And here we are again, nearing the halfway point of this story.
As always, I appreciate the reviews/favorites/alerts
Shout out and my thanks to everyone who reviewed since last time: Toasty Warrior, Echo Uchiha, saveme57, butterflyV, TheOmegaMan, ZeroTail29, melapoy, Jozern, Stryker114, Blazing CobaltX, Darious Frost, Nutt Man 117, raphmaster14
Toasty Warrior: I do enjoy me some fluff =P And thanks! Glad you like the new outfit! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well =)
Echo Uchiha: =)
saveme57: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter =) I also look forward to seeing Naruto's new outfit show up in your story =)
butterflyV: They're going to take it seriously, that I can assure you!
TheOmegaMan: Thanks a lot! When I started writing fanfictions I was originally very lenient in my grammar, but after reading through "A Jinchuriki's Husk" again I decided to tighten up my writing some =P As a huge Shikamaru fan I can tell you that Shikamaru will have his chance to show off his awesomeness in this story =)
ZeroTail29: Thanks! Hope you enjoy this one as well =)
melapoy: =P
Jozern: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. I hope you like this one too =)
Stryker114: This chapter's purpose is to show off what happens when Naruto and Sakura spend a year doing absolutely nothing except for training. The others had to go on missions and the like still. See my mini-speel at the end of this chapter for more information =)
Blazing CobaltX: I had no idea! Wow, that's embarrassing. I went through and replaced it in all my stories except for Husk =P Thanks for pointing that out to me, and I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!
Darious Frost: Thanks! Ya, I think Naruto looks much more badass with his new outfit =P I originally made the forehead protector, (I can never spell it right when I try to use the Japanese word), exactly like Jiraiya's. But it just looked so weird when I pictured it in my mind, so I just switched to a regular one.
Nutt Man 117: Thanks! And it's about time they moved in together, I hinted towards Sakura wanting Naruto to move in with her back in the first chapter of "A Jinchuriki's Husk!" =P I think this fight turned out well, so I hope you enjoy it =)
raphmaster14: Thanks! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story =)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and Jiraiya would've been in the village when Naruto was growing up to take care of him. Could you imagine how badass Naruto would be now if Jiraiya started training him when he was 6 or 7?
Alright, onto the show. Please do enjoy "A Jinchuriki's Strength" Chapter 4: The Difference a Year Can Make
"Ok. Does everyone have the plan memorized?" Shikamaru asked his teammates for his pending fight.
"Oh yea! Naruto and Sakura don't stand a chance!" Ino confidently crooned.
"I learned long ago to never underestimate Naruto, Ino. Shikamaru's plan is good, but you should never be overconfident when Naruto is one of your opponents." Neji cautioned.
"I cannot wait to test my skills against Naruto-kun! If we lose today I will do 1000 laps around Konoha. No, 2000!" Lee said in his usual over-enthusiastic tone.
"Don't forget about Sakura guys." Tenten warned. "She is the apprentice to the hokage, and like Naruto she spent the entire past year training."
"Tenten's right. But that's why we're going to take out Sakura first. As a medinin she can heal any damage we do to Naruto. Also, she's an unknown because we don't know what exactly she trained during the past year."
"With your plan Shikamaru, we're definitely going to win!" Chouji said confidently.
The ninjas looked up as Naruto and Sakura walked onto the training grounds. The shinobi and villagers who had gathered to watch the fight instantly started murmuring.
"Man I'm glad Naruto's on our side…" Ino said as she stared at the jinchuriki, with his sage cloak billowing in the wind. "He looks a lot more intimidating now with his new outfit."
"Don't worry Ino, our power of youth will definitely prevail!" Lee yelled as he pumped his fist into the air.
"Ok Naruto… do you remember the plan?" Sakura asked as the pair stared across the training grounds at their opponents.
"You bet Sakura-chan. We're going to take Shikamaru out of the fight first, and then we'll worry about the rest of them."
