Maelstrom Potential

by ReaperOfBalance

Jiraiya is in the village to make up for lost time. Naruto is preparing for the Chunin Exams, only to be ditched by Kakashi. However, he finds out he's getting a new teacher and this one is fully intent to bring out all the talent and power Naruto has. He's got one month, but in that month Naruto will be shaped into the beginnings of a Shinobi legend. Lemons later on and OP Naruto.

2. Chapter 2: Experience

Hey guys welcome back and WOW did you guys like this idea. I did see that some of you were kind of "meh" towards Kurenai's adding, the training, and Naruto being OP, but none of you were flamers so it's all good and I took your criticisms. I already directly addressed those that had comments on the method (which was mainly they were mad at Canon for just throwing the method in to make up some gaps), the OP (it's not for everyone so I have no problems), and then Kurenai.

In regards to the Kurenai situation for those that I couldn't reply back to (looking at you guests) or anyone that didn't comment on it but also had a surprise/issue: I came up with it mainly because 90% of the portrayals I see of her have her being a heinous, man hating, sexist, bitch of an overprotective mother figure to Hinata that would sooner castrate Naruto before letting him marry Hinata. That however is ONLY People's portrayal and not how she is in canon at all, you never see her being cold or cruel to Shino, Kiba, Naruto, or anyone besides showing annoyance at Kakashi for reading his book in public. As such, I decided to flip the personality to that of the overprotective mother that would do anything to get revenge on the person who tried and nearly succeeded in killing her daughter, thus she's giving herself to Naruto.

So her giving herself to Naruto is no different than when people have her being a man hating bitch that wants to castrate all men to protect women from perverts. It's just their choice of portrayal for her, and this one is mine for this fic. I understand that it's not entirely realistic, but that's why it's called fiction, it doesn't have to be realistic.

For Hinata, there's no issue since Kurenai isn't dating Naruto and even if she was, it wouldn't necessarily stand in Hinata's way. Especially if it was used as a motivator for her to prove herself more.

As for the length… I make no promises, I just write until I cover what I want to cover so if I do 7K words or 27K doesn't matter to me.

Also what are the thoughts on adding women from outside of Naruto? Meaning the girls come in from another item, but anything they can do is fueled by chakra or skill only.

For the whole "we can't tell you about your parents for your safety" bit, I know it's an overused cliché now, but if you notice I didn't mention that Naruto couldn't look into things himself. Just that no one could tell him who his parents were.

Anyway, I think that's it, so let's get the blah blah blah out of the way and get to the show.

Disclaimer:…. I don't own anything in this besides possibly the idea, some ways to incorporate other items into this, and some chakra exercises (though most likely not even those)…. Be nice if I did.

(Authors Notes)

"Speech"

"Thoughts"

[Conversation thoughts]

"Summons, pissed off Naruto, Biju speech"

"Above's thoughts"

[Above's conversation thoughts]

# see bottom for details

Chapter 2: Experience

Konoha: Chunin Exam Stadium: Day of the Finals

To say that Konoha was bustling with activity would be an understatement. Shops were open early, having extra workers doing advertisements, showing off their different wares, and trying their best to get the wealthy visitors to stop in and purchase their wares at "reasonable" prices.

Of course, as soon as the Finals started, all those merchants and shop keepers would be rounded up and taken to various shelters for the coming invasion. While the more knowledgeable highly doubted there would be many getting inside the walls after seeing the layout for Naruto's proverbial and literal mine field of traps, they still needed to be more safe than sorry.

Said blond had been careful to give the full layout of his traps and ensuring that dodging one meant you'd potentially set off three others if you didn't know where to move. Within the village itself, he ensured the traps were designed to inflict death and pain while not damaging the building themselves, though he did have a couple set up for capturing enemies since he knew information was vital.

Outside was primarily the killing field since with such large groups coming it would be ideal for area of effect traps. While there would be some capture/incapacitation traps, the majority were killing traps.

He was however, very annoyed at various Konoha Shinobi trying to mock him when he was detailing the different traps. Ibiki, Hiruzen, and Jiriaya had shut them up real quick with Kurenai, Anko, Asuma, Yugao, Guy, and even the Ino-Shika-Cho trio backing them up.

Inoichi had been at his wits end with Ino always complaining that training was to tiring and eating was going to ruin her figure to impress Sasuke. She was his princess and all, but she needed to take her status as heiress seriously or he'd have to consider possibly naming someone else as the next Clan Head.

Then a little over three weeks ago, she had talked to her mother about how to balance any food she ate with training and had then begun to eat better and train more. She was even asking him for more training and etiquette for being Clan Head.

When he asked what brought the change on, she had gained a small blush to her face making him think Sasuke had done something to motivate her. Imagine his surprise when she told them it had actually been Naruto to motivate her to train and eat better when he had pointed out health risks and that no kunoichi was fat and had bodies that she had wanted to have. It made Inoichi happy that his blossoming little girl was taking this more seriously and was apparently shifting her attention to a better future boyfriend.

Inoichi had nothing against the kid, quite the opposite. Sure the pranks had both amused and annoyed him, but after talking with the boy; at Ibiki, Jiraiya, and the Hokage's request; he had seen what a kindhearted and caring young man he was and had helped him with the trauma the village had caused, intentional or not.

He hadn't liked Sasuke because not only was the boy arrogant and rude most of the time (though it had lessened recently), but Inoichi was still not sure he should be a Shinobi given the fact Sasuke never had therapy following the attack by Itachi. From what he heard, not only had the boy found the dead bodies, but Itachi had also put him in a genjutsu that forced him to witness the killings first hand. If THAT wasn't a sign for needed psychiatric counseling, then Inoichi wasn't sure what was!

Still, Ino had been progressing well and wasn't as big a fan girl as she was before. He and his wife, Allia, really needed to find a way to thank Naruto for helping Ino out of being a fangirl and begin being a serious Kunoichi.

For Shikaku, he was usually only half listening at meetings, but when the words "Orochimaru" and "invasion" came up, he became wide awake and paying full attention. Upon seeing Naruto giving the detailed explanation and report concerning the traps, Shikaku had analyzed him too since he had seen a change in Shikamaru becoming more and more clear as the days went by.

Not only were his strategy skills improving, but he was also starting to play shogi in an unpredictable manner making Shikaku struggle a bit to beat his son when they played. If he applied that same principle to his combat strategies, then his opponents would likely struggle to keep up.

He'd also seen a fire in his son when it came to training that was rare for one of their clan members. When asked what caused it, Shikamaru had stated that Naruto had mentioned something during one of their games. Said something was that if Shikamaru ended up fighting someone who knew how to fight Nara clan members, then what did that leave Shikamaru?

The answer, nothing but his wits and intelligence, which could be overwhelmed by a more skilled or greater in number opponent. Thus Naruto had pointed it out that not only could Shikamaru get himself killed, which was bad enough, but also get Ino, Choji, and Asuma killed. However, Naruto had informed him that there was a much worse possible fate for Ino if she were to be captured.

As such, Shikamaru had stepped up his game, no pun intended, to get a wider variety of attacks and options when on the battlefield. Thus, despite it being a lot of work and a drag, Shikamaru had spent time learning more of his clan arts as well as starting elemental Jutsu with his element being lightning.

Shikaku had been surprised at the turn around, but had understood the drive behind it. Of course, Yoshino had loved it, claiming it came from her side of the family and Naruto had merely found the right motivation to bring it out. Shikaku was just glad she was focused on their son trying harder and thanking Naruto than smacking Shikaku with her frying pan.

Choza was similar to Shikaku as Choji had come home one day and wanted to up his training. Choza, not seeing a problem with it, agreed and upped his training and was surprised to see how strongly he was going at it. Choza had gotten a similar explanation that Shikaku did, but with the addition that Naruto had explained to him that hurting those who threatened your home, families, and friends didn't make you a bad person, rather it put you in the right to harm that person for daring to threaten what you decided to protect. There were limits of course to how far one should go in certain situations, but the important thing was to be ready when those situations came up.

Choji still didn't prefer to fight, which was understandable, but he wasn't going to hold back against an enemy anymore either. Choza and Chara, Choji's mother, were happy with that since they didn't want Choji getting wounded or dying in the field because he wasn't willing to fight an opponent seriously.

In short, the original Ino-Shika-Cho were very much thankful and indebted to Naruto. Thus, they were going to back him up especially when the Hokage and Jiriaya had such confidence in his skills.

Said confidence and backing was rewarded as Naruto detailed the layout of his various traps both inside and outside the village should any enemy get inside and then flee. Those fleeing could be herded towards the traps after all. He then outlined which traps were activated by wires, which by seals, and which by a small pulse of chakra as well as which traps were lethal, incapacitating, or capturing.

By the end of it, all the hecklers had shut up and were amazed at the intricacies in the traps as well as the power in seals. The Anbu present were a little less surprised, at least by the traps, since they knew how good Naruto was with pranks, hiding, and outrunning/outlasting pursuers.

Naruto had stuck around to answer any questions before heading out so the various groups could memorize the layout and then get rid of the outline since an enemy spy could find it and warn others.

At the here and now though, we find various people, both from Konoha and not, filling the stadium to watch the fights. Well…the majority were, a good sized chunk were there to either attack Konoha or ambush the attackers when the time was right.

Among those there from Konoha were the different Genin that didn't make it past the qualifiers and their Jonin senseis, minus Kakashi of course, and Kin with all of them sitting together. When asked why Kin was sitting with them, the Jonin merely stated that she had decided to stay in Konoha and the Jonin were ensuring none of the… drunker members of the village tried anything.

Anyway, all of them were excited to see the fights, though Asuma and Anko had placed bets on Naruto winning the whole thing. It may have looked bad to bet against Shikamaru, but Asuma had placed a bet on Shikamaru winning his first match.

He had done so mainly at Naruto's prodding and since the kid had the devil's luck, Asuma decided to go with his advice. It wasn't that Asuma didn't have faith in Shikamaru, but you never did know when that lazy Nara tendency would kick in and make him decide it was too much work and then forfeit.

Besides, both he and Shikamaru knew Shikamaru couldn't beat Naruto in a fight, especially when adding in the fact Naruto could fight everyone competing and still have enough chakra and stamina to spare for a match against a Jonin or three.

Kurenai though was focusing on Neji Hyuga and was looking forward to the pain Naruto would cause him for nearly killing Hinata. He had even technically done it more than once since the injury she sustained to her heart kept acting up afterwards forcing her to remain in the hospital up until today. If it wasn't for the fact Hiashi and his wife insisted that a doctor be in the room at all times to monitor her, Hinata could have died before help arrived.

Even now, one of the best medical ninja (in the village) was sitting just behind them in case Hinata had any more issues. Her saving grace was the fact the Hokage had assured Kurenai that his third student, Tsunade Senju aka the greatest medical mind currently in the world, would be coming back to the village after the invasion.

He would have sent for her earlier, but he didn't know if it could take a month or even longer and with the threat of Orochimaru, he couldn't risk anyone capable of tracking and handling her being away. Kurenai had understood since she knew the village came before two Genin, Hinata and Lee, regardless of the Genin's "status" in the village.

Guy was also anticipating the fight, both for his viewing and to show Lee what hard work counted for. He was lucky that the Hokage had given permission for Lee to be there, though he knew it was also due to Naruto requesting it as well.

Like with Hinata, Naruto had wanted to show Lee what he was willing to do to anyone that dared to harm a comrade of his. Of course, Guy also had a bit of a grudge against Gaara, so he was looking forward to Naruto beating the boy though he knew it wouldn't be as bad as Neji.

Despite the seriousness that Naruto showed, Guy knew he couldn't hate Gaara that much just for the fact Jiriaya had informed him of Gaara's life. While Naruto had the emotional and psychological trauma of being hated and glared, Gaara had it intensified by constant assassination attempts that his own father condoned and it was even worse when Gaara's own uncle tried to kill him.

