Chapter IV

Introduction Arc IV

The first thing that Minato Namikaze noticed was the fact that his opponent shared the same shade of blue-colored eyes. The second thing that he noticed was the fact that his opponent bore a very striking resemblance to his girlfriend. The third and perhaps the most obvious thing that he noticed was the fact that Naruto Uzumaki was grinning like a loon who had his wildest dreams come true. Minato observed the newfound first cousin of his girlfriend with a hidden grown as the Third Hokage arrived on the scene with a poof of smoke. Minato wanted to believe in Kami and believe that his girlfriend had finally found family after so many years pining away at mission records and newspapers and the radio, trying to find some mention of the scattered Uzumaki clan. But Minato did not believe in coincidences. Minato did not believe in miracles. Until his soon-to-be cousin-in-law proved otherwise, Minato vowed to keep this Naruto Uzumaki at arm's length. 'I can't stop Kushina from entangling herself with him, but I can at least mitigate it and protect her.'

Unconsciously, Minato had started to leak a mild amount of killing intent. The Third Hokage who had been observing the small crowd that had gathered up with some amount of amusement stilled for a second before craning his neck towards Minato in question. Minato saw Kushina raise an eyebrow in warning as well whilst his genin team, who was sitting on the front row of the stadium shuddered slightly. Minato never used his killing intent loosely, as calm and composed as he was normally. His opponent on the other side of the stadium simply shrugged at the amount of killing intent he was leaking before he strode up to Minato in a purposeful strut as he grinned and struck out his hand in invitation for a shake. "Not the amount of killing intent I would expect from the famous Yellow Flash of Konoha. Is this how you dealt with the 4th Explosion Battalion of Iwa? Bah, not my business anyway. Names Naruto Uzumaki. I'm your opponent today. Ready to fight?"

Minato ignored the barb and shook the offered hand with a polite smile, reining his killing intent and suspicions away from his face. "It was certainly a surprise to hear that a family member of Kushina had been found after so long! So I guess you can understand why I'm so eager to see how you hold up."

Naruto's eyes ('They're the same shade as mine,' Minato noticed again.) flickered towards the stands, where a small crowd was forming. Only Jonin and up were allowed in private examinations, with the sole exceptions being Minato's own genin team. The Hokage sat in the center, his unreadable eyes looking down upon the two fighters with a grim expression. Kushina was cheering in the stands. Who she was cheering for – her cousin or boyfriend seemed to be a question that no one beside her had the guts to ask her. Though Minato couldn't see them, he sensed Lady Tsunade and his sensei, Jiraiya in the stands as well. Orochimaru seemed conspicuously absent. His sensei's teammate didn't like coming out into the open in the same space as Tsunade after Nawaki's unfortunate death. Minato recognized many others' faces as well.

"We seemed to have gathered a crowd eh?" Naruto broke Minato out of his thoughts. "Ah forgive me. It seems that you've gathered a crowd."

Minato smiled serenely, having long ago mastered the art of not having an opinion on whatever barbs or insults that opponents like to throw at him. He nodded graciously. "Yes, indeed it seems so. The Jonins seem to be wondering why I'm the one here, to evaluate an unaffiliated Shinobi like yourself. Any normal rank and file would have normally sufficed."

"That's right, the great Lord Naruto Uzumaki requires the best Jonin Konoha has to offer to test him, believe it!" Naruto chuckled, giving him a satirical thumbs up with his right hand before turning around, ignoring Minato completely, and waving at the crowd, throwing kisses and waves at the mostly intrigued crowd. Minato felt a sweat drop forming on the back of his head. 'He may be a spy or someone sent to hurt Kushina, but by kami, he manages the idiot act so well.'

"YES! NARUTO, SHOW MY SISSY BOYFRIEND HOW A TRUE UZUMAKI FIGHTS! MINATO, SHOW MY SCHMUCK OF A COUSIN HOW WE IN KONOHA DO IT!" Kushina shouted from the stands holding up a sign board that read 'I hope everyone has fun'. Twitching at the nonsensical board sign, a cough interrupted everyone's fun.

