Chapter 6

The day of the Chunin Exam Finals had arrived at last.

It looked as if the whole of Konoha and a fair few civilians from Suna had arrived to watch what were sure to be epic matches, many of Konoha hoping to see the two prodigies, Sasuke Uchiha and Natsumi Uzumaki-Namikaze in the final bout.

Naruto's attendance had been mandatory of course, even if he had no desire to support his 'sister' who had 'trained so much' for 'such an important occasion'. This family fervour made him sick to his core, on the other hand seeing the skills of Natsumi and the Uchiha would be interesting. There was also the opportunity for him to collect more samples…

The Kiroi Senko stood up from his seat after having finished his conversation with the Kazekage, the crowd fell silent as the legendary SS-class shinobi stood up from his seat and addressed the awed crowd.

"Welcome one and all to the finals of the Chunin Exams! The genin you see before you have already passed two trials and even some preliminary matches in order to reach this stage. Out of hundreds of genin who entered these exams only these eight remain. We will now hold a series of one-vs-one matches in order to find out who is the best shinobi amongst these genin. Let the finals begin!"

As the Yondaime sat down after giving his speech the people roared, delighted that they would only be seeing the best of the best out of genin from across multiple nations.

A brown-haired man with a senbon needle sticking out of his mouth stepped into the centre of the arena, giving instruction to the eight contestants.

"I'm Genma Shiranui and I'll be your proctor for this final stage so listen up!"

All eight straightened themselves up at the sharp command issued to them, but Natsumi still had a question to ask.

"Hey what happened to Gekkou-san?"

"He was injured on a mission recently so don't worry. Now I want all of you to leave except for Natsumi Uzumaki-Namikaze and Neji Hyuuga."

As the other shinobi left the arena Naruto leaned forward, interested in the match because of the rumours he had heard about Neji's prowess in using the Byakugan, the boy was hailed as a true prodigy.

"Got anything to say Namikaze?"

Natsumi looked down with her long red hair covering her face, until she pointed a finger at Neji with a ferocious look on her face.

"Just that I'm gonna kick your ass for beating Hinata like that!"

Shaking his head the Hyuuga replied "So protective over your friends, an admirable quality but you take it too far Namikaze-sama."

"No I don't dattebane! I just like to protect those precious to me."

"Well then, come at me with everything you have."

Natsumi smirked and began a series of hand seals "Fuuton: Daitoppa"

As the over powered blast of wind gushed from Natsumi's mouth Neji simply dodged to one side and then began to close in on the girl who engaged the boy in a taijutsu fight which was worthy of Jounin level shinobi. The high speeds and fearsome impacts made the crowd gasp in awe, along with many of the shinobi who hadn't realised just how powerful the two were.

"Amazing for their age!"

"Natsumi is doing great, just what we'd expect off of the Hokage's daughter."

"Watch young Neji Hanabi and observe what a genius can do."

"Go Neji!"

"Go Natsumi!"

"You did a good job with Natsumi Jiraiya, Kushina, but that Hyuuga sure is good."

"Natsumi will still beat him dattebane!"

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu"

A cloud of smoke obscured everything from everyone's view for but a moment until it disappeared and the crowd could now see Neji with his Byakugan activated and fending off the many clones that launched themselves recklessly at him.

This is not to say that Neji was not unscathed, the clones were still powerful after all and managed to land a few hits on him, but nothing substantial enough to take any notice of.

Three golden chains rapidly approached Neji, who had been told about the famous Uzumaki chakra chains and their abilities to restrain and damage nearly anything.

"Hakkeshou Kaiten"

A blue rotating sphere of chakra surrounded Neji, deflecting the chakra chains to the side and allowing Neji to perform a second technique.

Meanwhile the entirety of the Hyuuga clan gasped in shock as Neji used a technique which was only granted to main branch members. Many of the elders turned to glare at Hizashi Hyuuga, their gazes promising retribution for teaching the boy one of their techniques.

Hiashi also turned to look at his brother, "What have you done Hizashi?" He hissed, "Do you realise the damage this will cause the clan and what the elders will do to the side branch? I have a hard enough time controlling them already, this will only undermine my position and prevent me from restricting their reactions and movements."

"B-but I didn't teach Neji anything, sure I offered him my help during the month but he rebuffed me as he has been doing for years and decided to train on his own. I haven't done anything whatsoever to help him." As Hizashi looked as flabbergasted as the rest of the clan at his son's handiwork, the elders' suspicions were alleviated as their Byakugan allowed them to see any lies through observation of blood pressure and heart beats, confirming that he wasn't deceiving them.