That had been the breaking point for Gaara's mind.

As such, Naruto couldn't hate him as much since his village and father had turned him into what he was. Neji however, was choosing to be like this. He was smart enough to realize that Hinata had no chance at all at defeating a Jonin level opponent when she was only 3. Let alone a Jonin with years of experience and training.

So yes, Neji was in some deeper shit than Gaara was, but Naruto fully intended to make them pay for their transgressions one way or the other.

The Jonin broke from their musings as Sakura spoke up, "Where are Naruto and Sasuke? If they don't get here soon then they'll be cut from the finals." She stated equally worried about her teammates.

Asuma merely hummed while not having a cigarette today, "Sasuke I don't know, but knowing Kakashi they'll be late and Sasuke will get disqualified." He stated making Sakura slump her head before he smirked, "As for Naruto, heh, don't worry. He'll show up, he's got a lot to show and prove and he's not gonna miss a chance to do it." Asuma stayed making the other Jonin smirk.

"You got that right, he's going to kick Neji's ass and any other opponent he faces." Anko stated with a grin hoping to see the same brutal and cunning Naruto that had interrogated Zaku and planned out the traps.

"Yes, I don't think Naruto will have that much trouble against the opponents down there. Even Shino won't be able to keep up I'm afraid." Kurenai stated knowing Shino's insects would get full before even a quarter of Naruto's chakra was consumed.

"Yosh! Naruto will show off his blazing flames of youth against all his opponents." Guy exclaimed clearly excited.

The Genin merely looked at the Jonin in confusion since they had blatantly stated that none of the contestants down there had a chance of defeating Naruto, "Uh, sensei, shouldn't you have more faith in Shino?" Kiba asked in confusion and Kurenai merely smiled.

"I have faith in Shino, I believe he can defeat his opponent and the next person he faces. However, I know for a fact he won't be able to defeat Naruto, he's too dependent on his bugs and such a thing is useless against Naruto." Kurenai stated not looking from the arena floor.

"You mean because of his huge reserves right?" Choji asked making the other Genin blink as Kurenai nodded.

"Huge reserves? What do you mean? His chakra pool can't be any greater than any of ours." Tenten stated making the Jonin and a few other ninja nearby chuckle.

"Tenten, Naruto has more chakra than any of us including the Hokage." Guy stated shocking the Genin there, "That's why he struggled so much in the academy, he couldn't do a normal clone because he was trying to strangle his chakra to the point he could make one or two. If he had just let it flow and made as many as possible, then he would have passed easily." Guy stated since he had heard how Naruto had the opposite problem that Lee did and the Hokage had taken it up with the different educators on just why no one thought to test Naruto or Lee on their chakra capacity to see if they could even attempt to do the standard graduation test.

With Lee they made the excuse that they figured the boy just didn't like Jutsu, but what pissed Hiruzen off was the so called excuses about why not for Naruto (meaning he was lucky enough to even be in the academy and some other borderline law breaking remarks). Needless to say, Ibiki had some new "clients" after that discussion and Hiruzen made it a new standard that they had to test the Genin's chakra capacity every six months. No Excuses!

Guy broke from his musings at the sound of the Genin gawking and chuckled to himself. It was a natural reaction to someone so young having more chakra than seasoned a Hokage, but still amusing to actually see.

"And it's for that exact reason that Shino can't defeat Naruto, by the time his bugs will drain enough to affect Naruto, he'll be in the middle actually fighting Naruto. Shino is smart and skilled, but he focuses on his bugs too much and leaves his body weak to close combat. There's also the fact he has no defense against Jutsu." Kurenai stated since after seeing Naruto broaden his skill set, she had begun to do the same and had encouraged Shino to do so as well.

The quiet boy had asked what brought the subject up and Kurenai had replied that she was helping another Genin with genjutsu and had made her realize she overspecialized. She then hypothesized what would happen should she ever fight someone that was better in genjutsu or one of the few that could be immune to it?

The answer was obvious: defeat followed shortly by death or capture.

She then posed to him the question of what if he faced an opponent that had survived facing Aburame opponents before or that had too much chakra for his insects to feast on? Or faced an opponent like the Raikage who could coat his body in lightning?

Again, the answer was obvious: defeat followed shortly by death or capture with the first and third opponent likely resulting in his hive being harmed.

Shino has taken the discussion to heart and began working to improve his taijutsu and strategy as well as getting a second hive of insects to add more variety and versatility to his choices. Particularly a type immune to poisons and toxins that were harmful to other insects and even humans.

She had told him to seek out Naruto after the finals for help since if a Jonin wasn't available, then Naruto was the next best choice for helping him train.

She broke from her thoughts as Sakura spoke again, "How come you guys know about this?" Sakura asked in confusion and Anko grinned.

"Because we helped train the kid for the past month." Anko stated grinning making the Genin look confused.

"I-Isn't t-that a conflict of interest?" Hinata asked and Asuma shook his head.

"No, we never talked with Naruto about what our respective student knew or were being trained in and we never talked with them about what Naruto was training in or knew. Anko isn't in conflict since she's not the proctor for the third section. Besides the Hokage signed off on it along with Naruto's new teacher." Asuma stated since there was no point in hiding that fact.

"New teacher?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"Yeah, Naruto, depending on how he does in the finals, is being taken as a private student to Jiriaya of the Sanin. He was very unhappy about Kakashi not properly teaching Naruto since Jiriaya was friends with Naruto's parents. Both he and the Hokage were also very pissed at the fact Kakashi had decided to train Sasuke for the month while ditching you and Naruto. So depending on how Sasuke and Naruto do, will reflect what happens to Kakashi for his blatant negligence." Anko stated knowing Kakashi was screwed beyond all measure.

"So what happens to Sasuke and I if Naruto is taken as a private student?" Sakura asked while feeling a little conflicted about this.

"Well you'll be put on the auxiliary roster until a third member for you team is available unless the Hokage decides to send you with another team or Jiriaya has Naruto join your team for missions outside of D rank." Asuma stated making Sakura frown in thought, "If such a thing happens, I would start looking for ways to improve your skills and talents if Kakashi doesn't and that's if Kakashi is still a sensei after the Hokage's punishment." Asuma stated making Sakura nod slightly.

"Hehe, I'm sure quite a few of the Genin will start expanding their arsenals after seeing what Naruto can do. Well, the smart ones will anyway." Anko stated knowing that comment would make the Genin watch Naruto's fight much more closely.

Before anyone could say anything else, they had to turn their attention back to the arena floor as the proctor, named Genma, arrived and began the announcement for the start of the finals.

Hiruzen, who had just welcomed the "Kazekage" to the Hokage booth, stood and walked to the railing, "Welcome everyone, to the finals of the Chunin Exams." Hiruzen stated making many in the crowd cheer, "I hope you all will be impressed with the skills and show that the new generation of Shinobi will present, let's begin!" Hiruzen stated making a good many cheer while he smirked at seeing Naruto just relaxing on the wall on the opposite side of the Kage viewing platform.

"Alright, will everyone except Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga please leave the arena floor." Genma called as Neji was left standing there smirking as if it was obvious that he was going to win.

"Naruto Uzumaki, please come down." Genma stated before there was a loud crash in the arena across from Neji. Everyone, minus Naruto's teachers, wondered what happened as the dust cloud hung around.

When it cleared, everyone was surprised as they saw the new and improved Naruto. Over the last month, the extra nutrition had helped fend off some of the stunted growth he had putting him at about 5'10" (he was 5'7" which is the average height for a 15 year old male). He stood there in a pair of black ninja pants with crimson stripes going down the outside of the legs and what looked like two kunai holsters on his legs while his feet were in a pair of black boots that went up his calf and had his pants tucked into them. Around his waist was a crimson belt with several different pouches with a fox skull belt buckle that had glowing crimson eyes. There were also tassels/streamers/flaps hanging either from the belt or his pants (the position of the belt made it hard to tell) with the two right over his legs having a ball bearing the size of a smoke bomb at the end of them.

The curious thing was that the others all had small bells on the end of them, yet they made no noise even as the wind blew them around.

His hands were in fingerless gloves with a metal plate on the back while his forearms were in a set of metal bracers with the Uzumaki swirl engraved on them. His torso was in a tight fitting black bodysuit similar to Guy and Lee's spandex, only this was even more form fitting (and looked good) as it showed Naruto's refined muscles. Over that, he wore a crimson Jonin style flack jacket only it had even more pockets and padding than a normal one and still over that he wore a black hooded duster coat that was blowing in the wind while the Uzumaki Spiral was emblazoned on the back in crimson.

If the hood was down, they'd see he also had his forehead protector on his… well… forehead. However, all that could be made out was his eyes shining within the hood and his mouth being expressionless.

All in all, it was like night and day when comparing how he was now to how he was a month ago.

All the males looked on in surprise while the women all blushed, whistled, drooled, shouted in glee, suppressed a nosebleed, or gawked at the appearance as his clothing showed off his muscles and body really well. Even Sakura and some of the married women were blushing at the sight of him.

Genma merely smirked, "You cut it close kid." Genma stated and Naruto merely turned his head towards him before back to Neji.

"I was here the entire time, I just didn't want to be down here where the air stinks." Naruto stated confusing everyone before he continued, "Since everything that comes out of my opponent's mouth is a load of bullshit, the smell quickly becomes unbearable." Naruto stated shocking many at him cursing while Anko laughed and Neji glared heatedly, "Then again, that could just be the stink of his fear." Naruto continued as he egged Neji on making him more and more infuriated while Anko was just laughing in the stands.

Genma merely snorted before he called the match to start and quickly jumped away as Naruto and Neji merely stared at each other…well… Naruto stared since Neji was glaring at him.

Before Neji could say anything, Naruto moved his arms making Neji jump back and take his Gentle Fist Stance, "Little jumpy, aren't we?" Naruto asked with a smirk as he removed his coat and then his vest making many women in the stands whistle in appreciation since it let his upper body be displayed to them all.

Poor Hinata was blushing red and had steam coming out of her ears, but she was endeavoring not to faint simply because her perverted side would not be denied the chance to see Naruto's body!

Kurenai was blushing too while having a bit of drool as she imagined that body over her pleasuring and taking her when she swore herself to him. It was making it a bit uncomfortable to sit there as her panties were getting wet.

During the month she had bonded with Naruto and was actually seeing all the things Hinata found attractive in him, she honestly gained her own crush/growing infatuation with him. It only grew the more time they spent together whether training, talking, eating, or just relaxing together during the month.

Anko was just straight up eye humping Naruto's form while drooling a bit. Sure she had seen some of his improved body in training, but his training clothes were normally what remained of his jumpsuits and the like, which hid his body rather well. Now though, his body was practically on display with only the thin layer of fabric separating her from seeing his naked muscled body.

Temari was blushing while her mind couldn't comprehend the before and after images for the loudmouth she saw at the start of the exams. "Holy shit! He's ripped! What the hell has Konoha been feeding him?!" Temari thought as the Naruto of a month ago didn't have that kind of body, at least that she saw since his clothes were baggy, and was wondering what the hell he did to gain it in such a short time.

Kin was also blushing since she had seen her master come out of the shower a few times, though thankfully or perhaps regrettably she had only seen him without his shirt on. However, she had gotten some new doses of pleasure as Naruto, after her requests and endless begging, had given her massages that included her breasts, ass, and pussy. And although Naruto had only used his hands and tongue so far, Kin had been a panting quivering mess from the pleasure and had tried to return the favor, but had only been successful once.

