Truth Unfolds in Wave

by Mr.mclane

Six months before Naruto's return to Konoha, He is placed on a team of familiar faces who is being sent to Wave. Naruto wasn't expecting this mission to escalate to a life changing experience nobody would ever forget. NaruXSaku, first fict, Pre Chap. 500

56. The Awakening

AN: Well that uncertainty turned into a week.

Thank you as always for your reviews.

Nebula ~ I pray I meet your expectations, I really do.

weaponx178's welcomed criticism has me at a loss, and I would like a suggestion from those that have read up until this point.

Since it appears many readers are so turned off by a seemingly *canon* Naruto, that they stop reading when the very next chapter says that ALL of his training has went into the Kyuubi, I would like to nip this in the bud once and for all.

I attempted to fix this already, but it appears I haven't been clear enough in spelling out that he held back on all of their fights (Shikamaru's spar was outright intended for comic relief).

I am approaching the point of having him muse something along the lines, "If I had used the real part of my training with Ero-sennin, I would have won against fuzzy brows and Sakura-chan in no time"

Which to me...sounds very out of character for Naruto to even THINK of using it against his comrades (that...and he also wants to keep the Kyuubi a secret from them in the beginning, so he wouldn't use it anyway.)

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.

/End of authors rant

Important note: previous chapters have been updated. Just grammar fixes along with some minor pervy sage moments :P. (Chapter 36 for those looking for hopefully a successful laugh.)

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Chapter 55 The Awakening

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During the time Naruto was separated from the others...

"NARUTO!" Sakura screamed over the roaring lava, causing Naruto to turn wide eyed and stare at the obstacle between them.

Realising he was stuck, he cursed, 'Why didn't I look which way Sakura-chan jumped first?! Damn it!' Darting his eyes to try and find a way around, he soon had to shift his focus elsewhere when rapid footsteps could be heard stomping towards him. He only just made it in time with the kunai to block the other steel edged weapon from cutting his throat.

Gritting his teeth at his attacker, Naruto openly stared into Ronan's sharingan eyes that had appeared to have returned to their normal three tomoe form. Forming a rasengan in his free hand, Naruto took advantage of their clash.

"Rasengan!"

Naruto's wrist was grabbed in a tight lock by Ronan's other free hand inches away from connecting with his stomach. Grunting his frustration, Naruto could do nothing in the lock. Ronan then pressed further with his kunai in the now winning battle for dominance, the edge of Naruto's kunai slowly being pulled closer and closer to his own throat.

Naruto's eyes widened when the blade was now millimetres away from connecting to his neck, 'I NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS NOW!'

Concentrating more chakra into his rasengan, the sphere began to violently spark, before suddenly dispersing with a powerful shockwave that sent both combatants sliding back. Naruto unconsciously rubbed his neck as if to double check it wasn't cut, while Ronan's emotionless eyes stared at him, "It is time Uzumaki Naruto. May the victor be the one who concludes everything that has happened."

Naruto groaned in response, 'I can't take this guy on alone. If he is anything like Sasuke and now even Itachi, he will fight me with genjutsu which I suck at fighting against...'

Slowly forming his signature seal, Naruto continued his musing, 'I need to always have him outnumbered, or I am not going to win this if I take him on without backup. Also, I have an idea on how I can beat his genjutsu.' Concentrating for a few more moments, he created one kage bunshin by his side. Ronan simply watched as the clone made a break for the cover of the nearby trees.

He still knew the real one was before him, since Naruto was only now dropping his seal, "Let's do this then."

Ronan took the invitation with open arms as he flew through seals in a blur, "Katon, Gouryuuka no jutsu!"

Naruto dived to the side to avoid the monstrous fireball that flew past him. Naruto retaliated by pulling out a scroll, and flinging it open behind him in the air, causing a fuuma shuriken to 'poof' into existence. Grabbing on it and spinning it around, Naruto released the spinning blade towards the Uchiha who was closing the distance rapidly. Evading it by simply ducking his head, Ronan pressed on, unaware that the shuriken had changed into a blond doppelganger with a rasengan in his hand. With a casual flick of his wrist to unleash a kunai, Ronan made short work of the surprise attack without ever turning his head or slowing his assault.

Naruto awestruck at the effortless counter, but Ronan was upon him before he could contemplate his next action. The blond could not help but wonder if it was a trait or something that all Uchiha's were somehow extremely fast, but Ronan had already got through his guard after the second block. Naruto coughed out his surprise to the sudden knee into his gut, quickly followed by a solid punch to his jaw, ending with an attempted slash of Ronan's kunai to his neck. Naruto had barely made it with his own kunai despite his hurt.

Staring into those still empty sharingan eyes again, Naruto growled, "THIS IS STUPID! How does one of us winning or losing bring anything?! You just figured one more person on the top of the pile should happen for good measure or something?!"

"There is no need to discuss this. You are too young and inexperienced to understand, despite my explanation."

"THEN BLOODY EXPLAIN IT TO ME SO IT DOES THEN!" Naruto angrily retorted, but Ronan didn't seem to hear it.

"Bring out the Kyuubi."

Naruto almost lost his balance, while Ronan continued, "The one I desire to fight is the Kyuubi, not you. Bring it out."

First Naruto's eyes held shock, but then narrowed to annoyance, "Like hell I am going to do that!"

Ronan decided to comply to that with a sudden extra kunai swiping from his free hand across Naruto's cheek.

The blond had pulled back in time again, but he still felt the sharp air hit his face from the near miss. Ronan had already started a seal chain yet again, "Katon Karuu endan!"

Naruto did not go off guard when he saw the stream of near white hot fire start sweeping towards him, as he was running through seals too, "Suiton suijinheki!" Before the flames could engulf him, Naruto to his surprise steamed out a large amount of water from his mouth that blocked out the fire. Still holding the jutsu, Naruto had to ignore the seriousness of the situation and cheer to himself, 'I got it at last! SICK!'

On the other side, Ronan stopped his steam of fire seeing it was being wasted, 'That wasn't in the previous reports that he knew suiton jutsu. So I see, this is what he has been doing with his time while we have been searching for him.'

Still staring at the tremendous rotating water, Ronan redrew his kunai in both his hands, 'But that is a jutsu that is far beyond what a common shinobi could achieve in such little time. I haven't witnessed a water wall technique this powerful before...could this be because of his immense chakra?'

Starting to see the wall begin to collapse, Ronan charged. When eye contact was met, Naruto's eyes bulged in surprise, but he tried to recover by reaching for a kunai. Not giving him the chance, Ronan lounged forward over the distance and jabbed Naruto in the stomach with a kunai. Almost like a reflex action, 'Naruto' dispersed into a log, that was emitting a strange crackling noise. Ronan narrowed his emotionless eyes on the log he had dug into to see a smoking exploding note.

Naruto from not far away could no longer see Ronan as the flames of the blast blocked his sight, 'Did I-GAH!'

Naruto's thoughts cried out when he felt several shuriken smack into his back, causing him to stumble. He was never given the opportunity to recover, as Ronan from behind now was on him in an instant, mercilessly twirling around his kunai in each hand to then slam them into Naruto's back. The effort was rewarded by a second dispersion, this time being nothing but smoke.

'His kage bunshin timing is impeccable.' Ronan deduced.

The Uchiha then started running through seals from where he stood, and then aimed to his right to see a Naruto also running through seals, "Katon, Kasumi endu no jutsu!" Naruto was still running through his seals, but halted in puzzlement when Ronan was blowing out a strange mist like gas at him over the distance. The cloud soon reached Naruto, and began to increase in density until it was as thick as fog, and had a strong odour to it.

'Mist covering technique? How is this is a katon?'

Naruto's eyes suddenly began to widen in memory, 'Wait!, isn't this that gas that weird girl pretending to be Kabuto used on me two years a-!'

Naruto ended his thoughts when through the thick mist, he could just see two kunai being held tightly against each other, one meeting at the very back of the blade.

'HOLY SH-!' Naruto's musing was overheard by the unbelievably loud 'scrape!' of the kunai, as the small spark emitted set the entire thing alit into a roaring blaze.

Ronan simply stared into the fire that was reflecting off his sharingan irises, 'It is done-'

"Suiton, suijinheki!" Shouted over the burning flames, as Ronan stood back to stare wide eyed at his ears hearing a high pitched extinguishing hiss. Soon his face started to sweat from the hot steam gushing everywhere. The flames died down earlier than he expected, to reveal through the misty steam a spiralling twister of water.

The water then evaporated into the hot air, leaving Ronan standing in the middle of a thick steam cloud, 'Not only did he counter my jutsu, he took advantage of the large fire to set up this blinding hot steam ...interesting.' Still remaining where he stood composed, the Uchiha's three tomoe sharingan tried to peer through the mist to see anything.

'It appears that jutsu is the only one he has learnt. That alone is an achievement for such a short time period, but I best not underestimate him.'

Hidden in the steam not far, Naruto could just barely trace out the Uchiha's brown shirt. Rubbing his temple of sweat, Naruto controlled himself to not pant for the air his lungs were demanding, 'Those oodama rasengan's have used up so much chakra.'

Trying to ignore his problem, he turned his interest on Ronan, 'This guy...he not only has more stamina than Sasuke. He is better than him in every way. No wonder sensei had so much trouble with him. Now he has those eyes Itachi has. Does that mean he can use that black fire and freaky genjutsu as well?'

Ronan still was not having any luck locating the blond, which soon bought his mind to drift, 'That sensation I felt before. The tablets of our clan mentioned the mangekyou sharingan's irregularity, but I never imagined it would be like this. It almost feels like I am seeing for the first time again. However, the tablets were not specific on how they function or activate.'

Hearing the swirling sound of a chaotic sphere coming from behind him, Ronan pulled himself back into reality and casually looked over his shoulder to see the blue glow of a giant rasengan shooting through the steam towards him, "Oodama Rasengan!" Naruto questioned though why the Uchiha remained stationary, as his jutsu now had closed in enough so he no longer had eye contact.

'Why didn't he move?'

Naruto's eyes widened several fractions to a sudden realisation, but then returned to normal as he felt the shockwave of his rasengan disperse. Looking down into the impact crater along with his kage bunshin, there were no traces of the Uchiha.

"I'm pretty sure we hit him." Muttered the clone to the other.

Both then gasped suddenly when pain shot all over their body, which caused the clone to Naruto's side to disperse.

"W-Wha-?!" Naruto then coughed out a small amount of blood that splattered on something invisible before him. The figure then shimmered slowly into reality, revealing the splatter landed on an emotionless face with sharingan eyes staring into Naruto's.

Shakily looking down, Naruto then saw the rest of Ronan shimmer into reality, revealing a kunai dug into his chest. Coughing out blood again, Naruto looked up at Ronan again, who still was staring at him with no emotion.