"How interesting, then Neji must be a true genius of the clan, one of the greatest Hyuuga in decades, a fine son you have brother." The rare compliment from Hiashi made many other clan members glance at the stoic man in shock, none more so that his daughter Hanabi, who received only an occasional rare piece of praise from her father herself. She decided to pay even more to the fight going on below.

Neji was taking up a stance which caused even more shock to flow through the Hyuuga clan as he began to use another main branch technique.

"He can't be-"

"You are within my field of divination. Hakke Rokujūyon Shō"

"Two palms, four palms, eigh-"

Just as Neji was half way through using eight palms, Natsumi vanished in another poof of smoke.

'Another Kage Bunshin, but how?!'

"I poured extra in that one Neji, now take this Rasengan!"

Neji had no time to block the attack from Natsumi who had risen from the ground, as the blue ball impacted with the boy, Natsumi limited the chakra inside the ball to only injure and knock out Neji as opposed to killing him.

"So you have taught your daughter one of your jutsu Yondaime, how interesting that she can perform it at such a young age."

"Heh, Natsumi's pretty good and I have every confidence that we'll see her in the final match."

"I look forward to seeing her fight my son, Gaara."

"Hm, I wouldn't dismiss Sasuke just yet as he's gotten quite strong over the past month from what I've heard."

Back down in the arena, the dust covering Neji dissipated, showing the boy was still conscious, but only just.

"I-I will continue to g-get str-stronger N-Namikaze-sama," Neji breaks down into a fit of coughing before starting up again "and I sh-shall demand a r-rematch. I wi-will prove the s-superiority of our br-branch to the m-main branch," Neji fell unconscious at last and was taken away by the medics.

"Neji Hyuuga is no longer able to fight, Natsumi Uzumaki-Namikaze is the winner of the first match!"

The only people who remained silent in the cheering were the Hyuuga clan, but Hiashi, their clan head still had a small smile on his face.

"I hadn't realised he was so strong Hizashi, your son is truly impressive."

Hizashi gave a small chuckle at his brother's remark and the incredulous expressions of the other members who had expected the clan head to be angry at this defeat, "You must remember he is your nephew Hiashi-sama, but I will agree that Neji has grown strong, he figured out the Kaiten and Eight Trigrams all by himself."

The eyebrows of those nearby who hadn't already figured this out from the fight below rose into their hairline at that statement which just proved how much of a genius Neji was.

"It seems that Neji has the strongest Byakugan of his generation. I hope you paid attention Hanabi and learned some things from your cousin."

"Hai, tou-sama."

As medics took the unconscious form of Neji to heal him, the proctor once more appeared in the stadium and announced the next match, "Can Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara no Sabaku please come down for the second match of the first round."

As Gaara appeared in a sand shunshin, Sasuke appeared in a shunshin that barely disturbed the ground where he landed.

"Shisui has been giving his cousin lessons then."

"Why do you say that and who's Shisui Kakashi-sensei?" Was the innocent question put forth by Sakura, the third member of Team 7.

"I am talking about Shisui Uchiha, one of the strongest Uchiha in the village, tied with Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's older brother. Shisui is known as 'Shisui of the shunshin' because he can execute a shunshin which is purely non-elemental, doesn't use hand seals and doesn't give any indications that he is there like leaves or smoke, it is a perfect shunshin."

The rookies who had gathered to listen were in awe of this Uchiha when said individual demonstrated the very technique Kakashi had been talking about.

"Ne, ne, don't give away all my secrets like that Kakashi, everyone will want me to teach them and that would just be troublesome."

All the Nara males in the arena sneezed.

"You've been training him hard."

"Meh, he asked for it, but let the match speak for itself."

Silence descended upon the arena, a calm before the mighty storm that was about to erupt, Genma could feel the tension in the air and decided to make his exit once this match began.

"Hajime!"

Sasuke wasted no time in beginning a series of hand seals, starting his first jutsu of the match.

"Katon: Housenka no jutsu"

The small fireballs impacted against a sand shield which rose around Gaara, who stared at Sasuke emotionlessly. He raised his hand, directing a wave of sand to attack the boy who activated his Sharingan and began dodging the spikes of sand careering towards him.

After a few minutes of dodging Sasuke had managed to get all the sand in a flat layer away from Gaara and vanished before the sights of everyone below mid-Jounin rank when he reappeared next to Gaara already launching a kick at the boy's head which connected but did little damage as it just peeled off Gaara's sand armour which reformed after Sasuke was forced to dodge out of the reach of Gaara's sand once more.

'So neither taijutsu nor katon jutsu will work because of how quick that sand of his is, let's try this then.'

