Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.

AN: So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites…your words of encouragement are truly, truly appreciated.

The eight ninjas of Konoha leapt from branch to branch, steadily making their way towards Konohagakure no Sato. They had been tree hopping for hours and had about thirty minutes until they reached the village gates. Over the course of the journey, the genin of Teams 7 and 10 had been casting befuddled glances at Naruto – some more subtle than others. True to form however, Naruto simply ignored said looks; he had no intention of putting up with the fuss of sating anyone's curiosity…after all this was meant to be a vacation reality and furthermore, it was none of their business.

Ino had been confused ever since she witnessed the happenings on the bridge. She kept asking herself when Naruto…Naruto...had gotten so strong. Sure, she remembered how Naruto completely blew past the academy graduating exams, but he hadn't been on the level he was at now. She had to confess that she was amazed at how he effortlessly performed sealless high-ranked jutsu, as well as his skill in taijutsu and kenjutsu. After getting back from the bridge, Ino had cornered Sakura to find out all that she could about this new Naruto, and she was terribly disappointed. Still, for a consummate gossip like her, the lack of information was telling in and of itself. Also, having a parent who was so highly placed in the intelligence division granted her more insight into the ways of the Shinobi. It was the ones you knew nothing about that killed you the fastest. Quickly following on the heels of that morbid thought was a recollection of how Naruto had taken care of Gatou and his thugs. Ino had to fight off a shiver at the gruesome memory of smoking and charred corpses. However, ever the busybody, she was determined to know all there was to know about her fellow blond haired ninja.

Shikamaru's keen mind had been turning over the puzzle that Uzumaki Naruto presented. He recalled an orange-wearing attention-seeking goof ball that had possessed the most deplorable ninja skills. That person had disappeared for three months – two of which had been spent in the hospital, if the rumors were to be believed, only to return fundamentally different. Being one of the most perceptive people in his generation, Shikamaru had noticed on that first day of the new academic year that it wasn't only Naruto's sense of fashion that had undergone a change. His thoughts had been confirmed when he had seen the way Naruto reacted to the taunts thrown his way. He will be the first to admit that once Naruto began to skip classes, he had written off the changes as only superficial. That was until the graduation exams when Naruto basically made a fool out of everyone – shattering all their preconceived notions with indifferent impunity. Now three months later, he shows up again, wielding Lightning jutsu with thoughtless ease and wiping out bandit armies like dust from his lapels. However he remembered what Naruto had said to his teammates on the roof of Tazuna's house, and as such, decided not to bother asking him directly. Though it was troublesome, Uzumaki Naruto intrigued him.

Chouji was not oblivious to how surprising Naruto was. Before the blue eyed ninja had changed so much, he would occasionally share a meal with him. After his absence of three months however, Chouji rarely ever saw him around. Still, it somewhat surprised him that a genin who graduated with him could be so far above him in skill. Nonetheless, he wasn't too bothered about it and as such, he saw no need to stick his nose into his comrade's business.

Asuma glanced at Kakashi's blond haired genin. He had spoken to Kakashi about him after Naruto had healed his injuries. He didn't really know what to think; he hadn't had many interactions with the kid before, so he didn't know how much he had changed. Still, he was grateful to Naruto for healing him, and even though his jounin level skills were suspicious, he would give the kid – who his dad was so obviously fond of – the benefit of the doubt.

Sakura had been silent for most of the return trip; she didn't know what to think. The mission in the Land of Waves had shown her how far behind she was in comparison to her teammates. Sasuke was the Rookie of the Year and an obvious prodigy. He had always been better than her, and now that he had unlocked his Sharingan, that gap could only possibly widen further. Then there was Naruto. What else was there to say on that matter? Comparing Naruto to herself was like putting Kakashi next to an academy student. Even she had to accept that Naruto was simply too powerful. And now that she thought about it, she asked herself just how he got that strong. From what she remembered, Naruto had been geared to graduate at the bottom of the class. Then out of nowhere, he blew past everyone during the graduation exams, evenSasuke. And just where did he learn medical jutsu from? Sakura had chosen to study medical jutsu, in the hope that it would become her thing on Team 7, thereby showing how useful she could be to Sasuke. Now, Naruto comes along and shows her up as though she was never any competition. She cast one last annoyed look at Naruto and vowed to find out how Naruto had improved so rapidly.

