Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Naruto or any of its original characters, Kishimoto does duh!.
Blah….normal narration/ character talking
Blah….normal narration/ character thinking
Blah…. Kyubi/summon talking
Blah…. Kyubi/summon thinking and Jutsus
Chapter 9
Naruto stood on his place casually observing his opponent who stood in a loose stance. Normally he would have rushed into attacking but the training with the foxes and the seriousness of the situation forced upon him the maturity he had been hiding behind his usual mask. From the stories he knew his father was said to be the fastest ninja. But as of then he hadn't discovered his 'Hiraishin no jutsu'. So Naruto wanted to feel him out before arriving upon a strategy to defeat him.
"You have not taken a stance, you know a ninja should always be prepared." Minato remarked at Naruto's lack of stance.
"Who knows, maybe I already have you figured out?" Naruto replied with nonchalance.
"Aren't you getting a bit ahead of yourself? You will get taken out quickly if you are not careful. Then you will have to begin as a genin or maybe an academy student?" Minato taunted aiming to throw Naruto off.
"Hmmm that would be a shame, but I will be stronger than you even then." Naruto threw back.
"We will see soon enough." Minato was impressed that his opponent was not riled up that easily.
"Can we start this, or are we going to have a talk off pretty boy?" Naruto asked, feigning boredom. 'Well dad I am the one who usually pisses of the others' Naruto mused.
"What did you call me just now?" Minato asked a little incensed.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist pretty boy I don't swing that way." Naruto mouthed off.
'Heh the kid is good he is not falling for Minato's trap and he even managed to turn the tables.' thought Hiruzen as he observed the banter.
"Enough talking now fight you imbeciles!" Mikoto hollered from the side-lines.
"Well can't keep the audience waiting." Naruto smirked as both the fighters rushed towards each other.
They met in the middle of the battlefield as Minato's strike aimed at Naruto's jaw was blocked by Naruto. Naruto then responded with a kick to the torso which Minato dodged by jumping backwards. They clashed for a bit more both unable to land a solid hit to the other, however Naruto did manage two glancing blows. They separated to acquire space for new manoeuvres.
Minato and Naruto whipped out a single kunai each and used chakra enhanced dashes to close the distance between them. Kushina's eyes widened as she saw Minato jumping backwards with half of a kunai in his hand. In addition to that, his jacket was cut on his right sleeve and his arm was bleeding a little.
"You're a wind type." Minato said as he looked at the destroyed kunai in his right hand. "I've never met anyone skilled enough with wind chakra to be able to use it efficiently as a chakra flow technique."
"Well a sensei of mine showed this to me while I was mastering my wind nature training." Naruto replied with a small smile.
"That's good." Minato said as he cast aside the kunai and drew another one. "Lets see how you measure upto me then.'" With that, Minato's new kunai buzzed with chakra. In an instant, the blonds crossed kunai again, but their kunai actually stopped upon meeting that time.
"Hmm quite interesting. We are at an impasse but given I learnt wind chakra only a few months back I guess I have to improve a lot" Naruto said as he jumped back.
Minato's eyes widened at that statement, along with those of everyone else present. It was almost unheard of for someone to be able to use wind chakra so effectively after only a few months of training to use it.
A smile formed on Minato's face at that moment as he realized what the current situation actually meant. Though he was still only a chunin, Minato had yet to enter a fight where he was not guaranteed success. He had never been bested. No one in the Academy, or in the Chunin Exams for that matter, had ever come close to defeating him. The closest that he had ever come to being defeated was when he went to rescue Kushina from the Cloud ninja that kidnapped her. Outnumbered for three chunin and a jonin, Minato had come out on top without any injuries outside of soreness and bruises.
"I think I will lay of the kid gloves and be more serious. You are certainly talented." Minato complemented his opponent to which he just received a cheeky smile.
Making a single hand seal he muttered "Kai" as Naruto instantly went on guard.
"Here I go." Muttered Minato.
Naruto quickly jumped back, barely dodging Minato's kick as he reappeared in front of the spot where Naruto had been standing.
'He is fast, but with my new training I can easily keep up if I remove the seals. Let's see how far I can go before I need to release them.' Naruto thought.
