Chapter Nine: Trial by Fire


The loud explosion in the sky above Konohagakure echoed throughout the entire village. Normally, most would have assumed it'd been from one of the many training grounds, but the location of it and the sheer volume of the sound indicated otherwise. In the office of the Hokage, Hiruzen's eyes peered up as he felt the shockwave reach the building.

"Hmm," Hiruzen hummed, standing up and walking towards the window. Smoke started to rise over the tree-line, making the Hokage narrow his eyes in response.

This was a strange occurrence. From the looks of it, the smoke was coming from near one of the training grounds. Naruto should be training with Ben and Azmuth right about now. Why do I have this feeling this is somehow connected?

Naruto watched as the large object soared towards the ground, crashing twenty feet in front of him. He could feel the heat from the impact and the wind blow his hair back. Lifting his hand up to block the gust of wind, he watched as the large object was revealed to be a large, dark red pod.

The pod hissed, opening up to reveal large appendages, as it stood up. Naruto couldn't believe his eyes as the pod's robotic form lumbered over the three of them, with bulbous glowing eyes. A laser sensor moved onto Ben, and moved promptly to Azmuth, before to Naruto.

It's eyes seemed to lock onto the young shinobi, and Naruto felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The robot let out a strange noise, and it stepped forward towards him. "Oh, it doesn't look happy to see me," he gulped.

"Hey Naruto, remember what I told you my signature catchphrase was when it was time to use the Omnitrix?" Ben asked, gaining his attention.

It only took him a moment, as Naruto turned to face Ben, smiling brightly, returning his attention to the robot. Sliding his sleeve back to reveal the Omnitrix, Naruto selected Heatblast on the dial, and chuckled. "Oh yeah. It's Hero Time!"

As the flash of light engulfed his body, the blond launched into action, bringing a burning fist into the robot's arm. As Heatblast landed, noticing that the hit barely even left a scratch, the Pyronite pouted.

Why did he think punching that would leave any mark? He was going to need to figure out how to beat it, but before Heatblast could move, the robot's fist slammed into him, sending the Pyronite crashing into a tree.

"Naruto!" Ben called out, pulling a laser lance from his jacket's inside pocket. "Are you okay?!"

"Ugh," Heatblast groaned, shaking his head for a moment. "I'm alright. The tin-head got lucky."

Oh dear, he's already making battle quips like Ben. Azmuth facepalmed silently, as Heatblast jumped to his feet and saw the robot aim at him with a shoulder mounted weapon. A low whirr came from the weapon as it lit up and shot a laser blast at Heatblast. With quick reflexes he rolled out of the way, instinctively throwing his arm out to shoot a fireball into the robot's chest.

The robot's legs let out a mechanical groan as it raised up another foot and the spot where Heatblast had struck it split open, revealing four small drones about the size of a stop sign that spread around the training grounds, surrounding the three.

Ben took aim, firing his laser lance, managing to strike its "eyes," taking out its motherboard in the process, rendering it useless as the drone hit the ground. The other drones immediately turned their attention to Ben, and began firing upon his position. He dove out of the way, rolling to his feet, managing to grab Azmuth and slip him into his shirt pocket all in one fell swoop.

"Go ahead and get out of here! I'll deal with this!" Heatblast ordered. From the look on Ben's face, the man had been determined to argue with him, but something made him just decide to drop it and take off with the Galvan. The drones noticed Ben's retreat and began their pursuit. "Oh no," Heatblast growled as he saw the drones, hurling some fireballs at them, only missing by a few inches. "I can't let them get hurt. I hope this works!"

Quickly making hand signs, Heatblast declared "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" In a flash of flames there stood three Pyronite clones, each letting out the classic Naruto smile and laugh whenever he accomplished something he wanted to.

The clones ran after Ben and Azmuth, leaving Heatblast to face off against the robot.