Sasuke had been fuming ever since the group had departed for Konoha. He had passed out after Naruto rescued him from the deadly Ice user. He had gotten the story of what happened from Shikamaru – Ino and Sakura had been too busy crowding him and being annoying as always. When he learned that Naruto had defeated an opponent that he could not, and then gone on to wipeout so many bandits with one strike, he couldn't believe it. For the first time since the academy graduation, he realized that he had been playing catch up for so long and was still far behind. No matter how much he had tried, he had never been able to discover Naruto's secrets. He had even tried tailing him a few weeks after their team was formed. He had followed Naruto into a building where he had lost him. Before he could backtrack, he had been swamped by women – prostitutes – who told him that a blond haired gentleman had paid them handsomely to entertain him. It was then that he realized that Naruto had been aware of his efforts to tail him and had thus led him to a brothel. He had been abruptly yanked out his musings when he felt a hand cup him there. He had promptly fled the building with a tomato red face, with the amused – mocking – laughter of the women on his heels. He had been unable to meet Naruto's eyes for days after that incident. Still, he comforted himself with the knowledge that he had finally unlocked his bloodline limit. Even though he would probably be unable to copy any of his teammate's jutsu, he would still be able to use the other abilities of the sharingan against him – like its genjutsu and prediction abilities. With his annoyance replaced by eager anticipation, he turned his thoughts away from his teammate.

Kakashi was lost in thought; a ninja of his caliber did not need his full attention to seamlessly travel on the Shinobi highway. After Naruto had taken out Gatou and his thugs, Kakashi had been too out of it to realize that a genin should never have been able to command such powerful jutsu effortlessly. The events on the bridge were like the straw that broke the camel's back; all the little discrepancies that he had initially brushed aside came back to him, and they would not be dismissed so easily. Being one of the few people who cared enough to know about Naruto's life, he was aware that it was very unlikely that one of the ninja in village was responsible for Naruto's phenomenal skill. That knowledge made him all the more wary of his blond haired student's rapid improvement. With one more discrete glance at Naruto, Kakashi vowed to bring his concerns to the Sandaime.

The members of Teams 7 and 10 made their way towards the red Hokage Tower. As they walked along the road, the two jounin noticed the fleeting looks that a few of the villagers threw at the blond haired Shinobi. They simply put the issue out of their minds, partially correct in their assumption that it was due to Naruto's Jinchuuriki status.

Before the Eternal Sage had taken the place of Uzumaki Naruto, the interactions between the blue eyed child and the villagers usually involved most of the villagers blatantly ignoring him. Only a handful of them ever went out of their way to actually verbally abuse him. None of them dared lay a hand on him after the Sandaime had made a public example of a drunk who tried to kill him when he was four years old. Being the rambunctious child that he was, Naruto often struck out at his more verbal detractors via his pranks. So, like a feedback loop, his actions worsened the behaviors of the villagers, who in turn escalated the retribution Naruto sought to dish out, until it got to the point where most merchants in Konoha refused to provide service to him. The truth of the matter though was that the more verbal villagers were at their cores, bullies. They derived malicious vindication from seeing Naruto's wide smile become more forced, and his shoulders hunch over more, under their hateful words. The silent observers also felt a sense of guilty of accomplishment when they saw the effect their indifference had on the boy.

That all changed after the arrival of the current Naruto. It had taken only one week for almost all the villagers to learn that Naruto would no longer take anything dished at him. In fact, he seemed to simply not care; almost as if the world he lived in did not contain any of them. When the more vocal villagers taunted him, he never reacted…he never even raised his head from his book. Now getting a taste of their own medicine, the taunting calls slowly began to dwindle and eventually, stopped all together under the unyielding indifference of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. With Naruto no longer caring about the existence of any of the people who attempted to make his life miserable, the more malicious of them began to get frustrated; it was no fun if he didn't feel their displeasure. Then when the first storekeeper tried to triple the prices of his goods, Naruto merely cast him a dismissive glance and left without buying anything. At first they had felt that they could still get to him by their actions, until they witnessed him buy so many goods from the monthly traveling merchants that said merchants probably gained a month's profit in one day. Any attempts at bad mouthing the boy to the traveling merchants only caused them to be labeled malicious gossips that would do anything to stifle the competition. Their consternation only increased when Naruto began to give the traders quality animal skin and plants which they knew could only have come from the Forest of Death. With the double blow of losing the patronage of such a relatively rich customer and a source of high quality raw materials, the merchants slowly stopped treating him like they used. Of course, Naruto never actually went back to buying from them, even when he knew that he would not be overcharged. As months went by, and as the villagers saw him less and less, he slowly passed beneath their notice; the facemask aided his attempts to fade to the background. Most of them had even forgotten what he looked like. At the end of the day, he could walk freely in broad daylight without having to put up with glares and cold shoulders – only a few people noticed him in particular, and they never did anything.

The eight ninja stood before the Hokage as each of the two jounin gave their respective reports on their missions, with Kakashi including reports on his team's initial escort mission to the Land of Fire's capital.

Sarutobi had to stop himself from reacting when Asuma mentioned that he allowed his fresh out of school kunoichi convince him to continue with the mission after getting its full measure. He would have to give Asuma an official reprimand, Hokage's son or not. His eyebrows rose minutely when his son reported about Naruto's use of Iryou Jutsu (Medical Jutsu). Then he nearly choked on his pipe when he heard about the happenings on the bridge. After the two jounin were done, he dismissed all the six genin, noting with interest how Naruto vanished with a muted flash of lightning.

