"Oy, Brat," said Tsunade as they were packing to leave for Konoha. "I want you to give me your analysis of Orochi's lackey."
Naruto paused for a moment and then spoke, "He claimed to be as skilled as a high-level jounin, but I think he was more like a tokubetsu jounin. His Chakra Scalpels were quite effective, but against someone who could avoid them or block them, he seemed to be vulnerable."
"Blocking a Chakra Scalpel is not a trivial task, Brat," Tsunade said. "Avoiding them in close combat is hard because they go through most solid defenses. The only reason you avoided them was your skill with Replacement."
Naruto shrugged. "He seemed one-dimensional to me. The thing that made him actually difficult to fight was his quick regeneration, which was actually superior to mine."
"How would you counter him?" Tsunade asked.
Naruto took another few moments to think. "Get Ero-sennin to draw up some seals to stop his regeneration or close off his chakra and then use someone fast to tag him with them, or draw him into a trap. He seemed pretty clever, but his pride could probably be used to get him."
"What threat ranking would you assign him?" Tsunade asked.
"B-rank, if you had the seals and a way to apply them," Naruto said. "Without that? A-rank, for sure. Without a way to cut off his chakra, the only way to beat him would be to outlast him. His chakra levels were tokubetsu jounin level, so that should be possible for anyone also A-rank or someone with huge reserves like me."
"You're the only one with close to your level of reserves that isn't S-rank, Brat," Jiraiya said.
"How sure are you of this analysis?" the Slug Princess asked.
"As sure as I could be with only seeing one short fight," Naruto said. "Which, to be honest, isn't much."
"What areas would you watch out for?" Tsunade asked.
"If he knows more ninjutsu than what he showed us or if he can do more tricks with the snakes," she answered.
"What do you think of her analysis, Old Perv?" Tsunade asked.
"It was pretty good," Jiraiya admitted, "but I think she's discounting Kabuto a little. Snake Eyes wouldn't use someone weak as a lieutenant."
"Orochi was always a little too fond of clever tricks like the Glasses Brat's regeneration," Tsunade said.
"What threat level do you think I am, Ero-sensei?" Naruto asked.
"I think I'll decline to answer," he said with a laugh, "I wouldn't want you to get a swelled head."
"That sounds promising," she said with a smirk. "A-rank?"
"You wish, Brat!" he responded.
"Ah, come on," she pouted. "I managed to subdue the Ichibi pretty handily."
"You have a special advantage against Bijuu and jinchuuriki, Brat," Jiraiya said. "You would have had loads more problems against other threats of that level."
"I know that," she protested. "Normally you would need to be S-rank to take on a Bijuu single handedly."
"Okay, I'll admit it," Jiraiya said, "when you do that funky thing with your hair and your freaky extra eye gets its rings, you approach A-rank."
Naruto pouted at his description.
"Hair? Eyes?" Tsunade asked.
"Remember what happened with Kushina-chan's hair when she got mad?" Jiraiya asked.
Tsunade nodded.
"Bunny-chan here, can do that too, only more extreme," he said. "It grows and can grab things like an octopus and even block ninjutsu. The only problem is that her chakra stands out like a huge beacon when she does it and we're trying to avoid drawing some Bijuu hunters to us."
"Someone's hunting the Bijuu?" Tsunade asked, shocked.
"I'll fill you in later," Jiraiya said. "She also has a third eye that she normally keeps hidden. When she normally opens it, it's a Sharingan. If she's doing the thing with her hair, it looks like a combination of the Sharingan and Rinnegan."
"Let me see," commanded Tsunade.
Naruto opened her third eye.
Tsunade used the Diagnostic Technique on her. "Everything seems normal."
"How did you get three or four bloodline abilities, Naruto-chan?" Shizune asked.
Naruto sighed and told them the story of her kidnapping, what the Kyuubi had told her about Kaguya and transmigration, and what she had figured out from talking with the Hyuuga Clan Head and Old Man Hokage.
