A/N: Thank you Bobboky, Cueil, xfighter4, Adventure Writer 28, Tristan76, Astronomical Apparatus11, nat19th, thechickenlittle and Lolchen. As well as to those of you who've added this story to your alert and favorites listing. To answer some questions:
You raise some very good points Tristan76, very good. I'll start with some of them about chapter 4(based off memory, never a good thing): Sarutobi is unable to truly confirm that Danzo would go to Suna based off of a simple threat to Naruto and sending out a false alert to the Kazekage could cause instabilities between their already wary alliance.
He would have believed no one would be stupid enough to actually declare their intentions to a known threat and enemy; unfortunately for him Danzo did so and planned to follow up on it.
It is a possibility he could have sent a lone shinobi or message bird out with a general warning to the Kazekage regardless, however even if he succeeded in that the Root members already in place would have terminated anyone or anything they recognized coming from Konoha.
Toward stolen Uchiha and First Hokage materials: As I remember, Naruto didn't witness any of that or learn of it in the aftermath. He only arrived after Sasuke had barely edged out a victory and then wound up getting poisoned trying to stop the other teen.
So far as Naruto knows, aside from perhaps a Sharingan the rest of the abilities Danzo demonstrated should have been either his own or learned from somewhere else.
To chapter 9 review: No one in Suna has actually seen Danzo's face or forehead protector yet. His unmasked Root members would have been spotted bringing the jinchuriki somewhere and then in the attack that brought that section of wall down on-top there would be too much sand/rock in the way to clearly see him.
As well most of what you listed isn't yet public knowledge; when or if Danzo get's pinned down and what he's done in the process will certainly spark trouble and damages when it's learned of. Until that point things are still swirling on the edge of chaos; suddenly their village wall is coming undone and shinobi are flying into it from nowhere with the occasional causality in the process.
An actual war unfolding between the two could easily result from precisely what you said though, and Danzo's not worried at all so long as he get's the Shukaku under his control; he's somewhat focused on select goals and not necessarily the results that come about in the process.
nat19th: Hahah, yeah, I suppose it still counts. That is true about Sasuku and Lee, though depending on how things go from here Neji could still be a rival on a less grand scale.
Phew. Onward with the story.
Naruto stared at Gaara blankly for a moment at the intensity behind the words and took in the sheer malice emanating out of his demented eyes. The other jinchuriki's mouth was upturned in a terrible mockery of a smile as a storm of sand flew to life from where the Baku had exploded.
Damn. Shukaku's taken root. slamming his hands together Naruto sent off a trio of clones from around his back, two to handle Danzo and a third to help him out with either his fellow host or the others if that was needed. If this battle was anything like the first time around allowing the Shukaku to drag things out for too long would probably see the rise of the absolute shield of sand the older Gaara had preferred.
Which meant he had to finish this in as few blows as possible without killing the red-haired boy in the process, yet still manage to subdue the bijuu as well. Naruto grimaced as he threw himself into the sand with one hand outstretched, using the senjutsu chakra swirling about his body to capture and push back the hundreds of grains half an inch from his flesh.
Behind him Danzo drew his wind-infused blade with a dark expression marring his features, both eyes taking in the duo of clones facing him. They regarded him with an equally unpleasant glare in a fluid pose able to avoid a blow quickly and efficiently, waiting for the other to make the first move.
Gaara's eye's registered surprise at the way the other child was effortlessly striding forward through the mass of sand tearing at his skin and it took two seconds to feel the way the chakra infused sand was being deflected by a greater chakra field around him. Greater anger illuminated his expression as the majority of the sand was collected and surged down on the yellow haired childs body.
Danzo took that moment to surge forward and exhale a slowly gathered breath, layering the field before him with Vacuum Spheres as he brought the wind-blade to bear. Instead of dodging the clones before him simply withstood the barrage using the aura of senjutsu chakra to deflect the wind chakra points away and gathered energy within the narrow space between their left and right hands, respectively.
The third clone shunshined around them all to flank Danzo's open back, using the distraction of sand and the weak Rasengan being generated by the other two to hold their foe's attention. Danzo himself slowed at the recognition of what move the two clones in front of him were using and scowled even deeper.
The real Naruto was engulfed in a sphere of the gathered sand behind the clones as the Shukaku focused and squeezed one hand tightly. A low moan of pain escaped within it before the compressing sphere halted and shuddered, struggling to crush the boy within. It expanded slightly and compressed again in equal timing before bulging outward awkwardly and starting to grow.
Confusion and frustration grew over Gaara's face as his fingers squeezed so tightly his nails cut into the palm of his hand and left bloody marks behind, but the sand only shuddered before exploding outward with another four-some of shouts from within.