"Raiton: Raikou Kousen no jutsu"

A white beam five metres long came straight out of Sasuke's mouth and impacted against Gaara's sand shield which held out for a few moments before crumbling under the element it was weak against. Gaara screamed at the pain which coursed through his body and created a cocoon around himself once he gained his wits about him.

'Is this what pain feels like? What's this wet stuff on my arm, blood?'

"Blood, my blood?! I'll KILL YOU SASUKE UCHIHA, MOTHER WANTS YOUR BLOOD!"

The sand responded even quicker to Gaara's wishes, extending far beyond its previous reach and almost gutting Sasuke when sand spears were launched at him, forcing him to use the full prediction capabilities of his fully evolved Sharingan to avoid the spikes.

"Katon: Gouryuuka no jutsu"

Fireballs which took the shape of a dragon's head were formed from the heat that made its way out of Sasuke's mouth and held back the raging sands for but a moment or two, allowing Sasuke to shunshin part way up the walls of the arena and prepare his next attack.

"That stance, Kakashi you didn't teach him-"

Guy was interrupted by his rival, "Itachi asked me to and I considered it prudent for this match considering how strong Gaara's sand is, so yes I taught him my technique."

"What's that Guy-sensei?"

"Kakashi's only original technique, the Chidori. An A-rank assassination jutsu which is said to be able to cut through anything, even lightning it is rumoured."

The mysterious Jounin just smirked as the group turned to look at Sasuke in awe at using such a high ranking jutsu at his age.

"Chidori!"

The sound of chirping birds filled the air as pure raiton chakra formed around Sasuke's hand and he ran down the wall of the arena, dodging any spikes of sand as he finally extended his hand inside Gaara's sand cocoon.

"GYAAAHHH!" The genin who was so unused to pain screamed at the hand which was thrust into his shoulder, goblets of blood dripping from it. Gaara panted and grew angrier with each passing second as this…worm defied his existence, he would prove his existence!

Sasuke's eyes widened as he felt a strange appendage begin to try and crush his hand. Using a second Chidori the Uchiha managed to flee from the insane boy whose cocoon finally dropped.


As Naruto observed the fascinating match, taking great notice of the blood that fell from wound of the Suna Genin, he saw white feathers fall from the sky as well as a slight disruption to his chakra. He instantly dispelled the genjutsu with a flick of his chakra, the genjutsu never taking hold.

'An invasion? How interesting.'

He looked up as he heard an explosion in the Kage's box, with Minato and his guard, who turned out to be Jiraiya, following the Kazekage onto the roof.

Naruto refocused his attention as he saw Kushina make her way towards Gaara and Tsunade head for the outskirts of the village. So they had known about the invasion it seems.

This was a perfect opportunity for Naruto to collect some samples from the Hyuuga, Uchiha and Gaara. Just as Naruto got up to descend into the arena and collect the blood of Gaara which was still there, five shinobi with a musical note on their headbands surrounded him.

"For some reason Orochimaru-sama finds you interesting and wants you captured, so you're coming with us kid."

"So it is Orochimaru and not the Kazekage leading this invasion, nice to know thank you. Now how on earth do you think you can beat me?"

The Oto shinobi scoffed as the others chuckled "We're Chunins of Otogakure brat and from all reports you're a less than average genin, you have no chance against us."

Naruto just looked down and smiled, "Pathetic, Sensatsu Suishou."

Water needles arose behind each of the Chunin and impaled them with just one escaping whom Naruto killed with a kunai after following the Chunin with Jounin level speed leaving the Oto shinobi no opportunity to block or escape.

"Now that I've dealt with them let's see how- Oh my."

Naruto took in the sight before him as Fugaku Uchiha was protecting his son from the Elite Suna Jounin Baki alongside Genma as said son fought various Oto Jounins with Natsumi nearby also engaging them.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa"

"Katon: Gouryuuka no jutsu"

The two once again used a collaboration jutsu to decimate their foes and clear the surrounding area. They had to retreat as Baki entered the area and almost killed them with his Kaze no Yaiba.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan"

A dragon made of flames drove the experienced Jounin away from the two members of Team 7, Shisui arrived to help defeat Baki as Fugaku nodded towards his fellow Uchiha. In turn Baki received support of his own, with three more Jounin joining his fight.

As Naruto had catalogued the situation he tried to set forth once more and once more was stopped by Oto Chunin.

"Enough of this Magen: Kyouran no Me kara Kyoufu"

As the men all slumped to the floor unconscious after seeing their greatest fears, Naruto had some kage bunshin kill the shinobi as he performed a second genjutsu to change his appearance to look like a nondescript shinobi. A risky manoeuvre but it would allow the Uzumaki to do as he pleased so long as he fought the enemy.

