Naruto saw the blade just in time, and perfomed Shadow Clone Jutsu. The one Naruto appeared, and caught the real one as it fell onto the blade, tossing him aside is it exploded into the air.

"Good, Naruto," Sasuke said, grinning at his opponent. "Using a move usually used for offense defensively. But not good enough!" Quickly, the kunai was tossed, and Sasuke focused his chakra into it, which suddenly was thousands of blades, all hurling at Naruto!

"Gah!" Naruto screamed and jumped out of the way of most of the blades, but was unable to avoid one, which hit him squarely in the shouilder, and a second, which missed him, but hit the first and pushed it deeper inside. That, that was incredible! Naruto looked around quickly, Gamabunta's summoning, and that of the great snake, had put out most of the flames, and missed water balls had done the rest, so the building was safe. Kunai were now all over the room, and half of the building sported mass scorch marks. Not only did Sasuke use the Shaow Clone Jutsu on the kunai instead of himself, he used a Shadow Shuriken Jutsu to fire to shots at once at me with each of them! Even if he only managed to hit me with one, the one behind it would drive it into me. Naruto looked at his shoulder. And that was exactly what he did. That was my Rasengan arm!

"Concede, Naruto," Sasuke observed his opponent with a smirk grin. "You can't use your Rasengan now, and I haven't even dipped into the power of the curse mark yet." The black marks emerged on his body even as he said it. "I don't want to kill you. Don't make me."

"If you don't want me kill me, than sit there and take it! that's the only way you can stop me from being Hokage! Believe it!" Naruto tugged the kunai out of his shoulder, groaning with pain, as he coughed blood, and tapped deeper into the Kyuubi's powers. Come on, you stupid fox! I know your soul's in there! You can't use your chakra anymore, but you now how to use chakra to heal! use mine, unless you want to die with me! Kyuubi responded as Naruto knew he would, and quickly healed Naruto, though using the last of the foxes chakra, along with a good deal of his own. Naruto roared, and charged, performing Rasnegan again. Sasuke looked shocked for a moment, then performed Chidori, Blasting towards Naruto at top speed: Sasuke's chakra had increased tenfold since he had learned the technique, and he used lightning edge on his feet as well as his hands to increase his momentum. Rasengan met Chidori once again, though this time, Naruto spat blood, while a grinning Sasuke dissapeared into a puff of smoke.

"I used a clone jutsu to distract you while I came up to you from behind. You were focusing on my chidori from in front of you, when in reality, the one from behind would be the killing move. You're finished." the seventh sighed as Naruto fell to the ground, gasping for breath and leaking blood from his entire body. "Well, he did ask for it, it was his own foolish self who wanted to die." Sasuke bent and picked up the aspiring hokage, wishing to bring him back to his wife. It was then, while Sasuke was bent and his back was turned, that he felt the powerful sphere ram into his back. Sasuke screamed, and felt his very body give way to the enormous power of the Rasengan. The clone in Sasuke's arms had vanished, Naruto had won.

"Great minds think alike, former Hokage." Naruto sadly smiled, sighing as he drove the Rasengan deeper into his teammate's back. "It wasn't just me who should have been watching his back. I got you from behind too. The light in Sasuke's eyes drifted as Naruto fell. "I... I did it... I'm... I'm finally... Hokage..."

"Don't count on it." A swarm of insect flew in, as blasts of concentrated chakra filled the room. Neji and Shino came in on one side, Lee and Tenten on the other.

"We could not stop the fight before, for Lord Hokage's wishes, but we must defeat you now, for we were forced to vow, upon becoming guardians, not to rest until the slayer of the Hokage was killed." Lee frowned, tears in his eyes. "You have been a great friend to us, Naruto, it is a shame that you must die this way."

My... chakra... completely drained... Multiple Rasengan, while keeping clone jutsu active, coupled with the summoning of Gamebunta and keeping Transformation Jutsus active for days, had used the last of his chakra. He fell, flat on his face, simply glad to have finally accomplished his goal, even if it was for a short time.

"For the record," Shino knelt to Naruto, taking off his glasses and smirking. "The law states you have to kill the guards of the Hokage before becoming one yourself. This is why Orochimaru wasn't a Hokage nineteen years ago, and why you could never be one now. Now, you would simply be even more of an outcast, expelled from the village, if not killed for your actions. Had you payed more attention to Master Iruka's orders, perhaps you would have known this."

"No - " Naruto could not let himself believe it.

"Yes," Neji said, catching on to Shino: They were no match for Naruto, even if he was low on chakra. Neji, after all, had cut off Naruto's points and he was still able to use ninjutsu. It would be better to demoralize him, end the fight before it happened. "All of this was pointless. The only thing you can do now is leave the village. I would take your wife and child, if you truly cared for them. They'll just end up being killed if you don't."

Naruto was furious. Never... be... Hoklage! But I was so close! Is that why Sasuke didn't let them come in? Why wouldn't he let me be Hokage? I deserve it! No! Ican't let this slip through my fingers! I will be Hokage, no matter what it takes! I just have to kill the guards, that's all, it shouldn't be a problem, I did, afterall, beat the Hokage... Naruto struggled to get up, growling with his rage. "If you guys think I'm just gonna give up you're dead wrong! I'll kill all of you if I have to! I'll be Hokage, just watch!

Tenten threw a shuriken which struck him in the small of the back. Naruto screamed, and Tenten looked down at him as he fell again. "You might be able to beat just one of us, but as weak as you are right now, there's no way you can take all four of us."

"She's right, Naruto," Neji looked down as well. "Surrender and leave, now. I will not be responsible if you don't."

"NO!" Naruto looked up with fire in his beast-like eyes. His whiskers were tentimes longer than they were, and chakra from his back end had begun to form a tail. Then another emerged, and another. Naruto was Naruto no more. Rage had overtaken him. He had become the nine-tailed fox.

Alright, I was in a hurry with this one, so I apoligize if it seems a little rushed, or if the battle wasn't what you thought it should be.

Next time: Naruto fights against the fox while it fights with all four of the Hokage's guards, and the true price of becoming Hokage is fulfilled. Don't miss the next chapter of this fic, "Naruto no more", in the next couple months or so! Also, thanx to one faithful reader, who reminded me to get my butt in gear with this one. (You know who you are. ) :-)