"That's quite an amazing story, Brat," Tsunade said.
"My life has been a little too exciting since the Genin Exams," Naruto said, "but I prefer it to what it was like before."
Both of the older adults looked a little guilty and the conversation lapsed.
The trip back to Konoha was uneventful. Naruto did manage to pester Jiraiya into admitting that she was borderline C/B-rank without manifesting her chakra externally.
When they arrived there, Jiraiya dismissed Naruto and hurried off to the Hokage Tower with Tsunade. Naruto went and found Hinata and Sasuke and filled them in on what had happened. She was pleased to hear that they had managed to escape getting into much trouble for running off to warn her about Itachi.
The following day, Tsunade had a rousing coronation in the square in front of the Hokage Tower. Naruto heard later that Konohamaru had barricaded himself into the Hokage's Office because he was afraid that people would forget his grandpa. Tsunade had needed to threaten/cajole him out of the office. Naruto sought him out and offered to take him to Ichiraku's.
"Idiot," she told him as they walked to the ramen stand. "How can people forget your grandpa when his humongous face is watching us all the time?"
She gestured to Hokage Mountain.
"Have people forgotten any of the other Hokages?" she added.
Konohamaru managed to somehow pull off looking embarrassed and petulant at the same time.
The next day, Tsunade woke Kakashi from his coma. Naruto told her about Anko, the cursed seal, and how she had removed it from her teammates. Tsunade asked to see Hinata and Sasuke as well as Anko. After examining Naruto's teammates, Tsunade had her go over what had happened with the seal.
"You think you can remove it, but she'll start hemorrhaging chakra?" Tsunade asked.
"Yeah, one of the med-nins said that you were the only one who could stop the hemorrhaging, Baa-chan," Naruto said. "If it doesn't work, I can patch it my way, but we don't know what my patch will do to someone who's not a descendant of the Outsutsuki."
Tsunade had Naruto go ahead with the procedure. It was easier to do the fourth time, although the Snake's chakra was still disgusting.
When she had finished absorbing the cursed seal's chakra, she said, "I'm done removing it, Baa-chan. You ready to patch her up?"
"Go ahead and release it, Brat," the new Hokage said.
Naruto watched Tsunade work with her Byakugan. The older woman's patch was much finer and smaller. It was also hooked into Anko's own chakra.
"My chakra should gradually be replaced by your own and then naturally absorbed into your chakra network," Tsunade said. "I'd take it easy for a couple of weeks though."
Anko hugged Tsunade, practically in tears. "Thanks, Hokage-sama," she said. "It feels good to be free."
She then wrapped Naruto into a hug. "Thanks, Brat," she said. "If you ever need a favor, let me know."
Naruto was not used to being hugged, so she just awkwardly patted the older girl's back.
Three days after taking office, Tsunade called Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke, Shino, Sakura, and Lee into her office along with Kakashi, Kurenai, and Gai.
"Lee-san," Tsunade said, "unfortunately, you had a poor matchup in the Finals and did not get to show any of your skills. You will not be getting promoted. The judges did say that they recommended that you find a way to improve your genjutsu recognition and dispelling."
Lee started to rant about how he would not let his Flames of Youth die. Tsunade threw a paperweight at him to shut him up.
"Sakura-san," Tsunade said, "the judges were very impressed with your genjutsu skills, especially the nonvisual one. However, they felt that you should have a backup in case genjutsu was contraindicated. Your performance was good enough to put you on a short list for promotion. If you broaden your skills, you may be promoted without needing to return to the Chuunin Exams."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Sakura said. She seemed disappointed, but at the same time pleased with the praise.
"Shino-san," the new Hokage said. "Although you didn't win, the judges were impressed by the wide range of tactics you used in your match and your mastery of basic shinobi techniques. They were also impressed with your awareness of your chances once the match neared its close. You are being promoted to chuunin. Congratulations."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Shino said. He was as stoic as always.
