I don't own Naruto.
"Welcome everybody to the fifty-fifth chūnin exam final, presenting nine of the finest genin the nation can offer! First, some entertainment!"
Genma, the proctor, left the stadium floor as a group of chūnin started to shoot off various jutsu that looked like they had no use other than for decoration. Konoha was definitely pulling out all the stops for this one. For a final where seven out of the nine participants were from Konoha, the Hokage was making it a point to cement the village's strength and wow the spectators.
The display finished and Genma spoke out again.
"And now, the main event! These genin were given numbers ranging from one to nine and were told that their numbers would determine the order of their matches, but they were not told how. I will announce the participants in the order that they were drawn.
First, Aburame Shino of Konoha!
Second, Nara Shikamaru of Konoha!
Third, Sabaku no Gaara of Suna!
Fourth, Haruno Sakura of Konoha!
Fifth, Akadō Yoroi, of Konoha!
Sixth, Hyūga Neji of Konoha!
Seventh, Sabaku no Temari of Suna!
Eighth, Hyūga Hinata of Konoha!
And, ninth... Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha!"
All the participants received a smattering of applause from everyone, other than Naruto, who received mutters and a few shouts from the Konoha contingent. The Namikaze heir shrugged it off, but some of his fellow genin looked on in disbelief, not understanding how Naruto was so generally disliked.
"So, having had ample time to decide on their strategies, I will now announce the first match's participants. Aburame Shino, make your way to the arena floor!"
The stoic genin trudged to the floor, hands in his pockets.
"And now, Nara Shikamaru, make your way to the arena floor!"
The lazy shadow-manipulator had to be forced to the battleground by his teammates, where he eyed Shino warily. The crowd started murmuring at the unsurprising lineup, but were soon interrupted by-
"And now, Sabaku no Gaara, make your way to the arena floor!"
The mutters fell to silence, before being replaced with full-on cheers. The two shocked Konoha genin looked on as Gaara floated to the middle of the stadium in a cloud of sand.
"That's right, ladies and gentlemen, as there are nine participants, we will be having three-way matches. Just as no ninja battle is ever on entirely equal footing, so does no good exam have the same conditions for each battle. The three of you will fight until one emerges as the clear victor, be that by my executive decision, forfeit, or death. Begin!"
Shino and Shikamaru leapt back as quickly as they could, while Gaara merely lingered in the centre, sand lazily whipping around him. The two Konoha genin shared a look of obvious intent; they would focus on the larger threat first before determining which of the two of them would become the victor.
Shino leapt forward, unleashing a surprisingly high level of taijutsu against Gaara's sand defence, but his skills were nowhere near on the level of Lee's. A hand of sand grasped Shino by the torso and crushed-
Only for the corpse to dissolve into bugs, which flew back to their hidden owner. As Gaara followed the trail to the real Shino, Shikamaru struck, throwing explosive notes tied to kunai in strategic points along Gaara's sand wall. The notes erupted into concussive flame, throwing parts of Gaara's sand to the side, and Shikamaru's shadow rushed through the gap, becoming one with Gaara's shadow and granting Shikamaru control over the jinchūrikki.
"Now, Shino!" he shouted.
Shino's bugs descended upon the Suna genin, siphoning as much chakra as they could in the short period of confusion while Gaara got used to not being able to move his body. Within seconds, however, Shino's bugs started to wither and die, falling to the ground in their dozens.
"I am unable to make any contribution," Shino intoned. "Proctor, I forfeit."
As Shino made his way out of the arena, Gaara's sand regained its sentience and shot towards Shikamaru. Before it could crush him, the pineapple-haired boy shouted out his forfeiture as well, and Genma pulled him out of the path of a devastating sand spear.
"I'll allow that because you were already committed to the attack," Genma said. "… I think. But I won't give you the benefit of the doubt again. Winner, Sabaku no Gaara!"
The two remaining genin moved to their seats with about the same level of enthusiasm.
"And now, you may have guessed it," Genma said, addressing the audience. "Will Haruno Sakura, Akadō Yoroi, and Hyūga Neji make their way to the arena!"
The three Konoha genin marched to the floor, Yoroi glaring at Neji.
"You killed my teammate," he growled. "I'm going to get you for that."
Neji merely snorted.
"Two clanless losers. Must I really demean myself so far as to bother with you? You are both fated to lose; it might be best to simply give up now."
