There has been a debate that has been around for as long as Ninja have been killing each other. Since the first Senju killed the first Uchiha thousands of years ago, before many clans even existed. It was a simple question.

"Which Ninja is the Strongest?"

Over the centuries there were changes in what the best are called; special, elite, legendary, or just plain ole strong. Unfortunately it has never been an easy thing to figure out. During the era of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha the designations known as letter rankings were created by the Lords of the Five Great Countries to tier the clans they wanted to hire for work. This allowed them to measure what they were up against, who they needed to hire, and how much ninja were worth in payment.

Originally, it ranged from D all the way to A. D being considered common and useful for non-ninja related jobs. These were ninja families with no real clan techniques or renown, usually first- or second-generation ninja trying to make it in the world. C were more renown families, such as the Shimura Clan who were known for Wind Jutsu but only bolstered one or two strong ninjas. B and A encompassed the known clans of today, The Nara's were a B and Hyuga's A. Clans with these ratings usually possessed a unique skill or bloodline that set them apart.

However, the Uchiha and Senju Clans broke the scale of A, the Lords needed an entirely new grade to quantify them. Thus the designation of S was created, signifying Special.

From there it caught on to rank individuals by the same ranking system. But the questions remained the same even if the wording changed- What constituted someone achieving S? Many debated that it was by killing elite ninja such as Jōnin with ease. Others by amount of chakra, or jutsu knowledge and secret arts.

While those factors came into it, the way someone achieved S was not by self-declaration but by public opinion, particularly by enemies. If a Kage could declare their own ninja S, then there would be dozens and the scale would break. So today, for a ninja to be considered and accepted as S, then your enemy must overcome their pride, overcome their ego, and declare to the world that said person was so powerful that they were head and shoulders above the rest of the elite.

Usually this was followed by anger, and a very high bounty.

That being said it was never cut and dry in who was the strongest. One S was not equal to another. The Third Hokage being so far above his rival Kage that he was named the God of Shinobi. The Legendary Sannin were considered all Kage level in strength and reputation. Hanzo of the Salamanders was so feared and powerful, merely surviving a battle with him could make you a legend, see the Sannin for reference.

Then there was Hashirama and Madara, again it was the Uchiha and Senju that broke the scales. Both of them in their time and to this day, were so powerful that entire nations feared their gaze. Thus, they were given the rank of S+. Meaning they were completely otherworldly in power, no one baring each other being a match. Even then, Hashirama won out and had been declared the Strongest Kage in History and God of Shinobi.

Why was this important? It made the scales of strength clear in that there wasn't a set level and easy way to measure strength. Experience and personal knowledge as well as talent and intelligence come into play as well. A veteran could lose to a novice if the match up was bad, a kunai could kill a Kage. Just because someone used Water jutsu didn't mean they always won against someone using Fire jutsu.

Which brings focus back to the battle of Tanzuka Hills.

In a battle of five S-Class ninja, all of which were declared above Elite by the world. With abilities and power so great one of them could change a battlefield with their presence. This battle should have a clear winning side, since it was three on two. It should be obvious.

…should be.

A grunt of pain sounded throughout the fields as Kisame Hoshigaki was choke slammed into the ground by Jiraiya before being kicked into the distance through a distant hill. Orochimaru was being barraged by Naruto Uzumaki's ruthless hand to hand. Though it wasn't completely one-sided.

Orochimaru had been declared a snake even before he debuted his summon partners. It was in his ruthlessly efficient methods of attack. Coiling then striking vital points, twisting and maneuvering around his opponents to disorientate them. He was as lethal and meticulous as the snakes he represented. Naruto had been forced to dodge and parry more attacks today than he ever had, though he was getting better.

Orochimaru slashed towards Naruto's neck, but a single-handed hand seal raised by Naruto's right hand stopped the blade in its tracks. Then with his left he punched Orochimaru's gut, followed up with two rapid palm strikes to his stomach causing the snake to vomit blood and his bandages to start to slip from his head. Though the blond wasn't finished, his Six-Eyes flashed dangerously, and he fired a Chakra Enhancement Jutsu: Red right into Orochimaru's chest crushing parts of his chest and causing his body to fly away in a blur.