Both Kurenai and Sakura congratulated him, but Naruto could tell they were both slightly irritated underneath. She figured it was because they felt their chosen art was being slighted. Naruto could see their point. Despite being potentially very powerful, genjutsu was the least respected of the three major shinobi arts. This was especially true in Konoha where the Sharingan and the Byakugan easily defeated its usual forms. Even the Uchiha, whose Sharingan made genjutsu easy, had usually specialized in ninjutsu because it was flashier.
"Sasuke-san," Tsunade said. "The judges were impressed by your defeat of Shino-san as well as your ability to recognize and dispel a nonvisual genjutsu. You also received a commendation from the Daimyo due to your involvement in fighting off the Invasion. You are being promoted to chuunin. Congratulations."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Sasuke said with his typical smirk.
"Way to go, Emo-chan," Naruto said, drowning out most of the other congratulations—other than Sakura's.
"Naruto-chan," Tsunade said. "The judges were impressed with the fact that you used two different strategies to beat Temari-san and Gaara-san and seemed in control of both matches. Your defeat of the Ichibi during the Invasion was also noted. You are being promoted to chuunin. Congratulations."
"Woohoo! Thanks, Baachan!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Don't call me that, Brat!" Tsunade yelled as she threw another paperweight at her. "I can still take back your promotion!"
"No way!" Naruto said. "Your hat will be mine!"
Hinata giggled quietly at Naruto's antics while Sasuke rolled his eyes. The others seemed a little shocked that the new Hokage more or less let her get away with it.
"Hinata," Tsunade said. "Your case is the most difficult because you only had one match, which you won very quickly. The judges were impressed at the that you planned out a simple way to negate many of your opponent's skills. This would ordinarily not be sufficient, but because of the notes on your accomplishments in the Forest of Death and the Invasion—you too received a commendation from the Daimyo—I have decided to promote you after consulting with your sensei. Congratulations."
"Awesome!" Naruto shouted. "All three of us made it! Team Seven rules!"
"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Hinata said demurely.
"This calls for ramen!" Naruto said.
"You think everything calls for ramen, Dead Last," Sasuke said.
"That's because everything does, Emo-chan," Naruto proclaimed. "And you can't call me that anymore since I passed the Chuunin Exams as a rookie!"
"Fine," Sasuke said. "I'll save it for when you've done something extra stupid, Bunny-chan."
The five rookies plus Lee exited the Office after those that were promoted picked up their chuunin vests from Shizune. As they left, Kakashi was still harassing Gai about all three of his students making it on their first try compared to none of Gai's.
Tsunade wanted to make a "show of force," so she was sending out most of the jounin so that Konoha's adversaries would not think it was weakened by the invasion. This included the senseis of the genin teams. The night before the senseis were to leave, the Rookie 9 plus Team Gai and their senseis had a promotion party for Team Seven and Shino at a barbeque restaurant with a party room. Naruto made sure that Haku, Ranmaru, and Karin were invited.
Naruto had not had much time to talk to his neighbors since getting back with Tsunade. Both Haku and Karin were a little jealous that she had learned the Mystic Palm Technique as their senseis at the hospital had not taught them that yet.
"Just because it's an A-rank technique, they want you to be in the program for a year before they think of teaching it," Karin complained. "We mainly just end up doing work that a civilian could be doing."
Naruto chuckled. "I'm pretty sure that Baa-chan didn't think I had the chakra control to learn it." A thought struck her. "Hey, Baa-chan is a relative of yours too!"
"The relationship is pretty distant," Karin protested.
Naruto huffed and waved dismissively. "Maybe it would be if we had tons of relatives," she said, "but as far as we know, the three of us only have each other as blood relatives."
Everyone had fun, except for possibly Sasuke, who kept getting cornered by Ino and Sakura. The climax of the party happened when Haku froze Kiba's underwear when he would not take "no" for an answer.