"Maybe I'll lose, but I'll try my best to take out one of those eyes in the process, pretty boy," Yoroi snarled. He looked to Sakura to try and form an unspoken alliance, but she simply looked resolute, as if she was already planning strategies.
"Second match, begin!"
Yoroi, sensing that Sakura wasn't on his side, threw a hasty genjutsu at Sakura to keep her out of the way. The genjutsu was intended to affect her perception of space, so that she would wander around in circles and be an easy prey for later. Neji observed the chakra flow in Sakura's brain change and snorted as the pink-haired genin fell prey to such a simple genjutsu.
"Pathetic," he snorted.
"You don't have time to criticise others, bastard," Yoroi yelled, throwing himself at the Hyūga. He began with a peculiar taijutsu style that used a slapping motion, seeming to aim for the most surface area possible. Neji easily weaved out of the way, and aimed a chakra-charged palmstrike at the other genin's stomach-
Who caught the hand, causing the chakra to disappear. Neji looked on in shock as the genin grabbed his other wrist, preventing the use of the Gentle Fist style.
"Not such a high-and-mighty Hyūga now, are we?" Yoroi mocked, as Neji was slowly drained of chakra.
"Interesting technique," Neji commented. "But you clearly weren't paying any attention in my last match." His chakra flared and Yoroi went stumbling back, cradling both of his hands as if burnt.
"I can release chakra from any of my tenketsu," Neji said. "Blocking my hands does not stop me."
He followed up with a strike to the head which knocked the other genin unconscious. Genma signalled the medical team to retrieve the boy as Neji turned to Sakura.
"This won't even be a challenge," he boasted, as he stalked towards the kunoichi. He strutted towards her and threw a chakra-coated palmstrike to her head, hoping to rattle a few of her brain cells into action. Just as the strike was about to connect, Sakura lurched backwards and avoided the strike, throwing a chakra strike to his hepatic portal vein, before following up with several strikes that closed his chakra system down to a mere trickle. As he lay panting on the ground, he looked at the victorious kunoichi.
"Gentle Fist? How? You were fated to-"
"I was fated to nothing. That wasn't the Gentle Fist; it was Snake Style. Even though the Hyūga are the only ones with the eyes to see individual tenketsu, any half-decent medical student can estimate where they are. And I literally just beat you with one eye closed," she said, pointing a thumb to her covered eye." Think about that before you look down on ninja without clans.
Genma announced Sakura as the winner, and the crowd erupted into applause; the most that had been heard so far. The civilians loved the idea of a civilian-born ninja defeating the prodigy of Konoha's (now) most famous and prominent clan. Many of the ninja watching enjoyed seeing a Hyūga simply getting his ass handed to him. Really, only the Hyūga and a few others in the crowd looked disappointed with the results.
Naruto gave his teammate a thumbs up as he, Hinata, and Temari made their way to the battlefield. He'd sparred with her enough to know when she was faking, but her drunken staggering while she had pretended to be under the effects of the genjutsu had nearly fooled even him. She smiled as he passed her, and the final trio of genin gathered in the middle.
"Third match, begin!"
Naruto and Hinata leapt back as Temari opened with a burst of chakra-laden wind, Naruto countering with a smaller wind technique and Hinata simply anchoring herself to the ground with chakra.
"Shall we take her down first, Hinata-chan?" Naruto called.
The Hyūga heiress nodded confidently, with only the smallest trace of a blush on her face. Either her training had focused heavily on emotional conditioning, or she was completely in the zone. Naruto burst forward, throwing football-sized fireballs at the Suna wind mistress to the point where she had to bat a few aside with her fan.
"Combination Technique: Ash Cloud Technique!"
Naruto spat out earth and fire chakra, creating a choking mist that could burn the skin upon contact. Temari quickly replaced herself with part of one of the trees to the side of the arena, but Hinata had positioned herself there under cover of Naruto's ash cloud. With merely a handful of chakra strikes, the wind mistress was incapacitated and only the two Konoha genin were left.
"Amazing work, Hinata-chan," Naruto commented from a distance. "I can really see you worked hard this month. Watching you was like seeing beauty in motion."
Hinata dipped her head, focusing on keeping her mixed emotions suppressed.
"Could you look at me? I'd hate to take advantage of you while you weren't looking."
Hinata blushed mildly at the innuendo, but met Naruto's eyes with a tremulous confidence. That was when Naruto struck. He used his eye to weave a shared-mind illusion, the only one he was confident would be able to fool Hinata's eyes. To Hinata's view, the crowd and stadium faded away to be replaced with a dim bedroom, with Naruto standing right in front of her.
