AN: Hey readers, after getting many favs and followers since I posted that author note chapter, as well as getting mental block on the Mori story, I decided to appease your requests with the newest chapter. I have everything outlined for this story and it will be 40 chapters in length and well above 200k words when finished. Hope you like the new chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

ITALICS – thinking

BOLD – demon talk/jutsu

Chapter Eight: A Hidden Threat

Deep underneath Oto, two men sit across from each other at a table discussing plans on what to do about the Chunin Exams that were coming within the months; one of the men grew worried over the increased strength and security of Konoha and asked the other what to do.

"Luckily my spy in Konoha has not been found out yet and he brings troubling news of their increased strength and security due to that Senju brat. I fear the invasion will not go as planned."

The other man smiles "Fear not Orochimaru, I have a way to weaken Konoha and its ally so that your invasion can succeed; all I need to do is a little espionage and blackmail. I will not divulge my plans in fear that others might leak my intentions."

Orochimaru smirks and in a coy manner "Do you not trust me, or is it that you don't trust yourself."

The other man scowls and backhands Orochimaru across the face "My forces may be gone but I am more than capable of handling myself and you will do well to remember that. Train your men, do whatever you feel so that you have an advantage when the time comes."

"Ku, ku, ku, and I take that this meeting never happened correct?"

The man nods and stands and responds before taking his leave "Correct you are Orochimaru, once my objective is complete you will not be seeing me ever again."

Orochimaru watches the man leave his underground office and chuckles "You are such a sly person but I can only wonder what it is that you have planned my old friend."

Konoha – Afternoon, training ground

The Konoha 11 is all gathered at their usual training ground running through chakra control exercises, practicing katas for taijutsu or kenjutsu, sparring, or practicing jutsu. Sasuke has made friends with all of them and he couldn't be more pleased but still felt a piece of himself missing; that piece was Itachi. He told all of them the truth of the massacre once he was able to trust them which were 5 days after they met and hanged out; this further strengthened Sasuke's bond with the Konoha 11.

Sasuke sits underneath a tree meditating which was recommended by Naruto as a chakra control exercise and also so that he could pay attention to his surroundings without the use of his sharingan or eyes; only his hearing and sense of smell. Sasuke was still trying to get it down but he did see improvement as he sensed Kiba come his way.

"Ah, Kiba, what do you need today?" Akamaru barks making Sasuke laugh "And you as well Akamaru."

Kiba shivers "I really hate how you could do that though I wonder if you could teach us that? Anyway, we were thinking having an all-out spar with each other; a free for all."

Sasuke opens his eyes slowly and stands brushing the dirt off his clothing and stretches "Well, I could teach you what Naruto-sensei already had me do but I think it would be better if he did that. As for a spar I think we can do a free for all but first let me ask my sensei about your first question."

"What do you…" Kiba only gets that much out as Sasuke Shunshins away in a tornado of orange flames "Huh, that's new."

Hinata, who saw the same thing only nodded and was about to speak when a whirlpool erupted in the middle of the training ground making everyone tense. The whirlpool disperses showing a smiling Naruto and a queasy looking Sasuke.

"Gah, you're only a clone and I keep telling you to not do that!"

Naruto laughs and ruffles Sasuke's now shoulder length hair "Got to get you used to the Shunshin somehow, now you told me Kiba wanted to learn how to hone his senses right?" Sasuke nods "Kiba, care to tell me why as your clan is known for you incredible senses?"

Kiba walks up "We may have increased senses but we never actually train to hone in one or the other and I think that has become a major weakness in our clan."

Naruto nods and Shino comes up with a question but first pushes up on his glasses with one finger.

"Naruto-san, my father told me about how he got angered at Danzo's trial and that his hive reacted in a bad manner to the point where he almost lost control. He was wondering if you had a way to teach us to control our emotions so that our hive is more…battle ready."

Naruto smiles "Now, I may only be a clone but boss should not mind showing you a thing or two and to answer your questions Kiba, Shino, all that rests on meditation. In fact everyone can learn to control their emotions and senses this way. Care to try it out?"