'Genjutsu...he used it before the oodama rasengan hit.'

Ronan narrowed his eyes, "Very, very interesting, Uzumaki Naruto." The blond then completely out of the blue smirked, before Ronan was greeted to a 'poof'.

Standing upright, Ronan still focussed on the smoke, 'I was certain that was the real one. That was not a fake, he substituted between the dispersion of that rasengan and my attack...did he know I placed him in a genjutsu?'

Concluding it was just a coincidence, Ronan turned his attention to his new matter at hand. The army of orange that surrounded him. He counted well into the hundreds of blond heads, all looking back at him. Moments later in union, the entire swarm was upon him. Even if his eyes could see every incoming attack, not even Ronan could successfully counter so many simultaneous attacks at once. The entire fight was starting to blur as Ronan continuously kept spinning to counter and defeat clone after clone, with no signs of the frantic exchange ending.

Quickly running through seals in a split second, Ronan shot out a fireball to his side, then had to spin around when the clones exploited his opening. Despite his efforts with his katon, the numbers didn't seem to be decreasing, as he was locked in his frantic frenzy of slaying the clones one by one again. In the back of the chaos, a sweating Naruto was creating more and more clones to enter the fray.

'Come on damn it, he can't keep this up forever!'

"Taju kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto screamed against his exhaustion, summoning even more clones.

Ronan grunted out his frustration with another successful bash into his back, 'There is too many, I don't have time to even use kawarimi.'

A kick into his gut made him emit a semi growl, which then shot an image of his comrades, making Ronan fight back harder, 'I won't let the conclusion of all this I have caused end so pathetically!'

Suddenly a tremendous amount of pain shot straight into the back of his right eye, forcing him to clench it shut as it began to violently twitch. The closest Naruto narrowed his gaze as to why both Ronan's eyes were not shut, but then gasped when the right one opened to reveal a new sharingan.

'It's 'that' eye!'

When nothing happened, the army of blonde's shook it off and continued their assault. While nothing was amiss to the Naruto's, the only one opened eye Uchiha was stunned. The army of blonde's...were moving so unbelievably slow, even their battle cries were low and stretched. He even could depict fine dirt particles slowly rising up from one of the clone's footsteps.

It was as if time itself...had decreased to a near halt.

Seeing a fist gradually moving closer to connecting with his face, Ronan went to move his hand to block it. He was disorientated however, when his hand moved as freely as it usually would. He paused for a moment to look at his hand in awe, before returning to its emotionless state, 'So that is how it is? Then...'

The clone didn't even react when Ronan's resumed fist smashed against its face, instantly dispersing it. On the other side of the battlefield, Naruto's eyes showed his confusion at the new information, 'What the hell?!' He felt several more rushes of information again, all ending in the same confusing way. It literally was a split second from when Ronan opened his right eye to reveal his mangekyou that now a dozen clones were killed.

The dense smoke of all the dispersions were blocking him from seeing what was happening from his spot, but he was still receiving the information. The impression was somehow similar to when Lee had taken off his weights in their spar, but this was inhuman. One memory he got back showed a blurred glimpse of the Uchiha taking down three clones, before turning to face the other. The memory ended within that moment.

'What the hell is going on?!' Naruto shouted to himself in confusion again.

'It's like he is even faster than fuzzy brows?!'

Still receiving memories of the clones in the chaos, Naruto mentally noted the pace was less frantic, but still alarming. Sooner than he ever thought possible, he was standing in the field alone, still gaping in shock at the smoke cloud from all his defeated clones. When the smoke settled, his jaw nearly succeeded in hitting the floor.

There was a hazy like boundary that reminded him of Sakura's genjutsu. In the centre of the area was this strange vortex that was spinning in an indeterminable direction. Naruto watched the Uchiha step out of the boundary as if it was nonexistent, with his right eye still being the only one opened. Ronan then closed his right eye, and reopened both to reveal his three tomoe sharingan. While doing so, the bizarre genjutsu field behind him shimmered away into non existence.

Naruto was still stunned, 'T-That was one of his mangekyou powers?! That is nothing like Itachi's!'

Naruto grinded his teeth together, while trying to piece together the massive puzzle in his mind from all his clones vague memories, 'What on earth was that? A genjutsu, a ninjutsu?! From what I can tell, my clones were being destroyed amazingly fast near that thing in the middle. It was still freakishly fast further away, but at least my clones could see him.'

Ronan looked behind him again in memory, 'This is the power of the mangekyou sharingan? So this was why Itachi was so strong back then.'

Returning attention back to his fight, Ronan scrutinised Naruto, 'That was an unheard of amount of kage bunshin, I am surprised he is still standing, although...'

Naruto was gasping for air, and yet again rubbed his sweaty head, 'So much chakra wasted. Crap...I have got to be more careful with my chakra. I might knock myself out if I keep this going.'

The Uchiha was in no such state like he was, bar a collection of bruises from his clones attack. Naruto was expecting Ronan to say something, but the Uchiha wordlessly drew a kunai and charged at him yet again. Ronan did not miss with his sharingan that Naruto's eyes rose several fractions, before returning to focus. Ignoring it, Ronan and Naruto clashed once again. Naruto's exhaustion was becoming more apparent now in the exchange. Naruto's blocks were quite weak, and his reflexes had become noticeably slower.

"Your speed has gotten slower." Ronan stated blandly, quickly breaking in Naruto's defence to elbow him in the gut, then delivering an upper cut to his jaw. When Naruto's head snapped up from the hit, He was introduced to a kunai coming down to cut into his face quickly.

Naruto rolled to the side in time, and then to Ronan's surprise didn't use rasengan, but instead ran through seals and used his suiton jutsu again. The effect this time cause the Ronan before him to shred apart like paper and disappear in the water wall, while another voice from behind Naruto grunted out his surprise as he jumped back.

'Impossible! How did he notice?! There is no flaw to an Uchiha's genjutsu that someone of his level could have discovered something amiss!'

Ronan questioned in semi shock, as the water wall fell, revealing Naruto who was again panting desperately for air, 'That was too close.'

Ronan wrote it off as a coincidence yet again, but this time didn't use subtlety with the next jutsu. Naruto could blatantly see the three tomoe sharingan spinning, and then stopping.

Once it stopped, Naruto wondered why it had suddenly got dark and cold, especially since he had burning hot lava not far from him. Looking to where the lava should be, he was stunned to see trees in its place, along with a full moon of a clouded night sky. Naruto then smelt a disturbing odour hit his nostrils.

The stench of death.

Looking down at his feet, he jumped back in shock to see a dead body of what appeared to be a Konoha jounin. Naruto then stumbled though when the back of his foot hit something semi soft, and he turned to bulge at another dead corpse of someone wearing the traditional ANBU attire.

No longer fixated on the ANBU, his bulging eyes wondered all around him to only see death. Bodies...everywhere, 'Where am I?'

The sudden roar in the distance made Naruto's jaw hang, 'H-He is making me see the night when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha?!'

He could hear in the distance screams, along with jutsu names being shouted. Through the nests of tree's he could see flashes of lights in red and white, possibly from Katon's and other jutsu. Putting aside the sound of a grand scaled battle occurring in the background, Naruto got the impression he was alone in the otherwise still area.

A very loud snap of a twig made Naruto jolt to life, and hit the floor when he heard the sound of spinning shuriken fly over his head. Dragging himself up, Naruto drew out a kunai and blocked a small katana. The blond gasped in realisation to who his attacker was, it was the dead ANBU he was looking at before.

Shaking his head, Naruto calmed down his panic, 'This is all just his stupid illusion, so this thing can't even hurt me.'

Putting that information at hand, Naruto lowered his guard, as the ANBU went to strike again. Seeing that sword get closer and closer to his shoulder was beginning to make him see doubt.

'...AH DAMN IT!'

Naruto quickly side stepped the slash, but it still had time to connect with his shoulder, making a fresh bleeding gash down his shoulder.

Naruto was speechless, 'B-But this is an illusion?!'

Regaining his senses, Naruto threw a handful of shuriken at his attacker, only to be rewarded with more shock as they simply phased through him, 'WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?!?'

When he heard the sound of ruffling behind him, his eye saw other corpses starting t come to life, and he soon got the message loud and clear, 'I can't beat these things! I can only defend myself until I'm at my limit...damn it!'

Creating a baker's dozen worth of clones, Naruto then snapped his hands together, 'The only chance I have is to break out of this!' Concentrating with all the chakra he had, he made it spike, which made one of the living dead shimmer, but then it brushed off the anomaly and continued attacking the clones to get to the original.

'I...can't bloody break out of it!' Naruto shouted in frustration. Growing desperate, Naruto tried to think, but he didn't know why he heard Jiraiya's lecture about genjutsu talk over his musing.

"If you can't break out of the genjutsu...give up."

Naruto violently shook his head, 'I DO THAT NOW AND IM DEAD DAMN IT ERO-SENNIN!' He shouted to himself for the useless but very true advice. Seeing his clones numbers diminishing, he recreated them to allow him more time.

'Calm down, there has to be a way I can beat this!'

Naruto's eyes suddenly shot open, and looked in a random direction to see an empty space amongst the revived dead. His gaze then narrowed to hold determination, 'If this genjutsu works like that time with Itachi and Sakura-chan...'

Turning now to fully face the direction he was looking at, he created another clone, 'He can't move as long as this illusion is up. If his seal drops, the genjutsu is cancelled.'

Naruto grunted when the stinging air he breathed in was exhaled, 'I have the chakra for only one more...if this doesn't work, I really am in a lot of trouble.'

Standing side by side, Naruto started to create another oodama rasengan, this one releasing a violent gust of wind, startling the other fighting illusions and clones. Naruto then took off to a charge, the giant sphere phasing through both illusions and doppelgangers. Suddenly his eyes had to adjust to the change of lighting as the genjutsu shimmered away, but he did not relent in his charge.

"Oodama rasengan!"

A ground shaking explosion was felt by the jutsu connecting with something. However, the rasengan did not travel through whatever it hit, causing a backlash shockwave that sent Naruto flying back, and roughly landing on his back. No longer feeling pain in his arm, he noticed the wound he obtained in the illusion was now gone.

More concerned with what his jutsu hit, Naruto tried to look through the thick blue mist of his dispersed jutsu, puzzled as to why it looked like it was being sucked up by something. Finally granted vision, he saw a panting figure emerge, and then went agape. Ronan was still standing there, however he was gasping for air, while clutching his left eye as if in great pain.

'H-He...stopped my oodama rasengan?! NO WAY!?'

Ronan then lowered his hand, to reveal the anomaly in his left eye, making Naruto grind his teeth, 'That eye again?! This time the left...what on earth did he do to stop that rasengan from hitting him?!'