"I hate it when we fight, Hinata-chan," Naruto murmured, his breath hot in her ear. "But I love it when we make up afterwards."
Hinata gave a low moan of appreciation as his hands encircled her waist. She daintily reached her hands back to cover his, grasping them and guiding them to her rear. Naruto paused in surprise momentarily, not expecting the shy kunoichi to be so clear in what she wanted. Recovering, he gave the girl a light squeeze before collecting her in his hands and pulling her up into the air. She squeaked, wrapping her legs around his middle and pulling their cores together. As she felt the growing hardness between his legs, her lips crashed down onto his as they met in a flurry of passion. Both were inexperienced but enthusiastic, battling in a clash of lips and tongue. As joy wracked Hinata's body she lurched to the side, pulling Naruto off-balance and sending them both crashing to the bed. The two lovers were thrown apart by the landing and as Hinata lifted her head to sit up, a pair of hands roughly pushed her back to the bed by her shoulders.
"Tell me you want this," he murmured, ice-blue eyes boring into her white.
"I want this so much."
She writhed in ecstasy as he trailed kisses down her jaw, applying gentle suction to her jugular and trailing further down, past her collarbone and to the hem of her dress. With barely a pause, he took hold of the offending garment and tore it in two. The rip spread from the V of the dress down to her stomach. Naruto's mouth followed, kissing down the irregular trail left by his efforts. When he reached her stomach his tongue made circles around her belly button, licking down further and ripping the rest of the dress out of the way.
Lying half-in and half-out of a ruined dress with only a bar and panties hiding her full form from her long-time crush, Hinata reddened in embarrassment, only stopping when Naruto reassured her by moving back up to face-level and giving her an approving kiss.
Running his tongue along the seam between bra and skin, Naruto's head was forced into Hinata's chest as she clutched his hair and reflexively pulled her towards him. Head smothered in her cleavage, Naruto tried to grab her midriff for purchase to force his head up, but the white-eyed heiress was holding tight. Trying a different tack, he ran his fingers down her body, passing her centre and wrapping around the sides of her thighs, fingers curling around the back of her legs. He lightly dug his fingers into the sensitive skin and teased a path along-
"Ah!" she moaned, barking out in subdued release. She increased the pressure on Naruto's head before limply letting go.
The world around them started to fade away, Hinata's climax forcing chakra through her system and disrupting the illusion. As the murmuring crowd and imposing arena structure made their way back into vision, Hinata stared at Naruto in growing horror.
Seizing his opportunity, Naruto gave her a foxy grin and an obvious wink. Mind racing, Hinata's body did the only thing it could, dropping limply to the ground, unconscious.
"Uh… Winner, Uzumaki Naruto by… forfeit?" Genma announced, letting the spectators of the arena reveal their mixed receptions to the blond ninja's victory. As Naruto made his way back to the seating area and Hinata was carried away by medics, he caught the gaze of Hinata's teacher, who was staring at him with a look of disapproval tinged with respect. Sakura slapped him on the head as he sat down next to her.
"You did something perverted to her, didn't you?"
"Uh… If you mean using our shared-mind illusion to engage in a bit of foreplay…"
"Ew! I'm going to beat you into the ground for that!"
"Can we take out Gaara together first?" he asked.
"I guess. You're getting a five minute breather. Plan?"
"Stall. Give me five minutes and then I can go toe to toe with him."
"Okay. Oh, looks like Ino wants to talk to you. Hey Ino!"
"Sakura," the blonde kunoichi said as she sat next to them. "Well done; I'm in no way surprised that I lost, having seen that. And Naruto! You've both come so far from the Academy; I'm a little jealous. What's your secret?"
The two Team 7 genin shared a glance.
"We were awakened to the realities of ninja life early. That was our motivation."
Ino nodded, head bowed in a silent tribute to their lost teammate.
"I was wondering, would you like to train together after this is over? I know we're not on the same team, but-"
"I'd love to," Naruto interrupted. "No need to sell yourself short. I'd actually like to test how some of my genjutsu work on somebody with knowledge of mind control techniques, so don't feel like you won't be contributing. Let's have a celebratory meal after the exams and sort it all out then."
"Cool," Ino chirped. "Oh, looks like your rest break is up. Good luck you two; I'm obviously rooting for you."