When the genin had all left his office, he turned to Asuma and sighing, said,

"That was a bad call Asuma. I have no choice but to give you an official reprimand, marked in your records."

Asuma nodded, accepting that he had indeed messed up. As he turned to leave at the Hokage's dismissal, he was suddenly reminded of an encounter he had had with Naruto in Wave. He had been surprised at the time because he knew from Kakashi that Naruto rarely, if ever, started out conversations.

Tazuna had just returned from the events on the bridge to find that Gatou had sent some thugs to capture his family as insurance. Asuma had intervened, after Inari had stood up to the thugs. He had been watching the tearful reunion of Tazuna and his family when Naruto had spoken in a soft and musing tone only he could hear,

"Makes you wonder doesn't it?"

Surprised, he had turned a questioning gaze on the mysterious genin. Seeing his confusion, Naruto had turned a knowing look on him that pinned him in place,

"Makes you wonder about the importance of family and loved ones; how no matter the differences between them, family is still family."

Now in front of his father, who he hadn't spoken to for a long time, he considered what Naruto had said. Hiruzen looked at Asuma in confusion when he noticed him pause in his exit. His eyes widened in surprise when he heard what Asuma said on his way out,

"See you at dinner…father."

A glowing smile spread across his face as he watched Asuma – his son – leave the room. He wondered what had happened to change his son's mind, and out of nowhere, an image of a blond haired child flashed in his mind. Getting a hold of himself, he turned his attention to the remaining jounin in the room,

"So Kakashi, tell me, what are your concerns about Naruto?"

Kakashi put his novel away, causing some measure of concern in the Sandaime. He began to detail the various discrepancies he had noticed so far: The jounin level speed, the mastery of kenjutsu, the chakra control needed to use medical jutsu as well as seallessly command powerful bolts of lightning, the superior senses. He also pointed out that all this strength had to have been gained in two years at most, all without anyone ever noticing. It wasn't possible.

After Kakashi finished, Sarutobi leaned back with a furrow on his brows and exhaled a stream of smoke. He was sad to say that he agreed with Kakashi about the issue with Naruto. However, he was reluctant to force the truth out of the boy. Because he knew that the seal on Naruto would allow no interference from the Kyuubi, he was not too worried about that. Nonetheless, the fact that in two years, and with no teacher, Naruto had gained the skills needed to place him on par with jounin level ninja was a thing of concern. The only reason that he didn't drag the child forward to demand answers from him was the memory of Naruto's body slumped over a blade he had thrust through his own heart. Looking at Kakashi, Sarutobi knew that they were thinking the same thing. Letting loose a world weary sigh, he made his decision,

"I understand what you're saying Kakashi, but you and I know why it is unadvisable to pressure him into giving us answers. However, I assume you are going to nominate your students for the chunin exams. Watch him and if he does anything that endangers either himself or the village, let me know."

Giving a resigned nod, Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves. The Hokage gave another tired sigh, and then leaned forward to resume his paperwork.

The three genin of Team 7 entered the exam room to see a huge gathering of genin from other villages. Naruto smoothly sidestepped the blonde missile careening towards him, and then turned to watch calmly as Sasuke was smothered by Yamanaka Ino. He didn't react when Shikamaru spoke up from behind him,

"You guys too huh? Troublesome."

Whatever response that statement might have garnered was cut off by the loud and boisterous voice of Inuzuka Kiba,

"Woohoo! You guys are here too! This is going to be so awesome!"

The nine genin of the most recent graduating class began to intermingle amongst themselves, until they were interrupted by another new comer. The silver haired genin spoke in a chiding tone,

"You really should not be so noisy. There, take a look behind you."

The genin turned and most of them blanched when they noticed the murderous looks being thrown their way by the rest of the room's occupants. Yakushi Kabuto noted, with interest, that neither Uzumaki Naruto nor Uchiha Sasuke seemed to be bothered by the killing intent. Making a note of his observation, he continued,

"Since I'm a fellow Konoha genin who has taken these exams before, I'll help you out free of charge."

Then, with a flourish, he produced a deck of cards. Before any of the genin before him could wonder at the purpose for the cards, he explained,

"These are info cards which I created using my experience with the exams. They have on them, information about all the villages participating in these exams, as well as, information on the individual genin themselves. So, who do you want to know about?"

Sasuke noticeable perked up at that. His mind flashed back to the interactions he had had with two other genin, and so he stepped forward to request,

"Tell me about Rock Lee, Sabaku no Gaara…and Uzumaki Naruto."