Said one time was when Naruto came home angry because he heard Hinata's injuries had been causing her to nearly flatline multiple times. Kin, seeing the frustration, decided to help and immediately pushed him on the couch before undoing his pants and giving him a blowjob. Said activity had lasted over 20 minutes before Naruto finally released and filled Kin's throat and mouth, which she swallowed before cleaning Naruto.

Naruto had thanked her and she happily kissed his dick and told him "Any time."

It wasn't that her master didn't want to give her pleasure and get as good as he gave, but for the month he wanted to stay focused on beating his opponents over bedroom fun. Kin had completely understood since she knew her master was rather protective of his comrades and village and what Neji and Gaara had done was cross several lines that in Naruto's book you were never to cross.

That didn't stop her from trying to seize another chance to relax her master if the opportunity presented itself though. Even if one hadn't presented itself yet.

Back to the field, Naruto sealed his coat, vest, and bracers away before popping his neck audibly. Before Neji could react, Naruto began to fly through hand seals making him go on edge and making the various ninja look on in surprise at the speed. After the 50th (or was it the 80th?) seal, Naruto spoke, "Ninja Art: Field of Life." Naruto stated as he slammed his hands onto the ground causing a yellow bubble to spread across and envelop the field. When it reached the wall and stopped, a couple of pulses began echoing through the bubble as Naruto stood there.

Neji merely looked around in confusion as his Byakugan showed the field was covered in chakra, but nothing was happening to him, the field, or his opponent, so what was the point of this Jutsu?

Up in the stands, the Jonin and Genin were confused as well as they hadn't heard of this Jutsu before and the Jonin didn't recall Naruto ever mentioning this Jutsu to them, "Any idea what that Jutsu does?" Asuma asked making his comrades shake their heads in the negative.

"No, Naruto mentioned he had something planned for Neji in their fight, but he wouldn't tell me anything other than it was going to let him keep a couple promises." Kurenai stated knowing he had promised Hinata to win, promised her that Neji would suffer, and quite possibly promised Hiashi something as Jiraiya had told her that Naruto had met with the Clan Head and his wife during the month.

Naruto didn't tell her what was discussed, just that he had another promise to keep when it came time for fighting Neji.

Kurenai broke from her thoughts as Naruto cracked his knuckles audibly as he looked at Neji with eyes cold enough that it wouldn't be surprising if Naruto could cry ice, "Now Neji, I believe I owe you an untold amount of pain." Naruto stated as he looked at his opponent that would soon be his victim.

"Please, fate has already declared-" Neji's rant was stopped as he felt a stinging pain on his cheek. Feeling it, he found he was bleeding from a cut to his cheek and he finally saw, thanks to his Byakugan, that there was a kunai imbedded in the wall behind him.

He also took note of Naruto's hand being out towards him as if he threw something, "There's that arrogance and cowardice again. I'll inform you now that I intend to beat you in taijutsu, but since I despise the stink you release every time you talk, I'm going to inflict other forms of pain on you every time that stink arises." Naruto stated as he lowered his hand and began walking towards Neji without a care in the world.

Neji glared as he was getting tired of Naruto running his mouth and charged at Naruto with a palm strike. However, all he hit was air as Naruto spun around his arm and then drove his elbow into Neji's neck, while Neji also felt the ball bearing slam into his back, sending him tumbling forward from the force of the hit being added to his own rush.

Neji stopped himself after a few feet and looked to see Naruto merely standing there still staring at him with the cold blue eyes. Neji was starting to despise that look especially as it reminded him of how some of the main branch looked at him: as if nothing he did mattered, as if he was a lowly insect and they were an almighty being, it was infuriating!

Neji stood up and charged right at Naruto only for him to sidestep and stick his leg out to trip Neji causing the Hyuga prodigy to fall face first into the dirt. Naruto merely stood there still looking at him as Neji got up and wiped the dirt from his face.

Or rather, he tried to get up as once he got to his hands and knees, Naruto kicked him right in the ass sending him back into the dirt, "Get up. Come on, get up. You're the great Hyuga Prodigy so get the fuck up." Naruto stated before walking around and punting Neji in the ribs sending him skidding away.

"I said get up." Naruto stated with coldness in his voice surprising the few who had interacted with him as the coldness was the exact opposite of how Naruto usually was.

Naruto then walked around Neji, who was coughing and holding his ribs, while still gazing at the Hyuga. The crowd couldn't help but match the scene to that of a predator circling its prey. "You know Neji, for the entire month I've had really nothing to think about other than the various ways I wanted to maim, beat, and kill you." Naruto stated as he walked while a few tensed at the last mention, "But you see, I have a bit of a problem due to the fact I made a couple of promises that in some ways conflict with each other." Naruto stated before booting Neji in the ribs again sending him back to the ground gasping for air.

"You see, I swore on Hinata's blood that I would kick your ass. I also promised someone that was feeling pretty wrathful towards you that I would make you suffer. Yet still on top of that I also swore to your aunt and uncle that I wouldn't kill or cripple you. This was compounded on the fact that Hinata wouldn't be happy with me killing you and while we aren't close I do consider her my friend." Naruto stated making said girl blush, "Naturally this left me in quite the predicament since I needed a way to fulfill all three promises without violating any of them, which is where some research I conducted comes in." Naruto stated before kicking Neji in the face knocking a few teeth out.

"So please, do get up since I need to vent some aggression and keep my word." Naruto stated stopping in front of Neji as he got up.

Neji wiped the blood and dirt from his mouth before glaring at Naruto, "You think you know everything. You know nothing of the Hyuga Clan! I lost-" Neji stated angrily before getting cut off.

"Yeah yeah, you lost your father because he died to prevent a war with Kumo when they tried to kidnap Hinata." Naruto stated in a mocking tone, "Get over yourself. Hinata was 3, and you expected her to be able to do something against a seasoned Jonin? You're even more delusional than I thought you were. If you should be mad at someone, then it should be the ambassador or Hiashi-sama, not Hinata." Naruto stated neutrally, "You preach about fate being absolute, but the fact is you're the biggest hypocrite there is." Naruto stated making Neji scowl.

"You go on an on about your destiny, fate, and all that, but your destiny is to serve and protect Hinata and what do you do? You attack her, beat her, put her down, and nearly kill her when the moment she was your opponent you should have surrendered knowing you were to never strike her. Thus, you're a lying hypocritical sack of shit." Naruto stated making Neji grit his teeth in anger.

Neji then launched at him with a palm thrust that Naruto deflected before catching the arm under his own and delivered three brutal punches to Neji's gut before giving a punch to the face and then a backhand to the face. Naruto then grabbed him by his robes and slammed his head into Neji's face a few times ensuring his forehead protector made contact with Neji's nose causing it to break. Naruto then lifted him off the ground before slamming him back first into the dirt and then kicked him away.

Rolling his shoulders, Naruto merely stood there as Neji tried to get up, "You see Neji, I know what makes you tick. You claim fate controls everything not because you believe it, but because it's your excuse. You use fate as a crutch." Naruto stated as he walked towards Neji before kicking in the face causing him to roll over, "You use it to justify anything you do that would normally get you in trouble and to give cause to vent your anger. You knew fully well that you couldn't beat Hinata if both of you were serious about winning, all she'd have to do is activate that pretty seal on your forehead and you would have lost instantly. So what do you do? You tear down her confidence, you break her spirit, you twist and manipulate her feelings towards family to ensure she can't possibly fight at her best. I saw it when Lee was fighting Gaara, you were angry and scared at what you saw because Lee's skills were something you thought a dead last could never achieve. Seeing him not only surpass his handicap, but show that he was clearly a threat terrified you to the core because he was going to ruin your belief and excuse structure that you had painstakingly built for years." Naruto stated shocking Neji's team.

The crowd though was stunned at how analytical Naruto was being as he planted his foot on Neji's chest, "You see Neji, I know how to set you off. I know how to make you angry. I know how to make you lash out. I know what makes you think, what makes you react, and I know how to tear you apart." Naruto stated stomping hard onto his chest making him gasp and cough up some blood.

Naruto merely snorted at him before moving away and Neji grit his teeth and quickly got to his feet before launching out a palm strike to Naruto's spine.

However, all he hit was air as Naruto side stepped him and grabbed his wrist tightly. Naruto then brought his knee up right into Neji's elbow shattering it and making him scream in pain. Naruto then twisted around pulling Neji into a chokehold. Neji grit his teeth and clawed at Naruto's arm as he fought to breathe, "See this Neji? This is what happens when a snake swallows it's own tail. Just keep fighting Neji, FIGHT!" Naruto stated as Neji tried to kick his legs out to get some kind of traction, "That's what the rage is like, it just eats away at you when you've got nothing to believe in, when you have nothing to fight for. And that, is why I will always win." Naruto stated as Neji sank to his knees as his body was shutting down "unnecessary" functions to conserve oxygen.

"Do you feel that need for air right now Neji?" Naruto asked casually as he kept the hold on Neji's throat and was making it tighter, "You see, it's not your lungs that are screaming at you for air, it's your brain. That microscopic organism, walnut on a stick, dumber than shit thing you call a brain. Your brain knows it can't panic further by flaring that it needs air, so it makes your lungs scream for air instead." Naruto stated calmly as he kept strangling Neji, "I bet I sound very far away now don't I?" Naruto asked before he frowned and then grabbed Neji's head tight before snapping his neck.

Up in the stands, those that had no hand in training Naruto could only watch in stunned awe as he dismantled Neji like he was an academy student fighting a seasoned Anbu. The dead last of the last academy graduation tearing the former Rookie of the Year apart like he was nothing.

For the other Genin, it was shocking to see the drastic change in Naruto's skill level, ferocity, and how willing he was to hurt his opponent. The loudmouth that only barely defeated Kiba was tearing Neji, the rookie of the year and Hyuga prodigy, apart like he was nothing. Such a massive spike in skill and change in personality in only one month was baffling to them all.

For Gaara though, it was making his bloodlust spike. The power, strength, bloodlust, rage, and brutality being shown were making him react even more than Sasuke ever had. The underlying power hidden underneath combined with a threat that Naruto made was making him react even stronger.

Two weeks into training, Naruto had gone to visit his friends in the hospital and found Gaara there trying to kill Lee and finish the job. Only Gaara found a blade right at his throat and his liver with Naruto there holding them. Naruto had warned him against doing such a thing especially since all his precious sand was over next to Lee.

When Gaara had stated he wouldn't be denied confirming his existence, Naruto called him a fool. Why kill Lee in a secluded room where no one would know it was him that did it? Why get a morsel when he could wait for the finals and kill multiple people for hundreds to see? Who would be able to deny his existence when they saw him crush and destroy opponents with such brutality and bloodlust?

In short, why have a simple dumpling when you could have an all you can eat buffet?

Naturally, Gaara accepted the logic and warned Naruto that should he interfere again that he would die painfully.

Naruto's reply had only spiked Gaara's bloodlust, Oh don't worry Gaara, we'll fight soon enough and then you're going to know fear, pain, and loss as I tear you apart and show you why your demon is nothing compared to mine. Those had been Naruto's words and it was only further punctuated by him using a sliver of Kyubi's power to turn his eyes blood red and slit the pupil.

Gaara knew right then that Naruto was like him and the fact his demon was a higher number just meant he was even more worth killing.

And now, his most recent actions were only heightening his bloodlust. When Gaara saw him kill Neji, his blood boiled at the prospect of fighting a fellow Jinchuriki that was willing to kill.

Naturally, everyone else watching was shocked at Naruto killing Neji especially when he had stated that he promised not to kill him and was going to fulfill the promise. Now though, they couldn't help but wonder why he lied?

Kurenai was biting her lip since she appreciated Naruto dishing out so much punishment and part of her was glad that Naruto killed Neji, but the look of horror and pain on Hinata's face was killing her. She knew Naruto never broke a promise, so why did he kill Neji after promising not to?