The robot let out a strenuous 'whirr' that shook the ground beneath their feet, earning a smile from the Pyronite realized that it was charging up for another attack. He could see the laser light up, and with barely a moment to spare he raised his arm up, creating a wall of fire in front of him that blocked the laser. Heatblast wasn't sure as to how he had done that, but unfortunately he couldn't think about that right now.

Around them the training ground was ablaze, with the robot slowly peering through the smoke to reveal its glowing eyes, focused solely on the Omnitrix. Heatblast jumped to the right out of the way as the robot leapt forward, tearing the ground apart due to its spinning legs. The smile hadn't left his face, and as much as he might have been enjoying this little fight, this thing had to be stopped, asap.

Drawing both of his arms back, the Pyronite drew in as much heat as he could summon, before firing an extraordinary beam of fire at the machine, creating a blinding light that engulfed the entire surrounding area.


Running for his life is not what Ben thought he'd be doing when he woke up this morning. Just that statement alone was enough to make Ben absolutely sick to his stomach. How was it the very guy who for over thirteen years generally ran towards fights currently running away from one? Oh, right… he didn't have the Omnitrix anymore. Ben wished he had it right about now, so he could transform into XLR8 and get Azmuth to safety without being followed by those incessant drones. Or he could even turn into Wildmutt like he did that night he first found it and take out the drones that way, but that was then, this is now. He couldn't rely on the Omnitrix, and that was the one thing he'd have to teach Naruto, you know, if he didn't end up getting blasted by one of these things before the chance even came about.

Azmuth, for what it was worth, certainly was taking the situation well enough. He wasn't complaining about Ben's actions, oh no, that would come later after the fact. If this were to go Azmuth's way, the Galvan would probably try to dismantle the drones himself, via a little sneak attack.

Man, why didn't I think about that before we left the training ground?! Ben thought to himself, as a blast from one of the drones shot past his head, tearing through the trunk of the tree in front of him.

"So, did you think this was going to happen?" Ben asked with a chuckle, much to the Galvan's dismay.

"I'd be lying if I said yes, but I knew there was a distinct possibility!" the alien answered, making Ben smile for just a spit second, before a sharp pain ran through his torso, causing him to instinctively place his hand over his scar. "We need to stop, Benjamin."

"Uh, if you recall we're kinda busy at the moment!" Ben growled, jumping over a root sticking out of the ground. However, Ben didn't hear the slight wind-up from the drone behind him as it fired, striking him in the calf, knocking him to the ground, tearing the Galvan from his resting place.

With a rather sickening thud, Azmuth went crashing onto the ground while Ben laid on the ground, grasping onto his leg. What neither of them had realized was that Ben's laser lance had been knocked out of his hand as well, and now laid twenty feet in front of him. The three drones began to circle them, all focused on Ben primarily. Azmuth could see it, just by how they were rotating around Ben and not paying too much attention to the small alien.

Whoever had sent that sentry bot, they knew Ben would be involved and seemed to be taking steps to ensure that Ben and the Omnitrix wouldn't be a problem. Azmuth went to stand up, only to be met with one of the drones aiming at them. He scoffed slightly, looks like they were focused on him after all.

Ben let go of the burned hole on his leg, and glanced over to Azmuth. The Galvan was okay, for the moment, which hopefully was a good sign. This was when Ben realized he didn't have his laser lance and immediately turned towards it. He couldn't get there fast enough, not with his leg being injured now.

Through the trees, Ben could see smoke rising over the training ground, a lot of smoke at that. With a little bit of luck, that hopefully meant Naruto was about to finish this thing and come save them, if the drones didn't end it right now.

Ben gulped as he saw the drones' eyes light up, a sign they were charging up to attack. The man quickly turned and tried to crawl to the laser lance, closing his eyes as he heard the climax of the wind up. An explosion occurred, and Ben opened his eyes to turn back. One of the three drones fell to the ground, half of it burned to a crisp, leaving only a gaping hole in the side of the machine. From the air came down a couple Pyronites, taking down the other drones with a flaming punch.

