The Takeover

by sinisteruto

What if Haku, Zabuza, Minato, and Kushina had a much more profound impact on Naruto as a shinobi than they did in canon? What if Naruto realized early what a waste of time his training trip with Jiraiya was and took matters into his own hands? What if Naruto stuck to his original plan of taking it over, not to prove himself or make everyone love him, but for his own ambitions?

1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other series I might use for inspiration.

"What the fuck do you want dip shit? You here to kill me? Huh? To think that you of all people would be the one to do me in, fate really is a herpes infested bitch!" The foul mouthed redhead said ironically.

She is a beautiful, red haired kuniochi, wearing a black tunic over her black shots, the runic tied with a red sash around her waist, no longer preferring the white tunic and the large purple rope belt she used to wear when she was in Orochimaru's elite guard.

"And how the fuck did your sunkissed queer ass find me anyway? How the fuck did you sneak up on me? Why didn't I sense your chakra?" Tayuya asked incredulously.

"So many questions, okay, I'll answer you. One, how did I find you? That's pure coincidence. I've been on a so called three year training trip with my master, and we happened to be passing by The Land of Moon. We take whatever missions that peek our interest as we go, you know, for money, and for experience. The villagers didn't have any money, but their description of the monsters living in the caves up in the mountain peeked my interest. I never got to see your monsters, but I vividly remember Shikamaru's description of them." Naruto replied casually.

He was tall, much, much taller than Tayuya remembered. Most of his baby fat was gone too, looking like quite the male physical specimen Tayuya had to say. In fact, she couldn't remember ever seeing anyone with a more perfect physique or a more handsome face, even with the weird but exotic looking whisker marks.

Gone was his ridiculous orange jumpsuit, the, Tayuya assumed, former genin, wearing a blue sleeveless top with black ninja pants, white leg warmers, and black ninja sandals, the lack of sleeves revealing his extraordinary physique for the world to see, especially around his arms.

On his back was a large sword that was the size of his body, a sword that suspiciously looked like the Kubikiribocho, and Tayuya would know, after all, being a former elite guard of Orochimaru, it was her job to know about all of the most dangerous ninja in the world and their signature weapons and signature jutsu.

The blonde brat…uh…handsome young man was not wearing his forehead protector, which surprisingly made him look even more handsome. He had a tattoo of some sort on his forehead, which was blue in colour and was the shape of a pyramid. He had a brown weapons pouch on his left leg and didn't seem to be wearing any gloves or anything on his hands. Overall, he looked very handsome.

"So I left quite an impression on that weak ass piece of shit huh? I wish I had left a much deeper mark on him, with his own kunai deeply embedded into his throat, and I would have too if it wasn't for that blonde wind styled bimbo from Suna!" Tayuya said angrily.

"Yes, Shikamaru mentioned that part too. Apparently you were about to overpower his shadow possession technique and kill him were it not for Temari-chan's arrival." Naruto retorted.

"Damn right I was! Anyway, what the fuck did the villagers tell you? My doki haven't hurt anyone! I made sure of it, that's the whole point of keeping a low profile. I chose a village I knew couldn't afford to hire any shinobi, and made sure not to harm anyone because I didn't want them panicking and running around asking for help. My doki take the bare minimum of essentials from them, just enough for me to survive. So what the fuck?" Tayuya asked angrily.

"As I said, pure coincidence. My curiosity was peaked, that's all. As for why you didn't sense me coming, its called the chakra extinguishing technique, its sort of a bloodline limit." Naruto explained.

"No its fucking not! I can do that shit too. I just don't do it because when I do, I also can't sense other people coming. It's a double edge sword like that." Tayuya retorted.

"As I said, a bloodline limit technique." Naruto deadpanned, giving Tayuya a meaningful look, who on the other hand was looking at Naruto like he was the stupidest person she had ever met, until realization finally settled in, her eyes widening in surprise as a result.

"The fuck? You tryna say I'm related to you? Fuck outta here! No way I'm related to a stupid piece of shit like you!" Tayuya exclaimed indignantly.

"This is a picture I drew of my mother." Naruto said as a seal appeared on his left forearm and glowed briefly, releasing something with a puff of smoke, an A3, framed portrait appearing in Naruto's hands as he grabbed it and made it face Tayuya.

"Tell me, Tayuya-chan, does she remind you of anyone you know?" Naruto asked rhetorically, Tayuya staring in awe at the beauty of the woman, but more importantly at the brilliant red hair that reminded her so much of her own.

"Okay fuck, your mom is a babe, and I like her hair, so what? Its not like I'm related to every fucking redhead in the elemental nations." Tayuya countered.

"I have the ability to detect a person's nationality and familial relations with my chakra sensing ability alone. I know for a fact you are my cousin. I didn't know it back then when we first met, my sensing skills were untrained and underdeveloped, but I know it now. Perhaps your sensory skills aren't as good as mine to that effect, but I know they should be at least good enough for you to separate lies from the truth." Naruto retorted, leaving Tayuya speechless as he was absolutely right, she did know how to discern the truth with her chakra sensing abilities, and she had discerned no lies whatsoever thus far.

"Hahahaha! Aahahahahaha! Hahahahaha! I see, so you're not here to finish what you started almost two years ago? Its sad really, part of me was hoping you were. I mean, who wants to live the rest of their life as a cripple?" Tayuya retorted.

"I did notice that your legs had atrophied, Temari-chan sure did a number on you didn't she? You need not worry though. I can heal and regenerate your legs easily, but it will take some time before you get back to full strength again. After some time training with me, you'll be able to heal your injuries on your own. You are an Uzumaki after all. You just need to further activate your bloodline abilities." Naruto retorted.

"What the actual fuck? You mean all this time, I could have healed myself all along?" Tayuya asked incredulously.

"Pretty much." Naruto laughed, his smile so beautiful, genuine, and infectious that Tayuya, despite wanting to get angry at him, just couldn't muster the strength to, finding herself laughing alongside with him.

"So uh….what are your terms and conditions?" Tayuya asked warily.

"Nothing, after our training together is complete, you can go wherever you want and do whatever you want. However, I would be honoured, and happy, if you could go back to Konoha with me and help me to rebuild the Uzumaki clan and bring it back to its glory days. This of course is entirely up to you, you are under no obligation. All I want for you is the best for you." Naruto explained, Tayuya looking at him with a very serious and suspicious expression, yet once again unable to detect any lies.

'He has no reason to lie. The chakra extinguishing technique enabled him to close the distance on me without alerting me. From this distance, he can easily get to me before I play my flute or summon my doki. And without my legs, I'm literally useless and helpless in a close range fight. Why ask me and give me a choice when he can just take what he wants?' Tayuya thought confusedly.

"You have great power, I can tell just by looking at you and reading your chakra. You always had a ridiculous amount of it, but its now far more potent and far more controlled and focussed, in fact, it seems like you have fully reigned it in. I'm sure you have loads of new jutsu that you have developed since then, you could take whatever you want from me. So why ask? What would you do if I rejected you and told you to go away?" Tayuya asked sceptically.

"I would heal your legs, even if I have to do it against your will. However, that is the only thing I would do against your will….apart from paying you a visit every once in a while." Naruto retorted, at this point Tayuya starting to realize that the blonde haired enigma was completely different from anyone she ever met before, and definitely the complete opposite of Orochimaru.

"I see…" Tayuya replied with a thoughtful expression.

"Good, so what will it be then?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I accept all of your terms. I will go back to Konoha with you and help you to rebuild your…..our clan. However, there is something that makes me weary. I'm not certain how safe it is for me to conceive children for you, because of the cursed seal. I'm not sure what effect that will have. The only reason Orochimaru had been unable to track me down and probably doesn't know that I am alive is because I haven't used it since my fight with your stupid genius friend. As long as I have this seal, I am concerned that his influence over it might affect our children somehow." Tayuya replied, much to Naruto's shock, not having realized the possible interpretation of his words.

He had only been asking her to come and live with him as a family, as cousins, he hadn't realized that with another interpretation, his words could mean that he wanted to start a family with her. However, now that he knew that is what she thought, and that that is what she was determined to do with him, he didn't think that he could retract his words without deeply offending her. Did he really just propose marriage to a girl without even knowing it? Just how crazy was his life?

"Ahem….uh….well, I also happen to be both a medical expert and a seal master. One of my late frenemies, Yuki Haku, left me all of his and his master's jutsu in hopes that I would continue their legacy. I didn't use the scrolls at the time because I felt unworthy of their legacy, it wasn't until I got desperate, when I realized that my master wasn't taking my training seriously at all, that I began to read those scrolls. I learned a lot about medicine and seals from them, knowledge that I have gone on to further expand upon." Naruto explained, leaving out for now the part about meeting his dad inside his jinchuuriki seal and how his dad passed on his knowledge to him.

"I see, and this frenemy was a student of Momochi Zabuza?" Tayuya asked curiously.

"What? How did you know? You knew him?" Naruto asked shocked.

"No, but it explains why you carry the Kubikiribocho. Your sensei was Hatake Kakashi right? If you defeated Zabuza's apprentice, then it could only mean Kakashi was the one who defeated Zabuza." Tayuya discerned.

"Yeah, pretty much what happened, more or less." Naruto deadpanned.

"I see. Okay fuck it! Heal my legs dip shit, and do something about my cursed seal. Now! Before I change my mind." Tayuya said with a bossy attitude.

"Uh…yeah, sure. In a minute. I gotta report to my friend these developments. I'll be right back okay." Naruto said excitedly.

"The fuck? I thought you said you were here with your master or whatever?" Tayuya asked suspiciously.

"I can see how you could have misinterpreted my words like that, but no, that's not what I said. I said I was on a three year training trip with my master, I didn't however say I was travelling with him right now. I deserted him about six months into the trip. I send messages to him every once in a while via toad summoning to let him know I'm still alive and well but I have no interest in travelling with someone that's only holding me back. I've done much better without him. So for the next twelve months, it will be just the three of us." Naruto responded.

"Who the fuck is your friend dip shit? It better not be that emo bastard Uchiha!" Tayuya said angrily, an anger that was really merely a disguise for her insecurity.

"Her name is Fu, she's the Nanabi jinchuuriki. I went to her village to warn them about Akatsuki and to share with them the information I had about some of its members, and their former member Orochimaru. Instead of increasing protection over her like I hoped, they responded by banishing her. They said that if just one, former member, like your former master, Orochimaru, had the strength to challenge a village like Konoha and kill the Hokage in the process, then they dread to think what would happen to their small village if they challenged an entire organization of Orochimarus." Naruto explained with a hint of incredulity in his tone.

"So you decided to take responsibility for her? Well, I suppose technically it was your fault, although you only sped up what was already inevitable." Tayuya thought analytically.

"Perhaps, but uh…I think you and her will be great friends, I think we're all going to get along really well." Naruto said with a genuine smile.

"Why the hell don't you hate me? Dip shit? I'm the evil wench who attacked your village and helped Orochimaru trap and defeat your Kage. I'm also the evil wench who kidnapped your best friend and took him to Orochimaru for the snake paedophile to feast on his body."

"But you're also family. Family doesn't give up on each other. Family sticks together." Naruto said with a loving smile.

"Heh! If that's what you really think then you're an idiot….which means you need me even more than I thought to protect you from everyone else exploiting your idiocy." Tayuya said smugly.

"Sure, if that's your way of saying that you're starting to warm up to me." Naruto said, winking at Tayuya before running out of the cave.

"I'll be back soon with Fu-chan! You're going to like her!" Naruto shouted as he waved at Tayuya, tears falling from her eyes as she smiled warmly, unable to believe that fortune could actually smile at her so brightly, as she had never experienced its smile whatsoever in her sixteen years alive.

12 Months Later:

"So let me get this straight, your son of a bitch of a sensei, who has allegedly been searching for you for two years is five hours late for our rendezvous with him? But, for some reason, we are supposed to believe that he has spent this entire time looking for you?" Tayuya asked incredulously.

She was much healthier and much stronger now, after all, twelve months was a very long time. Naruto had fixed her cursed seal problem, which was a simple matter of removing Orochimaru's partial soul from her cursed seal. Simple in principle that is, because in reality it was a very complicated process that required a complicate ninja art, namely, sealing techniques, as Orochimaru, not unexpectedly, had made his soul's presence a key function of the seal.

Tayuya didn't want to loose the cursed seal powers, but had wanted to lose only Orochimaru's influence and connection to it. Naruto had agreed, as he had explained to her that the cursed seal was actually a form of sennin mode, which explained the massive boost in senses and abilities when it was used.

Naruto had told her that she had two choices. If she wanted to continue to have access to the powers of the seal, then she either had to let him severe a part of her soul and use it in the place of Orochimaru's soul, or she had to give him time to find a way to reconfigure the seal so that it doesn't need a soul to control its functions.

Fortunately for her, Naruto was too much of a genius for his own good, as he had taken only half a day to figure out how to reconfigure the seal. So as of now, she was a cursed sage mode user. What made things better was that she was far less restricted in her usage compared to before.

Naruto had told her that, as an Uzumaki, she had the potential to master sage mode without the aid of a sealing technique, that she could access it and control it on her own. So Naruto had taught her how to do it, and now she could sense and gather sage energy on her own.

However, due to the drawbacks of that, such as the fact that she would have to stand still for a while and couldn't gather more of it while fighting, it was decided that it was better that her cursed seal act as a storage device instead, from where she could draw a nigh unlimited amount of curse sage mode energy from.

That wasn't the only thing that had changed, as Naruto had taught her the shadow clone technique. She used this technique to seal clones of herself into her doki, and Naruto taught her another seal that she used to link her mind to the clones inside the doki so that she could issue mental commands to them instead of playing her flute to control them. This made things a whole lot easier for her and also made her Doki's movements far more unpredictable.

Finally, her sound release. Naruto had encouraged her to find new ways of using sound release and told her that, when she became a true master, she would be able to do anything with her ability to manipulate vibrations and sound, same way he was able to do anything with his wind release, to the point that he could even fly.

At the time, it had irked her to no end that she was the only member in the team who couldn't fly, as Fu could fly with the wings of her bijuu and her particle release. However, with a lot of hard work, pain, and suffering, she had figured out how to fly using her ability to manipulate vibrations, which earned their team the moniker of "The Flying Ninja Squad".

Money and food? That was not a problem at all, not with Naruto's mokuton ninjutsu. All they did was sell fruit and vegetables to the biggest hyper markets in the elemental nations and they become billionaires in a very short time. Not to mention the timber that they sold to construction and furniture companies. Tayuya could honestly say that she understood how Konoha easily became the most successful and richest ninja village of all time with Hashirama Senju as their founder.

Still, she didn't understand why Naruto wanted to keep his mokuton a secret, especially since he wanted to be the next Hokage. That alone would boost his chances exponentially, although on the other hand she kind of understood as maybe he wanted to truly feel that he earned it as opposed to getting it simply because of his bloodline limit.

"I do not actually care that he is late, or if he really was searching for me or not. As you already know, our plans are far bigger than that. I just hope that Tsunade-sama will approve our application as soon as possible and allow us to enter the chuunin exams in Kumo. I want to be a jonin by the time I return to Konoha, and I want you guys to be in my team." Naruto replied.

"Yeah, I can't believe that I, an Elite Jonin, am gonna be a fucking genin again like what the fuck? That totally sucks balls man!" Tayuya said incredulously.

"You would know, given the fact that you have Naruto-sama's balls permanently lodged deep down your throat." Fu said with a playful but mocking tone, seemingly taking pleasure and great entertainment from riling up her redhead friend.

Fū is a beautiful, petite, tan-skinned kunoichi, wearing an orange clip in her short, layered mint green hair that matches her orange eyes. Her ninja outfit consists of a short sleeveless white midriff shirt with fishnet armour underneath, long white armlets, and fishnet shorts with a short white apron skirt over it. Her forehead protector is worn on her right arm.

"What the fuck did you say to me you ugly slut? You bastard! Fuck you! At least I have his balls down my throat! Better than having your tongue permanently lodged deep into his asshole!" Tayuya retorted, causing Fu to laugh heartily in response, enjoying the insults thrown at her far more than any normal person should, Naruto releasing an audible sigh, unable to believe that he hadn't completely lost his mind hanging out with these two psychos 24/7.

"What? Are we boring you? Dip shit? I didn't hear you say that when you were ejaculating your rotten semen inside of me last night!" Tayuya said, Naruto not knowing whether to laugh like a mad man or be insulted by Tayuya's behaviour, eventually settling with a nostalgic smile as ultimately, he realized, he wouldn't choose to have it any other way, because no matter how crazy these two psychos were, they were his psychos.

"Forgive me for my poor timing, my love. I was just thinking that the messenger toad must have delivered our message by now. I'm just a little anxious that's all." Naruto replied.

"What will happen if she rejects us? Or if the requirements for amnesty are too unreasonable?" Fu asked with concern.

"Then I defect and become a missing ninja."

Meanwhile: Back in Konoha

Sakura didn't know how to feel. Livid, definitely. How dare Naruto form another team, with two beautiful women of all things! What about his promise to her, what about his promise to save Sasuke-kun from Orochimaru and rebuild team seven? How was he going to do that when he was forming a new team with foreign sluts, how was he going to do that when he was replacing Kakashi-sensei with Jiraiya-sama!

She knew it! She knew this would happen! She had begged Tsunade-sama not to let Naruto leave the village with Jiraiya! She had told Tsunade her fears, that Naruto might not be the same when he returned, that something bad might happen. But Tsunade-shishio had not listened, and now look what had happened!

As for Naruto, she was going to strangle him and chop his balls off when he returned. He was going to pay for this betrayal. She was going to make him beg her for forgiveness. This was unacceptable, completely, utterly, unacceptable.

"You have all heard the contents of Naruto's letter, you have all read the profiles that Naruto supplied of his prospective teammates for the chuunin exams. I chose to share this information with you because you all went to the academy together with Naruto, most of you at least. Neji, Lee, Tenten, you graduated a year earlier, but you have had some experience working with and even fighting against Naruto. I want to hear all of your opinions…"

"Unacceptable! Tsunade-sama, you cannot allow this to happen! Naruto belongs to team 7, he cannot be allowed to form a new team, especially one with foreign whores…uh…foreign kunoichi. One of them is an enemy who helped Orochimaru kill Sandaime-sama and also kidnapped Sasuke-kun for Orochimaru. She almost killed Shikamaru if it wasn't for Temari-san! This is unacceptable!" Sakura exclaimed angrily.

"……"

"Thank you for your input, Sakura, your passionate protest will be taken into consideration in my decision, but I was actually planning to ask Shikamaru to speak out first, seeing as he is the one who has the most experience with fighting or interacting with Tayuya of the North Gate." Tsunade replied.

"Oh…uh…gomen, shishio." Sakura apologized sheepishly, even though she was cursing up a storm on the inside, unable to understand why this inquisition was even necessary as she felt that the decision was an obvious one.

"Uh…troublesome. What can I say, uh….well, if this were a normal person we were talking about, I would say we absolutely cannot trust Tayuya. Orochimaru aside, she was the most sadistic, merciless, and heartless person that I know of. She didn't care when she thought her comrades were killed, in fact she seemed thrilled by the news. She enjoyed killing way too much to be considered a decent human being…" Shikamaru trailed off, causing a wicked smile to appear on Sakura's facial features.

"However, Hyuga Neji-san was a really cruel and heartless guy before he met Naruto, look at him now? I won't even mention Lord Kazekage Gaara. That guy was a living nightmare, and Naruto somehow earned his respect and love, and now they are the best of buddies, and Gaara is the nicest guy you'll ever come across. If he could change those guys to this extent, then I imagine he must have done the same to Tayuya, and if he has, then she is now an extremely powerful and valuable asset." Shikamaru said much to Sakura's chagrin, unable to believe the level of stupidity that Shikamaru just wasted five minutes of her life spewing, and they call this guy a genius? No way!

"Interesting. And you, Hyuga Neji, you briefly interacted with Tayuya in the Sasuke Retrieval Mission, what do you think?" Tsunade asked curiously.

"I agree with Shikamaru. Its true that not everyone can be changed, but having interacted with both Naruto and Tayuya, my experience tells me that Naruto is capable of achieving anything he puts his mind to. If anyone could have reached Tayuya's heart and changed her, it is Naruto." Neji deadpanned.

"Kiba? Are you in agreement?" Tsunade asked curiously.

"Those Sound Five bastards were strong and ruthless, but I would expect nothing less from Orochimaru's students. Anyone would turn out like that if they were subjected to Orochimaru'a cruelty and madness in their childhood. But I trust Naruto, believe in him even. If he says she's legit, then she's legit." Kiba replied.

"I agree with Kiba, Neji, and Shika, Hokage-sama. If Naruto trusts her, then I trust her too." Choji said earnestly.

"That doesn't mean anything. She still kidnapped Sasuke-kun and helped Orochimaru trap and kill Sandaime-sama. She is guilty of those crimes whether she has changed or not!" Sakura argued passionately.

"True, but in his letter, Naruto made it clear that she will atone for her crimes by providing all the information she has about Orochimaru, including his contacts and his secret bases. She has also vowed to fight against all of Naruto's enemies alongside him. From what I hear, Naruto and Sandaime-sama had a grandfather/grandson relationship, if she has sworn an oath to protect what is essentially Sandaime-sama's grandson, then is she not making up for her crimes?" Shino retorted, causing veins to literally pop up on Sakura's forehead.

"Oh, just like that huh? You all vouch for this criminal? I didn't know that you all hated me that much! What have I done to you? Huh? Please tell me, because I'd like to know?" Sakura asked much to everyone's confusion as they didn't understand what the hell she was talking about.

"Sakura, what has lead you to this conclusion?" Kakashi asked, confused.

"Don't you dare play dumb Kakashi-sense! Look underneath the underneath, remember your own lessons? What do you think will happen to team 7 if that evil criminal wench is accepted into the village? Don't you see what's happening? You're being replaced with Jiraiya-sama, I'm being replaced with that evil psychopathic wench! And Sasuke-kun is being replaced by this Fu person! Team Seven is being disbanded, and everyone here is supporting that decision! So I ask again, what have I done to you that you would actively try to sabotage my team?" Sakura asked furiously, stunning everyone in the room into silence, some of them looking down and unable to meet her gaze as they were ashamed of the fact that they didn't even think about what all of this could mean for Sakura.

"Don't you think you're overreacting a little too much, Sakura? Naruto is a complete idiot, but he would never ask to switch teams. He would never abandon his loved ones." Tsunade retorted.

"No offense, Hokage-sama, but aren't you being a little naïve? Naruto made it clear at the end of the letter that he wanted you not to allow any emotional attachments you might have to him or anyone else to affect your decision, but for you to make a logical, impartial decision. In fact he made it a point to emphasize that request. Don't you think that that is because he anticipated the reaction of your apprentice? Also, if you say Naruto would never abandon his loved ones, doesn't that apply to Fu and Tayuya as well? Clearly, based on the letter, and the nature of the request itself, he is very much attached to these two young women." Kurenai retorted eloquently, causing a deep frown to appear on Tsunade's facial features.

"Damn it! Kurenai! I think you might actually have a point." Tsunade said warily.

"You can't! Tsunade-sama, please! You can't do this!" Sakura pleaded.

