Sorry to those that wanted it all in a long chapter, but I didn't feel like leaving you without a chapter any longer. And to The Mercenary Chief, how long does it have to be to not be considered as a disappointingly short chapter? I hope that this chapter isn't disappointingly short because it's about my new average chapter length... at least up until the next one comes out. I'll try make my new chapters around that length.

Anyways here's...

Chapter 15: Backup Arrives

After three days, Team 7 arrived at the shack that Team 10 were staying in. After giving Team 7 a brief review of what happened, Naruto created shadow clones to keep watch of the perimeter.

"Ugh why did they send us on the mission if your clones are perfect for this." Ino complained.

Naruto looked at her for a few seconds before shrugging. "I have skills in almost everything now so I could be sent on any mission really. But I can't be everywhere at once." Naruto said, but then thought on it for a bit longer. 'Well, if I can upgrade the Shadow Clone Jutsu, then I might be able to… that's my next project… Hmm I wonder if seals would help.'

Hinata watched the two interact and then saw Naruto mumbling to himself before he went in a corner and closed his eyes to mediate. 'He must be talking to Kurama now.' Hinata mused and then went back to scouting around the camp with her Byakugan. After not spotting anything and reporting to Kakashi and Asuma. She went to sit next to Naruto to try and start a conversation with the blonde. Unfortunately all her training to become a good Hyuga Heiress didn't transfer to social skills.

Naruto didn't notice Hinata's predicament due to being in his mindscape and trading ideas back and forth with Kurama.

"So in theory, if I can mix my shadow clones with other elements and if I give them enough chakra, they can be like another me?"

"Yes and no. Think about it. They'll need another medium, even if you managed to get all five elements into a shadow clone at once. Not to mention the insane amount of chakra control needed to accomplish such a feat."

"A medium? What can be used as a medium?"

"A person can be used as a medium. But I highly doubt that you'd sacrifice a person's life just to make a clone that's as durable as the real you."

"Yeah, I'd rather not. Hmm. Wait. Can I use my blood as a medium?"

"Hmm… you might be able to. You'll have to try it. As far as I know you'll have to create a whole new clone jutsu, because I'm not sure if there's one that matches the durability that you desire."

"So I'll have to make an original clone jutsu. I'll just use my shadow clones to try and create a new clone jutsu. It'll speed things along."

"Very well, but you'll need to hand each a certain amount of blood since they can't bleed themselves. And that's where you'll be limited. You may have an impressive amount of chakra, but you only have a certain amount of blood."

"Damn that's right. I didn't think of that."

"You can create a clone to brainstorm new ideas for you. The Hyuga girl wants to speak with you."

"Oh really? Thanks Kurama." Naruto petted his nose before leaving the mindscape. Which caused Kurama to mumble about stupid jinchurikis. After exiting his mindscape, Naruto blinked a couple times to clear away the haze that comes with leaving the mindscape. He quietly made a small clone, that he placed in his pocket, to brainstorm while he turned to face Hinata, who was currently quietly mumbling something to herself. "Hey Hinata, did you want to talk to me about something?"

Hinata was a little surprised to hear Naruto talking to her suddenly when she thought he was too busy talking to Kurama to notice. She took a second to think of what to say. "Yes, I was wondering if you had any advice on training your elemental chakra. I want to improve my water chakra."

"Oh! Sure! Ok so what I do is I picture my chakra like a fine line since I'm a wind affinity. But since yours is water, you-"

"Naruto, you're a wind user?" Asuma asked in shock. "Wind users are really rare in Konoha. In fact I was the only one with a wind affinity."

"Yeah, I've wanted to ask you for help but you went out here for a mission. So how did you master your wind chakra affinity?"

"Well in order to master it, first you'll need to cut a leaf in half with wind chakra alone."

"I'm already working on that, I have it half way down."

"How are you visualizing your wind chakra?"

"I just picture it as a fine line."

"Hmm, you said you're half way done?" After receiving a nod from Naruto, Asuma shook his head. "Kid, you must have a strong wind affinity. Wind chakra splits in two and grinds them together."

"Wait, so I was getting it wrong but I still managed to do it?" Naruto created a shadow clone to go fetch him some leaves. After the clone returned, Naruto visualized his chakra as Asuma said and it split down the middle immediately. "Woah."