Ignoring the confusion of his fellow genin at him requesting information about his own teammate, he focused on Kabuto. Kabuto suppressed any amusement he might have felt at hearing Sasuke ask about the enigmatic Kyuubi Jinchuuriki; he had heard talk among the jounin of the boy's actions on a C-rank turned A-rank mission to the Land of Waves. Refocusing on the genin before him, he spoke up as his hands deftly fetched cards from his deck,

"It becomes far easier when you already know their names. Okay, first up is Rock Lee – nonexistent skills in ninjutsu and genjutsu, but superb in taijutsu. He has been on two B-ranked missions, 23 C-ranked missions, and numerous D-ranked missions. Next is Sabaku no Gaara. He has been on 10 C-ranked missions, 8 B-ranked missions, and has never once been injured on any of them. Finally, we have…"

The surrounding genin blinked in surprise at the pause, until they noticed Kabuto shuffling through his deck with furrowed eyebrows. A look of confusion crossed his face when he realized that he couldn't find the third card. As one, the gathered genin swung their gazes to Naruto, only to find his head buried in his book as usual. Huffing out exasperated breaths, they turned back to Kabuto, who had continued to tell them about those attending the exams. If they had looked closer, they would have found a ninja info card acting as a bookmark in Naruto's book.

Team 7 stood in front of their assigned gate, waiting for the signal to commence the second part of the Chunin Selection Exams. Sakura shuffled nervously in place, while Sasuke's clenched fists were the only indicators of his trepidation. Naruto, however, was deep in thought.

He had made a promise to himself, to ensure that the name, Uzumaki Naruto, would be known throughout the Elemental Nations – it was the least he could do for the young boy whose life he now lived. After he met Gaara a few days before the chunin exams began, he had come to realize that this Gaara was a little more far gone than he was used to. He hadn't yet decided if he was going to try to redeem the red haired Shinobi, but one thing he knew was that Gaara was the only genin capable of giving him the kind of fight that would place his name among the up and coming legends of his generation. However, things were not so simple because, as his senses had indicated, Orochimaru was present, and that generally meant that there would be an invasion. So, the next few days were going to be important to him, if he intended to do as he had promised himself.

When Orochimaru ambushes his team, in order to test the strength of his intended vessel, Naruto plans to fight him. The purpose was to get Orochimaru to take an interest in him. From what he knew of the Snake Sannin from lives past, he was at heart a scientist and was always interested in intriguing individuals. The trick was to rouse his interest enough that he would want to see what Naruto was capable of; want it enough to delay the invasion until he watched Naruto go up against either Gaara or Sasuke in the finals. However, he wanted to avoid taking it too far and causing Orochimaru to consider him a threat to be eliminated. It was unfortunate, but Naruto would probably allow Orochimaru mark Sasuke with his Cursed Seal of Heaven.

He put such thoughts from his mind once he heard the sound signifying the start of the second round of the Chunin Selection Exams. Like a shot, all the teams were off.

Team 7 blurred through the trees, with Sasuke taking point. None of the other two noticed Naruto making clones, which promptly took off to hunt down other teams and capture whatever scrolls that they could. Sasuke had immediately assumed leadership of the team, casting a challenging look at Naruto who merely eye-smiled in return. They kept on traveling through the day, since Sasuke was determined to cover as much ground as possible on the first day, before they went about trying to obtain the needed Heaven Scroll. They didn't encounter any opposition during the day, and chose to camp out in a cave Naruto had found.

After a meal of ration bars, the three genin set out the next day. Naruto's sharp senses picked up on Orochimaru's presence suddenly appearing in the vicinity. So, he wasn't fazed when a gust of chakra reinforced wind slammed into him, propelling him far away from his team. He easily controlled his fall and smoothly landed on the side of a tree. Without faltering for even an instant, he was already in motion, jumping away from the tree he was on just as a 20 foot snake crashed through the place he had been standing. To kill time, he elected to play a game of cat and mouse with the snake, though he was sure the snake wrongly assumed just who the mouse was.

Sasuke stood panting across from the slightly scuffed figure of the grass kunoichi. He had thrown everything he had at her, and still she calmly stood there, smiling sinisterly at him. Forcefully calming his uneven breathing, he prepared his last gambit. Hurtling forward at speeds above what most genin could achieve, he threw a series of fast paced punches and kicks at the Kusa-nin. His sharingan was able to follow the retaliatory punch launched at his face, but his body was too slow to do anything about it. The punch thundered into his face, launching him away from his opponent. Not even hesitating, he hurled ten shuriken simultaneously along circuitous paths. With the same smirk on her face, the kunoichi smoothly evaded them, only moving as much as needed to have the projectiles just brush by. Her eyes widened however, when she noticed the ninja wire attached to the shuriken, only in time for her to be bound to the tree behind her. Not wasting his chance, Sasuke clenched the end of the wires in his mouth and snarled out, Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique).

A huge roaring torrent of flames surged down the ninja wire and met at the kunoichi's location in an explosion of heat, light, and sound. Sasuke let loose a breath of relief when he heard the kunoichi's screams. However, his relief fled him when he noticed that what he thought were screams of pain, were actually screams of exultation. He stumbled back in shock and fear as the Kusa-nin emerged from the flames, slowly peeling of the charred skin of her face to reveal a pale smirking visage beneath it. He spoke up in a tone that felt like snakes crawling under skin,

"Kukuku Sasuke-kun, you truly are a delight. Such promise you have, yes, you truly are that man's brother."

