Imperial Guard of Konoha

Chapter 5

"Again," A young voice shouted across an in-door training room and two groans of pain and misery followed. Naruto looked at children who were slacking off on the ground, tired and sweaty, yet complied nevertheless. The two wore simple white training Kimono tops and blue hakama pants and were barefooted on a mat that covered the floor in the dojo.

Rukia and Renji stood on shaky legs, that felt like lead. They lifted their hands both swore weighed more than the training weight they used earlier and put up them in the right position. Naruto walked over to them and carefully observed their forms and used a wooden stick to correct their stance. Once he was satisfied, he took a step back. "Begin," He commanded and the two went slowly and fluidly through the katas that the blond and Kakashi had been teaching them over the past week.

If someone were to ask the two orphans about their last week, they would call it hell. Kakashi had decided to help Naruto with his charges and took a week off missions as a vacation to train Renji and Rukia. The young ANBU gave them what he dubbed as 'A week crash-course into the Shinobi arts' trying to cram as much as he could in the given time limit.

Their days started at six in the morning when they ran around the compound in the winter weather, after which he would give them sets of push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, crunches, and any other exercises he deemed necessary. of the two, Renji was in much better shape than Rukia and didn't get as tired as her after the warm-up, however, that didn't mean he wasn't tired. Then, they would meet with Naruto for breakfast, during which the blond gave them lectures and taught them the most important rules of Shinobi. After they ate, they would be given back to the scarecrow who would ask them about what Naruto taught them, if they answered right, they had three minutes of rest, if they failed, they had to hold a plank for three minutes.

Rukia seemed to remember much better what the blond lectured and thus was able to rest her body more than Renji, who more than often had to stay the whole time in plank position. However, at the end of the quiz sessions, he seemed to be able to remember all that the blond taught them, since Kakashi always gave them an answer to the question he asked, and repeated the questions a few times so that whatever they learned stuck with them.

Then they would be given an hour to rest from nine to ten. Then came the Chakra exercises. Since most Children learned how to mold chakra at five when they joined the academy to develop their Chakra network from the beginning and Rukia and Renji were nine and had to yet use their Chakra, these lessons were used to get them used to molding Chakra and training their control, while enlarging their Chakra capacity.

After three hours of training with their chakra, they joined Naruto at a small early lunch, since their bodies needed to grow and the two were already on the thin side. After lunch, they were given time to rest till four, which the two spent lazing around in hopes of conserving their strength for further training. Naruto would join them for some time during their rest and tell them the less important stuff that could be learned in the future, like the history of Konoha and elemental Nations. He would sometimes talk about their future responsibilities as part of the Imperial Guard and what they would be training in once they came to an acceptable level.

At three in the afternoon they would have dinner and at four Kakashi would train them for three hours on Taijutsu. The two orphans soon found out that Kakashi was very strict when it came to the form and fluidity of their moves and would make them repeat for as long as needed before moving on. After all, they wanted to teach them as much as possible during this short time, but that didn't mean Kakashi would forgo quality over quantity. They finished the day with another set of running and calisthenics before they took a shower at another meal and went to bed. Wake up on the next day and repeat throughout the whole week.

Coming back from his musing, the blond nodded at the two, having seen them went through the Katas enough for a pass. Not great, but still a passing grade. When they saw him nod, they two fell to the ground. This was their eighth day of training and Naruto had decided to see their progress in Taijutsu, so he said they wouldn't be going through the normal training today, just hand-to-hand combat. The two were relieved to hear that, hoping to get done fast and take the day off to rest since they have been training non-stop for a whole week.

They soon came to learn that naruto was even more strict when it came to their form than Kakashi and their hopes were quashed after the first two hours. Now, after six hours of grueling training, Naruto has deemed that they passed his quality check and Rukia was never so relieved. She felt that she would collapse if they had to go another round. The worst part of this was that Naruto decided to pass them only when thew both of them would do well enough at the same time, so when one screwed, the other was also forced to do it again.

"Not bad, not bad at all. You two are progressing quite well, but I didn't expect anything else from you two," Naruto said with a small smile as he put away the wooden stick he used to correct their form and sometimes hit them when they did something very wrong. Renji groaned and rolled over to look at the blond with only one eye open in exhaustion.