Genma called for the three victors to make their way to the middle. After a brief pause to make sure they were ready, he called the beginning of the match and leapt away.
Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke and Sakura charged at Gaara, fist raised. He didn't bother to move, as always, and a sheet of sand flicked upwards to meet Sakura's fist. Just as she connected with the wall, she released the chakra she had stored in her fist. It exploded outwards and the sand wall shattered like glass, allowing her entry into Gaara's sand cocoon. Before the red-haired genin could get over his shock, she grabbed him by the lapel and swung him out across the stadium. The crowd 'ooh'ed as his sand was left behind and he flew away to crash into the stadium wall. Sakura chased him down and got another crack in at his stomach before he recovered and his sand moved back in to guard. Sakura leapt to the side as Gaara's sand attacked with a giant drill made of sand, but it struck in the exact opposite direction from the genin's position. Sakura backed away as Gaara systematically destroyed the terrain, chasing a phantom enemy.
"Is that enough time?" she shouted. "He'll break through the illusion soon."
As she said that, Gaara's irritation pumped demonic chakra through his system and purged Sakura's genjutsu from his coils. He caught sight of his prey and sand closed in from all directions-
Only to explode outwards as an invisible cone of concussive force flickered into being around Sakura, leaving her completely untouched.
"Just enough time, Sakura," Naruto spoke from behind her. Despite only murmuring, his voice vibrated with a deep timbre and every person in the crowd was able to hear him. Sakura retreated as the sand attacked the newly-appeared blond, but he weaved through the spears and crushing hands with the bare minimum of effort, occasionally batting away kilos of sand with a light tap. His eyes weren't even open as he advanced upon Gaara, baring his back to Sakura in absolute trust.
Gaara's sand was all recalled to its controller, forming a rotating sphere of grinding particles that shot at Gaara's opponent. Before the sand could even come close, Naruto opened his eyes, left eye focused intently upon the redhead. With a lazy sweep of his hand, thumb and pinky closed in an obscure handseal, Gaara's sand fell impotently to the ground, the chakra holding it together gone.
The Suna genin looked at his fellow jinchūrikki in fear as the mismatched eyes bored into him. One was bright orange, slitted by a black horizontal bar as a pupil. The other… six concentric circles, glowing an eerie purple, rotating ominously.
Gaara had no frame of reference for the eyes, all he knew was that the monster inside him screamed in fear, pumping demonic chakra into his system in an attempt to help him flee. But members of the audience noticed.
"The Rinnegan," the Kazekage muttered, sending a discrete signal to his operative to await further instruction. "To know Konoha had the most powerful of all dōjutsu. You really have been keeping this one under your hat."
"We felt it the best occasion to reveal it," Hiruzen commented, making it up as he went along. The big reveal had shocked him as much as the Kazekage. He twitched a finger and a masked ANBU approached him, whispering something in the Hokage's ear.
"Rinnegan?" Jiraiya mouthed, as the viewing screen in the border defence unit zoomed in on the genin's eyes. "Nagato…"
Before any of the other ninja manning the post could react, Jiraiya had darted away towards the arena, intentions unknown.
At the very same location, Gaara was beginning his transformation into the demonic form, with giant limbs formed out of sand suspending him in the air.
"Mother will consume you, blood, eyes and all," he ranted, nearly frothing at the mouth.
'No, idiot,' Mother hissed at him. 'Flee! Flee while you can!'
Apparently Gaara still had some control, as a gargantuan arm crashed down on Naruto, only to be blocked… by an interlocking dome of wood.
"Wood Release: Four-Pillar Prison Technique!" Naruto shouted, as chakra-laden timber burst from the ground and warped into a binding cage, the exact copy of the prison confining the Kyūbi.
The crowd was stunned to silence, this new development interrupting any thought, positive or negative, that they might have had. Before any of the crowd could shout in reaction, a lone voice rung through the silence.
"He can use Wood Release, just like the First Hokage! Wood Techniques were how the First defeated the Kyūbi. The fox will never break free from Naruto, because he has the Shodaime's will of fire burning within him!" Ichiraku Teuchi sat down, accepting the stares of the arena without shame. One of the ANBU members at Sarutobi's side moved to carry out the punishment for breaking the Third's law, but the Hokage halted him with a hand on the shoulder.