Blinking, Ronan's eyes returned to the normal sharingan, 'There is no mistaking it now, he is somehow realising he is in a genjutsu, and even then when it was obvious...he knew exactly where I was despite the altered world. That is not possible.'

Ronan glared at the trees he saw the kage bunshin run off at the start of the fight, '...I see now. What a very unique way to fight an Uchiha's genjutsu.'

Eyeing between the trees and Naruto back and forth, Ronan reached his conclusion, 'The kage bunshin no jutsu can return experience and memories from the clone to its original. He is using that feature to its full potential. The clone is in the trees watching our battle, and when I place him into a genjutsu, the clone is dispersing to alert him he is doing something not normal, or that he has lost focus of me. He uses his instinct to guess what it is I am about to do, and then plans a way to get out of it. In a sense, he is making the element of surprise a genjutsu brings backfire onto me using a very interesting strategy. Nobody I have ever known has used kage bunshin's this way. How he is replenishing the spectators has me at a loss, but to come up with such an idea to counter my genjutsu's...'

'My enhanced kage bunshin can probably handle three of four more clones until it won't be able to split itself anymore, I have to work out a way to recreate it. Hopefully I will have enough chakra after doing so.' Naruto mused, cursing the sharp breaths travelling down his throat.

'I am not giving up when the others are depending on me, quit your bloody crying!' Naruto ordered his trembling body, and he forced himself to his feet again.

Ronan in the meantime was contemplating a plan, 'If that is the game he wishes to play, then so be it.'

Rifling through seals, he announced his jutsu that he learnt a long time ago from copying Thomas, "Ninpou, Kirigakure no jutsu."

Naruto knew this jutsu very well from his first real mission, and tensed, 'I don't have any way to get rid of this.' Within a few moments, Naruto could barely see anything five feet away from him.

He gulped down his nerves to the sudden silence, baring the sound of lava gurgling not far from him, 'Come on...where did he go?'

A couple of minutes passed by, while Naruto still stood firmly in his spot with a kunai gripping shaking tight in his hand. Beginning not to like this, Naruto desperately looked around for signs of the Uchiha. Soon his brain felt a sudden jolt of information, which made him snap to his side.

His bunshin saw a figure move around in the mist from that direction. Raising his kunai, he now could make out a murky shadow coming into his vision. He was at a loss though when he saw a familiar red coat and white hair, "Naruto, where is he?"

"E-Ero-sennin?!"

"No, who do you think it is? Where is Ronan?!"

"I-I-Err-"

"Cat got your tongue?"

"I don't know!"

"Bah forget it, just stand back. Futon, reppusho!" Several gusts of wind suddenly swept over, blowing the mist clear. The Uchiha had completely disappeared, it was only Jiraiya and Naruto.

The blondes eyes then flickered, "Hey Ero-sennin."

The sannin never full turned, since he was looking around, "What gaki?"

"How'd your fight go?"

The sannin this time turned and shrugged, "He was a freaking handful, but no sweat, I am yours truly of course!" Jiraiya even gave a half hearted pose to emphasis.

"Is that so?" Naruto muttered, the grip on his kunai tightening as a result, while his other hand slipped into his weapon pouch for an explosive note, and enwrapped it around the kunai's hilt.

"THEN WHY CAN I STILL HEAR ERO-SENNIN FIGHTING?!" Naruto yelled, throwing the kunai at the sannin's feet while jumping back as it exploded.

Naruto yet again felt his mind suddenly hit with a memory, and shot for his holster to throw a handful of shuriken behind him, 'That was just a bunshin, he's over there!' Naruto was stunned though when the Uchiha who was meant to be behind him was not there...

...Nobody was there but the ground to take his shuriken.

'H-Huh?!'

Smelling burning wood, Naruto faced the direction it came from to gape and throw himself away from a fireball, 'WHAT THE HELL?!' Naruto cried for what felt like the fourth time now.

He pushed himself up from the ground only to find a fist waiting to connect with his face. Naruto once again found himself going toe to toe with Ronan, with those emotionless sharingan eyes still unchanged since the start.

During their exchange back and forth, Naruto had another brainwave, 'This is yet another illusion?! Freaking hell this is confusing. The real one will be coming from behind me in about 3...2...1...' Building up a rasengan in his palm, Naruto completely ignored the Ronan in front of him and turned to stick it out into the air before him.

When the sphere didn't encounter any resistance, Naruto's eyes bulged, "W-Why?!"

Naruto couldn't speak when he felt cold steel slam into his upper back. The blow had effectively stunned him, as the rasengan died out almost like powering down a light bulb, "How does it feel to have your own plan turned against you?" Ronan whispered, as the deeply dug kunai was pulled out, shooting out blood. Naruto then felt a solid foot smash into his lower back sending him off his feet, to crash violently onto the grass.

Even moving his arms shot a sting all the way up his back, "H-How..."

"I am not certain how many of them were coincidental or not, but that last one made it too obvious, and removed my doubt. You were exploiting the kage bunshin's memory to inform you when I placed you in a genjutsu. That was why you made one run off at the start of the fight. When the opportunity arose, you either countered it with hitting me with a jutsu, or breaking out of it by substituting with a clone and freeing yourself in the time it takes you to do so."

Ronan's sharingan eyes narrowed as Naruto shakily tied to stand, and rewarded his efforts with a swift kick across the blonde's jaw line, flinging him onto his back. Naruto was still furiously gasping for air as Ronan 'poofed' out of existence, and footsteps could be heard approaching, "So after I had created the mist, I hid in the forest your clones were using, and sent a bunshin of your sensei out to throw you off guard. Using the cover I had, I tracked down that clone that was creating more of itself to alert you, and placed it in a genjutsu...everything it created afterwards would be under the same effect...My control. However, just in case, I sent a kage bunshin out to fight you instead of myself."

Ronan slowly unbuttoned his weapon pouch, and pulled out a scroll, "A commendable strategy I must confess. However, that trick will only work so many times." Opening the scroll in midair, he formed a seal which made it 'poof' out his katana.

Unsheathing it slowly, he raised the sword so that it twinkled a red light from the dawning sun, "The conclusion is now set at long last, Uzumaki Naruto. Pity, I was greatly anticipating meeting the Kyuubi once again." The light of the sun reflected all down the blade one last time, the intense light forcing Naruto to close his eyes as Ronan began swiping down.

'Is this it?'

"You are such a disgrace! To think of all the puny mortals the cursed Yondaime put me in, I am stuck with you, the dead last imbecile!"

Naruto snapped his eyes open to the dark voice he knew, to find he no longer was in the bright outside world, but in the cold and dark caverns of the Kyuubi chamber. Its red slits were glaring at him as he stood up, "I am fortunate for a change that in this revolting place, hours are actual seconds in the real world, or I would have died along with your worthless excuse for a soul."

"GET ME OUT OF-"

"SO WE CAN RESUME OUR DESTINY TO DIE YOU STUPID STUBBORN BRAT?!" The Kyuubi roared over Naruto's shout, with its tremendous claws slashing against the bars to let out its rage for the blond, emitting a large spark that for a split second revealed its enraged, and teeth baring face. The effect had stopped Naruto in the middle of his rant, as he felt a wave of water pass over from under his feet.

"Look at your pitiful state you fool. You are all out of chakra, since you refuse to use my limitless pool. On top of that you have a deep wound in your back, and even more importantly...WE are about to die from a MAN MADE TOOL of all things!"

The Kyuubi's eyes lowered and came closer till Naruto could just see the snout of the beast, "I refuse to allow you to kill us both this way! I WILL NEVER ACCEPT BEING KILLED BY A HUMAN WIELDING A MERE SWORD! ESPECIALLY FROM A DISGUSTING UCHIHA! "

"W-What are you saying?"

"How can you be so dense is just appalli-"

"QUIT INSULTING ME AND JUST SAY IT!"

"...Use me, and kill this foul Uchiha for both our sakes! "

"NO!-"

"This is not a choice you are being given, did you forget that you blackmailed me to loan you my power with the intention to protect us both?!"

"That was then, this is now!"

"Open your eyes, you infant. right 'now' as you put it we are both going to die...I WILL MAKE YOU USE MY POWER IF YOU DON'T ACCEPT IT!"

Naruto gritted his teeth, "Yeah, like you said 'I can't be forced here', or 'I came to you at my own will'. Like that crap is going to work on me this time!" He didn't expect the Kyuubi to just lowly laugh, causing the water to ripple as its large eyes moved in a motion as if it was shaking its head.

"You actually believe that your stupid, manipulative, and repulsive crush has it all worked out? Ha-ha-ha! You CHILDREN don't know the half of it. If I could, I would choose to never have anything to do with you, and your tragically short life that has been enforced upon me. However, since you prove time and time again to be unreliable, and keep putting us in a position that will get us killed, I am forced to lift my hand. But I will acknowledge that pink haired bitc-"

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL HER THAT!"

"Very well then...I will acknowledge that SAKURA-"

He spat her name with venom before continuing, "-Is correct. I can bring you here if I greatly wish to see your despicable face, however to my deep regret...I cannot force you to use my power except in certain situations. That is how the Yondaime designed this seal."

"...And those times are...?"

The glitter in the darkness made Naruto assume he was being given a teeth revealing smirk, "The first being when my power is greatly present and you lose consciousness. The second when our emotions are alike, and finally, when you are in a near death state. While I would have just gone with that route, even I doubt I can repair a decapitation. Which now leaves me with the only option to save myself from your unwillingness...to persuade you."

Naruto couldn't put his finger on it, but he somehow felt he was not told the entire story with the way the Kyuubi said that. The second point the fox mentioned he guessed was when he gets angry, since the Kyuubi always seemed mad when he saw it.

Not hearing anything from the blond, the Kyuubi continued in its own attempt to talk softly, which still echoed several times around the chamber, "It is time for you to accept that you are going to die if you do not use me right here, right now. The only thing awaiting you back in the outside world is a sword inches from your neck. You are too exhausted to do anything to stop it."

Naruto finally reacted by trembling his clenched fist, "I don't trust you."

"And I hate your very existence, deal with it!"

Naruto knew exactly why his feet felt like they were cemented, because he understood precisely what it meant. He would be breaking his promise, and that alone was enough to make him hesitate. It was his nindo to never bend his word, to keep going straight without ever going back...was he willing to take that to his grave?

If he went against it, he could save himself, but his word would be meaningless. If he didn't and let this course continue, all those that believed in him would be devastated. What would happen to everyone, what would happen to Sasuke, what would happen to Sakura?

"I swear to god Kyuubi...if this is one of your tricks, and somehow you take over and hurt my friends in the slightest way...I will make you pay." Naruto's voice was emotionless, and the fox could tell by that unwavering look in his eye that Naruto exactly what his intentions would be.

"Done."

"Promise it!"