Sakura, Ino, and Tenten were horrified at the sight of Naruto killing an opponent let alone killing a fellow Leaf Shinobi. What could have happened the past month to cause such a shift in his personality and fighting?

Guy however was merely looking at the arena floor with an unreadable expression while Lee was horrified at the death of his teammate, "Calm down Lee, Hinata, Tenten. It's not over yet." Guy stated seriously since he knew Naruto would have only done that if he had something planned.

"B-But Guy sensei, Naruto just killed Neji!" Tenten stated angrily and Guy merely gave her a serious stare that immediately shut her up.

"I know what we saw, but we haven't seen the end of this match yet." Guy stated seriously making everyone look at him, "Naruto never breaks his word and the fact he did that means something else must be going on." Guy stated turning back to the field.

"You mean whatever that bubble is." Asuma stated making them look at him as Guy nodded.

"Yes, Naruto ensured that the very first thing he did was create that bubble. He must have had a reason to do it and we've yet to see what that was." Guy stated making them turn back to look at the field while Hinata was hoping that they were correct.

Hiashi was the only one impassive in the stands even as his wife comforted their youngest. While it was easy to believe Naruto had lied to him and wasn't ever going to spare Neji, it just didn't fit with the boy he had observed and gotten reports about. The boy prided himself on never going back on his word, which in some cases was a fault of his that people could take advantage of, but Hiashi knew the boy didn't care and gave his word that Neji would survive the finals. Knowing how unpredictable Naruto was, Hiashi could only assume it had to do with that bubble that was there since Naruto made it a point to activate it before the fight truly started.

Turning to his youngest, he patted her head gently, "Calm yourself Hanabi, I truly believe Neji will be alive before this is over." Hiashi stated drawing his wife and daughter's attention.

"But-But father, Neji-niisan is-" Hanabi started before Hiashi patted her head again.

"I know what we are seeing Hanabi, but you must learn to never take what you see as fact. We have yet to see what that bubble Naruto created even does, thus we don't know if what we are seeing is truly what the final outcome is." Hiashi stated knowing a ninja could never take anything at face value or they risked losing their life.

Hiashi then turned his attention back to the field as Hanabi worked to calm herself and look to the field along with her mother.

Back on the field, Naruto looked at Neji's body with indifference before he moved back to his starting spot and snapped his fingers causing a pulse from the bubble to retract. Everyone watched as Neji's body disappeared as the ring crossed over it and, once the ring full closed and hit Naruto, Neji's body reappeared. However, the shocking thing was that he sat up and starting coughing and gasping for air.

"HOLY SHIT/WHAT THE FUCK?/WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" Were the various thoughts of the viewers including Hiruzen and Orochimaru as they were witnessing a dead man being alive again.

Naruto merely looked at Neji as he kept coughing and rubbing his throat as he gulped down air, "Ready for round 2, Neji?" Naruto asked in a bored tone as Neji looked at him in confusion.

"W-what was that? I felt the pain and death, but here I am." Neji stated as he and the viewers noticed his arm wasn't broken and neither was his nose.

"The bubble. I'd explain the intricacies, mechanics, and subtleties of it, but there are foreign shinobi here as well as people I still have to fight after I crush you, so I don't feel like giving away the secrets to my first original jutsu." Naruto stated surprising everyone that he had created the jutsu, "So let me simplify your situation for you: So long as this bubble is up, I can reset you, me, and the field back to how we were when the bubble first went up. What this means, is that I can break you, cut you, beat you, amputate, and kill you over and over again and bring you right back to life with a snap of my fingers. The benefit, is that your body will still feel and remember the pain even after you're restored, meaning that you're going to feel every wound, every punch, every death like it was really happening and then remember what it feels like. The only way out for you is to surrender, to just keep fighting and I'll keep killing until I get bored and take the bubble down, or you manage to kill me and the bubble will come down and then I'll be back once it does." Naruto stated surprising people since the jutsu appeared to be very powerful and those aware of his promises now fully understood why he said that he would keep all of his promises even though he killed Neji.

"Th-that's not possible, no jutsu can do such a thing." Neji stated gritting his as he tried to ignore the phantom pains in his nose, ribs, arm, and throat.

"There was also no jutsu that could let you teleport, but the Fourth made one. There was no jutsu that could control trees, but the First Hokage had them. There was a point in time where there was no such thing as jutsu at all, yet here we are. All you really need is an idea, the inner workings of handseals and chakra, and plenty of time to do trial and error. Thus this came to be, and thus you are in for more pain than you've ever felt in your life." Naruto stated popping his neck and knuckles as he began walking towards Neji and then stopped a short ways from him, "Since I'm feeling nice, I'll let you give the first strike." Naruto stated with confidence in his voice.

Neji grit his teeth before smirking as Naruto got closer and got into a stance that made every Hyuga there widen their eyes, "Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms." Neji stated before he launched at Naruto and hit him twice while Naruto just stood there with a bored expression, "Two Palms. Four Palms. Eight Palms. Sixteen Palms. Thirty-Two Palms. Sixty-Four Palms!" Neji shouted as he doubled the strikes each time before doing a chakra infused palm strike to Naruto that sent him skidding back.

Naruto merely stood there with his head down while Hinata was worried for him as were several others with the only one being calm was Guy. Training him in one of the Taijutsu arts involved Naruto taking a great deal of pain and punishment to his body, so he knew that attack, while strong, was nothing to Naruto.

This proved true as Naruto stood straight and rolled his shoulders shocking Neji and several Hyuga, "Well, that felt nice. Maybe next time I can have you aim for my neck, I've had this bad crick there for a few days and could use some loosening up." Naruto stated standing there not at all bothered by the hits he took.

"I-impossible." Neji stated in shock since no one should be able to just shrug off an attack like that.

"Hardly. The problem with sealing off chakra points is the fact that against someone with enough chakra, it's useless since I can just force my chakra points back open with a mass wave of chakra through my system. And really, with your chakra being forced away because of my chakra, those little finger pokes do absolutely no damage to me. Though I will give you props for that palm strike, it actually tickled." Naruto stated since his body was just a wall of solid muscle and with chakra being regulated through him to harden the muscles, it just meant that any hits were not going to reach his organs. Neji's chakra attacks did hit his chakra points, but they didn't go any further than that.

Neji grit his teeth in rage before he launched at Naruto unleashing a barrage of attacks as he did. Unfortunately for him, Naruto had known how he would react and was ready for him.

Naruto quickly deflected the blows with ease making the blows miss him by a mile. Naruto kept this up for a few moments before he turned sideways and began to deflect the attacks with one arm. Finally, he pushed him away with a bored look on his face, "C'mon, stop trying to hit me and hit me." Naruto stated making Neji grit his teeth and attack again.

This time Naruto just leaned back and stepped back dodging before he brought his elbow up knocking one of Neji's strikes away and throwing him off balance. Naruto then brought his hand to Neji's midsection and did a one-inch punch directly into his right kidney making him gasp in pain. Naruto then followed it up with one more one-inch punch to the same kidney dropping Neji to his knees as he was clutching his side.

He was then sent back as Naruto spartan kicked Neji right in the face breaking his nose again. Naruto stood there and shook his head, "Seriously? This is it? This is the famed and proud prodigy of the Hyuga clan? I'm starting to feel insulted for having my expectations raised so high and I only get this farce." Naruto stated as Neji glared and cradled his side as he tried to stand up.

Up above, Hiruzen sat impassively though inside he was impressed and proud of how far Naruto had come and was showing his skill. The brutality he understood since Naruto had made it clear from an early age that he'd harm anyone that dared to hurt someone he counted as a precious person. He also understood the hidden second reason for his beating of Neji: the longer he took the longer his clones and their forces had to ensure everything was secure and ready for Orochimaru and the Sand's forces and the longer Orochimaru had to put off on launching said invasion. He knew his former student well, his plans being delayed and put on hold for Kami knows how long would irritate and anger him, which would begin making him sloppier and thus make it easier to kill him.

So all in all, while vicious and brutal, Hiruzen wasn't going to stop the fight.

Back to Naruto, he began to calmly walk towards Neji, who was still shaky since the blows to his kidney were slowing him. However, that didn't stop him from trying to lash out with a palm strike, but Naruto merely side stepped it and slammed his hand into Neji's throat crushing it.

Neji dropped to his knees choking and gagging as he tried to breathe, but it was futile as his body started shutting down and he dropped to the ground dead.

Naruto merely looked at Neji a minute before deciding it was enough and snapped his fingers making the bubble come down entirely.

Naturally, Neji appeared again grasping his throat and coughing before he was sent flying into a tree via a kick from Naruto. The force was evident as the bark of the tree exploded when Neji collided with it before Naruto was in front of him raining blow after blow on him as he used him like one of his training dummies.

Elbow to the face.

Kick to the knee followed by grabbing his shoulder and picking him back up.

Chop to the side of the neck.

Multiple palm strikes to the torso and arms.

Swipe to the face followed by a backhand.

Punches barraging his torso and face.

Knee to the gut, elbow to the head, hip check back into the tree, followed by another barrage but this was chops and finger jabs.

And all of this cycled again and again in less than a minute as Naruto and Neji we're slowly covered in the blood leaking and splattering from Neji's mouth and nose.

Then Naruto stopped and held Neji by his throat before lifting him off the ground as Neji just dangled there. His body too sore and battered to even try to resist, "I want you to remember this moment, Neji Hyuga. This was the moment that insignificant spark you call a life could have been snuffed out for good. And it's not fate that shows you mercy, it's not the Hokage, not your sensei, not your clan, family, or teammates. You are only alive right now, because I promised not to end your life. A promise Neji, a whim, a mere exchange of words, that is all that stands between you and meeting the Shinigami face to face. Remember this moment, for it is the moment a failure who couldn't complete the graduation exam THREE times defeated you with you being able to do nothing against him. A prodigy losing to an orphan who never had anyone train or educate him truly until a month ago." Naruto stated making Neji and others widen their eyes in surprise.

"Fate, if it even exists, will always side with the person who wants it more. Your father's fate was of his own making, he loved his brother and would never allow him to die for protecting his child. Your father chose to leave this world on his own terms and you disgrace him and his memory by using it as a means to harm and hate." Naruto stated as Neji, for the first time in years, let tears leave his eyes.

"You can still change and be a man worthy of you father, but I warn you: should you ever commit such an act again then I WILL look for you, I WILL find you, and I WILL kill you. And nothing, not your clan, your team, the Hokage, the Fire Daimyo, nor even Kami himself will stand in my way. THAT, is my promise to you, Neji, nowhere on this world or in the next will you be able hide from me. Do you understand?" Naruto informed, threatened, and then asked as Neji mutely and weakly nodded before Naruto tossed him to the center of the arena, "You can call it, he's done." Naruto stated as he walked for the stairwell.

"Winner: Naruto Uzumaki." Genma called as the medics came to retrieve Neji and the people that taught Naruto over the month were the first to start applauding. They were soon joined by others throughout the stadium with some cheers echoing out too.

Hiashi then kissed his wife's and Hanabi's heads before standing to go and speak to Neji since it was time he learned the truth. Hanabi though was still stuck on just watching Naruto until he disappeared into the hallway leading to the stairs and Hitomi was the same.

The other Genin were just frozen in stunned awe and shock at seeing Naruto break Neji down completely and utterly. Hinata was mainly just grateful Naruto hadn't truly killed Neji, though she was blushing since he had technically done all of that for her even if it was because he didn't like Neji's action. It showed that he did indeed care.

Kurenai meanwhile was smiling and blushing since she knew what Naruto's victory meant, and she wasn't opposed to it since she had spent the last month getting to know him while training. While she would hope for a more… romantic relationship, this one with Naruto wasn't going to be bad. It didn't hurt that Kin had told her about his tongue, hands, and dick either so she knew there was something to look forward to.