"It is true," he said, voice cutting through the murmurs surrounding Teuchi's proclamation. "I enacted a law, the punishment of which should be execution, stating that the circumstances surrounding Uzumaki Naruto's birth should never be repeated. But that time has passed, and I must repeal the law. Uzumaki Naruto is the jinchūrikki of the Kyūbi, wielder of the Rinnegan and Mokuton bloodline limits. The last male member of the Senju clan and the true inheritor of my personal techniques. With such a strong connection to the first three Hokages, it should be of no surprise to you to learn that he has a connection to the Fourth as well. Namikaze Minato, his father."
The crowd erupted, merchants from Iwa screaming and beginning to flee, Konoha ninja screaming their disbelief, while the civilians that had mistreated their hero's son cried in shame. As the pandemonium unwound, white feathers started to drift down from the sky, enveloping the people of the stadium.
"Damn it, I told him to wait," the Kazekage cursed. "Well then Hiruzen, I have a need for you."
Before the ANBU guard could react, the Kazekage had grabbed his Konoha counterpart and manhandled him to a nearby roof where they were surrounded by a barrier of purple energy.
"I can see your plans have hardly grown in subtlety, Orochimaru," Sarutobi commented, as he pulled off his robes to reveal his old battle armour. "Quite disappointing."
"So you knew, sensei? I shouldn't be surprised," he laughed. The Kazekage's face was ripped off to reveal the same pale visage that had so recently faced Naruto.
"You attack the Kyūbi jinchūrikki on Konoha soil and don't expect us to improve our defences? Jiraiya caught wind of increased troop movements here in the last month, when he should have been training my successor. He's reinforced the barriers around the village so that they might actually give pause to anyone below jōnin level. What makes you possibly think this invasion will work?"
"You misunderstand me," the traitor said, grinning. "This is entirely personal. I wanted the opportunity to fight you one-on-one and I took it. Of course, now that I have the opportunity I think I'll make things easier for myself."
The Snake Sannin flipped through a long series of handseals before Hiruzen could cut him off, crashing his hands to the ground. Two coffins rose from the rooftop, emblazoned with the numbers one and two.
"No, you didn't!" Sarutobi shouted in disbelief.
"Of course I did. It was in the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing, so I took it. The Second Hokage was a genius, and I'm glad to give you the opportunity to meet him again."
The two Hokages emerged from their coffins looking discombobulated.
"Sarutobi? You got old!" the Second mused, as the First continued to look blank. Orochimaru plunged a kunai into the First's head and his eyes glazed. The Sannin moved to do the same to the Second - but was interrupted by a hail of kunai and a small package of concentrated fury throwing itself at him.
"Uzumaki?" Orochimaru pondered. "How did you get here?"
"I may not have mastered the Hiaraishin," he said. "But I've altered my replacement technique to work through space-time rather than just line-of-sight. My clone has been with the old man since I revealed my Rinnegan."
Orochimaru looked outside the barrier to where the ANBU that had been talking to Sarutobi was sitting in a meditative pose.
"Oh, the ANBU from before? Why was he with sensei?"
"When I activated my Rinnegan I was able to see through your disguise. Its perceptive qualities trump even the Sharingan. So I sent a clone to Jiji to warn him."
"And it henged into a lizard and stayed with me ever since," Sarutobi butted in. "Now sensei, would you be kind enough to join me and help me kill this traitor?"
"If you'll explain what's happening, Saru, then fine," the white-haired man said, avoiding his brother and making his way to his old student.
"This is Orochimaru. He was my prized student. But he began to dabble in the esoteric arts, eventually leading to experiments on humans, citizens of Konoha. When I confronted him, he attacked me and fled Konoha. It has been around ten years since that happened."
"So, a traitor, coward and butcher. Noted," the old Hokage said. "And the kid?"
"Your successor," Naruto growled, eyes firmly locked with Orochimaru. "See?"
He took the Raijin in his hand and pumped it with wind and fire chakra again until it formed the hissing white flame.
"The Kōjin, my development based on your notes. My space-time replacement is also based on your Hiraishin notes."
"A powerful successor. I approve, although your eye unnerves me. I never did like doujutsu… So I take it you haven't figured out the secret?"
"No! And it's driving me crazy!"
"You'll get it, I'm sure. But you won't thank me for it when you do."
"Enough talk!" Orochimaru shouted. "Hashirama, attack them!"
The First Hokage's arm turned into a flowing river of wood, with branches shooting out to try and spear the three combatants. As his enemies evaded, Orochimaru flashed through the same set of handseals again.