Shinku Yuhi stood in the middle of the stadium ground. His striking red eyes which his daughter Kurenai had inherited pierced into the stands silencing them immediately as well. The village's best moderator and trainer coughed once more and the once rambunctious stadium stood still, as quiet as a jellyfish in the deep ocean. Shinku turned to Minato and Naruto and spoke up. "Mr. Uzumaki. Jonin Namikaze, this is an examination fight to determine Mr. Uzumaki's rank within the Shinobi forces of Konohagakure. Mr. Uzumaki, I am going to ask you to show all of your fighting aptitude in this fight. Jonin Namikaze the same will go for you. Everything in this fight, barring fatal wounds or wounds that will take too long to heal goes. The fight will end when one fighter is unconscious, unable to continue, one fighter surrenders or I stop the fighting. Is that clear?"

Both Naruto and Minato jumped to the opposite ends of the stadium getting ready for the fight to come. Minato nodded curtly. Naruto responded enthusiastically. "That's clear old man, believe it! Hey, by the way old man, are you related to the Uchiha? Your eyes could pass for a Sharingan."

Eyes twitching, and ignoring Naruto's question, Shiku raised his hand before bringing it down in a wide arc. "Then begin!"

"So, how many minutes is the new Uzumaki lasting?" Jiraiya asked, observing the two fighters in the stadium down below. The tall arcs of the stadium rose into the sky intimidatingly, a warning to any invader, whilst the ornately chiseled and carved symbol of Konoha gleamed in the afternoon sun. Jiraiya's spiky white hair fell to his hip, swaying in the evening flutter.

"I wouldn't discount the redhead so easily," Tsunade muttered back to her teammate, leaning against one of the pillars, taking a sip from the sake bottle in her hands. "The brat may be a loudmouth, but I think he can back up his bark with a real fight."

"Maybe." Jiraiya shrugged nonchalantly. "But before my student, he isn't doing anything. Believe me."

"Ah, Lord Jiraiya, no need to psych out poor Kushina's new cousin so early in the fight." Came a smooth and delicate voice beside Tsunade, who was leaning against the side of the Slug Sannin. Dan's pale blue hair fluttered alongside Jiraiya and Tsunade's in the evening breeze as his dark green eyes concentrated on the newfound Uzumaki. "I am sure Kushina wouldn't be so upbeat if she didn't know that a good fight was coming."

"The firecracker could just want a beatdown." Jiraiya snorted, humorously waving his hands. "You never know with a sadist like her."

Dan had a retort, but the words never left his mouth. As Minato released his chakra down in the fighting field, his mouth dried up. The Yellow Flash was a kage-level Shinobi and everyone in the village knew it. But to be faced with the sheer chakra discharge of the man was something else entirely. It was an experience that no one wanted to be on the opposite side of. Dust particles started to defy gravity, moving upwards in anticipation of the man's chakra. No matter how hard Dan tried, he was simply not on the level of Minato. He wasn't even as strong as his lover, Tsunade. Her teammates, Jiraiya and Orochimaru could crush him like a gnat in a real fight as well. The leap from Jonin to Kage level was large. It was as large as the biggest ocean on the planet. Just as he re-focused himself, Dan had to force himself to stay upright as the Uzumaki facing Minato let loose his own chakra, coating the entire stadium with it.

Besides Dan, Tsunade, and Jiraiya stiffened as well. Up where Hiruzen Sarutobi was staying, the God of Shinobi mirrored the actions of his students. The sheer volume of chakra that Naruto Uzumaki was releasing in response to Minato dwarfed everyone in the vicinity but Kushina. Kushina, being the container of the Nine Tails was expected to have abnormally large chakra reserves. And whilst the Uzumaki clan was known to be chakra powerhouses alongside their vitality and their secret sealing techniques, the sheer density of the chakra Naruto was emitting forced many Jonin in the stands to fall. Dan's nerves felt as if they were on fire, burning and churning in a raging inferno that didn't want to be released and thus dissipated. The very ground beneath Naruto and Minato cracked apart slightly as both fighters got ready to fight. Dan barely stood up. Ignoring his shaking knees, he turned his eyes back to the impending fight. 'The sheer chakra. By Kami, what monster is in front of me right now?!'