"Alright… we should be starting soon. Are you ready to enter sage mode?"
"Of course Sakura-chan. I always make sure I have enough nature chakra to enter sage mode instantly."
"Good. It's time to show everyone what we can do." Sakura said with a grin.
Kakashi watched as his two former students stared calmly at their opponents. They're both calm and collected… I can't wait to see how much you two have grown.
"Well… all of our combatants are here. We should probably get this started eh Kakashi?" Tsunade noted.
"I think that would be good Hokage-sama."
Tsunade walked into the middle of the training grounds, drawing the attention of the shinobi and villagers gathered.
"Thank you for coming everyone. As you know, Naruto and Sakura have finally returned to the village after a year away on a training mission. Today they go up against 6 of our finest jonin, including the most intelligent mind that Konoha has produced in years. Naruto, Sakura, are you ready?"
"Of course Baa-chan." Naruto replied with a confident grin.
"Team 10, Team Gai, are you ready?"
"As ready as we'll ever be I guess." Shikamaru replied lazily.
"Ok, get into your positions."
Naruto and Sakura stood side by side, as Ino and Shikamaru walked to the far end of the training ground, with Chouji, Tenten, Neji and Lee standing in front of them.
"Ok. Comabatants…BEGIN!" Tsunade yelled as the crowd cheered.
Naruto's eyes instantly took on the familiar toad-like appearance that announced he was in sage mode. The jinchuriki took out a three-pronged kunai and whipped it at Neji.
Remembering what Shikamaru told him earlier, Neji instantly used his heavenly spin.
FLASHBACK
"We know that Naruto spent the past year focusing on mastering the hirashin and sage mode. So we should assume that he's mastered both to be safe. If Naruto throws a three-pronged kunai at you start to defend yourself because he will likely flash to you and take you out with the insane speed of the hirashin." Shikamaru told Team 10 and Team Gai.
FLASH IN
"Hakkesho Kaiten!" Naruto flashed in front of Neji just in time to get hit by the chakra shield. Instead of being blasted back, the jinchuriki disappeared in a large red flame.
Shikamaru's eyes widened. Since when could Naruto cast genjutsus? And a genjutsu that fooled all six of us… The lazy genius found Naruto and Sakura standing exactly in the same position as they were when they started the fight. Naruto still held a three-pronged kunai in his hand.
Lee suddenly flickered in front of Naruto and threw a kick at the blonde's head. The jinchuriki ducked underneath the kick and tried to counter by thrusting his fist towards Lee's chest. The bushy-browed jonin surprised Naruto by releasing a gate and using his increased speed to dodge Naruto's counter, then knocking Naruto backwards with a punch to his jaw.
Lee can release his gates much quicker now. The future hokage thought as he flew through the air.
Shikamaru smirked. Perfect, Lee will keep Naruto distracted while Neji, Chouji and Tenten take out Sakura.
Tenten withdrew a scroll and threw a barrage of weapons at the pink-haired kunoichi, but Sakura expertly dodged each weapon.
"Nikudan Sensha!" Chouji yelled before hurtling towards Sakura as a giant human ball. The pinkette again dodged the attack.
That's weird… Shikamaru thought. Why didn't Sakura counter attack there… I expected her to use her chakra-enhanced strength there…
Neji flickered in front of Sakura and began trying to strike her with his gentle fist strikes, but Sakura again easily dodged.
Now she's dodging each of Neji's strikes? Sakura was never that fast… Shikamaru thought worriedly. But Naruto is…
"Neji, use your heavenly spin!" Shikamaru yelled out.
"Hakkesho Kaiten!" Neji's chakra shield caused Sakura to dispel in a poof of smoke.
Just as I feared… That was a kage bunshin henged into Sakura's form. Shikamaru glanced over at Naruto who was currently engaged in a taijutsu battle with Lee. Where is Sakura…
"NARUTO NOW!" A feminine voice yelled in his ear.