Everyone nods and Lee proclaims his usual "YOSH! The FLAMES OF YOUTH are bright within you Naruto-san!"

Naruto chuckles and walks up to Lee bopping him on the head making him wince "And that is something you need to control; your outbursts can give away positions on the battlefield. Also, the green jumpsuit is nice but I recommend getting more battle worthy clothes."

Lee pouts but nods his head knowing that it was true; a green jumpsuit with orange leg and arm warmers really stood out when fighting.

Tenten walks up to Naruto and nervously asks "Um, excuse me Naruto-san but can I see your katana?"

Naruto shakes his head "No, I will not as boss would not like me using it as a show piece; it is an instrument of war and death and as such it must be treated with respect. He only shows it to those in the family, I am sorry."

Tenten nods "It's OK, I understand though do you mind if you can help me on my kenjutsu?"

Naruto thinks for a moment then smiles "Sasuke said something about an all-out spar right?"

Everyone nods but Neji starts to freak "Hold up, are you implying that all of us go against you…fate seems to not favor me this day."

As Chouji munches on his chips, Ino giggles at Neji's remark while Shikamaru says his usual remark to everything "Troublesome."

Naruto claps his hands "Why of course, I think I can take all of you down no problem."

A puff of black smoke interrupts everyone and it clears to show Hiruzen in his battle armor; everyone instantly bows and greets the Hokage making him chuckle.

"No need to use honorifics here as Tsunade is running the office right now and has a clone taking care of things in the hospital. Right now I am just Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shinobi of Konoha."

Naruto laughs "So old monkey, I see you want in on this spar as well."

Everyone's eyes widen as Sarutobi nods "I haven't stretched my old bones in a while and I figured I could use some brushing up on my skills. I will stand out until you're done with the Konoha 11."

Sai decides to butt in "Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing two Kage level ninja fighting though we might need a bigger training ground to do this."

Whispers go around the Konoha 11 and they soon nod; Sasuke smiles and speaks everyone's decision "All of us want to watch you two fight as it will help see what we could become in the future if we keep pushing ourselves like both of you did in your time."

Naruto and Hiruzen whole heartedly laugh and look at each other; they walk close together and pat each other on the back.

"Well, if that's what you want; in fact I think this would be a great opportunity to show Konoha what it means to be a determined Shinobi." Naruto states making Hiruzen's eyes widen.

"You really want this in the stadium…ARE YOU CRAZY! If both of us go all out we could easily destroy the Stadium and possibly kill innocents."

Naruto puts his right pointer finger in the air "Seals my old friend, never deny the power of seals. I have ones that will create a barrier strong enough to withstand our attacks and keep the public safe as well as fortify the stadium. Though I have a feeling if I do this I will dispel and not be able to help Sasuke and the fine Shinobi around me."

"Aw, we want to see you two fight." Sakura whines making everyone chuckle.

"Alright, just promise me one thing; if I dispel you have to give it your all in training. No slacking off and when boss returns finding out you did he will enact the same punishment training my father used on me."

Hiruzen pales knowing what that training entailed; it was brutal and considered torture but it did have the desired results. Never again would you make that same mistake as that training and how your body felt afterwards reminded you about it.

"WE PROMISE!" The Konoha 11 yell with slight nervousness as they did not want to find out what punishment training was as theirs was already brutal enough.

Naruto nods "Well then, I guess we will be having a spar then Hiruzen; how long has it been since we had one?"

He chuckles "A very long time Naruto, a very long time. So, the battle royale in a week then?"

Naruto extends his hand which Hiruzen shakes "A week it is." He turns to the Konoha 11 as Hiruzen decides to sit under a tree and watch "Now, you said something about learning to control emotions and such."

With Naruto – Forest of Hope

Naruto was using the remains of the once heavily fortified bunker as a central point for the men that did the espionage missions; at first he had problems with people losing their way in the dense forest but after some use of ingenious sealing that problem was rectified. On all the ones who were assigned missions, a small seal was placed on the backside of the earlobe; this seal reacted with the ones in the HQ on the island which reversed summoned them immediately to the base. Mei was impressed as it made the usual high casualty rate for these missions almost nonexistent. If someone was caught they could use the seal to get out of harm's way.