A third one landed beside Ben and helped him to his feet. "N-Naruto?" Ben asked, seeing the Omnitrix symbol on each of their chests.

"One of four, yes," the clone Heatblast chuckled, placing his arms on his hips triumphantly. "Sorry we're late. You guys had a bit of a head start, that and we were trying to not start a forest fire."

"Hmm, unlike someone I know," Azmuth smiled turning towards Ben, earning a look of disapproval in return.

"You're never going to let me live that one down, are you?"

"No, and neither will your family. Naruto, is the sentry still a problem?"

"You mean the big old metal thing? I think so. Otherwise I think the real me would have been here." Clone Heatblast explained as the other two clones dispelled, having checked out the surrounding area to make sure it was clear.

"It must be aware of Heatblast's form. Who would be trying to prepare against the Omnitrix?" Ben asked, although it was a stupid question to ask. Anyone with a malevolent agenda would be against the Omnitrix.

"I'm afraid that list would be far too great to narrow any suspects," Azmuth concluded.

As much as the clone wanted to chat about the possible suspects behind this, he knew that his real counterpart was still in the fight and needed backup. "Sorry to cut it short, but are you okay to walk?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks, Naruto."

"Don't mention it. I gotta go. If I'm right, I'll be changing back any minute."

"Go, we'll catch up."

The Pyronite took off, running out of sight as Ben limped over to the laser lance and picked it up. "Did you know he could make clones as an alien?"

"No, but that is going to be a useful tool. I surmise as long as he has appendages capable of performing the signs needed for it, he can clone himself at any time."

A deafening explosion rang out from the training ground, making them turn towards the sound, to see the smoke was now getting bigger, and some of it was now coming from the village. That wasn't a good sign.


There was a sickening ringing in his ears dampening the screams of terror in the background as Naruto's eyes fluttered open weakly. His entire body felt like it had just taken a beating from at least a hundred shadow clones, (was this what Mizuki felt like that night?) and Naruto could barely turn his head at the moment. As much as his body hurt, it didn't compare to how his chest hurt. It burned with every breath and mere twitch of a muscle to the point where it almost blinded him from the rest of his pain.

As he managed to slowly sit up, a burning sensation came from the side of his head. Rather absent-mindedly, Naruto raised his hand to touch it, to feel a warm sticky substance attach to his fingertips. Drawing his hand back, Naruto noticed it was red… he was bleeding. He let a soft groan escape his lips, and began to blink a couple times to adapt to the lighting of the room.

Wh-what happened? He wondered, as the ninja proceeded to weakly climb to his feet, grabbing onto a nearby shelf that was barely standing on its own for support. Just as he let go the shelf collapsed, making him chuckle in relief, glad he wasn't still holding onto it. Looking around, he saw that he was in the wreckage of what looked to be a grocery store. Stepping forward slowly, Naruto took in the environment around him, seeing that where he had been laying looked to be the source of the damage. Had he been the one that destroyed this place?

The young ninja winced as his ears rang rather loudly, unable to hear the voice behind him. "Kidddd…" it called out to him, almost like a whisper. Naruto rubbed his ear, noticing the floor around the crash site, if he could call it that, was scorched. Did, did I get burned?

Looking down at his chest, Naruto saw his clothes looked rather okay, all things considered, apart from the wooden debris stuck in the fabric and the dust. "Kid…" the voice called out again, catching Naruto's attention just barely.

Before he could even turn, a hand suddenly clasped onto his shoulder, spinning him around to reveal a disheveled elderly man. He was covered in cuts and scratches, with a trail of blood running down his right arm. "Are you alright?"

"What's, what's going on?" Naruto asked as he gave a light thumbs up as an answer, even if he was lying. Truthfully he felt like he was going to throw up at any second, but other than that he'd probably live.

"Something's attacking the village. We need to get out of here," the old man answered, as Naruto realized something. His eyebrow raised ever so slightly as he noted the old man didn't seem to mind that he was talking to the Demon Brat of Konoha currently. Didn't he know who Naruto was?