"I don't want to, Sakura, but Naruto has been gone for two and a half years, and has spent a lot of that time with these two young women. You guys might have not noticed, but Naruto has no family here in Konoha, he doesn't even have real friends. He has teammates yes, but no friends. I have to make a decision that is best for the village, and denying Naruto this opportunity could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. The last thing we need is another talented young ninja deserting the village. Also, Naruto wants to be a jonin by the time he gets back, and there are only six months left before he returns. So not only would I be denying him the chance to be with loved ones, but I would also be denying him the opportunity to become a chuunin and take another leap towards his life long dream of becoming Hokage. Besides, there is no actual guarantee that Naruto wants to change teams, its just speculation at this point. He might actually just want a team to help him qualify to enter the chuunin exams in Kumo." Tsunade retorted, much to the horror of Sakura as she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Tsunade-sama, I thought you weren't supposed to allow emotional attachments to affect your decisions?" Sakura asked tensely, feeling like her sensei's emotional attachment to Naruto was affecting her decision making.

"Exactly. I have to make the decision that best suits the village. Two jinchuuriki is military advantage we cannot allow to pass us by, and the bonus of another elite jonin level ninja in Tayuya just puts a massive cherry on top of the deal. Also, we cannot afford to lose the jinchuuriki we already have either." Tsunade replied.

"Eh…Tsunade-sama, what exactly is a jinchuuriki? Naruto mentioned it in the letter, saying that Fu is a jinchuuriki just like himself. What exactly is that?" Kiba asked the question that everyone of the rookie twelve were wondering but too embarrassed to ask.

"A demon container, more specifically, a tailed beast demon container. Naruto is the host of the nine tailed demon fox, and Fu is the host of the seven tailed demon. Jinchuuriki are safeguards against the bijuu running amuck and destroying everything in their path, but they are also military assets as they have the potential to harness the power of the beast inside of them and use it in battle. Part of the reason Naruto is being trained outside of the village is so that he can learn to harness the power of the nine tailed demon fox without endangering the village should he lose control to the beast." Tsunade explained much to everyone's surprise and horror, apart from the senseis of course, but also Neji and Shikamaru, who seemed to have already known or at least had suspicions about Naruto.

"W-what? Naruto is a demon? Impossible!" Sakura exclaimed in surprise.

"He's not a demon, He's just its container. I'll admit, that can change if he were to ever be defeated in the never ending battle between container and host for control. However, I believe in Naruto, one hundred percent. I have no doubt that he will one day be able to completely tame the nine tailed fox. The Fourth Hokage was a wise and intelligent man. He knew what he was doing." Tsunade said passionately.

"D-did….does Naruto know? Does he know there is a demon inside of him?" Sakura asked with a betrayed look in her eyes.

"Yes, he does. Also you and your peers should know that Naruto's status is an S ranked secret, not to be revealed to anyone under the penalty of death. Only the Hokage, namely, me, and Naruto himself may share this information with anyone else." Tsunade declared gravely, causing everyone of the rookie twelve to swallow audible gulps.

"So, basically, you're saying Naruto knew all this time what he was, and could have told us, but chose not to? He didn't even trust his own friends with this information?" Kiba asked with a deep frown.

"I'm sure he had his reasons for not telling you. It is an S ranked secret after all, that is not something you disclose to others lightly." Tsunade retorted.

"I….I need to….I need time to process this!" Sakura said as she ran out of the office before anyone could stop her.

"Oi! Sakura…!"

"Leave her, Kakashi. She's going through a lot right now. She needs time to process the whole thing. Her whole world is unravelling, at least, a large part of it is." Tsunade said sombrely.

"You're going to be in quite a pickle yourself Hokage-sama. You seem to have a close bond with Naruto, but you obviously have a close bond with Sakura too, after all, she is your apprentice. Whether you pick a side or remain impartial in what I assume will be a big dispute between them when Naruto returns, you're probably going to look like you're picking sides to the one your decision doesn't favour." Asuma warned with a grave undertone.

"Not to mention, from what I have heard from Lee, they're both people with very strong flames of youth." Gai added, everyone assuming that he meant that they are very stubborn and emotional people when he said flames of youth, though one can never be sure about the translation as Gai seemed to honestly find any excuse to use his favourite catch phrase.

"If I'm going to end up becoming the villain anyway, then I suppose this means I'll have to harden my heart and do what is right for the village, irrespective of whether someone likes my decision or not." Tsunade said with a thoughtful expression.

"Which means…?" Kakashi trailed off with concern.

"I will accept Naruto's request. I'll admit I am worried about him going to Kumo given our history and the fact that we have no alliance or peace treaty with them. Its very dangerous territory. However, they have two jinchuuriki and Jiraiya, and this Tayuya seems like a genius shinobi in her own right if she was Orochimaru's elite guard at such a young age. She also has full control over the cursed seal. They should be able to handle whatever comes their way." Tsunade said with concern.

"I see. Well, I suppose we'll have to wait and see. There is nothing else we can do. However, supposing everything goes well, Naruto returns to the village, and as suspected, requests to form a new team with Jiraiya-sama and the two foreign girls, what will happen to Sakura and I? Would our team be disbanded or will you seek to find replacements for Sasuke and Naruto and have us continue as a team?" Kakashi asked with concern.

"What's wrong Kakashi? You worried about losing all of your students?" Asuma asked.

"I am, but more for Sakura than for me. I've already lost an entire team to death, so even if I lose another one, at least they're all still alive. So for me, it's not the worst case scenario. However, Sakura doesn't know the feeling of losing an entire team. It's the same as losing a chunk of your family. Also, as much as nothing is worse than death, being abandoned can potentially be just as painful, maybe even more so." Kakashi explained his reasoning.

"You're referring to the fact that both Naruto and Sasuke would have willingly and consciously chosen to leave her to be with other people? Hmmm…..that would not only be painful but would be a huge blow to her self esteem. She will need you and I now more than she ever did before. We'll have to be there for her, to remind her that there are still those who value her. To that end, I might have to form a new team for you just to keep you together." Tsunade replied thoughtfully.

"There might be another solution, Hokage-sama." Neji spoke with that ever calm and serene tone of his.

"Another solution? What is it?" Tsunade asked eagerly, in fact everyone eager to hear what possible solution Neji could have come up with.

"Reform team 7, with Naruto as team captain. He mentioned wanting to be a jonin by the time he comes back did he not? So, make an excuse to relieve Jiraiya-sama of his duties to the team, and replace him with Sakura-san, with Naruto, as a jonin, becoming captain of the team." Neji suggested much to Tsunade's surprise.

"That's a very good idea, the thought never even crossed my mind. However, Naruto cannot actually become a jonin by the time he returns. Jonin exams, unlike chuunin exams, can only be taken internally. Naruto would have to first return to the village before taking them. Also, an application is never approved immediately. You have to have been a chuunin for some time so that your achievements as a chuunin can be documented and your abilities assessed before an informed decision can be made. Naruto and Jiraiya aren't exactly doing any official missions and the ones that they do take on their journey are not reported." Tsunade explained.

"There are other ways are there not? Someone can become a special jonin if they have an especially powerful or efficient technique that makes up for their lack of experience or for the fact that they haven't ticked all the boxes. It can also be awarded to someone who has achieved a jonin level feat, such as defeating a jonin level opponent in single combat." Neji retorted.

"All of which are possible, but have yet to occur, or might not occur. Besides, with my well known relationship with Naruto, it would be difficult to grant him any special promotions without it looking like I was biased. Naruto himself probably wouldn't accept it, he would probably see it as a short cut." Tsunade argued.

"There is another, rare, alternative. One can be promoted to join by recommendation from a rival village leader. Who knows, perhaps Naruto-kun will do something to impress Raikage-sama during his stay in Kumo." Shizune replied.

"Precisely what I am hoping doesn't happen. The last thing I want is for Naruto to catch the eye of that man. He's more likely to try and kidnap Naruto than to recommend a jonin promotion for him." Tsunade said, biting her teeth nervously.

"Aaargh! Whatever, I need a drink. You're all dismissed. I'll figure this shit out later. I need time to think." Tsunade said in frustration.

One Week Later:

"I cannot believe you convinced Tsunade-hime to accept this ludicrous request. Your powers of seduction have surpassed even mine own." Jiraiya said as they got nearer to the gates of Kumogakure no Sato.

"You have no seduction skills to speak of you perverted old fart!" Tayuya said indignantly.

"Hah! You're just too young and inexperienced to appreciate my high level skills of seduction." Jiraiya retorted.

"Hah! Sleeping with whores that you have to pay to sleep with you doesn't qualify as seduction you imbecile!" Tayuya counter argued.

"Hohohoho! My beloved apprentice, are you really going to let this young, rowdy lady speak to me so callously?" Jiraiya asked with a mock hurt tone and expression.

"I don't see you speaking up for me when she's on my case, so no, I think I'll let you handle this one on your own." Naruto shrugged.

Truth be told, Jiraiya was very unhappy and disappointed, and he was also very sad, because he no longer trusted his God Son. Not only had Naruto disappeared on him for the majority of their training trip, but his inability to track him down, he, the Toad Sannin, the greatest spy and detective in the world, unable to track down a genin, really had him concerned.

There was no way Naruto had eluded him on his own, there was no way he was that smart and that skilled, certainly not at the time. The only way it was possible was if someone had been helping him. But who? Who could have gotten close to Naruto without him noticing?

Of course, Jiraiya had no idea that the people who helped Naruto were long dead, namely, Momochi Zabuza, Yuki Haku, and Namikaze Minato. Using scrolls he found in Zabuza's hideout three years ago, Naruto had trained himself to the ground before defecting. Those skills had given him the knowledge and skill to evade Jiraiya, after all, Zabuza had evaded the famed hunter nin squad of Kirigakure for well over half a decade.

When he later tried to control the Kyubi's chakra and lost control, he had met his father in the seal, who had also imparted a ton of knowledge for him to improve his skills, knowledge and training that had lead him to discovering more of his bloodline abilities.

Furthermore, Naruto had later met his mother in the seal, when he used his chakra chains to take full control of the kyubi, and she had also passed down her knowledge to him. So yes, Naruto had help, but not in the way Jiraiya thought he did.

"I'm sensing a lot of strong chakra signatures near the gate." Tayuya said, interrupting Jiraiya's train of thought.

"Its Iwa and Kirigakure shinobi, two four man teams. They must be here for the chuunin exams, even though, they are all way too strong to be genin." Naruto retorted.

"How can you tell that from here? They aren't even visible yet." Jiraiya asked, confused.

"Naruto-kun is the best chakra sensor in the elemental nations. He can tell family relations and geographic relations from his sensory skills alone." Fu replied on Naruto's behalf, much to Jiraiya's surprise as he didn't even know Naruto had any chakra sensing potential.

"You can tell which nation someone is from by just sensing their chakra?" Jiraiya asked incredulously.

"More or less. Its easier when they are in group. Most Iwa shinobi are earth style users, and even those who aren't born with an earth affinity will be forced to develop an earth affinity. So when you see a team of four, and all of them can use earth style, then it becomes obvious that they are from Iwagakure no Sato doesn't it? It's the same with Kirigakure and water style, and Kumogakure and lightning style." Naruto explained.

"So what you can actually sense is the chakra natures that a person can use? That's still a level of sensory perception that I have never heard of." Jiraiya thought out loud.

"They have sensor types too. They have detected us, and it seems to be the reason why they are waiting at the gate. They must have sensed the strength of our own chakra and have identified us as potential threats." Naruto said gravely.

"These chuunin exams are already turning out to be more trouble than their worth. Are you absolutely sure you want to do this, Naruto?" Jiraiya asked with concern.

"Definitely. I must at least be a chuunin by the time I return to Konoha. Speaking of which, after these exams, we need to start recording and documenting our missions. I don't want my application for the jonin exams to be rejected because of lack of experience." Naruto said as they continued marching towards the gates of the Kumogakure no Sato.

"Your ambition to be Hokage huh? You seem to be in far too much of a hurry these days. You've never had any doubt about your ambitions, but you've also never seemed to be in such a hurry. It always seemed like something that would happen some day, but the way you're moving right now, its like its something that you want to happen immediately." Jiraiya said curiously.

"My friend and rival has already been Kazekage for just over 12 months now. Let us just say, I have a little extra motivation. We don't know what the future holds, especially with the threat of Orochimaru and Akatsuki still lingering. The fact that Tsunade-sama might have to die for me to take over doesn't sit well with me, but if, Kami-sama forbid, it were to happen, I have to be ready to take the mantle. That was our promise wasn't it, that she would hold the mantle until I'm ready?" Naruto retorted.

"Hmmm……are you sure that is all there is to it?" Jiraiya asked suspiciously.

"All there is to it? You make it sound like my reasons are small, have you forgotten that this is my life long ambition? Of course I want to be ready to cease it when the time comes." Naruto deadpanned.

"Hmm….." Jiraiya trailed off, seemingly unconvinced, not that Naruto cared of course, as the only people whose opinions he truly cared about were Tayuya and Fu-chan's, the only two people that he trusted without reservations, and vice versa.

Five Minutes Later:

"Good morning everyone, how are you?" Naruto greeted politely.

"What the fuck are you being nice to them for, dip shit? They're the enemy, we'll likely be fighting them in the exams. You aint gotta say shit to them." Tayuya said brazenly, causing Naruto to fight hard to resist an audible sigh, the only thing stopping him being the fact that, in all honesty, he knew that he used to be just like her in the past, as he remembered his own outbursts and loud declarations in the last chuunin exams he entered.

"You have some nerve coming here, Yondaime Hokage no gaki!" A slim, beautiful girl with short black hair and pink eyes said, eyes which are accentuated by her eyelashes running upwards at the corners.

She was wearing the standard attire of the Iwa-nin consisting of a red uniform with her right sleeve missing and a lapel over her right leg, fishnet tights and a skirt over them. She was also wearing regular shinobi sandals and a pair of gloves, and had a brown weapons pouch on her left leg with her forehead protector wrapped around her forehead.

'I knew this was a horrible idea!' Jiraiya thought in a panic, looking at the shocked looks of everyone who was in hearing shot, looks which quickly turned to realization as Naruto's resemblance to the man left almost, if not in fact no doubt at all in their minds about the legitimacy of the Iwa kunoichi's statement.

"I'm guessing you must be the Sandaime Tsuchikage's grand daughter then? Its an honour to meet your acquaintance, I am Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto introduced himself as he extended his hand for a hand shake, a hand that the Iwagakure kunoichi rudely slapped away in disgust, much again, to the surprise of everyone, Jiraiya of course, more surprised by Naruto's lack of reaction at being called the Yondaime Hokage's son, as if the Iwa kunoichi had merely told him the weather forecast for the day.

'Actually, its not just him. Neither of those girls seem surprised. So not only did he know, but he told Fu and Tayuya of this, but didn't give any indication to me that he knew? And exactly how long has he known the truth anyway?' Jiraiya thought suspiciously.

"Your father killed many of my people. You will pay for his sins. You made a mistake coming here, Namikaze Naruto. I know for a fact that Kumogakure carries almost as much of a grudge against your father as Tshuchigakure does. Your Hokage must be an imbecile for sending you here." The Iwagakure Kunoichi said malevolently, putting special emphasis on the name 'Namikaze', as if to make sure that Naruto understands that she doesn't acknowledge 'Uzumaki' as his name.

"Teme…!" Tayuya trailed off as Naruto quickly raised his right hand in the air, signalling for Tayuya to stay out of it and let him handle this himself, Tayuya gritting her teeth in anger but knowing better than to disobey Naruto's orders.

"Your animosity, while unjustified as I am not the one who killed your people, is however understandable, as my father's death means that you can never exact your revenge on him, not directly at least. Still, I do not think your lack of manners is justified. Don't allow your hate to drag your reputation through the mud. I greeted you with respect and introduced myself to you, I expect at least that much from you, even if you intend to kill me during the chuunin exams." Naruto replied calmly, the Iwa kunoichi's face turning red with anger, like she was a balloon about to explode.

"Ahem! Please forgive my daughter for her behaviour! She is a….passionate young woman. My name is Kitsuchi, the jonin sensei of this team. This passionate young lady is Kurotshuchi, my daughter. These are our teammates, Akatsuchi and Suzumebachi." Kitsuchi said as he directed Naruto's gaze to Akatsuchi and Suzumebachi, Naruto paying special attention to Suzumebachi as he was quite honestly shocked by the amount of chakra she had.

She has shoulder-length brown hair with a single lock falling onto the right side of her face and going over her right eye just a little bit. She has steel-grey eyes with orange markings in the corner and she is wearing what appears to be an altered, purple kimono dress with red trimmings. The is a yellow sash around her waist and thigh-length stockings that are merged into her sandals and she also has very small eyebrows.

'Those are elite Uzumaki level chakra reserves. Kurotsuchi has an abnormally large reserve of chakra too, but this one takes the cake.' Naruto thought curiously, quite sure that they were not jinchuuriki, which made their abnormally large reserves quite a peculiar phenomenon.

"It's nice to meet you, Kitsuchi-san. As I already said, I am Uzumaki Naruto, and these are, of course, my teammates. The lady with the red hair is Tayuya, and the one with the green hair is Fu. The big man over here is my master and jonin sensei, Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin." Naruto said much to the surprise of, well, everyone.

"Just as I thought. You may use the name Uzumaki, but all evidence points towards you being Namikaze Minato's son. Jiraiya of The Sannin is a legendary figure in the ninja world by his own right, but he is also known for being the mentor of the Yellow Flash. That he is your mentor too all but confirms it." Kitsuchi said with conviction.

"It's not like I was denying it." Naruto said with a shrug of the shoulders.

'Is he ignorant to the danger that his identity poses to him or does he just not care? There is a thin line between confidence and arrogance, but which side of the line is he?' Kitsuchi wondered.

"Tche! You arrogant little…! We'll see how confident you are when I hold your life in the palms of my hands!" Kurotsuchi said angrily.

"You are within your rights to pursue that goal, after all, the chuunin exams are a substitution for war. It is how the status between the ninja villages in the elemental nations is determined, rather than trying to eradicate each other's entire villages and causing untold amounts of destruction and suffering. Given that it is a war subatitution strategy, it is probably the only legitimate opportunity you will have to dispose of me." Naruto said as if he wasn't the one whose death was being talked about, almost as if providing emotional support for Kurotsuchi.

"You piece of shit! Are you mocking me, huh?" Kurotsuchi exclaimed angrily.

"That's enough, Kurotsuchi! You've already made a major blunder by alerting your target of your intentions, now he has time to prepare and plan for your ambush. You've completely taken away the element of surprise from the equation. You've made things unnecessarily difficult for both you and your teammates! You're a kunoichi, not some reckless street brawler. If you ever want to succeed father as the next Tsuchikage, you have to do better!" Kitsuchi scolded his daughter harshly, Kurotsuchi's eyes widening in surprise when she realized what she did.

"You're right, father. I'm sorry everyone." Kurotsuchi apologized sincerely, Naruto raising an eyebrow as he didn't think that someone like her had that kind of maturity and humility.

"I know you're strong, you're our greatest military asset, everyone believes in you already, so you don't have to be in such a rush to prove yourself that you forget the fundamental principles of being a ninja." Kitsuchi further admonished.

"I know, you're right. But I swear on my life, I will not fail. I will get revenge for our people!" Kurotsuchi said with fire in her eyes.

"Shouldn't it be we will get revenge for our people? You are in a team after all." Naruto asked rhetorically.

"S-stop speaking to me like I'm your friend! Its not going to work! I'm going to kill you no matter how nice you try to act! I mean…. we, we are going to kill you!" Kurotsuchi said stubbornly.

"We shall see about that…" Naruto trailed off as he was interrupted by a Kirigakure guy with an eye patch on his right eye.

"Pardon the interruption, but we couldn't help but notice the gigantic sword on your back. It looks very familiar." The man said with an unmistakable edge to his tone.

"I would have been surprised if you didn't recognize it, Ao-san of the Byakugan, it was after all, a Kirigakure heirloom." Naruto retorted, much to the surprise of Ao and his students.

"You know who I am? And about my byakugan? How?" Ao asked, surprised that a person so young knew him first of all, but even moreso that he knew about his byakugan.

"Zabuza-sensei had extensive notes about you, and all of the high ranking ninja of Kirigakure." Naruto dropped a bomb near the gates of Kumogakure.

"What? No way! That's bull shit! Zabuza-sama would have never taken on a foreign shinobi as an apprentice! He definitely would have never shared village secrets with you!" One of Ao's students said angrily.

He is a handsome teenager of average height, around Naruto's age. He has a fair complexion with short, messy, blonde hair that falls over the right side of his face and spiked up on the left his forehead, pink eyes and a marking with three points running down under his left eye.

He is wearing black pants, a striped purple shirt, a green long-sleeved vest with a high collar, and black gloves. He also has a grey-strapped forehead protector under his bangs and is carrying a large sword on his back that is actually forged from the water staff that his father, the late Yondaime Mizukage, used to carry, the sword given the name "Water Gun" because of its water manipulation abilities.

"You'd be surprised. Being a missing ninja for well over half a decade can change someone, and, well, seeing your life flash in front of your eyes can change your perspective too." Naruto retorted to the blonde haired kid's shock and confusion.

"By the way, who might you be? You look awfully familiar, in fact, you have a very strong resemblance to the Yondaime Mizukage." Naruto said suspiciously.

"I am Katarashi Kagura, and yes, I am the late Yondaime Mizukage's son." Kagura said with a mixture of emotions.

"Late Yondaime Mizukage huh? I'm sorry for your loss." Naruto said sombrely

"Why would you be sorry for his loss? He was a vile man who killed his own people for the most stupid reason ever." Kagura said angrily.

"He was still your father though. I'm sure it couldn't have been easy for you." Naruto retorted, Yagura choosing to remain silent to that retort lest he say something that he was not supposed to say.

He wanted so badly to tell Naruto that his father was a great man, that he only did those things because someone was controlling him with a powerful genjutsu. However, that information was an S ranked secret that wasn't supposed to be disclosed under any circumstances, because it sent an even worse message than the one that was already out there about his father, the message being that the Yondaime Mizukage was weak Kage who could be controlled by an enemy jutsu, which would likely weaken their position even more than it was already.

"Don't become distracted, Kagura. The real issue here is Namikaze Naruto's possession of the Kubikiribocho." Another teen said with a grave undertone.

He is a teenager, also around the same age as Naruto, with chin length purple hair which is parted in the middle. He also has red-coloured eyes that were currently glowing, and He wore a light-purple shirt with black stripes on each side, a sash around his waist, a pair of dark-coloured pants and sandals. On his back were two dual swords, known as the Lightning Fangs, and a blue weapons pouch on his left leg.

"Okay, look, he didn't exactly give it to me. We encountered him and his apprentice on a mission almost three years ago. He uh…was killed in battle by my then jonin sensei, Hatake Kakashi, and I defeated his apprentice, Yuki Haku. Haku and I were able to, form a deep bond, a brotherly bond of sorts. We had met and become friends before we knew were enemies, well, before I knew at least." Naruto said, pausing slightly before continuing on with his explanation.

