The air was ripe with anticipation and nerves, the crowd's chatter a dull roar in the background. It was odd how nerves could infect even those who were sure of their prowess, as Naruto was, for the first time in his life, experiencing a sense of nervousness. Nothing serious or jittery, but he had a tense feeling in his stomach and his senses were all a full blast, as if expecting someone to attack.

He took a deep breath, calming himself. He hated crowds like this, and he hated performing in front of crowds. It went against everything a Shinobi was, against every sense of stealth Naruto had achieved. He hated the fact that he would have to use his techniques and skills in front of a crowd, especially seeing as bingo book scouts stalked the chunin exam finals. If he wasn't careful his entry would be filled up with more accurate information than it currently had.

The blond looked across at his soon to be opponent, Neji Hyuga, the Hyuga prodigy of the branch clan. According to Danzo's information the boy everyone claimed to have "revolutionized" the Jyuuken, or the Hyuga taijutsu style, was actually just as caught up in clan arrogance as every other one of the Byakugan clan. In other words Neji fought only at close range and was vulnerable to every long-range technique in the book. However, he had apparently used his teammate Tenten, the weapon's mistress who lost in the preliminary round, to learn the Hyuga technique Kaiten (Rotation) and the famous Sixty-four Palms technique.

Both techniques were legends in other villages, and for good reason. Anyone struck by even four attacks from the second technique would find their chakra control shot to pieces and find themselves in a great deal of pain. Anymore attacks that landed would multiply that affect. The Rotation technique on the other hand was famous for being an "Ultimate Defense," which Naruto knew was false, and used a rotating chakra half sphere to deflect any ranged attack. It took a lot of chakra to perform however, which meant that a Hyuga could not use the technique to many times, or risks having their taijutsu become useless.

~Break~

Five people watched the finalists in general and Naruto in particular. Each of these five had an interest in the boy, for good or for ill, and would use this to see just how far he had come.

First was Danzo Shimura, the aged war hawk of Konoha and the original holder of Naruto's current bingo book title, famed for his vacuum techniques and genjutsu. On the other side of the coin he was the face of the Real Konoha, the Shinobi side, which ensured that Konoha stayed at the top. A dark and manipulative man, Danzo was the head of Root, an elite force of shinobi, and was here today for several reasons, one of which was Naruto.

His interest in Naruto was varied, both professional and personal. As the head of the real Konoha Danzo had a responsibility to ensure its weapon was at his full potential in case the village needed to call upon the might of the Bijuu the boy contained. In regards to this he had trained the boy, and ensured that the boy had the skill necessary to be useful to Konoha.

In a more personal interest, he hoped to watch today in pride as one of the men he considered a son made his mark on the lighter side of the shinobi world. After training the boy in the ways of a shinobi he had become attached to the boy, not enough to compromise the boy's use, but enough that he would move heaven and earth to ensure the boy would survive whatever happened. It was what he would do for all of his children after all.

The second man was a very tall man with a large, spiky white ponytail and two red lines running down his cheeks from his eyes. This was the Legendary Toad Sage, better known as Jiraiya. His interest here was completely personal, even if it would become professional later on.

Uzumaki Naruto was his godson, and he was here to watch the boy carve through the finals. The past months training with the boy had resulted in him knowing more about the blond than any other than Danzo at the moment, and that was only because Naruto trained the skills with him that he had been unable to with Danzo.

In accordance with his vow, he had been there for Naruto every chance he got the entire month, not even checking his spy network in favor of his godson. No news could possibly important enough to interfere with his time that he didn't already know.

Jiraiya had changed Naruto in a remarkably short time. The elder man knew that Naruto had neither need nor desire for a parental figure, and as such had stepped in as a friend and comrade, in addition to taking every opportunity to use his wealth achieved via his cover to treat the boy to meals. He had known about the lack of food in restaurants the boy had eaten, and aimed to fix that, and the two had visited the better part of Konoha's restaurants during the month, with a different one each time.