"No wonder you graduated early if you went through this training regime," The red-haired boy grumbled, content to lie on the sweaty mat. Naruto gave him a confused look and shook his head with a small laugh.

"I didn't go through such training," The blond said with an amused smile and the two older children turned to him with glares.

"What do you mean by that?" She didn't know where from, but Rukia suddenly had enough strength to shout out the question while burning holes in the blond's face. Her and Renji's reaction caused him to laugh again, but seeing their angry gazes, Naruto decided to explain what he meant.

"Well, the workout you did for a whole day? It would have been a warm-up for me today," His statement, stunned the two other children into a shocked silence.

"W-What?" Renji sputtered, not believing what Genin just said.

"Well, my current training regime would probably be too hard for the two, even if yous split it between yourself. You would end up in the hospital for a few weeks with soreness as you would never imagine possible. Even when I started training at five, my training was a bit harder than yours now and I didn't spread it across the whole day, just the afternoon. After it, I would go for a training session with Itachi and Shisui. Well, there was also the training at the academy I did in the morning but it was much easier than what you would expect from this place,"

They couldn't imagine how someone at the age of five would push himself so hard, but here he was, a blond kid a year younger than them. They felt their respect rise for Naruto, even though it already was very high since he gave them a way out of the streets and was helping train them, something that neither of the two expected to happen to them.

"But don't feel too bad about it, I am just that awesome," He said with a grin, making the two give him deadpan looks. It baffled Rukia how he could act so strict and serious one moment and then change into an arrogant and cheeky brat. It was something she and Renji experienced throughout the week and still couldn't get used to.

"Is there a reason you are pushing us so hard?" Renji asked, surprising Rukia. Her red-headed friend always wanted to get stronger so he could protect her and himself when they lived on the streets. Naruto nodded with a serious expression and looked at both of them.

"Yes, a very important reason. This division will be officially opened once I am eleven years old and if the old man deems me strong enough. Till then I have time to train and recruit any potential members, to make it easier once everything is official. The reason why I am training you is that only Chunin-level Shinobi will be allowed to join the Imperial Guard and then they will go through rigorous training to bring them up to the expected level. This division is meant to be Konoha's shield and spear, its first line of defense and offense. Therefore, all members must be strong enough to fulfill their duties, and those who are not able to do so will have to leave the division and go back to the regular Shinobi Corps,"

"You will have tomorrow to relax and then you will be given a new training schedule by Kakashi. It will be slightly easier than your current, but you will have to work on some things alone, at least for the time, since I will be taking the Chunin exams soon. You will also be given a weekly stipend from my clan coffers as are currently the elves. See your two around," Naruot gave them a smile and left the two to rest.

As Naruto was walking down the streets of the old Uzumaki Clan compound, he frowned. The Chunin exams began in a week, but there was no sight of Itachi. The young Uchiha and his team were supposed to be back yesterday, but there were still no signs of them. Naruto knew that many missions could take longer than originally planned, but Itachi was on a simple C-Rank mission to a Village nearby, it shouldn't take him so long.

He couldn't do anything, since he himself had to prepare and the Sandaime needed as many Shinobi around to help with the exams and security as possible, so there was probably no way to send someone to check on the Uchiha. 'Well, if anything happened, Itachi can surely take care of himself,' With those thoughts, the blond headed back home.

Naruto stood with a scowl in front of the forest of death. He along with the other Genin passed the first exam that was led by Ibiki Morino, the second in command of the T&I department. The test was rather easy once you understood what the point was, which in this case was cheating without getting caught and it was easy enough.

Now though, they stood in front of the forest of death, each team at their own gate that would open once the exam began. Every participant got a badge, that counted as one point. To pass, you had five days to get your team six points and head towards the tower in the middle of the forest. The only problem was that Naruto too had to appear at the tower with six points and it would be troublesome if the teams split and he had to run around the forest for the whole exam, searching for any Genin who still had their badges.

The other thing, that was the reason why the young Genin was scowling was the absence of Itachi. By now, Sandaime send a small search party in hopes of finding his team, but so far there has been no response. He wanted to go with them since he was pretty good at sensing others, not like a true sensor, but still better than average Shinobi, but the exams were starting and he had to stay.