Minato made the first move. As a ninja who focused his abilities and strength on speed, it was natural for him to make the first move. Especially because Naruto was matching the chakra Minato was exerting into the atmosphere and more. Narrowing his eyes slightly, Minato body flickered forward, arriving in front of Naruto and cocking his right hand back to deliver a solid punch. Calmly Naruto tilted his head, dodging the punch to his head. His lips turned upwards, still mischievous. 'But his eyes. Those eyes. They're sharper. Flickering everywhere. He's seeing moves that I haven't even made yet!'

Twisting midair to prevent Naruto from taking advantage of his right hand's overextension, Minato aimed a powerful kick at Naruto's back. Taking deep breaths, Minato allowed himself to channel the surrounding nature's chakra into his kick. Instead of dodging again, Naruto blocked the attack with his left hand, allowing the kick to hit his block with a resounding bang. As the nature chakra that Minato collected his kick dispersed, Naruto stood rigid, seemingly not affected by the extra energy and power generated by the dispersal of the nature chakra at the point of impact. Minato immediately twisted again and jumped backward, maintaining a cool gaze at Naruto, whilst his head churned with thoughts. 'How did the nature chakra not affect him?!'

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at the high-speed display in front of him. 'Nature chakra did not even phase him. Hmm, Minato, time to amp things up. Stop trying to gauge the Uzumaki.'

Ignoring the gnawing question in his head, Minato knelt low, maintaining a flexible fighting position whilst he observed Naruto. Naruto let loose a heavy breath of air and brought his left hand down, rubbing the point of impact with his right hand lightly before both of his hands fell to his sides. Naruto grinned at Minato. "Well, Kushina did tell me to fight like an Uzumaki should…. Who am I to deny my cousin's request?"

Then Naruto slammed both of his hands onto the ground. "Uzumaki Sealing Jutsu: Adamantine Sealing Chains!"

The slight rumbling of the ground was the only warning Minato received as golden chains erupted from the ground and attacked the Yellow Flash of Konoha. The Yellow Flash leaped backward dodging the extending chains and weaving through them with practiced ease as he jumped from one chain onto the other, but too quickly for the chains to react and swerve to attack him. 'His chains are stronger and bulkier than Kushina's. But Naruto's chains are slower than hers. Naruto's chains are sacrificing speed for power. I can't let his chains get a clean hit.'

As three chains converged at Minato's position, the blonde stood up calmly and began to flash through handseals. "Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves."

With his head flashing at different angles, Minato released several blades of wind that blew away the chains, ravaging and dulling them as two of them fell down to the ground in a heap, whilst the third recovered and attacked Minato again. Minato deflected the weakened third chain with his kunai easily.

But just as the golden chain was thrown back, Minato trained his eyes on his opponent. The dust that the two of them had made by their brief exchange had blown into their hair and both Minato and Naruto were sporting dust spots on their heads. Naruto flicked some dust away before smirking at Minato. "Wind Release? I would have thought that someone like the Yellow Flash would have something like Lightning Release as their first element?"

Minato cocked his head to the side. "I can see the logic in your deduction. But unfortunately no. I prefer Wind Release to any other element."

"I can appreciate an honest answer." Naruto chuckled, running his left hand through his lofty and spiky red hair as he knelt down on his two legs. "But you seem to be a little cocky at having survived the first wave. The thing about us Uzumakis is that the chains will never end!"

Minato flickered away as twenty or so chains erupted from the ground in front of him again. Reappearing on the wall of the stadium on the southern side, Minato observed the chains again. They immediately swerved towards him, attacking the walls in their pursuit of Minato Namikaze. 'These chains seem to be faster than the old ones. Can he mold the chains as per his wish and as the situation demands it? Kushina never showed the same flexibility with her chains. Is it the Nine Tails affecting her bloodline? Ah, nevertheless, the Uzumaki bloodline is a pain to fight, whether it is against Kushina or Naruto.'

Kicking and punching away the various rocks that had been thrown into the air by the barrage and eruption of chains, Minato focused on dodging the onslaught of chains. 'Fighting an Uzumaki…never thought I would see the day that I would. Spars with Kushina don't count.'

Minato and Naruto's eyes met in the arena.

Both of them grinned at each other.

As Minato weaved his hands through another set of hand seals, a sort of new calm overcame him. 'I can finally go out fully! Let us see how I fare against an Uzumaki of yore!'