Jiraiya was a naturally cheerful and optimistic man, and having Naruto hang out with someone like him for the first time in his life had resulted in Naruto being capable of lightening up a little. Admittedly it was only around Jiraiya, but the fact remained that it happened. Jiraiya had been unable to convince the boy to lighten up in public, but between Jiraiya, the hawks, and the toads Naruto's defenses had been attacked from three sides and had fallen to pieces. Gamakichi and Takami had helped quite a bit with this.

Regardless, the boy no longer focused solely on surviving, and was now able to relax enough to enjoy the passing scenery. The fact that he remained on guard and continued to kill things that startled him was just the proper behaviors of shinobi.

The third man was the final one with a mostly benevolent attitude towards the boy, but the unique thing about this man was that unlike the other two he was just a clone, shadow clone to be precise. This was the shadow clone of Hatake Kakashi, the Copy-Nin, son of the Legendary White Fang, and assigned sensei to Naruto. He considered himself the fun older brother of Naruto, but would not be caught saying that seeing as his failure to protect the boy weighed heavily on him still.

He was here to watch Naruto destroy his opposition, and could easily admit that he would gain a thrill watching Naruto trash the other competitors. Especially one of his other genin. That other genin, Uchiha Sasuke, was the reason that Kakashi had only been able to send a clone rather than show up and watch in person like he would have preferred. The Uchiha wanted a last jutsu handed to him before they left.

Kakashi knew that Sasuke could beat Gaara, despite the formers lack of hard work this month, preferring instead to have things handed to him. Sasuke had worked his butt off, but only on the jutsu. Despite Kakashi's efforts to the contrary, Sasuke had copied one jutsu from Kakashi that ensured he would win, provided the boy was able to use it correctly. He was already showing an annoying tendency to focus solely on that jutsu however, so Kakashi couldn't find it in himself to hope for the boy's success.

However what Kakashi had done was make a rather large bet on Naruto to destroy Sasuke if they fought. He was already going to make money from the Naruto-Neji fight, but the Naruto-Sasuke fight would make him a very rich Cyclops if it happened.

The fourth person to be watching Naruto had a lot of interest in the boy, but very little personal connections to him. This was the Legendary Snake Sannin, Orochimaru. He was looking forward to seeing if the son of his former rival and friend had improved any, as well as seeing if he could find a way to take the boy away from Konoha.

In his mind the boy had been turned into a weapon for Konoha, and he hated it. It reminded him to much of what the Third had tried to force him to do with the Mokuton, the Shodaime's bloodline. As a result of this, Orochimaru wanted nothing more than to destroy the Third Hokage and take Naruto away from Konoha, both as reparation for his own sins at the time as well as a last favor to Minato.

Orochimaru, disguised as the Kazekage, looked over at the Hokage, taking comfort in the fact that the man would soon die. It was cruel of him to use both Oto and Suna to attack Konoha for the sole purpose of allowing him time to kill the third, but the Leaf village deserved it. After all they had done many things that even Danzo, head of the shadow side of the Hidden Leaf was unaware of. That caused him to snort. 'Hidden Leaf indeed.'

The fifth was one that had no personal interest in Naruto other than seeing him kept loyal to the village. This was the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and well known as the God of Shinobi. The title was a bit of a misnomer, as he was by no means the best Shinobi there. Even in his prime with all the experience he had now he would be defeated by Jiraiya, who despite his loss to Naruto would most likely defeat him. After all, Jiraiya only lost because he let his guard down at the last moment, allowing him to be enveloped in dust.

Back to the Hokage, the Third was watching Naruto for several reasons; the most important one was to ensure he showed no signs of betraying the village. The second reason was an attempt to gain an accurate accounting of his skills, as he knew Jiraiya would have done everything he could to make the boy a true god amongst shinobi.