Naruto cracked his neck when the gate opened, signaling the start of the second exam. He entered the forest and stopped on a tree, thinking of how he should approach this, extending his sensing abilities to their maximum range, which was halfway towards the next gate. Before he could start to think of his next move, he felt three signatures rushing toward him.

Naruto blinked before a grin formed on his face, feeling their bloodlust from here. 'They don't even try to conceal it. It's not Iwa, since they didn't send a team. I wonder who it will be,' He mused and jumped on a tree, concealing his presence and waiting. 'This makes it just easier,'

Soon, three figures jumped onto a tree in his field of vision. Naruto squinted and recognized the headband of Kusa. 'Well, this explains the bloodlust,' He remembered that Kusa joined on Iwa's side and lost a lot of Shinobi and land after the last war. The leadership of Kusa was neutral towards Konoha nowadays, but many of their Shinobi were still bitter and angry at Konoha after his father's team had many missions against the small Hidden Village.

Thinking quickly, Naruto took out a single Kunai and wrapped a paper bomb around its handle. He saw that the team still didn't run away, but were now on the ground, trying to find him.

"I tell you, I am sure that was his gate and I felt him before his signature vanished," One of the three, a girl said with narrowed eyes. Her two male teammates looked around, trying to find any clues about where he went.

"Any chances he ran away in a different direction?"

"No, I am certain I felt him here before he vanished without a trail," Before the team could ponder anymore, a single Kunai flew towards the girl, but she was able to jump away. The Kunai hit the ground in front of them and started sizzling.

"Scatter!" The seal exploded and one of the males was too slow to react. The explosion sent him hurling toward a tree. before his teammates could do anything, two more Kunai flew in his direction, one bitting into his throat and the other piercing his left eye.

"Iwashi!" The other boy screamed before being joined by his surviving teammate. They looked around, not able to find where the attacker was, Kunai in hands and waiting for any other move from the spawn of the Namikaze.

"Hado #31: Shakkaho!" A shout alerted them of the danger and they saw a crimson ball of fire flying toward them at a fast speed. The female rushed through hand seals and hit the ground.

"Doton: Earth wall!" The wall came just in time, but exploded on impact with the fire, sending the two Kusa genin and debris away. A large chunk of the wall hit the male on his head, causing a cut above his eye. He looked at his teammate who hit the bark of the tree with her back and had her breath kicked out of her lungs. He also noticed some minor burns on her left leg.

The two heard someone land in front of them and scowled when the blond made his appearance. "Let's kill this shit!" The male shouted and picked up his Kunai, rushing towards the blond who unsheathed his sword.

The Kusa Genin ducked under a swing and tried to get in range to cut the blond, but was unable to do so. Whenever he tried to close the gap, the blond used his sword and excellent footwork to keep the distance.

"Doton: Earth spikes!" Three spikes of rock appeared in front of the blond, trying to skewer him, but Naruto had just enough time to sidestep the attack, receiving just a slight cut on his left shoulder, and losing his balance in the process. Seeing his chance, the male Kusa-nin rushed forward with a piercing attack at the blond.

Naruto smirked, seeing his enemy catch the bait, he pivoted on his heel and slashed. Crimson blood splattered on the forest floor and the female Kusa genin screamed seeing her second teammate fall to the ground, holding his throat, struggling to breathe. She gasped when the blond turned towards her and raised a single finger, pointing at her.

"Your turn," He stated and white energy started forming on the tip of his finger. The girl rushed through hands seals and hit the ground once again, erecting a thick wall of earth, just as Naruto released his technique.

"Hado #4: Byakurai," The wall stood no chance, the thin streak of light penetrating the wall without any effort and hitting the girl in the middle of her chest. The young blond heard her hit the ground and breathed out. These were his first kills and while he didn't enjoy them, he knew that it was either his life or theirs and knew that his life was more valuable, at least from his perspective.

Naruto went to the bodies of his opponents and looked for the badges, smiling faintly when he found all three before leaving the area. The next three hours were spent by the blond running around the forest, trying to find other teams, but so far, he had no luck doing so.