Orochimaru's sickening grin widened further when he noticed the flinch Sasuke released at the mention of Itachi. He made his decision. Quickly weaving through hand seals, his neck elongated grotesquely, launching his head towards the petrified genin. His jaws extended beyond human norm and his fangs lengthened in preparation.

Sasuke let loose a scream of intense pain as Orochimaru clamped down, imparting his Cursed Seal of Heaven on the boy.

Orochimaru was in the process of retracting his head, when his eyes widened and he abruptly wove his body to side. He avoided the spear of lightning by a hair's breadth. He quickly focused his serpentine gaze on the new arrival and smiled in glee as he noticed the blond haired child coolly gazing back at him. His senses noticed two clones of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki arriving and leaving with his two teammates, but he ignored them, having already accomplished his goal. Turning back to the blond, he prepared to speak, but was interrupted,

"Orochimaru the Snake Charmer, what brings you to this part of the woods?"

Now amused, Orochimaru responded,

"Oh? You know of me, little genin? I'm surprised; I would have thought that my…actions…would have kept the Academy from teaching about me. After all, Konoha has a habit of trying to bury unpleasant truths."

Naruto merely gave an eye-smile in response, and said,

"Nah, the huge snake was kind of a dead giveaway. Might I inquire as to what you just did to my teammate?"

"Hmm…since you asked so nicely, I think I could answer that. I gave him a taste of what power could be his if he came to join me. I have seen his soul, little genin, and I know that he will seek me out for more power eventually."

Watching to see what Naruto would do in response to his explanation, Orochimaru noticed his subtle shift in stance and prepared himself to test the genin before him. With a flash, they were off

The three clones finally landed beside a huge hollowed out trunk. The lead clone turned to Sakura as the clone carrying her placed her on her feet.

"Make camp here and tend to Sasuke. Two of us will leave to aid the original while the last one will setup some perimeter traps. We don't have a lot of equipment, so don't rely too much on the traps."

Without giving her a moment to respond, the lead clone was off, followed by one of the other two.

Naruto's fists were a blur as he attacked the Snake Sannin, moving at speeds that put Sasuke to shame – a fact which Orochimaru noted with interest. The Hebi-Sannin's fluid taijutsu style allowed him to move in odd ways to avoid all the attacks headed his way. He was obviously not going all out on the genin, but still, he was impressed that Naruto was keeping up with the pace so far. Deciding to kick it up a notch, he began to counterattack. Amazingly, Naruto was able to avoid four out of every five attacks launched his way, even managing to hit Orochimaru a few times.

Naruto suddenly jumped away from Orochimaru and with no warning before hand, he spat out in Orochimaru's direction, Raiton: Gian (Lightning Release: False Darkness). Orochimaru's eyes widened as the genin seallessly launched a B-ranked jutsu at full power. Deciding to play along, he formed a single hand seal and said, Fuuton: Shinkuugyoku (Wind Release: Balls of Wind), and spat out five balls of tightly compressed cutting winds at the airborne genin. The lightning spear was destroyed by one of the balls of wind, reducing their number to four. While still airborne, Naruto rejoined, Raiton: Rairyuudan (Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Bullet). A huge crackling blue dragon made of lightning ploughed through the balls of wind and then exploded when it impacted the place Orochimaru had been standing in.

Naruto landed on the side of tree and promptly ducked as roundhouse kick tore through the air above his head. He returned with a rising elbow which just grazed the tip of Orochimaru's nose as he leaned back to avoid the blow. Still leaning back, Orochimaru's leg came up to impact heavily into Naruto's stomach, causing Orochimaru to let out a hiss of pain as the lightning clone was dispelled in a release of lightning. A sword erupted from his chest as he stood back upright. However, Naruto never stopped moving as he spun and cut through the air behind him, forcing Orochimaru to pull back.

Smirking at the increasingly fascinating genin, Orochimaru opened his mouth wide and reached in to pull out the famed Kusanagi. Turning back to the genin, he said,

"Kukuku, you surprise me Naruto-kun. However, as I'm sure you know, this is the Kusanagi; there is no material it cannot cut."

In response to that, Naruto simply channeled chakra into his ninjato, causing previously invisible seals to light up. With a low hum, his blade began to vibrate at insane speeds, increasing its cutting power a hundred fold. Then lightning crackled down the length of the blade, further increasing its lethality. Smile widening at the display, Orochimaru lunged forward and began a lethal dance of steel with the blond haired genin.