The Kyuubi let out a long sigh, releasing a thick red gas, "I promise not to touch any of those irritating mortals you call 'friends'. The only one that will receive my fury is that vile Uchiha with those god sickening eyes!"

Those words although forced, brought a ever slight amount of satisfaction to allow Naruto to slowly walk towards the cage, 'Sakura-chan...I'm sorry.'

---

'CLANG!'

Ronan's emotionless eyes finally morphed to show shock when his sword was blocked by razor sharp claws that were a few inches long. Focussing on Naruto's face, the first thing he noticed was his whiskers were more defined, along with fangs being seen in his gritted teeth expression. Finally Naruto opened his eyes, and cold red sharingan met infuriated red slits.

"So we meet at last after so long...Kyuubi Kitsune."

The name made Naruto's eyes widen, until they narrowed in annoyance, "Don't get the wrong idea, it's still me."

Ronan's eye flickered, "I see...However I recognise this chakra as if it was yesterday...I know the Kyuubi hasn't just become an object for you to use for chakra. If that is the case, then I will make you bring out the Kyuubi."

"Get the picture you idiot! I am not bringing that teme out just because you are asking for it!" Naruto retorted, as he sprung to action with his new found strength and took a swipe at Ronan with his free hand. Ronan's sharingan eye noticed the chakra built up in them, and jumped away in time as a short claw shaped shock wave was released, slicing into the air where he once stood.

No longer feeling pain in his back, Naruto jumped back up to his feet into a squat like an animal, 'He used my kage bunshin trick against me last time with the genjutsu. I can't fight against it that way anymore. How can I beat his genjutsu then.'

"You don't have to worry about such complications anymore, brat."

Naruto froze in shock at that voice that sent a chill down his spine, 'D-Did I-I-It...'

"That's correct you fool, I am speaking to you from your subconsciousness. Don't try my patience with your simple questions, or I will remain silent. Do not be concerned about that bastard Uchiha's genjutsu, I will be aware the moment he does it. Simply mould your inferior chakra when I say so, and I will purge the genjutsu away.'

Naruto blinked several times, while Ronan didn't exploit his situation, 'H-How long have you been able to do this?'

Naruto was met with silence, which made him ask again, 'O-OI! I said how long have you been able to do this for and how are you doing it!?!'

The silence again really got to him, 'I-I-It can hear everything I think?! how long has that teme been listening to my thoughts?!' Shaking it off, Naruto tried to concentrate on the matter at hand.

'Ok...so I have some way around his genjutsu. I shouldn't need to use anymore of its power than just this to beat him.' Naruto could have sworn he heard a earth moving low snicker sound somewhere in depths of his mind, but he payed no heed to it...he was freaked out enough by his latest discovery as is. Meanwhile, Ronan was fixated with this new Naruto before him. He could feel that chilling chakra he remembered from so long ago before him, however it appeared tamed and weak in comparison.

'So he can utilize a portion of its chakra, but just because he is using some of it does not mean that this is his limit.'

Scrutinizing the strange animal like stance Naruto was in, Ronan raised his sword, 'He appears completely different from before. I best test his abilities.'

Sticking his sword into the floor, Ronan whipped out two handfuls threw of shuriken, but instead of throwing them like one would expect, he tossed them up into the air and formed a seal, "Shuriken kage bunshin no jutsu!"

The dozen worth of shuriken soon were joined by hundreds of identical spinning blades. Naruto's enhanced eye sight could make out the fine traces of wire connected to each one, as Ronan flicked his hand gripping the wire that launched the swarm of weapons towards him.

Naruto in a burst of speed ran on all fours to the side away from the rain of steel, 'His speed has greatly increased-'

Naruto looked up from his crouched form to see the source of the sudden shadow, and brought up his claws to block the sword owned by the Uchiha. Feeling the strong force against his sword, Ronan discovered he couldn't push further down like he did before, '-He is much stronger-'

Ronan had to back away when his sharingan once again caught a build up of chakra in Naruto's hand, this time due to a rasengan being aimed to connect with his gut. Staring at the rasengan, Ronan easily determined an increase in size and speed, '-His jutsu are more effective.'

Naruto dived forward with the rasengan, covering the distance in seconds and connecting it into Ronan's chest.

'poof'

Naruto shredded a log to pieces in the Uchiha's place, but to Ronan's surprise, recovered fast and was able to relocate him in an instant coming from his side. Ronan didn't back down and aimed for slicing Naruto in half. Ronan yet again was astounded when his sword was stopped by Naruto's sharp nails. Curving his hand a little, Naruto's claws held the sword in place, as his other hand gripped it slightly higher from the other side.

Ronan's sharingan eyes went wide as he saw his sword begin to crack between the points, and then in a near glass like manner, shattered apart. Ronan retreated to avoid Naruto's two handed swipe, and looked at his broken sword.

'Impressive.' He mused, as he tossed the item away. Naruto didn't bring him any time as he lounged over the distance with a more reddish hued rasengan in his left hand. Before it could connect, Ronan grabbed Naruto's offending arm with both his hands, just in time as the sphere was tearing into his brown shirt from the chest.

The Uchiha's eye sharply caught Naruto's other hand coming in with a second rasengan, and quickly adjusted himself so he could hold both rasengan wielding arms back. Deciding to get out of this, using his feet, Ronan aimed to make Naruto lose his balance. Naruto saw it coming, and shocked the Uchiha by instantly dispersing both of his rasengan's, to then grab onto Ronan's arms, and lift up his legs to kick off from the Uchiha's chest. Landing in a squat, Naruto's eyes flickers when the Uchiha he thought he had sent airborne was gone.

'He has placed us in a genjutsu.' A voice sharply stated, making Naruto form a seal and start doing what he was told to do. Within his body, Naruto felt a spike of demonic chakra flow all around him, which then in an instant died down to what it was at beforehand.

The effect however made red chakra leak out of his body, which earned Ronan's eyes to flicker as Naruto turned to face him, 'This sensation...he can break out of my genjutsu now effortlessly. This is the power of a jinkuriki?'

Naruto this time was the one to dash into battle, zigzagging towards the Uchiha. Ronan's eyes were able to track the movement, and successfully blocked the swipe at his side, starting an blurring exchange of blows. Unlike previous brawls, Ronan was the one forced to stay on the defence. Naruto's movements were highly unpredictable and bizarre, the Uchiha could only relate some of the motion to the Inuzuka clan. To an untrained individual, the Inuzuka clan's taijutsu style could be boldly described as 'break dancing', while a professional would refer to it as the martial arts style, Capoeira.

The relationship could be made, however, it would be foolish to claim it was the same. There were also slight elements of the agile snake fist fighting style woven within it, which made sense given the animal like characteristics the blond possessed in this form. What Ronan found baffling was how different the style was in comparison to the way Naruto fought before, which reminded him of a basic street fighting brawler. Ronan did not voice out his pain when Naruto's nails succeeded to get through his guard, gashing across his chest.

Backing out from his successful strike, Naruto stared at his claw in question to why that didn't feel like flesh he cut. His eye narrowed when the tips of his nails were wet, and it wasn't the red colour of blood.

'That is a mizu bunshin! He must of copied it from somewhere before.' True to his observation, the Ronan he slashed had burst into a puddle of water. Gritting his fanged teeth, Naruto formed his signature seal and created several dozen clones.

'What is he planning?'

Ronan meanwhile had concealed himself in the forest, holding a lone seal, 'I will force him to bring out the Kyuubi...remember that feeling.'

Once again, Ronan felt pain in his right eye, but this time the sting was enough to make him groan out its ache. Covering it with his hand, he felt a thick tear rolling down his face that he knew was blood from its copper like taste, 'I must be cautious with using these eyes. Their power is outstanding, but I can easily see that it comes at a cost...this pain is so much worse now than what it was to begin with.'

His right eye then opened to reveal his mangekyou sharingan, as it glared at the horde of blonde's. From his view, he watched the warp like distortion field form, which none of the Naruto's appeared to have become aware of.

'It appears the mangekyou sharingan's abilities are activated by my emotions. That makes sense given that our normal sharingan can develop at a different pace based on life experiences.' Ronan deduced, as he shot out of his hiding spot in the forest, earning blond heads to turn.

'Here he comes!'

"Use more of my power."

'Huh?'

"The moment he reaches the first of your bunshin, we will be killed in the next second!"

Shaking his head in confusion, he heard the great fox growl out it's agitation, "He has placed us in a space-time genjutsu spawned from the mangekyou sharingan! It functions by slowing down time in an area. We aren't aware of its effects, but to him we are as slow as a scrawny snail. He does not suffer the effects from it and still moves at normal speed, but to us inside the genjutsu, he is moving at near inhuman speeds."

That news caught him off guard, 'B-But you said you could stop genjutsu-'

"This is no 'mere' genjutsu you foolish child, no human but possibly another bastard Uchiha can dispel this! Otherwise it requires a Bijuu level of chakra to break out of. Now use more of my power!"

Naruto hesitated again, as the Uchiha was closing in, now only meters away from the first clone. Within two seconds later, several clones that were closest to Ronan dispersed in a thick cloud of smoke.

"WHAT ARE YOU HESITATING FOR YOU STUPID KID?! USE MORE OF MY CHAKRA NOW OR WE ARE DEAD!"

"DAMN IT!!!!!" Naruto screamed at the whole situation, as he brought his arms in close to his body, and then flicking them out open, releasing a tremendous red shockwave of chakra that sent Ronan off his feet.

The shockwave also destroyed all of the kage bunshin. Lifting himself up, Ronan's mangekyou sharingan eye held surprise, 'So he truly was not at his limit with the Kyuubi's power.'

Naruto once again had changed, this time a 'cloak' of red chakra had spread over his body, outlining the rough shape of what appeared to be a fox. Swirling behind Naruto was a single chakra tail. It appeared the tremendous surge of chakra had disrupted his jutsu, since the distortion field was no longer visible.

Ronan now felt even more of that evil chakra he recalled from so long ago, "Is this the Kyuubi now?"

Naruto's mouth twitched, as he spoke in his demonic voice, "Quit asking that stupid question!"

The result made Ronan's eye narrow, "I wish to fight the Kyuubi."

"Like hell I give a crap what you want!"

"You do not understand Uzumaki Naruto. What you want has no say in this matter."

Naruto perked an eyebrow at the senseless response, as Ronan stood up with both his eyes closed, "Allow me to educate you lightly on these eyes. The mangekyou sharingan allows the user extraordinary abilities. One unique to each eye, and then a final one using both that only two people have achieved. Those are Uchiha Madara, and his younger brother, Izuna. There however is one more privilege brought to wielders of the mangekyou sharingan..."

Naruto held puzzlement when both of Ronan's eyes opened to show his mangekyou, "The ability to control the most powerful Bijuu to exist...the Kyuubi Kitsune."