"Alright, I think it's time to rest for now," The blond muttered and landed near the river going through the forest. He drank from the stream and sat down, relaxing and putting his sword next to him. "It's really unfortunate, it seems all teams that were close to us went in different directions than us," Now that the blond thought, the forest was really big and it was just luck that the Kusa team came running to him, otherwise he might have been without a single badge yet.

As the blond closed his eyes, his senses screamed at him. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, his heart started hammering in his chest. Naruto tried to move but he sat frozen, his blue eyes shifted to his right hand, and saw himself shivering. Pushing through his fear, he extended his senses and found the source of his fear in a clearing nearby.

Inhuman Chakra filled the area, killing intent that shouldn't be humanly possible to produce rolled out of the person in the young Namikaze took a calming breath and reached out with his senses again, this time, able to push through the overwhelming Chakra. He felt three other Chakra signatures on the clearing. He knew one, one was new to him and the third was becoming weaker every second.

The signature he recognizes belonged to Iruka.

"I need to help them, they are Konoha ninjas," Naruto tried to calm himself, but as he got closer, he felt more and more afraid. He wiped the sweat off his brow and landed on the clearing, sword drawn and ready for a fight. His eyes quickly analyzed the area.

To the left, with a hole through his chest lay a Konoha Genin. Iruka stood on the other side of the clearing, holding his burnt left arm. A purple-haired girl was panting slightly next to the scarred Chunin. In the middle of the clearing stood a blond-haired girl, looking no older than the young Namikaze. However, her eyes were golden with a slit pupil and malevolent blue flames danced around her body without burning her.

She turned to look at the blond and the fear from before came back. He felt his hands shake and his legs felt too heavy to lift. 'This presence, it's just like the Kyubi's! So, this must be the Jinchuriki of Nibi,' Naruto grit his teeth and released his Spiritual Pressure and while it didn't have an effect on his opponent, the familiar warmth of his Reitasu was able to help him calm his nerves. The blond looked at his fellow Konoha Genin out of the corner of his eye.

"Can you fight?" Iruka shook his head in frustration.

"I can barely see her move, if not for Anko I would be dead three minutes into the fight," Naruot nodded and looked at the purple-haired girl, who gave him a grin, although he could see that it was forced.

"Sure thing, brat,"

"Alright, Iruka, stand back," Without another word, the blond pointed at their opponent, the Nibi container. "Hado #4: Byakurai," The streak of lighting raced across the clearing faster than most could perceive. The Jinchurki, however, was not like most people. She jumped to the side and roared, releasing three balls of blue flames at the blond, who started dodging them and the following explosions.

"Katon: Great Fireball!" Anko send the Jutsu toward the blond girl, yet the flames seemed to have no effect on her. Naruto landed next to his ally and even though the situation was not the best, he gave her a teasing smile.

"Katon? Really?" Anko's eyebrow twitched.

"Shut up, brat!"

The two were forced to jump as a massive flame crashed at their last position. Naruto rushed towards the Jinchurki, his Zanpakto reflecting the fires around the clearing. A slash, sidestep to the left, a thrust, spin on his heel, a kick to the Jinchurki's chest, a step forward, a dodge to the right, and a backward slash.

Naruto danced around the Jinchurki, keeping up the pressure, but unable to find an opening. He tried a kick her again, but the flames around her body lashed out and he was forced to jump away. Still, even with his reaction, he looked at his right leg and the small burn on his calf.

"Anko, are you finished?" Naruto looked at the purple-haired Genin who was panting and sweating next to him. She nodded and pointed towards the Kumo girl, who was about to pounce on them. Suddenly, the ground shook and a large brown snake shot out from under Yugito, swallowing her in an instant. Naruto grinned when the snake landed and looked toward Anko.

"I knew I recognized your name from somewhere, you're Anko, Orochimaru's apprentice," The girl smirked and puffed out her chest.

"Ha, of course, you heard of me. I am the great Anko-sama and you better remember it brat. Who are you by the way?" She asked, looking at him with confusion.

"I am Namikaze Naruto, Anko-sama," Naruto teased when he saw her sputter at his name. She claimed herself and looked at him with a critical look.

"You sure? You are kinda short," Naruto gave her an annoyed look and pointed at her chest.

"Yeah? And you are as flat as a board, baka!" This time it was ANko's turn to look at him with irritation. Once again, she puffed out her chest and pointed at it.