Naruto fought with all the skill that his level seven custom limiter seal would allow. He skillfully traded blows with the fellow master swordsman, just managing to turn aside attacks that would have fatally poisoned anyone else. They continued like that for a few more minutes until Naruto suddenly switched things up again by intoning, Raiton: Kangekiha (Lightning Release: Wave of Inspiration). The surge of lightning travelled down his blade and into the Kusanagi, forcing Orochimaru to disengage or risk further electrocution. Naruto had begun breathing a little heavier from the effort of battling such a high level opponent while being restricted as he was. The little cuts he had sustained from the famed Grass Cutter sealed with a hiss as his accelerated healing factor kicked.

Orochimaru's attention was drawn to Naruto as he watched his injuries heal before his eyes. Then Orochimaru almost sighed as he realized that he had gotten sidetracked and spent too much time with the blond haired ninja; he would have to bring things to a close. He tossed his sword through the air and blurred through hand seals before slamming his hands on the floor. Naruto allowed his eyes to widen as he felt Orochimaru's chakra spike to high levels as he said, Kuchiyose no Jutsu.

The Anbu and Hokage perked up when they sensed a huge spike of chakra from the forest of death. Stepping up to his window, Sarutobi turned his gaze in the direction of the chakra eruption in time to see a huge plume of smoke clear to reveal what his sharp eyes saw to be a huge snake. He was already zipping towards the disturbance before the Anbu around him could make sense of what they were seeing. Orochimaru, he thought to himself, what is it that you are searching for here?

Knowing that his former sensei and Konoha Anbu would have felt the chakra spike, he commanded the snake to make quick work of the genin. The huge summon lunged for the tree that Naruto stood on. It crashed through the tree, narrowly missing its intended target, and turned to find its elusive prey. A shadow had both it and Orochimaru looking upwards to see the temporarily airborne form of Naruto finish weaving through a few hand seals. Then locking gazes with the widening eyes of the Snake Sannin, Naruto roared out, Raiton: Rairyuu no Houkou (Lightning Release: Roar of the Lightning Dragon).

A huge torrent of crackling yellow lightning exploded out of Naruto's mouth.

The approaching Konoha Ninja arrived in time to watch the world disappear in a roaring flash of golden light and booming thunder.

When the light had cleared from their eyes, and the ringing from their ears, they discovered that everything that had been below Naruto in about a fifteen foot radius was destroyed – including the huge summons creature.

The surrounding Anbu shook off their shock and turned to the Hokage for guidance. Shaking his head, he indicated that they should spread out and search for the traitor Sannin. He cast a contemplative look at Naruto, turned to observe the damage caused by his one attack, and then turned to join his men in his search. Naruto sensed the departure of the ninja, and sighed to himself. Although he had succeeded in his objective concerning Orochimaru, he knew that the Sandaime would soon be demanding answers from him. Well, he thought as he began tracking down his teammates, it's not like I haven't dealt with stuff like that before.

Naruto had made a slight detour to receive the scrolls that the clones he had sent out had obtained. All in all, he had three Heaven Scrolls and two Earth scrolls. He was steadily making his way back to his teammates, moving leisurely since he was in no hurry. He was also taking the time to let his currently limited reserve regenerate. His fight with Orochimaru had taken a lot out of him because he had refused to release even one level of his limiter seal. He was currently at half the strength of level seven. He slowed down his approach and concealed his presence from all those in the clearing ahead of him, even from the Hyuuga hidden in a tree on the other side. It was the work of a moment for him to understand what he was seeing; Orochimaru must have sent the sound Nins to test Sasuke's Cursed Seal. Sasuke was still out of it however, and so Sakura had taken a beating, as had Rock Lee who had tried to aid her. He was about to intervene when he felt Sasuke's chakra warp and begin to rise steadily.

The gathered genin – members of Team 10, Rock Lee, Sakura, and the Sound Nin – turned their attention to the source of steadily rising foul chakra, to find Sasuke standing with odd markings spreading across his skin.

Sasuke smiled in deranged pleasure as felt the wonderful power coursing through his body; he felt invincible as he was. With this power, I can definitely surpass that blond haired nuisance and be closer to killing Him. His gaze cut to one of the Sound Nins present, and suddenly, he vanished.

Kin Tsuchi let loose a cry of pain as Sasuke's rising foot smashed into the underside of her jaw. Before she completely left the ground, he pivoted and delivered a powerful round house kick to her airborne body, propelling her forcefully into a tree. The surrounding genin winced when they heard the distinct sound of bones breaking on impact.

With a snarl of rage on his face, Zaku flung his hands towards Sasuke and screamed out, Zankyokukuuha (Extreme Decapitating Air Waves). A huge gust of deadly cutting air exploded out of his palms, leaving him panting from the chakra usage. The wave of air tore across the clearing, bearing down on the still stationary Uchiha Sasuke. With a grin of triumph, Zaku watched as the waves crashed on the position of the black haired genin, totally obliterating everything in its path.

Before any of the present people could react, Zaku was suddenly on his knees, with his hands held behind him in the unyielding grip of the bloodthirsty avenger. Sasuke was too far gone to even bother with talking and so pressed his right foot against Zaku's back, and with a deranged grin on his face, he heaved his hands backwards and disarmed the sound genin…literally.