"Y-you're, you're not afraid of me?" Naruto asked, as the old man scoffed at the question.

"Listen to me, boy… I'm more afraid of being killed from whatever's out there than what you've got inside you. Now, let's go."

Naruto didn't get a chance to reply as the man rather forcefully pulled the ninja forward and out of the shop. As he stumbled onto the street, he was shocked to see Konoha in ruin. His head throbbed violently as a reddish beam of light flew by overhead, followed by the sound of flames and buildings collapsing.

What's going on? Naruto had to think for a moment as he looked down at his wrist, finally seeing the red faceplate of the Omnitrix. That's right… I got hit right as I transformed back. My luck couldn't be much worse right now.

The old man went to pull Naruto away, but the ninja held his hand up. "No, I appreciate it, but someone's gotta make sure the villagers in danger get to safety."

"Hmmph, you almost sound like a real shinobi."

Naruto just smiled at the comment, putting his hands together to form the sign for his shadow clones, as a dozen of them appeared, before scattering across the village. "Go ahead and go. Thank you, and if that was your store, I'm sorry. I'll come back and help you fix it up, I promise."

The shinobi leapt onto the rooftop as a clone escorted the old man to safety. Naruto's jacket was unzipped, having been torn open by the blast. Multiple shinobi were thrown back as the robot appeared from the cloud of smoke, spinning rapidly. Naruto smiled as it slowed down, stopping as its eyes fell upon him. "Alright, looks like I've got your attention. That was easier than I thought it'd be."

It was nowhere near as easy as he thought it'd be, because the robot merely turned its attention to the street. A gust of wind hit him, making Naruto's eyes grow wide as the shinobi made a startling realization. It wasn't going after Naruto, not directly.

If you were going to stop a budding hero, how would you do it? The easiest way would be to put the hero into a situation where they couldn't defend themselves and fight back, and the way Naruto saw it, the robot had that idea. It was going after the villagers because of him.

The robot's weapon started to glow and buzz as the tip of the barrel started to crackle with energy, forcing Naruto into action as he followed the robot's eyes to the street where the young figure of Konohamaru was desperately trying to lift a piece of rubble off of his teacher, Ebisu.

"Honorable grandson, run!" Ebisu pleaded, much to Naruto's disgust as the shinobi landed, spinning around and throwing a kunai towards the robot as it fired. It caused just enough of an obstacle to the laser that it gave Naruto enough time to turn and put his arms over Konohamaru to protect him as the energy beam hit the back of his torso. Konohamaru blinked with surprise as he looked behind his shoulder to see Naruto protecting him, the young shinobi gasping in pain from the blast. Naruto didn't scream though, he couldn't afford to make the situation look any worse for the kid, instead opting to smile at him.

"Boss?"

"H-hey… you alright?"

Ebisu looked at Naruto with disgust, but immediately realized that he had taken the attack in Konohamaru's place. "You, you saved him?"

"Yeah. Now I'm going to get you out of here," Naruto put his hands together, creating a couple more clones that went around the rubble and grabbed onto it, while the others went to get the robot's attention. Naruto and his clones grabbed onto the rubble, lifting it off of him. Konohamaru watched with awe at how Naruto was maintaining his composure, and saw the ghastly burn on his back. That, that would have hit me if Boss hadn't saved me. "Hey, Konohamaru, you sure you're alright?"

"You bet, boss. I could have saved him myself." Konohamaru smiled proudly, although Naruto could see right through it. As Naruto freed Ebisu, the adult climbed to his feet, wiping the dust off his arms.

"Hmmph, don't expect a thank you."

"Never said I was looking for one. Just get Konohamaru somewhere safe, will ya?" Naruto asked, before turning back towards the robot, sensing his clones had just been taken out.

"What is that thing?" Konohamaru asked, gulping at the sight of the robot looming over the buildings.