We find Naruto currently meditating as he waited for incoming reports, he did not have to wait long as he senses one of the men incoming.

"Have you anything to report soldier?" Naruto states not breaking his meditative state which surprised the Shinobi.

Breaking out of his shock he nods "Yes sir, I managed to knock out an ANBU member and henge into him while getting into the base. I know it was risky and against orders sir but the opportunity was there; what I found is…interesting to say the least."

Naruto quirks an eyebrow, slowly opens his eyes and holds out his right hand which the man puts the scroll into. Naruto opens the scroll with a burst of chakra and starts to skim through the documents and smiles; after sealing them up he smiles and turns to the slightly nervous Shinobi.

"What is your name soldier?"

The man bows "It is Kenshin, Naruto-sama."

Naruto lightly chuckles "The same name as one of my Sensei…interesting. You did a good job and with your score, we will be able to win this war within a fortnight. Kenshin, how do you feel if I promoted you to captain?"

Kenshin widens his eyes "Sir, that is very generous of you but I have to decline, I only did what was told though I broke protocol and entered a highly secure area in Kiri; my punishment sir?"

Naruto stands and then pats Kenshin on the shoulder while looking into his hazel colored eyes.

"Yes you broke protocol but the best soldiers always question their leader's orders; you may not think you are ready but I think otherwise. You denied the promotion and wanted punishment for what you felt was the right thing to do…congratulations Kenshin-Taichou, you deserved it."

Kenshin smiles and quickly bows "Thank you Naruto-sama, I will try my best in my new position."

As Kenshin was about to leave, Naruto stopped him with a quick saying "Do or do not…there is no try."

As the newly promoted Shinobi left, Naruto looks at the scroll and Shunshins to Mei's tent as they had to go over this and formulate a plan.

Mei's Tent

Mei, Ao, and Isamu were looking at the map of Kiri on the table which was in the middle of the room; it had red circles of potential areas of attack as well as possible entrances into Kiri. All three were halted from their thoughts by Naruto arriving in and throwing the scroll onto the table.

"Naruto, what's this?" Mei asks with wonder.

"Obviously, it is a scroll Mei-sama." Isamu quips making Ao laugh then retort.

"Back in my day we didn't question superiors; we just did as told."

Mei glares at both making them shiver, then in the sweetest yet creepiest voice she could muster "Shut up before I melt both of you."

Both wave their hands defensively as Naruto and Kurama chuckle in their minds at the relationship between the three.

"Yes, Isamu is right about that being a scroll BUT Kenshin, whom I recently promoted Captain due to him going above the call of duty, managed to hit the jackpot….battle plans and just not that, counter plans as well."

All three snap their head toward Naruto quickly with shocked expressions on their faces but then Mei questions something.

"Couldn't Yagura have planted that for us to find?"

Naruto shakes his head "No as he would not think we would be so bold to do such a thing; come to mention it, I wonder what he is thinking right now."

In Kiri: Kage Office

"Could you say that again, I seem to have trouble hearing?" Yagura asks the ANBU who was knocked out.

The ANBU nervously scratches the back of his head "Well…heh…someone managed to knock me out then use my physique to enter the base and steal your battle plans and such."

Yagura looks at the ANBU with a dead expression as he digested the information then suddenly burst out "YOU MOTHER -!"

Back in the Tent

As the four were going over the well detailed attack plans, all look up as they thought they heard something on the wind.

"Did anyone else hear that?" Ao asks with everyone shrugging. "Huh, someone is pissed or it was the wind; back in my day we controlled our…"

Naruto groans while Mei does the same thing as always "Shut up Ao before I melt you."

Yagura seemed to be crafty with how he was going to decimate the rebellion force. Traps would be set up along points that the rebellion already pointed out as well as the front gate where they were going to attack two days from now. Not only that, one document showed how the rebellion's base was structured as well as how many units were in it. On top of this was ways to take out the camp in one massive attack; they were spots that were not heavily guarded. All four in the room, after a couple hours going over this, knew one thing; a rat was present.