She broke from her thoughts as Anko leaned in towards her ear, "Guess he owns you now." Anko stated with a whisper and smirk making Kurenai blush a bit more since Anko had heard her and Naruto talking about it one day and had been teasing them since.

Kurenai though smiled and whispered back, "Yes, he does, but don't be jealous, I'm sure he'll fuck you too." Kurenai stated making Anko, yes badass bitch Anko, blush before she looked away making Kurenai giggle softly.

"Naruto just keeps getting stronger and stronger, while I don't think I've improved at all since we became a team." Sakura thought both impressed with Naruto and saddened for herself. Though she was happy for Naruto and that he got to show off what he could do.

With said blond, he walked up the contestant/participant area wearing his vest, coat, and bracers again, though Temari had to resist pouting at not seeing his muscles anymore, and leaned against the railing not even acknowledging the others while Gaara was staring at him in bloodlust. It didn't help that he still had the blood splatter on his shirt.

Naruto knew he was of course, he tenant was grinning and telling him that Shukaku was no doubt howling for Gaara to kill Naruto after learning Kyubi was inside him. Naruto and Kyubi had actually come to a bit of agreeable terms since Naruto was becoming serious and stronger, which suited Kyubi since if he had to be sealed in someone they had better be one of if not THE biggest badass there is. Anything else was insulting to Kyubi.

Essentially it was, "I'm the strongest Biju, so you had better become the strongest Shinobi there is or else."

Of course, neither of them were delusional to believe Naruto could handle anything coming at him on his own right now. He was strong and skilled, but had no real combat or life experience and wasn't anywhere near his peak capabilities yet. Then add in the likes of Orochimaru running around, Naruto would need Kyubi's help to survive those types of encounters without going into a berserker rage.

Thus Kyubi would give him access to as much chakra as he could handle before going berserk and Naruto would be on his own in any other situation. Naruto had also read up on mindscapes and altered his from the sewer it was to better accommodate Kyubi and for the fact he didn't like the idea of his mind being a sewer of all things. Kyubi had played it off, but Naruto could tell he was appreciative for the scene change since it was a forest and mountainous area now which let Kyubi have room to move. Kyubi's only complaint was that the seal had taken the shape of a collar around him, which he didn't like since it almost signified him as a tamed pet rather than a fearsome Biju.

Still it was a minor thing when compared to being out of the sewer, cage, and water and able to move easily.

Naruto broke from his inner musings and remembrances as Genma called for the next match, "Will Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara Subaku come down." Genma called getting Gaara to come down but there was no sign of Sasuke.

Genma frowned at this, "Sasuke Uchiha, come down!" Genma called again and still nothing causing Genma to look up to the Hokage.

Hiruzen sighed and leaned over to his subordinate and whispered before said man nodded and went down to Genma and spoke to him, Genma nodded with a sigh, "Alright, as is customary here in the Leaf, the match between Gaara and Sasuke will be postponed until the other matches have taken place. If by that time Sasuke Uchiha is not here, he will be counted as a forfeit, no exceptions." Genma called making many nobles and others murmur and grumble since they wanted to see the last loyal male Uchiha fight.

Yes, you read correctly, there is a female Uchiha still alive and loyal to the village.

Said female was Sasuke and Itachi's mother Mikoto. Said woman had only barely survived the massacre and the village higher ups never dared to try and touch her since she knew why Itachi had done what he did and both she and Fugaku were proud of him protecting the village above all. The only reason she was alive is because she had a rare condition called Situs Inversus, which meant all of her organs were on the opposite side of a normal person's. As a result, she had Dextrocardia which was another disorder (which could take place without Situs Inversus) that makes the heart point to the right side of the body instead of the left.

Thus when Itachi intended to give her a swift death of a straight shot to the heart with his sword, he missed and only hit empty body cavity. Mikoto had awoken and stumbled out of her home where the Hokage and Anbu found her and took her to the hospital before she and the Hokage had a private chat with the old man expressing his sorrow since if he had known it was only the Uchiha elders stirring up trouble, he would have only executed them and not the entire clan.

Mikoto has understood and warned Hiruzen that someone else had helped Itachi kill her clan since Itachi, while giving the appearance of cold and calculating, couldn't have had it in him to slay multiple children ranging from infants to teens.

This was confirmed my autopsies since the wounds on some of the bodies were different from the others, meaning someone else was there that night killing Uchihas with Itachi. Naturally, that didn't bode well for them since Itachi doing it was one thing, but someone sneaking in and killing the Clan members without leaving any real trace was something else entirely.

Anyway, after seeing Sasuke and a tearful meeting and a few months of rehab for her arm and shoulder, Mikoto worked to get back into shape since she didn't need to become helpless with the other villages no doubt seeing an opportunity to steal a breeder for Uchiha soldiers now that the clan was down to a lonely couple. She had let her training and exercise get too slack in becoming a housewife when she used to be Anbu material and now she was going to fix that. Sasuke was only too happy to join her in training since his mother was Anbu material and had helped Itachi with his training, so her helping him would help close the gap faster than training on his own. Mikoto had only been partially successful in pushing Sasuke away from revenge since there had to be a reason for Itachi killing everyone including civilian members because Itachi could have killed the Anbu of the village if he wanted to test his prowess.

Sasuke had understood the reasoning, but couldn't promise he'd not try to get revenge because the hatred was there and wouldn't be going away.

So now here she was sitting in the stands with a frown since she had heard about her son's run in with Orochimaru and the subsequent curse marking. Naturally, she had demanded he be given protection and the highest grade seal that could be used to contain it since Sasuke was still young and in a moment of anger could draw on the curse seal and succumb to the effects of Orochimaru's influence. Thus Jiraiya and Naruto, both for his own learning and any potential and wild ideas he had, were to look at it after the finals since Kakashi and Sasuke had gone into seclusion for training so there was no chance of spying or ambushing.

She broke from her musings as she turned her eyes towards Naruto. She wasn't a fool, she knew who his parents were since you'd need to be half blind, not paying attention, or just very stupid not to see the similarities and resemblances.

It made her smile to see her friend's son showing his skill and power. It also didn't hurt that she liked what she saw of his body too. Mikoto had never been one to hide or be subtle about certain things. If she found someone hot then she flat out admitted it and wouldn't be embarrassed about it either. Besides, it's been nearly a decade since her husband died, she could look and like what she saw without any guilt.

Plus, he was showing it off, so why not look and appreciate?

Shaking those thoughts away, she idly looked to the two men in front of, beside, and behind her knowing they were sound ninja. No doubt they were to capture her or at least kill and harvest her eyes for Orochimaru. Poor fools didn't know who they were fucking with, but they would learn soon enough.

She then turned her attention back to the floor as Genma spoke, "Will Shino Aburame and Kankuro Subaku please come down." Genma called making Shino prepare to head down, but he didn't need to.

"Proctor! I forfeit." Kankuro called knowing he couldn't risk showing off his puppets before the invasion.

Shino of course frowned since why wait til the match was called to forfeit? He idly looked towards Naruto and saw him make hand-signs, Watch him closely and don't drop your guard. Shino gave an almost imperceptible nod at Naruto and had a few of his bugs fly over to Kankuro and land on both him and his puppet carefully just in case he was trying the same trick from the prelims.

He then turned his attention towards Temari, who jumped the railing and floated down on her fan in a grand fashion, "No doubt to take attention from her brother and keep suspicion to a minimum." Naruto, Shino, and Shikamaru thought seeing it was the only reason to do such a grand entrance unless you wanted to show off.

Shikamaru then sighed and began lazily walking down after nodding to Naruto. No sense hurrying down when he had a couple minutes to get down there. He wasn't blind, he knew something big was going on so why not delay it a bit by taking his time getting down there?

He was still deciding if it was troublesome enough to prolong the fight itself though.

Upon arriving at the field, he saw Temari was a bit annoyed, which no doubt stemmed from him taking his sweet time getting there, but hey, what was she gonna do? Try harder to hurt him? Pfft, he dealt with that daily with his mother and her frying pan and rolling pin why would he worry about a teenager with an iron fan?

Shaking those thoughts away, Shikamaru merely reached his starting point, "Both contestants ready?" Genma asked making Temari nod and Shikamaru to shrug uncaringly, which caused Temari to twitch her eye.

Naruto meanwhile smirked and shook his head, "Copycat." Naruto thought since he saw that Shikamaru was using his laziness to piss Temari off so she wouldn't be focused, calm, and collected.

It was arguably the easiest strategy for someone like Shikamaru since he just had to be himself while looking like he was reacting to Temari. Naruto has primarily done it as a way to break down the thick wall of bullshit that Neji had built up for his beliefs and delusions, which meant Naruto had to tear it apart to get through to his brain and get it back to thinking intelligently.

Naruto then turned his attention back to the field as Genma called the match to start and jumped back.

Temari ran at Shikamaru and leapt into the air to bring her fan down on his head while Shikamaru merely looked at it coming at him. A huge cloud of dust occurred when her fan hit and many held their breath in anticipation before everyone was surprised to hear Temari scream in pain before she was launched out of the cloud and rolled across the ground.

When she came to a stop, everyone saw her body twitching and she had some burn marks on her body while her hair was a bit frizzy too. Looking back at the dust cloud, they saw it clearing and saw Shikamaru standing beside the fan, which was still part way in a crater when it hit the ground, and he had his hand on the fan. The main thing though, his hand was coated in electricity, which meant that Temari had received a massive jolt thanks to her fan being a powerful conductor.

Shikamaru may not have been able to progress very far in his elemental training, such as being able to do some of the Jutsu, but he did know how to coat his hand or weapon in it and it was useful for such an occasion as this.

Shikamaru merely walked and looked at Temari as she tried to get up, but it was hard since her body was tingling and numb in some areas while the burns were also slowing her, "You showed your cards in the prelims, you know." Shikamaru stated making sure he didn't walk too close just to be safe, "You're overdependent on your fan just like your brothers are overdependent on their puppets and sand. It's not that hard to come up with a plan, no matter how simple, to make that dependency work against you." Shikamaru stated making Temari grit her teeth.

"Y-you p-purposefully m-made m-me m-mad. Y-you knew I'd at-ttack with m-my fan as a b-bludgeoning t-tool." Temari stated with her mouth twitching and making it hard to talk.

"Call it personal experience when it comes to pissing off a woman." Shikamaru stated before he pulled a kunai out and then had his shadow launch out and snag her, "Now you can either surrender or I can come over there and either kill you or make things very painful and possibly embarrassing for you." Shikamaru stated seeing her flinch and twitch in pain as her body tried to mimic his movements, but the electricity was still making that hard and painful.

Temari grit her teeth while being pissed with herself for letting this slacker play her for a fool and had to reluctantly give up, "Winner: Shikamaru Nara." Genma called getting applause as while short, it was impressive on Shikamaru's end.

The Genin and even some of the Jonin were just watching in shock and surprise at seeing the usual lazy genius of a Nara winning a match and in less than five minutes of it starting. They were also surprised he could use lightning and was able to do Shadow Possession without the hand-seal for it.

Asuma merely smiled, both for Shikamaru showing some of his new and improved self and for the fact he just made a good amount of money from his bet. Though he knew he'd blow close to half of it just on BBQ meals with his team, it was still worth it.

Of course, he and a couple others also bet on Naruto too so he still had a good chunk of money coming his way regardless.

Asuma turned back to the field as Genma spoke, "Will Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara Subaku come down." Genma called and Gaara came down again and Sasuke was still a no show, "Sasuke Uchiha, come down now or you will forfeit your match." Genma called and still nothing, "Due to his absence, Sasuke Uchiha is disqualified from the competition." Genma called making many groan at missing a fight while Sakura slumped her head.