"No, sensei, he's about to summon the Fourth Hokage! We must stop him!" Sarutobi shouted, as Tobirama turned to react.
"Wait, you're telling me there was a Fourth-"
"Too late!" Orochimaru cackled, as a coffin forced its way out of the roof, emblazoned with the number four. Sarutobi threw a hail of kunai and shuriken at it, but the First blocked them with a wall of wood.
"What… where am I?" the Fourth Hokage asked as he stepped out of the coffin. "I thought I'd be in the Shinigami's stomach forever. Wait-" he said, catching sight of Naruto. "You!"
Before Orochimaru could plant his control kunai in the Hokage's skull, Minato flashed out of his range with a burst of speed and reappeared in front of Naruto, planting a fist into his stomach. Naruto burst into smoke as the original replaced himself with a clone and backed away.
"What the fuck, man?" Naruto shouted, back-pedalling. "I'm your son; why do you keep attacking me?"
"Oh, you found my little present, did you?" the older blond leered, squaring up to his son. "You're no son of mine, you monster."
Orochimaru threw a tri-pronged kunai to Minato and the old Hokage caught it, twirling it with an evil grin.
"I will erase my mistake, once and for all. Kage Kunai no Jutsu!"
He threw the kunai, which multiplied into dozens of projectiles mid-air. Naruto dodged with minimal effort, but the kunai planted themselves into the ground.
"Checkmate," Minato said. He flashed out of existence in a shock of yellow, instantly teleporting behind Naruto, kunai swinging to sever his jugular-
But Tobirama was there, sword drawn and clashing with Minato.
"I don't know what happened to the Hokage after I died," he said. "But that boy is the successor of the Senju and my clan's hope. Konoha must have fallen on hard times if the Hokage have taken to killing their children."
"He's no son of mine!" Minato cried. "My son died!"
He flashed out of his deadlock with the Senju and flashed back to Naruto's side, only to be blocked by Tobirama again.
"You're a one-trick pony," the Second taunted. "I developed that technique you stole. But what else can you do?"
Minato broke free and planted a Rasengan into the Second's midriff, the spiralling sphere of chakra blowing his torso apart and giving him free access to murder his son. The kunai was promptly flicked back into his hand and it swept in an arc faster than Naruto could react to, slicing through his neck and cutting his carotid artery.
"Guh!" he gurgled, as he grabbed his throat and fell to the ground.
"Naruto!" Sarutobi screamed, as he summoned Enma and shot the staff at his successor, stopping the man from following up on his strike.
"The Kyūbi took your wife, Sarutobi-sama," Minato said. "Why are you protecting it?"
"Naruto is not the Kyūbi!" Hiruzen shouted back in anguish.
Orochimaru had directed Hashirama to duel his brother and was watching the exchange in glee. Tobirama's body had reformed and he was in a deadlock with his brother, his cutting water techniques slicing through some of the wood techniques, but failing when confronted with some of Hashirama's stronger wooden constructs.
The Snake Sannin was in utter glee at the way things were unfolding. He had wanted to taunt and upset his former teacher before killing him, but seeing Minato trying to kill his son had caused Sarutobi more mental anguish than Orochimaru could ever manage. He stayed his hand, letting the two duels between Hokages continue uninterrupted.
Naruto writhed on the ground as his neck healed, chakra from his heaven seal pumping through him and invigorating him, giving him a darker tinge to his skin and letting him stagger to his feet again.
"You've perverted my gift, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru wondered. "It was meant to give me power over you, but you've adapted it for your own ends. This cannot stand. It appears to be the two of us again, squaring off. Four Hokages fighting each other and us; the ones who wanted to be Hokage but were cursed never to reach that goal. Your father hates you. I will kill the Third, and who will take his place? Jiraiya or Tsunade, both of whom hate you. I see so many similarities between us, but I will live forever, while you will die. But I will have that eye of yours before I go."
Naruto dove out of the way of Orochimaru's Kusanagi, as the Sannin's sword extended over twenty feet in nearly an instant. He flashed through handseals and smashed his hand to the ground.
"Summoning Technique!"
Ma and Pa burst into being, both taking into account the situation and hopping to Naruto's shoulders.
"Who are the enemies, Naruto-child?" Ma asked.
"The snake, the First and the Fourth."
"Understood," Pa said. "Good to see you again, Tobirama-child."
"Likewise," the Second said. "I created this resurrection technique and I can disrupt its effects over my brother. But I and the Fourth don't have control seals, so we will exist until our chakra runs out or our souls are removed. Hiruzen, do you have your successor ready?"
