Naruto watched a cat owned by an innkeeper on the way to the next place he and Jiraiya would search for Tsunade Senju, apparently the woman changed her age and appearance to avoid debt collectors and was a notorious gambler. So of course they would be in nearing a town in the midst of a festival shortly, for Jiraiya to gather information from a wide range of people condensed in one town.

A rather large town too from what Naruto had heard, Tanzaku-gai was practically a tourist destination in Hi no Kuni, not that the blonde actually knew why that was.

The blonde let the cat play with the water balloon he'd set down while he contemplated how to make the water spin in such a way that it popped, he was idly surprised the cat could tell not to use her claws on the water balloon.

Naruto cocked his head to the side and the cat stopped to meet his eyes, the boy blinked and the cat blinked back before it returned to playing with the balloon. The chunin wasn't sure what to make of the cat, he had noticed that animals reacted to him a bit differently.

Cats didn't give a care to the blonde, except when he moved and they payed attention. Dogs were, as far as he could tell, normal, they barked at him but after sniffing him and inspecting him most dogs left him well enough alone. The Inuzuka ninken were intelligent and he tended to think of them more like people than animals, but he noticed Akamaru wasn't the only one to watch him when he moved.

The forest of death seemed to have more yaju than normal animals though, Naruto still had no idea why that was, what had happened to cause that?

It was the animals who were more used to being prey that reacted to Naruto the most differently though, he'd seen a normal snake spot him, taste the air, and turn the other direction before taking off with a speed that made the blonde worried about the next time he encountered a giant snake.

Birds tended to flee the area in the presence of the blonde ryoshi with rare exception that he supposed were more carnivorous and predatory species, but Naruto wasn't a bird watcher. He hadn't even seen a deer since the incident, and the only boar he'd seen was already dead and that had been a while ago.

"What am I to you guys I wonder?" Naruto asked quietly, curious how the cat saw him differently to the other people, or if cats could tell the difference between a civilian and a ninja too. He doubted it, a shinobi trained cat probably could but a regular animal was a bit easier to evade.

Then the water balloon popped, Naruto stared at the water as the cat panicked and retreated from the splash of water with loud yowls that indicated complaints about getting her fur wet. The blonde was pretty sure claws had not done that, he grabbed another water balloon as he tried to think of what had happened.

Naruto swung his left hand at the balloon as he focused his chakra, this time going at it from different angles like he was a cat playing with a ball and the water moved more similarly to how Jiraiya demonstrated the first time. Then the water balloon popped, Naruto had finally done it.

The next step was to do the same thing but with a solid rubber ball, making solid rubber burst with raw chakra was not something the blonde expected to need to do ever. He was also surprised at how difficult it was, Naruto was used to just being able to pour chakra into jutsu so the fact that part of the training for this ninjutsu involved figuring out how to muster more chakra than he normally could intrigued him about the potential power behind the Rasengan.

"You know, we're approaching a festival, maybe you should take a break and have some fun." Jiraiya suggested.

"Training is fun." Naruto insisted with a scowl as he glared at the rubber ball that was refusing to burst like the Sennin had demonstrated.

Jiraiya frowned, "Alright, look, ninja need to blend in sometimes, so while I can definitely say there are times where training away from everyone and giving your all for days at a time is the way to go, I need to gather information and I'm not leaving you outside of town while there are people after the Kyuubi who know who you are." he lectured.

Naruto blinked owlishly, "Oh, fair enough then." he muttered bashfully, he put the rubber ball away and followed the white haired Sannin into the town with the festival already in swing. There were food stalls and game stalls, and people enjoying themselves.

Naruto wished he'd been allowed to stay out of the village, he was feeling overwhelmed, his paranoia acted up, there were too many people, too much sound, too many things going on. He held it together by following Jiraiya, but he noticed that the civilians gave the two Konoha shinobi a slight berth that he was also grateful for.

The Sennin pulled out a wallet and fiddled with some notes, "Here, doesn't exactly make up for all the missed birthdays but its a start, have some fun while I gather information." he offered as he held out a folded up clip of notes, he'd wanted to teach the boy about vices and avoiding them but he still felt guilty about the godfather situation.