…Naruto Uzumaki and Jiraiya of the Sannin were currently winning the 3v2.

Strangely however, it wasn't a 3v2 as Itachi Uchiha, arguably the strongest of the three, was merely observing the fight and providing ranged support at odd intervals. Neither Naruto nor Jiraiya could figure out as to why Itachi hadn't jumped in yet as Tsunade was still out of commission and an easy target to finish off.

The decisive factor in this battle would be thus: Would Itachi enter the battle before Tsunade?

Naruto jumped back from where he just engaged Orochimaru and landed next to a furious Jiraiya.

"What's the plan?" He asked while keeping his gaze fixed where their opponents were.

"I need to kill one of them, I don't think Tsunade will be much help." Jiraiya said lowly, "Kisame is going to be the biggest problem with his sword, it has shaved quite a lot of chakra from me. Anymore and I won't be able to call for help. We're fortunate that they are just feeling us out right now, when that shark starts flooding the earth with rapid A rank jutsu we're going to be in for it."

Naruto looked to where their enemies were regrouping and grimaced. Jiraiya was right, the shark man was going to be a difficult opponent to deal with. He was just too large of a problem to fight against alongside the other two since his specialty was endurance and large scale jutsu. In combination with slippery and sneaky fighters like Orochimaru and Itachi, this could quickly become bleak.

"Leave Kisame to me, get whatever you're planning in action." Naruto declared with a frown.

Jiraiya glanced at him, "He's not an opponent that you just fight. He's got more chakra than any of the five Kage and a sword that feeds him more." He warned.

"I got it." Naruto assured him with a grin then warped away.

Naruto landed in between the three ninjas, his chakra so dense and wild that the three-ninja stared at him seriously, each expecting some kind of massive attack that they would need to shield or avoid. However his intention wasn't to take on all of them.

"I'm going to take the blue one, you two have fun!" Naruto shouted with a killer grin as he blasted another point-blank Red into Kisame that shot him out of the clearing into the surrounding forests.

"Interesting jutsu, Naruto Uzumaki." Commented Itachi as he emotionlessly watched his partner get blasted away.

Naruto glanced at the Uchiha as he prepped his warp. Itachi Uchiha was an enigma, hailed as a once in a generation genius in a clan of geniuses. Capable of insane feats, such as layering illusions over ninjutsu, three elemental masteries and proficient in the rest, and lethal in hand to hand to the point no one could figure out a weakness. His motivations and goals were just as mysterious.

All Naruto knew about the man was that he was a psychopath that murdered his entire clan for power. Was meticulous in his actions, and most importantly, the largest threat on this field thanks to his eyes.

Speaking of… Naruto noticed that as soon as he looked at him the Uchiha instantly tried to wrap him in half a dozen illusions. It was as if a swirling mass of chakra was shot from Itachi's eyes towards his own at light speed. Each tendril of chakra having a different frequency signifying a different illusion all intertwined together. It was reminiscent of a rope, with each thread a different jutsu.

The premier Genjutsu user of The Leaf, Kurenai Yuhi was capable of double layering illusions of B-Rank together. Something no one without a Bloodline could do and was hailed as an elite for such.

But to Itachi Uchiha, a genius of a clan full of geniuses, masterfully wielding a legendary bloodline tripled the feat with a mere glance. Naruto was completely impressed, no one should be able to instantly weave Six Genjutsu into one another and cast them at once. A single Genjutsu of B-Rank were as complex as an advanced calculous equation, doing two at once was worthy of renown and praise… No one was praising Itachi anymore, now he was just feared by all.

'But I'm not exactly normal either.' Naruto thought with a grin, The Six-Eyes broke down the incoming swirling mass of chakra, told him everything about it and he completely negated the effects before they even took hold of him. Defeating a Genjutsu was simple in theory, the toughest part was knowing you were in one and how deep. For Naruto who could process advanced chakra mechanics at rapid levels, he merely needed to harden his chakra into a barrier around his body and not allow external chakra to penetrate it.