Sarutobi gave a sad look at Naruto as he nodded.
"Yes. Naruto, I would recommend you leave Konoha once we're done here. Jiraiya will protect this village but will do you no favours. You will be lucky if he lets you live."
"Telling your student to go missing-nin?" Tobirama asked. "What has become of you?"
"You've seen Minato's reaction to Naruto," the Third said. "Jiraiya is little better. Naruto, you are our hope. You must survive." He started flashing through handseals.
"Too late!" Orochimaru yelled, as he threw himself at Naruto, sword extended. Just before the snake connected, the clone Naruto had left outside the barrier disappeared, nature chakra leaving it and flooding into Naruto.
"Shinra Tensei!"
A burst of gravity shot out of the blond, throwing Orochimaru into the First Hokage and hitting everyone inside the barrier to differing degrees. Sarutobi had just used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to extract the soul of the First Hokage, letting him disappear into dust. He grabbed his past student as he flew past, getting dragged along with him. The gravity wave threw the Second and Fourth into the barrier, where they were burnt to pieces before quickly reforming.
"We'll distract the Fourth!" Ma and Pa yelled, leaving Naruto and shooting piercing water jutsu at the reforming Hokage.
"I can't take all of his soul!" Sarutobi shouted over the din. "But I'm taking your arms, Orochimaru. You'll never use jutsu again!"
Orochimaru's head snaked out and launched itself at his teacher, ripping out the old man's throat. Sarutobi died with a gurgling chuckle, his soul floating away along with the First Hokage's and his treacherous student's ability to use ninja techniques.
"No!" Orochimaru screamed, feeling his arms become limp and useless.
Minato took the lapse in Ma and Pa's concentration to flash beside his son once more and try to gut him.
"Human Path: Absorption Soul Technique!"
Naruto shot his hand straight behind him and pulled. Instinctively, he'd accessed the power his eyes had over the soul, finding the anchor that kept Minato tied to reality and stripping it away. The Fourth Hokage's body collapsed into dust as the four survivors looked on.
"Use it on me as well, Naruto-kun," Tobirama said. "I do not wish to stay in this impure realm much longer. You will make our clan proud."
He walked towards his successor and placed the Raijin in Naruto's left hand, while placing the boy's right on his chest. Naruto found the same feeling and pulled, letting the Second's soul flow into him and the fake body dissolve.
"You-" Orochimaru said, as he watched the boy defeat his technique. "Bodyguards! We're leaving!"
The purple barrier disappeared as the four people holding the technique flashed into the centre of the fight.
"Shall we engage, Orochimaru-sama?" the red-haired woman asked.
"No. We are leaving. The invasion is over."
His entourage picked him up and flashed away, leaving Ma, Pa and Naruto alone with the dead body of their Hokage.
"Jiji!" Naruto shouted, moving towards the Hokage, to see if he could help. Before he could make it, a whole entourage of shinobi appeared on the rooftop.
"That's enough from you," Jiraiya growled, standing between Naruto and the Third. "Wanting to defile his body after you killed him? I'm not surprised."
"I can help him!" Naruto screamed, as sage mode left him and blood streamed down from his eye.
"Over my dead body," the older man muttered.
"Leave him be, Jiraiya-child," Pa chided. "He was involved in a battle between four Kage and Orochimaru. Do you think you could have done any better?"
"That remains to be investigated," Jiraiya said. "He will be taken into custody until this matter is settled. As Hokage-elect I order this to be done. Team Ro?"
Yūgao and the others appeared around Naruto, grasping him by the arms.
"Sorry kid," she whispered. Naruto clutched his head in agony and fell to the floor, surprising the group.
"What? You saw his flames of youth! He would not murder our most youthful Hokage!" Gai screamed, as he appeared on the rooftop.
"Yeah, did you see him using Wood Release? Maybe he should be Hokage instead!" a voice shouted from the crowd.
"Enough!" Jiraiya yelled, flaring his chakra and killing intent, causing all but the strongest of ninja to sweat with fear. "Only the Hokage and active superiors in the field can authorise executions, so Uzumaki-san will merely be held for questioning until we settle the matter. He is not being accused of killing Sarutobi-sama, but we do need to know what happened inside that barrier."
With that, most of the ardent objectors stopped, realising that they couldn't really argue with that. Naruto was escorted away by Team Ro before any more objections could be heard.
