'm a ninja from Konoha, and I just want to live a peaceful life. But I won't stand by while your empire treats its people like slaves. I have no interest in going to war with the empire, but I also know the empire has no interest in letting me live. You kind of have me backed up against a wall at the moment. I have to fight," Naruto answered firmly.
"Where is this Konoha? I have never heard of it. Do they have other shinobi like you?" the kunoichi asked searching for any information that the empire might find useful before her time was up.
Naruto knew exactly what she was trying to do. "Trust me Konoha is a long way away, and has no interest in the empire, that's all you're going to get from me."
One member of the group of imperial shinobi arrived at the edge of the clearing however rather than make a glorious escape as he had planned, he collapsed, a kunai punching it's way through his torso covered in and propelled by Fuuton chakra. This set in motion a chain of events that started with the remaining five shinobi taking off in different directions hoping that they would get lucky, however Naruto's clones effortlessly intercepted the fleeing figures striking each one down with ease, appearing seamlessly from where they had been camouflaged against the stone before lazily dispelling themselves.
(Meanwhile)
"Impossible! He just took out ten of our search and destroy squad officers... With only clones!" one of the judges of the placement trials yelled in shock.
"And where is this Konoha? There is no village with that name in any map I have ever seen," another said clearly stunned.
"Joli-sama, Gouhara-sama, where is he now?" the first judge asked.
"He's approaching the main group of our military sent to intercept the target. This should be much more interesting, there is almost two hundred shinobi out there going up against one. I wonder what he has planned this time," Gouhara answered barely able to contain her excitement.
"Perhaps we should go take a closer look mother, if there is even the slightest chance that he could actually end up victorious from this encounter only our elite forces will be able to deal with him. As much as I hate to dirty my hands on a peasant, we might even have to get involved ourselves," Joli suggested.
"You don't have to ask me twice, I'm more than eager to see what Naruto-kun can do in person. Tetsu-chan, lets go," Gouhara replied standing up and quickly making her way out of the main observation room.
(Elsewhere)
The real Naruto was quickly speeding across the arena, he knew that his clones carrying his friends would soon be reaching the edge of the arena where they would meet up with Shougo. He also knew that if he could deal with the small army he was approaching, that the empire would be hard pressed finding the numbers needed chase after him. 'Your clones dealt with that last group quite well Naruto-kun, I don't even think that lazy friend of yours could have planned that any better. Well done,' Kurama mused.
'Thanks, but I'm noway near Shikamaru's level when it comes to planing an strategy. Anyway the real show starts now. I promised you shock and awe didn't I?' the jinchuuriki said as he created four clones, two on each side that separated so there was about twenty feet between each of them as they ran in a line.
It was a rather surreal scene for Naruto, in front of him was a large group of shinobi approaching in groups of ten to twenty. It was similar, yet somehow different from the last time he was faced with the same situation, last time his opponents were all white Zetsu and he had the rest of the shinobi army to back him up if something went wrong. 'I don't think they're going to stop and chat Naruto, whatever you have planned, you should do it soon,' Kurama sighed.
"Yeah don't worry, this will be over quickly, can't play games with this many," Naruto replied as he and his clones began forming hand seals. They all simultaneously slammed their hands to the ground forming a massive wall of smoke bringing the approaching army to a momentary halt.
When the smoke cleared each of Naruto's clones was standing atop a giant boss class toad. Naruto on the other hand had both Fukusaku and Shima sitting on his shoulders. "Well this is a fine mess you've gotten ya self into Naruto-chan," Fukusaku said from his perch as the orange marks forming around his eyes indicated that the blond was entering sage mode.
"So I take it this is tha empire ya told us abou'" Shima guessed.
"Yeah. I guess they found out that someone outside of their direct control could use chakra, so they set a little trap for me. So far it hasn't worked out so well for them," Naruto explained.
"I see. Naruto-chan, where's Karin-chan, shouldn't she be here with you?" Shima asked wondering about the kunochi she had helped train.
"She's fine, a small group of civilians trusted me enough to join me I asked her to stay with them and some of my clones for their protection," Naruto replied.
"Is tha' so, or did ya just not want her to face this?" Fukusaku asked, already suspecting the answer.
"Maybe," the blond admitted. "But it doesn't matter right now. Either way we have to stop the empire here, put enough fear into them so that they will never come after us again!" Naruto said. "Let's do this!" he cheered and the four Giant boss summons launched into the air. Gamakichi and Gamabunta both spewed out a jet of flames over the first few waves of empire shinobi. Gamaken thumped his big shield to the ground sending ripples through the earth forming a massive swamp enveloping a large section of the approaching army. 'Well that's more impressive than Ero-sennin's swamp of the underworld.'