Naruto's eyes bulged in disbelief, as he was lost in those oddly patterned irises that somehow were glowing, "Even at this very moment I can see it...It is locked behind a great cage in a chamber."

Naruto's sharp intake of breath never stopped the Uchiha, "Now, I will say it again...I want to fight the Kyuubi, I have little care for you anymore. Bring it forth this instant!" Naruto suddenly felt himself pulled into darkness.

---

Kakuzu decided to remain where he stood and watch the group contemplate a strategy. While it was his task 'assigned' to him by Itachi to ensure nobody interferes, he was beginning to find all of this greatly intriguing. While these chuunin were not exactly pressing him to go all out, he couldn't help but see potential profit in the near future being placed on not just Shikamaru, but the others as well.

He was becoming quite certain about it that he was predicting a bounty price on each of the Konoha group as he observed them. Shikamaru he believed held the potential to match the current easy living bounty price that Mangetsu's head held, depending on who the shadow user causes trouble for in the future. The taijutsu specialist while not as high, was at minimum worth that of a jounin's head. The Inuzuka has sat on the sides mostly during this fight, he did however see what Kiba did to the giant squid. Collaboration jutsu users were a rarity, especially ones that could perform something that powerful. Rarity means money...especially for those interested in discovering the secrets of the Inuzuka and Hyuuga clan.

The Hyuuga however he had yet to witness anything worthy of being placed in his bingo book for. So far she had demonstrated nothing worthy bar the typical things expected from a Hyuuga. That sort of out of character look of determination in her eye though now grew him interested.

"Hinata, you make it sound very ideal...in fact too ideal to be true without a 'but'. What are you leaving out?" Shikamaru asked, once Hinata had explained to him her jutsu roughly.

Squeezing her still numb arm, she shook her head, "D-Don't misunderstand Shikamaru-kun, but what I am leaving out is of no reason to be concerned."

Shikamaru sighed, "If it involves injuring yourself...I am pretty sure it is."

"The others need us Shikamaru-kun, they need you and Lee-kun. I know I am being selfish, but as long as the others are safe...I am not concerned with what will happen to me."

Seeing Hinata's still unfound strength in her eyes, he sighed, "Geez. You usually were the quiet and collaborative one...you have picked one hell of a time to take up a very troublesome habit from Naruto."

Turning his attention to Lee, he exchanged a nod, "We are going to attack him head on Lee. It is dangerous, but once we have caught him with my shadow, Hinata can handle the rest. Remember, watch out for that creature that is with him."

Lee stood at attention, "Hai, I will do my best, Shikamaru-kun!"

"U-Umm Shikamaru-kun..."

Both turned to see the heiress looking at the ground in hesitance, 'They can't rely on me to do that. I will only get in their way.'

"Yes Hinata?"

Recalling her fight with Sakura, Hinata's hesitance to both shinobi's surprise disappeared with a flicker across her eyes, "I will keep that creature away from you both."

Shikamaru blinked at the un-Hinata like claim, "Are you sure you're up to it?"

"Hai!"

Kiba was agape at seeing his long time teammate showing such resolve he had rarely seen, 'Hinata...'

"Alright then..."

Turning to face their expecting target, Shikamaru drew forth his sensei's lone chakra blade, "Let's go, Lee!"

"IKIMASHOU!!"

'So they are done planning?'

Kakuzu fell into his stance as Lee shot over the distance and locked into another exchange of fists, 'They are just coming at me again with this one? Surely they thought of something more interesting than that.'

Noticing a figure behind Lee, Kakuzu's eyes widened at seeing Shikamaru moving in as well, 'He no longer is going to sit back and try and capture me with his shadow? No...he is going to try and capture me up close where I cannot dodge so easily.'

Kakuzu's bull mask creature that was still sitting back now retaliated and came forward, charging electricity in its mouth, 'I won't let him!'

"Hakke Kusho!" The creature was hit by an invisible force that knocked it off balance, making it release its lightning off course at the ground.

Recovering, his lightning creature now was evading incoming fingers full of chakra, 'I have to help Shikamaru-kun and Lee-kun!' Hinata told herself, pushing harder to try and land a hit.

Her milky eyes narrowed, 'I will have to conserve my chakra for the jutsu...' Deactivating her byakugan, Hinata continued her assault.

Kakuzu inwardly cursed at the interruption from the heiress, 'Little brat!'

Accepting his misfortune, Kakuzu was soon greeted by a Chakra blade which he blocked with a kunai. Just as he thought, he saw Shikamaru's shadow bend around to try and connect with his.

'What an annoying ability to fight in close range. Not only do I have to take into consideration the way he moves, but I have to focus on the direction of light, and both our shadows.'

Backing away, he started forming seals, but had to stop mid way as Lee was yet again in his face. Ducking another a swift swipe from Lee's chakra filled spear, Kakuzu's eyes widened as he saw Lee's shadow shoot out a shadow tendril, 'He is using his comrade's shadow to extend his own? How irritating.' Grunting that his shadow again missed, Shikamaru let go of his seal to rush back into the fight, while Lee already had closed the distance again.

"Konoha Senpuu!" Lee's chakra filled kick was grabbed by Kakuzu, who then flicked the miniature Gai around, and threw him at the approaching Shikamaru.

'If he has to rely on linking his shadow with others, then I won't have that much trouble.'

Shikamaru didn't move out of the way in time as Lee effectively knocked him over, "My apologies Shikamaru-kun!"

"Forget that Lee, move!" Shikamaru and Lee rolled away in time as Kakuzu came stomping down on the spot where they once were.

Deciding to take out the one that would cause him bigger problems, Kakuzu turned to the standing Nara, revealing a Kunai from up his Akatsuki cloak's sleeve, "You won't be a bother any mo-?!"

Kakuzu was effectively silenced when to his shock, his body refused to move, 'What?! His shadow is nowhere to be seen from him?!'

"You are the one that won't be a bother anymore." Shikamaru correctly flatly, while standing.

"H-How?!"

"You thought my shadow was limited to just me being the source, yet you never considered if I could use another object other than myself to create a shadow to ensnare you. Like you said...we know nothing about each other's abilities."

"What did you say?!" Kakuzu growled, while forcing himself to look down to his feet to just see the border of a shadow surrounding him.

'How is this...wait. He was holding a chakra blade earlier...Damn him!'

"Hinata!"

"Stay back everyone!" Hinata shouted, shooting another kusho at the masked creature, and then twirling around.

Kakuzu could only stare at the chakra being unleashed from the heiress as she span, 'W-What kind of jutsu is this?! That type of movement is not the standard Hyuuga fighting style?!'

His shock was soon joined by the others who were in awe as a lion's head shot out of her arm, "Tandokuno shishi juuken!"

Kakuzu tried to move, but all he could do was hopelessly stare as the great lion grew closer and closer, it's human sized mouth gaping wide to reveal its great fangs. Kiba's jaw hung wide as Kakuzu's struggles suddenly went limp as the great head phased straight through him, turning the stream of chakra into a near blinding solid blue glow.

'I don't care how many times I have seen that jutsu, it still is incredible...' With a violent shockwave released as the jutsu had ended, it all went ghastly quiet, other than Hinata's audible breathing.

Kakuzu then fell to his knees lifelessly, and then hit the ground hard face first. It took Shikamaru several seconds to register what he had just witnessed, 'A-Amazing!'

Hinata's yelp bought his attention, as she was barely standing, while the arm she used was hanging lifelessly at her side, 'Troublesome! I knew she left out something big about using that jutsu!'

Shikamaru was about to move, until Lee's sudden gasp made him look at him in question. The alarm on Lee's face caught him off guard...especially when the miniature Gai's eyes were fixated on Kakuzu's corpse.

Following then, now Shikamaru fell into the same state, 'I-Impossible...'

Those black threads they saw earlier were now flickering wildly out throughout his body. Over time, more and more threads were joining until that was all they could see. Shikamaru then gasped when his eyes saw in the thick nest of threads a ceramic object surfacing.

Time froze when he determined it was the broken mask of a bull, 'T-That is the creature Hinata was distracting...It can't be!'

"HINATA!" Kiba screamed as he pushed himself to his feet to run, ignoring his bodies protests. Hinata still had frozen in combination of the backlash and shock, which all changed when a sudden hand grabbed her throat, and hung her two feet above the ground.

"Well well, it has been a long time since somebody has killed one of my hearts. To be honest, you were the last person I would have expected that from...I will gladly take your heart as a replacement!"

"W-whe-"

"You never even saw me switch...How fortunate for me you turned off your byakugan."

Several black threads came up from Kakuzu's sleeve, "GATSUUGA!"

"What a fool." Kakuzu muttered under a snicker, as his Akatsuki cloak tore and three other thread woven monsters with ceramic masks were released.

One with an eagle mask got in Kiba's way, "Futon atsugai!" Kiba disappeared from Lee and the Nara's sights behind a chaotic sphere of wind. The sphere was huge, and full of inhuman levels of chakra. With so much debris flying everywhere, one would mistaken being in the middle of a tornadic like storm. A scream could just barely be heard of the wind's roar, as Kiba came flying out, cut all over the place. If it wasn't for his gatsuuga, Kiba would have been killed by that jutsu.

As the jutsu died down, the barely conscious Hinata could be seen still being strangling, "K-K-...Kiba-kun!..." She whispered, as Kakuzu raised his other hand.

"Now, where were we?" Shikamaru finally snapped out of it and ran.

He halted though when Kakuzu's head went flying off, however instead of blood, more of those black threads were seen sticking out. The result made Kakuzu release Hinata, who fell into unconsciousness before being caught by a figure, and disappearing in a blink of an eye.

Sensing a presence next to him, Shikamaru slowly turned to see the spandex wearer with Hinata in one hand, and his retracted spear in the other.

"For trying to kill a terribly injured comrade, I will never forgive you!" Lee near shouted, revealing his red and tense face.

'He used the gates to get passed the creatures and take him out...'

"Celestial gates at such a young age...remarkable." Kakuzu's voice pulled Shikamaru out of his awe to see the head of Kakuzu slowly reattaching in a stitching like manner.

When Kakuzu stood up again fully healed, Shikamaru finally closed his mouth, "Is he...immortal?"

"What a childish claim to make from one such as yourself. There is no such thing as an immortal." Kakuzu harshly scolded.

"Shikamaru-kun..."

Lee gently put Hinata down and took a step forward to fall into his stance, "I will use all my power to assure vi-"

"Don't Lee!"

"W-Why not?!"

"Look around you..." Lee reluctantly did as told. The first thing his eye caught was the furiously bleeding Kiba knocked out nearby, followed by the badly beaten dog.

The unconscious heiress came next, and then finally the bruise covered Shikamaru, "If we continue fighting him...we will be the ones needing help."