Minato slammed his hands onto the ground and intoned, "Fuinjutsu: Eight Trigrams Grid Palm." 'There is only one way to fight an Uzumaki! Fight fire with fire! Fuinjutsu against Fuinjutsu!'

A network of grids expanded on the arena floor rapidly expanding in all directions. The grid began to redden in color as it exploded every little rock or pebble that came into contact, making the arena floor unstable. Naruto raised his hands into the air and slammed it back onto the ground with a speculative gaze. "Fuinjutsu: Contract Seal: Release!"

The rapidly expanding grid that blew everything in its way apart rapidly came to a stop as Naruto released its contract with Minato. Minato leaped forward, taking advantage of the opening in front of him. 'He's adept at Fuinjutsu, using a contract seal formation without hand seals or ink. But he's opened himself up to me with that action!'

With that thought in mind, Minato punched Naruto in the gut making contact. Naruto grunted, falling back.

"Ah, it's over." Kushina pouted as she lowered her signboard. Whenever Minato made full contact with a foe with the full face of his palm and fist, only one thing would follow. The Thunder God would fly. 'Still, the way Naruto used his chains is amazing! I can't change my chain's width and speed like that! After the fight, I must get him to teach me that! Believe it! Urk, not again. I hate that tic!'

"I must agree." Naori Uchiha nodded, looking at the display in front of her, pushing her purple hair back. 'Mr. Uzumaki is better than I gave him credit for. But still for him to meet Mr. Namikaze equally, even only for a moment shows his potential in combat. I should recommend Mr. Uzumaki for Tokubetsu Jonin to Lord Hokage.'

Minato took a deep breath and stood rigidly, his arm still outstretched, observing his fallen foe warily. The midday sun cast sharp shadows, which accentuated the severity of the situation to Naruto. Before his opponent could recover, Minato decided to go on the offensive. Feeling for the Flying raijin marker mentally that he had placed on Naruto's gut when he punched him, he teleported. Instantaneously appearing behind the redhead, Minato delivered another heavy blow to Naruto's back, kicking him to the side. The impact echoed throughout the stadium, sending small shockwaves through the ground. As Naruto's body careened towards the wall of the ground, dust and soot flew everywhere. A grunt of pain escaped Naruto as the chains that were still trying to attack Minato fell to the ground limp. Flaring his chakra, Minato kept up the momentum he had built up. He teleported again before Naruto could regain his bearings and then attacked, this time slamming his signature jutsu – the Rasengan – into Naruto's gut. Naruto was sent flying as he ended up on the wall with a sickening crunch. As the dust cleared it revealed Naruto crumpled to the ground, a trail of blood escaping from his mouth. Minato never broke his attention from his opponent. 'Thank Kami I powered the Rasengan down. I don't want to accidentally kill him. Lord Hokage would have my head if I did.'

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed. As the other Jonin and observers sighed and nodded their heads in resignation at the now one-sided fight, Hiruzen noticed something different. As the dust and the soot of the ground cleared up, the Third Hokage stood rigid, remembering the last time he had felt such monstrous hidden chakra seeping onto the ground. With a grunt of imaginary pain, Hiruzen took his pipe and silently saluted the air in the memory of Ashina Uzumaki. 'Lord Ashina. It seems that your technique continues to live on in your cousin. This fight is far from over.'

He leaned down to his son, Asuma who was observing the fight with an eager grin. It was perhaps wrong of him to make an exception for his own son, but in this case, Hiruzen had been loath to hamper his son's ability to see a real high-stakes battle. With the war going on, it would do his youngest son some good. "Watch Asuma. Never count your opponent out unless they are truly out."

Asuma turned his eyes towards his father and rolled his eyes. His face was caught in a tight expression as he clicked his tongue in annoyance. "What do you mean pops? It's obvious that Minato-sensei has won already!"

The Third Fire Shadow chuckled as he took in a deep drag from his infamous pipe. "Watch and see, my son. Watch and see."