The blonde chunin accepted with a nod and was left in the midst of a festival alone, his eyes darted around, movement behind him raised his hackles but it was a crowd in the midst of a festival, there was always someone behind him.

Naruto tried and failed to relax until he found a public restroom, he checked his medical kit, the normal ninja one because he recalled something Karin had said along with something he'd read in a journal in the dream. Sedatives relaxed the mind, the blonde didn't even try to pronounce the name on the label, Karin herself had set the recommended dosage with Uzumaki physiology in mind

Technically it was something of a painkiller, and a bit stronger than was normally given over the counter, but the blonde was getting a headache and he decided to down a dose with a hand full of water. Naruto relaxed, his headache dulled and by the time he left the rest room the pain was completely gone.

The blonde chunin wondered what he'd been so worried about, it was just people, he could handle people. Naruto casually slipped between civilians as he checked out the stalls with a dream-like expression on his face, he decided to try some games. The chunin was completely unaware of the way his steps became more sure or how his presence made civilians uncomfortable.

Even sedated the blonde boy had enough hand eye coordination and fine motor skill for most of the games, not that he succeeded on the first try every time but the stall owners became increasingly nervous at how easily he adapted to the ways they'd stacked the games against the customers.

When Naruto got the highest score on a strength tester despite being the shortest to try the event organizers took notice, and as he was throwing small rubber balls at stacked up bottles a pair of men approached him. The blonde barely registered them, focused on the stack of bottles that he'd hit but not knocked down, assuming he just held back too much he threw again.

The stacked bottles fell without falling apart, giving away how badly rigged that particular stall had been to onlookers, "Alright gaki, you've had your fun." one of the men said and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, instantly the calm that had been over the blonde like a veil was ripped off and he grabbed the wrist of the offending hand in a vice like grip.

The blonde chunin stopped himself before his reflexes made him do something visceral and violent, "Don't touch me." he warned simply, then he took in the appearance of the two. One was bald and dressed in a suit, while the other had short spiked black hair and had a long coat over his suit.

The man shivered but his partner glared, "Don't you get a big head just because you made chunin young," he scolded, "we were chunin too, and Aniki made it just as young as you." he bragged as the blonde released the man who stepped back to stand with the other, "Gantetsu-san was feared as the Densetsu no Annin!"

Naruto wondered what the impressive sounding title meant, "So you use that weird genjutsu that takes away peoples senses?" he asked.

Gantetsu smirked, "Ah you know of it, but no, while I do use it that is not the sole reason for my title." he bragged arrogantly, trying to put up a strong face despite the strength he'd felt in the younger ninja's grip, "As for you, you may be a Konoha shinobi but this town? I like living here, so its under my protection, which means the event organizers for this festival want me to make sure no shinobi visiting for the festival breaks the rules, and you've been getting a stack of prizes."

Naruto frowned and looked at his prizes, which were less of a stack and more of a pair of kage bunshin carrying them so they didn't touch the ground, "I'm on a date with myself and I," he joked, "and I just really wanted to impress us y'know."

Gantetsu's eye twitched, "Who do you think you are?" he asked.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Something about spiked blonde hair and blue eyes with a Konoha hitai-ate and flak vest being associated with the name Uzumaki set off alarm bells in Gantetsu's head, "Choseki-san," he began nervously, "does this gaki look familiar at all? That hair color and eye color on an Uzumaki?" he questioned.

Choseki considered it, he imagined the young chunin slightly older and without any baby fat left, "Ah..." he said, seeming to go catatonic as it hit him.

Naruto frowned, "What?" he asked.

Gantetsu and Choseki exchanged glances, then they even went as far as making hand signals at each other, which escalated into open sign language, "Alright!" the man with hair and a long coat exclaimed, "Hey, Naruto-kun, how about you come with us, you can keep your prizes but we'll show you the food stalls." he offered with a faux grin.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man, "I can find the food myself." he said, his tone gave away how suspicious he thought the change in attitude was, but the way he crossed his arms indicated he didn't care to hide it.

Choseki frowned, "Aniki?" he asked.

"No, Kyodai." Gantetsu responded with a shake of his head, "Alright, gaki, your hesitation makes sense, but we're serious here." he said before he began to loom over the younger chunin, "You'd best come with us so you don't get hurt."