"My chakra sensory skills were underdeveloped at the time, so even when we fought, I didn't realize it was him until I broke his ANBU mask. After finding out who he was, I couldn't kill him, I….I hesitated. Fortunately he couldn't kill me either. When Kakashi-sensei was about to kill Zabuza, Haku used his demonic crystal ice mirror technique to teleport to Zabuza and took the blow instead, but not before he gave me co-ordinates to his and Zabuza's hidden base…." Naruto trailed off as he tried to suppress his emotions.

"Zabuza and I had an argument about Haku's death before he died. He said that Haku was a mere tool and that the fact he lost and died made him a defective tool. Needless to say, I was pissed off. In the end, he admitted that he loved Haku like a son, and shed tears for him. He managed to change and become a better person, in is last moments. That mission, it was my first mission outside of the village, and to this day, it is the mission that has had the largest impact on me. In Zabuza and Haku's hideout, I found a lot of things, his personal bingo book, their jutsu scrolls and ninja tactics. Haku must have wanted me to find them, and to learn from them. So I did, and I carry this sword in honour of the both of them. " Naruto concluded his explanation, everyone, including Jiraiya, shocked into silence by Naruto's story, well, except for Fu and Tayuya, who already knew everything about him.

"B-but, t-they were foreign shinobi, not only that, but they were enemies who legitimately tried to kill you and your teammates. How can you honour them as if they were your family?" The third genin member of the team asked, stuttering nervously as he spoke, making Naruto think that he was like a male version of Hinata.

He is also around Naruto's age, with short, tufty blue hair, and dark eyes. He also has pointed, shark-like teeth, a common trait of the members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist as well as apprentices share. He wears square, black-rimmed glasses connected to ear protectors, a blue pin-striped shirt and camouflage pattern pants.

He wears his forehead protector on the front of his holster which he uses to carry Hiramekarei, a gigantic sword that can function both as a dual sword and a double edged sword depending on how you connect it. It also known as the chakra sword, and the sword itself is wrapped in bandages leaving only the double hilt visible. He also has shuriken holsters strapped onto each of his legs.

"Before I met Tayuya-chan and Fu-chan, they were, despite being my enemies, the people I formed the strongest bond ever with. I consider Haku to be the brother I never had, and I have a great deal of respect for Zabuza-dono. As I said before, they had a monumental impact on who I am now and even my combat abilities." Naruto said unapologetically.

"……"

"You still need to give us back the sword, it belongs to Kirigakure. As much respect as I have for Zabuza-sama, it doesn't change the fact that the sword did not belong to him. So even if his apprentice gave it to you, it means nothing. He had no right to give it to you." Kagura said gravely.

"The custom of claiming spoils of war is recognized by every single ninja village in the elemental nations. Zabuza was legitimately defeated by my jonin sensei, and I defeated his apprentice. I have a legitimate claim to his sword." Naruto retorted.

"You're already being hunted by the Tsuchigakure contingent, are you sure you want to be hunted by us too? Because that is what will happen to you if you do not give us back the sword." The guy with the glowing eyes said.

"Who are you again?" Naruto asked curiously, seemingly ignoring the guy's warning to him.

"Bishiteki Ranmaru of the Fuingan. The guy on my right is Choujuro." The kid with glowing eyes, now identified as Ranmaru, replied.

"Nice to meet you…..and uh, no, I will not be handing over the sword, but I will put it into consideration. I shall have an answer for you at the end of the exams, and if I do give it back, it would be at a monetary price. So maybe you should contact the Godaime Mizukage and ask him how much he is willing to offer."

"Her…" Ao corrected.

"Excuse me?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Ask her how much she is willing to offer." Ao corrected.

"I see. So two of the five Kage are females? This is unprecedented, though it should do wonders for the morale of all kunoichi in the elemental nations." Naruto retorted.

"Yes it will, but there is no need for us to contact Mizukage-sama. We will retrieve that sword at any cost." Kagura said uncompromisingly.

"Looking forward to it, I guess." Naruto said, resisting the urge to sigh out loud. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all, coming to Kumogakure for the chuunin exams.

2 Days Later:

Knock knock knock

"Coming!" Naruto said as he went to the door.

"You're supposed to ask who it is, fool!" Jiraiya said incredulously.

"I know who it is, it's the nibi jinchuurki." Naruto said as he reached the door, Jiraiya having to remind himself that Naruto was apparently their ultimate sensor type ninja, although that really didn't help the situation because it now begged the question of why the hell the nibi Jinchuuriki would be sent to their room, and so early in the morning too, but it was too little too late as Naruto had already opened the door before Jiraiya could mount a protest.

"Good morning, Namikaze-san." The beautiful, angelic beauty on the other side of the door greeted, Naruto looking at her with awe as he couldn't believe how beautiful she was.

She has long, straight, blonde, hair bound with taut bandages, dark eyes and is also wearing red lipstick. She is wearing a short-sleeved black and purple blouse and black pants, both of which have a design similar to clouds on them, purple fingerless gloves and a chain of blue beads wound around her left hand. She also is wearing the standard Kumogakure forehead protector, sandals and a kunai holster, which is strapped to her right thigh and there are bandages around her arms and legs as well as a red belt around her waist.

"Good morning, uh…"

"Nii Yugito, jonin of Kumogakure no sato." The woman, now known as Yugito, greeted professionally.

"Nice to meet your acquaintance. So uh…how may I help you?" Naruto asked politely.

"It is customary to invite a guest in and not leave them standing at the door." Yugito deadpanned.

"Uh….yeah, please come in." Naruto said as he moved out of the way, allowing Yugito to enter his and Jiraiya's hotel room.

"You can sit on my bed." Naruto said as he gestured towards his bed, which thankfully, unlike Jiraiya's, was already neatly made and folded.

"It's quite alright, I won't be staying long." Yugito said as she looked around the room before turning back to Naruto, acting as if Jiraiya was not even there despite the fact that she had just recently chastised Naruto about his lack of manners.

"Raikage-sama sent me to demand you hand over a more appropriate picture of you. The picture on your genin license is outdated and quite frankly, ridiculous." Yugito said with authority, Naruto scratching the back of his head sheepishly as he remembered exactly what he looked like on the picture, literally like a total clown.

"Ahehehe, uh, I was a bit of an attention seeker back then. I assure you, I have grown considerably more mature since then." Naruto said as he extended his right hand, with a poof of smoke, a recent photo of him appearing on the palm of his hand.

"This is more than adequate. Thank you for your cooperation, Namikaze-san." Yugito said as she took the photo into her hand.

"My pleasure. Anyway, we were about to get the girls from the opposite room and go out for breakfast. Would you like to join us?" Naruto asked warmly, Yugito giving him a soul searching stare that lasted quite a bit longer than was comfortable for Naruto, searching the blonde Uzumaki for any signs of deception only to find none whatsoever.

"….."

"Thank you for the kind offer Namikaze-san, but I have already eaten." Yugito deadpanned.

"Okay, well, thanks for stopping by. Its not often I get to meet others like me. If possible, I would like for us to become friends. I don't know how they treat jinchuuriki around here, but I wasn't treated so well growing up. Making friends was extremely difficult, borderline impossible really." Naruto said openly, Yugito fixing him with another soul searching stare before finally relenting.

"I understand your pain. It can be quite difficult to make friends. Nevertheless, you are from an enemy village, making friends with you would only make things unnecessarily difficult for us in the event our respective villages went to war with each other. I'd rather avoid compromising myself like that, and so should you." Yugito said logically.

"Yeah may have a point, it would be morally compromising. Nevertheless, there is no guarantee that our respective villages will go to war in our generation, so I would rather not live my life with ifs, coulds, and woulds. Therefore, my offer still stands." Naruto retorted.

"……"

"Tell you what, Namikaze-san, survive your jonin exam tomorrow, and I will accept your offer of friendship." Yugito said with a mysterious tone.

"I think you mean my chuunin exam tomorrow, and isn't the first exam a written exam? Surviving is a rather easy goal all things considered don't you think?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Chuunin exam, yes of course, that's what I meant." Yugito said, again Naruto getting a weird feeling from her.

"What's going on exactly?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"I must report back to Lord Raikage. Good luck for your exam tomorrow, you're going to need it." Yugito said dismissively, making a relatively quick exit as she didn't even wait for Naruto to respond before she was already gone.

"……"

"You look troubled, don't have as much game as you thought huh? Well, don't worry my apprentice, some are a little harder than others. Sometimes you need to stick it out. That is an amazing beauty, trust me, she'll be worth the effort." Jiraiya said with a lecherous tone.

"That's not it. When I corrected her about the chuunin exam, she said that she meant to say chuunin exam instead of jonin exam. However, she lied, which means that she actually meant to say jonin exam. But why would she have meant to say that when we are in fact here for the chuunin exams?" Naruto pondered out loud.

"What? That's impossible! Jonin exams are taken internally. You must be mistaken! How do you even know that she was lying?" Jiraiya asked incredulously.

"A master chakra sensor can discern lies from truth by analysing the chakra fluctuations of someone, but more than that, I have the unique ability to sense negative emotions, which makes it even easier for me to identify when someone is lying." Naruto replied, once again shocking Jiraiya for like the millionth time since they were reunited.

"At this point I don't even know what to say about your sensory skills except to ask if you are absolutely positive about your readings." Jiraiya asked warily.

"I am. Besides, didn't it sound ominous to you, the way she said I was going to need all the luck I can get for tomorrow's exam?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"She also called you uh….by the Yondaime Hokage's surname, which means that the Raikage thinks that you are….uh…related to the Yondaime Hokage. From what I know, he was the Yondaime Hokage's arch rival. He considered himself the fastest ninja in the shinobi world, until he met the Yellow Flash in battle that is." Jiraiya replied, lamely still trying to feign ignorance to the fact that Naruto was his late student's son.

"So whatever surprise he has for me, also has a convenient reward system. If I get through whatever test he has, I get an instant jonin promotion. That is the bait I suppose, to incentivise me to participate in whatever façade he has planned out for me." Naruto thought out loud.

"You can't possibly be considering this! Don't be a fool! Whatever it is that the Raikage has planned for you, its definitely a trap!" Jiraiya said angrily.

"Obviously, but it's also an opportunity. You cannot gain anything of real value if you're not willing to put your life on the line for it. Besides, the reward is worth the risk." Naruto said elatedly.

"I won't allow it! I forbid you from taking part in the exam tomorrow! We're leaving, effective immediately!" Jiraiya said uncompromisingly.

"Who's the naïve one now? Do you really think that Lord Raikage will allow us to just leave like that? I scanned the entire village as soon as I noticed Yugito-dono acting weird. There are eleven times more shinobi on village border patrol than there was yesterday, and four times the number of chakra sensor types as there were yesterday. He has put the village on lockdown, which means that he isn't giving me a choice of whether I want to participate or not, and he definitely isn't giving me the choice to just up and leave before the exam tomorrow." Naruto replied casually.

"Now come, lets go get some breakfast." Naruto said as if it was just a normal, warm and sunny day.

"You go ahead, I'm going to pay the Raikage a little visit and give him a piece of my…." Jiraiya trailed off as Fu and Tayuya barged into their room unannounced.

"You filthy wankers better come outside now! You won't believe this!" Tayuya exclaimed frantically.

"Come quickly Naruto-kun! This is terrible! I mean, its freaking exciting but its also terrible…I think!" Fu exclaimed incoherently, Naruto and Jiraiya both looking at each other with confused facial expressions before nodding together at the same time.

"Lead the way…."

2 Minutes Later: Streets of Kumogakute no Sato.

"So that's why Yugito wanted an updated picture of me? I must say though, they work pretty damn fast. I mean it was not even ten minutes ago that I gave her my picture." Naruto said, impressed.

"Must be some kind jutsu. Its possible the posters were already up, just hidden via genjutsu. And maybe there was a jutsu they used to switch the old picture with the new one before they released the genjutsu." Tayuya deduced without using a single swear word.

"Hmmm….probably. Hehe! Kurotsuchi must be seething right now." Naruto laughed amusedly.

"Right? That herpes infested mouth of hers must be spewing an endless supply of diarrhoea right this moment. Serves the bitch right." Tayuya said in agreement.

"The Kiri swordsmen won't be happy either." Fu laughed with satisfaction.

"Are you snot nosed little brats stupid or something? You don't see this for what it is? Does it need to be spelled out for you? This isn't no exam, this is a public execution, at the very least a public assassination. You're being put on the chopping block!" Jiraiya said incredulously, unable to believe the sheer magnitude of his godson's stupidly as he looked, with horror, at the large posters that were hung all over the village, posters advertising tomorrow's spectacle, a jonin exam at the Storm Cloud Arena, where three one on one battles were to take place, between Namikaze Naruto, son of the Yellow Flash and Yotsuki A, the Raikage, and two other battles between Naruto's teammates Uzumaki Tayuya and Seven Tails Jinchuurki Fu against the Raikage's Body Guards and tag team partners, C and Yotsuki Darui respectively.

"Of course it is. However, that doesn't mean we have to play along with the script that's written for us. We've got our own script in mind." Naruto retorted confidently.

"Hehehehe! I can't wait! I wonder what abilities Yotsuki Darui has. I can't wait to fight him." Fu said excitedly.

"I don't know about that, but lightning style and insane speed are guaranteed to be involved somehow. These guys aren't just the Raikage's Elite Guard, they're also his tag team partners. Do you know how fast you have to be to be able to pull off tag team moves with the fastest man in the world?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"S-sugoi! This is going to he so fun." Fu exclaimed excitedly.

"Heh, I dunno, this C guy looks like a weak ass faggot to me. I'm going to fold him up like the weak, submissive little twink that he is." Tayuya said confidently.

"Confidence is good, but don't underestimate anyone, especially, as previously mentioned, the Raikage's Elite Tag Team Partners." Naruto deadpanned.

"I know dip shit! I was just saying he looks like a faggot ass twink that's all!" Tayuya retorted, Naruto rolling his eyes as he wondered why he even bothered at this point.

"Alright whatever, let's go get some breakfast then." Naruto retorted.

"Wait! Why didn't you tell me that Tayuya was an Uzumaki?" Jiraiya asked suspiciously.

"I didn't tell anyone. Lord Raikage must have one seriously keen eye to have discerned that on his own. Honestly I'm not surprised at this point. Nothing will ever surprise me again after this." Naruto replied.

"Yeah, and stop being a hypocrite you perverted, deadbeat pathetic excuse for a God Father!" Tayuya exclaimed angrily, Jiraiya's eyes widening in surprise as he didn't know Naruto knew that much.

"I……"

"Forget about it, sensei. Let's just have ourselves a nice breakfast and spend the rest of the day planning our escape. I'm not naïve enough to believe we will leave Kumogakure no Sato without incident even if we win tomorrow. We need to have an exit strategy." Naruto said, unbothered.

"Y-you do that so long. I need to give the Raikage a piece of my mind! I'll see you at lunch time!" Jiraiya said as he turned and started walking away with purpose in his step, without even waiting for a response from Naruto.

"Dude would rather face offagainst Lord Raikage than own up to his wrongdoings, crazy." Fu thought with child-like awe and wonder.

"He hasn't even acknowledged that dip shit is the son of the Yellow Flash. Piece of shit pervert is in denial." Tayuya retorted.

"None of that matters. What matters is that tomorrow, no matter what, we aint leaving Kumogakure without a jonin promotion." Naruto said positively.

"Still can't believe Lord Raikage postponed the chuunin exams just for this. He must have desperately wanted a somewhat legal and legitimate excuse to kill you, Naruto-kun." Fu said with a little bit of concern, even though the other half of her was confident in Naruto's victory and honestly excited to see the fight between him and Lord Raikage.

"Yeah, the asshole even put on a nice touch with the all the examinees have to do is survive for ten minutes against the Raikage and his elite guards. Tche, as if surviving ten minutes against the allegedly fastest trio of shinobi in the world is something just anyone can do." Tayuya said, pissed by the Raikage's devious mechanisations.

"He thinks he is setting us up, but this actually makes things easier for us because we don't even have to win to get promoted, just make sure we're still standing at the 10 minute mark." Naruto retorted.

"Hehehe! So true! That's what he gets for planning a diabolical scheme without getting enough information on his targets." Fu said jovially.

"Psshht! At least I aint gotta be a genin for much longer. I think I was seriously going to lose my mind at having to remind myself that I have been demoted to a rookie position. Anyway, let's get the fuck outta the streets, these piece of shit Kumogakurians keep starring at us like we're some kind of circus show." Tayuya said irritably.

"Kumogakurians? Hahaha! I don't think I've ever heard such a term before. But I like it. Kumogakurians, hahaha!" Fu laughed hysterically, inevitably causing more people to give them the evil eye, much to both Naruto's amusement and chagrin, the blonde Uzumaki feeling like laughing alongside her whilst at the same time feeling like chastising her, which was honestly his every day life with Tayuya and Fu, nevertheless the trio taking Tayuya's advise and vacating the streets before they got themselves into an incident.

Following Day: Storm Clouds Arena

The place was buzzing, in fact, not just the stadium, but the whole of Kumogakure had been buzzing since the previous evening, especially with the Raikage's brother, the eight tailed jinchuuriki, leading a rap parade all around the village all night long until morning. Everyone was excited, but most of all, everyone seemed extremely confident in the Raikage and the Elite Guard.

Naruto had used a shadow clone and a henge to infiltrate the crowds so that he can gather some information, and had found out that the Raikage and his brother were undefeated since the Yellow Flash passed away, and had been undefeated before they encountered him as well. He also learned that they weren't the only ones, as the two tailed Jinchuurki, Yugito, and the Raikage's tag team partners were also undefeated.

Another thing he learned was that they were all, supposedly, speed demons. Naruto wasn't surprised as he had already surmised that C and Darui had to be speed demons in order to be the Raikage'a tag team partners. It was also obvious as far as the eight and two tails jinchuurik, after all, Naruto knew all too well the speed boost one can get from both version one and version two tailed beast modes.

The Raikage's brother, Killer Bee, was a perfect jinchuuriki Naruto had found out, and Nii Yugito apparently was very close to completely subduing her bijuu too, which meant, of course, that they were incredibly fast because that meant that they were more than capable of using version one and version two tailed beast states.

Nevertheless, Naruto did not have to worry about them, for now at least. Assuming both his beloved, secret wives actually won and/or survived their respective battles, he might have to worry about the two jinchuuriki only when he and his team try to leave the village, because if the Raikage had no intention of letting them leave, then Naruto might end up having to fight at least one of the jinchuuriki.

"Hahaha! You know I was really pissed off when I saw the posters all over the village. I hated how Lord Raikage took my people's vengeance right from under our noses. However, I've come around since then. You see, now I get to watch you, from a comfortable positon, getting crushed into minced meat by Lord Raikage. The only thing that could have been better would be to watch Tsuchikage-sama dismantle your body into tiny, invisible molecules." Kurotsuchi said maliciously, Naruto resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the Raikage's persistence in making his life miserable. For a guy that Naruto had never met before, the guy sure had it out for him, going as far as designating for him and his team seating positions that were smack in the middle of both the Kiri and the Tsuchi teams, the very teams that declared their intentions to kill him and his team when they arrived.

'The gate guards must have reported what happened and Lord Raikage decided to use it to unsettle us. Seriously, the guy has no shame.' Naruto thought irritably.

"If you don't shut your big mouth a giant wasp is going to fly in there and sting your insides." Naruto retorted.

"Haaah! Is that the best you've got? Idiot! Is that what you want your last words to be? You know you're going to die right? This whole thing is a ruse for Lord Raikage to legitimately and legally assassinate you and your friends. Jonin promotion my foot!" Kurotsuchi said with a sinister glint in her eyes.

"Maybe I'll just assassinate Lord Raikage instead. Did you consider that, huh?" Naruto retorted.

"Haaah! Yeah right! Even your father couldn't kill him. Sure, your father beat him, no one is disputing that, but even defeated, Lord Raikage is an extremely difficult man to kill, his skin is impregnable. Nothing can cut through him, and his resistance to blunt force trauma is quite frankly inhuman. Killing him takes a special kind of talent, a talent that you don't have, idiot!" Kurotsuchi said condescendingly.

"Seems like your father and grand father have educated you a lot. You know your stuff, I must say. However, you don't know what I and my team are capable of, so I wouldn't speak so soon if I were you." Naruto retorted.

"Tche! Baka baka baka baka baka!" Kurotsuchi said as she slapped Naruto at the top of the head five times, Natuto giving her a withering look because of her actions, a look that Kurotsuchi completely ignored as she continued to berate the Blonde Uzumaki.

"No one is going to let you leave even if you were to win, idiot! Not that its possible, but rather I should say, no one would let you leave especially if you won. They would make sure you died here. Why do you think the village has been placed under lockdown?" Kurotsuchi said with way to much joy and happiness in her tone.

"Why, she really hates the Yondaime Hokage's son. I mean I don't like him either but this is just plain ridiculous. She's taking it way too far." Kagura said incredulously.

"She's taking advantage of the situation. She knows he can't do anything about it, not here, with so many people to get caught in the crossfire, and with his fight against Lord Raikage coming up. He'd be a fool to react to her taunting, but in that same breathe, I can't imagine how humiliating this feels for him.' Ao retorted.

"I would have slapped the shit out of her. If he can't do anything about her abuse, then doesn't that mean she can't do anything about his reverse abuse either?" Kagura retorted.

"In principle, yes, but who knows how she might react. She seems like a rather reckless and impulsive type of person, especially given her notorious hate for Namikaze Naruto. Things could escalate very quickly if he retaliated, and most likely, he would be blamed for all of it." Ao retorted.

"Wow, I think I might actually be starting to feel bad for the guy." Ranmaru said as he listened to Kurotsuchi continue to abuse the Konoha genin, and also realized that the nanabi jinchuuriki was barely holding herself together because if looks alone could kill, Kurotsuchi would have been obliterated by now.

"It's a good thing the redhead's fight is first on the schedule. If she were up here instead of the green haired one, I don't think this matter could have been kept civil at all. She seems like she is even more rowdy than Kurotsuchi." Kagura said with relief.

"True. Let us hope she loses, or at least needs medical attention after her battle because if she comes up here and Kurotsuchi is still acting like this, it will spell disaster." Ao retorted.

"T-the battle is about to b-begin." Choujuro said as he pointed down at the battle ground, Tayuya coming out to loud boos all around the stadium, said boos turning into even louder cheers when C came out, sections of the crowd chanting the words god speed all around the stadium as C waved theatrically at the fans.

C is a young man, slightly older than Naruto, with dark eyes and short, blond hair which he is wearing parted in the front. He is wearing the standard attire of the Kumo-nin, a sleeveless, black shirt with a one-strap-over-one-shoulder white flak jacket, black forehead protector, characteristic black, elbow-length arm-guards, and the red and white Kumogakure shin-guards along with a pair of sandals. On his back he also has a sword strapped to his back, which is typical of a kumo shinobi as most Kumo ninja are kenjutsu practitioners.

Down At The Arena

'Piece of shit faggot! I will end your career! You won't have a single fan after I publically fold your twinkie ass!" Tayuya thought maliciously, that was of course, until she remembered Naruto's instructions not to kill her opponent if it was possible to win without killing him.