"The next match will be Naruto Uzumaki vs Gaara Subaku, are both competitors ready or is a break needed?" Genma called making Naruto appear on the field and pop his neck before both nodded to Genma, "Very well, the match between Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara Subaku, begin!" Genma called before jumping up onto the wall in case this got nasty.

Gaara merely stood there as his sand popped the cork off his gourd and began funneling out around him, "Mother wants your blood, Uzumaki. She wants it even more than she wanted the Uchiha's." Gaara stated in his usual monotone.

"Yes, though I'm surprised Shukaku is willing to let you think he's a woman." Naruto stated making many stiffen in fear, both in Naruto knowing what Gaara contained and the fact that Suna sent its Jinchuriki into the village.

Naruto merely turned his gaze towards Gaara with no anger, disgust, or even pity, just understanding, "Yes, I can see it in your eyes, there's a voice in your head that really does make you feel safe and cared for like a mother, but there's also that voice demanding blood, death, and carnage to appease it. I wonder which one belongs to Shukaku?" Naruto stated then asked making Gaara frown before he sent the sand at Naruto, who merely side stepped and swiped through it while coating his hand in wind chakra causing the sand to scatter.

"See? The sand you attack with has to be told to attack, while your inner amount of sand protects you without you even knowing of a threat." Naruto stated as he had seen it in Lee's fight: Lee was too fast for Gaara but the sand would still react and protect him.

Gaara merely frowned further before gripping his head in slight pain, "Shukaku's getting annoyed isn't he? He doesn't like that I'm breaking down his little 'mother wants blood' routine that he's been doing to get you to kill." Naruto stated before dodging the sand again moving efficiently around the field with little trouble or issue, "You know, I had to think this past month on why it was that some of your sand had to be controlled and the rest acted on its own, and for the longest time I didn't have an answer til I learned about your sealing." Naruto stated dodging another blast of sand and then some shuriken as Gaara was scowling as his head was hurting.

Up in the stands, Kankuro was nervous since not only was Naruto surviving, he was actually egging Gaara on and messing with his head. The fact he apparently knew about the sealing and what Gaara contained and was still calm and collected didn't make him anymore comfortable

In the recovery area, Temari was worried too since no one had ever talked to Gaara and analyzed him like Naruto was doing, she didn't know how Gaara would react or lash out.

However, everyone's thoughts and the fight were interrupted by a swirl of leaves and two people appearing.

Gaara merely frowned and recalled his sand while Naruto stood there with a bored look as Sasuke and Kakashi stood there back to back, "Are we late?" Kakashi asked Genma with an eye smile making almost everyone sweatdrop, scowl, or faceplant.

"Not only are you late, but you're so late that we already went through the other first round matches, disqualified Sasuke for being absent, and have already started the next match." Genma stated shocking Kakashi while Sasuke sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before they saw Gaara there and then turned and saw Naruto there and grew shocked at the change in appearance.

"What is Naruto doing here? There's no way he beat Neji." Kakashi stated making the Genin shocked that he had no faith in Naruto at all and many of the ninja, Hiruzen included, to scowl at him.

"Not only did he beat him, but he didn't take any hits except for one that he let Neji have on him. Now get off the field, you're interrupting a match." Genma stated making Kakashi gawk at him while Sasuke smirked and gave Naruto a thumbs up causing Naruto to nod towards him knowing he and Sasuke still had to have a fight later.#1

"Kakashi! Get off the field now." Hiruzen shouted making Sasuke shrug and head for the viewing area while Kakashi quickly left in a shunshin.

It wasn't that Sasuke didn't want to compete, but to be honest, Gaara kind of freaked him out. Plus, he was honestly expecting to be disqualified since Kakashi wasn't exactly known for his punctuality and being prompt. So he was honesty expecting to be disqualified, which wasn't that bad since Kakashi had run him through a few drills before they left so he wasn't 100%. Oh well, he'd talk with the others about the matches he missed and then watch to see how his teammate had improved.

"Alright, let the match between Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara Subaku continue." Genma called leaving the field once more as Gaara and Naruto stared at each other.

"See Gaara? Doesn't matter the village we come from, those like us are all the same. At some point or another, village residents whether their civilian or ninja despise us, hate us, and abuse us in some fashion. Granted you had it worse since your village actually tried to kill you while mine just wanted me to fall in a ditch and die. Still, unlike you I refuse to become the thing they see me as, I refuse to stoop to their level, and I refuse to become anything other than what I want to become." Naruto stated merely staring at Gaara while the Genin were all confused while the older ninja were wondering if he was actually going to state he was the container for the Kyubi or not.

Hiruzen and a few others merely sighed since Naruto was free to tell whoever he wanted and only hoped the younger generations wouldn't turn their back on him should he reveal his secret.

The sand and Sound Shinobi though were scared shitless at Naruto hinting he had a Biju sealed inside him too.

"That just makes you weak, why help others when you could just fight for yourself?" Gaara stated as his sand floated around him.

Naruto snorted, "Because what's the point of existing if you're all alone? What's the point of being the best if you have no one to share it with? How can you get stronger when all you want to protect is yourself? Your mother knew this lesson, it's why her strength is so impressive." Naruto stated making the Subaku siblings tense.

"Choose your next words carefully, Uzumaki." Gaara stated in a rare bout of emotion and showing anger.

"You really don't get it do you? That sand that protects you, it's your mother. She died as you were going through the sealing and I'm willing to bet she forced her will, love, and spirit into the seal and infused it in your sand. That's why it always protects you and never attacks anyone, she doesn't have it in her to harm people but she's not going to let anyone hurt you either." Naruto stated making the three siblings widen their eyes in shock as Gaara held his head in slight pain again.

"You can hear them can't you? Two different voices fighting it out in your head wanting you to follow their own advice and not the other's. But you don't know what to do or who to trust since the voices get jumbled and fight each other. But that's okay, you see I did this to give you a bit of closure and peace from your Biju, but I still have to beat you because my own Biju will not tolerate losing to one of its siblings especially since Shukaku was the prideful brat of the bunch." Naruto stated as Gaara grit his teeth while the Genin around the place and the nobles were shocked at Naruto stating he and Gaara held one of the Biju inside them.

Naturally, any and all sand Shinobi were scared out of their minds at the fact Naruto held a Biju and since Shukaku was the lowest on the tail count, Naruto assuredly had a stronger one sealed inside him.

It wasn't looking like the invasion was that good of an idea.

"Don't get me wrong Gaara, I feel for you and sympathize with you, but you made a costly mistake: you not only crippled a friend and comrade of mine, but you also tried to kill him TWICE. And THAT is unacceptable!"Naruto stated with his voice gaining an edge and demonic quality that caused many to flinch away as Naruto's eyes became ice cold.

Before anyone could say anything, Naruto vanished from his position and Gaara's sand quickly rose to protect him from harm and exploded as a foot passed Gaara's head by mere centimeters. However, when the sand tried to grab the foot, it burst into smoke showing it was a Shadow Clone before several more bursts of sand occurred as Gaara saw various limbs get within spitting distance of him.

"The problem Lee faced was that he had only one body to attack with, but I can make hundreds." Naruto's voice echoed from around the area as explosion after explosion of sand occurred, "I also figured out one little flaw in your sand." Naruto stated as the sand kept exploding before Naruto appeared before him a distance away with a smirk, "Boom." Naruto stated confusing everyone before a sizzling sound occurred and they saw dozens of Kunai with explosive notes.

Gaara had time to widen his eyes before a massive explosion occurred scattering sand all over the field and causing Temari to grow worried for her brother.

As the smoke cleared, they saw Gaara standing there panting as his sand protected him, but from the singe and burn marks in his clothes, the sand had only barely gotten there. It was also worth noting that a portion of his sand had turned to glass from the intense explosion.

Naruto smirked before he began a string of handseals, "Lightning Style: Rain of Chidori." Naruto stated surprising and shocking many at the name especially Sasuke, Guy, and Kakashi.

Naruto smirked and looked up causing everyone else to do so as dark storm clouds had gathered and everyone widened their eyes at seeing a swarm of chirping birds made of lightning launch from the cloud and heading right for Gaara, who quickly used his sand to shield him. However, that was what Naruto wanted.

As the birds impacted the sand, they exploded in a large display of lightning going in all directions and even fueling some of the other birds to become even bigger. In fact the lightning was so intense that it was super heating the sand and turning it into liquid glass. However, this just distracted Gaara from the next attack.

Said attack came from a half dozen clones launching out of the ground and flipping through handseals, "Water Style: Wild Water Wave." The clones called spewing large torrents of water at Gaara, who quickly made more sand and commanded it around him turning the sand to sludge, but that was only the first reaction.

The second reaction came as the birds began hitting the soaked sand destroying it because the hot and cold fighting each other caused it to become instant glass and shatter.

Gaara grit his teeth since no one had ever pushed him this hard or found ways to combat his sand. It was making him feel… elated, scared, excited. Finally someone worth killing and that could give him a real fight, "Yes! Fight me Uzumaki! This is the most fun I've had in years." Gaara stated with a bloodthirsty grin as the ground began turning more and more into sand as it lashed out and grabbed the clones and Naruto, "Sand Coffin." Gaara called as Naruto looked at him impassively while many tensed having seen what that move could do to people, "Sand Bur-"

"Boom." Naruto said before he and his clones all exploded forcing Gaara to shield himself with his arms since his usual sand was depleted.

When the smoke cleared, Gaara began looking around wildly before the ground beneath him cracked and he looked down wide eyed as Naruto emerged holding a blue spiraling sphere, "Rasengan!" Naruto shouted slamming the ball into Gaara's chest making him scream in pain as he was launched back into a tree while also getting cut from the shards of glass that were everywhere.

Meanwhile, all the adult Shinobi were shocked at the Rasengan, even Orochimaru was stunned. A boy not even 16 fully using the Fourth Hokage's second most famous Jutsu and an A rank one at that! It was unheard of.

"W-where did he learn that and in such a short time?!" Kakashi stuttered out and Kurenai smirked.

"Jiriaya-sama taught him it. Naruto had it down in under a week." Kurenai stated shocking many others.

"What's so special about that Jutsu?" Sakura asked and most of the adults smirked.

"It's an A rank Jutsu that the Fourth Hokage himself created." Asuma stated shocking the Genin as they turned back to the arena and saw Naruto walking towards Gaara, who had his torso bare and it was both burned and bleeding.

"W-what is this? Blood? It-it's… IT'S MY BLOOD!" Gaara stated before freaking out only to be pinned to the tree by Naruto's hand around his throat and his sand armor was completely gone, "No! Stay away from me." Gaara stated in fear as he tried to summon some sand or any strength to resist.

"You have no more chakra, you have no more sand, you have nothing between you and meeting the Shinigami right now except my whim." Naruto stated lifting Gaara off the ground easily and holding him there as Gaara weakly clawed at his arm and grit his bloody teeth, "I want to talk to Shukaku, now." Naruto stated surprising many even Gaara showed his surprise, "Either let him out or I'll beat your face in until you lose consciousness." Naruto stated making Gaara close his eyes and slowly he slumped over.

Just as sand erupted up from the ground, Naruto shocked everyone again by releasing a chakra chain from his back and it quickly ensnared Gaara's body.

Everyone who knew of Kushina Uzumaki was stunned and in shock at seeing Naruto use her fabled adamantine chains. It showed to some of the slower people that Naruto had to indeed be a true Uzumaki to use it while some of the smarter and "in the know" people quickly saw the resemblance.

Gaara's head rose and showed his eyes were black with a gold shuriken design, "Let me go you fucking bastard!" Shukaku stated with his own voice and Gaara's mixing since he couldn't get a true possession because of the damn chain around him.