Gritting his teeth so hard that they were hurting, Lee scrunched his eyes shut, "B-But!-..." Lee knew there was no point arguing when even he accepted that claim.

Reluctantly, he relaxed as his skin changed back to its pale self, and opened his eyes to show the immense pain dealt to his pride, "Hai. We will stop."

A very poorly suppressed laughter from behind them only made Lee's fist tremble, 'This was all we could do for Naruto-kun...'

Lee was not the only one with a trembling fist, nor was he the one that was clenching it so tight he was dripping blood from his hand.

Despite the pain, Shikamaru did not relent as he stared in an out of character like anger towards Kakuzu, who now was walking away, 'The four of us...could not stop one of their guys from Akatsuki...you have got to be kidding me, you have bloody got to be!'

"Even if you cannot see me...I will be watching you closely. If you try and continue, I will gladly intervene again. The next time, I won't be so generous to allow you to live."

'Despite me losing a heart, I will let them live for now...with those two new discoveries I can already feel those green bills at my fingertips soon.'

Finally letting go of his anger, Shikamaru let out a deep and shaken sigh, "Bring Kiba over here, we have to bandage him up for Sakura to look at him later." Lee however was still staring at the retreating Akatsuki members back, his still clenching fist making his feelings known to the shadow user.

"Lee...now is not the time." Snapping his head around to meet Shikamaru eye to eye, Lee firmly nodded, as he walked away to get Kiba.

---

"Katsu!"

Deidara's eyes shot confusion though when instead of the ensnared Aburame exploding, nothing happened.

Blinking, he tried again, "Katsu!" Yet again nothing happened. With his one visible blue eye, Deidara focused on the outer wall of his two sculptures, and then it bulged in shock, "W-What?!" Crawling over both of the white sculptures were little black dots that looked like ants at his distance, but he knew what they really were.

'What the hell did his bugs do to my art?!'

Both sculptures soon lifelessly fell over again, releasing Shino who took advantage of Deidara's shock and charged. During Shino closing the distance, more bugs began to exhaust out of his arms. The ex Iwa-nin almost missed seeing the kunai concealed in the swarm as Shino took a swipe at him. Stepping out of the blades range, Deidara acted with unleashing a spider at the bug user.

The explosion between the two had ended Shino's attack, "How did you disable my art, hmm!?" Deidara growled, only to see Shino place his hands in his pockets.

"Your jutsu is strange, however it is far from flawless as you claim. The chakra enchanted within them is present all over each one, making it easy for my bugs to absorb. Then it only is a matter of how many bugs I use to eat the chakra to effect the time it takes."

Deidara's one eye widened, but then changed to anger, "DON'T TALK AS IF YOU KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT MY ARTWORK HMM!" To prove a point, Deidara's hand shot out a clay worm.

Shino however, didn't seem to be budging at the incoming threat, "I am not talking as if your jutsu are inferior, I am simply pointing out a flaw." Shino now was firmly enwrapped as if the worm was rope, but he didn't struggle.

Deidara was too angry to notice, "STATE THIS THEN BUG BOY!"

Deidara's eyes suddenly bulged at a swift force connecting into his back, and piercing straight through to the other side of his body. His vision then blocked by an intense bright blue light, and his hearing was drowned out by what reminded him of a flock of birds chirping.

Twitching his head down, he could barely make out a hand that was sparkling full of electricity, "T-This is..."

The worm's entangle on Shino slid down to his feet, as the bug user stepped over it, "Perfect timing...Kakashi-sensei."

Slowly looking over his shoulder, Deidara saw a red eye that looked similar to Ronan's, "Sorry to disappoint you, but this is the end of the line." Kakashi stated void of emotions. Neither expected Deidara's shocked face to form an evil smirk.

"Do you honestly think I am so stupid to be fooled by your kage bunshin a second time, hmm?!"

Both shinobi's heads turned in random directions when the entire ground within a ten meter radius kicked up with dust, revealing small clay creatures that looked like spiders staring at them...and there were lots of them.

The injured Deidara cackled, "Hope you don't mind if I return the favour, hmm!"

Kakashi lost interest in the one he had pinned that was slowly morphing to reveal clay, as he pulled out his hand to begin running through seals in a blur. Shino took a step back in reaction to the spiders bursting to life and pouncing towards them.

"Raikou ookami!" Kakashi shouted, as a giant wolf made of lightning formed, and in instant, exploded, sending wild electricity shimmering everywhere.

Shino desperately tried to shield himself from the jutsu with his hands, although it appeared it didn't affect him. The hundreds of clay spiders however, violently twitched when it came in contact with the electricity, and went limp in mid-air, lifelessly crashing all around them.

In the distance in his hiding spot, Deidara's one visible blue eye just spelled his disbelief, 'THEY NOTICED?!'

Trembling with anger, Deidara locked his sights on Shino, 'It had to have been him that worked it out with those little pests snooping around my art!'

Claara's taunt she gave him earlier seemed to literally come back and bite him, 'I will show all of them...just how unique and faultless my art is!'

"That was very close." Kakashi voiced his relief aloud, while Shino didn't show his own as easy as the jounin.

"He now knows we have a means of outright countering his explosives."

Deidara meanwhile had reached for his bag, and grabbed a huge chunk of clay. He then in a similar fashion of a glutton shoved it into his real mouth, and began to intently chew, 'If you have a means to disable my explosives with the speed of electricity, or via small insects that don't trigger off my proximity traps.'

Spewing out the heavily chewed clay into both his hands, he stared at them as his hands gobbled up the clay to resume munching. He then dug into his bag again and stuffed more clay into his mouth, 'Then I will make a bomb that is instantaneous and highly unstable to even the weight of air!'

His bugs alerted Shino of Deidara's direction, causing him to emit a light gasp, "Kakashi-sensei this looks dangerous!"

Kakashi waited for Shino to explain what was happening, "I have located him, but my bugs are growing nervous to what is happening internally with his chakra. He is consuming a fair amount of that clay."

"Which way?"

"See for yourself."

Kakashi followed Shino's pointing finger for both his eyes to widen in shock. Deidara was walking towards then, while he was slowly expanding like a balloon, "The suicide bomber is greatly feared by everyone, hmm!"

Kakashi gripped on his wrist and began to form a Raikiri, "That won't work this time! Not even electricity that moves at near the speed of light can disable an instant reaction to air itself!" Deidara declared, as he now was triple his normal body size, and still expanding.

"My bugs are sensing a type of gas that reacts to air building up within him Kakashi-sensei. "

Deidara snickered, "The blast radius covers this entire town, you have no chance, hmm!"

"You are willing to kill everyone including your team and yourself just so you can win?"

Kakashi questioned in disgust, as he now formed a seal, 'I need to buy time.'

Shino's goggles flickered, "No Kakashi-sensei...just everybody here. That is another clay clone...how do I know this?"

An insect flew around his face, "I planted a female bug on him when he thought he had me with the two sculptures. The male bugs are informing me that very bug is moving further and further away."

Deidara could only laugh, "I have already been payed, so to me it doesn't concern me. In the end, may art remains triumphant!"

'He is crazy.' Kakashi thought, as he closed both of his eyes to concentrate.

Shino meanwhile had a large drop of sweat run down his face, "What do we do Kakashi-sensei?"

Shino asked, his monotone voice holding the slightest hint of anxiety. No response caused Shino to turn and see Kakashi holding the seal, 'What is he doing?'

"It is time!" Deidara mumbled in his inflated form that now was several times his normal size.

Kakashi's sharingan eye then shot open, however, it resembled a oddly shaped shuriken instead of the three tomoe.

"Mangekyou sharingan, Kamui!"

"Katsu!" Both announced in union, as Deidara began to show the signs of combusting, leaking out a glow as the gas was starting to react to the air.

Shino now was sweating bullets, 'We are too late!...wait!'

Shino rubbed his goggles in case they were fogged, but to his disbelief they weren't. Deidara seemed to be getting sucked into something very small, but at an alarmingly fast rate.

If Shino had blinked, he would have missed it when the giant balloon Deidara had disappeared, with now only the strange anomaly in its place. The first impression he was given was that of a black hole, with its near invisible shape and rotating vortex in the centre. Shino had never seen anything like it.

Looking back to the person he knew was responsible for the jutsu, he saw Kakashi furiously sweating and gasping for air, "What kind of jutsu was that?"

The vortex then shimmered away, as Kakashi dropped his seal and took a knee from his exhaustion, "A jutsu that comes at too great of a cost to use unless it is absolutely necessary."

"...I see."

---

'Any time now...my ears will be greeted by the harmonic music of my creations blast.' Deidara pondered in pride to himself, as he continued walking away from the town. Growing impatient, he stopped walking and turned.

'Any time now.' He repeated, his foot tapping on the tree branch he was standing on to make his lack of patience audible. When an entire minute went by with no earth shaking explosion or bright light, his foot stopped thumping.

His eye spelled out his thoughts to the world, 'THEY STOPPED MY SUICIDE BOMBER?! THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE!'

Clenching his fist, Deidara grinded his teeth together, 'Nobody has been able to stop the suicide bomber jutsu! It is my finest creation that has no counter!'

Putting his infuriated questions on hold, his senses detected movement below. Looking down, he was greeted to a young man with black hair tied back in a ponytail, and was wearing a black cape with red clouds patterned all over. One detail that made Deidara's eye hold interest was the man's emotionless eyes. Those were eyes that looked similar to that of Ronan and the jounin he just fought.

"Are you the missing-nin from Iwa that goes by the name Deidara?" The young man asked with as much emotion as what was in his eyes.

That question brought a puzzled and annoyed grunt from the artist, "Yeah, and who the hell are you, hmm?"

'I don't have much clay left, nor chakra. Who the hell is this guy to just show up now of all times and know my name?'

The man did not react as Deidara's hand slipped into his clay bag, "I said who the hell are you?!"

The young man still staring at him with those eyes that somehow gave him the impression of being looked down upon made him throw a clay bird, "Whatever, just die then hmm!"

Seeing the man not move out of the way, Deidara shrugged to the cloud of smoke, "That was weird."

Deidara's jaw hung wide open when the man he thought he just killed was still standing there unscathed as the smoke cleared. Before he could even squeak out his shock, the man tore apart into dozens of crows and flew away.

'W-Wha-The-hell!?' His thoughts weren't even coherent.

His eyes bulged even impossibly further when he felt steel jammed so firmly against his throat, when he gulped, his skin was partly cut, "You shouldn't be so hasty, that kind of attitude will see that you die young." The man stated with no emotion present.

"W-Who the hell are you?" Deidara asked for the third time now.

The man's sharingan eyes narrowed, "...Your future associate."