Down in the arena, even Minato felt the sudden buildup of chakra. Bursting in seams from the ground, it was making the already unbalanced ground even harder to stand on. In the distance, Naruto fell forward and face-planted to the ground, making Minato a tad more confused. Eyes flicking, Minato searched for the source of the buildup of chakra. He observed the slightly wavering pond on the northern end of the arena, seeing its ripples grow. Turning his eyes towards the fluttering leaves on the trees next to him, Minato started to build up his own chakra. It seemed that Naruto wasn't as down as he had hoped. A cough interrupted Minato's thoughts as Naruto weakly stood up on one hand, spitting a glob of blood onto the ground. Focusing his weight on his strong right hand, Naruto stood up from the ground, wavering slightly. His normal fishnet shirt was slightly torn a small blood trail could still be seen on the corner of Naruto's mouth. Naruto wiped the trail with his hand as he chuckled slowly. "I admit. I didn't see the bursts of normal chakra mixed in with natural chakra in your punches and kicks coming. It knocked the sails right out of me."

Minato didn't respond, still trying to find out what Naruto was planning with the sudden buildup of chakra. 'Is he trying to use some kind of earth release technique? Well, I suppose in that case…'

Minato quickly took out two of his special kunai, coating its chakra metal with lightning chakra as he settled down into a stance, ready to oppose anything Naruto sent at him.

"But you see…...," Naruto continued as if he didn't see Minato settle into a stance again. He stood up, dusting his clothes away. "I wasn't simply getting punched through the arena for nothing."

Minato felt a jolt of anxiety. Visually remembering where he had sent Naruto with his punches, Minato tried to understand what Naruto was telling him. He had first knocked Naruto from the eastern part to the western part before careening him into the northern part and with his last kick sent Naruto flying to the wall in the southern part of the arena. A perfect square. Geometry played an important role in Fuinjutsu and seals, Minato knew and he narrowed his eyes. Before he could jump and see if he could negate any sort of incoming attack, Naruto let out a grin of triumph.

"You see. It's complete." Naruto announced, spreading his arms far and wide before clasping his hands again in a Namaste pose. "Uzumaki Secret Fuinjutsu: Dead Demon Prison Seal!"

"That's impossible!" Kushina shouted as she heard the name of the technique that her cousin announced. Her cheery disposition from the previous parts of the match had disappeared completely. Her violet eyes were bulging slightly and her hands clenched the rails tightly. 'Lord Ashina's…..'

"What?" Naori asked, surprised and taking a step back. "What's wrong, Ms. Uzumaki?"

"That technique…..only Lord Ashina…." Kushina stuttered, unable to answer her properly. Her red hair flew in the wind as Kushina herself stilled. Calming herself after taking a long breath, Kushina let go of the rails. Tucking her long red hair to her back properly she smiled faintly. "One of the most secret and greatest of the Uzumaki techniques. The last known person to know the technique was Lord Ashina Uzumaki. It was believed that the technique died with him. It seems not."

Kushina disregarded Naori's reaction (a raised eyebrow that spoke volumes of the curiosity that Naori was feeling) as she focused on Naruto instead. 'Well, at least there seems to be more to my new cousin than I thought at first.'

Chakra erupted from the ground as calligraphy expanded throughout the arena, originating from the trigrams grid that Minato had used earlier in the fight. The seals expanded throughout the arena before they stopped at the edge of the fighting field. The exploding chakra coalesced around the seals before the visible chakra dispersed back into the seal. Minato shuffled back, extremely alert of everything going around him as he dodged chunks of rock and stone that had been flung at him due to the eruption of chakra around him. The seals then glowed bright gold before they extended into the skies and formed a dome over the arena, expanding rapidly in the sky. The golden dome grew bright one last time, blinding anyone who dared to look at it directly temporarily before dimming to a manageable glow. Naruto unclasped his hands and flexed his muscles. Minato, his attention unwavering, watched as Naruto touched the seal of the Flying Raijin Jutsu on his gut. Naruto smirked and clapped.

"Flying Thunder God." Naruto began softy, ignoring the glowing dome that he had conjured up in the fight. "It is a pretentious name don't you think? It is admittedly a unique derivation of the summoning jutsu that when used in conjunction with weapons can have disastrous effects on any opponent. This seal formula that you pasted on me will stay on me even after your death. It makes you a god over the fate of anyone you have marked. In that sense, the technique is aptly named."