Minato's eyes narrowed at that. He was more than a little surprised that Naruto had managed to dodge his attack. It appeared that his movements had been read, which was a first for Minato. Curious as to whether it was a fluke, Minato channelled chakra into his legs and dashed towards Naruto with even greater speed than he had used before. When he neared the older blond, he threw a punch at his face. When Naruto did not even both to move, Minato suspected that it had been a mere fluke earlier, but then Naruto's left arm formed a guard between them. That did not stop Minato from attacking with his punch though. Much to Minato's shock, Naruto was able to block the punch with his raised left arm and grab the younger blonde's mesh shirt with his right hand. Using Minato's hesitation to his advantage, Naruto used his left hand to grab Minato's right forearm. With a simple twist of his body, he threw Minato off of his feet and slammed him to the ground. Seconds after Minato slammed into the ground, Naruto landed on top of him, driving his knee into the younger boy's stomach.
'What the hell? He outplayed Minato with his reflexes. He did not even try to match his speed, it was just reflex.' Jiraiya was impressed to say the least while Hiruzen watched with a keen eye.
Mikoto looked like she would be in danger of swallowing some flies with the way her mouth was hung open.
"Oooh he is good. Finally we may have someone to kick pretty boy's cute butt." Tsume chuckled.
"How did he do that?" Kushina wondered out loud, catching Naruto's attention. The momentary distraction allowed Minato to push Naruto off of him and roll away. Rising to his feet, his breathing was heavy.
"You know how to fight someone faster than you." There was no question in Minato's words. "I've never fought anyone who could do that. Blocking my punch with a single arm… that's insane." Naruto smiled as he thought back to Rock Lee. He had learned that manoeuvre from the taijutsu specialist in his time. He could always trust Lee to figure out how to deal with a fast opponent.
"The way you slammed me to the ground… I've never met anyone your age that was that strong," Minato said as he finally caught his breath. "I'm not fighting you in taijutsu anymore. You're too dangerous in such a fight."
Channeling the lightning chakra to his shuriken, Minato threw it towards Naruto and quickly flashed through hand signs. "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the single kunai turn into fifty. He could tell that dodging that many would have been difficult. The former jinchuriki channelled chakra into his feet immediately and used a chakra enhanced jump to dodge the barrage of kunai. He then formed a hand sign that made Hiruzen smile and Jiraiya look nervous.
"Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" Naruto said. In an instant, one hundred clones formed in the air around him and threw their own wind chakra coated shuriken at Minato. Minato's eyes widened at the sheer number of clones, but he regained self-control upon seeing that he was in a tight spot.
The audience except for Hiruzen were left gaping at the sheer number of clones. Creating even 10 clones would leave most of the jonins panting for breath and here was a ninja who created a hundred of them and didn't even see fazed.
Minato's hands quickly formed the hand signs of boar, ram, snake, horse, and dragon before he thrust them forward, palms open "Raiton: Rensa Raiko no jutsu". A torrent of lightning flowed from his hands towards Naruto taking out a large number of clones in the process.
Naruto countered this attack with a "Fuuton : Daitoppa."
"Now it's my turn." Naruto spoke as he fired a medium sized fireball with "Katon : Endan" while a clone fired a "Fuuton Daitoppa" in conjugation.
'Holy shit!' Minato thought as he quickly flashed through several hand signs.
"Doton: Doryuuheki" he cried creating a mud wall between himself and the incoming fireball.
There was an explosion as the huge fireball crashed into the barrier creating a lot of debris and smoke. Seeing this Minato quickly hid himself underground trying to ambush his opponent.
'Dammit, he is damn strong. Probably the strongest opponent I have ever faced. He is strong in taijutsu and is a chakra monster to boot. I can detect and dispel genjutsus but am not proficient at casting them. I really don't want to unlick the gravity seals fully as they will take a toll on my body. Well then I will go with a fuinjutsu trap and surprise attacks. I know that I will drop dead from chakra exhaustion before he gets winded.' With that strategy in mind Minato began sensing the position of his opponent.
Meanwhile Naruto surveyed the destruction caused by his attack. As his opponent was nowhere in sight he deduced that Minato was hiding underground. He created five more clones and assumed a swastika formation.
Minato emerged right in the middle of the formation as he quickly stabbed two of the clones but a third one punched him in the face. He spit out some blood as he recovered to his feet and began throwing kunai which Naruto dodged easily.
Minato smiled as he set the trap for his unsuspecting opponent. As soon as the trap was ready he formed a hand sign and suddenly Naruto found his body a lot heavier.
"What the hell?" Naruto shouted out.
"A gravity field. The kunai I threw at you had small seals inscribed on them. Using those I created an area where I can increase the gravity for a short while." Minato explained his ploy.
"I must say I am impressed." Naruto replied. "But I think I can manage in this."
"Its no good I can increase the gravity up to ten times. No one can withstand that much weight." Minato shook his head.