"Something I'm gonna deal with."

"Y-you?!" Ebisu laughed. "You think that you stand a chance against it? Some of our Jonin were taken out by it, what do you think you of all people could do to stop it?"

Naruto gave a smile. "I won't know if I don't try... and if I don't, people will die."

Before Ebisu could respond, Naruto was gone, a small gust of wind left in his wake as the shinobi made his way to the rooftops, sliding to a stop. A faint disturbance in Naruto's mind made him stumble as the memory of a villager hitting one of his clones because they wouldn't accept help from the demon came to his attention. Holding his head where the wound was throbbing, Naruto let out a low growl. Regardless whether they wanted to be helped or not, Naruto couldn't let them be killed by the robot. It'd be his fault and Naruto didn't want that weight on his shoulders, so he created a clone to get that villager to safety, no matter what.

"Alright... I'm ending this!" he growled, as the five clones that had saved Ebisu landed beside him, and the Narutos went in for the kill.


When he woke up today, Sasuke Uchiha did not expect to see a giant metallic creature attack the village. Right about now, the last Uchiha was busy helping the villagers get to safety when he heard a loud rage filled scream, one he knew all too well. Over the edges of the roofs, Sasuke could see a distinct blond-haired boy launch into the sky towards the creature's path of devastation. His interest was suddenly peaked as he knew that hair had to belong to Naruto, that unbelievable dumbass, but the attire was so not what Naruto wore. The lack of orange rather disturbed him to be perfectly honest.

"N-Naruto?" Sasuke muttered lowly, unsure if he was seeing this correctly, until he saw five more of the blond appear, as the now six blonds all attacked in unison from all sides in an effort to defeat it.

Course that idiot decides to face something like that head on. He's going to get himself killed.

Unsure and slightly terrified by the idea of if he was actually seeing six Narutos, Sasuke just knew that the idiot would get himself killed if somebody didn't help him, and seeing how the rest of the village wished Naruto would die, it apparently meant the backup role would have to go to him. Sasuke let out a sigh. They were both probably going to die, but he couldn't let Naruto fight or die alone.

At least it'll be a quick death, Sasuke groaned as he gave one of the children he had saved to their parents, before running towards the battlefield. Don't die before I get there, dobe.


Naruto couldn't dodge it for much longer, the swings and blasts were getting faster. He had already lost two of the five clones, and he couldn't afford to waste more chakra. As much chakra as he had, wasting it was a bad idea. Shinobi were rushing in to take on the robot now, but its defense systems were prepared, sending out a dozen drones to hold some of them off.

As the ninja landed, the robot brought its arm down towards him. Naruto looked up in horror, knowing he couldn't get out of the way fast enough, and put his arms up in a feeble attempt to block. The arm would never connect with Naruto as something slammed into Naruto's back, sending him flying off the rooftop onto another building. Where Naruto had just been standing was now a pile of rubble.

That would have killed me! Naruto gulped, as he heard the shuffling of gravel on the rooftop beside him. Glancing over, he could see Sasuke breathing heavily, hunched over. "Sasuke?!"

"You really tried to block it? Is it even possible to be that stupid?!" Sasuke asked, keeping his eyes on the robot. "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't," Naruto admitted.

"Of course you weren't. You never think when it matters," the Uchiha growled, as Naruto clamored to his feet. "You can't become Hokage if you're dead, idiot!"

"Excuse me, but aren't you the one who just jumped in?! If it was so stupid, why did you do it?!"

"You're my best friend, you dumbass! Even if we die, I can't let you do it alone!" Sasuke proclaimed, as Naruto unconsciously touched the Omnitrix.

A metallic groan caught both of their attention as the robot opened its chest to reveal a gigantic, pulsating orb. Naruto's eyebrow raised, as his nose flared at the sudden change in smell. The robot gave off a scent of sulfur, but the robot's insides were almost like cardboard, he couldn't explain it. Before Naruto could say anything, he and Sasuke jumped to opposite sides as the orb suddenly sent out a bright red beam towards them, destroying the rooftop.