'Damn it! Screw that! I don't know how to fight any other way. I'm not gonna risk my life just to avoid angering these Kumogakure snow flakes!' Tayuya thought rebelliously.

"Good morning, Uzumaki Tayuya. I am Dodai, and I will be the referee in these examinations. You will fight until one of you dies or until one of you cannot fight any longer. If neither of those results come to pass within ten minutes, you will automatically become the winner and consequently, be promoted to the rank of jonin. There are no rules, you can lie, cheat, deceive, and do whatever is necessary to win. Good luck!" Dodai said as he signalled to the stands, four ANBU shinobi taking positons in the four cardinal points around the fighting arena and going through a set of hand seals before activating a translucent barrier around the battle field.

"This barrier is meant to prevent your battle from having an impact on the stands, as there are a lot of civilians in the arena." Dodai explained for Tayuya's sake.

"Fine, whatever. Lets get this show on the road already." Tayuya said impatiently.

"Very well. Jonin exam battle between Uzumaki Tayuya of Konohagakure no sato and C of Kumogakure no sato, commence!" Dodai said as he jumped as far away as possible, C not wasting any time whatsoever as he pulled out his sword from his back, infused it with a lightning stream, and came at Tayuya with crazy speed, speed that most shinobi couldn't even follow, much less the civilians.

However, to C's surprise, Tayuya was able to block his attack with an invisible sword, an invisible sword that she manifested from her flute, apparently using the flute as the handle of the sword, the impact causing the release of a weird sound that wasn't typical of what one would expect in a clash of swords.

"Piece of shit! You actually think you're faster than me?" Tayuya said angrily, successfully overpowering her opponent and then switching gears as she went on the attack, using some crazy, super fast and agile manoeuvres as she tried to slice her opponent into pieces, pushing C on the back foot as everyone who was watching marvelled at not only her speed but also her skills às they didn't expect her to have C on the defensive.

Of course, part of the reason for that might have had to do with the fact that she was using an invisible sword. Without knowing the size or length of the sword, no one could quite figure out how the hell C was even able to block the attacks in the first place, nor how exactly Tayuya was using an invisible sword to begin with.

However, as the battle progressed, it became increasingly clear that C himself was just barely able to keep up with the speed and especially the invisible sword as he started to get nicks and cuts hear and there, the frequency of the cuts and the nicks increasing as the battle went on, Tayuya's advantage becoming more and more pronounced as the battle continued.

'Damn it! What a ridiculously unfair technique. If I wasn't a sensor type I'd be dead already. But still, being able to sense a sword and being able to see it are two different things, and moreover, she keeps changing the length and overall size of the sword every time I think I have it figured out. I have to change tactics!' C thought as he decided to retreat and establish some distance otherwise he was going to lose at this rate.

"Heh! Retreating are we? I knew you were just a weak ass bitch!" Tayuya said mockingly, dead silence in the arena as everyone couldn't believe that this genin was actually not only holding her own against the Raikage's tag team partner but was actually pushing him back. In fact, right now, she was the only one to have drawn blood as C hadn't landed a single hit on her whereas she had landed multiple hits on him, albeit in non lethal areas,

"Lightning Illusion: Flash Pillar!" C said, ignoring Tayuya's taunts as he went into a set of hand seals before calling out the name of his iutsu, which was basically like a jutsu version of a flash grenade, releasing a blinding white light from all over his body.

Of course, this was the trick of the technique, as it was meant to make the victim believe that the jutsu only served to blind them, whereas it actually marked the activation of a genjutsu. The genjutsu wasn't that hard to dispel if you knew you were caught in it, but what made it such a difficult genjutsu to dispel was the fact that the victim didn't even realize that a genjutsu had been activated.

In any case, C didn't waste any time as he once again rushed head on at his opponent, which of cause proved to be a mistake on his part as, just before he reached her and sliced her head off while she was busy covering her eyes, he found himself wrapped up in vines that came out of nowhere, the vines constricting his body to such an extent that he couldn't even move a muscle.

"W-what the hell? What's going on?" C asked, confused.

'Did she somehow reverse the genjutsu I placed on her? Impossible? The activation sequence and my attack were executed almost simultaneously. She wouldn't have had time to break it, much less reverse it.' C thought incredulously.

"Nice try jackass! First off, I'm immune to fucking genjutsu courteously of Uzumaki clan sealing and barrier ninjutsu! Secondly, you've been in my genjutsu from the beginning of this battle, and that genjutsu has been reinforced every single time that our swords clashed against each other. By my calculations, I missed you completely about 11 times, I cut you 17 times, and our swords clashed about 31 times. That means that my genjutsu has been re-enforced 30 times over. You'll never break it, dumb ass!" Tayuya said with a sadistic smirk on her facial features.

'I knew there was something weird about the sound her invisible sword released upon impact, but I never imagined it was something like this. What an incredible master of jutsu. Is this really a genin?' C thought in disbelief.

"Now that you know your place. Time for you to yield and concede defeat. If you don't, I will make sure your death is slow and painful. I will strip you naked and shove my invisible sword flute deep in your faggot little ass!" Tayuya said morbidly, causing everyone in the crowd to wince and cringe at the image that Tayuya was painting.

"You are incredible, honestly, I find it hard to believe you're a mere genin. It has to be a lie. Aint no genin can do the things you've done here today." C said disbelievingly.

"Nah, you Kumogakure faggots are just weak, that's all. Now are you gonna yield or what, shit brain? I'm trying very hard not to start an incident by killing you, in case you haven't noticed." Tayuya said irritably.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to decline your offer. I don't like losing to anyone, but I especially don't like the idea of losing to a girl." C said mockingly.

"Why you little…!" Tayuya exclaimed angrily, swinging her invisible sword hard and fast as she attempted to decapitate her nemesis, surprised when she didn't make contact at all as C completely evaded her attack, moving at a speed much, much greater than before.

"What the actual fuck? How the hell did you move you stupid cock gobbling twink?" Tayuya asked incredulously.

"Lightning Release: Synaptic Integration." C said with a serious tone of voice, Tayuya able to see lightning sparks travelling up and down all over C's body as realization dawned on her.

'His chakra frequencies have just shot through the roof. Its like the speed that his chakra is moving through the chakra coils has increased exponentially. So this is his hyper speed technique, impressive, but two can play that game.' Tayuya thought as she activated her own jutsu, just to make sure that she didn't find herself in the afterlife before she knew what the hell just happened.

"I see now. You stimulated your neural synapses with your lightning style in order to break out of my jutsu, and you're probably immune to genjutsu as long as that jutsu is active. I won't be able to catch you with my genjutsu again, but you're a fool if you think that changes anything. I'm still gonna win this battle." Tayuya said confidently.

"We'll see…" C began to say as he suddenly appeared behind Tayuya.

"…about that." He finished as he swung his sword at her neck area, wanting to end the fight as quickly as possible.

However, much to his surprise, Tayuya was no longer there when his sword made contact, his sword passing though what appeared to be an after image as a sonic boom reverberated in the battle arena, Tayuya appearing behind him and executing the exact same move that he just tried to use on her, and making contact too, albeit not completely as C managed to minimize the damage, able to just barely get away with his neck still in tact, not without sustaining damage though as there was blood gushing out of his neck.

Thankfully, he was a medical ninja too, as he quickly used the mystique palm technique to stop the bleeding completely and close the wound before it became fatal, showing incredible medical prowess to be able to heal himself that fast.

'He healed himself in an instant? I see, the increased chakra frequency from the electrical stimulation also results in a boost in his ninjutsu prowess. He couldn't have healed himself that fast if not for this jutsu. So in a way, it can also act as a supplementary ninjutsu.' Tayuya thought analytically.

"You actually managed to dodge my attack even when I was using Sonido? Damn, you're really something else, for a bitch ass faggot at least." Tayuya said, C choosing to ignore Tayuya's homophobic insults, made easier he supposed by the fact that he wasn't actually a homosexual, even though he still thought that her insults were in bad taste.

"And you are just full of surprises aren't you? Who would have thought that you could use your vibration release to increase the speed and frequency of your chakra, and to use your sound release to enhance your shunshin. I suppose this is my fault for underestimate you. You're the teammate of the Yellow Flash's son, of course you would be fast yourself." C said as he, to Tayuya's surprise, increased the frequencies in his chakra exponentially, again, so much so that there was a clear shroud of electricity surrounding his body and his hair was standing up and facing upwards.

"Lightning Release: God Speed Technique." C said with a calm and focused tone of voice, but also cold and unfeeling, like a true, merciless killer,

'Hn! He's finally taking me seriously I see. Good for him I guess.' Tayuya thought excitedly, the crowd once again chanting the words god speed repeatedly.

'So that's what the chant meant earlier? God Speed C huh? It's a fitting name I guess! Tayuya thought, immediately having to dodge a straight thrust from C, using sound release: sonido to evade to the right only for C to quickly turn with her and follow up on the attack, Tayuya having no choice but to block with her invisible sword.

"T-teme!" Tayuya cursed, realizing how insane her opponent's reflexes were for him to have turned with her like that, almost as if he knew beforehand exactly which side she was going to turn.

"I won't let you get awa…" C trailed off as he was stabbed from the back all the way through his abdomen, by an invisible sword, his eyes wide in surprise and widening further as Tayuya used the moment of surprise to quickly break his right hand wrist, causing him to drop his sword unceremoniously on the ground, Tayuya following up by grabbing hold of him around the neck and squeezing tightly, using her vibration release to protect her hand from the lightning oscillations of C's jutsu.

"It was impressive how quickly you saw through the after image that my sonido leaves behind when I move at the speed of sound, however, you didn't know that I could use the residue sound release chakra to form the after image into a real sound release clone did you? You ignored the after image because it wasn't a threat to you, but didn't know that, in an instant, it can turn into a life ending threat." Tayuya said as she squeezed harder around C's neck, her clone also twisting the sword inside C's guts until the sharp ends were facing horizontally.

"You're in a vice grip you can't escape, and my clone is ready to pull the sound release: invisible sword horizontally across your stomach. Tap out now, or die for real this ti…." Tayuya trailed off as the buzzer sounded, indicating that the ten minutes of allotted time had gone by and that the fight was effectively over without a winner, although no one was under any illusions about who would have won the fight had there been more time, everyone stunned by the fact that God Speed C had actually lost a fight for the first time in his life…against a freaking genin, albeit a ridiculously over powered and skilled genin.

"Hn! By the skin of your teeth!" Tayuya said as she dispelled her clone and unceremoniously dropped C on the ground, turning around and walking away as if without a care in the world, most of the crowd confused about how exactly C lost as the fight was way too fast for their eyes to comprehend, only able to see the end results of every move that was pulled and not exactly how they got from point A to point B.

Back At The Stands:

"Well, I guess that's one down. Two more to go." Naruto said with a tone that was a little too happy, not directing his words at anyone in particular but everyone fully aware that the comment was meant to grate on Kurotsuchi's nerves.

"Fuck you Namikaze scum! That shit doesn't mean anything! As long as you lose and die a painful and horrible death, nothing else matters!" Kurotsuchi said angrily.

"Well I don't know about that, seems like the Gods favour us today." Naruto said jovially.

"Why you little…" Kurotsuchi trailed off as she was interrupted by the loud voice of Fu.

"Well, looks like its my turn Naruto-kun! Aren't you going to give your beloved wife a good luck kiss?" Fu exclaimed excitedly, everyone face faulting at the wife part of her sentence, none more so than Jiraiya, who absolutely couldn't believe what the fuck he just heard.

"That's supposed to be a secret, dummy!" Naruto said with a sigh.

"A pointless one. So what if people know that Yuya-chan and I are your wives, we're not some weak damsels in distress, we can protect ourselves." Fu retorted.

"Yes, yes, you're strong, but that doesn't mean you should needlessly make yourselves targets." Naruto retorted.

"W-wait a minute you bastard! You're married? To two women? Why you womanizing piece of trash! I knew you were a sleazy bastard but this really takes the cake! You don't just deserve to die, you deserve to burn in the hottest pits of hell!" Kurotsuchi said angrily.

"Do you really have to turn everything about me into some evil diabolical plot?" Naruto asked with a bored tone.

"You piece of sh…"

"More importantly…!" Fu exclaimed before Kurotsuchi could spew more faecal matter from her mouth.

"Are you going to give your beloved wife a good luck kiss or what?" Fu asked irritably, tired of Kurotsuchi hogging all of Naruto's attention like some kind of attention seeking whore, honestly, for someone who claimed to hate her husband, she sure demanded a whole lot of his attention.

"No I won't. I do not believe that my beloved wife needs any luck whatsoever…" Naruto trailed off, Fu immediately spotting a hurt and disappointment look on her facial features, dead silence taking hold of the immediate vicinity by the scruff of the neck, everyone wondering what kind of man would do that to their wife period, much less just before she went into a death battle.

'But, I will give her a congratulations kiss when she wins, because that's how much confidence I have in her." Naruto said with loving smile, causing a warm and joyful smile to appear on Fu's facial features.

"Damn straight! Now that's what I'm talking about! I'll be back in no time at all!" Fu said excitedly, making her way to the battle arena with an extra skip in her step.

"You're married? Why the hell would you ruin your life by getting married at such a young age? You don't even….you haven't even known….don't you think this was a very hasty decision? And why would you marry two women? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to please even just one woman?" Jiraiya asked angrily.

"No, I don't. It hasn't been a problem for me. My stamina is legendary, everyone knows I have insane stamina, after all, I am an Uzumaki, and a jinchuuriki." Naruto replied casually.

"Idiot! I'm not talking about sex! Are you really that naïve? The fact that you think I'm talking about sex just proves that you really don't know what the hell you've gotten yourself into!" Jiraiya chastised.

"Hahaha! Really? You, the biggest pervert in the entire world, the self proclaimed super pervert, are talking about the difficulty of pleasing two women, and its not about sex?" Naruto asked incredulously, everyone in earshot trying their best not to audibly laugh at Jiraiya's expense, but at the same time unable to believe that the Legendary Jiraiya of the Sannin was that kind of man, especially the self proclaimed super pervert part.

"Idiot! Stop spreading false rumours about me in public!" Jiraiya said angrily, Naruto marvelling at how almost genuinely affronted Jiraiya was acting towards Naruto's factual statement, to the point that Naruto himself almost believed him despite knowing for a fact that he was lying.

"Heh, whatever. No point in getting salty about it, its already done, and I don't regret it one bit." Naruto replied dismissively.

"You're only saying that now because you're going through the teenage love phase. Teenage love is the best, but its not the same as true love. One day you'll wake up and realize that you threw away your entire life too soon and too early. You'll either turn into an adulterer or a miserable old man. There are many fishes in the see, and you've already removed yourself from the ocean before you could experience anything else." Jiraiya said gravely.

"Listen, I get where you're coming from, but there is no world where I will ever regret being married to Tayuya-chan and Fu-chan. It's not even remotely possible. Understand, I'm not trying to undermine your wisdom or your experience, I'm just saying you can't just put everyone into a general box and classify them. Everyone is unique and everyone experiences life in their own unique way. For me, a world without Tayuya-chan or Fu-chan in it is unimaginable." Naruto retorted.

"Damn right it is! Move aside dip shit! I'm not letting you sit next to this Tsuchi harlot any longer than you have to." Tayuya said, Naruto smiling warmly as he did as instructed, honestly happy that he wouldn't have to deal with Kurotsuchi's bull shit any more.

"W-who you are calling a harlot, you demented slut!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed angrily, Tayuya completely ignoring her as she carried on talking to Naruto, asking him if he saw her performance and what he thought of it, causing Kurotsuchi to grit her teeth in anger, even though, she was also interested in Naruto's assessment of the battle.

"It was a wonderful performance, no….actually, it was perfect. You managed to defeat Lord Raikage's tag team partner without him getting a single hit on you. That's what is known as a flawless victory. You also managed to keep up with his God Speed Technique and not only that, but you managed to use his own reflexes and reaction time to blindside him. You're an absolutely amazing kunoichi, Yuya-chan. Your name will be spoken of with fear and reverence all across the shinobi world now." Naruto said genuinely, causing Tayuya to smile bashfully at Naruto's glittering assessment of her performance.

"Damn right dip shit! I'm amazing alright! Maybe they'll even give me an eye catching moniker, like Sonic Speed Tayuya or Super Sonic Tayuya!" Tayuya said excitedly.

"Hmmm….I like the second one. Super Sonic huh? A very fitting name." Naruto said thoughtfully, nodding to himself in approval as he tested the sound of the name on his tongue.

"Hehehe! I feel like I'm already a legendary ninja. Lord Raikage sure did us a favour huh?" Tayuya said jovially.

"Well, let's not count our eggs before they hatch. Let's wait and see what happens, Fu-chan and I haven't won yet." Naruto said with an air of caution.

"Yotsuki Darui huh? I get the sense that he might be even more troublesome than that C fella." Tayuya said warily.

"Lord Raikage could have chosen anyone of his jinchuuriki to face off against Fu-chan, just to make sure that he can eliminate Fu-chan's bijuu advantage, but he chose Darui-san. He must have a lot of confidence in his nephew." Naruto said warily.

"He does have an abnormally large amount of chakra. If I didn't know any better I could have sworn he was a jinchuuriki himself." Tayuya said warily.

"Indeed. It is said that the 3rd Raikage once fought the eight tails for three days straight when it went on a rampage. He fought it head on, with no sealing jutsu or teleportation jutsu of some kind. The fight is said to have ended in a double KO as Sandaime Raikage-dono and the eight tails collapsed simultaneously. Darui, along with the current eight tails jinchuuriki, the two tails jinchuuriki, and Yondaime-dono himself, are blood relatives of that guy." Naruto explained.

"Damn! Fu is up against it if this guy is as talented as his grand uncle." Tayuya said warily.

"Well, she's a perfect jinchuuriki and she's the wife of Yondaime Hokage-dono's son. I think she'll be fine." Naruto said confidently, shocking everyone around the vicinity at the revelation that Fu was actually a perfect jinchuuriki.

"Hey look at that, what's happening? The number of ANBU maintaining the barrier around the battle arena has quadrupled." Tayuya pointed out.

"A jinchuuriki is about to fight, it's only natural that they would take extra precautions." Naruto deadpanned, watching intently as Dodai, the examination ref, announced the beginning of the second match of the day.

At The Arena:

"Lie, cheat, manipulate, deceive, betray. Let us honour the true spirit of the ninja way as we fight to the death today." Fu said jovially, pulling, out of her exposed belly, a very large sword that was the size of her body, a sword that was actually not a real sword at all but was one of the wings of her bijuu, the root of the wing that connected to the bijuu's body being used as a hilt and the wing itself as a large, glowing green sword.

"Uh…yeah, great, let's do that!" Darui said, not giving Fu a chance as he immediately attacked with his full shunshin speed, pulling out his gigantic sword and aiming a horizontal strike at Fu's torso, only for his sword not only to be easily swatted aside by Fu, but for him to get sliced up as well as Fu moved at a speed that was far greater than his, Darui regretting not going all out from the start as he sustained multiple injuries, though thankfully none on his vital areas sustaining any damage.

'I didn't expect her to be that fast and strong without harnessing the power of her bijuu. I could easily have died if she had better offensive skills with the sword. Her defence, strength, speed, and reactions are incredible, but offensively, she isn't all that accurate at all. She's no kenjutsu master, she's just a freak of nature.' Darui thought analytically.

"Kuso! I really have no talent for Kenjutsu! I definitely should have killed you, I literally could have ended this fight in an instant, kuso!" Fu said in frustration.

"Out of sheer curiosity, why didn't you?" Darui asked curiously.

"Uh….well, you see, I have no talent whatsoever for this sort of thing. I'm way better at ninjutsu and taijutsu than I am with Kenjutsu. However, Naruto-kun insisted on kenjutsu sparring with me thousands of times, even made me spar with multiple shadow clones for good measure. He said that even if I didn't have the talent for it, I could make up for the lack of talent by working extremely hard and honing my defensive instincts to the maximum. He also said the experience of having thousands of sparring sessions with him would help me to survive a Kenjutsu battle until I can eventually level up. Apparently there is such a thing as a genius of hard work." Fu said nostalgically.

'I see. That certainly makes a lot of sense. So Namikaze Naruto wanted to make sure that she could at least defend herself against Kenjutsu attacks and be able to read and react to them. He's a very meticulous guy. He'll make a great teacher one day…..if he somehow survives his fight against Raikage-sama.' Darui thought gravely.

"I see. That certainly makes a lot of sense. Still, I never expected you to be that fast and that strong without accessing the power of your bijuu. I underestimated you." Darui said inquisitively, hoping that Fu would open up and give him more information.

"Oh that? I'm surprised you don't know, after all, Kumo has two jinchuuriki, and you guys are known to be experts at training jinchuuriki." Fu said innocently.

"What are you talking about?" Darui asked, confused.

"Jinchuuuriki, more often than not, get bloodline limits from their bijuu. For example, the five tails jinchuuriki has the ability to use steam release, the four tails jinchuuriki has the ability to use lava release, and the one tails jinchuuriki has the ability to use magnetic release to control sand, all abilities that they got from the bijuu inside of them. As for me, well, I have the super strength of a dung beetle and the super speed of a tiger beetle, both of which are the strongest and fastest insects respectively. My bijuu may have the appearance of a rhinoceros beetle, but it has those abilities." Fu explained patiently.

"I see. Tche, even if you have the combat skills of a jonin, you're definitely not ready to be a jonin going out and sharing so much information about yourself to an enemy. That's a classic rookie mistake." Darui retorted.

"Is it though? Did we not just waste five minutes doing nothing but chit chatting. How many minutes are left now, four?" Fu asked with a sinister smirk.

'Shit! She totally played me! She was willing to give such detailed and long explanations because she knows that all she has to do to get a guaranteed promotion is to run the clock down! I'm such an idiot!" Darui thought angrily.

"You deceitful witch. You'll pay for that – swift release: shadowless flight!" Darui exclaimed as he disappeared in a burst of speed, activating his bloodline limit, a bloodline limit that combined the elements of lightning and wind in order to boost the speed and reflexes of a person to beyond normal human levels, appearing behind Fu on her blind spot as he tried to decapitate her from the waist.

However, much to Darui's surprise, Fu was able to react in time, twisting around and holding her sword in a vertical defensive stance, effectively blocking Darui's attack. She didn't waste time after that either, as she followed up with her own attack, attempting to cleave Darui's head off of his shoulders, the fight carrying on like that as they exchanged parries and counter attacks at a ridiculous speed.

It wasn't just the speed either, as the power was also insane, destroying large sections of the battle with just the shockwaves from the parries and even their missed swings, very few people able to follow their movements at all, namely, only Tayuya, Naruto, A, C, Suzumebachi, Yugito, Bee, Karui, Omoi, and Kurotsuchi able to follow their movements at all, and that was only because they too had experience moving at close to that kind of speed with their own speed techniques.

'Unbelievable! I can't believe she is keeping up with my swift release speed! Speed of a tiger beetle huh? Insane!' Darui thought as he began to realize that there might not be an end to this battle if things carried on like this, at least not before the ten minute mark.