In front of Minato's eyes and the eyes of all the spectators, Naruto calmly touched the Flying Raijin seal on his gut. Minato's azure eyes widened in shock as the Flying Raijin sealing formula that he had applied to Naruto's gut simply disappeared. Minato's mouth slacked in shock for a split second as he felt the seal simply evaporate. Its chakra broke and dispersed into the wind, making him unable to teleport into Naruto's vicinity anymore. Naruto grinned and pointed his right index finger at Minato. "But you see Minato, in this dome that is 2000 square meters large, you are no longer god. I am."

They say that the Uzumaki clan conquered even the Shinigami.

They say that the Uzumaki can summon even the Shinigami.

'But how did they bind the God of Death?' people asked.

They imprisoned it in a prison seal that defied even the gods.

Ever since the fall of Uzushio, many had forgotten the myths that had been attributed to the Uzumaki. Every clan that had made a name for itself had some kind of myths and legends attributed to them during the Era of Warring States. After the formation of the Hidden Villages, most of these myths were forgotten, but as the Uzumaki made a village for themselves their myths continued to persist, resisting the change of times. The Land of Whirlpools had no other Shinobi clan and their Daimyo was happy to have only a single Shinobi faction to deal with. They were populous enough to sustain a small village themselves and only accepted civilian shinobi from the Whirlpool population. No other clan, barring the Senju, had managed to ever wear the spiral that the Uzumakis favored so much. Many had forgotten. But Obito Uchiha hadn't.

The small diminutive dark-haired Uchiha watched the dome forming with wide eyes and his mouth hanging open. His grandmother had told him the myths when he was a young impressionable kid before going to the academy. Before the Third Great Shinobi War had made everyone in his generation grow up too quickly. Like the Senju, the Uzumaki had been bitter enemies of the Uchiha, standing shoulder to shoulder with their cousin clan during the Era of Warring States. Just as how the Uchiha had come to hate the Senju trident, the Uzumaki spiral was equally hated. His grandmother – who was in some ways still stuck in the Era of Warring States – had whispered hushed warnings in his young ears. 'Be careful of the redhead devils. They blaspheme every day and bring even the Gods down with them.'

Obito had dismissed her words as her senility coming out. He hadn't let those tales color his opinion of Kushina, his sensei Minato's girlfriend. But as the dome continued to solidify and the kanji symbol 死神 appeared at the top symbolizing the Shinigami, Obito couldn't help but wonder if his grandmother's old tales held some truth to them.

Minato barely had enough time to react when Naruto disappeared and appeared right next to him and kicked Minato squarely in the back, sending him face-first into the ground. Minato spat the mud in his mouth away and turned to give fight to Naruto again, but Naruto disappeared once again and appeared behind Minato punching him in the gut and hitting him in the face, sending Minato flying again. Minato twisted midair and threw his kunai at Naruto. But the moment the kunai was launched into the air, Minato felt a sinking feeling in his gut. The Flying Raijin seal on his kunai twisted until it evaporated and disappeared just like the previous seal on Naruto's gut. Minato pushed his hand down and pulled his body weight back to land safely as he gritted his teeth in consternation. 'How? How is he negating the Flying Raijin seal without even touching them? Is this seal consciously acting against me?'

"This is true teleportation." Naruto praised as he raised his head to the evening sky, watching the kanji symbolizing the Shinigami with divine devotion. "See, the Flying Thunder God summons you towards your seal. For just a brief moment, as fast as you can blink, you are in the summoning realm before reappearing at the location or vicinity of your seal. It is not 'true' teleportation. As long as the seals in this dome hold, between you and me, I am the only one here who can actually teleport. Why? Because they bend to my will. Here, what I say goes."

Minato narrowed his eyes as he heard the explanation. 'If he truly were omnipotent within this barrier then he could just will me to sit down and surrender. No, it makes him much stronger I must agree. But it doesn't make him 'God' like he declared. When he conjured this dome, he probably negated my Flying Raijin seals as one of the conditions of the conjuring. He probably can't change the conditions with which he summoned this dome. But what other conditions did he demand?'

Minato then turned his head slightly, to see the golden wisps of chakra that formed the dome overhead. Activating his sensing technique wordlessly and without seals, Minato tried to feel the chakra forming the dome. Feeling the dark undercurrent, Minato snapped open his eyes. "You are using Yin chakra to maintain the barrier."