They appeared at the Torture and Interrogation building, manhandling him through the building until they reached Ibiki.
"Oh, hey kid, how's it going?" he asked, wiping blood from his hands. "I just got back from the action myself, why are you here?"
"Jiraiya-sama has ordered for him to be kept here," Yūgao said. "The Hokage was killed and Naruto saw everything."
"And he didn't just debrief you? What game's he playing? Still, I guess he's the next in line until the council gets their shit together. Put him in interrogation room three; it's the nicest we got."
Naruto was bundled into the room, more gently than before. As Team Ro left, Inami slipped her Boar mask off and gave Naruto a kiss on the cheek, and Yūgao stayed inside as the door was closed.
"Now listen up, Naruto. There's a regime change happening and you've been caught in the middle of it. Sarutobi-sama knew that change was coming, and he didn't think he'd be around for much longer. As the Hokage's personal guard, we're honour-bound to follow the wishes of the Hokage, even past death. As Jiraiya-sama hasn't become Hokage yet, Sarutobi-sama's orders are still absolute. And he told us to remain loyal to you."
"What?" Naruto asked, confused by the turnabout.
"He knew Jiraiya was against you, but didn't know to what extent. He had several plans in action and we have to choose between them. Did he tell you anything?"
"He told me to run… that Jiraiya would probably kill me… that I was his hope."
"Plan C. Damn it. I'll need to get busy. You stay here. Ibiki and Anko are the highest in T&I, but loyal to Sarutobi as well. If they interrogate you, they'll keep it as light as they can. You didn't do anything wrong, but you need to stay here for a while. Hold out. I need four days."
With that, she disappeared and closed the door.
Naruto spent a few hours just staring at himself in the mirror. The left side of his face, around his eye, was caked with blood, and his eye was bloodshot and raw. Three tomoe stared back at him, circling lazily. He picked off as much blood as he could and wiped some away with his sleeve. For his eye, he channelled some water chakra to dampen the sleeve, but as soon as he did so a sealing matrix kicked in.
"Trying to escape, eh kid?" a cruel voice asked, and Jiraiya appeared in the corner of the room.
"I'm trying to clean my face!" the boy protested, as he brandished his moistened sleeve. The senior shinobi grabbed the offending limb and twisted it, cracking the wrist and making Naruto scream in pain.
"Not what I saw," he grinned, cruelly. "I saw a murderer attempting to escape. By the end of the week the council will have made a decision on the next Hokage and I will be able to order your execution. Killing you sooner than that will raise too many questions, especially with sensei announcing your heritage in front of the whole village."
"But why? Why do you want me dead? Why you and my father?"
Jiraiya stared for a long time into the boy's eyes, not at all scared of the possibility of Naruto casting an ocular genjutsu.
"You really don't know, do you? What you are. You are not a human. You cannot be reasoned with. You are the Kyūbi in human form. And I will kill you and take my chances if you reform into a fox. Until then, enjoy the room. I thought your sympathisers would have you placed here."
A seal matrix kicked in and Naruto was thrown to the floor by the increased gravity, as different seals leeched his chakra away.
"Oh, and we can't have you lying still enough to access nature chakra," he said, as the floor sparked, electrocuting Naruto. "Maybe after a week of this your chakra will be gone and I won't have to worry about the Kyūbi coming back after all. Ja ne!"
As Naruto writhed in pain, his healing factor suppressed by all the chakra flowing from him, he caught sight of the wall-length mirror once more. With a last surge of effort, he caught sight of his Sharingan eye and the tomoe started to spin, weaving an illusion that was turned back on him and sent him into glorious unconsciousness.
AN: So there's Sarutobi's death and the Chūnin exam finals. It happened. I know a lot of you aren't going to like Jiraiya's behaviour, but he thinks it's completely justified. He was always funny and a bit ridiculous, but he grew up in the middle of a war. This is the face he shows to his enemies.
Apologies about not uploading last week. Sorry/not sorry; work's very busy and the woman I'm dating is leaving the country soon, so my priority is seeing her as much as possible in the next two weeks. That being said, I'm going to immediately upload another (short) chapter for y'all to chew on.
And yeah, the semi-sex scene was a bit cliché. Believe me, I expected better from myself. But Hinata's a teenage girl and most of this stemmed from her fantasies, which were driven by whatever Mills and Boon drivel she'd been able to get her hands on. That's my excuse for crappy writing.