He created several kage bunshin which were sent to follow various battles. One would track Sasuke, another Fugaku, a third Shisui and the fourth would be sent to find Itachi. Other targets were Gaara, Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuuga as he would head for Neji right now to extract some blood from the boy.

Naruto quickly got the samples he needed from the still unconscious Hyuuga who was unprotected as the hospital was under full attack by a squadron of Suna shinobi.

The disguised genin helped out as he exited the hospital, adding an ANBU mask to his setup so that he could fight at an advanced level against these opponents with no one the wiser as to who he was.

Naruto couldn't afford to hurt the other Konoha Jounin by using a large-scale attack so he would have to resort to taijutsu with his kunai.

He partnered up with one Jounin who was having a particularly hard time, taking the full brunt of the Suna nin's attacks as he gauged the other person's weaknesses before exploiting it ruthlessly after she overextended her reach, allowing Naruto to sever her arm from the shoulder and then her throat.

After that the fights only became easier as the two powerful ninja went their separate ways to help two more of their comrades until all of them had defeated or killed their assailants.

"Thank you ANBU-san."

Naruto nodded and left the area, making his way towards the edge of the village where the most fighting was as he saw Tsunade engaging the snake summons of Orochimaru.

"Doton: Deido Sattou Nami no Jutsu"

Naruto moulded earth chakra within his body, expanding his chest as he did so until a mud wave burst out of his mouth, covering many Suna and Oto nin and drowning them not long after. The remaining shinobi who weren't drowned by the technique were instead stuck as the mud rapidly hardened, leaving them as sitting ducks for other Konoha nin to take out.

Naruto fought hordes of ninja, allowing him to utilize many of his high powered jutsu, granting a true test of his new abilities which allowed him to gauge his full strength. This was something he couldn't do otherwise as he had no one except himself to spar with. His abilities were all overlooked simply because he was dressed as an ANBU.

"Suiton: Suishouha" A large body of water materialised from nowhere and formed a mini-tidal wave which drowned or crushed their opponents before remaining in the area to be used for other suiton techniques.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu". The water which was previously created now became a huge cyclone turned on its side that ripped Suna and Oto nin alike and smashed them into various other objects as trees and rocks were also tore from the ground.

"Kokuangyo no jutsu".A group of Oto nin suddenly stood stock still as all their senses were taken away from them and died quickly as kage bunshin approached them and slit their throats open.

After a few more of these wide range techniques which burned and tore apart the invading forces Naruto didn't get another opportunity to use them as he would either hit his comrades or was closed off by multiple shinobi engaging him in taijutsu fights.

Naruto was exhilarated about using his new skills to their highest level, it was a shame he couldn't use his bloodlines but that would bring him a lot more attention. Currently he was probably regarded as a high ranking ANBU Captain but not anything they would have heard of due to the nature of said position, a bloodline user would have been paraded about by now and everyone would know their name.

What he hadn't realised was that his training had pushed him far enough to be classed as an elite A-rank shinobi without his bloodlines.

Kage bunshin regularly vanished to provide Naruto with information about whether they had succeeded in obtaining some form of DNA or had noticed something else, two in particular caught his attention.

One clone had been observing the battle between Minato, Jiraiya and their opponents: the two previous Hokage resurrected and Orochimaru who were all sealed behind a barrier, Shishienjin if he wasn't mistaken.


"How low have you fallen Orochimaru to resurrect the previous Hokage to attack us, to use our dead predecessors to attack Konoha, it's a perversion of everything we were taught!" Roared Jiraiya as he was forced to look upon the solemn faces of the preciously deceased Hokage.

"What do you know bumbling fool that you are? I never had my genius recognised by our beloved sensei who instead passed on the title of Hokage to this brat here. I will kill you both Jiraiya, Minato and then destroy this village so that my revenge is complete." Orochimaru's expression morphed from hatred to a sick delight as he thought about the destruction of what was once his home.

"I'm sorry young ones but we will not be able to stop ourselves once this battle begins, the Edo Tensei will strip away our emotions and force us to fight for Orochimaru, we will become his puppets essentially." The Nidaime looked at the two sadly as he gave his advice, but the atmosphere was ruined when Hashirama spoke up.

"Baka Tobi-kun! I told you not to create or record this technique, but did you listen, nooooo the great Tobirama had to have a contingency to bring the dead back to life so that they could fight for the village once more."

A tick mark appeared on the Nidaime's head at his brother's outburst, "It was necessary that I do everything I could so that the future generations could protect the village to the best of their ability, that meant creating jutsu which would be used as a last resort."