"Tch. The next step is to split a waterfall. Guess you'll have to wait till after the mission for that." Asuma said with a smirk. He took a deep puff of his cigarette and slowly let it out. "Sorry to rely heavily on you Naruto, but we're going to rely on your clones to keep watch for the enemies."

Naruto's eyes became harder and he nodded. "Yes sir." He created five more shadow clones that he pumped more chakra into so they can keep watching their surroundings longer. He nodded to them and they quickly departed.

"Kakashi." Kakashi faced Asuma with his visible eyebrow raised. "When we get out of this, I'm gonna need you to teach me more versatile ninjutsus. The ones I used on the Iwa jonin barely even fazed him."

"Alright then. In return, I ask if you can help chibi here to further his wind affinity training."

"Deal." Asuma strolled over till he was standing in front of his genin. "This mission has made me realize I've been too lenient and frankly irresponsible with your training. That stops now. We are now going to be training till you guys drop." The genin of Team 10 paled and gulped which made Asuma smirk. "Cmon on. Let's go outside."

After Team 10 left, Naruto created a couple more shadow clones to keep watch over them just in case the Iwa team decided to come by earlier than expected. He was about to start mediating again when Hinata spoke to him again.

"Well I guess I can ask Kakashi-sensei for the affinity training." Hinata bit her lip a bit then turned to face Naruto. "When we get back into the village, would you like to go to lunch with me, Naruto-san?"

Naruto gave her a gentle and small smile, the ones he hardly shows anyone anymore. "Sure thing Hinata-chan."

Hinata felt her heart flutter when he gave her that smile. She returned the smile and nodded. She then gets up and decides to go off to do something to distract herself in the meantime.

Naruto watched her get up and leave with the smile still on his face. 'Hm, wonder where she's gonna take us to eat after the mission.' He heard footsteps and saw Sasuke coming over to talk to him. "Hey Sasuke, what's up?"

Sasuke smirked as he sat down next to Naruto, after he sat down he nudged him. "So pervert, how's it feel getting a date?"

"Pervert? And Date?" Naruto asked in a shocked and bewildered tone.

Sasuke nodded his head and pointed to his weapons pouch, which just so happened to be holding a certain orange book. "You having and reading that perverted book that Kakashi-sensei gave you, makes you a pervert. And Hinata just asked you out on a date."

Naruto let out a sigh and shook his head. "Ok first off, reading this book doesn't make me a pervert. I actually enjoy reading these books and its plot. Second off, it's not a date. It's more like friends getting lunch."

Sasuke smirked and shook his head again. "Good luck on your date dobe."

"It's not a date but whatever." Naruto mumbled. He looked around and saw that Kakashi had his nose buried in his book, Sasuke went to go lay on a bed and doze off, and Hinata was scouting with her Byakugan. His gaze lingered on her a bit longer before he closed his eyes to mediate once again. When he did, a trail of smoke came out of his pocket due to the small clone dispelling.

-3 Days Later-

It had been a calm three days since Team 7 arrived to assist Team 10's border patrol mission gone wrong. For three days, Naruto used his shadow clones to always have a patrol system vigilant. On the third day, Naruto's clones caught a glimpse of who Asuma fought, according to his description. Faito was scoping out Konoha's border patrol shack in hopes of either getting a hostage or easy kill, or just to find out more about the Konoha shinobi in hopes of finding a weakness they could exploit. What worries Naruto is that they might've found out a weakness that they didn't know they even had because Faito left with a devilish smirk on his face.

He had this sudden knot in his stomach ever since he saw Faito leave with that look on his face. 'What did he find out? Why did he have that smirk on his face?' Naruto shook his head, hoping that he was worrying about nothing and that smirk was just a frown. 'Hopefully he gave up. I mean there's two jonin now, and one of them is Kakashi-sensei.' With his thoughts now slightly settled, he went back to doing his task.

Reading his Icha Icha book.

Sitting down to rest, The Great Gallant Rokuro had a chance to recall his mistress. Remembering her smile… her laugh… the way she would brighten up a room with those two things alone. The precious memories he had of her brought a smile to his face. No one would ever measure up to her in his eyes. The recollection of his mistress caused him to relax so he could recall more memories.

He would try to recall every little detail. To the scent of her hair, to how she felt in his arms after a night of passionate love making.