A lesser reason, but still quite pressing, was because he was looking for openings in the boy's guard. He fully intended to have Naruto assassinated after the Chunin exams if he could and the Kyuubi transferred to a less public Jinchurriki, so that the wonderful villagers of Konoha will be left in peace with the memories of their loved ones who fell during the Kyuubi attack, rather than dealing with a reminder of their pain and suffering every day in the form of the Uzumaki.

Lastly he was there to make sure Orochimaru, who he knew was sitting next to him, didn't get close to him. After all the boy could easily be convinced to betray the village and Orochimaru was an expert at convincing people to do things they wouldn't originally want to.

Those five men were the only ones, who focused specifically on Naruto, and of the five only two knew what sort of tactics the boy would use, but only one knew the boy's battle plan for Neji.

~Break~

"Are both sides ready?" asked the proctor of the two ninja standing in front of the massive crowd, which was full of civilians, ninja, and nobles alike. There were even two Daimyo there.

There was a nod from the blond a scoff from the Hyuga, but a nod anyways, and he started the fight off.

"Haijime! (Begin)"

Neji was about to start a monologue to take the blond off guard and relax him, but something swiftly approached that required he reveal something far earlier than he planned.

"Katon: Intelligent Hard Work!" An improved version of the Searing migraine technique, Neji watched on curiously as a very small crimson fire ball fell flat a few feet away from Naruto. The fireball splashed on the ground, seemingly doing nothing at first. Neji laughed.

"Ha! Are you so much of a failure that you cannot make a simple fireball properly? You had might as well give up…" Neji would have continued; in fact he had a plan to demolish the morals of this apparent dead last. However, four faces had smirked sinisterly when Naruto's technique was called out, and one had winced in a pained sympathy and fear.

Intelligent hard work was a unique little jutsu, as the user had an incredible amount of control over the jutsu once it was mastered. Unlike the Searing Migraine, which was merely and incredibly fast wave of blazing flames traveling across the ground at great speed, causing a headache for those who attempt to avoid it, Intelligent Hard work would, with enough hard work put into it, fool the opponent. The little flickers of fire on the field would burst when the user willed it.

And Naruto chose to have it burst now.

To the audience there was a huge change in the field, one second there were little flames and the next one there was a massive wall of demonic crimson fire surging towards Neji, who had started to spin.

"Kaiten! (Rotation)" A dome of blue chakra covered Neji as he spun, and as the wave crashed upon it the dome buckled, nearly breaking, but it held and the fire was knocked away, scattering flames amongst the battlefield.

In the Daimyo and noble boxes, the latter of which was filled with young and wealthy people, both groups were now quite excited. One genin from Konoha was controlling flames with a degree they had never seen here, and the second had an impenetrable defense. Or so they thought, but the damage to the other villages reputation was already beginning, as no other genin from a separate village was capable of those!

A panting Neji was revealed from the smoke, Byakugan activated and carefully watching each and every flickering flame. He had never seen something like that, nor had he heard of it, and it was causing him quite a bit of irritation. He vowed not to underestimate the blond again.

Not taking any chances now he charged towards Naruto, never taking his eyes from the flames in case there was another nasty surprise, attempting to end it now before he actually got hurt. The kaiten had almost broken with that jutsu, and a small nagging piece of his mind said that Naruto could have broken it if he really tried.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!" A green set of circles glowed on the field, wowing the spectators as Neji attempted to end the fight.

"Two Palms! Four Palms! Eight Palms! Sixteen Palms! Thirty-Two Palms! Tri-Sixty-Four Palms!"

Every single attack was dodged or slapped away, Naruto moving faster than Neji had ever been able to, moving past the speed of Lee with his weights off during the Preliminaries. Neji finished the attack and Naruto kicked him several feet back. Neji landed panting.

"Is that all you've got?" Naruto asked mockingly. It achieved what he wanted, and Neji heedlessly charged again, right into Naruto's trap.

"Doton: Torappingu no Jutsu is a success." He stated coldly. Neji looked around himself in horror as he was now fifteen feet deep in the ground.

"When did you make this?" He asked.