"Kuso!" Shikamaru swore as pink chakra chains wrapped around him, restraining his arms. Sakura was standing directly behind him.
Shikamaru's eyes widened as Naruto suddenly flashed to Sakura's side. How the hell did he do that? The Nara genius didn't see a three-pronged kunai in Sakura's hand.
"Sorry Shikamaru, but this is going to hurt." Naruto apologized as he formed a familiar blue sphere in his hand.
Ino threw a volley of shuriken at Sakura and Naruto, but a kage bunshin flashed to Sakura and deflected all the shuriken.
"Rasengan!" Naruto yelled thrusting the sphere into Shikamaru's gut. The genius was sent hurtling through a tree and eventually skidded to a stop on the ground unconscious.
"Naruto! You sent him through a tree!" Sakura scolded.
"Oops… I didn't mean too, I thought I put less into that rasengan." Naruto replied sheepishly. His body quickly tensed up as he felt something hurtling toward he and Sakura.
"Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" The jinchuriki quickly yelled, summoning a mass of clones to absorb the volley of kunai Tenten threw at the two.
Ino took advantage of her opponents' momentary distraction and put her hand into her family's signature hand seal.
"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" The platinum blonde's body fell backwards as she sent her mind attack at Sakura.
FLASHBACK
"Ino if our first plan to take out Sakura doesn't work you're going to be the most important member of our team. You can't use your mind body switch technique on Naruto because of the Kyubi, but you can use it to take over Sakura. She's Naruto's biggest weakness. If you fight him in Sakura's body then he will naturally hold back and give us the opening we need to defeat him." Shikamaru calmly explained.
FLASH IN
Sakura stiffened as she felt Ino's mind invade her own.
Ino-Pig you're trying this again? Inner Sakura crowed as Ino attempted to take control of her pink-haired friend's body.
"Ugh, you're still around? No matter, I'm stronger now than I was during the chunin exams. I'm not going to lose to you this time." Ino said to Inner Sakura.
Oh you shouldn't be worrying about me Pig!
"What? What do you mean?"
She means you should be worrying about me Ino. Sakura thought angrily. The pink-haired kunoichi used her precise chakra control to stimulate her brain and force Ino from her mind.
"Damnit…" Ino said as she opened her eyes in her own body.
Lee rushed forward, but Sakura cast a genjutsu on him causing him to think Naruto and Sakura disappeared. The taijutsu master skidded to a halt and look around confused.
"Where did they go?" He asked.
"Lee they're right in front of you!" Tenten yelled.
Lee blinked as he looked in front of him and saw absolutely nothing.
"Damnit…" Neji swore as he ran forward to break Lee out of the genjutsu.
While Neji was distracted with freeing Lee, Sakura flipped in front of Ino who had slowly pulled herself to her feet. The pink-haired kunoichi caught Ino upside the head with a powerful chakra enhanced punch, knocking the blonde out.
Neji reached Lee just as Ino's unconscious body skidded across the ground. Damnit… The Hyuga thought angrily as he pumped chakra into Lee's body, freeing him from the genjutsu he was under.
Lee looked up to see Sakura, but still could not see Naruto.
"I still cannot see Naruto-kun!" Lee yelled. Neji's eyes widened in surprise as he too couldn't find the jinchuriki. He disappeared while I was distracted with Lee…
"Chouji, Tenten, did you see where Naruto went?" Neji asked.
"No, I didn't even notice him disappear." Tenten answered.
Did he cast another genjutsu on us?
"Lee, Shikamaru's plan can still work. We need to take out Sakura quickly, let's go."
"YOSH!" Lee yelled as he flickered away, appearing right in front of Sakura. The bushy browed man sent a fist towards Sakura's face but that fist was caught…by Naruto who had suddenly flashed in front Sakura.
How the hell does he keep doing that? Neji thought desperately. Naruto held onto Lee's fist as Sakura capitalized on his surprise by hitting him in the face with a chakra enhanced punch. The jinchuriki held onto Lee's fist, preventing Lee from flying backwards. Instead the blonde boy pulled Lee back and kneed the taijutsu master in the gut.