Such was the advantage of his eyes, the ability to push away three C-Rank and three B-Rank Genjutsu before they could even take root.

Itachi's eyes widened as his attack was completely squashed by a smirking boy his little brothers age, before said boy teleported away after his partner.

"Interesting indeed." Muttered Itachi before turning towards Jiraiya who summoned two small Toads to his shoulders. "…" He narrowed his gaze with a miniscule frown.

Orochimaru walked up with a glare, after having just vomited himself up two times over to heal the damage from Naruto's attacks. "That boy…" He then noticed Jiraiya in the distance with a grimace, "That's a problem, Itachi. We need to coordinate to take on a Sage of his caliber."

"Indeed."

Naruto's mind was in a whirlwind as he warped into the clearing, he sent Kisame to. Instead of a groaning and smoldering shark man he was met with a grinning Kisame sans cloak sitting on a fallen tree with his massive, now unbandaged, sword Samehada next to him.

"When Orochimaru came to us after his laughable invasion, we doubted his words about you." Kisame said as he stood and cracked his neck. "He said that you could give anyone a run for their money and would only become more of a problem thanks to those strange eyes you've awakened."

Naruto listened to his words and noticed that yin chakra was being channeled throughout Kisame's body to heal his internal injuries and reduce his fatigue. It was different to Tsunade's methods, hers was like using the most purified water to methodically wash something leaving no streaks behind. Kisame's method lack any and all finesse, instead relying brute force healing it was akin to using a water dragon to clean a window.

…it gave Naruto an idea.

"I didn't think a block head like you would be able to use medical jutsu." Commented Naruto as he stretched his arms and neck, "But if you can do that at least you're going to last longer than I thought." He finished with a grin before getting into a stance.

"It's Samehada using stored chakra to heal and fix me, I'm not doing it!" Grinned Kisame as he stood to his full height, nearing seven feet tall and stacked with thick muscles making his frame dwarf Naruto's several times over. "Don't die on me brat, we still need the Fox within you."

Naruto wasted no more time, he shot forward with blinding speed, nailing Kisame with a punch and a knee to the stomach right after. The massive sword was slammed into the ground where Naruto was standing but he was able to avoid it, not without feeling some chakra being pulled away.

Samehada was swung in a wide arc that Naruto jumped over, then came down with a kick to Kisame's face who blocked the kick with a forearm. Pushing off the arm, a second kick was sent to the side of Kisame's head that was blocked by his headband clad forehead causing a Clang to sound out into the air.

Naruto pushed two fingers into Kisame's grinning face and fired off a Red point blank. The power was heavily reduced but still impacted Kisame sending him back a few meters.

Kisame shot back towards Naruto with a savage grin and killing intent rolling off him in waves. Naruto took a deep breath at the pressure and prepared his next jutsu. At the tip of his finger he made a small orb of blue chakra.

'Let's see…' Thought Naruto as he fired off Chakra Jutsu: Sinister Spiraling Shot.

It was a small Rasengan that flew towards Kisame with incredible speed, for a Ninja at a level below Jōnin they wouldn't be able to follow its path with their eyes. However, Kisame was not below the level of a Jōnin, so he slapped it away with his sword. The jutsu made impact for a moment before it was snuffed out against the blue scales of the legendary sword.

Naruto shot forward and filled his arms with even more chakra than he did at his normal peak, but instead of internalizing it to enhance himself and potentially ruin his muscles he hardened it externally. It looked as if his arms were incredibly hot with a haze whiffing off his fists.

Kisame didn't waste time and did an upward slash that tore through the ground as if it weren't there, sending debris into the air along with the massive blade. Naruto gritted his teeth and punched the incoming blade with all his strength. The impact of sword and fist clashed with a thunderous boom that distorted the air and sent a shockwave out that blasted all the loose debris away. While competitive, it was clear from the clash that Naruto was inferior in terms of raw strength as he felt his bones shudder under the force of the clash.

Naruto being the quicker of the two recovered from the clash, jumped up and kicked Kisame in the face giving himself more space. Hand seals were flashed through as Naruto prepped his next jutsu, Kisame who was getting ready to reengage he felt the air- no the very world around him – start to shift.