"Enough talking and reminiscing, you will do as I say and attack the two who stand in front of you!" Orochimaru took two kunai which had a detailed fuuinjutsu inscription on them and inserted it into the heads of the two former Hokage who immediately began to attack the two kage-level shinobi.

"Jiraiya-sensei you go and attack Orochimaru, you know his attack patterns better than I do, I'll hold back the two former Hokage and attempt to seal them away." With that Minato used Zukokku to counter the Nidaime's suiton technique and then launched a Hiraishin kunai at the Shodaime in an attempt to launch a Rasengan at the man.

Meanwhile Jiraiya parried an attack from his former partner before kicking the man towards the barrier as he formed a familiar set of handseals.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu" From the smoke which slowly dissipated around Jiraiya an unusual sight emerged, the man was sitting on the floor which two small but old toads sitting on his shoulders. Jiraiya had summoned the two elder of the toad clan, Ma and Pa, who were now helping their student to enter Sage Mode.

"Why have you called us here Jiraiya-kun? I was just about to make dinner!"

"I'm sorry Pa, Ma, but I'll need your strength to beat Orochimaru in this fight."

"Alright then Jiraiya-boy, we'll lend you our power and finish this fight quickly so I can enjoy some of Ma's cooking!"

"That technique takes too long Jiraiya-baka, I'll have killed you long before entering it," Orochimaru fast approached Jiraiya with the Kusanagi sword in hand after retrieving it from his throat when he was forced to dodge as Minato nearly struck the man with a Rasengan.

The Snake Sannin noticed another Minato still fighting the two Hokage and knew what had happened, "A kage bunshin then? Do you really think that a mere bunshin can defeat me Minato-kun?"

Cold blue eyes gazed back at the slit yellow eyes of his opponent as he spoke, "No, but it is enough to hold you at bay as sensei enters his Sennin Modo."

A flurry of strikes followed as Orochimaru tried to attack Jiraiya whilst the kage bunshin of Minato consistently got in his way and deflected any strikes from the sword of Kusanagi, never actually blocking the sword directly lest it destroy his kunai.

"Mokuton: Jukai Kotan" A mass of trees erupted from the roof and launched themselves towards the real Minato whose eyes widened at the man being able to use this technique even when not at full strength, he had to act quickly as Tobirama was still engaging him in a taijutsu match.

He formed another kage bunshin and the two teleported away from the Shodaime and his Mokuton technique as they both performed a series of handseals in preparation for a deadly combo.

"Katon: Shinhidora no Jutsu"

"Fuuton: Atsugai"

From the original's mouth appeared a dragon with three heads made of fire which dwarfed everyone there. From the clone's mouth a wind blast was launched which hit the fire hydra and created a firestorm monstrosity that decimated the Shodaime's technique and caught the other Senju in the crossfire of the technique, temporarily incinerating his body as the Edo Tensei pieced him back together.

Orochimaru had just dispelled the annoying clone that Minato had created to distract him and tasted victory as he stood over Jiraiya with his Kusanagi in mid-swing when he saw Jiraiya's eyes open and saw the change in them. As he tried to pull back he felt a punch hit him which severely damaged his internal organs and caused Orochimaru a great deal of pain.

"Damn you Jiraiya, Mandara no Jin!" Orochimaru's mouth opened far wider than what it could naturally and from it poured forth an army of snakes with each containing the sword of Kusanagi in their mouths.

As Jiraiya looked on at the technique in disgust he gave a brief glance to the two toads on his shoulders before turning his back on the snakes coming towards him, "Senpou: Kebari Senbon"

From Jiraiya's long white hair an endless rain of senbon was launched which struck the approaching snakes and pushed them back, preventing them from reaching Jiraiya and forcing Orochimaru to stop his current jutsu and respond to the attack.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa" As the wind attack which Orochimaru had empowered by pushing a boatload of chakra into it deflected the hair senbon, a contest of ninjutsu began between the two shinobi, Orochimaru having far more techniques but Jiraiya was able to put more strength into his own while in sage mode.

"Fuuinjutsu: Konshin Betsuri no Jutsu" Minato placed his hand on the floor, causing lines of script to spread across the battlefield, a majority of them concentrated on the forms of the two Kage. He had used a variation of the soul separation jutsu which would lock away the two Hokage until he found a method of returning their souls back to the realm of the dead. He turned around after seeing the two great men disappear into two different sealing tags his clone had created when Orochimaru screamed in rage at seeing the two Hokage get sealed away.

"Damn you Minato, I'll kill you for this!"

"You shouldn't have let your guard down Orochimaru, Ma, Pa, let's end this!"