"They are still gro-," Whatever she wanted to say was stopped by a loud explosion from behind her. The two Genin were sent towards the trees, crashing into them painfully. Naruto groaned and looked up, trying to see through the cloud of smoke that filled the clearing.

"Anko-," He turned to the girl and cursed when he saw her lying unconscious, book leaking from various cuts across her body. He heard a sound behind him and saw Iruka run towards him.

"Naruto, what happened?" The scarred Genin asked with fear filling his eyes. Naruto looked towards the cloud of smoke and slowly stood up.

"I am not sure, but I know it's nothing good. Take Anko and get away, this is about to get even more dangerous," Naruto ordered and pick up his Zanpakto.

"Are you sure, I can help," Iruka asked and while he was trembling in fear, Naruto saw in his fellow Genin's eyes that if he asked to, Iruka would stay and fight with him. Naruto gave an impressed smile and shook his head.

"Don't worry, Iruka. Take Anko and treat your wound, I got this," Without another word, Naruto started to walk towards the smoke, leaving behind a shocked Genin. 'Damn it, all this big talk, and my hands are trembling again,' Naruto thought with a grim smile.

Slowly, the dust started to clear and the blond prepared himself. He saw the outline of his enemy and frowned when the flames were not just running around her anymore but formed some kind of cloak all over her body. What was more concerning was the single tail behind his fellow blond.

"I guess there is no way to talk about it?" Naruto asked loudly, slowly circling the girl, who kept her eyes trained on him. She growled and entered crouched, placing her hands on the ground. The blond tensed as a single thought went through his mind.

'She didn't say a single word throughout the whole fight. Has her seal been damaged or is she willingly giving Nibi control?' The second alternative was probably worse since that meant the Jinchurki could pull off a full transformation, but would she dare this? The situation between Konoha and Kumo was tense already and releasing the Nibi in the Village wouldn't be received too well.

There was no time to ponder, Yugito jumped towards him, her elongated nails aimed at his throat. Naruto ducked out of the way and slashed at her back, but the tail parried his attack and tried to skewer him.

The blond hastily put up his sword, redirecting the tail from piercing his shoulder to just kicking it. He jumped back and pulled his Zanpakto horizontally as a small yellow orb formed on the blade. "Hado #32: Okasen!" The orb widened itself along the length of his Zanpakto and shot a wide horizontal arc toward the Nibi Jinchuriki.

The Kumo-nin turned around and had just enough time to cross her arms over her chest before the arc hit her. She was pushed back, digging trenches in the ground until the technique dissipated. Naruto frowned when his most destructive Kido left merely long, but shallow, cuts on her arms. His eyes narrowed further when blood slowed flowing from the wound and before his eyes the flesh mended.

'This... complicates things,' The Jinchuriki screamed, releasing a shockwave that pushed against Naruto, forcing him to use Chakra to stay on the ground. He look from behind his arm that covered his face from the debris and his eyes widened.

A second tail slowly started to sprout from behind Yugito, making Naruto grimace. He was about to Shunpo next to her, bus she vanished. The blond had a split second to jump away when she appeared above his position and crashed her fist into the ground. The blond genin was able to jump away but the force of the attack still send him further away.

His back hit a tree, making him gasp in pain and fall to his knees. He looked up, gritting his teeth in pain, and saw the Jinchurki slowly walk towards him. He saw the amused look in her slitted eyes, she was just playing around with him till now, like a predator with its prey.

'Well, this is really, really not good!'

And another chapter is done. The one thing never I understood about the original Naruto was how the Jinchuriki were not among the strongest Shinobi alive like the Bijuu is so feared that I think it makes sense that their Jinchuriki would be also very strong. That's why in this story, the Jinchurkiies and Biju are gonna be op.

Something like Naruto vs Gaara in the Chunin exams won't happen. How did a Genin defeat Shukaku with just a summon? Aren't the Bijuu seen as a natural disaster?

When it comes to Naruto's Zanpakto, I am not telling you guys which one he will get yet. I don't want to spoil it and I think it will be better when you discover it yourself. However, I can tell that it is not an original Zanpakto I made up.

Thanks for reading, see ya!