"Damnit! Tenten we need to act quickly before they take Lee out of the fight!" Neji yelled as he rushed towards the duo. Tenten quickly placed two small scrolls on the ground.
"Soshoryu!" The scrolls released a puff of smoke and two smoke dragons flew up into the air before transforming back into very long scrolls. Tenten leapt up between the scrolls and began throwing a vast barrage of weapons at Naruto and Sakura.
The pink-haired kunoichi slammed her fist into the ground, raising an earth wall to protect her and Naruto.
As Neji neared the wall, an unconscious Lee crashed through it and flew into Neji. The Hyuga fell backwards from the force of his friend's body hitting him. Rolling the unconscious jonin off of him Neji stood and dusted himself off.
"Where are they now?" Chouji groaned. Naruto and Sakura seemed to have disappeared when they threw Lee through the rock wall. Neji scanned the area desperately with his Byukugan.
"Chouji below you!" Neji yelled as pink Sakura chains burst from the ground wrapping around the large Akamichi.
"Cho Baika no Jutsu!" Chouji yelled, instantly expanding to a giant size breaking the chakra chains.
Neji smiled at his friend's quick thinking, but the smile quickly dropped. Where's Naruto…
Chouji smashed his giant hand into the ground where he assumed Sakura was hiding. The crater that was created by Chouji's fist revealed a log.
Neji quickly scanned around looking for the jinchuriki.
"Tenten! Behind you!"
The weapon mistress barely turned her head as Naruto's foot connected with the side of her head. Damnit, using the chakra chains on Chouji was just a distraction!
Tenten flew straight into a tree, unconscious from the sage's kick.
Neji swore. Naruto and Sakura had effortlessly evened the numbers. Naruto rushed Neji and began throwing strikes. The Hyuga prodigy began striking at the jinchuriki with his gentle fists. The whiskered blonde's hand briefly grazed Neji's shoulder.
"Hakkesho Kaiten" Neji's heavenly spin forced Naruto to jump backwards. The Hyuga tensed himself for another round of attacks from Naruto, but the jinchuriki took out a three-pronged kunai and threw it at the giant Akamichi.
"Chouji!" Neji yelled.
"Hakke Kusho!" Neji yelled, sending a vaccum shell towards Naruto. The Hyuga gasped when his attack missed.
"How the…" Before Neji could ponder how his attack missed, Naruto had grabbed a hold of the giant Chouji's finger, twisted his body lifting the giant off the ground and twisting his body again throwing Chouji into the ground at an incredible velocity.
An unconscious Chouji now lay in a giant crater. Now it's 2 against 1… Crap Neji thought. Neji leapt forward as Sakura appeared from seemingly nowhere behind him and struck at him with a chakra scalpel.
"Hakke…" Neji started, intending to take Sakura out with his empty palm.
Before Neji could finish, Naruto suddenly flashed in front of him. Byakugan eyes widened in surprise. How the hell did he just do that…
Before the Hyuga prodigy could ponder anything more, he felt Naruto's fist connect with his stomach. Neji fell forward and Naruto caught him. Black spots danced across his vision as he tried to draw in a breath.
"How…did…" Neji wheezed.
"I'll tell you when you wake up." Naruto said as Neji felt a pair of soft, gloved hands place themselves on his temples.
"Neru-no Jutsu" Sakura's voice called in Neji's ear. Naruto gently lay the sleeping Hyuga down onto the ground and dropped out of sage mode. Sapphire eyes found Tsunade's hazel eyes.
"Looks like Sakura and I win ne Baa-chan?" Naruto grinned.
The crowd erupted in a roar of cheers.
Kakashi looked at his former students, his one visible eye was wide in shock.
They're not even breathing heavy. They just took out six jonin effortlessly…
"My they've become quite strong." Kakashi said quietly.