Gamahiro drew his two giant Katana, channeling fuuton chakra through their blades he uesd them to send numerous blades of wind onto the approaching army, each strike would form a deep scar on the landscape continuing on for miles.
By the time the giant toads landed the army was in complete disarray, those that were able to protect themselves from the ninjutsu assault had lost all sense of order in their ranks. "I'm guessing it's our turn now Naruto-chan?" Fukusaku asked, seeming unaffected by the destruction his clan had just wrought on their summoners enemies.
"Yeah, let's go!" Naruto said charging forward while all three were racing through hand seals. "I never tired this before so I hope it works. Senpo: Goemon!" Naruto spat forth a powerful jet of air that combined with toad oil provided by Fukusaku, and fire from Shima. The three elements combined creating a massive wave of boiling oil, anything that came into contact with the jutsu was boiled or combusted into flames as it was enveloped by the oncoming tsunami.
'Well if the empire didn't consider you a believable threat before, they sure will now,' Kurama mused, the fox had been half hoping that he would have been summoned, the feel of the Bijuu's chakra held enough killing intent to make veteran shinobi weak at the knees.
After less than a minute, the result of the battle was clear. Of the two hundred shinobi that had been sent to eliminate Naruto less than a quarter had survived, and those that were uninjured knew the chances of survival against Naruto and his summons was less than favourable.
"You never can do things the easy way can you Gaki!?" Gamabunta boomed, as the boss toad assessed the damage they had caused.
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, "I guess not, sorry Bunta."
"Don't apologise, I mean thanks to you our lives ain't boring," Gamakichi said with a smirk.
"Thank's guys... I mean it, all of you. I would have had to use my Bijuu cloak if I wanted to deal with this many without all of your help," Naruto admitted.
"That's fine, Uzumaki-sama. I may be clumsy but if ever you require my assistance do not hesitate to call on any of us," Gamaken said performing a rather awkward bow before he and the other giant toads disappeared.
"What about you guys? The big fish are almost here, but I can handle it myself if you both want to head on home," Naruto asked talking to the two toad elders.
"Nonsense Naruto-chan, we will stay and fight along side ya," Fukusaku said proudly. Naruto couldn't help but smile, at the loyalty the two had shown him since Jiraiya had passed away. Even if they couldn't fuse with him like they were able to with his master, they still were able to fight together almost flawlessly.
"I really have to thank you guys, because of your training I'm twice as strong as I was before I left the Elemental Nations," the young jinchuuriki said with a smile, glad that the survivors of the toads attack had no desire to keep fighting.
Naruto sat down in meditation while he felt one last, yet much smaller group approach, summoning so many boss class summons was quite a drain on reserves, even for Naruto. Five minutes later he was forced to quickly jump out of the way as a blade of wind smashed into the rock he had been sitting on. "Oh what fanstastic reaction time, and he caused all this destruction. I can't wait to play with him," Gouhara said in a sultry, half seductive voice, her long white hair blowing behind her in the breeze.
"So I take it you're the ones in charge?" Naruto asked carful not not to look them in the eyes, he could see from his periphery the blood red of a Sharingan active in the smaller of the two women.
"Maybe, but judging from how effortlessly you dispatched our men, I would say you have been the one in charge," Gouhara replied flirtatiously.
Naruto still being relatively dense in these matters despite his experiences with Karin, didn't catch on to the inflections of her voice. "You sent Genin, Chunin and low level Jounin to fight me. Most S-rank shinobi could deal with that," he replied.
"That's right you claim your a shinobi from somewhere called Konoha. Where is that!?" Joli asked demandingly.
"I don't feel like telling," Naruto replied, smirking slightly at how he had clearly gotten under the younger Uchiha's skin.
"What was that!? look me in the eyes and say that you disrespectful worm!" Joli scowled.
"No thanks, I would rather not have you attempt to use your Sharingan on me. While I'm in sage mode I doubt any of your normal Genjutsu will affect me. But I'm guessing a Tsukuyomi would probably still work," Naruto said casually, shocking the Uchiha present. It had been a calculated move, Naruto wanted them to know he knew about their ocular abilities, the more they thought he knew the better, because it would make them second guess themselves.
"Well it seems you have us at a disadvantage Naruto-kun. You know so much about us, yet your skills remain a mystery," Gouhara said sweetly. To Gouhara the blond was becoming more and more fascinating by the minute. "I have an idea, let's end this fighting, a powerful young man like you should be working with us, not fighting against us. With the show you've put on since the second trial started, you would be a very valuable asset and a... desirable ally," she purred.