"When I kicked you. Proctor if you would call the match, I am perfectly suited to killing him from this position." The proctor nodded and called the match, knowing that that hole prevented chakra usage.

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"

The nobles roared with happiness, now this fire user could make massive holes without anyone noticing? Surely Konoha was the best.

The citizens of Konoha on the other hand were not so happy, and more than one statement about demons and freedom was made.

The next fight was supposed to be Sasuke vs. Gaara, but the former did not show up, so Sarutobi, being the good lord he was, postponed the match until the end to give the boy time to show up. Kankorou forfeited next, and finally Shikamaru and Temari went down to fight.

When compared to Naruto's brief but exciting battle with Neji this fight was slow and boring to the spectators, the point remained that the Konoha clearly won, even if he forfeited right afterwards. During this time Neji and Hiashi of the Hyuga had a heart to heart talk about what had happened with the boy's father, Hiashi having given his word to his brother to not tell the boy what really happened until the boy was in his first chunin exam. He had tried during the month, but Neji had brushed him off in favor of training.

When Neji forgave Hiashi, the man was quite pleased. His kind, but weak daughter had finally buckled down on training to fight rather than just healing, and now Neji could be a part of the family again.

Ten minutes after the end of the last fight Kakashi showed up with a shunshin. In any other circumstance it would have been interesting, but the nobles had seen someone create a massive wave of fire from a little ball, along with somehow making a massive hole, so it honestly wasn't that impressive to the wealthier part of the crowd.

The citizens of Konoha however roared for their Uchiha, making Sarutobi somewhat smug over how well he knew his village. It disgusted the disguised Kazekage next to him however.

'This is why I hold no guilt for plotting the destruction of my village.' Orochimaru though. 'These imbeciles focus solely on people from great clans and from famous parents. They happily and eagerly throw aside those with equal or greater potential in exchange for shinobi with a greater name.'

That had happened to a friend of his, his first friend actually, who had worked his hardest to become a shinobi but had been incredibly ill during the final test at the academy. Because of that he had done poorly on the test, resulting in him tying for dead last with a clan member. They would only take one into the genin teams at that time because the dead lasts were seen as a liability for the village. When the two went up for review his friend had lost and was kicked out of the shinobi program, despite his failure being because of illness and the clan members was because of ineptitude. Orochimaru had never forgotten about that.

Still, the crowd looked on in interest as Sasuke fought to get through Gaara's shield. They oohed and ahhed when he held lightning, impressing the civilians and forcing Kakashi, who had been watching the fight after absorbing his clones memories, nearly face-planted.

'I gave him so many ideas how to get through his ultimate defense. He is a god-damn Uchiha, and he has a minor fire affinity! One of the jutsu I taught him was Katon: Nanatsu Kyuuten (Seven Heavens) a fire jutsu that would easily destroy any defenses the boy at even the little level of skill he had with it! He can manage two out of the spears and that is more than enough to destroy that globe. Hell, those two spears take less chakra then the Chidori (I think you all know what that means) does. Pathetic.'

Naruto watched Sasuke charging towards Gaara and stabbing through the sand shield. A scream raged through the area, along with a few words that Naruto was no longer interested in figuring out. Jiraiya had just appeared next to him, and he knew what that meant even before the man hissed the words into his ear.

"It's beginning. Be careful Naruto." He nodded acknowledgement and Jiraiya left to stop any large attacks before they while feathers floated down from the heavens.

~Break~

It began in an instant. One second everyone was awake and watching curiously as feathers fell and the next everyone without shinobi training (and some with) fell asleep where they were. Naruto immediately began handsigns for a jutsu as the walls busted down.

"Katon: Yurika no Jutsu (Fire Lily technique)!" The elder brother of the grand fireball and phoenix flower techniques, this fire style move was usually kept in the upper echelons of fire users, requiring both a great deal of chakra to use as well as needing to have mastered the first to exercises for manipulating fire style.

A well known engagement ender was sent from the genin's mouth, much to the amazement of the surrounding Jonin.