"They have. It looks like it was a good idea to send them out on the training trip after all." Tsunade replied with a proud grin.
"You didn't have to hold onto his arm like that baka." The voice of Sakura scolded.
Shikamaru slowly stirred. To his surprise, his chest did not hurt. He expected it to hurt for the next couple of weeks courtesy of Naruto's rasengan. He opened his eye to see Sakura pouring green healing chakra into Lee.
"Sorry Sakura-chan… But I had to make sure we took Lee out, he's pretty resilient." Naruto apologized.
"You nearly tore his arm out of socket! It was just a friendly spar Naruto." Sakura continued to scold.
"Well luckily you're here to heal him right up Sakura-chan!"
Shikamaru watched as the pink-haired kunoichi sighed.
"Next time we spar someone you'll provide most of the distractions and I'll take them out. You're terrible at holding back. I had to use a lot of chakra to heal Shikamaru, and now Lee. If you'll notice, I was able to heal Ino and Neji quickly."
"Ah so you're why my chest doesn't hurt." The lazy genius spoke up, alerting his two former opponents that he was awake.
"Shikamaru! I'm glad you're awake." Sakura smiled as she continued healing Lee.
"How did you guys do it?" Shikamaru asked instantly. He honestly had no idea how Sakura managed to creep up on him, much less how Naruto was able to flash to him instantly without the use of a three-pronged kunai.
"We'll tell you once everyone wakes up, I have a feeling they'll have the exact same question." Naruto replied.
"We're already awake." Neji said as he, Chouji, Ino and Lee opened their eyes.
"I would also like to hear your answer. I could track most of your movements, but a couple of times I lost track of the two of you even with my sharingan." Kakashi, Tsunade, Gai, Sai, Iruka, Shino, Hinata and Kiba walked up to them.
"Ok, let me start by telling you how Sakura and I work together." Naruto said to the large group. "I have a large chakra reserve, great stamina and have exceptional strength and speed. But I'm completely useless with genjutsu. It's one of my few weaknesses in battle."
"Wait… you didn't use that genjutsu to start the fight?" Shikamaru asked confused.
"No, but I'll get to that in a second." Naruto said. "Now not only can I not use genjutsus, but I have a difficult time figuring out when I'm under the influence of one."
"I on the other hand, am excellent with genjutsus." Sakura said. "I've always been good at detecting them so I can alert Naruto when he's under one, and even break him out of genjutsus if need be. But I also spent the past year training with a genjutsu specialist and have become sort of a genjutsu master. My genjutsus even worked on Itachi when Naruto and I fought him."
"That's quite impressive Sakura." Kakashi complimented.
"Thanks. Now unlike Naruto, my chakra reserves are fairly low, and my stamina is nowhere near as good as his so I can't last as long in a direct fight." Sakura continued.
"So Naruto engages the enemy head on while you support him with genjutsus and heal him when he takes damage?" Shikamaru asked.
"That's basically it. I also use my chakra enhanced strength to back him up whenever I see an opening, and I can also use my water jutsus to attack from a distance." Sakura clarified.
"A solid strategy, but what happens if an enemy manages to get past Naruto and start engaging you head on Sakura?" The lazy Nara asked.
Sakura simply responded by taking off her shirt, causing all of the males to get a nosebleed and blush.
"Sakura what are you…" Tsunade started. The hokage was interrupted by a chakra tattoo suddenly showing up over Sakura's heart. It was an image of a pink cherry blossom tree with a golden fox laying at its base. The strange thing is that it sort of looked like it was made up of some sort of seal…"
"I figured out a way to alter my father's seals so that I can put a permanent chakra tattoo on an individual." Naruto explained as the group stared at Sakura's tattoo in awe. "That tattoo is a seal that allows me to instantly flash to Sakura."
"But that's not all it does." The pinkette quickly added as she fixed her knucklehead with a proud smile. "I can also push chakra into this seal to call Naruto to me at anytime."