"Alright then Jiraiya-boy. Together now Ma."

"Katon: Dai Endan!"

A river of oil was set on fire and enhanced by a wind jutsu hit Orochimaru and changed his rage into agony as he was burned alive. He spat out another body from his mouth and retreated from his former teammate and his summons.

The snake had ordered the barrier to be dropped as he made his escape. However the four shinobi who had been holding up the barrier were killed a mere instant after they had released the barrier through prolific use of the Hiraishin.

"You won't be escaping this time Orochimaru."

He glared at his blonde-haired opponent and spat out his last words at the man, "On the contrary it only forces me to use my most loyal weapon. Kimimaro hold them off so that I can escape."

A white-haired boy with two red dots on his forehead appeared in front of his escaping master and activated his curse mark level two, transforming his body into that which looked like a miniature dinosaur.

Bones sprouted from his back as the boy engaged in a kenjutsu fight with the two powerful shinobi, telling all who were observing/engaging in the fight exactly who the boy was, the last of the Kaguya clan.

Yet again the battle was short lived as the two kage level opponents brought their full power to bear on the clearly outmatched boy. The combination of Jiraiya's sage mode and Minato's pure speed quickly made the boy realise that he was completely outmatched.

In order to save his master Kimimaro used one final jutsu to hold the two at bay, he said "Sawarabi no Mai" and a sea of bones emerged to attack the two who had to flee the strong technique for a few minutes until the body of the ill Oto nin gave out and he died.


Naruto had salivated at the prospect of getting a Kaguya's blood until he saw Minato and Jiraiya seal away his body and the bones so that no one could have access to such a powerful bloodline. In addition it had the added benefit of preventing Orochimaru from using the Edo Tensei on the boy, although the man likely had samples of all his subordinates at one of his various bases.

Annoyed as he was, the second clone was the reason why Naruto was heading back to the arena, it seemed that Kushina had been sufficiently distracted by other shinobi to allow Gaara to do a complete transformation into the Ichibi. He intended to capitalise on the situation and draw some chakra from the beast before Kushina restrained and sealed it.

"WOOHOO! I'm free at last baby, time to cause some destruction Fuuton: Renkuudan".

"Damn, I'm not gonna let you hurt so many demon Kuchiyose: Sanjū Rashōmon, a bit of overkill never harmed anyone dattebane!"

As the wind bullet was easily stopped by one of the gates, three were completely unnecessary. Noticing this, the Ichibi focused his attention on the mortal below, "Hey stop putting a cramp in my style tomato!"

Silence once again descended on the field as many Konoha shinobi backed away from the woman whose hair waved about in nine long strands.

Naruto was sweating under the knowledge that Kushina was about to use the full force of her Uzumaki chakra chains after that particular insult. He quickly placed a seal and pulled as much chakra as he could from the Bijuu whose sheer bulk kept him hidden from everyone else.

As the Bijuu turned to engage the gnat which was draining his chakra he heard the red head scream "Tomato, TOMATO! I'll give you tomato Ichibi-baka, take this!"

Nine very large chakra chains emerged from Kushina's back and restrained the Ichibi who was unable to seep through them like he could normally with his sand. The Bijuu was forced into submission on the ground as the enraged Uzumaki approached the beast fearlessly and casually.

"So you fell asleep little boy. Well bed time is OVER!"

She pummelled poor Gaara with her fists, not only waking him up but also beating him until he was black and blue.

"Noooo, I only just got out damn it!" Howled the Ichibi as he was pulled back into his seal because Gaara woke up.

After seeing their trump card beaten so easily, any remaining shinobi laid down their arms as ANBU black ops moved in to restrain them.

With this Naruto left the scene and did away with his disguise before his 'fellow ANBU' realised that he wasn't one of them at all. Instead he made his way to a certain section just outside of the arena where Shisui and Fugaku Uchiha had finished their fight with Baki, who had constant reinforcements throughout his fight in an attempt to fend off the two Uchiha.

It turns out that the prodigal Uchiha had in fact been hit with a wind technique of Baki's. It had barely scratched the boy, leaving but a drop or two of blood on the ground, yet it was more than enough for Naruto who collected the sample without realising that Shisui was watching him from afar, curious at what the Yondaime's son was doing and narrowing his eyes at what he saw.

'Why would he… Best let Yondaime-sama know, maybe he has an idea on what the boy is doing.'

With that Naruto began to help with the clean-up operation, of which there was very little to do as it turns out Itachi Uchiha (who his clones had never found) was leading the defence inside the village and had done an admirable job seeing as how there were very few casualties.