Standing up he let the dust fall from his flak jacket. "Second, you are not God in here. You have used your seals to create 'conditions' here. Conditions that are favorable to you sure, but you can deviate from them."

"Third. You are within a time limit with this technique." Minato observed as he saw some of the wisps of chakra flickering in and out at the edges.

Instead of an angry retort or utter silence that he was used to when he deduced the techniques of his opponents, Minato received a heartfelt and loud booming laughter. Naruto clapped his hands and nodded. "You truly are magnificent Minato. You deserve your rank and the title of the Yellow Flash. Your insights are amazing. Indeed, you are correct, believe it! But, your insight cannot save you here Minato. There is no use in knowing how this technique works if you cannot deduce how to oppose it!"

Adamantine sealing chains erupted once more focusing on Minato. But this time, instead of coming from the ground, the chains erupted from all sides of the dome, attacking Minato with a ferocity that was unmatched previously. However, Minato did not lose his calm. He maintained a steely gaze and then started to go through hand seals.

"It has been a while since I saw an Uzumaki go full out. I had forgotten how strong their highest caliber ninjas could be." Jiraiya muttered as he saw the action inside the dome. He slumped down onto his seat, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "To think I would see the Dead Demon Prison Seal in person…"

"My Great Uncle used to tell me stories about it when I was young," Tsunade murmured her hazel eyes watching the commotion as well, following the incredibly fast movements perfectly well. "I begged Grandma Mito to teach it to me when I was small. She forbade it."

"Because you aren't Uzumaki?" Dan asked inquisitively squinting his eyes as he tried to follow the action in the arena.

"No." Tsunade shook her head, her pigtails swaying with the wind. "Senju and Uzumaki shared their secret techniques all the time. No. It was because I simply did not have the chakra capacity or perfect balance between my Yin and Yang chakras to even think about conjuring the Dead Demon Prison Seal. It would have likely hospitalized me if I tried."

"And to think the new Uzumaki brat was hiding this under his sleeve." Jiraiya clenched his fists as his gaze narrowed in on the newcomer redhead in the arena. "The Dead Demon Prison Seal…the seal used by the Uzumaki to bind even the Kami of Death….."

To be perfectly honest, Minato hated using Sage Mode. He could mold nature chakra in short bursts to provide a huge bite in his taijutsu, sure, but actually molding it and holding it in was something that Minato found to be exceedingly hard. It was like his body was a humongous dam that was about to explode in a few seconds. But it was his get-out-of-jail card and he needed to use it if he wished to break out of this dome of death. Feeling the nature chakra coat his body, Minato started to mold his Yang chakra and just moments before the chakra chains attacking him could touch him, Minato let his nature and yang chakra loose from his body. The chains were thrown back and Minato immediately attacked the dome overheard with two rasengans, one in each palm. Adding nature chakra to supplement his already powerful attack, Minato observed with some relief that the dome was cracking. He jumped back down and used his rasengans to punch away wayward chains and jumped again, attacking the same spot on the dome wall piling pressure onto the cracking and attacking the Yin chakra of the barrier with an explosion of his yang chakra.

Minato repeated the same attack for a third time, batting away a third wave of chains. A small chip of solidified chakra fell to the ground. The barrier dome exploded in a bright display of light as Minato was pushed back in a wave of chakra that burned through some parts of his flak jacket. As Minato tumbled away, he let the temporary sage mode he was using fall apart, breathing in a relieved sigh. 'If I maintained that any longer, I would have become a stone toad not too soon after.'

"See pops!" Asuma pointed out excitedly, the straw in his mouth un-chewed for the last quarter of an hour. "Minato-sensei destroyed the barrier!"

"Has he?" Hiruzen raised an eyebrow as his eyes strayed from the action to his youngest son. "Whatever the case, it seems that Kushina's new cousin will be a handful for sure."

As Minato wobbled slightly, still feeling fatigued from his brief use of sage mode, he heard clapping in the distance. Standing upright he saw Naruto clapping, with a true smile on his face. "That was truly spectacular Minato. Your use of nature chakra and overbearing Yang chakra managed to break through the dome with sheer power and grit. Not many can say that they have escaped a Dead Demon Prison Seal. You truly deserve that honor, believe it! But…. You aren't winning this fight."