Naruto snorted, "Heh, me getting hurt." he laughed before he shook his head and turned to walk away from the two, his head was still fuzzy so he didn't think about the subtext or cues, so being punched in the head took him by surprise.

"Damned cocky little shit!" Choseki snapped angrily.

"Shit," Gantetsu muttered, "alright, let's get him out of-" he began but halted as the blonde stood up, the boy was just rubbing his head as if he hadn't been sucker punched.

"Ah, you two are nukenin or something then?" Naruto asked as he palmed a pair of kunai in his left hand, "I took some sedatives Oneechan gave me, but I think I can still take you down." he said and took a step forward before he paused, "Wait, do I get more money for you dead or alive?" he wondered.

Gantetsu and Choseki went still for the single step had shifted Naruto's stance and unleashed his killing intent, the implication that he was drugged and still as dangerous as he seemed was alarming to both the men.

"We don't have bounties in Hi no Kuni..." Gantetsu answered, not mentioning that he knew a place that accepted bounties held in other nations and even black market bounties.

Naruto pouted, "Oh, I wanted some more money y'know." he complained, losing interest in fighting the two men immediately despite having just been punched in the head.

Choseki's fight or flight response was active, and as Naruto's killing intent lessened he chose fight. The bald ninja in a suit charged and swung a right straight at the blonde, who weaved back and lifted his left hand to drive both kunai into Choseki's forearm, then he grabbed the wrist of the man and tossed him.

If it had been a proper taijutsu flip that would have been enough, but Naruto lifted and threw the older shinobi by the arm, nearly ripping said arm from the socket and keeping his kunai which caused a small trail of blood between the blonde and where the bald man landed.

Gantetsu paled at the display of supernatural strength, he hesitated for a moment then he weaved hand signs. Naruto saw feathers and blinked them away with a frown, "Did you just try to put me to sleep?" he asked, he was pretty sure that had been similar to the genjutsu used at the start of the invasion during the chunin exam finals.

Gantetsu made more hand signs as he hopped back, then he crouched and slapped his hands to the ground and the pavement lifted up to form the head of a dragon. Naruto barely registered the civilians crying out in alarm and evacuation as he flicked one of the kunai from his left hand to his right, then moved towards his opponent in a serpentine weave to dodge the rocks that were pelted at him from the earthen dragon's maw.

Naruto enjoyed the rush of adrenaline that flushed the sedatives through his system, the way his head cleared as his focus on his opponent, on his prey, sharpened. A few rocks scored glancing blows but the blonde got past the dragon facsimile and thrust his left hand kunai, a swiftly palmed kunai in Gantetsu's right hand parried the attack so the blonde stepped forth to thrust with his right hand.

The kunai struck through the long coat and scored blood, but it wasn't the amount Naruto was used to and he attacked again. Gantetsu went on the defense and parried the follow up left hook with a kunai as he stepped back on his left foot to the right to circle around, but the blonde young chunin spun and continued his relentless assault as he wore feral grin bared canines too long for a normal human.

In what was currently functioning out of Naruto's thoughts was the idea that the men had attacked him unprovoked, therefore they were yaju to be hunted, therefore the blonde hunted for the first time in a few days. He didn't think only a few days of not hunting would result in his current mind set, but he was still coming down from sedatives.

Gantetsu attempted to circle around to get an angle of attack but Naruto caught on and spun back to his right instead of chasing to his left and lifted his right leg to pendulum his heel into the temple of his prey, the follow through momentum sent the man crashing through the bottles game.

Choseki lunged to thrust a kunai at Naruto's back but he found himself in a head lock, "Naruto what the hell are you doing?" Jiraiya asked as he held the bald ninja in place.

"They started it." Naruto defended himself quickly with the truth.

"W-we're security!" Choseki insisted.

"Got a badge?" Jiraiya asked and the bald man paled, "No badge means no authority." he pointed out, "Alright, I think that's enough festival for you, come on, let's hit the other side of town, I got a lead." he told the blonde as he dropped Choseki.

Gantetsu stumbled out of the stall with the help of the stall owner and Naruto finally realized the civilians weren't looking at him like he'd done something right, they seemed irritated by his presence, they seemed scared of him. The blonde recalled how Gaara had turned out and tried to ignore the looks as he followed Jiraiya away from the festival.