Meanwhile Tsunade was able to keep her injured to an all-time low through the use of Katsuyu more than anything else as the giant boss slug split herself into many pieces and healed individual shinobi.

The arena had even fewer casualties due to the large amount of high ranking ninja in the area, including Kakashi, Gai and Asuma who had all been there for their students. Rumours were circulating about how many Sasuke and Natsumi had taken down, with some embellishment as to their accomplishments but they were nevertheless given praise for them.


For the next few days Naruto didn't do anything except help out with various odd jobs which would keep him busy for the whole day as all Chunins and above were being sent on higher ranked missions to present a strong front to Kumo and Iwa. As a result any rebuilding was left to the remaining lower ranked Chunin and all Genins so Naruto had to do his part, leaving little time to do anything else.

After a week of helping to rebuild Konoha/do menial chores for the lazy civilians Naruto could at last begin to review whose DNA he had collected during the invasion and experiment with said samples.

He was very pleased with what he found. He had been able to collect DNA from many Uchiha and Hyuuga, including the likes of Fugaku, Shisui and Sasuke from the Uchiha and Hiashi, Hizashi, Neji and Hinata from the Hyuuga.

Naruto made plans to experiment with the DNA of these clans soon but first decided to look at what he had gained from Gaara as he was fascinated by his Bijuu's power as well as the boy's own bloodline, hence why he had also obtained Gaara's own blood from when Sasuke had hit him with his Chidori.

Over the next few weeks Naruto discovered that the Ichibi had enhanced the natural bloodline of the Sabaku family to go from manipulating a metal like iron or gold into being able to manipulate sand. With the large chakra reserves of the Bijuu it meant that Gaara was nigh unstoppable in an area filled with sand.

Naruto had seen the advantages of placing a storage seal on himself which would be filled of sand for him to use as he pleased and therefore he used Gaara's blood to grant himself a new bloodline, Sunaton.

However Naruto was currently experimenting with combining both the Kyuubi's and Ichibi's chakras together, interested in the effects of having two Bijuu's chakra combine.

He still had plenty of chakra left over from the Kyuubi when he had taken the large amount from Natsumi so he had plenty of Bijuu chakra to use as he pleased.

Naruto could be found in Training Ground 23 once more having drawn a complex series of seals which would force the two scrolls containing the Bijuu's chakra into a small confined third area where Naruto would be able to observe what happens as further seals inside that third area would make the two chakras mix and bind together.

"Kai"

After releasing the two chakras from within their respective scrolls Naruto waited as the sealing array did the rest and forced the red chakra of the Kyuubi and the golden yellow of the Ichibi into one space.

Once there the chakras at first bound themselves naturally to each other, as if they were drawn to each other, desiring to be one. However after a few seconds of the two chakras mixing together they destabilised and the whole array blew up. Luckily Naruto had created both a chakra masking seal and a barrier to protect himself.

Naruto was intrigued by what he had just observed, certainly the chakras had combined very quickly, too quickly even and therefore it lent credence to the idea his ancestors had made, the Bijuu were indeed one long ago and their chakras were still naturally inclined to bond together in order to become one again. How they had separated he hadn't the foggiest idea but Naruto now had a new goal, one that had formed over a month ago when he had looked at the scrolls from his predecessors after becoming a level 8 fuuinjutsu master.

He would find the Jinchuuriki and collect samples of the chakra of their hosts using fuuinjutsu and would combine them together to once more form the entity that had been the original Bijuu. It may be an incomplete being but Naruto wasn't too bothered about that for now.

With this experiment complete Naruto made sure to securely seal the half a tail's chakra and full tail's worth of chakra he had remaining from the Ichibi and Kyuubi respectively. Holding them until the time was right.

For now he would begin his experiments with dojutsu, specifically the famous Sharingan seeing as he had the most notes for this particular eye as his clan had desired to unlock its secrets for a long time.


Three days after the Oto-Suna Invasion had been repelled…

In the Hokage's Office Minato was in a constant state of sorting out paperwork and sending various shinobi on missions. Ever since the invasion had finished Minato had been piled with various requests relating to property damage, compensation for damages received and one even had the audacity to cite damage to their dog to try and draw out payment from him! He was inundated with mission reports and he had to designate out various missions to his shinobi.

He had little time to have meetings and had been putting off a variety of meetings (barring council meetings) in order to engage in his work. Most of the requests had disappeared over time but one request kept asking for a private meeting between himself and Shisui. It intrigued Minato that one of Konoha's Elite was so desperate for a meeting, so he decided to grant the boy a small meeting when he would normally give himself a break from his work.

"Rat find and escort Shisui Uchiha here."