Danzo slashed downward at the two in his way as they brought their hands upward and thrust the weakened Rasengan forward. His blade cut through it far more easily than should have been possible and he found out a moment later why when a kunai exploded through his left lung. He noted that the sage-marks around their eyes had vanished while he was eyeballing the Rasengan, and it came to him at that point how he had been played.
The third clone kicked his legs out from under him and blinked in surprise when his foe's body vanished in mid-motion and reformed like myst a couple of feet back, unharmed from the kunai but still battered from his earlier blows. "To think, you would push me this far.. it agonizes my very soul to waste this power and potential against mere clones!" he growled.
All three blinked in surprise at this strange development and before they could react Danzo had shunshined forward and decapitated the two sage-less clones in a single motion. He turned his head to look at the remaining clone with fury burning in his eyes as the area was rained in sand again.
Where the sphere had been Naruto and more clones were tightly pressed against one another, a little bloodied but otherwise okay. Gaara snarled at him. "How? How do you defy my power?" The four Naruto's turned to face him grimly before shunshining forward.
Two grabbed him by the arms and locked them tightly into place out to the side while the third appeared at his back and wrapped his arms under and around the shoulders. The real Naruto stopped just before the other boy. "If you can hear me in there, Gaara, I wish didn't it have to come to this. It sucks that it's your body that has to take damage to subdue the Shukaku." the blond stated sadly. Before he could go any further his earlier clone yelped and drew Naruto's attention back toward Danzo.
The elder man slashed his wind-blade through it's neck from the position the clone had been forced into by Danzo's fading revivals, leaving him confused and unsure where the man would come forward from next. "So." Danzo stated flatly as the body faded to smoke like the other two had, rising to his full height again and facing the others.
"What's going on here?" a Suna Jounin demanded as he arrived on sight of the collapsing wall. The few actual villagers there approached slowly and explained the details to him of what they had seen over the last twenty minutes.
The wooden barricade blocking the entrance only unsettled the man after they were finished. As he took a look around it and all the blood leaking out from the edges, then toward the swirling sandstorm just outside of the village, an unpleasant thought began to crop up. Perhaps the boy was pushed too far this time.
His initial strike against it did little damage, but on the follow up the entire thing came apart and his forward momentum sent him stumbling inward. Before he could do anything more the wood gathered back up and sealed itself as his back before reaching out to restrain him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" the Jounin demanded as a wooden-masked man of equal height rose off the floor and approached slowly with a sheet of wood in his hands. Said man held it up for the Jounin to read in the very poor light cast by nearby wooden lamps, as the sounds of fighting echoed faintly through the other end of the darkened area off ahead of them.
'My partner will be finished soon. No questions. We'll be out of Sunagakure with business handled.' the note read. The Jounin read it over and his expression went exceptionally grim, but he remained silent as he considered what that meant. His eyes scanned over the other ninja slowly and noted the common-place outfit beneath the cloak, but the mask and apparent wood release possessed unsettled him more than anything else.
Could be a Hunter-nin from one of the other villages... something I doubt, but so far the rumors around them are proving true here. Having a lost Kekkei Genkai, the mask... Wood release techniques supposedly died out with Hashirama Senju of Konohagakure, just as the Ice and Storm techniques vanished long ago.
Before his thoughts could go any further something shuddered and imploded farther ahead as a loud rumble shook the area.
Naruto grimaced as he looked back on Danzo. "Look's like I'll have to deal with you personally." glancing toward the two clones for an instant he spoke to them. "You know what to do." they nodded reluctantly and placed their spare hands one over the other to gather a true Rasengan between them as Naruto shot off toward Danzo.
Gaara snarled at them and the sand on the ground rushed back to life, gathering toward all of their bodies as it swirled through the air. Before it could finish forming a 160 degree half sphere around them and compress inward to kill the clones, the Rasengan was formed- a little slower due to them having a lot less chakra than the real Naruto, but the process was done.
The large ball of chakra was slammed into Gaara's chest and exploded with enough force to dissipate the clones and decimate the wall all around four inches deep. Gaara's body rocked back against it sharply in a shower of blood before collapsing to the ground, terrible eyes wide and mouth left open in a silent scream of rage and agony.
The sand in the air stiffened before dropping back to the ground lifeless again. At the same time Naruto could feel his energy reserves dropping with fatigue as he faced off against Danzo, and he was growing weary of using clones in this battle. It was time to use something a little different and maximize his remaining energy.