"I don't think I like crowds very much." Naruto commented.

"You should learn how to deal with crowds, but I believe you that they started it and I don't blame you for defending yourself." Jiraiya responded as they walked

Naruto still had some difficulty with the rubber ball, even practicing in the dream, and he started to understand that his need to hunt was more than just a craving or a want. The issue was he didn't have a solution, and he couldn't talk about it with anyone because it made him inhuman.

The blonde chunin glanced at the tombstones and considered teleporting back to Konoha to ask Karin, she was closest to knowing the truth but he'd never expressed how inhuman he felt to her. The one person Naruto had opened up about that to was Haku, who was somewhere outside of Hi no Kuni in a location that the blonde knew nothing about.

Naruto was glad he hadn't accidentally turned Anko into something like whatever he was, she clearly had enough problems. It was weird to him that she wasn't approaching Sasuke actually, they both had the same Juinjutsu from Orochimaru as far as the blue eyed chunin could tell.

The rubber ball refused to pop well into the next morning and Jiraiya noticed his frustration, as well as the way he kept at it, "You having trouble with something?" he wondered once they actually reached the clearing the Sannin had chosen for his student to practice in.

"I can't focus." Naruto confessed, "Forcing the amount of chakra I need for this is harder than I thought." he muttered.

Jiraiya hummed as he considered it, "You need a focal point." he explained.

"What?"

"A focal point, it's just a spot you focus on, center your chakra there." Jiraiya clarified before he grabbed his ink brush, "Hold out your hand," he ordered and the blonde did so, "your right hand," Naruto corrected himself, "here, this will help." Jiraiya said as he painted a small swirl in the center of the chunin's palm, "Try to focus your chakra there." he explained.

Naruto shrugged but continued his attempt with the second stage of Rasengan training, he gripped the ball tightly, made the seal of confrontation with his left hand, and then began to swat his left hand at the ball from different angles.

To Jiraiya's surprise just the focal point was enough and after a tense moment as Naruto's chakra began to visibly glow yellow, the rubber ball exploded. The Sannin pulled out a regular balloon, filled it with air, and handed it to his student, "Congratulations, Naruto-kun, the third phase is to combine the spin of the first stage with the power of the second but not pop the balloon."

Naruto stared at the balloon, he gripped it and tested how it reacted to his attempts to swirl the chakra without adding any extra power or spin with his left hand. It popped immediately, "I think I'm going to need a lot of balloons." the blonde grumbled.

Jiraiya nodded, "Figures, you're not wanting for power but the control step is going to be a bit of a speed bump." he mused, commenting both on how fast the chunin had completed the first two steps and how long he expected the final step to take.

Naruto spent all morning practicing in earnest before he followed Jiraiya back into the gambling section of town to see how his information gathering worked, mostly it was just asking around gambling dens. At first it seemed like no one had seen her, then one man commented that he might know something but insisted on a dice game for it.

Jiraiya was not happy about gambling mission information, especially not when they needed it about Tsunade, and the man was trying to run a business so he agreed. Naruto tried to get a grasp of the rules but he lost interest in the numbers and turned his attention to the slots machines, he found a coin and put it in.

"Sorry, looks like I win." The man said with a grin as Jiraiya frowned, then both of them looked up as one of the slots machines paid out the jackpot, and the Sannin smirked at the blonde who won, "Hey, wait, he's too young to-"

"Hitai-ate," Jiraiya interrupted, "ninja are adults so he's allowed to do that much." he said with a wry chuckle, "So, new deal, you can keep what you won from me, and I'll take the kid to where you saw Tsunade-hime?" he offered, the man nodded and eagerly accepted as he did not want some lucky fool ruining the stakes in his parlor.

Naruto wasn't sure why they were being urged out so quickly, but he got a lot of money and it sounded like Jiraiya got the information they needed somehow so he didn't bother making a fuss.

It turned out even with the cooperation the two Konoha shinobi were still searching all day, Naruto grew worried but Jiraiya assured him the woman was just on the move normally and wasn't actually fleeing town yet.

The white haired old man was proven correct when they encountered Tsunade about to enter a diner, "Tsunade-hime!" Jiraiya greeted happily as Naruto took in the appearance of the older blonde.