"That's very impressive Naruto." Kakashi stated.
"It also alerts Naruto whenever I'm poisoned or my body is pierced so that if I ever get in a situation where I don't have time to call for Naruto, he will still be alerted that I need him and can instantly flash to my side."
"That's so sweet!" Ino cooed with awestruck eyes.
"Ya… it is." Sakura said softly as she put her shirt back on.
"Ok… so if an enemy ever gets close to you, Naruto can instantly flash to your side and defend you. That makes sense now." Shikamaru said. "Now are you going to tell us how you easily defeated us?"
Naruto chuckled. "Ya, I think we can get to that now."
"Well I casted a genjutsu at the very start of the fight that caused everyone to see Naruto attacking Neji, because Neji was a logical choice for who to take out first due to his gentle fist." Sakura said. "But he wasn't our actual first target. While everyone was distracted by the genjutsu, I used another genjutsu to disappear and began creeping towards our true target, Shikamaru."
"Ah, taking out the brains of operation first. Smart." Kakashi observed.
"While I was creeping towards Shikamaru, Naruto used the distraction provided by my initial genjutsu to summon two sage kage bunshins. One burrowed into the ground and began drawing in nature chakra while monitoring the fight with a sage's chakra sensing abilities, and Naruto henged the other into me."
"I distracted Lee, while my henged clone distracted everyone else and used sage-enhanced senses to dodge Tenten, Chouji and Neji's attacks. This provided Sakura-chan with the distraction she needed to easily sneak up behind Shikamaru. She trapped him with her chakra chains and alerted me with the seal I gave her. I used the seal to flash to her and prepared to take the restrained Shikamaru out of the fight."
So that's how they got me… Shikamaru thought. I was beat as soon as I failed to notice Sakura's initial genjutsu…
"Naruto's clone that had burrowed into the ground sensed Ino's attack and used my seal to flash to me and defend us from Ino's shurikens. Once Naruto took care of Shikamaru, I fought off Ino's mental attack and cast a genjutsu on Lee to distract him and the others. Then I attacked a weakened Ino. As soon as I saw the rest of their team focus on Ino's body, I cast a genjutsu on Naruto causing him to disappear, allowing him to get to the tree line and prepare another attack."
Neji's eyes widened. She was able to cast a genjutsu in that short period of time?
"While I was hiding amongst the trees, I placed a hirashin seal on the trunk of a tree and observed the fight, looking for an opening. Lee's attack forced me out of hiding and I caught his fist and held on while Sakura hit him with one of her chakra-enhanced punches."
"I punched up a wall of earth to protect us from Tenten's attack. Naruto tracked Neji's chakra using his sage mode and waited for Tenten's attack to end. Once it was finished Naruto threw Lee through the wall towards Neji and used the distraction to grab me and flash us to the seal he had placed on the tree earlier."
Kakashi looked at Naruto with a proud smile. He's learned yet another way to utilize his sage mode in battle.
"Now that we were hidden, I summoned another kage bunshin which burrowed into the ground with Sakura-chan towards Chouji. Sakura attacked Chouji to provide me with a distraction to quickly flicker behind Tenten and knock her out of the fight. With Tenten out, I attacked Neji. I wasn't actually trying to beat him in a taijutsu battle, I just wanted to place a hirashin seal on him. I finally placed one on his shoulder, and threw a three-pronged kunai towards Chouji to catch him off guard with my hirashin."
"I saw Neji preparing to attack Naruto, so I cast a genjutsu on him that made him see Naruto two feet to the right of where Naruto actually was. As a result of my genjutsu, Neji's attack missed and Naruto took out Chouji. I then attacked Neji to distract him from Naruto."
So that's how my attack missed… I had no idea I was under a genjutsu… Neji thought as he continued to listen to his former opponents explain their attacks.