As they started to formulate plans, Naruto excused himself as he thought he felt a burst of chakra just recently which puzzled him as to how he did not catch it before.

A female garbed in all black with a hooded robe and a blank face mask was dashing through the camp hoping to get to Yagura in time.

"I hope nobody sensed me, I have to warn him of what they plan on doing."

As she was running, she failed to notice the rising earth in front of her which resulted into tripping and falling to the ground face first. As she tried to get up, she heard a voice that was very familiar which made her pale in fear.

"Going somewhere?" Naruto asks in a dead tone "I have to applaud you on evading my sensor abilities for so long but alas your espionage days are over."

Before she could speak, Naruto puts a paralysis seal and chakra disruptor seal on the spy then returns to where Mei and the others were so that the interrogation could begin.

Couple Hours Later

The spy wakes up with a groan and looks at her surroundings; she is tied to a chair inside what looks to be a separate room to the tent she just recently escaped from. Standing in front of her was Naruto with a stern and downright scary look on his face.

"Glad to see you are awake, we will start with some simple questions before moving onto the difficult ones. If you cooperate we will not harm you but you will be detained until this war is over. Do you understand?"

The spy nods making Naruto smile a little then start to walk around the prisoner.

"First question, what is your name?"

After a few silent minutes the spy speaks up "Toshiko."

"Good, what is your rank and affiliation with Yagura?"

Toshiko wanted to tell Naruto off but she knew how powerful the man was "Spy, and second in command of Yagura's forces."

Naruto taps his chin in thought "Since you are the second in command, tell me how many forces does Yagura have at his disposal as well as any outposts around our base."

"Not telling you shit, you got enough out of me!"

Naruto frowns "Aw, we were doing so good…let's see if I can make this work."

Naruto bends low and grasps Toshiko's feet and starts channeling Nature mana where the prisoner watches in horror as they start turning into wood which travels slowly up her body.

"Again, answer my previous question and I will reverse the process; keep evading and I will turn you into one of my personal statues which I will use in my garden at home."

Toshiko's mouth turns into one of disgust "You sick, demented bastard!"

Naruto fakes pain "Oh you wound me…ANSWER MY QUESTION!"

The lower half of Toshiko's body was now wood but she still evaded the question.

"You will get nothing from me you hear…NOTHING!"

Naruto does not answer and quickens the process slightly; Toshiko's stomach is now turned which is making it harder to breathe…she started to become worried. After another minute, Toshiko's arms were starting to turn and as the change crept higher the more paranoid she would get.

"OK, OK! Yagura has 5,000 troops at his disposal with only two outposts watching your camp; one you already destroyed and the other is to the East. Can you let me go now?"

Naruto releases his hands but to Toshiko's horror the process only continues; Naruto looks on with a sad smile.

"You absorbed too much Nature chakra and the process is too far along for me to reverse. If only you cooperated sooner; may you rest in peace, your sacrifice will not be in vain."

As Toshiko cries silent tears, the change speeds up and within two minutes she is nothing but a wooden statue which is what Mei, Ao, and Isamu see once they come in to check up on Naruto.

"Well damn, remind me not to piss you off." Isamu states as he and Ao go outside for fresh air partly in fear of what Naruto could do.

Mei chuckles at this and asks "What about the body?"

Naruto takes a breath then punches the wooden statue, which was once Toshiko, breaking it into multiple pieces; Mei sees the look on Naruto's face and complies with a quick lava glob which leaves nothing but ash.

"The remains will be scattered out to sea and a memorial will be held; you might see her as an enemy but she died a Shinobi's death and is worthy of passing onto the afterlife peacefully."

Mei was about to retort but she was amazed when Naruto hovered his hand over the dirt ground and created a stone jar using Earth Manipulation; she watched as he started gathering the ashes and knew it was time to vacate the premise.

"You will not be forgotten Toshiko; any Shinobi I meet, either friend or foe who dies an honorable death will get such a ceremony. Rest peacefully."