Shukaku then turned his head as Naruto backhanded him, "Watch your mouth Shukaku, with your partial possession I can kill you simply by ending Gaara's life and you wouldn't return in a year like you normally would." Naruto threatened with a glare as Shukaku, realizing that since he was technically only halfway out of the seal, he'd be utterly screwed if Gaara died right now, "Good boy, now I want you to listen very carefully because I'm not repeating myself." Naruto stated making Shukaku nod slightly, "You're going to leave Gaara alone from now on and let him sleep, you're only going to possess him if the situation is life or death for him and he can't fight anymore. You're also going to let him hear and speak to his mother without your interference. If I hear even a whisper of you causing him problems again, I will slowly tear you out of your seal and imprison you so tightly you'll BEG to be put back in the tea kettle." Naruto stated with his eyes and tone becoming so cold you'd think he had ice in his veins.

"Y-you're bluffing, removing me will kill Gaara!" Shukaku stated with some fear, that damn tea kettle was the worst and now this guy was possibly going to seal him up even tighter?

"I don't bluff, and you're making the assumption I don't know how to extract you without killing Gaara." Naruto stated making Shukaku and the gathered Shinobi's eyes widen in fear and shock respectfully, "Besides, if it came down to it, I think Gaara wouldn't mind dying to get payback against you and the chance to finally meet his mother in person and not what she was able to impart on his seal." Naruto stated and Shukaku could tell Naruto was dead serious, there was no bluffing, hesitation, deceit, or anything that would give Shukaku hope in his eyes.

"Alight! Fine, you win. Just don't seal me up like that again." Shukaku states and Naruto nodded.

"Good, now bring Gaara back out." Naruto stated making Shukaku grumble and Naruto raised an eyebrow, [Kyubi, did Shukaku just complain about "damn Kurama and his host"?] Naruto thought to his tenant, who was growling and grumbling.

[Yes, he did. Pain in the ass idiot! I guess you know my name now, brat]. Kurama complained since he wanted Naruto to earn his name.

[Ah, well I'll be fair, I'll only call you by your name when you start calling me by mine or at least stop calling me brat]. Naruto thought back making Kurama grunt as Naruto turned his attention back to the awakening Gaara.

Gaara gasped awake and looked at Naruto in both shock and fear, "Y-you scared Shukaku." Gaara stated and Naruto frowned before slamming Gaara into the tree shattering the bark and causing Gaara to gasp in pain.

"Remember this moment, Gaara. Because if you ever try and harm a comrade of mine again, I will end your existence without hesitation and I won't even flinch doing it." Naruto stated making Gaara nod weakly before Naruto tossed him to the center of the field, though it also caused some more pain due to him hitting the ground and rolling over rock, dirt, sand, and glass, "He's done." Naruto stated walking away before he paused as feathers started falling.

Naruto snorted before he built up his chakra and released it in a pulse shattering the genjutsu around the stadium. Immediately, the ambushers were ambushed themselves and killed quickly while explosions echoed out from the Hokage box and outside the village.

However the outside ones weren't from the enemy, they were from Naruto's traps quickly removing several of the invaders charging for the walls and gates.

Acting quickly, Naruto summoned his sword from a seal and immediately created and sent out hundreds of clones to help keep casualties on the village's side to a low quantity. A clone also grabbed Gaara and placed chakra seals and suppression's seals on him to ensure no one could try and force Shukaku out.

Of course, his siblings and sensei tried to interfere only Kankuro was intercepted by Shino and his insects, Genma blocked Baki, and another clone blocked Temari while the real Naruto jumped to the stands to help his team and classmates.

"Give me back my brother!" Temari shouted swinging her fan at the Naruto before her only for the clone to catch her fan and delivered a punch to her gut knocking the air from her lungs and launching her away. The clone then showed the difference in strength as he bent her fan in half before throwing it and hitting Baki in the back letting Genma incapacitate him and a clone quickly scooped him up and put seals on him while another clone did the same to Temari.

A clone near Shino saw Kankuro's puppet attempting to release a poison cloud on Shino as a last act of defiance and quickly flipped through handseals, "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough." The clone shouted pushing the poison away from Shino and into a group of Sound ninja that were moving to flank a few Jonin.

Shino nodded to the clone as another came and took Kankuro after the seals were put on him. Shino then moved to join his father and carry out any orders given and tried to ignore the dying gasps and screams from the Sound ninja.

The real Naruto quickly cut down a Sound ninja near him before throwing a Kunai into a Sand Shinobi's head as he attempted to flank Anko, while still keeping an eye on his former classmates, "Sakura, Ino, Choji, take formation around Lee, I don't want these assholes trying to target him while he's wounded." Naruto shouted parrying a kunai and head butting the offender before grabbing them and throwing them into a squad moving towards Kakashi and Guy.

"Right." Choji stated as he tackled a Shinobi aiming for Lee and knocked him out. Ino and Sakura quickly moved with him to help before three kunai hit some charging Jonin taking them out before Anko landed beside them.

"Keep your wits up brats, I am not burying any of you so look sharp." Anko stated fighting off a few more Shinobi.

Just as another squad was going to rush them, Naruto appeared in front of them and bisected them with a swing from the Kubikiribōchō before he twisted it sideways to block a hail of kunai.

"Naruto, that… that sword." Sakura started to say as Naruto kept fighting.

"Save it for after we live through this. We kind of have a war going on." Naruto shouted as he quickly launched another Great Breakthrough at a group of enemies sending them over the railing to the field below.

It took a few more minutes before the stands were clear and a few more screams echoed out from outside the stadium. Naruto then created a few dozen more clones and sent them out to help the areas a clone had dispelled in before creating another three, "You three, escort Lee to an evacuation area then go further support the hospital. You see any straggling clones send them to the Academy, hospital, or Hokage Tower." Naruto ordered making the clones nod before two grabbed Lee and took off with one following them.

Naruto then turned towards the village and began walking off, "Naruto, stay with the group!" Kakashi ordered and Naruto waved him off.

"I have my orders, Kakashi, and I intend to fulfill them." Naruto stated glancing at him, "Kin, stay with Kurenai or Anko, do not go anywhere alone." Naruto ordered making her nod.

"Yes sir." Kin stated before kissing his cheek shocking the Genin there before Naruto jumped up onto the Stadium wall and flipped through seals before slamming his hands on the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu." Naruto called as a cloud of smoke occurred and two large toads came. One was a large blue toad with two swords on his back named Gamahiro and the other was a magenta toad with a sasumata staff and a shield named Gamaken, "Alright, you two know what to do." Naruto stated making them nod before jumping off.

Naruto popped his neck before seeing Jiraiya with Hiruzen facing Orochimaru and the first two Hokages in a fight. Naruto frowned before making a mental note to take care of the stragglers before coming back since Hiruzen wasn't as strong as he used to be. Making a clone, he ordered it to stay and observe to ensure nothing went wrong before he took off.

Jumping off the wall and running along the roofs, Naruto came across an Inuzuka female with three hounds fending off a squad of six Jonin, but another group was coming in to flank her. Not liking that, Naruto jumped down with a massive overhead swing and roared as he slammed Kubikiribōchō onto the ground at its full length sending a large wave of wind at the flanking group.

The few who dodged had to see the ones hit get split in half before Naruto was upon them with his sword back to katana length. Using surprise to help him, Naruto cut one in half before twisting to dodge a kunai and lashed out with a mule kick sending the enemy back before Naruto spun and cleaved another while delivering a kick to a second attacker.

Looking over his shoulder, he quickly threw a kunai at an enemy that was moving to attack the Inuzuka from behind killing him and letting the Inuzuka take advantage of the enemy in front of her being surprised.

It only took another minute or so to finish the stragglers and Naruto had clones incapacitate the wounded and take them off to a prisoner area before nodding to the Inuzuka and, after noting she wasn't hurt, took off again.

As he jumped, Naruto was idly glad for Ibiki teaching him how to essentially deaden himself to the world when in combat. Taking a life wasn't something he was fully comfortable with, but he understood it and he would have time to puke, shudder, and process when they weren't stuck in a war or it could cost him or someone else dearly.

The Inuzuka, who happened to be Hana Inuzuka, watched the blond go and was surprised at seeing him since from what she heard, he was the dead last of the Academy. However, his fighting and mannerisms didn't show that at all, she'd swear she was looking at a veteran as he fought. Being friends with Kurenai, Yugao, and Anko let her know that he was getting trained, but this was a whole other level than what she thought she'd see. She'd have to look into him a bit after this mess was over.

Off at the wall, Ibiki stood there with a smirk on his face as he saw the charging hoard of enemies be reduced to a small few through various traps including punji stick traps (both pit and swinging), pit falls, exploding seals, electrifying seals, adhesive traps, gas bombs, flash bombs, swinging logs, kunai spring traps, razor wire traps, bolo traps, spear traps, and more all aimed to incapacitate or kill. The few the traps didn't get had to survive Konoha forces launching attacks and then Jiriaya riding Gamabunta as well.

This effectively made the defenders only have to deal with 10% of the invasion force on the outside and any that tried to flee from inside the village would get caught in the remaining traps.

Naruto truly lived up to his "Prankster King of Hell" nickname that the various ninja gave him from his early years. The different intricacies and layouts just made it impossible not to set off at least one trap if you didn't know where they were.

He broke from his musings as a Chunin came up, "Sir, more than half of the enemy force that made it to the wall has been handled whether through our own people or the different defenses that Naruto-san set up before hand." The Chunin reported making Ibiki nod.

"Good, once we handle the rest, I want a portion of our forces to help sweep the village. I don't want to risk enemies staying in the village causing problems for us for Kami knows how long." Ibiki ordered making the Chunin nod and leave to give the orders.

In another part of the village, Hanabi Hyuga was having a bad day as she was trying to fight a Chunin that was trying to capture her while he guards were being attacked by a squad of Jonin and were having difficulty. Currently she was against the wall panting with her clothing having some cuts and blood on them while her opponent was brandishing a kunai with one hand as the other arm was dangling by his side.

The problem was that Hanabi was getting tired and wasn't going to last much longer. As the Chunin jumped at her, she instinctively closed her eyes only to hear a gasp and the sound of flesh beings pierced. The sound was soon followed by more of the same noises before several soft thuds occurred.

When Hanabi tried to open her eyes, she felt a hand come over them, "It's alright Hyuga-san, you're safe, but keep your eyes closed." Naruto's clone stated making her relax a bit, "I'll be helping escort you to the shelter." The clone stated to the two guards, who nodded, "Now miss, I'm going to remove my hand, but keep your eyes closed, trust me." The clone stated making Hanabi frown and nod her head before the hand was removed and she was turned with the guards taking position next to her and the clone behind.

Once Hanabi opened her eyes, the group took off with Hanabi not seeing the dozen or so dead bodies with some being dismembered, decapitated, run through, or stabbed in the head and blood filling the street slowly. The guards would make sure to mention this occurrence to Hiashi after this was all over.

In yet another part of the village, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino were with Kurenai escorting the group of Academy students to the shelter while one in particular was being a pain in the ass, "Aw c'mon! We can fight too!" Konohamaru complained as they were led off with Iruka helping keep them together.

"Konohamaru, enough. You're too young to be trying to defend the village and you're not even a full fledged ninja yet." Iruka stated finding Kono to be an almost exact replica of Naruto at that age.

Before anything else could be said, a scream of pain echoed out making them tense before a person smashed through the building on their right and collided with the one on their left. They tensed before seeing it was a sand ninja and he looked to be in rough shape.

"Son of bitch sand ninja. Attacking me while I'm helping a kid and tearing my cloak." They heard Naruto grumble as he stepped out from the building on the right and the bottom of his coat was a bit cut up, which only made it a bit cooler since it looked like a flame design on the bottom.