As the very world was pulled in on itself to overcome the lack of space created with the use of Blue, Kisame was able to reduce the effects enough to get out of the way thanks to Samehada absorbing the power but not without taking damage.

Naruto noticed that Kisame's only injury, a fractured leg, was being healed almost instantly thanks to his sword's stored chakra. The crude method of medical jutsu was still efficient enough to heal him in a matter of seconds.

'I see, I believe I understand how that sword works now.' Naruto thought as his stance relaxed slightly. 'He's perfect.' He thought with a smile that Kisame was unnerved by, as it wasn't malicious but thankful.

"The hell is with that smile, boy? You're creeping me out." Kisame said with a shark like grin. He rested his massive sword on his shoulder. "I'll admit your jutsu are strong, but they don't mean anything if Samehada eats all the power before it hits me!"

Naruto took a deep breath and held up a single-handed Ram seal.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna start hitting you now Shark-Face!" Naruto said as the chakra around him changed.

Kisame blasted off the ground, cratering the earth beneath him, swinging his legendary chakra eating sword at Naruto's face with murderous intent.

Naruto raised his right arm to block the blow with his Six Eyes blazing. Kisame's eyes narrowed as the boy looked to block his sword with one arm, in a clash of strength he had already proven he was superior, and any chakra enhancement would die once he was close enough.

As Samehada neared, Naruto planted his feet and took the hit, or rather it looked and felt as if he did to Kisame. The instant the sword got within an inch of Naruto it was completely stopped.

Kisame glared, as if his sword was being stopped by the strongest shield in the world, but he could feel the chakra blocking him start to weaken. An instant later his sword made contact with Naruto's arm shredding the sleeve and gouging out a chunk of skin spraying blood into the air and onto the ground.

Naruto shot forward and went on the offensive, not even acknowledging the damage. He punched forward, though his fist was blocked by Samehada. Kisame felt the same kind of resistance before but the force from Naruto was managing to push him back. Until the chakra shield was weakened, and Kisame pushed back taking more skin from Naruto and sending blood into the air.

Kisame went to attack with a textbook two-handed swing downward that Naruto took with a X-Shaped block. Like before the same shield took the hit, Naruto pushed the attack away to the side but at the end of the parry more skin and blood was taken from the blonde's arms.

This back and forth continued for several exchanges till Naruto's arms, legs and chest were all leaking a large amount of blood. Through it all Kisame was becoming more and more confused, for instead of becoming nervous and scarred, Naruto was becoming happier and happier with each exchange. He suspected that the blond was trying to suppress his nerves and appear strong in the face of certain defeat.

Till the grin of supreme confidence was back on Naruto face.

Kisame watched as Naruto, streams of blood trailing behind him as he rushed forward, neared him with a fist held at the ready. Kisame knew what to do, he'd done it dozens of times, he readied his sword and swung towards the blonde's midsection.

Just like the other exchanges the sword was stopped by the same invisible shield, however unlike last time there wasn't that split moment of the chakra being drained allowing Kisame to damage the blond. This time Naruto pushed forward, not even acknowledging the sword and slammed a punch to Kisame's chest.

Unlike previous punches from Naruto, who's power was based purely on physical enhancement from Chakra Enhancement: Body. This time he had all of that force, behind the invincible jutsu Infinity. Kisame's entire chest was cracked and broken from the hit, and he was blasted out of the small blood soaked clearing into and through several trees.

'Kisame's Samehada absorbs chakra but there is a limit on speed. I tested it with all my techniques, all of which have different areas of effect, speed, power and chakra types. Thanks to my eyes I was able to figure out that he was the perfect training dummy for Infinity. Speed is irrelevant for my jutsu if it's done right, after all it's literally Time Chakra. Clashing with Kisame gave me the perfect training to perfect my use of time chakra and control of Infinity.' Naruto thought with a grin as he wiped some blood from his face. He then moved to address his wounds.