"You are the most interesting individual Kit; at times you are stern and headstrong like your father, while at others you are a kind-hearted soul. Has the era you grew up in effected you that much?"

Kurama said this in a slightly amazed yet worried tone as he feared that his container was going into depression.

"I am not going to commit suicide Kurama if that is what you are worried about; I just want to see this world at peace, I just want to see all the fighting end; I just want to rid the world of its hate."

Kurama smiles "You know Kit, your remind me of someone else, someone who created us bijuu long ago; the Sage of Six Paths. He too wanted to see the world at peace. Who knows, maybe that seal screw up those many years ago set you on the path to complete what my father could not."

Naruto doesn't answer and cuts the connection, but as he walks away with the now ash filled jar he thinks one final thought which Kurama did not hear.

"Perhaps you are right Kurama, perhaps there is a reason for what lead me to do what I have done."

Time-Skip Week Later: Konoha Stadium

The time was now to show how two Kage fought and how strong the Shinobi undergoing the new academy and training can become with dedication and time. Seals were in place to fortify the stadium as well as ones to keep the crowd safe; in fact, a massive barrier seal was in place so that if any jutsu seemed to miss and go outside the stadium, they would be halted before doing any damage to the village. As the civilians, Jounin, ANBU, hell just about the entire village, was hurrying to get a seat, they see Naruto's clone in his armor as well as Hiruzen in his; both were on the stadium floor meditating.

Sakura seeing this quirked an eyebrow and questioned on why they were doing so. "Any reason as to why they are doing meditation right now?"

Kakashi, who just showed up behind them, answered "Yes they are meditating but it is much deeper than that; both are calming their chakra and getting in the state of mind needed for battle. I have seen that the Shinobi in the old generation tend to do this for my stated reason; it is a shame they don't teach it anymore."

Kiba boasts "It can't be that hard right; it's just simple clearing of the mind."

"Wrong." Shikamaru retorts. "This is what is known as battle meditation which requires a much deeper concentration than normal standards…in my mind it's all troublesome."

Inoichi just happened to catch the conversation and added his two cents "The Yamanka clan has went into the mind of one that is doing what Naruto and Hokage-sama are accomplishing in the past. It is truly astonishing really, clan reports state that they reach their inner self and can possibly foresee the battle they are going to face."

Everyone that heard this was astonished but soon grew silent as the two Kage level opponents stood; Naruto in his Senju taijutsu stance with Hiruzen in his monkey stance. Both had the cold look in their eyes that told that they have seen countless battles.

"It seems everyone is ready my old friend, shall we begin with taijutsu and work our way up?"

Hiruzen nods at Naruto's question "Let's…our match starts…NOW!"

The viewers watch as both disappear in a blur, the ground cracked where they sprinted off; even Kakashi and Sasuke's Sharingan had trouble keeping up, all that could be heard in the sonic boom of fist meeting fist, knee meeting knee, and so on. After a moment both reappear for a brief moment before disappearing again.

Hiruzen launches an uppercut which Naruto swiftly bats away then leads up with a knee to the stomach which is blocked with Hiruzen's left hand and uses it to vault over Naruto and attempt a roundhouse kick. Naruto quickly ducks and mule kicks Sarutobi in the chest plate of the armor; following up Naruto lays on the punches which is blocked by Hiruzen's fists. Again, sonic booms ring out across the stadium. Everyone watching can only stare in awe.

"This…this is truly amazing; I never knew Hokage-sama as well as Naruto-sama could be this powerful." Chouji states as he drops his chip bag "All I see are blurs!"

Tsuande Jiraiya, Asuma, and the advisors Homura and Koharu just laugh and simultaneously respond "You haven't seen anything yet."

As Naruto and Hiruzen reappear, both are seen smirking and shaking their bloodied hands; both stare at each other and know what was coming next. A puff of smoke is seen near Hiruzen which clears to show Enma in all his glory.

"Hello Hiruzen and…well what do you know, he lives after all. How you hanging Naruto my boy?!"

Naruto chuckles "It's been a while hasn't it Enma; if you would be so kind as to change into your Adamanite Staff as we are in the middle of a match."