"Boss!" Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon all shouted as they rushed to him and he chuckled as they tackled him in a hug though he stayed standing.

"Good to see you three are alright, but you gotta keep moving." Naruto stated as he ruffled Kono's hair.

"Aw, c'mon boss, we can help you. We're strong." Kono stated and Naruto smiled before he knelt in front of him and put his hand on Kono's shoulder.

"I know you're strong, Kono, that's why I want you to go with the others." Naruto stated making Kono tilt his head in confusion, "Kono, the other kids and the civilians need as much protection as they can get. If the enemy gets to them, then they'll be killed, that's why I want you there: to protect them. Who better to protect them than my rival and friend?" Naruto asked making Kono look at him in surprise before he grinned, "So can you do that for me?" Naruto asked making Kono nod.

"Of course Boss!" Kono shouted and Naruto nodded.

"Good, and listen to Iruka, he may be a bit boring at times, but he knows what he's doing." Naruto stated before sending them back to the group and nodding to the others.

Iruka, Hinata, and Kurenai smiled at the scene while the latter two noted he'd be a good father, which caused both of them to blush at the thought, "Everyone, go quickly." Naruto stated giving a pointed look to Kurenai and Iruka as he saw Akamaru sniffing the air.

"He's right, let's go." Iruka stated as they began moving again while Naruto waved to the others.

However, once they were out of sight, Naruto's eyes hardened and he summoned his Butterfly Swords. Turning around, he found two squads of Sand and Sound ninja coming towards him, "You're not touching those kids." Naruto stated with an edge to his voice as he readied himself.

The Shinobi smirked thinking this would be an easy win… before Naruto leapt at them with a war cry and cut down two of them in quick succession. Before the others could try anything, three clones dropped in from above and killed them with their swords before throwing kunai into three others.

Another dropped into the center with a full length Kubikiribōchō in hand and swung around decapitating several while a few were fast enough to dodge away. However, they're relief was short lived as the four clones attacked them immediately putting them on the defensive.

However, before the real Naruto could join in on the attack, he froze as a clone popped and sent him the memories causing him to curse and make another two dozen Shadow Clones to help out before he took off back to the stadium.

As he left, he had to snort in amusement as different clone memories showed the enemy losing. It was amazing how easily veteran and elite ninja could be taken down because they got cocky, arrogant, or just didn't bother to pay attention to their surroundings.

Then again, Orochimaru probably just grabbed any and all ninja he could and didn't care about how strong they were. He just wanted bodies and cannon fodder to throw at his enemies to overwhelm them with numbers and surprise.

Shaking those thoughts away for another time, Naruto pushed chakra to his legs and sped up his movements.

Stadium: Rooftop just above Kage seating.

Hiruzen was having a rough day. While it was good to see Naruto living up to his potential so flawlessly, it didn't help that an invasion was going to occur and he'd be fighting his old student again. However, thanks to Naruto's work he knew of his student's plans and the way he was going to fulfill those plans, so he himself could plan accordingly.

Hence why he had Jiraiya with him while a clone of the Sannin was handling the snake summons with Gamabunta.

However, even that wasn't solving the problem that much since the two of them had only stopped Orochimaru from summoning three of the five beings he was attempting to summon. Apparently his spies being exposed and two of his pawns being captured made him up his plans a bit so he had prepared five summons for the Edo Tensei instead of the original three.

While certainly great that he didn't summon another entity, him summoning the first two Hokage wasn't that confidence inspiring even with Jiraiya going into Sage Mode to help fight the three opponents.

They couldn't get any support either due to Orochimaru's guards creating a barrier around the roof they were fighting on, which was supposed to be handled by two squads of Anbu and only one showed up, late. He could only assume that Kabuto or another pawn of Orochimaru's had thinned any nearby ninja just in case things went bad.

Lucky for him, reinforcement was arriving courtesy of the clone Naruto left to watch the situation.

Naruto landed on the rooftop looking over the situation and then saw the Anbu standing there and blinked, "Why the fuck are you just standing here?" Naruto asked with a growl.

"W-we can't do anything, the barrier destroys anything that touches it." The Anbu captain stated since Hiruzen had made it clear that Naruto was to be treated with respect thanks to his help planning the counter for the invasion.

Naruto facepalmed, "For the love kami." Naruto groaned before sighing, "Follow me and be quick about it." Naruto stated as he went to the edge and they quickly followed as he went under the roof and had them go to the four corners, "Alright Cap, you should each be under the four guards. However, you're specifically under a redhead, do not kill her, she's a valued capture target." Naruto stated making them nod as he formed a Rasengan, "Give me a 40 second head-start then attack." Naruto stated making them nod as they drew their weapons and readied themselves.

Up above, Orochimaru was smirking as he stood before Hiruzen, who was panting and trying to keep fighting even as Hashirama and Tobirama prepared to continue. Jiraiya was also panting while keeping the two former Kage busy as long as possible.

"Such a pitiful sight, Sarutobi-sensei. To see you in such a state, it brings glee to my heart." Orochimaru chuckled as Hiruzen readied for another round.

"You'll find you'll be disappointed with how you think this is going to turn out Orochimaru." Hiruzen stated as he was trying to catch his breath. He'd have been down for the count much sooner if not for the fact him using Shadow Clones to do paperwork gave him more time to relax and get some old people sleep. However, right now he was fully prepared to sacrifice his life to take Orochimaru down with him.

Orochimaru merely chuckled, "Oh sensei, still the naïve sentimental foo-" Orochimaru taunted before he widened his eyes in shock as the roof beneath him split open and Naruto was coming right at him with a Rasengan in hand.

"Eat this you bastard." Naruto shouted shoving it into Orochimaru's chest causing him to scream in pain as he was launched back and slammed into the barrier burning him even further.

"Lord Orochimaru!" The Sound Four shouted before the ground under them caved in causing them to fall and be met with Anbu attacking them causing the barrier to fail.

Naruto then had to duck as Hashirama attacked him, only he surprised the Kage slightly by exploding sending him tumbling back. Before he could clear the disorientation, Naruto slammed Kubikiribōchō into his head splitting it in two and quickly jabbed his hands forward and tore the talisman from him causing him to stop as he reformed.

"Hashirama-sama, we need to get the talisman out of your brother's head next." Naruto stated making him nod as he went to help Jiraiya against his brother while Naruto stayed beside Hiruzen, "You're getting sloppy, Gramps." Naruto stated making Hiruzen snort as Orochimaru shed his skin and glared at Naruto, both for ruining his plans and for hitting him with a Jutsu like that.

Being too angry to think straight, he charged straight at Naruto and the two locked blades with Orochimaru glaring hatefully.

Naruto, knowing he couldn't handle Orochimaru right now and hearing the Anbu struggling to handle the Sound Four, decided to try out his new attack that Kin gave him an idea for. Smirking at the snake, Naruto charged chakra to his vocal cords, "Chaksaka!"#2 Naruto shouted before Orochimaru screamed in pain and dropped his sword.

Orochimaru was furious at the boy before him. Ruining his careful planning, keeping the Shukaku Jinchuriki from transforming, and now keeping him from killing Hiruzen! It was infuriating! As he locked blades with the boy, he was surprised to see the Kubikiribōchō in his hand and made a note to take it after he killed the brat.

However, it was then he noticed the smirk on the brat's face and felt a very cold chill go down his spine.

When Naruto shouted at him, Orochimaru flinched since the shout was loud, but that was soon blocked out as blinding pain surged through his arms while it felt like his ribs had just shattered. It only worsened as the pain stayed but he couldn't move his arms at all. He couldn't even make a finger twitch.

Naruto then spartan kicked him back making Orochimaru gasp in even greater pain especially when Hiruzen swatted him with Enma's adamantine staff form hitting him in the torso as well.

Orochimaru hit the roof and rolled before coming to a stop as he tried to get up and was joined by Kabuto and the three males of the Sound Four. However, they were a bit worse for wear as the big one had a large cut on his chest, the multi-armed one was missing one of said arms, and the two headed one had a stab wound through his stomach.

"Lord Orochimaru! Are you alright?!" The big one of the Sound Four asked only to get a glare from Kabuto and Orochimaru.

"Of course I'm not, you imbecile!" Just get me out of here." Orochimaru ordered while gritting his teeth at the fact he'd have to leave Kusanagi behind, but with the brat, Hiruzen, Jiraiya, and now the two former Hokage ready to fight there was no way he could get the sword back. Especially with his arms not working so he couldn't even make it move from afar.

Kabuto nodded and threw down several smoke bombs just as Naruto threw some shuriken at them. As the smoke cleared it showed a group of logs and nothing else, "Dammit." Naruto cursed as he sealed Kubikiribōchō away and sighed before seeing Kusanagi.

Walking over to it, he picked it up and swung it a few times finding he liked he feel of it. Kubikiribōchō was a good blade, but it was limited to chopping and slashing since you couldn't really stab with it. Having Kusanagi would give him more options and give him a second blade if needed.

Hiruzen raised his eyebrow in curiosity and surprise since from what he knew, Kusanagi was a picky sword with who wielded it and yet didn't seem to mind Naruto using it at all. His first guess was that since Naruto had disarmed and, technically, beaten Orochimaru that the sword was alright with Naruto using it.

"That boy, who is he Hiruzen?" Hashirama asked breaking Hiruzen from his thoughts.

"He's Naruto Uzumaki, the last known confirmed member of your wife's clan." Hiruzen stated sadly making Hashirama gain a shocked look before he lowered his head in sadness.

"I see, that is unfortunate. From what I've seen, he will become a great ninja indeed. Just make sure he's able to do it." Hashirama stated as he saw him fighting in the stadium after he was summoned and then being able to outmaneuver Orochimaru and even himself to a point was impressive. He broke from his musings upon seeing his body start to break apart, "Ah, it seems our time is done." Hashirama stated and Hiruzen nodded.

"It was good to see you again, sensei. I hope I have done you proud as the village's Kage." Hiruzen stated and Hashirama nodded with a smile that Tobirama reciprocated.

"You've more than done that, Hiruzen, you've kept the Will of Fire burning proudly and we are proud of you." Hashirama stated as he and his brother fully faded away leaving the corpses of two Sound Ninja behind.

Naruto walked back over and was surprised that when he was going to seal Kusanagi away for the time being, the blade retracted into the snake handle's mouth leaving just the handle, "Huh, that's convenient." Naruto thought before he placed it in a pouch and turned to his leader and his sensei.

"Well, shall we go help with the mop up?" Jiraiya asked making the two nod before they headed off to help finish the invasion.

Things would be changing soon, and they'd be for the better…depending on your view of course.

Done!

Hope you all enjoyed it and will fav, follow, and review.

Next time begins the hunt for Tsunade.

I'm going to go on record here with I'm not sure on pairings/relationships Naruto will have through this fic, so you'll have to wait and see what I do since some will be serious, some will be flings, and still some will be closer to friends with benefits/no strings attached sex encounters.

#1 still not sure if I'm going to bash Sasuke since, as I've stated before, he was decent guy until the second mind rape by Itachi and then that one traitor messing with his head even further. Plus I do believe his mother surviving would change the tide of darkness that was in him.

Now I'm not saying I'm going to make him the best person in the world next to Naruto, but I don't believe I'm going to turn him into a total ass that would slit his mother's throat to gain power.

#2 this is one of the phrases from Dune the movie when they are doing the Weirding Module training and then later when Paul shouts and splits the ground with just his voice.

I'll be going into deeper mechanics of it for this fic next chapter since it's not as simple as "channel chakra to vocal cords and shout." This is also only one version of the sound based attacks Naruto/I will use in this.

For what happened to Orochimaru specifically, well if you've seen Dune then you can recall what Paul said was possible with the Weirding Way. For those that haven't, you'll have to wait til next chapter.

I think that's it, see you all next time.