Steam began to rise from his body as he crudely healed all the wounds inflicted by Kisame. It was a partial mix of Tsunade and Kisame's methods of healing, however he did it in a bit of a different way. Unlike most medics whose top-level control allowed them to harness Yin Chakra to heal, Naruto could go a step further. He combined Yin chakra and pure positive chakra together. Crude and inefficient at the moment since he was new to this, but it was healing him far more completely than he'd ever seen since it was nearly twice as powerful as normal healing thanks to the positive chakra enhancing the Yin chakra. With time he bet he could do this perfectly and in mere moments, for now this was enough.

'I can use Infinity now; I can cover my body completely.' Naruto thought with a satisfied smile, 'It takes a lot of focus to maintain but this is a massive step forward, small torso sized shield to my entire body.'

Naruto grinned as he looked to the west, the direction he sent the shark flying away. He felt a rumbling and sensed a metric ton of chakra being built up.

Trees and stones were blasted into the air as something approached, destroying everything in its path. The air became humid, and trees were torn from the earth with thunderous rumbling. A massive blue shark of water blasted through the trees into the clearing at blinding speed. Instead of running or blocking all Naruto did was hold his hand up in a single Ram seal. A massive trench was ground into the earth in front and behind Naruto as the water shark impacted and blasted past him.

The attack continued from one end of the clearing, through where it hit him and to the other end smashing and uprooting trees on the other end. After a few seconds the water stopped, the mist started to clear, and the ground was completely soaked. Kisame walked into the clearing with a serious frown on his face as he took in Naruto's completely unscathed appearance.

"That strange shield of chakra, how did I not break through it?" Kisame couldn't help but ask as he walked closer. "If Samehada could shave through it then it shouldn't have held up."

Naruto laughed, "No, you've got it all wrong! My jutsu was being drained and weakened not broken! I wasn't able to properly form it how it was supposed to be and needed practice getting it right." He explained while gesturing to the sword.

Kisame instantly understood, "You're a crazy kid, I'll give you that." He said with a savage grin, "Using my blade Samehada to train a jutsu is a first, you even managed to heal all those wonderful reminders!"

"Yep! I don't want to get more blood on my clothes, you know?" Naruto replied while looking down at the remains of his hoodie and shirt, covered in holes and blood, he didn't look too great despite all the wounds having been healed. "I'll say this now, I can't lose to you. I've figured out how to perfectly hold my jutsu under your blade's assault and with that have become capable of fully utilizing it."

Kisame flashed through seals, "We'll see about that!" He shouted and manipulated all the water in the air and on the ground into a massive swirling vortex dozens of meters tall.

Naruto stood in the epicenter of the incoming attack and watched it form with a bored expression. The vortex of water then tightened and collapsed in on top of Naruto, the sheer weight of the water would pulverize stone, much less the highly pressurized nature of the attack.

The earth shuddered under the weight of the jutsu but instead of dispersing the water, that was covering Naruto in a swirling violent bubble, Kisame spawned dozens of sharks that rushed to eat the submerged blond. Like before all of the attacks that came within a few inches of Naruto were halted in place, never reaching him.

While the jutsu weren't affecting him, Naruto was actually getting a bit worried about the lack of air. With a ram seal Naruto pushed the effective range of Infinity from a few inches off him to its current maximum diameter of one meter giving him a bubble of breathing room.

'Maintaining Infinity with at this range is very tough, something to work on if I have to protect someone else.' Mused Naruto as he held firm under Kisame's never ending assault of water sharks and now water drills.

After a few moments the attacks were slowing down, and Naruto felt it was time to get back to it. A single seal and he warped out of the death bubble and was right behind a huffing Kisame. The shark man had no chance to dodge a spinning kick to his head that sent him tumbling away. Unlike before where Naruto let him recover and return to the fight, he continued his assault shooting forward and landing atop Kisame with a double leg drop cratering the ground getting a silent scream of agony from him.

Kisame didn't let it stop him for long, throwing himself to the side and rapidly getting to his feet with his sword out in front to protect him. He looked to where Naruto was a moment ago and frowned, the blond was gone.

"You're not super-fast." Kisame flinched at Naruto's words coming from directly behind him, the boy was standing back-to-back with him without a care in the world. "In fact, I would say that is your biggest weakness. Here, let me elaborate."