"What the hell is this thing?!" Sasuke asked with wide eyes, landing on the ledge of a balcony. Naruto pulled a kunai out from his arm pouch as an idea came to mind. If the outside couldn't be damaged easily, then they'd have to break it from the inside.

It wasn't something he had practiced, but Naruto had learned in class that weapons could be infused with chakra, to make it go faster through the air and cause higher damage, or even explode depending on the situation. His chakra control was still terrible, but Naruto knew he had to try something, so against his better judgement he channeled some chakra into his kunai. He could feel the tingling sensation in his hand, making him gulp. Quickly he threw it, coincidentally as the robot's chest began to close. The kunai managed to thread the needle, piercing through the tiny opening and into the orb.

The hull closed, and all Naruto could do was wait as the robot went to move, only to jerk suddenly as a small explosion went off within it.

Sasuke looked on in disbelief as the robot tumbled onto its side, while Naruto threw his arms up in victory. "I can't believe that worked!" Naruto laughed maniacally.

"Not bad…" Sasuke smirked ever so lightly, as the robot suddenly launched into the air, arms and legs spinning rapidly, causing him to stumble backwards onto the balcony. "What the?!"

"OH COME ON!" Naruto exclaimed as he saw its hands and shoulder mounted weapons light up. Four beams at once, from the sky. Come on, Omnitrix… if there was ever a time to come back, NOW IS THE TIME!

Sasuke jumped off of the balcony and put his hands together. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Naruto scrambled backwards as a cloud of flames flew above them as the robot fired. The flames held the lasers back, thankfully, as the robot came crashing to the ground, landing on its feet.

"How are we going to stop this thing?" Sasuke asked as they jumped to a new position, getting out of the robot's sight for the moment.

"Gotta get an opening!" Naruto replied, as he felt the last of his clones dispel. The villagers were out of harm's way for now; Naruto smiled, thinking about how they were going to be able to get that opening. "Sasuke, one of us needs to be a distraction!"

"What?!"

"If one of us can distract it long enough for it to open up again, we can take it down!"

The two glared at each other for a moment, having a silent battle for dominance, before Sasuke groaned. "Fine, I swear if I die…"

"You'll be alright, I hope…" Naruto muttered the last bit under his breath, as Sasuke proceeded to play the bait. "He's so dead."


Sasuke might have been the top of the class, but that didn't account for an attack like this. He climbed over the side of the rooftop, narrowly escaping a laser that scorched the shingles where he had been a moment earlier.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did I let that idiot beat me?! He should be the one running around trying not to die.

As if the blond had read his mind, Sasuke caught sight of the ninja sporting that cheeky grin he was famous for. That smile almost made him feel like this wasn't going to end badly, almost. He knew deep down whatever plan Naruto had, it would always end up causing one of them to get put into grave danger, case in point, Sasuke Uchiha: Live Bait.

"You're doing great, Sasuke! Keep it up!"

"SHUT UP!" Sasuke growled, as the robot fired again. Blast after blast came his way, Sasuke dodging every single one of them. Where were the Jonin and the other ninja at? They couldn't all be busy right now, could they? The idea of a couple of Genin, not even that as they weren't even in a team yet so you couldn't even consider them to be one, being the main defense against this thing didn't sit well with Sasuke.

Naruto had already thought of that, and had sent a clone to scout out the situation, to find that the Jonin and the rest of the Shinobi in the village were fighting drones and protecting the civilians. If Naruto was right, they'd have the drones dealt with in a matter of a couple minutes, so they had to move fast and make sure the robot went down before anyone could get seriously hurt.

Overhead, Naruto caught sight of the Heatblast clone breaking through the smoke and bring down a burning fist into the robot's back. How much of an idiot am I? Punching it isn't going to do any good. Wait, my clone doesn't know that…

"Punches won't do anything. We gotta burn it from the inside," Naruto called to his clone, as Sasuke nearly tripped over the sight of the Pyronite.