"With Neji distracted, he didn't stand a chance at reacting when I flashed to the seal I had placed on his shoulder. The second I flashed in front of him, Sakura pushed chakra into her legs and got behind him. I punched Neji in the gut, but it wasn't enough to completely take him out. That's when Sakura-chan walked up behind him and cast a sleeping genjutsu on him, to knock him out. And that's how we did it." Naruto finished, smiling at Sakura.
The group stared at the duo dumbfounded.
Kakashi was the first to speak. "That was very impressive teamwork you two. And Sakura, your abilities with genjutsus are very impressive. You were able to fool both Neji's byakugan and my sharingan. Naruto, the fact that you were easily able to stay in sage mode the entire fight, and your subtle use of your kage bunshins is quite impressive, not to mention your mastery of the hirashin." The copy said with a one-eyed smile.
"You both perfectly backed up each other's weaknesses as well. Naruto, the use of your father's seal to instantly flash to Sakura's side not just to protect her, but to also catch your opponent's off guard is brilliant. Sakura, your subtle uses of genjutsus to provide Naruto with distractions to take out your enemies is truly remarkable. I'm very proud of you both." Tsunade complimented with a proud smile.
Naruto and Sakura simply grinned sheepishly at the praise.
"I'm really glad you both are on our side." Kiba said with a grin. "I would hate to have to go up against you guys. Kabuto and his army are screwed against us now."
A serious look replaced the grin on Naruto's face. "Not exactly Kiba. We're strong, but it's impossible to kill someone revived by the edo-tensei. I was able to stop Itachi by transferring nature chakra into him, but with my poor chakra control I completely exhausted my chakra. So I could realistically only stop one revived person."
"There has to be another way to stop the edo-tensei." Shikamaru said.
"And that's what we need to figure out." Sakura added. "I'm not going to let Naruto push nature chakra into another revived person, the baka was out for 6 days afterwards. His chakra replenished much slower than normal."
"Oh it wasn't that bad Sakura-chan." Naruto said with a sheepish grin.
WHAM!
"Yes it was baka and don't you try to downplay it."
"That hurt Sakura-chan…" Naruto complained from his new spot on the ground.
"Umm… perhaps our gentle fists could close off all of a revived persons tenketsu?" Hinata asked.
Naruto frowned. "I doubt that would work. The edo-tensei was able to regenerate Itachi even after I hit him with my rasenshuriken. It only took about a minute for his chakra networks to be completely repaired."
"Perhaps we could look at the Nidaime Hokage's notes on the edo-tensei to find a way to beat it?" Shino suggested.
"I doubt it." Tsunade replied. "After he created the technique, he quickly labeled it a Kinjutsu and never completed it."
"It wouldn't hurt to take a look." Sai injected.
Tsunade sighed. "I suppose you're right. I'll read through his notes and see if I can find anything."
Naruto's stomach let out a loud growl.
"Well, we can figure this out later. Let's go to Ichiraku's!" Naruto cheered.
"I don't think so baka. You had your ramen quota and then some for the week yesterday." Sakura scolded.
"NANI? Ramen quota? Sakura-chan, I can never have too much ramen!" Naruto replied with a horrified look on his face.
"I'm an expert medinin Naruto. If I say you can eat too much ramen, then you can eat too much ramen. And I'm officially limiting the amount of ramen you can eat per week."
"Sakura-chaaan, that's not fair." The future hokage whined.
"Deal with it. I'm going to start making you eat healthier to ensure we have a longer life together." Sakura huffed.
Knowing that he was defeated, Naruto dropped his head to the ground. The surrounding group couldn't help but laugh as the man who was destined to save the world was defeated by the small pink-haired medinin.
A newly revived Zabuza stood before a meditating Kabuto.
"Did you get what I requested of you?" Kabuto asked without opening his eyes.
"It was a big pain in the ass… but yes. I had to go to the very bottom of the ocean."
Kabuto opened his eyes and sneered at the undead man. Zabuza handed him a vial with a single white hair in it.
"You did well Zabuza. I'll allow you to keep your freedom as long as you continue to obey me."