Naruto walked home with Haku, Ranmaru, and Karin. When they got to their floor of the apartment building, they found that Naruto's door was bashed in.
"Karin-chan, take Ranmaru-chan and go for help," Naruto commanded as she activated her Byakugan.
"Okay," Karin said as she slung the small boy onto her back.
Naruto saw a single person standing in the center of her living room. He was not wearing any village's Badge. He had gray hair and two red dots on his forehead. He wore a loose shirt that left some of his chest exposed, shinobi pants, and sandals. He had a rope-like belt with tied in a large knot behind him. His chakra reserves were typical of a jounin.
"He's definitely a shinobi, but he's not wearing a badge from Konoha or anywhere else," she told Haku.
Naruto made ten Shadow Clones and had half of them Disguise themselves. She drew on her chakra and forced it to the surface. Since she was in Konoha, attracting attention was a good thing. Her hair grew and her third eye opened.
"I know you're in there," she called. "Come on out!"
The teenager, he looked to be a couple of years older than Naruto, walked confidently out of the door to her room.
"Orochimaru-sama has marked you as his," he proclaimed. "You will submit to him."
Naruto snorted. "Snake Face tried, but failed to mark me."
"Show some respect for Orochimaru-sama!" the boy demanded.
"I don't respect traitors!" Naruto yelled.
The boy stated, "Konoha betrayed Orochimaru-sama first by casting him out."
"I'm not fighting in here," Naruto said. "I don't want to ruin this place more than you already have."
She and Haku backed to the hall window. "Jump out, Haku-chan," Naruto commanded.
Haku ducked out the window and dropped to the ground. A drop from the third floor was trivial for shinobi. Naruto followed her.
They retreated to the center of the street in front of their building. Because they were coming from a party inside Konoha, neither she nor Haku had many of their weapons on them.
Since the stooge was going after her because of the mark, Orochimaru may have sent someone else after Sasuke and Hinata. Naruto made more Shadow Clones to go check on them as well as try to find help. The fact that the Shadow Clones had their Rinne-Sharingan open, was disorienting before they closed their third eyes and ran off toward the Uchiha and Hyuuga clan compounds.
"You'll find that most of your ANBU are distracted," the boy said. "You won't be getting any help until it's too late."
"I won't need any more help," Naruto proclaimed. "My clones were just going to check on my friends."
"Weak trash like you?" the boy laughed.
"I mopped the floor with your master's right-hand stooge," Naruto exaggerated.
"You'll find I play with my prey much less than Kabuto-san does," the boy said. "I give you one last chance to submit to your new master or I dispose of you as an unprofitable slave."
"I'm not that sick freak's slave!" Naruto yelled.
"Very well," said the boy. He sprouted bones from his arms and chest. He pulled a large one from his shoulder and held it like a sword. "Kabuto-san told me that you had stolen my clan's Bloodline. I think you'll find that a thief does not measure up to the real thing. My name is Kaguya Kimimaro and I will defend my dead clans' honor."
"I didn't steal it!" Naruto said. "I inherited it from our common ancestor!"
"You are a Kaguya?" Kimimaro asked, halting in his advance.
"No," Naruto replied, "but the Uzumaki, Kaguya, Senju, Hyuuga, and Uchiha all have a common ancestor. For some reason, I've inherited all of the Bloodline Abilities that she carried."
"No matter," Kimimaro said. "Even if you were my sister, I would kill you for the insult to Orochimaru-sama."
Kimimaro charged her. Her normal method of fighting did not work as well when she was powered up, since she was limited in the number of Shadow Clones she could summon without becoming confused. She sent two of her "tails" at the boy. He slashed at it, but her hair deflected his strikes. The boy retreated.
"Why do you follow an evil man like, Orochimaru?" Naruto asked.