Naruto couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable under Gouhara's gaze. "Sorry Uchiha-Hime, but I don't like the way your empire operates. I'm going to leave this place and hopefully go back to my quiet life. If the empire leaves me alone, then we wont have a problem."
"Funny, you think you're actually leaving this place alive, we're going to kill you where you stand!" Joli scowled. The surviving empire shinobi seemed to gain some confidence now that two of the strongest members of the royal family were there.
"I really just wanted to live in peace, I never wanted any of this I hope you remember that," Naruto sighed while readying himself for an attack as he was slowly being surrounded.
"Such a shame to let such a fine specimen die, but at least I will still get the pleasure of watching you bleed," Gouhara replied with a small pout, thrusting her palm forward releasing a devastating blast of wind. Naruto had to jump to avoid the blast which was followed by a large ball of fire blown by the younger Uchiha. Predictably their aim was perfect, Naruto had to create a clone to pull himself out of the way.
'No hand seals, she has some crazy powerful abilities with wind chakra,' Naruto thought a little shocked. As he landed two shinobi with the swift release bloodline appeared behind him and drove their fists into his back, knocking Naruto forward. Naruto rolled back to his feet just as the two were ready to descend on him, each with a Tanto, they reacted quickly as Naruto threw a punch in retaliation, using their speed to avoid the strike without changing their momentum. However despite missing his hit, both shinobi were blasted away, their bodies flying away like rag dolls.
"What was that? He missed, I'm sure of it," Joli whispered to her group.
"Tetsu-chan, perhaps it would be best if you deal with him. He somehow has information on our clans abilities, and we need some extra time to gather more information on his. If you command the remaining forces here, then you should be able to win" Gouhara said her interest piqued even further by this strange new ability. 'Taijutsu that doesn't require to even land a hit, what a brilliant technique.'
Tetsu sighed while stepping forward in front of the two Uchiha kunoichi. "I really hoped that I wouldn't be the one who had to do this," the rust haired man sighed there was little doubt that he was upset that things had turned out this way, He was cursing the day he had stepped foot into the small village where he met Naruto and Karin, Not because he was scared, it was more to do with the fact he had liked them both.
Naruto nodded, he had no desire to kill the man who he had befriended during his time in the village, "I figured that you're the one that turned me in, but I have to ask, how did you know I could use chakra? I kept all my chakra suppressed," he asked, genuinely curious.
"It's the way you hold yourself, completely confident like nothing could ever harm you, and let's just say theres this feeling you give off that screams that you're powerful," Tetsu admitted unashamedly.
"I see," Naruto mused, still not completely convinced. That said he could also tell that Tetsu was a lot stronger than any of the other soldiers he had faced so far. "Then tell me, do you think you can defeat me?" he asked while the soldiers surrounding him tensed waiting for the first move.
"You're certainly strong the longer the fight draws out the more it favours you, but nobody is unbeatable. Regardless of what I think about you personally, my orders are absolute, you have to die here," Tetsu said drawing a small blade, about half the length of a kunai, in each hand.
A quick glance to a few of his soldiers passed on a wordless message and they started racing through hand seals. Pillars of iron shot out of the ground around the blond trapping him inside a large cage. The bars then shot spikes inwards to impale Naruto where he stood. "Fukusaku-sensei, I think your water jutsu would be best here," Naruto said calmly, if he knew that if used his Bijuu cloak the sharp spikes wouldn't even be able to harm him, but he knew that wasn't necessary with the two elder toad sages at his side.
Fukusaku didn't need to be told though as he had already began the preparations. The small green toad spat a stream of highly compressed water combined with Senjutsu that sliced right through the iron beams, effectively ending the jutsu. "Those little frogs are powerful," Joli said intently.
"There toads," Gouhara said in a matter of fact tone, "You saw the giant one's before, the shape of the body proves they're not frogs. Naruto-kun obviously has a summoning contract with toads, not frogs," she explained.
"What's the difference?" one of the younger princesses bodyguards replied in defence of his master.
"More of a difference than there is between you and slime," Gouhara smirked.
Seeing his first plan backfire magnificently, Tetsu had to act quickly. Using the small blades to cut the palms of his hands ever so slightly before tossing them at Naruto. Naruto quickly weaved through the two attacks and charged forward. The rusty haired shinobi ordered the others to stand back and ran forward to meet the blond half way, swiping his hands out in front of him sending two small arcs of blood towards his target.
Naruto ignored the blood as he was focused on Tetsu, but this proved to be costly. The blood particles in the air solidified forming a whip. Realising what could prove to be a costly mistake, Naruto had to jump back quickly, narrowly avoiding having the blood whips tear him apart. "That was close," he said letting out a small breath as he touched the small yet deep cut on his cheek.