This part earned a blush from Naruto. He recalled reading about the love making scene in the book which made the Uzumaki blush a deep red at the time. Even remembering the details caused his cheeks to turn a light shade of pink.

"Not a pervert, my ass."

Naruto slapped the book shut as quick as head possibly could and glared daggers at Sasuke. Sasuke had a smirk slapped on his face and was hovering over Naruto. Naruto let out a short sigh. "I keep telling you I'm not."

"Mhmm. Alright, sure." Sasuke's smirk grew when he saw Naruto scowling at him. He shrugged at the blonde, which only made his scowl deepen. "Come on, get up. Kakashi-sensei said that movement was spotted to the south of here."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and stood up after Sasuke offered a hand. After pocketing his book, Naruto patted down his clothes and was walking along with Sasuke to go with Kakashi-sensei. "Has he said anything else?"

Sasuke shook his head which made Naruto's mood take a serious tone. When they got to Kakashi, he motioned for the two to join the rest of the genin. With all the genin now assembled, Kakashi started to give orders.

"Alright everyone. My shadow clone that I sent out had dispelled and it gave me intel on our enemies." He saw Team 10 stiffen up a bit but noticed that he had not earned a reaction from his team. "We'll be facing jonin skilled enemies. From what my clone sensed, their chakra pools were jonin sized and were also wearing Iwa jonin vest." Now he had gotten a reaction from his team along with Asuma's, though only Team 10 spoke.

"What?! W-We face a genin team! Why is there only jonin?!" Ino cried out from fright.

Choji grew a bit pale and turned to face Shikamaru. Shikamaru only shook his head and muttered "troublesome." Shikamaru looked up at Kakashi and asked for more info on their opponents.

Kakashi lowered his head a bit and shook his head. "I'm afraid that's all I gathered. Unlike Naruto, I can be pumping out clones like they're nothing. My clone dispelled so I could get the memories along with the remaining chakra the clone had left."

Naruto nodded his head. "Hey Kakashi-sensei? Want me to pump out some clones to fight them first to gather information on their fighting strategies and jutsu arsenal?"

"No Naruto. We'll need all the chakra we have since we don't know what the jonin can do. There were five jonin. Me and Asuma will try to fight them off, but if they manage to split up you'll be fighting in pairs. Sasuke you're more of a mid to long range fighter, you'll be with Choji who's a close range fighter. Hinata, you'll be close range with your taijutsu so Shikamaru will help you from a distance with his Shadow Possession jutsu. Naruto, you're an all around fighter so you'll be with Ino. You can provide assistance and cover to her when she uses her Mind Body Switch jutsu. Do you all understand?"

After receiving a nod from all the genin, he sent them to get their equipment ready. Asuma came over next to Kakashi right as he let out a heavy sigh. "You got attached to those kids, didn't you Kakashi?"

The white haired jonin rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. "What can I say, they grew on me."

Faito was leading his squad towards the camp where the Konoha nin were staying. He turned around and glanced over his assembled team. He had left his genin team in the village after returning and dropping them off in the hospital. After he was discharged, he went around and was cashing in some favors he earned from other jonins. He wanted to go back to kill the Leaf nin for hurting his students and crippling one of them. His face hardened at remembering the state his students were in. Anaru was fine, just a couple scratches. Niton had a broken arm and leg, but would make a full recovery soon. Sensou was the one that ended up crippled. Thanks to Nara's action, there was kunai debris in Sensou's leg and all the extra movement Faito made when he was hastily retreating to the village only worsened his state. The doctors had told him that Sensou's ninja career would forever be hindered unless Tsunade herself or someone close to her skill level came to heal him.

Faito closed his eyes to calm himself and focused back on looking over his assembled team. The first one he eyed was Haafu. Haafu had the Iron Release kekkei genkai. He could completely turn his body into iron, making his physical strength and resistance strengthen. He was the one that gave Faito the idea to learn the Earth Spear and make it cover his whole body. His reserves and skills were up to par, these reasons are what made him choose Haafu to fight the blonde brat, who he knew without a doubt was Namikaze's son. No one else had that kind of blonde hair, not even Yamanaka's. No matter what the brat had up his sleeve, Haafu's Iron Armor would be a tough obstacle to overcome.