Enma looks around and smirks "Working up those old bones I see Hiruzen, well I will dally no further.

Another puff of smoke and soon the Hokage is holding his staff in a ready position ready to attack while Naruto puts his hand on Raging Whirpool ready to unsheathe it. The sword was only a really durable clone so no special attacks could be used but it looked exactly like the real one. As Naruto pulled it out and got in the Raging Tide stance, one person in the stand gasped as she recognized the katana; it was Tenten.

"N...no way! That katana was said to be lost to history!"

"Tenten?" Ino calmly requests an answer which she delivers.

"That is the Raging Whirlpool, an Uzumaki katana which is said to be sentient and is very finicky when choosing who wields it; records vary but supposedly there has only been six users in its illustrious history. Rumors state that anyone who wields the katana will have the rage of the Ocean at their side."

Shikamaru shakes his head "Troublesome."

Shikaku just smiles and lightly chuckles "For once, I agree with you son."

Back in the stadium Hiruzen rushes Naruto while the Senju calmly closes his eyes and waits for the right time to strike. The displacement of air comes toward him and two seconds later, Naruto jumps and lands on the staff while opening his eyes. After doing so he lashes out which Hiruzen dodges but leaves a bleeding scratch on his cheek where the armor did not protect. The staff fights back as a fist forms and tries a low blow which Naruto parries with Raging Whirlpool then jumps off and gets back in his stance and calm as ever.

Using the staff as a pole vault, the Hokage attempts to do a flying kick to Naruto's stomach but it was not meant to be as said person dodged and caught the leg in his right armpit. Naruto grins and uses the butt end of his katana and mercilessly pummels Hiruzen in the face which creates a bloody nose. Ten times the Hokage was hit until he could get out of the grapple. Wiping the blood off and spitting some out Hiruzen and Naruto start laughing.

"This reminds me of the old days with Hashirama teaching us, eh old monkey."

Hiruzen chuckles "That it does, are we done with the warm up?"

Naruto smiles "Yep."

The two get back into their stances and disappear into thin air; the sound of metal hitting staff is heard as well as the occasional sparks which signified where they were on the stadium floor. For three minutes this went on but not all injury was avoided; as the two contenders break for a quick rest, the crowd finally got to see that each had injuries but nothing serious. All of these took place where the armor could not protect. For Hiruzen he had multiple cuts on his face and unguarded areas, the cuts visible where the black undershirt was lacking; some were minor while others were slightly deep. For Naruto, he had two cracked ribs, a broken nose like Hiruzen making both their faces bloodied, a couple broken fingers, and a really bruised chest due to the blunt force of the staff. Of course since this was a wood clone, Kurama's healing did not help here.

"Shall we go onto the main event my old friend?" Naruto states as he sheathes Raging Whirlpool while Hiruzen dismisses Enma.

"Yes, but how will you fair with a couple broken fingers?"

Naruto scoffs and both stretch a little before starting; before the crowd could get off any reactions the flurry of jutsu began.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet." Hiruzen kneads his chakra then shoots out a massive swath of flames which the crowd feels the heat of.

Naruto reacts calmly as he only produces one hand sign while muttering "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique."

Both Dragons meet and crash head on creating steam which covers the entire arena making the crowd wonder what was going on.

"Wood Release: Cutting Technique." Is heard but nobody but Hiruzen sees Naruto create spikes out of wood and throws them toward him.

Reacting quickly the Hokage creates an Earth Wall which blocks the projectiles then follows up with an Earth Dragon which races to meet Naruto who reacts by doing one hand sign to create a Water Severing Wave. At this point the steam clears and the crowd is in awe as the jet of water splits the earth dragon in two then proceeds to smash through the earthen wall Hiruzen created. The Hokage attempted to dodge the fast technique but manages to get clipped in the shoulder almost rendering that arm useless.

Both fighters stare at each other slightly panting but smiling nonetheless; after a brief minute they begin again but Naruto decides to turn up the heat. Using the snake seal, he creates a smaller version of what was used in Kiri.