"Orochimaru-sama is not evil," Kimimaro said. "You do not understand his greatness!"
"How is the traitor great?" Naruto shouted. "He murdered the man who cared for him like a father. He experimented on inocents!"
Kimimaro said, "He showed me kindness and gave me purpose. Those others were undeserving."
She summoned three Shadow Clones. This was her limit when they all had the Rinne-Sharingan. She could only do that many because of her experience with the wide field of view that the Byakugan gave her. The clones charged the boy and tried to engage him with their own Shikotsumyaku. Kimimaro made short work of them. Naruto made three more clones and sent them after him. Her strategy was to try and force him to showcase his moves so that she could learn them with her Rinne-Sharingan. She could not copy the way that he manipulated his bones, but the Byakugan gave her hints. The sword forms he used, however, were hers.
Even with her clones learning his moves, Kimimaro proved too much for them. He was too fast and had too much experience. Fighting him was more challenging than Kabuto. Kimimaro preferred sword techniques, but he had other tricks, including shooting his fingertips at her. Naruto blocked them with her hair.
She tried to corral him, but he was too fast for her hair to encircle him.
Finally, she said, "Haku, can you catch him in your mirrors?"
"Yes," Haku said.
Haku took out a scroll and used her chakra to release its payload: about a thousand liters of water. A few centimeters of water covered the street.
"Ice Spears," called Haku. Two large spears of ice formed beside her and shot toward Kimimaro. Haku followed after them. The seconds that the boy took with dealing with the spears allowed Haku to get close.
"Demonic Ice Mirrors," she said. Slabs of ice rose around Kimimaro. Haku jumped into the closest. She flitted between the mirrors, hurling icicles at him of various sizes. Kimimaro allowed the smaller ones to strike him, concentrating on the largest. The needle-sized icicles that struck him did not penetrate. Naruto could see that he had bone plates underneath his skin protecting his vital spots.
Kimimaro patiently waited and then hurled his bone sword at a mirror. The bone pierced the slab and Haku cried out in pain. The mirror shattered and the other mirrors fell to the ground. Naruto could see Kimimaro's bone piercing Haku's shoulder.
"Predictable trash," Kimamaro murmured as he approached the downed ice maiden.
As he was preparing to lunge at Haku, Naruto called, "Heavenly Attraction." She pulled at him with her third eye's power.
Shocked, Kimamaro was yanked through the air and into the waiting grasp of Naruto's hair "tails." Naruto wrapped him up and tried to crush him, but the last Kaguya's bones were too strong. Kimimaro tried to break free, but Naruto's hair was unbreakable. Naruto sent another "tail" to wrap around his mouth and nose, to suffocate him and break the stalemate.
An evil chakra began to emanate from within the cocoon. Naruto recognized it as one of Orochimaru's cursed seals. It was different than the seal that Naruto, her teammates, and Anko had received, but the chakra imbuing it was the same. Naruto began to absorb the chakra from it and purify it. By now she was sickeningly familiar with the Snake's chakra, so it was easy. It took five minutes to drain the seal of the Orochimaru's chakra. Instead of patching the wound in the boy's chakra system, she allowed it to gush out the Oto nin's life energy. He died of chakra exhaustion within minutes.
Naruto would have liked to have saved him, but she had no way to handle him safely and he showed no indication that he would listen to reason. Patching the chakra system of an enemy with an Outsutsuki Bloodline Ability seemed beyond foolish.
Naruto collapsed to the wet ground emotionally exhausted. She absorbed her extra hair and let her chakra return to normal. One of her clones was already using the Mystic Palm to close Haku's wound.
Author's Note: Next chapter will say whether or not Sasuke or Hinata were attacked.
Regarding Naruto's analysis of Kabuto, I'm not going to comment on whether it was correct or not. Obviously, it was incomplete.
Was Shino being promoted and Sakura being passed over fair? Not really, but I thought it matched up with Shikamaru's promotion in canon.