"It's not really freedom when I'm doing your every whim." Zabuza snorted.
"Well, if you're not happy with it I can just strip you of your personality now and turn you into a mindless drone.
I hate being used… Zabuza thought bitterly as he tried to figure out a way to kill Kabuto.
"Now now now Zabuza-san, if you try to kill me I won't give you any freedom." Kabuto lectured in a mocking tone. "You need to understand that you are simply my puppet now."
"Bastard…" Zabuza growled.
Kabuto sneered at the undead demon of the mist. "Your next task is going to be considerably easier. I just need you to go visit a couple of graves in Konoha."
Zabuza simply glared at Kabuto as his body began walking out of the hideout.
Naruto and the rest of the group ended up going to Chouji's favorite barbeque restaurant and were currently gathered around a large table stuffing their faces with delicious barbeque food.
"So I've been wanting to ask you ever since you got back Naruto, what made you decide to give up orange?" Ino asked.
Naruto smiled at the pink-haired kunoichi who was currently sitting very close to him. "This was an anniversary gift from Sakura-chan." Naruto said as he pointed at his new jumpsuit and forehead protector.
"Good job Sakura, he looks much better now that he's not walking around in that stupid orange jumpsuit." Ino said with a grin.
"Hey!" Naruto cried out indignantly.
"Naruto looked cute in his old orange jumpsuit." Sakura defended to the entire group's surprise, including Naruto's. "But you're right, he looks much better in red, and we match now."
"Whpch!" Kiba made the whipping noise. "You are so whipped Naruto."
"Damn straight he is!" Sakura responded. "You know what lengths I had to go to in order to get him to actually be with me. I own the pants in this relationship!"
Naruto looked away embarrassingly as the rest of the table erupted into laughter.
"Just so you know Kiba…" Naruto said as the laughter died down. "I'm not as whipped as you think. I can do anything I want; I just let Sakura-chan think she's in control." The jinchuriki said as he puffed his chest out.
"Ah so that's why you're not eating ramen dickless?" Sai asked.
Sakura simply responded by putting her knucklehead in a headlock and lightly bopping him on the head. "Care to repeat that Naruto?"
"Ow ow ow! Ok Sakura-chan, I give I give!"
Sakura released Naruto from the headlock, and upon seeing his pouting face kissed him on the cheek. Naruto's pout was replaced by a grin as he felt Sakura's lips press into his cheek, much to the amusement of everyone at the table.
"Like I said Naruto… whpch!"
"Shut up Kiba…" The future hokage grumbled.
Madara stared down at his newest Akatsuki recruit. The man was short, standing at about 5'6 and had short black hair and dull grey eyes. He didn't look like much, but Madara needed someone who could keep an eye on Kabuto, and the Kazekage killed his original Zetsu last year. The man before him seemed to be even better than Zetsu at information gathering.
"Are you clear on your mission?"
"Hai Madara-sama. I'm to observe Kabuto without him knowing and report his every move to you." The short man replied.
"That is correct. The second Kabuto says or does anything that makes it seem like he might betray me, alert me. If he even thinks about betraying me I will destroy him."
"Hai Madara-sama." The black-haired man said before disappearing into a shadow.
Jutsu list:
Hakkesho Kaiten- Heavenly Spin
Nikudan Sensha- Human Meat Tank
Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu- Multiple Shadow Clone Technique
Shintenshin no Jutsu- Mind Body Switch Technique
Soshoryu- Rising Twin Dragons
Cho Baika no Jutsu- Super Expansion Jutsu
Hakke Kusho- Eight Trigrams Empty Palm
Neru-No-Jutsu- Sleeping Technique
I know Naruto and Sakura wiped the floor with Team 10 and Team Gai, but this chapter was all about showing how powerful Naruto and Sakura have grown after spending a year of training at the temple. Don't worry though, members of Team 10 and Team Gai will be showing off their awesomeness later in the story when Kabuto's army shows up.
Please do review!