Tsunade Senju was a fair skinned blonde woman with brown eyes and a strange diamond symbol on her forehead, her hair was parted evenly into bangs that framed her face and went down to her shoulders. She wore a grey, kimono-style blouse with no sleeves, held closed by a broad, dark bluish-grey obi that matched her pants. Her blouse was closed quite low, revealing her sizeable cleavage. She had open-toed, strapped black sandals with high heels, red nail polish on both her fingernails and toenails, and a soft pink lipstick.

On top of all that was the green haori, "Damn, her henge might be better than mine." Naruto muttered to himself as he appreciated her form, recalling what Jiraiya had told him of the woman's habits and true age.

The white haired Sannin tried not to laugh at the indignant look on Tsunade's face, "Who said anything about a henge?" she asked dangerously.

Naruto knew he had made a dire mistake, so he deflected, "Jiraiya-sensei told me about it." he accused with a pointed finger, there was no hesitation to this action.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms, under her chest no less which convinced the younger blonde she was doing it on purpose, "Jiraiya-sensei?" she muttered, "You took a new pupil." she commented as she stared down at Naruto.

"Yes, yes I did." Jiraiya said proudly, "Graduated from the events of his very first chunin exam too." he said vaguely as he looked to the black haired young woman next to Tsunade who was holding a pig, "Shizune-chan, good to see you're still keeping an eye on Tsunade-hime for us." he joked.

Naruto hadn't even realized the woman wearing a long bluish-black kimono with white trimmings, held closed by a white obi, and open-toed sandals with low heels was with Tsunade, "Good to see you too, Jiraiya-sama." Shizune greeted politely with a bow.

"While we're doing introductions," Jiraiya began with a grin, "my new student here is Naruto." he introduced.

Naruto frowned, "Naruto Uzumaki." he added, which made the Sennin who had left that part out frown.

"I guessed the last name." Tsunade muttered, "Alright, I came here to eat and drink, you can pay for the food if you're going to bother me while I consume food and alcohol." she demanded of her old teammate who nodded and followed the blonde woman into the diner.

Naruto and Shizune followed after them and let Jiraiya order a large dinner assortment, more than one entree and a few drinks. The young chunin vaguely recalled what the Sennin had said earlier that day about the hitai-ate making him an adult and slyly poured himself a cup of sake when no one was looking at it, the way he hid it gave away that he knew he would be told not to, but in his mind if he already drank some by the time anyone noticed then he was in the clear.

Jiraiya decided to keep the questioning for after they'd had dinner, he knew Tsunade would be easier to deal with when she wasn't sober. In that time Naruto finished his cup, he decided he didn't see the big deal. It didn't taste that great, and he didn't think his cheeks were as flushed as Tsunade's, then again she had drank more.

"So, what brings you looking for me, Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked accusingly as Naruto subtly poured himself more sake just to see what the fuss was about.

"Orochimaru hurt Sarutobi-sensei pretty bad recently," Jiraiya began, taking note that the woman did not react to his words, "and some other promising shinobi are injured beyond our iryoninja capabilities as they are. We need your help." he finished.

Tsunade frowned, "So what happened in Konoha?" she asked, "I haven't heard much, but I heard it got hit."

"Orochimaru tricked Sunagakure no Sato into invading us along with Otogakure no Sato, a new minor village where Orochimaru himself is the Shinobigashira, wherever it is." Jiraiya answered in clipped tones, "He killed their Kazekage and almost killed our Hokage." he added quietly.

Tsunade looked down at her drink as she considered that, she knew Orochimaru had probably gotten stronger, but for him to challenge and match actual Kage meant he genuinely could upset the balance of the Shinobi Godaikoku, it meant he could change the make up of the Gokage potentially.

Shizune was the one to notice what Naruto had done, "Are you drinking sake?" she asked.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, why do you guys like this stuff anyway? I thought it got you drunk or something." he complained about the lack of effect it had on him.

Jiraiya snorted before he started laughing, "You need stronger stuff, but save it for when you're older, you should drink what you enjoy so get something that tastes good." he said, he couldn't even be bothered to scold the boy, "Funny thing, that might have something to do with your chakra, I know there's a trick to swirl your chakra internally to sober up." he mused.