"Wood Release: Nativity of a Sea of Trees."

Everyone's eyes widen, even Hiruzens' who attempts to dodge the growing trees in the stadium; as this was happening some Shinobi were shocked by this.

"I thought that Hashirama making the forest which surrounds Konoha was just a rumor but seeing this…oh man!" a random genin speaks out.

"I hope we become this strong someday…I wonder if Naruto-sama and Hokage-sama would give us pointers." An academy student blurts out.

Needless to say, anyone in the academy or just fresh genin where ecstatic to say the least making the older Shinobi chuckle and smile at their determination; Tsunade was extremely happy as it seemed this battle between two of Konoha's great Shinobi's turned that small spark into the roaring flame that Hashirama built the village upon.

Back at the stadium floor, Hiruzen was in a tree wiping the sweat off his brow.

"Wow, I shouldn't be this tired; man do I need to get in shape; I wonder if Naruto has an anti-aging seal available." He chuckles at this "One can only hope."

He had to jump out of the tree as a spike of wood suddenly grew where he once was.

"Hey old monkey, think you can survive in my playground?" Naruto's voice echoes in the forest.

Playing along, Hiruzen answers back "Think you survive in mine? This is going to take a lot out of me."

Fire Release: Extinguishing Curtain Field. No jutsu is shouted out only the Hokage stomping his foot on the ground which makes the stadium floor crack and buckle. Naruto looks down to see flames starting to arc out of the cracks and curses; he manages only one jutsu before hell literally comes to Earth, the Earth Release: Rock Shelter. Just as a dome of rock surrounds around and under him for protection, Hiruzen clasps his hands together and screams which makes the end of the stadium Naruto was in explode into a massive column of flames. After a minute, he releases the technique and falls to the ground on one knee panting; he looks to see that the rock shelter failed and the Naruto Clone was severely burnt and close to dismissing.

"Good match old monkey, if I was the real Naruto I would not have held back; it seems you have some training to do. Oh and boss says that by next week Kiri should be free, he looks forward to stepping foot in Konoha again. Ja ne!"

With that, Naruto's clone turns into wood particles and falls to the stadium floor where the trees do the same. Hiruzen just chuckles and shakes his hand while he stands, albeit a little shaky.

"Indeed, it seems I have spent far too long cooped up in that office…I hate being old."

The stadium soon erupted into cheers at how the battle went everyone was impressed with their Hokage but the Homura, Koharu, Tsunade, and Jiraiya remember him being a lot stronger. All four knew the rivalry Naruto and he had growing up as they were always trying to outdo each other and for once; it seems that Naruto has gotten the upper hand. Two people though had an idea though to get Hiruzen back to his prime and it all revolved around seals.

"I wonder if an anti-aging seal could be done." Jiraiya wonders and shunshins home ready to figure out the problem.

Kiri: En Route to the Rebellion Base

Naruto just got done leading a platoon with Kenshin by his side to the last outpost; it was far bigger than imagined and it took almost the whole week just to search the outpost and kill or capture any Yagura followers. Naruto was proud of Kenshin's leadership skills as he boosted morale when needed, made sound judgments when ordering troops, and so forth. As they were heading back to base camp, Naruto suddenly gets the clone's memories he made at Wave; after a five minute break of meditation, he could not be happier with the results but wondered about his old friend.

"I wonder if I can make a reverse ageing seal for my old monkey…hmm, it seems two seal masters need to get together at some point." Naruto mumbled to himself.

Kenshin, thinking he heard Naruto speak "Something the matter Naruto-sama?"

Naruto shakes his head "Not at all, just reminiscing on the past is all. You did well this week Kenshin, all of you did well in fact. In two days' time we will march against Kiri and finally end the suffering you all have unjustly been the culprit of.

Cheers go out as the platoon goes back home with only five casualties as a result of the recent battle; Naruto and Kurama could not help but smile at the thought that freeing Kiri would be the first step in many to achieving peace in the Elemental Nations. What they don't know is that darkness lurks in the shadows waiting for a trigger to pulled, waiting to emerge so that history could repeat itself once again.