Gouhara was close to salivating at the sight of the blonds blood. 'It's not every day you see someone escape from that technique, even if you know it's coming. Hm, is it wrong of me to hope the Naruto-kun lives through this?' she pondered, biting her lip as the cut on his cheek closed itself before her very eyes. "Regeneration," she gasped in excitement. 'Oh think of how much fun I could have with someone like him.'
Tetsu continued to use his whips, forcing Naruto back, towards the edge of the perimeter created by the other empire shinobi. The two closest saw this as their chance, formed two floating bright orbs that flew towards Naruto's back. The other created a large blade of iron that shot forward, intending to impale the blond.
Naruto sensed the spike in chakra, but waited until both attacks were almost on top of him before side stepping them both as they crashed into Tetsu's blood whips. "Well done Naruto-chan, perfect situational awareness," Fukusaku said praising his young charge.
"Not bad at all Naruto," Tetsu said with a sad smile, "Unfortunately it's game over."
Naruto seemed confused by this. "It is?"
"Yes. I'm afraid that this fight was decided the moment I cut you," Tetsu said. Seeing Naruto's blank, clearly confused expression Tetsu decided to elaborate. "When my blood whips cut you, it allowed my blood to enter your body. From there it has quickly spread and now sits within each of your vital organs, at any moment I can end your life."
"What a pathetic ending, then again he was a fool to think he could stand against us. He was certainly the strongest person to ever stand up against the empire, but he spent too much time holding back and it killed him. What a fool," Joli scoffed.
"I'm sorry it has to end this way Naruto," Tetsu sighed holding his hand out before clenching his fist. A few seconds passed and nothing happened, a confused look crossed Tetsu's face. "What the... How- how are you still standing, your organs should be torn to shreds by now?"
"Well... it was a good plan I'll give you that. It's to bad that foreign chakra, much like poisons can't live in my body, they're destroyed before they can ever threaten my life," Naruto said with a carefree tone.
"What... how is that possible?" Tetsu stammered.
"I have a little help, my partner keeps me alive and healthy," Naruto said cryptically.
"You mean those toads?" Tetsu asked, two short swords forming in his hands.
"Not exactly, although the Senjutsu they taught me helps a lot, It speeds up my already accelerated healing several times over," Naruto admitted.
'Damn, looks like I'm going to have to do this the old way. His wounds heal almost imediately, and he's immune to internal attacks... Just what type of Kekkei Genkai does he have?' Tetsu wondered as he slid into a Kenjutsu stance.
"Well seeing as my friends have escaped the stadium and are now well out of harms way I guess it wouldn't hurt to show you a little more, but I can't hang around here all day," Naruto mused only tensing slightly as Tetsu charged.
Tetsu didn't make it half way to Naruto before his attack was intercepted. "I really hoped you wouldn't be here Tetsu," Shougo sighed, blocking both of the blood swords with a Katana. At the same time a small group of the rebel Uchiha's allies were intercepting the other empire shinobi, clearly catching them by surprise. Tetsu and the Uchiha split apart, and Shougo came to land next to Naruto giving him a welcoming nod.
"You guys sure took your time, I was half wondering if you were really going to let me fight them all myself," Naruto said with a smile.
"I was kind of hoping to see you go all out, but you were too busy buying time for your friends weren't you," Shougo admitted.
"Guilty" the blond admitted.
Shougo smirked at how calm his new found ally was, he had been watching every move naruto had made and was highly impressed that his initial prediction about his strength had been so far accurate. "One thing does confuse me though."
"Really what's that?" Naruto asked.
"What's the deal with all the sand you have been spreading around the arena?" The Uchiha queried.
"Huh, It's not me I don't know anything about it," Naruto admitted. A thought quickly came to him, and he began doing some math in his head. 'Hey Kurama, you don't think it's...'
The fox didn't need to answer, at that moment large beams of sand shot out of the ground from all over the stadium. For the first time even the two Uchiha looked scared, the sand was quickly converging together and a powerful chakra began to pour out of it. 'Shukaku's back, and it looks like that crazy Tanuki has come looking for you Naruto,' Kurama said with a small smirk knowing that the return of the Ichibi would be, if nothing else, entertaining.
End Chapter!
Yeah I know evil cliff hanger, feel free to send me your hate.
Originally I wanted to get everything done in one chapter, but I decided against it so I can get a feel on how things are going from the reviews. Yes I've had Naruto show off a lot without trying so hard, but I don't think it's too far fetched to believe he would be capable of everything he's done so far with only sage mode and summons.
Happy Easter to all my readers, Hope you have a good one.