Tsunade sighed, "Alright, fine, how urgently does Sarutobi-sensei need help?" she asked.

"He got hit with Kusanagi." Jiraiya answered, "So did Kakashi for that matter." he added.

Tsunade shuddered, "I hate that thing." she grumbled before she exchanged a glance with Shizune who looked more concerned than anyone at the table for some reason, then the blonde Sannin sighed, "Fine, I won't let Sarutobi-sensei die, but don't think I'm sticking around long after I provide treatment."

Naruto did not like the sound of that, "Why?" he asked, "Isn't Konohagakure no Sato your home? Don't you want to protect it?" he questioned.

Tsunade glared at the younger blonde, "I don't live there anymore." she answered flatly.

Naruto became puzzled, "Wouldn't that make you a nukenin?" he asked.

"She's on indefinite leave, but is still officially a Konoha kunoichi." Jiraiya spoke up, "Thanks to Sarutobi-sensei." he muttered.

"Why?"

Tsunade's eye twitched, "I have bad memories in Konoha." she said through grit teeth, her shoulders were bunched up to her neck, "I do not want to return, but I will to help save Sarutobi-sensei if I can."

"Would you have even come back for his funeral?" Naruto asked darkly, "Failing that would you have at least visited his grave?"

"I've mourned enough." Tsunade grumbled.

Naruto's eyes widened as he realized what was happening, Tsunade was still grieving someone, maybe multiple people. The younger blonde cocked his head to the side as he frowned, he realized he hadn't actually experienced that kind of loss yet. He'd been lonely and without parents, but he'd never known those parents.

Then the blonde chunin remembered he did know them now, and one of them had been a Hokage.

"Sorry I asked then." Naruto returned the grumble as he crossed his arms and looked away, seeing people he cared about just come close to dying had caused him emotional pain and anger, he dreaded how he might react to someone close to him dying.

It was decided, by the Sannin with no input from their respective apprentices, that they would begin the return to Konohagakure no Sato in the morning. So Naruto spent a night in the dream going through balloons that he'd bought and hopefully kept hidden from Jiraiya so the man wouldn't notice just how many he was using when he was supposedly 'asleep'.

To say Naruto was frustrated by the lack of progress was an understatement and he simply didn't have enough balloons to make effective use of kage bunshin, but even without them he didn't need to sleep like a regular normal human so in his mind he should have figured it out by now.

By morning Naruto had bags under his eyes despite sleeping for just as long as anyone else, more from mental exhaustion than physical exhaustion. He kept practicing on the road despite the concerned looks from Shizune, but the balloon popped after a few moments yet again.

Tsunade glanced back before she raised her eyebrows, "You're teaching him Rasengan?" she asked.

"Yep," Jiraiya said proudly, "I should say he's getting it down pretty quick too." he added before he winced, "I should also say Yondaime-sama invented it in three years, so him getting this far in the time is-"

"Chichue invented this!?" Naruto interrupted with a stunned expression.

Jiraiya smacked himself in the face, "Can you keep secrets?" he asked.

Naruto smirked, "I can be arcane, sure." he said vaguely, "They know anyway right?" he asked and Shizune looked uncomfortable but Tsunade shrugged, "See." he added, "Secret technically kept."

"You revealed it when you gave your clan name to them." Jiraiya explained.

"The fact that he somehow got your parents to name you after a character in one of his books helped." Tsunade added.

"They did what!?" Naruto asked.

"Not one of my smutty works, my first work, not a good seller, more action focused, based on some of my own missions as a ninja, I named the main character Naruto." Jiraiya answered as he scratched his cheek, "I'm sorry you were named after a ramen topping."

Naruto's eye twitched, "So I am named after a ramen topping... I don't know what to do with this information, I'm going to keep eating ramen though." his eye stopped twitching, "So, I can tell that incomplete Rasengan that's popping a balloon would hurt someone because it hurt my hand." he switched the subject.

Jiraiya smirked, "Yeah I suppose it would hurt, an incomplete Rasengan would still have roughly C rank offensive capabilities." he mused before he formed a densely packed orb of spiraling yellow chakra in his right hand, "Hang on, I'll show you what that means." he said as the sphere of chakra loosened, then he hit a tree with it.