A dozen blood-colored fireballs were blown from Naruto's mouth, blasting at great speed and at the size of a small ball, comparable to the size of pool balls. The original technique has fireballs with comparable size and power to that of the grand fire ball technique at its best, but Naruto was better than that.

Each ball pierced through the head of a different Oto-nin before exploding with a huge bang. Each one took out many ninja and left major craters in the ground. It was impossible to tell just how many ninja died there because the not even ashes remained of the dead ninja. The surrounding ninja gaped at Naruto until Kakashi barked an order towards them to head to evacuate the civilians.

He walked over to the blond, who was breathing a bit heavier than before with the strain of the jutsu.

"Impressive. Sasuke and Sakura ran off after the sand team, I need you to head after them and save them. I thought Sasuke could beat Gaara but with the chakra wasted on the Chidori I doubt it now. The red-head is a Jinchurikki, so make sure he doesn't get near the village if you can." Naruto nodded in agreement, before heading off.

He swiftly found the trail and was catching up quickly before seven jonin stopped him. "I don't have time for this," he stated coldly. They laughed, being arrogant and rude until the bodies started to hit the floor.

The last one left was now afraid for his life, looking at his former comrades who had been killed in various ways, except for one who was somehow still alive after being castrated. That brief moment of fear was all he got before Naruto's ninjato removed his head from his neck. He continued on his way, mentally cursing the useless imbeciles.

He arrived just in time to see Gaara send Sakura flying from where she had been kneeling and crying over Sasuke's motionless body. Naruto ignored that for the moment, instead focusing on Gaara.

The red-head had a massive brown arm of sand molded to his right arm, and upon seeing Naruto he grew ticked off and screamed at him. "Mother will have your blood Uzumaki!" he yelled as he made a hand seal with his left hand. It caused more sand to form on his left hand, and a tail of the same material formed as well.

As he dodged the large and slow (to him) swings, he contemplated how to get close. 'Big, slow, useless. The only problem is that they are able to extend, and…' he attempted to punch one only to almost break his hand. 'They are quite sturdy. I could use Soru, but I would rather not have my leg muscles being damaged. I still need twenty minutes before I can use it again after taking out those Jonin.'

Naruto got fed up when the boy sent hundreds of sand shuriken at him, and used a jutsu. "Doton: Doryu Heki! (Mud slide barrier)" Expelling mud from his mouth Naruto swiftly made a wall, cutting off Gaara's view of him.

The boy looked around, more sand forming around him in response to his anger until he looked like a mini-Shukaku. The next thing Gaara knew of Naruto was an immense pain in his stomach.

"Katon: Nan. (Seven)" The highest of the techniques for mastering fire chakra control, this technique was reputed to slice through metals, and the user turned their entire body into a blazing hot machine, making it deadly for taijutsu combat.

Gaara looked at his stomach, seeing Naruto's cooling had their, and screamed. Naruto leaped back, but despite that he was still blown away by the massive amount of sand that spiraled upwards around Gaara, and he was only just able to use Geppou to avoid being killed by a broken neck.

He looked up at the boy, far up on top of the bjiu's head as the last words the boy said drifted down to him. "Possum Jutsu…" He had enough time to think 'oh shit' before the massive Biju started talking. "I'M FREE! Now who to kill? Oh, an ant! Come here little ant, I want to PLAY with YOU!" it screamed before giggling insanely. Naruto stared unmoving at the creature before resigning himself to the inevitable. Then he said six words that scared the insane Biju to the point where he nearly gave control back to his host voluntarily.

"Kuchyoise no Jutsu: Kyuubi no Kitsune!"

The boy slashed his palm with a kunai before slamming it on the ground. Thunderclouds formed over head and lightning flashed ominously as an explosion of thunder and smoke took up the battlefield.

A unholy and insane laughter, far more ominous than Shukaku's could ever hope to be filled the air, and every head in Konoha turned towards the area of the titan in pure, unbelieving fear.