'How is he able to parry my attacks? I should be way stronger than him. Naruto-kun says that my strength is on par with Godaime-sama. So how? Is he really that strong? These Yotsuki ninja are insane!' Fu thought warily, surprised more by Darui's strength than his speed as she knew that the Yotsuki clan had been producing speed merchants for generations, raising an eye brow when she saw Darui pull back as she expected him to keep the pressure on her in order not to waste any more time.

"Giving up already? What ever will Lord Raikage say about your lack of will to fight? There's only two minutes left, you sure you want things to play out like this?" Fu said tauntingly, raising both eye brows this time, surprised when Darui threw his sword far away.

"Uh…what the hell are you doing? Surely you're not giving up are you?" Fu asked curiously.

"Black Lightning: Lightning Armour." Darui said as black lightning, a lot of it, suddenly appeared all over and all around his body, the sheer power and speed of the lightning oscillations quite frankly ridiculous Fu thought.

'What is he? Is he even human? Those are bijuu level chakra frequencies. This guy….he definitely must be Lord Raikage's successor.' Fu thought as she too disintegrated her wing sword, realizing that it was going to be utterly useless now.

"To answer your question, no, I'm not giving up. This is the form I take when I am determined to kill someone with my bare hands. A sword would only be a hindrance when I'm in this state." Darui said ominously.

'Wow, scary! I better not get caught sleeping!' Fu thought as she activated version one bijuu mode, a seven tailed chakra cloak appearing around her body as she took on a taijutsu stance.

'Kuso, I actually almost forgot she could do that. Normally it wouldn't make a difference to me, but she was already super strong and super fast without the chakra cloak. This might not go according to plan. But I cannot waste anymore time. Here we go!' Darui thought as he attacked, moving at an even greater speed than he was before, Fu meeting him halfway as she charged at him too, loud, ear drum bursting and destructive shockwave reverberating all across the battlefield when their firsts collided, so much so that for a second, it looked like the barrier was not going to be able to hold, more ANBU jumping into the fray in order to further reinforce the barrier.

However Fu and Darui paid no mind to this as they continued to try and take each other's heads off, multiple sound barrier breaking shockwaves washing over the battle field as the field itself got destroyed beyond recognition. This would carry on for the next minute, with neither warrior able to get a significant advantage over the other, Dodai shouting out to Darui that there was less than a minute remaining and that he had to make definitive move now or lose the fight in less than 60 seconds.

"Black Lightning: Version 2 Armour." Darui said as he activated the final stage of his armour, a version that produced more chakra, more speed, and more strength for him, however, Fu wasn't taking any chances, as she was not going to risk losing her jonin promotion when she had come this far.

"Bijuu Release: Version 2!" Fu exclaimed as a much denser and much more potent chakra cloak enveloped her, making her look like a miniature seven tailed beetle.

"Hah! Did you really think I'd let you win this late in the game!" Fu exclaimed as she charged at Darui, the sound of the impact and the shockwaves that followed after every clash enough to make 99 percent of the people in the arena want to run away for their lives, yet at the same time the miracle that was transpiring before them enough to keep them glued to their seats.

It felt like only ten seconds, but sixty seconds went by pretty fast, the buzzer ringing loudly as Dodai quickly called for the end of the fight, not wanting to put any more strain than necessary on the ANBU that were trying to maintain the protective barrier.

"Hahahahaha! I win! I win! Naruto-kun! I win! I win!" Fu exclaimed excitedly, Darui falling on his knees when he realized what had happened, unable to believe that he had actually failed to destroy a mere genin.

"Yosh! Fu-chan! You're the best! You totally destroyed him! He didn't stand a chance!" Naruto shouted in return.

"What the hell are you talking about, idiot! All she did was run the clock down! She barely did any damage!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed angrily.

"In the ninja world, it doesn't matter how you win, as long as you win." Naruto retorted, sticking his tongue out at Kurotsuchi, who had to fight hard to resist the urge to pull on her hair in frustration.

"Aaargh! I hate you! Namikaze teme!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed angrily.

"I think at this point its safe to say that I'm glad you guys won't get to face these monsters in the chuunin exams. I don't doubt your abilities whatsoever, you are without a doubt genius shinobi in your own right, but this….this is just ridiculous. These aren't shinobi, these are monsters." Ao said in to his genin team, shock and awe visible and audible on his face and voice respectively.

"Heh! You aint seen nothing yet. Wait until you see Naruto-kun in action. He'll obliterate Lord Raikage!" Tayuya said confidently.

"Jiraiya-sama, what manner of monsters have you created?" Ao asked curiously.

"Believe it or not, I had nothing to do with this. I am only their jonin sensei in title only. I am just as surprised as any of you." Jiraiya said in awe.

'The sheer speed and physicality is enough to render any form of ninjutsu to be utterly useless. You wouldn't even be able to form hand seals before they killed you. If you went into a fight without prior preparations, you'd be dead in an instant. Even in sage mode I can't be sure if I could keep up with the speed and strength that was displayed here today.' Jiraiya thought warily.

"Hey Narut…." Jiraiya trailed off as Naruto jumped, so high that it looked like he was floating, or even flying, but he wasn't flying as he eventually went down and landed a short distance away from Fu, the impact of his landing causing a crater to form under him.

"You did it…" Naruto said with a loving smile, walking closer to Fu before pulling her into his arms and into a loving and passionate kiss, which of course was totally weird as Fu was still in her version 2 state, in other words, she still looked like a demon, murmurs and shocked whispers going around the Arena as most people looked on in disgust at what they were seeing.

"Congratulations, my beautiful, powerful, and beloved wife. I'm so proud of you." Naruto said after breaking the kiss, looking Fu in the eye as she deactivated her jinchuuriki form and went back to her normal human form.

"Thank you, my love. I can't wait for you to defeat…Lord…Raikage…" Fu trailed off as there was another shockwave behind Naruto, Naruto turning around to see that the Raikage had also apparently jumped all the way to the arena.

"Girlfriend, wife, play thing. I don't care. If she doesn't get out of the arena in the next few seconds, her head's gonna roll." The Raikage said in a matter of fact tone.

"Well, someone's a little too eager." Naruto said casually, giving Fu one last kiss on the forehead before ushering her out of the arena, Fu whispering good luck before quickly making her exit, Naruto taking note of the fact that there were now far more ANBU squad members erecting the barrier than there were in Fu and Darui's fight.

'I see they're not taking any chances this time. The barrier almost broke when Fu-chan and Darui-dono fought. They probably expect even more destructive power in a fight between the Kyubi Jinchuurki and Lord Raikage.' Naruto noted.

"I'm not C and Darui, I'm not going to ease you into the battle! I'm sending your head flying, kozo!" The Raikage said as he activated his lightning release armour, not even version 1 of the armour but going straight to version 2.

'What a monster. Those are Elite Uzumaki chakra levels. The Yotsuki Clan are really something else. Chakra that can compare to a bijuu huh? I guess stamina is not going to ever be the reason he loses a fight.' Naruto thought as he grabbed the hilt of his sword, the bandages wrapped around it disappearing in a puff of smoke, just in time too as the Raikage came flying at Naruto at a far greater speed than Naruto expected, however, Naruto, at the last moment, able to escape the Raikage's close line, as a result, getting to keep his head on his shoulders for at least a little longer.

'He dodged me? How? That was no normal shunshin technique. No mere shunshin would enable anyone to evade my attacks!' Lord Raikage thought as he turned around to face the blonde Uzumaki.

"You look surprised Lord Raikage. Surely, by now, you should know that you Kumo shinobi aren't the only ones with high speed nintaijutsu. Tell me, how did you like my Fuuton: Shunpo No Jutsu?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"Wind Style: Flash Step Technique? And you think that's enough to defeat me? Don't underestimate the Raikage, Kuzo!" Lord Raikage exclaimed as he charged at Naruto again, only for Naruto to dodge at the last moment again, the two of them singing this song and dancing to this tune for the next couple of moments as Naruto tried, and failed to find an opening, and the Raikage failed to land a single hit on Naruto or to catch him, the crowd watching, but not being able follow with their eyes at all what was turning out to be the fastest game of tag ever.

'He's too fast and too skilled in taijutsu. I can't find an opening at all.' Naruto thought as he continued to evade the Raikage's attacks, however realizing that the Lord Raikage was getting closer and closer to landing a hit on him, and would eventually do so if Naruto didn't start attacking soon.

'He's waiting for the perfect opening. Right about now, he's probably thinking that he is going to have to attack soon or he'll get obliterated. He'll be eager to mount an attack, so eager that he won't realize it's a trap.' The Raikage thought as he intentionally over extended himself, pretending that he was getting desperate to land a hit on Naruto.

Just as expected, Naruto didn't waste any time, enhancing the penetrative force of his sword with wind style as he swung with all his might with a downward, vertical strike aimed at the Raikage's clavicle, completely stunned and stupefied when the sword was deflected by the lightning armour, so hard and violently that it went flying away rapidly from his grip, crashing hard on the far side of the barrier.

'What the fuck was that? Wind Style is supposed to have an advantage over lightning style? How the hell did he…?' Naruto trailed off as The Raikage grabbed him by the waist.

'Shit! He's got me!' Naruto thought warily.

"I told you not to underestimate the Raikage, Kozo! Liger Bomb!" Lord Raikage exclaimed as he picked Naruto up over his shoulder and sent him crashing down head first onto the ground with a classic wrestling move, everyone in Kumogakure expecting the head of the yellow flash's son to get crushed into oblivion, however, much to their surprise, Naruto escaping the Raikage's grip at the very last second by literally floating up into the air, still upside down in exactly the position the Raikage had him when he sent him crashing down.

"Damn! That was close, Raikage-dono! You almost sent me to the afterlife to see my parents." Naruto said as he righted himself in the air, smirking when he heard Kurotsuchi throwing a fit about his ability to fly and how it was not fair because he should have died.

"You were right, no one should ever underestimate the Raikage." Naruto said as he rapidly made distance between himself and Lord Raikage, landing quite a distance away from the dangerous, gigantic, mammoth of a man.

"Congratulations Lord Raikage, I'm not underestimating you anymore." Naruto said as he created two odama rasengans on each palm.

"Rasengan huh? You really are your father's son. But how dare you underestimate me after saying you wouldn't underestimate me? What do you think a mere rasengan can do to me?" The Raikage said angrily.

"This is no mere rasengan, check this out." Naruto said as he, inexplicably, rammed the two rasengans into his own torso, at least that's what it looked like he was doing, the result not being what anyone expected as the rasengans resonated with his chakra and turned into a potent, spiralling armour of chakra around his body.

"Ninpo: Rasen Chakra No Yoroi." Naruto said as he took on a taijutsu stance, the sheer potency and magnitude of chakra moving around Naruto and within his coils enough to make the Raikage pay close attention.

"Let us now find out who has the better chakra armour, shall we?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"I told you not to underestimate the Raikage!" Lord Raikage exclaimed as he charged head on at Naruto, moving at speeds that were beyond comprehension, Naruto reciprocating the Raikage as he too charged head on at the gigantic, muscle bound freak of an athlete.

"Elbow Bolt!" Ay exclaimed as he aimed his left elbow at the Blonde Uzumaki's face, Naruto however proving to have superior reflexes in his rasen chakra no yoroi form as he ducked under the Raikage's attack and and nailed him with a left uppercut to the solar plexus, so hard that the Raikage was sent spiralling away rapidly, his body spinning around uncontrollably until he crashed violently into the barrier that was surrounding the battle field, the impact so profound that it caused the entire arena to shake violently, as if a massive earthquake was about to take place.

"Don't underestimate the future Hokage!" Naruto said with a taunting smirk plastered on his facial features, honestly relieved to find out that his chakra armour was superior in both speed and power to that of the Raikage as he also wasn't sure that it would be until he tested it, nevertheless keeping an eye on the Raikage as the man seemed to have inhuman recovery abilities because of how quickly he managed to pull himself back on his feet after the fall, although Naruto didn't fail to notice the blood coming out of his lips, which meant that his attack did actually do damage, even if it wasn't visible on the outside.

'It is said that Lord Raikage has iron skin, that nothing can damage him even without his lightning armour. For the most part that seems to be true, he has sustained no external damage. However, the rasengan is unique in that it causes both external and internal injuries. So even though he somehow tanked my attack, he was however unable to avoid the internal damage to his organs.' Naruto thought analytically.

'He's both faster and stronger than me, and more importantly, he seems to have his father and mother's potent chakra sensory abilities. This means that he has the ability to pre determine and react to my moves by sensing the direction of chakra in my chakra coils, a sort of pre cognition. I'm at a disadvantage in many ways, but I have much more experience and skill than he does. I'll have to make it count, and I'll have to test his mental strength and endurance.' Ay thought mentally.

"You are truly your father's son, but you're not him!" Ay exclaimed as he once again charged at Naruto, knowing that the onus was on him to push the pace of the fight as all Naruto had to do was run the clock down, the two of them clashing repeatedly and with each clash, barrier shattering shock waves washing over the battle field, the very structure of the barrier and the arena itself becoming compromised.

"They're even faster than Fu and Darui were! What are they? Monsters?" Ao asked incredulously.

"It's like they're not even human, I feel like I'm watching a battle between Gods." Ranmaru said in shock, everyone else thinking along the same lines as they couldn't believe the speed and strength on display.

"Dip shit is going to win this battle. Lord Raikage has an advantage in taijutsu skill and experience, but everything else is Naruto. The skill advantage is not big enough to make a difference in these circumstances. Even though it seems like they're fighting on equal footing right now, but Lord Raikage is working harder than Naruto to maintain this balance. Eventually, the difference is going to start the show, particularly in the second half of the fight." Tayuya said analytically.

"I'm not sure the battle is going to last that long. That barrier doesn't look like it can take much more, nor does the arena itself. This is not a battle that should take place in doors, nor should there be any civilians around." Jiraiya noted.

"True. Unless someone lands a definitive blow soon, this whole thing will end in disaster." Tayuya retorted.

"Naruto-kun is landing some critical blows but Lord Raikage is just persevering with sheer force of will. I don't even know how he's still standing much less fighting at this pace and intensity." Fu said in awe.

"The Yondaime Hokage fought Unruly Ay many times and was never able to take him down. I never knew why. I always thought that he just allowed him to live for some reason, maybe they were friends or something. But now I know why. This guy is an absolute tank. I wouldn't want to go up against…" Jiraiya trailed off as the buzzer unexpectedly rang, the toad sannin's head snapping towards the direction of the clock as he was sure that there was no way that ten minutes was up, which was true, as the clock showed that only six minutes had gone by.

"What is the meaning of this, Dodai? You better have a good reason for this or you'll have to suffer the iron claw!" Ay said angrily.

"F-forgive me, Lord Ay! However, if the fight is allowed to continue, most of the spectators will surely die. We are unable to maintain the barrier anymore, and the arena is at the brink of collapsing. Your battle is too violent to be held in a place like this. I'm sorry, but unless we want casualties, we'll have to consider this Namikaze-san's victory by default." Dodai said with urgency and concern, Ay looking around at all the damage that he and Naruto had done and at how exhausted the barrier squad looked, all of them looking like they were a few seconds away from collapsing due to chakra exhaustion, and then finally, looking at the fear and concern on the eyes of both ninja and civilian alike on the stands.

'Fools! Why didn't they just leave if they were so scared!' Ay thought irritably.

"….."

"Hn! Yondaime Hokage's brat! You'll get your jonin promotion, you've more than earned it. But don't think for one second this counts as a victory against me!" Ay said with pride and arrogance.

"Thank you, Lord Raikage. I appreciate you giving this opportunity to both I and my beloved comrades. Your benevolence will not be forgotten." Naruto said with a small bow of the head, his chakra armour fizzing out of existence as it became clear that it was no longer necessary, the Raikage doing the same as he deactivated his lightning armour.

'Its probably for the best. If things had carried on like they were, I might have been forced to use the one finger nukite to penetrate his armour.' Ay thought as he turned and walked away, Fu and Tayuya running onto the battle ground as they hugged the blonde Uzumaki in celebration, Naruto celebrating with his significant others, much to the Kumogakure no sato people's chagrin, although their ire was far less than it normally would have been thanks to the fact that none of their own had actually been defeated as the battles ended only because time was up, although it could be argued that the buzzer actually saved God Speed C from certain death.

Later That Evening: Naruto and Jiraiya's Hotel Room

"The last thing I want to do is to spend my jonin promotion day with you, you stupid pervert! We're supposed to be out celebrating, why are we cooped up in here with you?" Tayuya asked irritably.

"Idiot! You really want to be out there rubbing it into Kumogakure ninja and civilian's faces that you defeated arguably their three strongest shinobi? Are you insane?" Jiraiya asked incredulously.

"Maybe I should cap the day off by whooping your ass! If I take the scalp of God Speed C and Toad Sage Jiraiya in one day, I'll be a legend even greater than Dip Shit's dad." Tayuya said tauntingly.

"Ohohohoho! You think you're invincible now just because you defeated God Speed in battle? That's exactly the kind of attitude that will get you killed in battle. Never underestimate your enemy, no matter who it is….especially if it is me…" Jiraiya trailed off with a grave undertone.

"D-did you hear that Dip Shit? This asshole just threatened me. Are you just going to stand there and do nothing while he threatens your wife? Tche! Some husband you are!" Tayuya said indignantly.

"I'm pretty sure that he just gave you an important lesson about the life of a shinobi. No matter how powerful you are, you must never underestimate an enemy. I don't want our victory going to our heads, so I agree with him, especially since we are still surrounded by enemies from all sides." Naruto replied calmly.

"……"

"Damn! Did becoming a jonin cause you to become an old man or something? It's that jonin vest isn't it? It's doing this to you?" Tayuya asked playfully.

Honestly, she had to say, Naruto looked incredible, now wearing a full jonin uniform, complete with a long sleeved black top, the top, because of Naruto's muscular physique, looking like a form fitting shirt even though it was not meant to be, Naruto looking like he was made in a lab or something, or was personally designed by Kami-sama himself.

He also had the green, standard jonin vest on top the long sleeved shirt, and was wearing black pants with white bandages around the ankles and black ninja sandals. He was still carrying the Kubikiribocho, although currently it was on Naruto's bed. He was wearing black fingerless gloves with metal plates at the back and his forehead protector was tied around his left arm, leaving his forehead visible where his blue pyramid shaped seal was situated.

She and Fu had chosen not to wear their jonin vests, as it just didn't fit it with their attire at all, and they had no intention of changing their attires any time soon. Besides, it wasn't uncommon for some shinobi not to wear the full jonin uniform or any part of it for that matter, so they had decided to stick to their custom made outfits.

"How the hell can a jonin vest do anything to me?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"I believe she means wearing it is affecting your ego. It has changed the way you think and the way you view yourself….according to her." Fu said, making sure to emphasise that she was only explaining what Tayuya meant to say and that she didn't necessarily agree with her.

"Okay, just shut up, both of you. We have more important things to discuss, like for instance, our exit strategy. With your promotions being official and Raikage-dono signing off on it and handing you your promotion certificates, there is no longer a reason for us to stay here. In fact, it would be far more convenient for us if we got as far away from Kumogakure as possible." Jiraiya said urgently.

"……"

"It's probably our safest bet, but not necessarily our wisest. The chuunin exams commence tomorrow, and the final round that takes place in just over a month's time will be a head to head, one on one battle format like the ones we had with Lord Raikage and his subordinates. It would be the perfect opportunity to evaluate our rivals wouldn't it? Kurotsuchi, by the looks of things, is being groomed to be the Yondaime Tsuchikage, and most likely Suzumebachi and Akatsuchi will be her Elite Guard. I also suspect that Katarashi Kagura will be the leading candidate to become the Rokudaime Mizukage, with Ranmaru and Choujuro as his elite guard."

"Furthermore, the students of the Eight Tails Jinchuuriki, Killer Bee, are participating in these examinations. Don't you think this is the perfect opportunity for us to assess the future threat level of the other ninja villages?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"Okay, fine, you make a valid point. I cannot argue against that, but still, it is too dangerous to remain here. I recommend we sneak out of the village, and then return a month later, just in time for the chuunin exam finals." Jiraiya suggested.

"….."

"Uh….Jiraiya-sama, how sure are you that we are in fact still in danger? I mean, sure, by being in enemy territory we are automatically in danger, but Lord Raikage has called off the Village Patrol. The Village is no longer under lockdown. It appears as though he only did that to ensure we participated in the impromptu jonin examinations." Fu counter argued.

"Okay, look, I won't deny it, you kids make some compelling arguments, however, understand that I'm not ordering you to do anything. Tsunade-hime made it clear that I should follow Naruto's lead for the duration of the examinations. Whether its because of his judgement or his instincts, she seems to have a lot of faith in his discerning abilities. I was merely sharing my opinion." Jiraiya said with his hands raised in the air in surrender.

"Dip shit, what do you think?" Tayuya asked anxiously.

"First answer me this. What happened the other day when you went to confront Lord Raikage about the jonin exam?" Naruto asked curiously, directing his question at Jiraiya as he had been curious about that for a while now.

"Uh, well, I…uh….I lost it and beat up the guards when they wouldn't let me talk to the Raikage. When I got to his office, he asked if I had killed or maimed anyone on my way there, and when I explained I had only left them unconscious, he smirked and…well….he ran out the window along with his body guards, left me behind with his secretary, Mabui I think her name was." Jiraiya replied with a baffled tone and expression.

"Huh? What the fuck shit head sennin? That doesn't make sense whatsoever! That guy is not someone that would run away from anyone! He didn't even run away from my father in law, and that guy had a flee on site order on him! So what the fuck?" Tayuya asked incredulously.

"It was a strategic retreat. Lord Raikage broke or simply ignored many rules in order to make our exam possible. If he had been called out on it by a Konoha high official and still carried on with it despite those protests, it could have been grounds for war, at the very least it could have been an international incident. By running away, he denied the Konoha Official, namely Jiraiya-sensei, the opportunity to lodge his complaint or protest. Even if Jiraiya-sensei had lodged the complaint with the assistant that remained behind, Lord Raikage could have just said that he hadn't made contact with her until after the exam, and therefore did not receive the complaint in time." Naruto explained with an amused smirk on his facial features, unable to believe how dastardly and mischievous the Raikage was.

'I guess it explains why they call him Unruly Ay. For a Kage, the guy sure is quite a delinquent.' Naruto thought with a mental chuckle.

"Wow talk about delinquent behaviour! Hahaha! I think I'm starting to like Lord Raikage." Fu laughed innocently.

"Well, his delinquent behaviour benefited us this time, but who knows what he might pull next time. All the more reason for us to get the hell out of here." Jiraiya replied.

"I think we should stay. Granted, it will be dangerous, so we'll have to stay on guard at all times, but I want to discuss some things with Lord Raikage and the resident jinchuuriki. I have somewhat of a proposal for them." Naruto said with a thinking pose.

"What kind of proposal?" Tayuya asked curiously.

"It's still a work in progress. I'll let you know when I have all the finer details down." Naruto said cryptically.

"By the way, we have company, it's the Kirigakure team." Naruto said as he extended is left hand, a chakra chain flying out of his palm and attaching to the Kubikiribocho before retracting and pulling the Kubikiribocho back to him, Jiraiya's eyes popping out of his head as he couldn't believe what Naruto had just done.