The surrounding people blanched as a ripping sound echoed throughout the clearing, followed by the tortured screams of Zaku. A few of them almost threw up at Sasuke's extreme actions, finally recognizing that something was terribly wrong with him.

Dosu stumbled back in terror as Sasuke's insane gaze focused on him. Hoping to save himself, he stuttered out,

"Please…please take our scroll and let me leave with my teammates. I'm sorry for attacking you…I swear I'll never –"

Dosu flinched in fear as Sasuke vanished from his position. He, along with everyone watching, believed that Sasuke was about to tear him apart as well.

It was, therefore, with understandable surprise that the genin present noticed Sasuke halt halfway towards Dosu – held in place by the hand resting against his chest. They quickly made out the owner of the hand to be the last member of Team 7, Uzumaki Naruto. The members of Team 10 relaxed in relief, an action that did not go unnoticed by the other genin. Wondering why Team 10 would feel relieved at the presence of the newcomer, they focused on the happenings in the center of the clearing. Naruto's customary calm tone was then heard through the air,

"I do believe that you have made whatever point you intended quite clear, and now, we are simply wasting time. He has surrendered his scroll, let us take it and complete this stage of the exams."

All was still as Sasuke stood there considering his teammate's words. Naruto read his eyes however, and knew what was going to happen next.

Sasuke's right hand came up in a fist, on a course to bury itself in Naruto's masked face.

It never got there.

With a slight hum of electrical energy as the only prior warning, the hand placed against Sasuke's chest erupted with lightning, locking Sasuke's muscles in place and delivering massive shock to his system. Three seconds later, it was over, and Sasuke slumped forward in unconsciousness. Naruto caught him and lifted him onto his shoulder, noting that the Cursed Seal was retracting.

Before the stunned eyes of the genin, he turned to the unconscious form of Sakura, and with no prior warning, a clone materialized next to her and scooped her up as well. Suddenly, they were all gone from the clearing, leaving the results of Sasuke's rampage behind them. The Konoha genin turned to look at Dosu, only to notice that he had taken the chance to flee with his injured teammates.

Naruto stood with the other exam participants as the Hokage's speech wound to a close. He noticed Gaara's bloodthirsty gaze focused on him, but he did not react to it… not yet. After Hayate ended his own speech, and Kabuto withdrew himself, the matches began. His attention wandered as Sasuke defeated Akado Yoroi, and Shino proved too much of a match for an armless Zaku. He then watched as Kankuro killed his opponent, Tsurugu Misumi. He focused on the fight between Sakura and Ino, wanting to see if Sakura's improvements would do her any good. He was disappointed to note that the match ended with a double knockout. It was as he thought; at the time of graduation, Ino had been better in the ninja arts than Sakura. Sakura only became Top Kunoichi because of her book scores. So, when Sakura improved herself, she only attained a level at par with her love rival, who was from a predominant ninja family herself.

The next match was between Temari and Kiba. It was violently short after Temari, and practically everyone else, noticed Kiba ogling her. As Kiba launched into a Gatsuuga (Dual Piercing Fang), Temari charged her battle fan with a wind jutsu, then swung it at an incoming Kiba. As soon as all his forward momentum had been neutralized by her fan, she released the jutsu point blank, viciously launching him into the wall while simultaneously cutting him up. It was over in seconds. With a smirk on her face as she turned to leave, Temari said to the barely conscious genin,

"Women hate a man who is too quick to finish."

And with the laughter of some of the surrounding ninjas in his ears, Kiba passed out.

Shikamaru faced off against the barely recovered Kin Tsuchi, where he outsmarted her and knocked her out.

Neji fought his cousin and ruthlessly took her apart, much to the anger of the spectating Konoha Nin.

Dosu defeated Chouji, channeling his frustration and anger at the Konoha Shinobi into his fight.

Then Gaara faced off against Rock Lee, providing the spectators with the best fight they had seen so far. Despite Rock Lee's trump card of opening five of the eight Celestial Gates, Gaara still triumphed, crushing Lee's arm and leg with his sand.

When it was his turn, Naruto casually meandered down the stairs for his battle with Tenten. The two contestants stood facing each other, even when the signal to begin was given. Tenten decided to start off with an observation,

"You know, our sensei told us not to underestimate you, but I just don't see it."

Merely raising an eyebrow at her, Naruto said nothing to that. With a huff at his silence, Tenten began to launch kunai and shuriken at him with deadly accuracy.

Still maintaining his unbothered look, Naruto began to weave through the hail of lethal projectiles.

Tenten was getting increasingly frustrated with her inability to hit the slippery genin and in a fit of pique, she ceased her barrage of weapons and jumped in the air. While airborne, she took out a sealing scroll and unrolled it, coiling it around her as she did. She then shouted out, Ittou-Ryuu (Rising Single Dragon).