~Break~

Orochimaru smirked at the pale man across from him, reveling in the feel of the ominous chakra. "Looks like your little weapon has turned against you Sa~ru~to~bi!" He cackled. The ashen man turned to his former student, pleading with him.

"The Kyuubi will destroy us all! You have to drop the barricade and help me drive it away! Please Orochimaru, for whatever love you once had for Konoha and Anko, help me!"

The Snake Sannin's happy grin vanished, and an angry snarl replaced it.

"Help you? Now why the f…heck would I do that?" Orochimaru had started to curse, but years from having a genin teammate who hated cursing and another who would hit him every time he tried kept him from doing so. Sarutobi didn't notice the slip.

"After all this village and you have done to me what makes you think I would make any attempt to save it?" Sarutobi looked at him desperately.

"Don't hold what you have against me towards the village! I know I should have been there for you as I promised but…" He was cut off by the laugh of a broken man.

"Hahahahahah…ohohohohoho. There for me?" Glowing yellow eyes glared at him from a curtain of obsidian colored hair.

"You have never been there for me, or anyone else for that matter. Where were you when those jonin cornered us before the second war? Where were you when Jiraiya was shattered by the rejection of Tsunade for the first time, even before he began those perverted antics? Where were you when Tsunade lost Nawaki?" Sarutobi's head fell lower with each reminder of his guilt.

"Actually, I don't even truly hate you for what you did to me, with the exception of Anko and the child-experiments." Sarutobi looked up in confusion, meeting the hateful eyes of his former student.

"I hate you for what you did to Jiraiya and Anko!" That confused Sarutobi, as he had no idea about what he had done.

"When Jiraiya joined our Genin team he was weak, pathetic even. No jutsu under his belt, his taijutsu style sucked, hopeless at genjutsu or any kind of weapon, the boy was sure to die on his first mission." That brought the Third back to happier times, when he watched three happy children bond together. He was jerked back by Orochimaru continuing.

"This was not from Jiraiya's lack of effort, but because of his orphan status. At that time we had to pay for books, and those orphans not blessed with a benefactor like me had no money to get any books. On top of that the instructors focused solely on those with clans or wealthy benefactors like me. So despite his efforts to the contrary, Jiraiya was useless in a fight.

I didn't see it at first, expecting that the Hokage would be competent enough to fix an obviously willing student's problems. He perfected the few jutsu you taught him that were D-Rank to a level that can stop an A-Rank before we even left on a mission!

But no, you focused on me and Tsunade every time. Regardless of what happened, it was Tsunade and I that you trained and complimented and cared for, not Jiraiya. Jiraiya was depressed, and turned towards perversion to take his mind off things. Despite that, he continued to train, and I am willing to admit that not to long after we faced Hanzo he was stronger than I.

But your neglect of Jiraiya is just the tip of the Iceburg." Then Sarutobi saw something that truly frightened him even as an explosion shook the world. Orochimaru drew the famed Kusanagi, looking for all the world the insane man that he was.

"You betrayed Anko, your niece." Sarutobi stared in horror, shocked that the man had found out. He had hidden any and all relations to himself thanks to name changing and record changing to avoid any assassination attempts. The fact that he was quite estranged from his brother had nothing to do with it.

"When you exiled me for carrying out your orders I left Anko in the village, knowing that at least she would be safe there. However, you couldn't have that could you? You made sure that Anko found out about it from a taunt, and then manipulated her emotions with your double-talk until she had to chase me down and find out if it was true.

You know quite well that I gave her the cursed seal of heaven to protect her, to give her a power to fall back upon if she was outmatched from her own memories. Memories of me that you soon sealed off! You made it so that your own flesh and blood was ostracized from the village just because you couldn't tolerate someone knowing the truth!" Sarutobi's head fell, but when it came up again there was steel in his eyes.

"It was for the good of the village that I have done those things. It is the same reason that I am now forced to kill you! Kuchyoise: Enma!" The mighty monkey king soon appeared.