'That's Kushina's jutsu! When did he…how d…?' Jiraiya mentally sputtered, realizing, in that moment, that there was probably still a lot more that he didn't know about Naruto, watching Naruto as if he was looking at a ghost as Naruto headed towards the door with the Kubikiribocho now attached to his back, opening the door just as Ao was about to knock on the door.

"Yo." Naruto greeted casually, as if he was greeting a friend of his who had just come over for a friendly visit.

"N-Namikaze-san, please accept our apology for coming at this late an hour to see you, but we were worried that you might leave the village before we could talk to you, seeing as you no longer have a reason to stay after your jonin promotion." Ao said humbly.

"I suppose you had no choice but to come in person huh? The barrier I set up around this room prevents your Byakugan from allowing you to see into our room doesn't it?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"Precisely. Even Ranmaru's fuingan was unable to pierce through your barrier. I've never seen anything like it." Ao said, impressed, but also wary as he imagined what someone who had the ability to negate his visual prowess could do.

"So he has xray vision too huh? Interesting. Anyway, come in, make yourselves at home." Naruto said as he moved out of the way, the Kirigakure contingent cautiously entering the establishment as they all watched Naruto like a hawk.

"You may sit on my bed if you want." Naruto suggested.

"Thank you Namikaze-san, but its quite alright. We would like to stand if you don't mind." Ao retorted.

"No problem, I prefer to stand too. So, anyway, how may we help you?" Naruto asked curiously.

"We are here about the Kubikiribocho." Ao said, straight to the point.

"Seriously? This shit again?" Tayuya asked irritably.

"This uh…shit is important to us. It is not something we can just turn a blind eye to." Ao replied patiently.

"You've lost your chance to claim it back during the chuunin exams, seeing as Naruto will no longer be participating, and now you're here to…?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

"Negotiate. We want Namikaze to name his price. We believe its better for all of us if we pay whatever price he asks in order to prevent igniting hostilities between our respective villages." Kagura said with a grave undertone.

"I see, and what about you, Naruto-kun? Do you want to sell the sword, given how much it means to you?" Fu asked with concern.

"It means just as much to them as it does to me apparently, perhaps even more so. However, I am not willing to negotiate, Ao-san. There will be no negotiation. If you want the sword back, you're going to have to do what you said you couldn't do, you're going to have to turn a blind eye." Naruto said cryptically.

"What the hell? That makes no sense whatsoever! How are we going to get the sword back by turning a blind eye to the fact that you have it?" Kagura asked incredulously.

"It's a metaphor, Kagura. He is referring to my Byakugan. The Byakugan is a Konoha heirloom, just like the Kubikiribocho." Ao explained with a grave undertone.

"It's only fair Ao-san, unless you're a complete hypocrite that is. You're not a hypocrite are you?" Naruto asked with a no nonsense tone.

"I….we….will have to contact Mizukage-sama and let her know of these developments. I do not believe I have the authority to make this arrangement with you." Ao replied diplomatically.

"Do as you please. We'll be around until the final round of the exams." Naruto said as a matter of fact.

"That is good news. It should provide us sufficient time to receive feedback from Mizukage-sama. Thank you." Ao said with gratitude, even though he was still a bit wary about losing his Byakugan, Naruto nodding his head in the affirmative as he ushered the Kiri contingent out of his hotel room.

"Sheesh, those guys just don't give up do they?" Fu said tiredly.

"Apparently. It's understandable I guess. The Seven Ninja Swordsmen and their Seven Swords are an important part of not just their history and traditions but also an important part of their military strength. Naturally, their first priority after taking back the village would be to retrieve all the swords and rebuild that legendary organization." Naruto replied.

"So, do you actually intend to give it back? I kind of like seeing that large clunky thing on your back, it kind of reminds me of the large thing on your front." Tayuya said with a lustful smirk.

"Eeew! You perverted slut! You're worse than Ero-sennin." Fu said tauntingly.

"The fuck! Sh-shut up! It's not perverted you stupid whore! Dip shit is my husband, so its romantic, teme!" Tayuya exclaimed angrily.

"Pervy Yuya…aaargh!" Fu cried as Tayuya jumped her, strangling her sister wife as she cussed and insulted her to death, while making sure she did in fact die by actually strangling her.

"Seriously? Is this going to be the rest of your life? How are you going to spend the rest of your life with these idiots and not go completely insane?" Jiraiya asked incredulously.

"I'll figure it out somehow." Naruto said with a casual shrug of the shoulders.

"Well you better figure it out before your other wife dies from strangulation." Jiraiya said as he pointed at the two kunoichi, Naruto shaking his head as he released chains from his torso that quickly immobilized Tayuya

"That's enough you two. Tayuya-chan, I have a back up sword, it's just as good as this one. Actually, its better. Also, stop trying to kill Fu-chan, and Fu-chan, stop antagonizing your sister wife." Naruto chastised his wives sternly, both of them nodding their heads in the affirmative.

'He actually seems to have a good measure of influence and control over them. I'm actually surprised he can control these unruly girls. Maybe there is hope for him yet.' Jiraiya thought.

"Anyway, its time to go to bed. Jiraiya-sensei, since you now know about my marriage to Fu-chan and Tayuya-chan, I won't be sleeping in the same room as you anymore. I'll be sleeping with my wives. We've already arranged for a new room with a King sized bed. I hope you'll be okay on your own?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"Uh….w-wha..uh…you…together….all three….same bed…?" Jiraiya stuttered incoherently, a lecherous look on his facial features as he tried to imagine how the night was going to go, the mental images too much for him as he got blown away into unconsciousness, blood flying out of his nose as he hit the wall on the other side and slid down onto the floor.

"Damn pervert! Serves him right." Tayuya said irritably.

"I guess I'll have to put up a protective barrier around this room then. Can't have just anyone walking in here while he's this vulnerable." Naruto thought out loud, wondering how Jiraiya had even survived this long without dying of blood loss given his perverted nature.

Following Day: Near the Raikage Tower

"Namikaze-teme! What are you doing here?" Kurotsuchi asked with a sour attitude, not happy to see Naruto at all it appeared.

"I could ask you the same thing, aren't you supposed to be preparing for the jonin exams? Sorry, I meant chuunin exams." Naruto said with a mischievous smirk, causing a tick mark to appear on Kurotsuchi's forehead.

"Why you arrogant little….!"

"We came here to talk to Lord Raikage about an important matter that concerns both his and our village. What are you doing here?" Suzumebachi asked quickly, cutting off Kurotsuchi before she could escalate the whole situation.

"Interesting. I'm here to talking to Lord Raikage about an important matter too, except it concerns not just our two villages, but all of our villages." Naruto replied.

"All of our villages? What could be so important?" Kitsuchi asked warily.

"Does the name Akatsuki ring any bells to you?" Naruto asked curiously, focusing all of his fox senses, his chakra sensing ability, and his emotion sensing ability in order to determine if Kitsuchi and his team didn't tell any lies, or at the very least to gage their physical and emotional responses to some of the things he was saying.

"Akatsuki? Who the hell is that? What kind of idiot calls himself that?" Kurotsuchi asked incredulously.

"It's not a person, it's a mercenary organization. I don't know much about them beyond that, only that they are willing to take some of the most difficult missions for a lower market value than other ninja villages charge. Tsuchikage-sama has mentioned them in passing, how they were stealing some of the high end business from the top ninja villages. But that's all I know about them." Kitsuchi replied, Naruto able to confirm that Kitsuchi was one hundred percent honest with him, deciding there and then to pay him back in full for his honesty.

"I see. Well, they're a lot more than a mercenary organization, they may be a danger to us all, by us all, I mean every single ninja village in the elemental nations." Naruto deadpanned, much to the shock of his Tsuchigakure rivals.

"W-what? That's impossible, teme! How is a mere mercenary organization supposed to be a threat to all the five great shinobi nations, idiot?" Kurotsuchi said condescendingly.

"Around three years ago, Orochimaru of the Densetsu no Sannin, Leader of Otogakure no Sato, and former member of Akatsuki, formed an alliance with Sunagakure no Sato, and together, they attacked Konoha during the chuunin exam finals, leading to the death of the Sandaime Hokage at Orochimaru's hands." Naruto explained, much to the shock and horror of the Tsuchi contingent, except for Kitsuchi who apparently already knew a little bit about that.

"I heard about that. News of the invasion reached Tsuchikage-sama's ears, but by the time he sent people to investigate, Konoha was already back on its feet again, in fact, it was like nothing happened at all." Kitsuchi replied.

"Our jonin worked extra hard to make sure the rest of the world did not realize that Konoha had been weakened. I didn't see my jonin-sensei, Hatake Kakashi, for months after the invasion. He was constantly taking on S ranked missions to help maintain appearances and to keep a steady flow of income into the village. Anyway, that is besides the point. More importantly, A new Hokage was nominated, my master, Jiraiya-sama." Naruto said.

"But he's not the Hokage though, Tsunade of the Densetsu no Sannin is. And why the fuck do you have two jonin senseis?" Kurotsuchi asked confusedly.

"Kakashi-sensei…well, that's a long story. More importantly, Jiraiya-sensei refused the position, but promised to find and return to the village an adequate replacement. So, he was given a month to find Tsunade-sama, convince her to not only return to the village, but to take up the mantle of Hokage. Naturally, he asked me, his apprentice, to accompany him on his journey, and that's when we were attacked by Akatsuki, more specifically, that's when I was attacked by Akatsuki." Naruto explained with a grave undertone.

"That's hardly surprising, you're not a very likeable guy at all and you're the yellow flash's son. Do you have any idea how many people your father has killed? Honestly, at this point, you shouldn't even be surprised at all when people try to kill you." Kurotsuchi said smugly, taking pleasure in the suffering of the blonde Uzumaki.

"They didn't attack me because I'm the son of the Yellow Flash, they attacked me because I'm a jinchuuriki. Akatsuki is a mercenary organization, true, but that's just a means to an end. Their true goal is to collect all nine of the bijuu. They attacked me because they wanted to capture me, and presumably, to extract the bijuu inside of me, and the two members who attacked me were Kin Slayer Uchiha Itachi, and the Tailless Bijuu, Hoshigaki Kisame." Naruto replied to the shock and surprise of the Tsuchi shinobi.

"You defeated Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi at just the age of fifteen?" Kitsuchi asked incredulously.

"Fifteen? Kitsuchi-san, that was three years ago. How old do you think I am exactly?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"Uh…aren't you like, eighteen?" Kitsuchi asked hesitantly.

"What? How old is your daughter then?" Naruto asked curiously.

"She's fifteen, turning sixteen." Kitsuchi retorted.

"Then what makes you think I'm eighteen? We're literally the same age group me and your daughter. I'm turning sixteen this year too." Naruto replied.

"Wait, what? No way! Stop lying! How come you're so big and so tall? You don't look like a fifteen year old at all! I mean, just look at your muscles!" Kurotsuchi said disbelievingly.

"Are you kidding me? Like, how old is this guy? Because he quite clearly looks taller than me." Naruto said, pointing an accusing finger at Akatsuchi.

"H-he's…he's the same age as us, but that's different. It's a clan thing with him. His clan people have always been gigantic in size. What the hell is your excuse?" Kurotsuchi asked incredulously.

"Honestly, I don't think I'm that tall. I'm 1.85m, only 3cm taller than my father used to be." Naruto deadpanned.

"And I'm way shorter than your dad, he looks about 2.20m tall. He's a freak!" Naruto said incredulously.

"I'm 2.17m, and yes, I would have been around the same height as you at your age, maybe even taller." Akatsuki said in retrospect.

"See." Naruto said incredulously, internally theorising that maybe they thought he was older because of the fact that he was already taller than his father used to be as opposed to his height in general, seeing as two of them were absolute freaks of nature in that department.

"Okay, whatever, tall, short, who cares? The point still stands, you were way too young and inexperienced to have defeated those guys back then. How did you even survive?" Suzumebachi asked, confused.

"Honestly, it kind of felt more like a probe as opposed to actual attempt to kidnap me. I do not think Akatsuki were ready to move on to the final stage of their plan at the time, and the fact that they have been on a three year hiatus supports my theory to a significant extent. I think, since I hold the strongest of the bijuu, they wanted to test me out and see how much of a threat I was and how much of one I might be in the future. They didn't seem to put much of an effort into it." Naruto replied.

"I see. So Orochimaru is a former member, and the only other two known members are legendary figures themselves of equal or even greater stature, and to top it off, these people are interested in attaining the power of the bijuu? That really does sound like a big problem. How many of them do you think there are? Do you know?" Akatsuchi asked warily.

"We believe there are around 9 or 10 of them." Naruto replied.

"That's not good at all. But there is still something I do not understand. If they were trying to gage your potential, then why did they let you live? Given what I saw of you against Lord Raikage, you're definitely someone that should have been flagged as a serious threat whose talent cannot be allowed to bloom." Kitsuchi asked suspiciously.

"Hehehe, you would not have said that if you met me three years ago. Everyone who knows me from back then thinks that I'm a talentless good for nothing with no future as a shinobi. I was a total idiot, literally. I even graduated dead last at the academy, in fact, I failed three attempts at graduation, actually, four attempts, because I didn't pass the last one either. One could say I was given special exemption to graduate the academy." Naruto said with a knowing smirk, chuckling at the expense of the Tsuchi contingent as he saw the fish eyed expressions on their facial features.

"S-stop lying. That's not possible!" Kurotsuchi said incredulously.

"Haha! Here, look at this. I still have my genin license. Check it out. Does that look like anyone to be taken seriously to you?" Naruto said as he handed over his genin license to Kurotsuchi, who kept staring in disbelief as she looked between the current Naruto and the one in the picture on the license, unable to believe it was the same person as she saw a total clown with his face painted while he did some completely ridiculous pose.

"This is you just three years ago? You look so small, and stupid! I mean I still think you're stupid but not this stupid." Kurotsuchi said in disbelief.

"Wow, people really can change after all. It's like looking at two completely different people." Akatsuchi said in awe.

"It feels like killing you three years ago would have been much easier than it is now." Suzumebachi said casually.

'Damn. Killing the Yondaime Hokage's son is like a normal part of life for them. They talk about it like it's the same as eating or taking a dump.' Naruto thought incredulously.

"This has to be a record for the most monumental personal growth ever. Who would have thought." Kitsuchi said as he was the last one to look over the license, handing it back to Naruto as he spoke.

"Thank you, I guess." Naruto said as he pocketed the license.

"……"

"So, this proposal of yours?" Kitsuchi asked with a serious tone.

"Its two part. First phase is to try and get Lord Raikage to agree to the formation of a joint, inter village Akatsuki Elimination Task Force, to sort of nip the problem in the bud. I expect total rejection of course, in which case I hope to convince him to make sure that his jinchuuriki no longer go on solo missions, and when they do go on missions, they go with a strong, competent four man squad." Naruto explained patiently.

"And the reason you're so forth coming about all of this information is that you're hoping that we do the same and convince Tsuchikage-sama to allocate for man squads to assist our jinchuuriki?" Kitsuchi asked curiously.

"Exactly. I was planning to come to you with this information anyway, so its actually quite convenient that I ran into you today. Of course, I could never expect a joint task force between Iwa and Konoha shinobi, that's impossible. If it wasn't obvious before, your attitude towards me has made it abundantly clear, but maybe at least you can all agree that Akatsuki needs to be dealt with and help your own jinchuuriki to that end." Naruto explained his reasoning.

"Why do you care about our jinchuuriki? We're your sworn enemies." Kurotsuchi asked, confused.

"Because I know what it's like to be a jinchuuriki. To be treated with fear, hate, scorn, and resentment by everyone, to live a life of complete isolation, devoid of normal human contact. I don't want to be arrogant and act like it's the most horrible existence in the world because there is a lot of pain and suffering out there, but its definitely one of the worst. And now we're being hunted for sport. The very thought that there are others out there like me and I cannot do anything to help them…" Naruto trailed off, clenching his fists tightly as he took a deep breathe in order to calm himself down, thankful for his mastery over sage mode as it had helped him to have far better control over his emotions.

"….."

"Anyway, as they say, better the devil you know. My gut feeling is that the world is way better place with the bijuu in the hands of the five great nations than in the hands of an organization of S ranked criminals." Naruto said pragmatically.

"You're….you're different than I thought. I thought you were nothing but a murderous devil like your father, but you're nothing like him….at least you don't appear to be as bad as him." Kurotsuchi said, Naruto internally wondering what the hell her father and grandfather told her about his dad, because the man he met in his jinchuuriki seal was the furthest thing from a devil that Naruto could think of.

"Yes, well, thank you. Anyway, I've said my piece. I hope you put this information to good use, and I hope Lord Tsuchikage doesn't reject the information and advice purely on the basis that it comes from the son of the Yellow Flash." Naruto said as he walked passed the Tsuchikage contingent.

"Oh, and good luck for the examinations. I'm looking forward to seeing you in action during the final round. I have no doubt that you will make it." Naruto said confidently, stopping briefly in order to say his piece before carrying on walking towards the Raikage Tower.

"We still have an hour and a half before the exams! We'll be waiting for you right here! We want to hear the verdict of your meeting!" Kurotsuchi shouted, Naruto waving his right hand in the affirmative as he carried on walking without turning around to look at Kurotsuchi.

"Seems like you're starting to warm up to him. That's dangerous. The last thing we can afford is for you of all people to become compromised by the Yondaime Hokage's son." Suzumebachi with a grave undertone.

"T-the fuck you talking about? I'm not warming up to that asshole! Are you out of your mind? If anything, I'm freezing up to him!" Kurotsuchi said angrily.

"Listen, I'm not accusing you, and I'm certainly not blaming you. I've been right by your side the whole time, so I know, he's a very difficult man to hate. However, we must never forget what he is capable of. His father was just as deceptive as he is. He acted kind, open, carefree, and innocent outside of battle, and then turned around and mercilessly slaughtered thousands of people without batting an eyelash." Suzumebachi said gravely.

"You make it sound like you knew the guy personally." Akatsuchi said, confused.

"I've heard the stories from those who survived just like anyone else. My father told me stories." Suzumebachi said darkly.

"W-whatever! Look, I know killing him is important, but I'd like to think that preventing our jinchuuriki from being taken is just as important, if not more so. So let's just wait and see what the asshole has to say when he comes back from his meeting with Lord Raikage." Kurotsuchi retorted.

"Very well. Let us wait." Suzumebachi replied plainly.

15 Minutes Later:

"Hey uh…you don't look so good. I would have expected the meeting to be a bit longer." Kurotsuchi said hesitantly, looking at the blonde Uzumaki with concern as he looked like someone just kicked his puppy.

"It didn't go so well. Lord Raikage had no interest in anything I had to say. He thinks I'm overreacting and he thinks there is no way his jinchuuriki would lose and get captured. He's letting his pride get in the way of what must be done. I understand rejecting the joint ninja village task force idea but not to even provide back up for the jinchuuriki? Just because it was my suggestion?" Naruto said with a pained look in his eyes, deeply concerned about the wellbeing of the Kumogakure jinchuuriki.

"W-what are you going to do now?" Kurotsuchi asked curiously.

"I don't know. I guess I've got about a month to come up with something so we'll see." Naruto said tiredly, apparently emotionally drained from his meeting with the Raikage.

"Uh…well, that's not good. Grandpa is just as stubborn as Lord Raikage, maybe even more so. I was hoping we could use Lord Raikage's acceptance as way to convince him. Without his acceptance…." Kurotsuchi trailed off morbidly.

"……."

"Maybe we do not need their acceptance, maybe….maybe it's the acceptance of the jinchuuriki that we need." Naruto said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean, Namikaze-san?" Kitsuchi asked curiously.

"Well, I'm gonna be around Kumo for a month. Perhaps it's time I made contact with my fellow jinchuuriki. Maybe if they acknowledge the threat of Akatsuki, then they can appeal to Lord Raikage to have teams allocated to them." Naruto said with a small smile, looking like he had a little more hope than he did before.

"I see. It's not going to be easy, especially if they are just as stubborn as Lord Raikage, but its worth a shot. There really is nothing to lose." Kitsuchi said with a big smile, for some reason that he couldn't understand finding himself genuinely trying to cheer up the blonde Uzumaki.

"Yeah, I mean I already met Yugito-chan, she seemed cool and approachable. Hey actually, I seem to recall she said we could hang out if I survived my jonin exam!" Naruto said excitedly, unable to believe that he had actually forgotten about that.

"H-hang out? Hang out and do what? Where did you even meet her?" Kurotsuchi asked hastily.

"She came to my hotel room the other day." Naruto replied.

"W-what? You sleazy asshole! You're married! How dare you treat your wives like that!" Kurotsuchi asked indignantly.

"What? No, hehe, it's nothing like that. She came to get an updated picture of me for the promotion pictures. You remember what my genin license picture looks like right?" Naruto laughed.

"O-oh! I….I see, well, that's good. But you're still sleazy as fuck!" Kurotsuchi said stubbornly.

"And no more meeting together in hotel rooms! That's not something a married man should do!" Kurotsuchi chastised the blonde Uzumaki.

"Yes mom." Naruto said mischievously.

"What did you say? I'm gonna…." Kurotsuchi trailed off as Naruto disappeared via shunshin technique, giving Kurotsuchi a big smile and thumbs up just before he disappeared.

"Aaaargh! Bastard!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed angrily.

"You sure are concerned about Namikaze-san's marital status for someone who hates his guts." Suzumebachi said with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not looking out for him, I'm looking out for his wives." Kurotsuchi retorted.

"The wives whose guts you hate?" Suzumebachi countered.

"I'm getting really sick of your judgement and accusations, Suzumebachi…" Kurotsuchi trailed off with a threatening undertone.

"I'm just trying to look out for you. I'm young Kurotsuchi, not naïve. I know emotions don't always follow a logical conclusion. The heart wants what it wants. I'm concerned that Namikaze-san is worming his way into your heart. I don't want that for you. He's our sworn enemy and he is married to two women already. It can only end in tragedy, especially since we're still waiting for feedback from Tsuchikage-sama about that uh….thing…"

"Enough, Suzumebachi. This is not the time or place to talk about that. For now, focus on the task ahead of you. The chuunin exams begin in just over an hour. Focus on that and forget about everything else." Kitsuchi said with authority.

"Hai, Kitsuchi-sensei." The Kamizuru heiress said submissively.

"Good, let's go."

45 Minutes Later:

"Aaah if it isn't sweet Yugito-chan! Imagine, me walking around the whole village looking for the food of the Gods, only for the Gods to lead me to you. Surely it must be fate." Naruto said as he entered the Storm Breaker Ramen Stand, feigning surprise at seeing Yugito there even though he had already sensed her chakra long before he got there.

"Namikaze-san, the last person I want to be seen with in public." Yugito greeted calmly, not even turning around to look at Naruto as she carried on eating her ramen.

"Now now Yugito-chan don't be like that. You promised you and I could spend some quality time together if I survived my jonin exam. You're a woman of your word aren't you?" Naruto asked with an all too innocent tone as he sat right next to her, causing a tick mark to appear on Yugito's forehead.

'Bastard! Quality time together? Why you gotta make me sound like some groupie skank!' Yugito thought irritably.