Danzo slashed at his head as Naruto shunshined forward, catching the other as he appeared and finally piercing through the aura of senjutsu chakra around the boy. Naruto winched as he saw the motion coming too slowly to stop his forward momentum and twisted to the side as he appeared, earning a slash mark running from his left eyebrow and across his nose to the right shoulder instead of the intended skull-piercing blow.
Continuing through his twist he pressed his left hand to his right fist and slammed his right elbow up into Danzo's ribcage, using his speed and pushing with the other arm to add more weight and power. A sickening crack echoed through the area as Danzo sprayed blood across the blond and doubled over in pain, but before anything further could be done his body faded as if made of myst and reformed the same a short distance away.
It was the first time Naruto could note actually seeing it in action and he stared in disbelief at the other man. Danzo growled as he felt the used Uchiha eye beginning to fail and falter. Shunshining over to where Gaara still lay on the ground the man scooped up the child by the back of the neck.
"You haven't stayed my hand yet, boy. If you think I'll leave this place empty handed, you are dearly mistaken!"
Naruto felt his anger rising as Gaara was used as a shield. Before he could act Danzo had drawn in a swift breath and exhaled sharply in several directions, breathing out several long blades of wind with his Vacuum Serial Waves. Most of them were angled at Naruto to keep him back, and repeating the motion this time Danzo aimed for the section of wall already partially collapsed by the Shukaku earlier. The holes shining fragments of light inward were exploded out and left a wide hole to easily escape through.
"No!" pushing his way through the attack as best he could Naruto could only watch as Danzo shunshined away with Gaara in his grip. Like hell I'm letting him get away like this! he thought, and focused on the section of hatred dwelling within his core. Kyuubi! Wake up and loan me some chakra already!
Yamato turned toward the sound as the barricade behind him shuddered in it's hold, but didn't collapse. He approached at length and let it down as a terrible howl emanated out from the other side and nearly blew him onto his back from the sound-waves that followed in it's wake.
At the other end of the hall the Suna Jounin shouted at him, "What in the hell is going on with your so called partner!" the sound sent a reluctant shiver down his spine, as instinct warned him to back away from whatever creature could make a sound as that. Yamato could only watch as an orange blur rushed out of a newly created hole where the wall around the village was thinner and more easily broken.
Outside the villagers watched as two blurs, separated by a ten second interval, emerged from a large hole and soared off toward the raging sandstorm outside. The first was very faint, but the latter was orange tinted and more strongly visible, and what happened next was poorly described but well remembered by the villagers of Sunagakure for a long time thereafter.
Just within the path leading into and out of Suna a terrible howl rang out time and again, and the two blurs clashed against one another with a violence and speed enough to shake the rock about them with a growing intensity.
Blood ran in trails around and soaked into the walls, until at last a blindingly bright white object crashed into the middle of the two blurs and exploded so strongly the entrance was collapsed.
With three tails whipping back and forth at his back, Naruto howled his rage and anger fueled by the Kyuubi and rushed out into the open. He never paused as his nose sniffed at the air for the familiar scents and locked onto the trail. He kicked off harder from the sands and caught sight of Danzo rushing toward the exit and back into the sandstorm engulfing the outside lands.
Like you're going to get away from me so easily! he snarled in his thoughts, catching up to the other ninja at last and raking his claws over his back. Danzo grimaced and shouted as his blood was scattered, and his own rage grew at what he must do next as his body melted into myst again.
As it reappeared Naruto turned and descended on the man, slashing again and this time for a leg. Gaara was dropped the first time Danzo had to reform, and each time he went for the boy the jinchuriki tore away at Danzo's form, and time and again Danzo recovered like it was nothing- but without his prize in hand, either. But soon an additional scent in the air, alien and familiar all the same to Naruto through the Kyuubi assaulted his nostrils.
It came from the arm Danzo had once wrapped. Naruto tore it off at the elbow and watched as the man flinched before a barely audible note of relief cleared his throat followed by more Vacuum Serial Waves. The damage being done to Naruto was healed as quickly as it came thanks to the fox's chakra, but he needed something that would truly put the enemy down.
After another howl to throw Danzo into a wall, Naruto gathered into his hands the effort and energy for his Rasengan and focused harder than he could remember doing in a long time, using the fox's will to push him through as needed. Slowly four white points burned and swirled to life about the little sphere and together they grew.
Danzo recovered and slammed his blade of chakra through Naruto's chest in the moment of distraction and watched as surprise and dismay cut across the blonds face just as the Rasenshuriken finished and Naruto slammed one hand around Danzo's in a death grip.
Together Naruto's weapon exploded against their forms and sent the walls rushing down atop them.
End Chapter Ten.