"Well if we're bringing out the summons, let's play properly." Orochimaru said, a musical mocking tone to his voice. "Kuchyoise: Edo Tensei!"

Two coffins rose from the ground, and from them came the first and second Hokage. A third arrived, but Sarutobi managed to stop that one. He knew that while the first and second would not fight to their fullest against him because Orochimaru was against Konoha, the Fourth Fire Shadow Namikaze Minato was a different story. If he found out what Sarutobi had done to his son the man would take great pride in destroying Sarutobi after he destroyed all that the man held dear. Minato had become a legend for destroying those that threatened what he loved, and Konoha was never truly loved.

It was the ideal that the Fourth had loved, and had vowed to return Konoha to the way it should be. Now, Minato would destroy it in a heartbeat.

Despite that, he looked on in fear as the First's face grew enraged at what Sarutobi had done to a Jinchurikki, especially as the man's wife used to be one.

~Break~

Shukaku looked on in pure, undiluted terror as the smoke cleared and an evil chakra engulfed his senses. Crimson filled the air, an aura of malice choking him even as the maddening laughter finally stopped. He closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths before he opened them and seeing a visage straight from his nightmares.

Lush crimson fur was the first thing one would see if they looked straight at this beast, ignoring the pure terror its very existence created. Soft and warm, that fur brought on the impression of a cute little fox kit, and not the beast that it was.

Nine bloody tails swayed behind its massive for, easily as tall as the Hokage monument in the distance. The mighty creature was standing on all four paws, even though its upper torso was more humanlike than beast, even having opposable thumbs on its paws.

Pure red eyes glared at the Ichibi from its head, teeth spread in a massive grin as it talked to the small blond crouched on its head.

"I was wondering if you were going to bring me out Naruto. After all you would easily be able to kill this form of my brethren." It stated; the words oddly light and in an amused tone, incredibly odd when compared to evil its presence emitted. The blond answered the great beast, leaping to perch on its muzzle and greeting it with a nod of his head, his voice small and soft when compared the Kyuubi's.

"Kyuubi. I am well aware that I could kill Gaara, but I would rather keep Akatsuki from getting an easy chance at the Ichibi. After all, the beast is the weakest of you, not to mention insane. I could probably kill Gaara with the aid of the hawks, despite the fact that they are not mean for combat, but that would result in the Ichibi being captured by my enemies in just a year's time. This way we have a Jinchurikki with the same powers who will become sane soon…hopefully."

The Kyuubi only just held itself back from shaking its head. The great beast was somewhat irritated with its vessel. Despite his strength the practice of downplaying it had become so ingrained that Naruto continued to do so without even recognizing it. They both knew that Naruto would win this fight by himself, but had chosen to summon Kyuubi to end it faster, and without the wasted chakra. With the Kyuubi and Naruto's agreement the boy used up none of his own chakra summoning Kyuubi.

The grin on Kyuubi's face only widened as it remembered the first time it properly met its vessel.

~Flashback~

Naruto was meditating, attempting to master the bestial chakra raging through his body. He had gotten truly angry today, and nearly lost control of the Kyuubi as the chakra of the beast was called in response to his anger. It was actually surprising to his trainer, Danzo that the boy had actually gotten angry, but he admitted that the reason was worth getting angry over.

After all, when a supposed ally stabs you in the kidney people tend to get upset. Naruto had killed his attacker.

After Naruto had successfully released the chakra to nature he was brought to a sewer. Naturally, he was incredibly confused, and started looking for a way out. Heading down the only tunnel available, he eventually came to a large cage with a paper tag on it.

'This must be the seal, but why is my mind a sewer? I'm not that screwed up am I?' were his thoughts, not even really caring about the noises in front of him, or the ominous voice that boomed through the area.

"So, my jailor has decided to visit me. What do you want?" Naruto was instantly confused at the voice, staring a pair of crimson eyes as they examined him.

The voice of the great beast seemed, for lack of a better word, bored. He ignored the Kyuubi's question for the moment, instead asking why it was bored. A dull chuckle resounded through the air, mirthless and lonely.