"As I recall, I said we could be friends, nothing more, nothing less." Yugito said with a cool and composed tone, even though all she really wanted to do was to strangle the bastard Namikaze right now.

"Oooi, order something or get the fuck out of my establishment, idiot! The longer you stay here the more goodwill I lose with my customers!" A beautiful, ebony skinned woman said as she came closer to Naruto and Yugito, wearing a cooking/chefs outfit and spotting purple hair and orange eyes, with a nice and voluptuous figure Naruto couldn't help but notice.

"Sorry mam, that is hardly my intention. Tell you what….." Naruto trailed off as he extended his right hand, a ninja scroll with the kanji for 10 million appearing on his hand in a puff of smoke.

"I'll give you ten million ryu up front if you let me, my friends, and my comrades eat here whenever we want for the next thirty days. That's a more than fair deal isn't it? Surely it makes up for your lost goodwill." Naruto asked, causing the chef's eyes to widen to epic proportions as she couldn't believe what she was seeing and hearing with her eyes and ears respectively, Yugito dropping her chop sticks as she looked at Naruto like he had grown a whole new head on his shoulders.

"W-what? Teme! Is this some sort of ninja trick?" The young woman asked angrily.

"Not at all. You see, I happen to have a soft spot for ramen stand owners. A ramen stand owner and her daughter took pity on a young boy with a demon in his belly. The boy was an orphan, and was hated and mistreated by everyone because of the demon inside of him. Restaurants and retailers either charged him ten times the normal price for products or outright refused to serve him. The boy would have died of starvation and gone mad with loneliness and lack of companionship were it not for a humble ramen stand owner and his daughter." Naruto said, pausing slightly in order to allow the chef to digest the information.

"So, as you can imagine, this boy, now a young man, has not only developed a soft spot for ramen stand owners, but is also acutely aware of the sacrifice of goodwill one has to make in order to serve him. The reasons are different, but the result is the same." Naruto said nostalgically.

"Teme! How the fuck do you expect me to accept this money after making me look like a villain. I'm nothing compared to your ramen stand owner and his daughter, I'm basically a piece of shit compared to them." The chef said, ashamed of her behaviour.

"A real piece of shit would not reject the money, and would not think themselves a piece of shit. Besides, like my home village restaurant owners, you didn't beat me up, call me a demon, tell me I deserve to die, charge me over the top prices, or simply refuse to serve me. You were still willing to serve me since I was already here, and you were up front and honest about your reasons for not wishing to serve me in the future. So, don't sell yourself too short, Chef-san. You'll be a real piece of shit if you reject my generosity though." Naruto said with a mischievous smirk.

"Hn, bastard. You really know how to pull on a person's strings don't you? Fine, whatever, do as you wish." The Chef said as she took the scroll.

"What shall I make for you then?" She asked politely.

"Three bowls of Miso Ramen, three bowls of pork ramen, three bowls of beef ramen, and three bowls of Ramen Deluxe." Naruto ordered excitedly, causing the chef to face plant at the ludicrous order.

'He's just like Yugito-sama and Bee-sama!' The beautiful chef thought incredulously.

"Uh…y-yeah, let me quickly get to work on that!" The chef said as she ran to the kitchen, realizing that her assistants were definitely going to need her help on this one.

"Interesting story. Was that meant for me or for Nigai-san?" Yugito asked suspiciously.

"Both I guess." Naruto deadpanned.

"I see. Is it true? Was your life really like that? I find it hard to believe the son of the Yondaime Hokage who saved Konoha from the Nine Tailed Demon Fox would be treated with such hate and disdain." Yugito counter argued.

"I didn't know I was his son until a couple of years ago, which is also when I found out I was the jinchuuriki of the nine tailed demon fox. I was lied to and deceived all my life by Saindaime-sama. I found out from a traitor who tried to assassinate me before he defected from the village that I was the nine tailed demon fox, and I found out on my own that I am the son of the Yondaime Hokage. Can you imagine if I had come here without knowing, the surprise of hearing from you guys and the Iwagakure guys that I am the Yellow Flash's son when no one in my own village ever disclosed that very important information to me?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"That would have been embarrassing, and infuriating. Still, I find it hard to believe you took so long to figure it out. I mean, one look at you is all it takes. The apple didn't fall far from the tree at all." Yugito retorted.

"Well I was an idiot, admittedly." Naruto deadpanned, a comfortable silence settling in between the two jinchuuriki.

"Do you hate them? All the people that kept this secret from you? All the people that allowed you to suffer from lack of identity, making believe you were a clan less orphan all your life, allowing you to live like a dog on the streets, hated and mistreated by everyone when they could have done so much more to make your life a better experience?" Yugito asked curiously, and also manipulatively, as she wanted to bring out those negative emotions from Naruto in order to see if he couldn't be manipulated into defecting from Konoha and joining Kumogakure no Sato.

"I did, when I found out about the kyubi, I was too underdeveloped both emotionally and mentally in order to grasp the true depths of what was done to me, but when I found out about my father, I was angry and hateful. I even contemplated destroying Konoha and wiping it out of the map. However, it's not that simple is it? This is the same village my father and mother loved dearly, and sacrificed their own lives, and even sacrificed me in order to protect. If I destroyed it, I would be destroying their legacy and spitting on their sacrifices." Naruto said, taking a small breather in order to organize his thoughts and emotions before carrying on from where he left off.

"Soon after that, I met Fu-chan, and then I met Tayuya-chan, I found people that genuinely loved me and cared about me unconditionally, and people that I too love and care about unconditionally. Love is the antithesis of hate, so I guess you could say that they cured me of any residual hate or resentment I might have been holding onto. I want them to be safe and I want them to live as peaceful an existence as possible. I can build that life for them in Konoha, and as Rokudaime Hokage, I can make sure that Konoha becomes the kind of place that they can be proud to call home." Naruto explained truthfully, leaving out however the diabolical part of his plan, which was that his ascension was meant to be the beginning phase of the Uzumaki takeover of the village, as he intended to groom his descendants to be the future leaders of Konoha and to basically turn Konoha into their personal army, after all, why fight them, when you can just take over their village and use them for your benefit.

"I see. You are a noble man, Namikaze-san. If your father was anything like you, then I can see why he has such a stellar reputation in the ninja world." Yugito said, paying Naruto what had to be the highest compliment one could possibly have in the ninja world.

"Thank you, Yugito-chan. That means a lot to me. Although try not to say anything like that in front of Kurotsuchi, she is convinced that my father was an actual devil." Naruto said as the Chef, Nigai, quickly put three bowls of Miso Ramen in front of Naruto, whispering that the other bowls would follow soon, whispering because she could tell that the two jinchuuriki were in deep conversation.

"Hehe! I don't want to laugh because I understand where she is coming from, but still." Yugito laughed softly, Naruto unable to believe that he had just made the stoic ice queen of all people laugh.

"Hehe! You should laugh a little more often Yugito-chan, you have a wonderful laugh, almost angelic even. Well, at least what I imagine an angel would sound like if it laughed…a female angel of course." Naruto made sure to emphasize at the end, causing Yugito to laugh a little louder at how ridiculous a person had to be to feel the need to clarify something so obvious.

"Thank you Naruto-kun, I appreciate that. No one has ever complimented me like that before." Yugito said with a warm smile.

'She called me Naruto? And this is the first time she has called me by name isn't it? She also said kun. She must be warming up to me.' Naruto thought with a shit eating grin.

"Uh…yeah….I mean, I'm just telling the truth how I see it that's all." Naruto said with a casual shrug, not wanting to show how happy he was, another comfortable silence settling in as Naruto finished his third bowl in record time.

"So, why did you track me down? I know you said you were looking for a ramen stand, but I also know that you passed one two blocks away before you came to this one. Is there something you wanted to say to me…besides the fact that apparently I have the laugh of an angel?" Yugito asked curiously.

"Hehehe! Nothing flies past you does it? So you've been keeping track of my chakra signature huh? Didn't know you liked me that much, Yugito-chan." Naruto retorted.

"Nice try, but I'm not letting you skip out on answering my question. Come now, speak up Naruto-kun." Yugito egged on, at this point comfortable enough in her knowledge of what kind of person Naruto was that she knew that, even if had some sort of angle he was playing, it probably wasn't anything sinister.

"Well, I went to see Lord Raikage about…" Naruto began as he told Yugito everything he knew about Akatsuki, about his encounters with their members, and about his proposal to Lord Raikage and of course, the fact that Lord Raikage rejected his proposal and in fact was completely dismissive about every warning Naruto gave him regarding Akatsuki, Yugito spotting a deep, thoughtful expression at the end of Naruto's explanation.

"I see. It certainly sounds like these guys are dangerous. However, Bee-sama is a perfect jinchuuriki and I'm also very close to complete mastery. Do you really think Akatsuki pose that much of a threat to us especially if they only travel in two men cells?" Yugito asked sceptically.

"I do. These guys aren't normal shinobi, they are monsters. Kisame-dono is called a Tailless Bijuu for a reason, and Itachi is a descendant of Uchiha Madara, the same Madara who tamed the nine tailed fox and used it against Shodaime-sama Senju Hashirama. Do not underestimate the ocular powers of the Uchiha." Naruto said gravely.

"I see. So uh…what exactly do you want me to do?" Yugito asked curiously.

"Bee-dono already has a team from what I understand. So I need you to convince him to take Akatsuki seriously and prepare himself and his team to do battle against them. I also need you to convince him to never fight Akatsuki alone and do it with his team. Secondly, I need you to petition Raikage-dono to form a highly skilled and competent team for you, and to ensure that he never sends you or Bee-dono on a solo mission again. It will be better if you have already got Bee-dono on board when you make this petition. Two against 1 is better than 1 against 1." Naruto suggested.

"……."

"I'm trying to figure out what you could possibly gain from this, but I can't see it. Why would you want to help us for seemingly no benefit whatsoever to you?" Yugito asked curiously.

"There are too many reasons to list, but the most important one is that I care, of course. I don't want you to die Yugito-chan, certainly not alone in the world in some far off land. Living a life of solitude is one thing, but also dying alone, being hunted like a dog just because of what you are? I cannot accept that." Naruto said sincerely.

"….."

"I see. You certainly are one of a kind Naruto-kun. I promise you, I will leave no stone unturned. I will do everything in my power to convince Raikage-sama. You have my word." Yugito said with a happy smile, a smile that fully reached her eyes, for the first time since…she couldn't even remember.

"Good. I'll hold you to that." Naruto said jovially, the two enjoying each other's company for another two hours before they went their separate ways.

39 Days Later:

"Wow, never thought the Seven Ninja Swordsmen would have all been eliminated in the quarter finals, I thought there would have been at least one of them in the semi finals. Instead its two Kumogakure ninja and two Iwagakure ninja." Naruto thought.

"It's not like the Kiri genin were weak, they were incredible really. In fact, I expect that everyone who participated today will be promoted regardless of whether they won or lost." Jiraiya said, impressed by the high level of these chuunin exams as he was convinced that everyone that fought today was, in terms of skill and ability, at least an elite jonin level ninja.

"Just as importantly, three of the four finalists are kunoichi and only one of them is a shinobi. This is unprecedented, I don't think something like this has ever happened before. I think this, along with the fact that two of the four Kage are women, is the beginning of the turnover that will give kunoichi equal respect and status in the shinobi world as men have." Naruto observed.

"Tche! It should have been the case all along! Bunch of insecure dip shits!" Tayuya said angrily, Naruto rolling his eyes as he wondered if he was one of these insecure dip shits, seeing as she always called him dip shit.

'She really needs to start taking her vocabulary seriously.' Naruto thought, seeing as was the future wife of the Rokudaime Hokage.

"The first match of the semi final is about to begin. Its Yotsuki Karui vs Kamizuru Suzumebachi." Fu said as she pointed at the big screen, showing images of Karui and Suzumebachi and highlights of their previous battles.

"Who do you think is going to win, dip shit?" Tayuya asked curiously.

"Karui is a sensor type, that means that all of Suzumebachi's ambush bug jutsu aren't going to work. Karui will always be aware of the the position of the bugs at all times. Genjutsu probably doesn't work on Karui when she activates her Lightning Style: Lightning Fashion Technique. Thus, the battle is going to come down to physical abilities, in other words, a taijutsu and/or kenjutsu battle." Naruto said analytically.

"That still doesn't answer my question, asshole!" Tayuya said irritably.

"I don't know. Suzumebachi's nano bug technique is incredible. Creating nano bugs in the first place is insane, and having billions of them in your body boosting your chakra release and activity provides an incredible boost of speed and power. But Karui's jutsu is incredible too. I recon that Karui is slightly faster and Suzumebachi is slightly stronger. Durability is debatable. We all know about the strong bodies of the Yotsuki clan, but the nano bugs not only enhance Suzumebachi's durability but they also rapidly heal her injuries. Perhaps endurance and stamina is where the battle will truly be decided." Naruto concluded his hypothesis.

"Sounds like a classic evenly matched battle then. Well anyway, we're about to find out aren't we? The battle is beginning." Jiraiya said as everyone refocussed their attention on the arena.

"To hell with you, teme! Do you Tsuchi bastards actually believe that we would ever allow a foreign ninja to win the chuunin exams in our own home turf? Go eat a rock hard dick somewhere, teme!" Karui said as she activated her lightning release: Lightning Fashion Technique, a technique that caused her to literally grown boots and gloves made of pure lightning on her legs and on her feet, the boots reaching all the way above her knees and the gloves reaching all the way above her elbows.

'That's quite an impression level of chakra shape manipulation. The boots and gloves look like solid objects that she put on her limbs instead of chakra' Naruto thought, impressed.

"Heh! We'll see about that, you foul mouthed slut!" Suzumebachi exclaimed as her chakra spiked heavily, using her nano bugs to exercise precise and perfect chakra control whilst also getting a significant chakra boost from her bugs.

"Hajime!" Dodai exclaimed from the other side of the barrier, the battle kicking off immediately, as if the two kunoichi were reacting to the stop gun that is used in the sport of athletics, both of them moving at ridiculous speed as they clashed repeatedly in a deadly and yet majestic dance, not that the spectators could see of course as 99 percent of them had no idea what was going on, the fight being fought at a speed that was far too great for most ninja's eyes to follow, however many of the spectators commenting about how Karui took after her cousin Darui and her Uncle Yotsuki A, the Fourth Raikage, because of her strength and her speed, at the same time all of them surprised that Suzumebachi could keep up with Karui's speed.

Still, being fast enough and strong enough to match Karui was not good enough, nor did having great sensory skills thanks to her nano bugs, as even that was negated by Karui's own sensory abilities. What truly separated the two of them, contrary to what Naruto thought, was not the stamina of the two fighters but the difference in taijutsu skill, as Karui, utilizing the Yotsuki nintaijutsu style that had been developed over multiple generations, had superior taijutsu skill than Suzumebachi.

Just as Naruto expected, the nano bugs were able to rapidly heal Suzumebachi's injuries, but not fast enough apparently, as Karui's attack speed was such that the bugs couldn't keep up with the damage. As a result, there was a slight drop off in speed on the part of Suzumebachi, which allowed Karui to catch her in a submission hold, putting her in an ankle lock and forcing her to submit or get her ankle shattered into smithereens, Suzumebachi having no choice but to submit as she knew that even if she resisted and took the pain, her ankle would not recover in time, and in the time it took for the nano bugs to heal it, Karui would have put her in another submission hold and broken another body part.

What made matters worse was that she could not send her nano bugs into Karui's body because the lightning oscillations were killing her nano bugs by the millions, maybe even billions at a time. Ultimately, she had no choice but to forfeit the match and leave everything in Kurotsuchi's hands unfortunately.

"Winner! Yotsuki Karui!" Dodai announced, loud cheers reverberating throughout the Kumo based crowd as the home crowd celebrated the fact that they knew that at least one of the finalists would be one of their own.

'The hell is Bee-dono doing?' Naruto thought as he watched the eight tails jinchuuriki doing some weird dance movements that Naruto didn't understand, Naruto concluding that he was dancing both to the loud hip hop beat that was now playing in the arena and also celebrating Karui's victory.

'Now it's going to be Kurotsuchi vs Yotsuki Omoi. Should be interesting.' Naruto thought curiously, having seen that Kurotsuchi could not only fly at a crazy speed using her particle release but could also use her particle release to make herself lighter so that she could move faster when using shunshin or foot speed, and then increase the density of her body exponentially at the point of impact, causing her attacks to have a devastating impact.

'I have to defeat her quickly. What if her particle release gets out of control and she disintegrates everyone in the arena? What if she makes everyone in the arena too light and everyone floats until they exit the atmosphere and go into space where they freeze and die? What if…' Omoi was broken from his crazy thoughts by the sound of Kurotsuchi's voice, Omoi widening in surprise when he realized that Kurotsuchi was already high in the air, not having noticed when she started flying as he had been caught up in his own crazy theories.

"Teme! Don't think for one second I'm letting you Kumo shinobi get your way. I don't care if you're the home ground participant, I'm not going easy on you." Kurotsuchi said with determination, Omoi just looking at her with a dumb facial expression, as if he was lost in thought, which in fact was the case as he was painting some other crazy speculation in his mind.

"Hajime!" Dodai exclaimed, Kurotsuchi immediately going through a number of hand seals before activating her jutsu.

"Lava Release: Quick Lime Congealing Technique!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed as she spat out an extremely large amount of quick lime from her mouth in the direction of Omoi.

"Raiton: Shunko no Justu!" Omoi exclaimed as his entire body was illuminated by an incredible amount of lightning chakra, similar to the Raikage's lightning armour but far less controlled and focused, the lightning around him looking like it wanted to lash at everything in its surroundings, like it was wild and untamed, or even like it had a mind of its own.

Yet, the jutsu performed the function that it was supposed to, as it boosted Omoi's speed significantly and also his offensive and defensive power, Omoi able to easily avoid a direct hit, which didn't help much as Kurotsuchi followed up with a water technique that caused the quick lime to spread all over the battle ground, leaving Omoi with no where to run as he eventually had to stand on top of the quick lime, which quickly solidified around his feet in order to keep him in place and prevent him from using his speed, but to no avail as Omoi blasted the cement away with his shunko no jutsu.

'Kuso! That stupid flash war cry technique is troublesome. But he cannot attack me from high up here, so I'll just bombard him with long range jutsu until he has nowhere to ru…what…!' Kurotsuchi trailed off as Omoi did the unthinkable, propelling himself towards her by bending his knees and pushing himself hard, so much so that he left a crater on the ground and he came barrelling at her at full speed, forcing Kurotsuchi to improvise as she used her explosion release: exploding palm technique to shoot explosive chakra from her palms in order to rapidly propel herself away from Omoi.

Having somehow dodged the attack, Kurotsuchi thought that she would be able to launch a counter attack now that Omoi was airborne and therefore wouldn't be able to use his speed, however, much to her surprise, Omoi had jumped all the way to the roof of the translucent barrier that was erected in order to protect the crowd and bounced off of it, propelling himself downwards towards Kurotsuchi, who had to use the propulsion of her explosion release to get away again.

The battle carried on like that for quite a long time, Omoi bouncing non stop all over the battle arena on the invisible walls of the barrier as he kept up the pressure on Kurotsuchi, making her fight him at a frenetic pace, not allowing Kurotsuchi the chance to even think about mounting a counter strike as she was too busy trying to prevent herself from being decapitated.

"Using the protective barrier as a propulsion system in order to attack an airborne opponent? This is taking using the environment to your advantage to another level entirely." Jiraiya thought, both impressed and amused by the turn of events.

"He has turned an undesirable and unfavourable scenario to his advantage. I bet this is just the kind of thing the examiners look for." Naruto retorted.

"Yeah, definitely. And it's working, Kurotsuchi doesn't have a chance to form hand seals, all she can do is just barely avoid Omoi's attacks." Fu retorted.

"It doesn't seem like the bitch is particularly used to using her explosion release in this manner either, she's rapidly burning up a lot of chakra. That bastard Omoi has turned this into a battle of endurance." Tayuya said observantly.

"If it is to remain a battle of endurance, then Kurotsuchi really doesn't stand a chance. The Yotsuki is clan is genetically built for both speed and endurance. They have the qualities of both sprinters and marathon runners combined into one. Fighting at a frenetic pace like this for an extended amount of time is their specialty." Naruto said analytically.

'Kurotsuchi's has insane versatility being able to use a two kekkei genkei and a kekkei tota on top of that. Also, as a result of her rich combination of bloodline limits, she has an unnaturally strong and an abnormal amount of chakra. However, being able to fly out of an opponent's range probably means that she has never had to fight under this sort of pressure. She has probably always fought a battle at her own pace and on her own terms. Even if she loses, this should be a valuable experience for her. If she learns from this, she'll be that much more dangerous in the future, and there won't always be a convenient barrier to stop her from flying out of range.' Naruto thought analytically, although at the same time thinking that everyone who knows about this battle will probably want to incorporate barriers into their fighting strategy against her in the future.

Ultimately, Kurotsuchi was unable to regain an advantage in the battle, and eventually was run down by Omoi and defeated, getting pulverized before being put in an arm bar submission, forcing her to tap out just like her compatriot, the crowd going crazy as this victory meant that, before even the final battle was fought, Kumogakure won the chuunin exams.

"Kuso no yaro! Why didn't you return to the ground and try to use your weighted boulder speed technique!" Tayuya said in frustration, Naruto realizing that the only reason Tayuya wanted Kurotsuchi to win was because she wanted an all female final, because otherwise there was no way Tayuya would support Kurotsuchi given how much those two hated each other.

"I think she was trying to gradually make her way back to the ground but Omoi was actively preventing her from doing that. His attack pattern was precise and methodical. He wasn't just attacking randomly." Naruto retorted.

"So he didn't want her to challenge him directly in a speed battle on the ground? Isn't that like a Yotsuki clan fighter's favourite sport?" Fu asked, confused.

"It is, but, even though Omoi is a Yotsuki to the core, he isn't exactly the typical Yotsuki. He seems much calmer and much more measured in his approach. He's the type that won't change a winning strategy, the if it aint broke don't fix it kind of guy." Naruto replied.

"Besides, as a fellow particle release user, I know the limitations of Kurotsuchi's speed technique. You have to constantly switch between two variations of the jutsu. Use the weighted boulder technique to make yourself light so that you can move fast, but then switch at the moment of impact to make yourself dense and heavy in order to increase force of impact. In other words, there is a small lag between the initial attack and the moment of impact, and it can put a strain on the mind and on your reactions when you have to constantly change jutsu. Going up against a guy who moves just as fast or faster, and who doesn't have the lag effect of switching between jutsu puts you at a disadvantage. It probably would have ended in the same result anyway, where Omoi would have had a speed advantage, or at least a reaction time advantage." Fu explained in depth.

'I didn't even know she was a particle release user.' Jiraiya thought warily, wondering just how many other talents his so called students had that he didn't know about.

"Well, anyway, that's the end of it I guess. It doesn't matter who wins the final now. I wonder if they'll even have it?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Lord Musclekage is about to make an announcement. I guess we'll find out now if those two will fight or not." Tayuya said as she pointed at the booth where the Raikage was seated along with the Mizukage and the Tsuchikage, who had come over for the final round of the exams, Lord Tsuchikage accompanied by his two jinchuuriki, Han and Roshi, while Lady Mizukage was accompanied by the Six Tails Jinchuuriki and one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Akebino Jinin.