---

'What the hell is going on?! The Kyuubi said I could only be forced it's chakra three ways?!' Naruto inwardly cried out in question, although he knew he was acting stupid. The Kyuubi had to have been aware about this, Naruto was willing to swear on it. Opening his eyes, Naruto questioned why there was still darkness. He also wondered why he could hear deep and demonic breathing that was vibrating under his toes.

Then he suddenly knew where he was...inside the Kyuubi cage.

Snapping his gaze behind him, he could see the light from the chamber coming through the large thick bars. Hearing movement behind him, Naruto bolted as fast as he could to the light. He easily could fit in between the giant bars, so all he had to do was get to them.

Diving, he felt the tremor of something large splash against the water, which he guessed was the Kyuubi's paw. Back to his feet still running, Naruto could now make out the fine details of the other side of the room he always was in, 'Almost there!' Naruto touched the uneven bar with unbelievable amounts of relief, and started to squeeze through. Suddenly he felt a strong force press on his forehead, holding him back.

The action completely stunned him, as his head slowly looked up to see it was a finger. Further raising it he gasped in disbelief, 'H-How is he-'

"I told you Uzumaki Naruto...this is not your decision." The cold voice of Ronan echoed all around the chamber, his mangekyou eyes burning into Naruto's oceanic shocked blue.

Ronan's eyes then looked up at something behind Naruto, "At long last...we meet again...Kyuubi."

"Uchiha." Naruto heard loudly behind him, feeling the hot air of the Kyuubi's breathe behind him.

"I desire to face you...and only you."

The sudden chamber echoing laughter disturbed the blond, "I see, so that is how it is, Uchiha?"

"The victor shall be the final conclusion of that night. Either way, it shall put this all to rest."

Naruto began to tremble, but he could not move nor speak with that finger pressing firmly against his forehead by some unknown means, 'He is crazy! If he does this...'

"Do you honestly think you can defeat me with those cursed eyes, Uchiha!? You are an arrogant fool if you think YOU of all infidels can control me because of some previous history. You believe just because you have obtained the power of the mangekyou that you automatically can bend my will like a puppet?! HAHAHAHA! Your eyes are nothing compared to that of Uchiha Madara!"

Naruto gasped when he felt a burning hot chakra begin to ensnare around him, "But have it your way, Uchiha. In your insanity, you are giving me something I have wanted for so long. I will tear you apart as part of my appreciation."

Naruto finally found strength, "ARE YOU INSANE?! IF YOU RELEASE THE KYUUBI, NOBODY WILL BE ABLE TO STOP IT!"

Ronan did not satisfy Naruto with a response, instead he didn't even acknowledge the blond said anything. Frantically shaking his head, Naruto tried to look behind him, "YOU KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN YOU BASTARD!"

"Of course I did you stupid gullible child, however, he could only influence my power if you were using it. So in a way, you have my gratitude as well."

Naruto then felt a harsh tug, as suddenly the bars he was touching slipped away until there was only darkness, "Now then brat, for the second time, you will feel what it is like to sit in the cage while I reign free!"

Back in the outside world, Naruto collapsed, as the red chakra cloak began to solidify. The cloak was sizzling hot arguably at a higher temperature than the lava not far, as a heat haze was radiating off Naruto's body in a thick haze. Naruto's entire wide eyes were now a head light glowing red, as a second and third chakra tail were starting to form, making the intensity of the chakra cloak increase.

'No! I won't let this happen!' Naruto declared, scrunching his eyes shut.

'I don't care if I lose this, I let that bastard out and everybody will be in danger!'

Slamming his two hands into the ground to push himself to his knees, causing the grass to cave in and form a crater because of the immense chakra, Naruto still had his eyes clenched shut, 'Remember what Sakura-chan said-'

"You still didn't understand what I told your thick skull before?"

Hearing the Kyuubi's voice this time brought a spike of anger, "I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOU SAY!" Naruto screamed out to world, as the Kyuubi only laughed.

"You children don't know the half of it behind me, or that seal created by the Yondaime. Your little fantasy like trash won't work in the real world, brat!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP FOX!"

"-I know you can do just that, ignore whatever it tells you. Remember, it only wants you to use its power Naruto."

Naruto's racing thoughts suddenly halted at Sakura's words from memory. If he had the strength to, he would slap himself at what he was doing. He was in such a state of panic, he didn't even realise the Kyuubi was deliberately stirring him to get him even more unsettled. He was doing the opposite of what he was trying to do. Something else just came across his mind...why the Kyuubi suddenly went so silent after Sakura's words.

"Listening to your feeble thoughts amuses me to no end, understand it already that there is nothing you can do in this position to reverse this."

Naruto never retaliated this time, which seemed to prod the Kyuubi to speak again, "What's wrong? Realised that it is hopeless?"

Naruto's claws dug into the dirt, but then relaxed, 'Think of everyone, focus on their faces...I won't allow them to be lost!'

Iruka announcing he had graduated from the academy was the first, which then as if it had set off a chain reaction, shot images of everything touching he could never forget. Soon he came to Sakura telling him about her knowledge of the Kyuubi, and her views on him. Then Shikamaru's and Lee's, then the others. The memories brought an unexpected ease to the thick tension which he welcomed.

"I TOLD YOU THIS POINTLESS GARBAGE DOES NOT WORK IN THE REAL WORLD, YOU WORTHLESS DROPOUT!" Naruto yet again ignored the Kyuubi's clearly angered roar, as he came to Sakura's confession, which even in this situation, made him softly smile.

Finally, an image of the old team seven flashed before his mind, 'Everyone believes in me...I can stop this, I WILL STOP THIS!'

Ronan, who was staring expectantly, formed a frown at the sense of the untameable chakra starting to settle and began to walk towards Naruto.

Naruto never noticed, since his eyes were closed, but he could feel the intense heat burning his skin begin to ease, as a chakra tail evaporated into the air like water, 'This feeling...it is working, Sakura-chan was right! The Kyuubi even said it could force its power when we were alike with anger...so of course the opposite will stop it! '

Naruto suddenly was caught by surprise when a strong hand grabbed with a death like grip around his throat, and lifted him up to off his feat to dangle in the air. The smell of burning flesh hit his nostrils, but his attacker didn't seem fazed by the burning of his own skin. Naruto became aware of the person he had forgotten was still there, since his cold mangekyou sharingan were now burning into his stunned slits, "You will not get involved in this anymore!"

Naruto tried to talk, but all that came out was a stressed choke, as Ronan's sharingan started spinning in a somehow fascinating like blur. Naruto could no longer look away, he was too amazed now by the fine patterns within those eyes.

When his eyes suddenly felt like they were being anchored to close, Naruto became aware of what was happening. Ronan was using the sharingan to make him lose consciousness, and to his horror he couldn't do a thing.

The Kyuubi's conditions once again flickered over his struggling to remain open eyes, 'I-If I get knocked out...Its over!'

When the blonde's eyes closed, the desire to fight back almost faded, but he forced them open again. Trembling, Naruto's clawed hand that felt amazingly heavy slowly raised and grabbed tightly on Ronan's offending arm, "L-Let...Let go of me!"

Ronan still wasn't showing pain, even though his arm was openly dripping blood onto the grass, "Give up!" Ronan whispered in a sharp hiss, making Naruto's eyes start to violently twitch to a close again.

However once again, he shot them open in defiance, "N-Never!" Forcing the other hand up, Naruto tried to create a rasengan. Because of the Kyuubi's significant influence, the rasengan span so fast it let out a violent howl, and a strong red glow. The effort to move it closer to the Uchiha's face was too great, making it only reach inches away from connecting. The violent chakra whipping into the Uchiha's face still cut his cheek in several places as if done by a blade.

"You have fought bravely, and showed tactics I never would expect from one such as yourself. Your determination is envious, however...I have no interest in you any further Uzumaki Naruto! The one I want to face is that beast being restrained in your gut...The one the Yondaime died to seal, the one so many have died for to protect those important to them...NOW GIVE IN AND RELEASE IT!"

The rasengan started to slow as Naruto's struggles began to relent, while his claws skin digging grip began to go limp. Naruto's arms then hang by his sides lifelessly, as his twitching eyes were still fixated with Ronan's sharingan, "N-N-...No..."

Giving in to his eyes weight, Naruto's world went black as his head lifelessly hung in Ronan's grasp. Watching the body of the jinkuriki finally turn to a still, and feeling his skin being peeled from the contact, Ronan unceremoniously threw the blond away to crash on the floor. Naruto didn't even fidget to the landing, since he was completely knocked out.

Digging his healthy hand into his weapon pouch, Ronan pulled out and began to roughly wrap his bleeding arm with bandages, "Now with that problem out of the way at last...Come...Show me your face again, Kyuubi!"

An earth quake behind the Uchiha didn't concern him, "Why won't you go down already you slimy thing?!" vibrated the great voice of Gamabunta not far away, slashing through a great tentacle of the squid. Phasing out the battle of the giants happening behind him, Ronan watched Naruto with great interest. Without Naruto's will resisting the Kyuubi, Ronan had to cover his face from the demonic chakra that wildly flew began to sweep out from the knocked out boy. The chakra tail Naruto had managed to dispel now regrew within an instant, while blasting out a strong gust of wind full of its uncontrollable power. As if the chakra itself had great weight, a huge pile of dust kicked up around the blond as the small crater he created earlier now dug deeper and wider, forcing Ronan to jump back.

'Yes...this sensation. The Kyuubi is no longer dormant.' Ronan's eyebrow rose when he heard a sound that reminded him of tearing paper. The source being Naruto's skin, that was peeling off to reveal a glowing red under-skin. A mixture of loose skin along with blood was rising within the chakra cloak as if the chakra was liquid, and when it rose to the surface, it leaked out black smoke, letting a stench of burning flesh run in the air. Naruto now was being blocked by a thick black smoke encircling his body on the floor.

Ronan's eyes then bulged, 'I have to move...now!' Running through seals, Ronan shunshined away, leaving only a few leaves that were blown away by another violent shockwave.

This shockwave was intense enough that Gamabunta had to turn his head, "I know this dark chakra!"

Hearing a screech, Gamabunta slashed across behind him, 'This is the worst situation! If Jiraiya or somebody does not stop the flow of that chakra...'

On the other side of the lava barrier, "Jiraiya-chan!-"

"I know!"

Jiraiya cursed as he swung his sword against Mangetsu's so hard it made a crack in his blade's stone edge, "GET OUT OF THE WAY RIGHT NOW!"

"How harsh, we were just getting acquainte-"

"I SAID MOVE!"

Sliding back, Jiraiya began to violently run through seals, "Kiddo is bringing the fire, I will bring the wind!"

"Got it Ka-chan!"

All three were now running through seals, and ended and shouted in union, "Senpo Goemon!

Mangetsu's eye gleamed with a strange joy instead of the expected fear of seeing a combination of wind, fire and oil being shot at him. Slamming his sword into the ground, Mangetsu formed as seal, "Doton Doryuheki!"