"What is that?!" Sasuke exclaimed, as Naruto chuckled.

"I'll explain later! I promise!" the blond replied, as the Heatblast clone started to draw attention away from Sasuke.

Wait… when it opened its chest I had touched the Omnitrix. That's it! It doesn't want me transforming again. So, I gotta make it think I'm going to, and then that'll be our chance.

"Sasuke, it's my turn!"

Naruto jumped in front of Sasuke, catching the robot's attention as he reached for the Omnitrix. Just as he had thought, the same metallic groan rang out, and the robot's hull opened up. Sasuke smiled at the sight of it, and immediately pulled out a couple of kunai. Heatblast landed beside the two and sent fireballs towards the orb. The onslaught started to make the robot smoke, but not enough as the blast went off. Naruto and Sasuke managed to get out of the way, but Heatblast wasn't able to, dispelling from the hit.

A strange energy came over Naruto, and the blond brought his arms out instinctively, feeling like he was about to spontaneously combust. Holding his hands out, Naruto looked at the Omnitrix to see it turn green. Alright!

However, this energy that he felt became too much, and Naruto threw his hands forward, sending an inferno towards the robot. The giant fireball hit the orb, and a massive explosion sent the two crashing backwards into the street.

"Wh-what happened?" Sasuke groaned as he looked up to where the robot had been. A cloud of smoke was all that remained. Naruto laid on the ground, his arms covered in severe burns. He didn't dare move as the pain seemed to travel through every inch of his body.

"Did I… Did we get it?" Naruto asked, as the robot's head landed next to him. "I, I guess that's… that's a yes?"

"How did you do that? The fire jutsu you did, I didn't even see you do any signs."

"That's a- *cough* secret. *cough*" Naruto chuckled as Sasuke climbed to his feet and saw Naruto's injured state. "Hey, I told you that you wouldn't die. You already know if you died I'd be a dead man. Sakura and the other girls in class would have my head."

"Like that'll ever happen. I'll outlive you, you keep this up."

Naruto let out a weak laugh. "Hey, like you said… I can't become Hokage if I'm dead, and I made a promise that I would."

"Huh?" Sasuke asked, having never heard that. Naruto had a dream to become the Hokage, but to have made a promise… that meant a lot more. However, before any more could be said, the Jonin arrived and saw the remains of the robot.

"What happened?" one of them asked, as Sasuke looked over at Naruto, whose eyes were barely open at the moment.

"Naruto killed whatever that thing was," was all he could say. The Jonin all looked at each other, then at the injured blond. The Demon Brat was the one that saved the village? There was no way that was true, could it?

Ben and Azmuth had just gotten to the village and watched as Naruto was lifted up to his feet and helped to the hospital.

"That robot shouldn't have been a match for Heatblast, should have melted right through the armor…" Ben announced. "Azmuth, what does this mean?"

"It means that our suspicion of someone preparing against the Omnitrix was correct," Azmuth noted rather monotonously. "We can discuss this later. Your protege needs you, and you need to have your leg checked."

Ben didn't bother arguing, going towards the hospital.


Rumors spread throughout the village following the strange incident earlier that day, that Naruto Uzumaki, the demon of Konoha had actually fought to protect the village from a metallic beast. The rumors were given solidity by Naruto's weakened state as he walked through the village towards the hospital. Among those who had heard the rumor included his former Academy classmates. Most didn't believe the rumors, except for Sasuke and he had seen it for his own eyes.

As for the Hokage, he couldn't believe his eyes when he had watched Naruto through the crystal ball fight to protect the village. When his jacket was unzipped and Naruto was running forward towards the fight, he saw a lot of Naruto's father in him. It was a sight to behold, and then Hiruzen came to a decision.

Naruto had to know who his parents were, but of course that would have to wait as the young shinobi needed time to get his head straight and deal with the consequences today had brought about.