"We will see." Naruto commented as he somehow made a hand sign and cried "Kai". He lunged towards Minato who widened his eyes before he quickly increased the gravity field once more.
"Give up you are trapped and can't get away from this." Minato tried to explain.
"Heh, give up on trying to make me give up. You are good" Naruto smirked and the audience gasped.
"But I'm better." A voice said as a kunai appeared at Minato's throat. Another Naruto stood behind Minato as the one trapped in the gravity filed disappeared in a puff of smoke.
'How did he get behind me?' Minato thought in confusion and slight awe.
"You certainly know how to use the Body Flicker Technique," Jiraiya commented. "It looks like this match really is over now. I declare Naruto Uzumaki as the winner."
"It was an impressive performance." Hiruzen congratulated both participants for a good show.
"You should've used that jutsu," Jiraiya said, shaking his head. "I'll never live this down once Sakumo finds out about this."
"Thanks for your concern, sensei," Minato said, rolling his eyes as he felt Naruto remove the kunai from his throat.
Turning to face Naruto, he said, "When and how did you get behind me?"
"You were not the only one who was setting a trap. When you hid underground I henged myself into a kunai and a clone threw it at you amongst the others. You then focussed on trapping my remaining clone in the field while I observed from afar and snuck up on you." Naruto said with a grin as he put his kunai up and offered a hand to his unknowing father. Minato simply smiled and returned the gesture.
"That was awesome dattebane. Naruto kun I hope you can spar with me sometimes." Kushina was mighty impressed.
"Well count me in too. I want to improve too. If I participate in those level of spars I will be a jonin quickly." Spoke Tsume.
"Uzumaki Naruto at your service ladies. You will just have to name the time and place." Naruto gave a mock bow as Kushina giggled. "But I expect to be taught new things in return will that be alright?"
He received two enthusiastic nods and a huff in reply.
"You are alright Uzumaki, don't let it get to your head." Mikoto replied.
"You are just annoyed that he is stronger than you." Tsume poked out her tongue at Mikoto who gave her death glares in return.
Hiruzen coughed slightly to interrupt their banter. "Now, I'd like to congratulate you on doing so well in your test. We need to find you an apartment, Chunin Uzumaki. I'll make your entry in the shinobi corps official and explain the probation that you will be placed on as a foreign trained shinobi." He then shunshined away with Jiraiya leaving the younger shinobi to their task.
'Chunin… finally I get promoted.' Naruto thought in surprise.
"Yeah yeah he did say chunin you troublesome blonde. Now let's go and celebrate your instatement." Shikaku clapped Naruto on the back.
"Yep that sounds good. Hey let's get something to eat guys the tab is on me. Where would you like to go?" Naruto asked excitedly.
"Well if you are paying then Ichiraku ramen it is." Minato replied instantly.
"You are always hungry for ramen. I wanted to go someplace else." Kushina pouted slightly.
"Ramen is fine with me." Tsume agreed while Mikoto just gave a curt nod.
"By the way I should warn you Minato is a ramen freak. Your wallet will be cleaned up." Kushina warned Naruto.
"Well it's the food of gods, a guy can't have too much ramen you know." Naruto exclaimed happily.
"Between the two of them I can't say which one is the bigger ramen addict." Shikaku sagely informed the ladies.
"You mean he can match Minato in ramen eating too?" Mikoto inquired.
"Probably beat him too." Naruto boasted a little.
"Hey ramen eating is something in which I won't get defeated." Minato challenged.
"We will see pretty boy." Naruto replied.
"I suppose you are planning to use one of your special hokage tabs today aren't you?" Shikaku asked to which he received a sly smile from the blonde.
"Hokage tabs?" asked Kushina and Minato simultaneously.
"I will tell you the whole story on the way. Now let's go to Ichiraku." Naruto put one arm around Shikaku and other around Minato and lead them to his favourite destination.
Next day Hiruzen received a bill that left him clutching his heart in fright.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well here we are people, did you guys enjoy the fight. I tried to give a realistic feel and tried to incorporate various elements rather than making it like two people just throwing jutsus around. This was my first fight description so suggestions to improve it are most welcome. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please don't forget to send your reviews and suggestions.
Justsu List
Fuuton : Daitoppa : Wind Release :Great breakthrough
Raiton: Rensa Raikou : Lightning Style : Chain lightning
Doton: Doryuuheki : Earth style : Mud wall
Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu : Multi Shadow clone technique
Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu : Shuriken Shadow clone technique
Hiraishin no jutsu : Flying thunder god technique
Katon : Endan : Fire style : Fireball