A stream of a reddish like mud was spat out from the swordsman's mouth, which then created a massive wall of molten rock that was at least the height of a house. Mangetsu's eye shot wide in shock when the burning oil went right over it like a tsunami, and he disappeared underneath the thick liquid.

"That should have done it Jiraiya-chan." Fukusaku concluded, watching the entire area going up in flames from the oil.

Not spending anymore time, Jiraiya turned and began to run, 'Please make it in time!'

"Kiddo!" Shima cried out, forcing Jiraiya to dodge as molten rock shot up from the ground below.

Jiraiya only groaned at the shape of the thing he dodged. It was the shape of a Chinese dragon, "Leaving already? That is rude, I haven't even used my strongest jutsu yet."

Jiraiya looked over his shoulder to watch the burning oil subdue around a figure.

Mangetsu was badly burnt across his face, with his left side in a similar condition, "The one who will be deciding when you can leave is me!"

Hearing the sound of the dragon behind him explode, Jiraiya cursed the lava boxing him in with the swordsman, 'Naruto...'

On the other side of the battlefield within the town, Shikamaru involuntarily trembled while bandaging Kiba, 'W-What a unreal amount killing intent, I can't even control myself.'

Lee was in a similar state, "What is happening?!" Seeing a figure shoot past them, Lee recognised the silver hair anywhere.

'I am not going get there before it happens!" Kakashi mused in semi panic.

Shino came up behind Shikamaru, and focussed on a black smoke trail rising up into the sky, 'My bugs are growing very wary of all this untameable chakra...it's almost as if it's going to- '

Shino's thoughts ended by his goggles flickering, "Shikamaru, we have to move back, now!"

"W-Why-"

"No time to explain."

"So troublesome!" Shikamaru muttered, as he balanced Kiba on his side and followed Shino.

'Just what the hell is going to happen?!'

Looking to his sides, he didn't miss the sound of frightened birds flying away. Then it all just went so quiet that all Shikamaru could hear was his pounding heart. Giving in to curiosity, he turned his head to then be blinded by red. Before Shikamaru could register a thought, his entire mind was silenced with the tremendous bang. A harsh tug on his sleeve snapped his head to see Lee shouting something inaudible, and then came the ground splitting earthquake as the red light intensified.

Shikamaru didn't expect the sudden rumble, and fell down with Kiba crashing over him, blinding his vision. His entire body though shook from the force of the blast. After what felt like forever, it came to an end. Seeing light as Kiba was lifted by Lee, Shikamaru never showed acknowledgement as he automatically turned to gape. From what he would guess, over several hundred meters worth of land had been outright destroyed, with distant trees fallen over from the overwhelming gust of wind.

Shikamaru at first mistook it as if a tremendous meteor had crashed into the ground, since the entire damaged area was an impact crater that was easily two stories deep. The being that was standing on all fours in the centre of the crater made Shikamaru's throat go dry.

There was only one word that he could describe it...a monster. It gave him the impression of a red fox, with its four clawed legs causing the already broken ground to crack further. It's face for some bizarre reason made him remember Naruto, despite having no such personality of the blond he knew. Swirling violently behind the creature were four chakra tails.

'Is that...Naruto?'

"Jiraiya-sama only told me so much...but I never would have imagined that it looked like a miniature Kyuubi." Shikamaru finally pulled away to see Kakashi was beside him.

'It has come out again.' Jiraiya mused in horror from his position. Seconds before the explosion, he had summoned a toads stomach to protect him when he determined he was still not far enough away. Using his senjutsu chakra, it withstood the force barley, since even though he was still standing inside it, he could clearly see outside because of how much had burnt away.

"What a terrible thing to look at."

Fukusaku shot a glare at his wife to 'shut up', which made Shima frown, "I'm jus' saying!"

Shima sighed and then looked over her shoulder, "This guy's persistent!"

Jiraiya never reacted as Mangetsu shunshined before him as the toad's stomach 'poofed' away. Mangetsu didn't appear to have any additional injuries than what he already bared.

Looking behind him, Mangetsu narrowed his gaze, "So much demonic chakra...Ronan truly has lost it if he believes he can defeat that."

Smirking, Mangetsu drew his sword from his back, "Then again. I have chosen an interesting target myself."

Jiraiya said nothing, as his hand clenched. Mangetsu brought up his sword to block as Jiraiya in an instant was on him, however his somehow thrill filled eyes widened when Jiraiya formed a violent and huge rotating sphere in one hand, "Cho Oodama rasengan!"

'I have to get rid of this swordsman as quick as I can, and then stop Naruto before anything else happens!'

Even after all this, the beast still sat in the crater, only emitting a low growl. Ronan shunshined not far away to stare, "This is not you at your best...but now I am satisfied, Kyuubi."

The fox beast's glowing white eyes locked with the mangekyou sharingan, and then narrowed to slits. The Kyuubi let out a shockwave releasing roar so loud and intense, that everybody heard it at full volume.

Hearing a screech in retaliation, Ronan looked to his side at the source. Gamabunta must have returned to his realm moments before the blast reached him, however, the squid was still there. It had took significant damage from what the Uchiha could tell, but his eyes could easily notice it was again regenerating.

Wani's screech had made the fox turn, as suddenly it shot to life and stood on all fours. Ronan couldn't help but compare the way the Kyuubi was standing in a way similar to an animal protecting its territory. Perhaps Wani didn't realise what it was facing, but the great squid shot out several of its tentacles towards the Kyuubi. The fox took a swipe with its left arm early, which to a normal eye would appear to have missed. But then Ronan had to shield his face when debris flew everywhere from an invisible shockwave, sending out another earthquake that Shikamaru and the others felt.

Ronan was in awe when despite Naruto not moving, both the incoming tentacles, and Wani who was a further fifty feet away had enormous claw marks shredded into its body, 'Remarkable...'

Wani's ear piercing cry made Shikamaru cover his ears, 'This type of battle is crazy. If we try to get any closer we might get caught in the crossfire!'

Ronan returned his attention at Naruto again when his near flaming red fur started to show odd circles popping all around in a frantic spasm. His sharingan then saw solid balls of chakra shoot out of the skin, along with drops of blood that were floating in the air, 'What is this?'

Naruto then rose his head high, and began sucking in all the small drops, combining the two into a near basketball sized ball of solid chakra.

The ball was afloat just in front of the miniature Kyuubi's face, 'This looks extremely dangerous, even just touching such condensed chakra would be fatal.'

The Uchiha held pure confusion when Naruto's jaw broke wide open, and swallowed the chakra ball. Moments later, it was as if Naruto's weight had quadrupled, as he hit the ground hard, causing dust to kick up under his feet from the further broken earth. Wani by this time had finally recovered from the previous attack, and now shot out again to strike. Naruto suddenly expanded like a balloon, with his mouth steaming out hot air.

Even Ronan's eyes could not stare at such an intense light suddenly released out of Naruto's mouth, 'I-It turned the chakra into a projectile!'

He heard Wani give out another shriek in surprise, but then it's scream was drowned out by another blast, this one arguably bigger than when the forth tail appeared. Kakashi was stunned at the tremendous blast travelling in a line that he estimated was sized at an entire kilometre. The kick off of debris was so intense, that Shikamaru had to cover his eyes when the dust flew into their faces.

This whole earth shaking thing was starting to make the Nara nauseous, 'Such devastating power, no wonder Naruto doesn't want to use the Kyuubi unless he has to.' he mused, unaware of Naruto's promise to not use the Kyuubi at all.

The blast subdued, as Ronan lowered his protecting hands to see the damage done. A deep smoking crater had formed from the angle Wani was at, travelling for as far as he could see. There was one other question, where was Wani? No matter how much he focussed, there was not even the slightest trace of its existence present. He didn't even see any familiar signs of Wani returning to her realm.

'He utterly obliterated her...in one hit. You cannot regenerate if there is nothing left of you...'

Ronan began to tremble in awe, 'Such frightening power, just as I remembered.' Naruto let out another roar, while giving a disturbing face to his handiwork that one could relate to glee. Sensing Ronan walking towards him, the fox turned to growl at the intruder.

Ronan's mangekyou sharingan eyes met the glare openly, "Come then, the main fight begins now, Kyuubi!" Naruto let out an menacing roar and went in a position to pounce.

Ronan immediately formed a seal, 'Conventional weapons will not be able to scratch it, and if it is anything like fifteen years ago, then most jutsu will not work either. I will use these eyes to defeat it!'

The Uchiha's left eye starting to run with blood, but he did not open his left eye, as his right held bafflement. The Kyuubi had stopped in its tracks, with its claws aiming at Ronan. Despite easily seeing it was deeply desiring to get to him, its trembling form made him believe it was being held back by something.

'What is going on? Why is it being held back? Don't tell me...'

"Uzumaki Naruto..." The fox then sat back on its hind legs, while still firmly trying to resist whatever force was holding it back.

"I SAID YOU ARE NO LONGER IN THIS EQUATION!"

A figure then shunshined suddenly next to Naruto, making Ronan realise he had guessed completely wrong, "You truly have gone insane, Ronan-oniichan. Something as chaotic as the Kyuubi should remain within Naruto-kun's control...for the time being."

Wide mangekyou met a shuriken like mangekyou, "I-Ita-..." The latter broke eye contact to stare down at the fox. Upon sight of those emotionless eyes, Naruto let out an infuriating roar.

Within not even a second's span, the Kyuubi collapsed, and started to violently twitch. Trying to fight back, it pushed itself up onto its knees of its back legs. It let out one more demonic roar, as when doing so, the chakra skin dispersed violently with a red shockwave that made Ronan take several steps back from its force. During the transition, the monsters scream had morphed into the scream of Naruto. When the shockwave had settled, it revealed a badly burnt all over Naruto, with his skin a sickening shade of dark red, and his eyes rolled up into the back of his head. The figure pressed two fingers onto Naruto's burning hot forehead protector, ending the blonde's scream as Naruto went limp.

" I regret to inform you that your fight with Naruto-kun has ended earlier than you had hoped for."

With a light push, Naruto fell over as the figure turned to face Ronan, " However, you will not be satisfied with that. As troubling as it is to fight with so many enemies in the area, I cannot permit you to lay harm to Naruto-kun any further."

Those plain and flat words made Ronan's shock wash away to show deep anger and hatred, "ITACHI!!!"

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AN: Don't worry, Ronan's mangekyou will be explained...but I am putting my theories within the chapters now instead of as an authors note (as I done with the updated chapter involving no inner sakura).

So you will have to hold out until then.

...although *cough* I am sure the sharp ones noticed already.

Now I have an unborn genius triple to write (please don't blackmail me eagle-man!)

As always, please read and give me feedback.