A veritable rain of metal death was unsealed and hurled at the blond haired genin, moving at terrifying speeds. With merely a tilted head in consideration, Naruto moved. His hands blurred out to pluck the first two weapons closest to him – a tanto and a kunai, and then using them, he began to deflect everything headed at him. For the few seconds that the jutsu was active, the sound of metal on metal echoed through the room, causing the spectators to lean forward, hoping to glimpse what was happening to Naruto inside the cloud of dust he was in.

The jutsu finally ended and Tenten landed on the floor, breathing hard from the exertion. The cloud of dust cleared to reveal a sight that stunned her for a moment.

Naruto stood there, not a single scratch on his body, holding one of her tantos and a kunai. There was a perfect semi-circle of untouched ground behind him, where not a single weapon had landed.

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Tenten initiated the second part of her jutsu. With a flex of her fingers, all the weapons on the floor were launched into the air, guided by the ninja wire she now held. A crackling sound drew her attention to Naruto, to see the kunai he had held in his hand hurtling through the air towards her. She twitched her fingers and one of her airborne weapons moved to intercept the airborne kunai, while the rest lunged for Naruto from above. When the interceptor weapon hit the kunai, most of her other weapons had already traveled past it, closer to Naruto. The sound of the metal hitting another metal was quickly followed by the sound of lightning discharging as the lightning chakra Naruto had booby trapped the kunai with exploded.

The lighting was drawn to all the metal around it and promptly surged down the ninja wire surrounding the kunai that had contained it, travelling back to the budding weapons mistress.

She only had time to widen her eyes before the lightning arrived at her hands.

After the seconds long lightshow ended, Tenten's lightly cooked standing body was revealed. With a sound like a sigh, she fell over backwards, unconscious. After a few moments of stunned silence, Hayate's voice rang out,

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto walked down the streets of Konoha as he pondered what he should do during the one month break before the finals of the Chunin Exams. He turned to the side as the Anbu that had been trailing him finally decided to reveal himself.

Suppressing a twitch at being sensed by a genin, the Anbu spoke in a monotone,

"Uzumaki-san, Hokage-sama requests your presence."

After a nod, the Anbu vanished in a cloud of smoke. Naruto sighed and then prepared himself for the confrontation that was coming. He had already decided on how he was going to play it, and so, with no trace whatsoever, he disappeared from the streets of the village.

Naruto's steps didn't falter as he entered the Hokage's office, even as he noticed the added presences of his current one-eyed teacher and the Legendary Toad Sannin. He came to a stop at a respectable distance from the Hokage and said,

"You sent for me, Hokage-Jiji? "

Jiraiya's keen eyes observed the blond haired boy standing before his sensei. He noticed, with no small amount of incredulity, that the kid seemed completely at ease in the presence of three of Konoha's top ninja. From what his sensei had already told him about his godson, he knew that Naruto would probably be able to guess at his identity. Still, one would expect a genin to show some nerves when faced with three Konoha Legends, but the kid was rock steady. He quickly tuned into the conversation about to happen, determined to get the truth about the mysterious child.

"Yes Naruto-kun, I did. My ninja informed me that there was a missing Nin present during the second stage of the chunin exams. I want to know if you encountered him."

With a nod, Naruto said,

"Yes, it was Orochimaru of the Sannin."

Releasing a weary sigh, the Hokage said,

"And then what happened?"

"I arrived just as he was biting my teammate, Uchiha Sasuke. I launched an attack to distract him while three of my clones removed my teammates from immediate danger. I asked him what his purpose was and he told me that he wanted to give Sasuke a taste of power; he was confident that Sasuke would seek him out for more. After fighting with me for some minutes, he then left. "

The old man was quiet for a moment, just looking at Naruto with an unreadable look in his eyes. He then asked,

"How?"

Seeing Naruto's look of confusion, he elaborated, with his voice steadily rising as his frustration got the better of him,

"How does a genin fight with a ninja like Orochimaru and come out relatively unharmed? How does a genin seallessly produce an unseen jutsu that wipes out countless enemy bandits? How does an academy student go from being the bottom of his class to breaking all previously held records in the graduating exam in just under two years? And how does a child improve so much without anyone teaching him or noticing?"

Naruto's face was blank and unreadable as he gazed back at the Sandaime. He noticed that all three ninja were entirely focused on him. Then Jiraiya decided to add his own input, giving Naruto the opening he needed to pull off his deception,

"Look kid, it's not that we're not glad that you improved. The issue is that no matter how you look at it, such strength is suspicious. Why don't you just tell us who it was that taught you and we can get this thing settled once and for all?"

Jiraiya had to fight back a flinch as Naruto's eyes lost their blank look and gained a look of barely restrained fury. When those raging blue eyes cut to him, he drew back slightly, suddenly feeling as though he were staring down a furious Yellow Flash himself. When Naruto's voice came out, they all heard the suppressed rage in his tone,

"You are twelve years too late to be asking anything of me, dear Godfather. "

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