The chakra tore into the bark and left spiral shaped grooves, given Naruto's clan symbol was a spiral and it was in name Uzumaki he found it ironic to get an attack that did that. Then Jiraiya formed another Rasengan and did it without the chakra being loosened, the tree splintered.

"If you don't control where the power goes, you might as well not have mustered the power." Jiraiya explained with a smirk, Shizune and Tsunade both watched with some vague interest but neither had any intention of trying to reverse engineer the jutsu, not that they'd seen enough to do so yet anyway.

Naruto continued practicing on the road and didn't notice anything wrong until all the adults stopped, he was used to short distance threats in the dungeons, forests, or even the chunin examinations, so he wasn't sure why they were stopped until he saw someone in red armor distantly down the road.

Tsunade had turned deathly pale, "Orochimaru really did that then?" she asked and Naruto tensed up.

Jiraiya nodded, "We managed to capture the Nidaime Hokage, but unfortunately Shodai-sama is still under the control of Orochimaru through this Edo Tensei." he explained.

Naruto's eye twitched, "Why can chakra go against Shinigami?" he asked.

"Good question." Jiraiya muttered, "According to Nidaime-sama its imperfect at least, they aren't truly in their prime, but if he's there, then Orochimaru is around here."

Tsunade nodded, "He wanted me to heal someone for him, if it was anyone else I might have accepted, hell I almost did just to try and get whoever it is away from him." she explained and Jiraiya looked alarmed to only be hearing about it then, "I guess he wanted you guys to not find me." she finished with a pained look on her face.

Naruto tried to get a better look at the red armored figure, from what he could tell they certainly looked like the statues and pictures of the Shodai Hokage. The armored man started moving towards them and Jiraiya bit his thumb but as he began to weave hand signs there was a crash and a large cloud of smoke behind them.

There on a giant serpent was Orochimaru, "Tsunade-chan, are you really letting the patient in my care die?" he asked, that his indignant air was faux was only given away by his amused grin. With another cloud of smoke a toad stood read to face the serpent.

"Shizune get Naruto out of-!" Jiraiya began to order.

Naruto did not like the sound of the plan already and made the bunshin sign to fight kinjutsu with kinjutsu, "Taiju Kage Bunshin!" he declared as the road and forest around them filled with smoke, the blonde braced himself but before he could focus his chakra a sword went through his chest.

"Well your new student is just as annoying as the last." Orochimaru commented as he pulled the Kusanagi out of the young blonde, "I wonder if he can survive that wound." he mused idly before he swung his blade into a group of kage bunshin to carry the momentum into a parry against Jiraiya's leaping kick.

The white haired Sannin proved adept enough in taijutsu to use his wooden sandals as an implement to block the blade of his opponent and turned the momentum of the parry in the direction he wanted so as not to lose his posture or stance to Orochimaru's attempt.

The giant snake tried to strike but the massive toad managed to evade and grapple with it, neither was as big as the Shukaku or even the other giant snake and toad that had been seen fighting during the chunin exam invasion.

Naruto stumbled back from the fight and Shizune grabbed him to pull him back further, the woman began hand signs for iryoninjutsu but Tsunade just stared at the spilled blood with a look of horror as her body started to shake.

The blonde young Uzumaki felt justified being annoyed, he was mortally wounded and the supposed best iryoninja couldn't help because she was scared of blood? It was so ridiculous he couldn't even be indignant as Shizune stopped the bleeding, and while she was doing that he got impressions of his kage bunshin being decimated by the Shodai on his way to them.

Naruto made the mental note that his kage bunshin were more useful for combat against opponents who couldn't just slap him aside like he was a normal child because they were absurdly powerful, then he shoved himself away from Shizune and tried another ninjutsu.

Blonde hair became a golden mane of spikes under the power of chakra, but this armored mantle did little to protect from getting kicked in the head and sent through two kage bunshin and a tree. Naruto was grateful to learn his kage bunshin could provide some resistance as long as it wasn't a blade, but that had still hurt.

The blonde chunin reached for his flak vest as his hair returned mostly to normal, albeit a bit longer, and pulled out a scroll that he retrieved his last two blood vials from as he tried to stand. Finding he couldn't stand Naruto shoved a vial into himself and after an uncomfortable cracking sound came from his back he stood up.