"I've been sealed away for the better part of a hundred years boy. You are the first human I have seen since I attacked Konoha and the first intelligent creature I have spoken to since years before I was sealed away. What did you think I would be, ecstatic?" Naruto nodded in realization, before having a rather nasty thought. Well, nasty for his enemies.

"If you are so bored, why not make a deal with me?" The eyes examined him, before what could only be described as a shrug lifted them slightly. "Speak." The beast said, mildly curious. Anything would be better than staring at a blank wall all the time.

Naruto didn't at first, instead examining the seal before nodding again, as if having confirmed something.

"You want something to do, and I have a summoning contract that is useless for big battles. That might get me killed someday. So, you and I create a summoning contract for you, as a personal summon of sorts, and I use your chakra to bring you out on the battlefield and you can kill any and all who stand in your way. Along with that, I am capable of changing this seal a little to make it so that you share my senses. Do we have an accord?"

The Kyuubi looked at Naruto for several minutes, wondering if it was worth it. The last person to even speak to him was the Sage of Six Paths, and that was on the man's deathbed. Kyuubi supposed it would be worth it.

What everybody knew but nobody really cared about was that repeatedly sealing an intelligent being away had terrible consequences. Whereas the other Biju had at least been contacted so their various vessels could use the great power they had, Kyuubi had not been. So the various trauma of having its soul and body repeatedly sealed, along with the far greater one of having its soul ripped out by the shinigami, had resulted in a beast that would give nearly anything for companionship.

Sometimes Kyuubi cursed the Sage for how human-like he had made the minds of the Biju.

Kyuubi agreed, and Naruto left, but not before telling Kyuubi that he would see it again soon. In the boys own words it was for a good reason.

"After all, if you are going to be my partner on the field than I need to get to know you as well as I know myself if we are to be fully effective."

It had given the Kyuubi a little hope, and the Biju soon grew to like Naruto as the boy kept his word and talked to the Kyuubi, eventually even trusting the great beast. Naruto actually became closer to Kyuubi than he was to anyone else.

~End Flashback~

Kyuubi had become what it once was thanks to Naruto, a powerful force that was as cheerful as it was deadly. While Kyuubi could be serious, and always was in a fight, it much preferred bombarding its vessel with mental imagery and suggestions for pranks, hoping that Naruto would finally accept either getting laid or commit a prank. It was rather odd how the boy could change people's life for the better both without trying and without caring.

Unfortunately for Kyuubi the pleasant memories of talks were rudely interrupted by Shukaku finally working up the nerve to attack the Kyuubi. Of course, the insane screaming of "Futon: Renkudan! (Drilling air bullets) was noticed immediately and the three massive bursts of air were harmlessly knocked aside by one of Kyuubi's tails. Naruto returned to Kyuubi's head as the beast taunted Shukaku.

"Poor little Ichi-chan, unable to even use a wind technique right. Maybe you should give control back to the pathetic little ningen on your head so we can have a proper fight!" Shukaku was enraged, and used his ultimate technique, targeting Konoha. He knew it would have no affect on the far stronger beast.

"Ichi: Bijudama! (One: tailed beast ball)" While Shukaku charged it Kyuubi talked with its vessel.

"Can we just let it hit the village? Please? They deserve it! I can make a very convincing failed attempt to stop it!" A quiet and calm "No." was its answer, Naruto having grown used to his Biju's antics. "Fine."

The massive burst of chakra was let loose with an explosion that shook the surrounding landscape, and the dust cleared to show one of the Kyuubi's tails where the attack had been sent at, not even scratched and there was no evidence that the ball had even been fired.

The vulpine grin on the Kyuubi's face never wavered, even when Shukaku finally noticed that Naruto was no longer on the beasts head. Shukaku had no time to think anymore, as all of a sudden its host woke up, too fast for Shukaku to even scream denials. The sand creature collapsed as the nine-tailed fox poofed away, its task completed, but far too short for the beasts preferences.