A flicker of movement was the only indication that his order was being followed, a few minutes later and Shisui entered Minato's office, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Permission to speak privately Hokage-sama."

A single eyebrow rose as Minato saw how serious Shisui was with this meeting, "Clear the room."

As four shadows flickered Minato placed a single hand on the table in front of him from which spread many black lines of scripts which activated a variety of seals to ensure privacy in the office.

"You've taken a lot of effort to get this meeting Shisui-san, especially during such a busy and crucial time, what is it that you want?"

"It isn't really something that I want, just something weird and disturbing I have to report about the invasion. Although I'm reluctant to accuse family of anything, I want to protect the village more."

The mention of family immediately had alarm bells ringing in Minato's ears, "What is it Shisui?"

"Well just after the invasion had finished I spotted Naruto-kun approaching the area where Fugaku-sama and I had fought Baki and he took some samples of my blood where Baki had just caught me with one of his wind jutsu."

Minato's eyes widened as he recalled a similar situation happening about half a year ago with Kakashi when Naruto had taken the blood of Zabuza and Haku. But taking the blood of an enemy was one thing, taking the blood of an ally and an Uchiha no less was something far different. Naruto just went from a nagging thought to a priority in his mind.

"Thanks for telling me Shisui, whatever Naruto is doing has obviously progressed if he is now willing to risk the wrath of the Uchiha by taking the blood of one of their best."

Shisui gains a slight blush from the compliment until he registers what has just been said, "Advanced, so he has done this before Hokage-sama?"

Minato nodded and explained the situation to Shisui, who responded by saying, "I'll keep a close eye on Naruto whenever I'm not on missions Hokage-sama. If you get Kakashi-taichou and a few others in on the investigation then I'm sure we could keep relatively good track of him as we rebuild the village."

Minato looked up at the young Uchiha and gave a small smile to him, "You wouldn't make a bad Hokage Shisui-kun."

Shisui laughed at the compliment before replying, "I'd never get any of the paperwork done Hokage-sama, I hate the stuff."

"Don't we all," grumbled Minato, "I'll do as you suggested Shisui but in the meantime you should get some rest. Dismissed."

A small bow with "Hai, Hokage-sama," ended the short meeting as Minato's secretary came in bearing another armload of papers. The Yondaime began to cry as he saw her assistants carry more armloads into his office.


Author's Notes

Apologies for the slight delay all, I'll make sure to upload on time next week.

So this is my first major battle scene ever and quite a few went on all at once, so as a first timer I found this semi-difficult to write. I hope I did well with the fighting, Naruto's deception should be realistic, particularly as no one is looking for a disguised ANBU helping them out.

Regarding the Kage-level battle, I made it short as I don't want to reveal too many powerful techniques just yet. As for why Jiraiya didn't enter Sage Mode earlier, well Orochimaru would have cetainly detected the copious amounts of chakra that used, as well as the presence of a summon, so to stay as Minato's 'guard' he did nothing.

Finally here is a list and description of those jutsu which I believe aren't canon based:

Raikou Kousen no Jutsu - Lightning Beam Technique - The technique produces a beam of lightning from one's hand, it can be made continuous if the user wishes to, although this results in a far higher chakra cost. The target hit by the jutsu will potentially be shocked by the attack. Normally considered a C-rank jutsu.

Magen: Kyouran no Me kara Kyoufu - Demonic Illusion: Fear Through the Eyes of Madness - This jutsu forces an opponent to not only face their fears, but to succumb to them. The victim believes themselves confronted by whatever person or thing they fear most in life. Irregardless of any efforts they make to attack the illusion, their fear remains immune and imposing. For every attempt to defeat this manifestation of fear, the victim only fails and is instead paid back for their efforts tenfold. Stabbing their illusionary opponent in the chest with a kunai would only result in the victim being impaled, for example. An A-rank genjutsu.

Doton: Deido Sattou Nami no Jutsu - Earth Release: Mud Rush Wave - A technique where the opens up their mouth and releases a rushing wave of mud from their mouth. This mass of mud can push over many individuals, drowning them within it. After the jutsu is used, the mud hardens to trap anything within it. A-rank.

Katon: Shinhidora no Jutsu - Fire Release: True Hydra Technique - This technique causes the user to exhale a large amount of fire from their mouth, which forms into a fire dragon with three heads. S-rank.

Fuuinjutsu: Konshin Betsuri - Sealing technique: Soul–Body Separation - The user creates a seal which affects a certain area around it removing the soul of the opponents from their bodies. The souls are then sealed within the tag. If someone destroys the tag, the souls will be released. S-rank.

What will Minato do about Naruto's collection of blood? Find out next week, so until then, Ja ne!