Next was Daun. He had no abilities that made him stand out, but he earned his jonin position by hard work and determination. He was one of the top Iwa jonin due to his talent alone. He was better than Faito and he proved it by beating him. He had high chakra reserves and stamina, and was mainly a taijutsu and ninjutsu user. Saita was the second strongest on the team, only behind Haafu, due to having insane physical strength even for normal jonin standards. Logically, he was mainly a taijutsu user and rarely used ninjutsu. He only used it when he needed to, or if he ever felt like it. He had low reserves but due to mainly relying on taijutsu, that wasn't an issue.

Kyua was no doubt the weakest of the team. Not because she was a woman, but due to her physical strength and small body. She however excelled in ninjutsu, she had the second largest reserves on the team so she would be able to throw out a couple jutsus at a time without breaking a sweat. If she only improved on her physical strength, then she would without a doubt be a greater force to reckon with.

After mentally assessing their skills, Faito landed on a branch and held his fist up which caused all the others to halt. "After scouting their hideout, I've gathered the intel of who we're fighting against. I'll go over the biggest threats and then the lower ones. The first one is the one I faced the first time. Asuma Sarutobi, the son of the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi. He specializes in Wind Style jutsus and prefers to use those trench knives he carries around. Next is Kakashi Hatake," He heard groans and gasps from his team. After clearing his throat, he resumed speaking. "Hatake, or the copy ninja, has an implanted Sharingan in his left eye socket. If you can, take it for Iwa. He's well versed in all the chakra natures so be wary of that. And the last target is Naruto Uzumaki. He's a genin, and well versed in the shadow clone jutsu." He looked around and saw their confused faces. He was saying a genin was one of the biggest threats? He took a deep breath before continuing. "I've come to the conclusion that he is the son of Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage. The bastard that killed a thousand of our troops. He left a son and I think we should return the favor."

"Woah woah, how did you get that conclusion?" Kyua asked him skeptically.

"The brat has the same blonde hair and looks exactly like him, except just add whisker marks. The damn leaf village kept all the other villages in the dark about the bastard having a son." Faito responded.

All the jonin gathered nodded their heads. Kyua was still in denial but she nodded along as well. "So what is the course of action?"

Faito nodded and continued to debrief them quickly about the rest of the genin. "Alright, there's an Uchiha, a Hyuuga, a Nara, an Akimichi and a Yamanaka. They didn't really stand out as much as the other three, but still be wary of them. Since they didn't use any jutsus, I have no idea of their jutsu arsenal except maybe their clan's specialities."

"So gentle fist from the Hyuga, shadow jutsus from the Nara, mind jutsus from Yamanaka, expansion from the Akimichi, and fire style plus the sharingan from the Uchiha." Saita spoke up.

"The sharingan is if he has it activated. I'm not sure but be wary of that." Faito corrected. He looked at Haafu and spoke. "Haafu, I'm sending you to kill the Namikaze."

"What? Why?" He questioned. "I thought that you'd want to kill the bastard's son."

"I want to, but you're a better fighter than I am. You have your iron armor, which is a lot more durable than my rock armor, plus your taijutsu skills are a lot better than mine. Anything that he can throw at you won't affect you as much, if at all. If he's really the bastard's son then I don't want to take any chances. You can toy with him for a bit if you want, but I want him dead by the end of the day." Haafu nodded and Faito turned back around, ready to fight to the death. "Let's go."

Kakashi and Asuma were standing outside the shack that they were staying at while the genin was behind them. Hinata was using her byakugan to scan the surrounding area so they wouldn't be caught off guard when the enemy arrived. After a few seconds, she saw something entering her range of vision.

"Kakashi-sensei, they're coming from the east." She whispered out so the enemy wouldn't know they were aware of their location. He nodded and lifted up his forehead protector. "They just split up… we're surrounded." The last comment carried a bit of fear in it that Naruto picked up on. He turned to face her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it'll be alright Hinata-chan." Naruto said as he gave her a smile.

"Heheh… Ahahaha! AHAHAHAHAHA!" The laughter surrounded them all and the genin of Team 10 felt the blood rush out of their face. "You think you'll be alright by the end of this?" Faito asked rhetorically. "You all will be dead by the time we finish with you. Although we might take the Hyuga and the Uchiha for Iwa." He gave the two of them a malicious smile. He then slowly turned to face Naruto and his smile grew wider, almost managing to split his face in two. "But for you, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze," Naruto's eyes widened along with Kakashi and Asuma. "For being the bastard's son, you're going to die today! We'll have revenge on Minato Namikaze by killing his son!" This was all the rest of the Iwa team needed before they engaged in battle with the Leaf nin.