The Shodai had moved on Tsunade, to be briefly halted by Shizune, but was halted further by the fact that Naruto had gotten up. Jiraiya and Orochimaru stopped their melee by hopping apart and checking what had happened as well.

"Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto's voice behind Naruto had the blonde spin on his heel to see who he viewed as a traitor, "his spine was broken, but after injecting himself with an unknown vial even his spine mended, and the damage dealt by the Kusanagi no Tsurugi seems more lessened than I'd expect too." he explained.

Orochimaru hummed, "Shodai-dono, what do you think? Could Mito-chan heal like that?" he asked.

The Shodai frowned and shook his head, "No," he said with a glare at the snake ninja, "not to my knowledge at least." he added, mostly to throw the man off.

"That could have been left unsaid, I presume everything everyone says to me is either a lie or only their own knowledge." Orochimaru retorted dismissively, the way he spoke to the Shodai roused Naruto's anger.

Shizune looked equally affronted and Jiraiya attempted to go on the attack, but his heel struck through a Doton: Kage Bunshin instead. Naruto thought it was just a Tsuchi Bunshin but he wanted it, although for all he knew it could have been an advanced application of kawarimi.

"Shodai-dono, fight with Jiraiya while I inspect this project." Orochimaru ordered from behind Tsunade, Shizune lunged for them but the man just pulled away from the blonde woman as Jiraiya bunted a kick from the Shodai and attempted to fight the legendary Senju in taijutsu.

"So, what are you healing yourself with, Naruto-kun?" Kabuto asked with the smug smirk of someone who was completely sure of his victory, the chunin considered his options and decided that wiping that smirk of the traitors face was his top priority.

Naruto formed an incomplete Rasengan in his right hand and lunged at Kabuto with it, but was evaded and the older ninja grabbed his wrist, then his arm, and flipped the blonde boy onto his back before taking the vial.

"Strange, no release mechanism, no plunger." Kabuto mused as he stepped away from the downed boy before he plunged the needle into his own arm, nothing happened, "How arcane." he muttered as he pulled the vial out and tried to figure it out.

Naruto supposed that confirmed it was his body sucking in the blood as he stood up, but by the time he was up Orochimaru was there. Shizune looked panicked and was pulling Tsunade away from the blood, while Jiraiya was being beaten back by an opponent who had infinite stamina and didn't need it to control the flow of their taijutsu battle.

The white haired Sannin knew that taking a black eye was better than letting the Shodai use Mokuton, but he had no way to use his own ninjutsu or fuinjutsu like that either, Tsunade was out of the fight effectively, and Shizune could not protect Naruto from someone like Orochimaru.

"Come now Naruto-kun," Orochimaru said almost affectionately, "I already know about that place you found that nokogiri of yours, so why don't you tell me what else you found?" he asked, curious about what the blonde chunin had discovered that he had not.

Naruto scowled, "You've been there, you should know what I found." he snarled, "Yaju, bakemono, yokai, the arcane!" he snapped, "I don't care what you're after but the only thing you'll find down there is death and blood." he warned.

"Yet you came out alive." Orochimaru mused and the blonde closed his mouth tightly, his lips thin, he couldn't risk giving anything away about that with some sarcastic retort that was the first thing to spring to mind.

"Well, perhaps this sample will be enough and we don't need this subject anymore." Kabuto suggested callously as he lifted the blood vial, Orochimaru nodded as Naruto's eyes widened and he lunged for the vial.

The black haired Sannin swung at the neck of the blonde, blood sprayed out from the resulting wound as Kabuto stepped back and Naruto hit the ground as his vision faded. He opened his eyes in the dream, "No." he muttered before he stood, "No no no no no!" he panicked.

"Good ryoshi has something gone wrong?" The doll asked with a concerned tone.

"I need to get back to my body, I need to restore it quicker than usual, they'll die!" Naruto rambled.

The doll tilted her head and the world of the dream turned still, "I am afraid the dream lacks that power innately." she informed and the blonde felt despair, "However, you contain the power required to make it happen, should we be able to negotiate it from the one who wields it." she added.

Naruto blinked, "The Kyuubi can help?" he asked incredulously.