Kisame couldn't move in time as felt his kidneys get blasted by a viscous punch. While he was sent flying it was a kick to the chest, a kick to the back, five punches to his face and upper chest, a spinning kick to his chin, a double hammer arm to the top of his head.

Blood flew into the air as Naruto mercilessly beat Kisame at his absolute top speed. Samehada was long since thrown away by Naruto who continued his barrage while Kisame could only block and defend.

'He's faster than before.' Kisame thought as his skull rattled under a kick, 'I can say he may even be stronger but it's more than that. It's like the difference in a metal gauntlet and a large fist, even if thrown by someone weaker the metal would hurt more. Whatever his jutsu protecting him is, it's making his attacks far more dangerous and solid.'

Naruto punched Kisame causing him to spin but reached out to grab his arm to hold him in place then followed up with a ruthless barrage of palms to the shark's stomach, each getting blood to vomit from Kisame's mouth. Not done there Naruto let the last hit propel Kisame into the air while he pointed his pointer and middle finger at him forming a swirling ball of bright red chakra.

"Chakra Enhancement Jutsu: Red." He said as the airborne Kisame was fully hit by the jutsu sending him flying away. The forest in the direction he fired his jutsu was completely ruined, no trees, stones, boulders, or lose earth were left in its wake as the shockwave tore the very world asunder.

Naruto watched the outcome of his attack with a smile before blinking, "Wait did I send him back to the field with Jiraiya and the others." He said to himself with a blink. "Uh oh!" He said before warping in that direction.

Naruto arrived back in the clearing to see Jiraiya and two shoulder riding toads deadlocked against Orochimaru and Itachi. Orochimaru was blocking ranged water jutsu from the toads while Itachi was defending and attacking Jiraiya with a massive chakra avatar surrounding him. Naruto's eyes told him it was some innate jutsu related to the Sharingan that he wouldn't be able to mimic.

A rumble was heard getting the attention of the others as Kisame was blasted into the clearing through the trees, landing in a heap at the edge.

'Ha! I beat him here, that's hilarious!' Thought Naruto with a snicker.

It was then that everyone noticed his return as well.

"Hey!" Naruto greeted with a smile.

"Boy! Get out of here it's too dangerous for a youngin like you!" Shouted the female toad on Jiraiya's shoulder.

"Now, now Ma. He's clearly Jiraiya-Boy's student! He must know what's going on." The male toad responded. "Right Jiraiya-boy?"

Naruto jumped in, "Yeah I'm fine, these weaklings aren't a problem for me."

Jiraiya sighed and jumped closer to the blond. As he landed his enhanced sensory abilities from his sage jutsu allowed him to feel the chakra around Naruto at a heightened level.

"You've mastered it…" Jiraiya muttered in awe.

Naruto waved him off, "I wouldn't say that, but I'm loads better than I was before. Kisame was actually perfect for training."

"Only you." Jiraiya said with a shake of his head, "Well in that case, let's finish up here!" He declared with a grin that was mirrored on Naruto's face.

"Gladly!"

Chapter End

Well let's cut it there! Sorta but not really a cliff hanger, I just want to make sure that I don't overdo it and make the chapters lop sided. Not making a 30k chapter again Haha.

Took a bit longer to finish the chapter but I wanted to make it right and had to rework it a bit. That being said I hope you all enjoyed it and it made you smile at least a little bit!

Naruto has gotten Infinity down to a level it's properly covering his whole body and he can maintain it for a while. Kisame and the others probably won't know what to do with it, that be said Naruto is by no means completely invincible, but it will seem that way…I mean he is The Honored One.

On a side note, I am sorry to say that I just don't have time to deeply edit this or really any of my stories. It may come as a shock, but I usually only give it a small fast read through for blatant grammar and spelling mistakes. I know there are more than what I fix, and I'm told a lot that I am terrible at it, yeah, I get it.

That being said if anyone wants to help me edit this and Manipulator give me a PM.

Let me know what you all thought and what you expect from the conclusion of the battle!