In any case, just as Naruto suspected, the Raikage announced that they wouldn't be having the final match as he had spoken to Omoi and Karui before the finals and they had said that they would both forfeit if they both made it to the final. The Raikage also explained that even though, as Raikage, he had the authority to order them to fight each other, he would however not go through with it as he respected and even admired the love and bond between family and friends that was shared between Omoi and Karui. The Raikage capped it off by advising everyone to take heart in the fact that Kumogakure had proven its strength by winning the tournament, and announcing that both Omoi and Karui would be named as joint winners of the tournament.

Some of the crowd were disgruntled understandably as there had been bets about who would win between the two Kumogakure genin, but for the most part, everyone was just relieved and happy that their village had proven its strength and standing in the shinobi world. There was of course that little bit of an asterisk to it all as Naruto, Fu, and Tayuya had not participated in the tournament, because they had fought against Lord Raikage and his elite guard and won, which in a way could imply that Konoha were in fact the victors with Kumo coming in at second place.

Nevertheless, no one really had time to think too much about that as the Eight Tales Jinchuuriki, Killer Bee, began celebrations immediately, jumping onto the arena and performing his big hit single for that year, a song titled eight hundred hell stabs as the beat to the song started banging, much to the crowd's joy and entertainment.

"Kumogakure sure has a unique vibe huh?" Naruto said with an amused smirk.

"Yeah, it's actually kind of cool actually. I like it." Tayuya retorted.

"You kidding me? This is the best!" Fu exclaimed excitedly as she jumped up and started dancing and singing along to the song, fumbling over the words as she didn't know the lyrics but that typically didn't stop her from enjoying the vibe nonetheless.

"Heh, you sure know how to pic em, gaki." Jiraiya said with a mix of emotions, still honestly not sure if he really trusted these girls and their intentions with his God son, in fact, not even sure he trusted his God son either, but at the same time feeling guilty about the fact that he wasn't happy for his God son and was in fact envious of the bond and trust that he had with these girls, a bond that he didn't think he had at all with his God son.

That Evening: Jiraiya's Hotel Room

"Naruto, the exams are over. What are we still doing here?" Jiraiya asked warily.

"I have some loose ends to tie up. Give me two or three days, and then we'll leave." Naruto said calmly.

"It's because of that skank Yugito-teme isn't it? Don't look so surprised, I know you have been spending an unhealthy amount of time with her." Tayuya said venomously.

"You've been stalking me?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course I have! I've been waiting for the right time to murder the both of you." Tayuya deadpanned, Jiraiya narrowing his eyes dangerously at her as his fight or flight instincts kicked in, although if Tayuya cared or noticed, she did well not to show it at all.

"You mean you've been meaning to catch us in the act of adultery?" Naruto retorted.

"Same thing." Tayuya deadpanned.

"Well, I suppose trust is not only earned but natured as well. I seem to have forgotten the nature part. Forgive me, Tayuya-chan, Fu-chan. I did not mean to cause your pain and anxiety. I should have disclosed my intentions to you. You are my beloved and faithful wives after all." Naruto apologized sincerely.

"Your intentions?" Fu asked anxiously, Naruto telling her and the rest of the team about what he and Yugito had been discussing, which was mainly a number of ways to persuade the Raikage to take Akatsuki seriously and allocate adequate protection for Yugito and Bee.

"What? That's what you've been doing? All those long walks and lunch dates and that's all you were talking about?" Tayuya asked incredulously.

"Yeah." Naruto deadpanned.

'Wow dip shit is a total idiot! He really hasn't noticed how much she has the hots for him? I was worried about nothing after all!' Tayuya thought incredulously, triggering her memories as she remembered that actually, both Fu and Naruto were total idiots as it was she who had eventually had to initiate everything in order for there to be a romantic relationship between the three of them.

"I see. So you want to protect the other jinchuuriki, even if they are from enemy villages?" Fu asked, breaking Tayuya from her musings.

"I do." Naruto deadpanned, causing a wide smile to appear on Fu's facial features.

"That's awesome! Is there anything I can do to help?" Fu asked excitedly, her mood doing a complete one eighty degrees, which of course, was very typical of her.

"No, not really. Yugito-chan and I have pretty much exhausted every possible angle. Lord Raikage is quite a stubborn mule I have to say. And if we couldn't convince him, I doubt there is anyway Kurotsuchi can convince Lord Tsuchikage. From what I hear, he is even more stubborn." Naruto said thoughtfully.

"Wait, you even roped in the Tsuchikage'a grand daughter into this? How the hell did you do that? That little girl hates your guts!" Jiraiya said incredulously.

"That she does. However, she loves her village even more, and loves power just as much. She cannot stand the very idea of her village losing two of its prized military assets. Also, Roshi and Han-dono are her uncles. They're family to her. Obviously she doesn't want them to die." Naruto explained.

'He's always been good at looking into people's hearts and seeing exactly what is in there, even when he was a naïve, immature brat. But now that he is wiser and more experienced, he is even better at getting people to do what he wants or needs them to do. It's a very dangerous ability in the wrong hands, the ability to compel even your enemies to move how you want them to move.' Jiraiya thought warily.

"I see. So you're giving it your best shot for another three days?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

"Well, as of right now, there are seven jinchuuriki in the village. I don't think that has ever happened before. I think maybe Fu-chan and I should try to get to know our kin. I haven't spoken directly to Lord Kirabi since I got here, and I want to speak to the Rokubi jinchuurki and the jinchuuriki from Iwa. It may not help much, but it may also be that little bit of extra knowledge and precaution that saves their lives." Naruto explained.

"And what about our exit strategy? We still do not have one. I don't believe for one second that the Tsuchikage bringing both his jinchuuriki here is a coincidence. He's up to something." Jiraiya said suspiciously.

"It's not a coincidence. They're planning to ambush us. He has the rest of his ninja force stationed 400 hundred miles away, and the direction that one would take if they were headed to Konoha from here. He's probably going for a pincer move. I suspect that he, the two jinchuuriki, and Kurotsuchi's team will follow us when we leave and they'll close us in from behind and in front of us." Naruto said as if merely talking about the weather forecast.

"Four hundred miles away? How do you know that? Did you send a shadow clone as a scout?" Jiraiya asked curiously, wondering why he hadn't considered taking such an action.

"No, I used my chakra sensory skills. There are two hunded Iwa jonin waiting for us." Naruto explained.

"You can sense people from 800 kilometres away?" Jiraiya asked in disbelief.

"Yes." Naruto deadpanned, leaving a speechless Jiraiya in his wake.

"……".

"So, what's the plan? Kick their butts and slaughter them all?" Tayuya asked with a sadistic smirk.

"That would be an unnecessary risk. We'll use the toads to reverse summon ourselves to a secure location. Jiraiya-sensei, I'll leave the logistics of that up to you." Naruto said with authority.

"That's actually just what I was thinking. Leave it to me." Jiraiya replied.

"Really? Won't like the toads have to swallow for us to be reverse summoned with them? Eew! Why can't we just fly out of here?" Fu wined petulantly.

"We're not the only ones who can fly, idiot. Kurotsuchi and her Grandfather can fly too, and apparently they can make others fly as well. Its totally pointless, they'll just turn it into an aerial battle." Tayuya retorted.

"So its settled then, toad reverse summoning it is." Naruto said with finality.

'They're talking about flying as if its something that just anyone can do. Sure, Naruto briefly displayed the ability to fly in his fight against Unruly Ay, but I didn't think it was something he could do over long distance or for any extended amount of time. Can all three of them really fly? And if so, how? And for how long?' Jiraiya thought, confused and concerned as it seemed like these kids had abilities far beyond comprehension, abilities that could certifiably make them legends in the shinobi world.

"Now, would any of you like to accompany me to dinner with Lady Mizukage and her entourage at her hotel suite? I've been invited." Naruto asked as if he was just talking about dinner at Ichiraku's Ramen Stand.

"What? The hell does that evil succubus want?" Tayuya asked angrily.

"I'm sure she just wants to talk about the Kubikiribocho and the Byakugan." Naruto replied.

"Oh yeah I forgot about that. Sounds great to me, let's go!" Fu said excitedly.

"Are you morons serious? What if we get poisoned or something?" Jiraiya asked incredulously, confused when Fu, Naruto, and Tayuya started laughing at him.

"I must be losing my sense of humour in my old age, or there must be a new sense of humour that was discovered in your generation because in my era, death by poisoning was not a laughing matter." Jiraiya said irritably, unable to comprehend the sheer stupidity of his students.

"Poison doesn't work on us. We're pretty much immune." Fu said jovially.

"What? Is it because you and Naruto are jinchuuriki? What about Tayuya then? She's not a jinchuuriki." Jiraiya said incredulously.

"But she's an Uzumaki who has mastered her healing and regenerative bloodline limit, and she's a master of the cursed seal. She'll be fine." Naruto said casually.

'So it's true, she really is an Uzumaki? And Naruto not only knows about his father but also knows about the Uzumaki clan as well. Which means he probably knows about his mother somehow.' Jiraiya thought, wanting to ask how Naruto knew all of this but also knowing all too well that it would open another can of worms, which was, of course, that why had he, Tsunade, and Sarutobi-sensei kept this information from him?

"……"

"So we're going then?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"I don't have immunity to poisons, so I guess I'll be your scout or something." Jiriaya replied, feeling a little left out in all honesty.

"Aaargh don't worry, Naruto-kun will cure and heal you if you get poisoned. He's extremely good at that stuff. No one dies around him…..unless he wants them to fu fu fu fu fu!" Fu laughed diabolically, causing Jiriaya to sweat drop at her unstable behaviour, as if he was ever going to stake his life on the words of someone like her.

"Thanks, but I think I'll pass." Jiraiya said dismissively.

"No, you'll have to be with us. Your name and reputation will be an essential weapon in these negotiations. It can't be just all kids there to negotiate with Lady Mizukage. At least one adult is necessary. Make a re-enforced shadow clone if you're so worried about poisoning." Naruto said uncompromisingly.

"A re-enforced shadow clone huh? Sounds like a plan. It won't be easy for them to tell that it's a shadow clone if I put at least seventy five percent of my chakra in it. But that will leave me vulnerable if I am attacked while my clone is in negotiations with you." Jiraiya said with concern.

"I'll summon two battle toads to keep you company." Naruto deadpanned, wondering why Jiraiya was stressing about things that were no brainers.

"Fine. I suppose that will have to do…"

45 Minutes Later: Mizukage's Hotel Suite

"I must say Mizukage-sama, this is quite an exquisite set up you've got going here." Naruto said as he stared in awe at the set up, impressed at how the Mizukage had turned her hotel suite into some kind of Royal Dining Hall, all sorts of cuisines on display on the long and elegant looking dining table.

"Thank you Namikaze-kun, but you, and only you, may call me Mei-chan if you so please." The Mizukage said with a sultry tone, causing a tick mark to appear on Tayuya's forehead, pissed off at the total disrespect of the Mizukage, to dare to flirt with a man right in front of his wives.

Mei is a tall, slim figured yet voluptuous woman with fair skin. She has green eyes, and ankle-length, auburn hair styled into a herringbone pattern at the back, a top-knot tied with a dark blue band, and with four bangs at the front. Two bangs are short, with one covering her right eye, and two are long, crossing each other on her bust, just below her chin. She is wearing a long-sleeved, dark blue dress that falls just below the knees. The dress is closed at the front with a zipper, and is kept open on the front-right side from the waist down. The dress only covers up to the upper part of her arms and the underside of her breasts.

Underneath, she is wearing a mesh armour that covers slightly more of her upper body than her dress. She is also wearing a skirt in the same colour as her dress and, underneath those, mesh leggings reaching down over her knees. Around her waist, she is wearing a belt with a pouch attached to the back on the left along with high-heeled sandals, shin-guards reaching up over her knees, dark blue nail polish on her fingers and toes, and is usually shown with purple lipstick

"Mei-chan huh?" Naruto said, allowing the name to roll off of his tongue.

"Yes Namikaze-kun, I, Terumi Mei, would be pleased if you would call me by my given name as opposed to my title. Granted it is no mere title, as it is one of great significance and meaning, but these titles and positions tend to create a barrier that hinders natural, human communication. I would very much like for you and I to have a natural, positive, human experience together Namikaze-kun, to form a bond between one good human and another." Mei said elegantly.

"Woah, she's smooth! So this is how an experienced woman ensnares a man in her trap huh? Wow, scary!" Fu said in awe, The Mizukage's subordinates all gritting their teeth in anger at Fu's insinuation but all of them knowing better than to act without her signal, even though they really really wanted to act.

"Idiot! What are you, seven? You'll sabotage negotiations before they even begin with your loud mouth!" Jiraiya said with exasperation.

"Hah! Loud mouth my foot! She's just telling the truth! Who would have thought that Mizukage-sama was such a slutty succubus! Have you no shame, teme! Trying to seduce a man right in front of his wives!" Tayuya said with an accusatory finger pointed at the Mizukage, much to the increasing ire of the Mizukage's subordinates.

"If it isn't Uzumaki Tayuya, Uzumaki Fu, and Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin. I am honoured to meet your acquaintance. Please, sit, and enjoy the wonderful delicacies that I have prepared for you from all over the world." Mei said as she waved her arm over the long dining table, if she cared at all about Tayuya's insults, doing well not to show it.

"Thank you, Mizukage-dono. And please accept my apologies for the naïve and insensitive behaviour of my students. They are still too young….and stupid…to appreciate the nuances of diplomacy." Jiraiya said as he ushered the two girls towards the dining table, making sure to do so before they could even think to say anything rude again.

"Uh…Mizuk.. uh…Mei-chan, it doesn't seem like there are enough seats for us all here." Naruto said with a raised eyebrow.

"You and I will be dining in interconnecting room on the other side….just the two us, while our subordinates and comrades dine on this side of the suit. I have learned that a lot more can be done in a one on one discussion in one hour than can be done in 10 hours in a panel." Mei said with a sinister and yet seductive smirk on her facial features, sauntering forward until she was standing right in front of Naruto before snaking her left arm around his right arm.

"What the fuc….mmmmm .. mmmmmm…!" Tayuya was about to say before Jiraiya put his hands around her mouth and pulled her back down to her seat.

"Imbecile! I know how you feel but you need to trust your husband! You know what kind of man Naruto is. He would never trample all over your honour!" Jiraiya said hastily, relieved when Tayuya seemed to have gotten the message as she started to settle down, up until Jiraiya was confident that she wouldn't chop off the Mizukage's head if he let her go.

"Tayuya-chan, Fu-chan, sensei is right. You are my beloved wives, the queens of my heart, my soul mates. Believe in me." Naruto said with a serious tone, both Tayuya and Fu swallowing lumps down their throats, intimidated by Naruto's tone and demeanour, especially as it wasn't a tone he usually took up with them unless they were seriously screwing up.

"Yeah whatever. There better be enough food to last until you come back, you piece of shit good for nothing husband." Tayuya mumbled under her breathe, Fu only able to master a nod in the affirmative as she didn't trust her voice right now.

"Thank you. Please, lead the way, Mizukage-dono." Naruto said with the same tone, Mei a little disheartened by the fact that Naruto had reverted back to calling her by her title but similarly not able to master the courage to protest, at least not right at that moment. She would have to bring it up later though when Naruto was a little less intense, choosing rather to focus on escorting him to their private suite and making sure not only to close but also to lock the door behind her.

"This is where you and I will be dining, Namikaze-kun." Mei said as she gestured towards the intimate dinining setting, a table that was clearly meant for two people only with expensive wine and cuisine on the table, Naruto nodding his head in the affirmative as he reverse summoned the kubikiribocho into a seal on his left forearm, the sword disappearing in a poofing sound as it released a puff of smoke, the sound and the smoke causing Mei to jump far away from Naruto at an impressive speed, a speed and reaction worthy of the title of Kage Naruto thought.

"Do not be alarmed Mizukage-sama, I was merely putting away my sword so that I may be able to sit down. In hind sight I should have given you fore warning of my intentions, for that, I sincerely apologise." Naruto said as he seated himself, waiting patiently for the Mizukage to join him at the dining table, Mei narrowing her eyes in displeasure, not at all pleased by how things were proceeding as nothing was going according to plan at all.

"Please, Mizukage-sama, sit. We have much to discuss." Naruto said as he gestured towards the table.

"I thought I made it clear that you can call me Mei-chan, Namikaze-kun." Mei said as she sat down on the seat opposite of Naruto.

"Yes, and I was happy to oblige….before you disrespected my beloved wives. I did not take kindly to that, but I also did not want to say or do anything that might embarrass you in front of your subordinates. However now that we are alone, I would like to address that before we dine and certainly before we talk business." Naruto said in a clear, concise, and professional manner.

"If you do not fancy me, or you find me to be too….woman…for you, then be plain and clear about it Namikaze-kun, instead of trying to humiliate me with false accusations." Mei said, gone the sweet and sulty tone she had before, replaced with the fury and wrath of a woman scorned.

"False accusations?" Naruto asked, confused.

"My people have been monitoring your movements. For just over a month now, you have been seen openly taking long intimate walks with the nibi jinchuuriki, going on dates together in public places, and you have even been seen walking her home afterwards. You've even had a picnic with her. Why is it okay for you to openly pursue an intimate relationship with Yugito but not with me?" Mei asked with a calm fury in her tone, giving Naruto a look that would turn a lesser man into minced meat.

"I see. Well, I must say that this is shocking information for me. I was unaware that that is what people thought I was doing with Yugito-chan. I won't deny a physical, sexual attraction, after all, she is one of the most beautiful and sexually appealing women in the world as far as I am concerned, nor will I deny an emotional bond, because after all, we are kindred spirits. However, I assure Mizukage-sama, there is nothing romantic going on, at least not intentionally. Yugito-chan and I have been discussing serious, life and death business, business which I intend to discuss with you too immediately after we have concluded the Byakugan and Kubikiribocho negotiations." Naruto said apologetically, Mei sizing him up carefully and meticulously before finally relenting, deciding to give the blonde haired Konoha genin the benefit of the doubt.

"So you really haven't done anything sexual or intimate with Nii Yugito-san?" Mei asked disbelievingly.

"We haven't even held hands, much less kissed or made love to each other. I understand that, as the last of my clan, I have the right to marry up to five woman according to Konoha clan law, and my beloved wives are aware of that. However, if I were to try and add another party to our marriage, I would have to first discuss it with them and the woman would have to be approved by them. In any case, I'm not really focussed on that right now, there some serious threats to my wellbeing that I would like to eliminate first before I can think about family expansion." Naruto replied.

"That's not good enough for me Namikaze-kun. I was hoping to seal an alliance between our two villages through marriage, between you and I. I have heard of your great exploits and what kind of man you are. I have done some serious background research too and found out that, at just the age of 12, you defeated the Ichibi, Shukaku, and saved Konoha. I also know about your dream to become Hokage and your lineage. I know that sealing the marriage through me, the Mizukage, and you, the future Hokage, would be it an unbreakable alliance treaty." Mei retorted.

"That's not a problem, Mei-chan. However, as I said before, any union between me and another woman would have to be approved by my wives. You have disrespected my wives and as things stand, they wouldn't even need to think about it, they would reject your request immediately." Naruto said plainly, Mei's heart fluttering at the fact that Naruto called her Mei-chan again, meaning that he had either forgiven her or was at least considering it, but also feeling stupid at her earlier blunder as she had now decreased her chances of securing the alliance and getting the perfect husband for herself, a man worthy of her, at last.

"So then, are you saying that there is no hope for an alliance between our villages? At least, an alliance where I am involved in the union?" Mei asked with concern.

"Not immediately at least. You will have to earn the forgiveness of my wives. It takes a single moment to brek trust, but it takes much longer to earn it. If you're willing and serious about the treaty, that is what you will have to do." Naruto retorted.

"I see. I really have made a fool of myself haven't I?" Mei said with a heavy sigh.

"Everyone makes mistakes. It's part of growing up. And since we're always learning until the day we die, then it means it's never too late to learn from our mistakes and do better. Nevertheless this is actually a good thing believe it or not. Konoha and Suna already have an alliance, if Konoha also makes an alliance with Kiri, it would make the other villages nervous. They might even think we're conspiring to take them out and it could spark another war." Naruto said, Mei listening with wrapped attention as she couldn't believe how wise and intelligent Naruto was, although also worried about where this conversation was going as it didn't sound like an alliance was viable at all based on what Naruto was saying.

"It would probably be better if I have already taken care of the other threats before we embark on a….venture….that might spark a world war. So while you try to earn the trust and respect of my wives, I'll be focusing on the threat, and then, if all goes well, we'll form and seal the alliance with marriage." Naruto said, internally thinking that he might have to pursue a marriage with Yugito as well if he was to prevent a war as Iwa would not even think to go to war against the might of four ninja villages.

'Peace through love and understanding is what Jiraiya-sensei said isn't it? Hehe, I doubt he meant this though.' Naruto thought amusedly.

"Okay, fine. In that case, we'll accept your deal. You'll get back your Byakugan if you give us back the Kubikiribocho, so long as I have your word that we will form and seal a marriage alliance when you take on the mantle of Hokage, and provided I am able to earn the forgiveness and trust of your wives." Mei said excitedly.

"You have my word." Naruto said with a warm smile, causing Mei to blush profusely, not having felt anything like this since she was a little girl fantasizing about her childhood crush, The Yellow Flash of Konoha.

"G-good. Now, this serious life and death business that you discussed for a whole month with Yugito-dono. Care to fill me in on the details?" Mei asked curiously, Naruto indulging her as the two powerful shinobi finally began eating their food, Naruto telling her about the Akatsuki, his encounters with them, their known members, their goals, and his proposal to Yugito and the Kumogakure ninja with respect to the protection of their jinchuuriki.

After their discussions, in which Mei agreed to allocating more protection for her jinchuuriki, Naruto told her some of the stories about his past as Mei wanted to know more about him, some of which had her balling her eyes out in tears of pain and sorrow, and others in tears of laughter as she couldn't reconcile at all the clown that Naruto was as a child to the intelligent, mature man that he was today, overall, the meeting ultimately going well as Mei could honestly say that she went to bed that night a better person than she was before she met Naruto, humbled, hopeful, and motivated for a brighter future as she never even thought the kind of ninja and person that he was even existed in the ninja world.

Only problem is, her extremely happy and positive vibe after she eventually came out with Naruto had everyone believing that they did a lot more than just talking. Her subordinates didn't dare to say it, but she could tell. They thought they hid it well but she was too experienced and too intuitive to be fooled. She wondered if Naruto's wives felt the same and if that didn't create any problems for Naruto.

Initially she hadn't really cared about them or considered them as she had come with a go getter mentality, determined not to miss out on Naruto like she missed out on Namikaze Minato. She hadn't cared who she had to run through or whose head she had to step on to get what she wanted.

However, after spending time with Naruto, hearing about his past and his perspective when to comes to empathy and understanding the pain of others, she now was genuinely concerned about the pain and suffering that she caused the girls, which is why she planned to invite them over the following day, just the two of them, in order to hopefully hash things out.

End Chapter