Saita and Daun charged at the leaf jonin, who had to block their charges in order to prevent them from reaching their students. They're objective was to keep them preoccupied while Haafu killed the Namikaze brat and while Faito and Kyua fought and killed the genin. Daun decided to engage with Asuma while Saita fought Kakashi. When Saita sent a punch towards Kakashi, he crossed his arms to cover his chest but was sent flying back from it. Saita grinned and rushed towards him again to not give him time to breath.

Daun saw Asuma pull out his trench knives and send chakra through them. He saw that the color of the chakra was green so he wisely concluded it was coated with wind chakra. "Impressive. You have a wind affinity and can send it through your trench knives for added reach." He crouched down and eyed Asuma. "But is your fighting good enough? Let's see!"

Asuma prepared himself once he saw Daun launch off towards him. He made a horizontal slash with his wind chakra coated trench knives, sending out a wave of wind chakra that almost managed to cut Daun. After being forced to drop to the ground, Daun jumped into the air and kicked Asuma in the face, sending him flying back. After regaining his balance, Asuma steadied himself in the air and flipped to land on his feet. He readied his knives again and charged towards Daun.

The Iwa nin smirked and jumped back, giving him enough time to pull out a kunai. He channeled earth chakra through it and clashed blades with Asuma's. The Sarutobi was surprised when he didn't cut through the kunai, but then he noticed it was darker than it should be, causing him to mentally curse. 'Tch. I hate earth users sometimes.'

He jumped back and flew through hand signs, took a deep breath and exhaled a cloud of ash. Daun saw the cloud of smoke and wisely jumped back to avoid the deadly explosion. After seeing the Iwa nin jump back, Asuma let out a grunt of annoyance and ignited his technique. After the dust cloud from the explosion cleared, Asuma couldn't find where Daun had gone. 'Left, right, above…underneath!' Asuma concluded and jumped back just in time to avoid having a kunai rammed into his jaw.

Daun clicked his teeth in annoyance at the fact that it wasn't that easy to kill the Sandaime's son. 'Though it'd be no fun if it was that easy I guess.' Daun thought with a mental shrug. He pulled out another kunai and now held both in a reverse grip. "Come Third Hokage's son! Come and die!" He yelled out as he charged.

"No thanks! I'd rather not!" Asuma replied back and met him halfway.

The Leaf genin were warily watching the three remaining Iwa jonin, who were currently grinning menacingly at them. Team 10 were afraid because they knew they were not ready to fight off jonin level ninjas. They would surely die in a matter of minutes. Team 7 however were carefully watching the enemies. They were scared too, no doubt about that. But what would wearing your fear on the sleeve of your shirt do?

Naruto scoffed and flicked the jonin off. "What the hell do you bastards want?" This earned gaping expressions from Team 10 who were now staring at Naruto in horror.

"D-Don't say things like that right now Naruto, you idiot!" She looked back at the jonin and saw them with furious expressions on their faces. 'I'm going to die, and all because Naruto couldn't keep his mouth shut!' She felt like passing out from fright, but was slapped by Hinata.

"Ino-san, focus. We're not at the academy where you could faint and still be fine. If you faint, or make a mistake here, you'll die for sure. Get a grip." She chided harshly but quietly. Ino could only nod her head and slowly pulled out a kunai from her weapon pouch. She idly noticed that everyone else was also wielding kunai's.

Before Naruto could throw another taunt, he was kicked in the chest by Haafu. The kick sent him flying back and knocked all the air out of him. Haafu ran after him with Ino following as well from a further distance. She didn't want the Iwa jonin to turn around and get an easy kill just because she was following too close. With Naruto, Ino and Haafu gone, Faito decided to attack the Hyuga while Kyua fought the Uchiha. With the genin now separated into pairs, the fight for their lives started.

Soooo I decided to split the chapter. Sorry for those that wanted one big chapter, but with the pace I'm going at, it might've been over 10k. So instead of making you guys wait forever, here goes the first part of the fight. Leave a review to let me know what you guys thought of this chapter, and of the story so far! I'd love to hear your thoughts!