Naruto knelt down and picked up one of Minato's used kunai. Naruto quickly threw it at Minato. Before Minato could formulate a response to the attack, Naruto went through some hand seals. "Genjutsu: Bringer of Darkness Jutsu."

Minato snapped into action as he felt his eyesight dim into nothingness, dodging the thrown kunai. Minato ardently ignored the feeling like he was in a dark hole and went through his own series of hand seals blowing out powerful wind bullets that he knew were punching holes into the walls of the arena. Feeling Naruto's feet shuffle before leaping at him, Minato twirled mid-air as he dodged the punch and then landed on his feet, his kunai poking Naruto's belly. As the darkness dissipated, Minato saw Naruto's own kunai poised at his head.

"It seems that we have a tie. Mr. Minato." Naruto acknowledged as he eyed the kunai poking him in the stomach. Minato dared not move, making sure that Naruto's own kunai poised at his head did not strike.

As the blonde and redhead stood in the middle of the arena, both of them took a second to breathe. Around them, the proudly maintained Konoha fighting arena was destroyed beyond recognition. The pond had dried up from the severity of the clash between the dome's yin chakra and Minato's yang chakra. The flat ground had been torn apart and looked reminiscent of the dangerous terrain in the Land of Earth. Dust and soot flew everywhere as a result of their clash. Minato sighed and lowered his kunai. "It seems that we do."

Shinku warily body flickered back down into the arena from the stands and raised his hands. "The examination fight between Naruto Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze has ended. The fight is a tie!"

"You fought well." Hiruzen complimented Naruto that evening as the tired redhead plopped into his office. Naruto turned his bright eyes onto the Third Hokage and nodded.

"Thanks," Naruto mumbled in reply as he flexed his muscles. "Ah, but that fight was tiring! Mr. Minato is an amazing Shinobi! I didn't think anyone but you or the Legendary Sannin could escape the dome! That was my ace in the hole."

"Hmm." Hiruzen smiled congenially as he stapled his fingers on the desk. "You can drop the act, Mr. Uzumaki. I know for certain that you did not use everything you knew in the fight. Neither did Minato for that matter, but you held the advantage in the fight. Yet you gave it away for a tie. In a severely anti-climactic manner, I must add."

"I have no idea what you're talking about gramps."

The Third Hokage leaned back calmly. "Whatever you say Naruto. Whatever you say. Nonetheless, you showed immense aptitude during the fight. I cannot in good conscience not hand you any rank below Tokubetsu Jonin. Thus, your rank shall be Tokubetsu Jonin. Consider it a temporary probation. You shall be a full Jonin in a year's time."

Naruto thanked him and stood to leave. Hiruzen observed the redhead walk as Naruto paused with his hand on the doorknob. Turning towards Hiruzen, Naruto asked, "Thanks, old man."

Naruto mumbled something else under his breath and left. Hiruzen could have sworn he imagined the words. Naruto had mumbled too silently for Hiruzen to have heard properly. But six decades of honed battle and survival instincts conveyed the words back to him. 'I'll save you, old man. I'll save dad, mom, everyone.'

The third Fire Shadow leaned back.

And now, weren't those words a right mystery?

Author's Notes: Thank you all for your continued support! Naruto fights like a pure Uzumaki publically right now, because well he is posing as a pure Uzumaki shinobi and not as his future self. And like Hiruzen observed Naruto was holding back. If Naruto did go full out then no one in vicinity can hold him back. I purposefully didn't showcase Naruto's thoughts this chapter. I'll showcase Naruto's fighting thoughts in a future chapter. Right now, Naruto is simply being cemented into the Shinobi Corps of Konoha and he has done that successfully showing that he's not a Shinobi to discard, especially during times of war. Naruto's main objective here was to showcase his strength, give a great show by negating Minato's Flying Thunder God and then hold back which he has done here. More detailed reactions to the fight from the rest of the cast will be coming as well. Nonetheless, this is the end of the Introduction Arc. Would love to hear your thoughts, comments, reviews and speculations.

Also, English is not my native language. It's my third language actually, so if there any grammar inconsistences, please forgive me. I'm trying to get better, but some still get through the cracks! Also for clarification, the quote "Through the Heavens and Earth, I alone am the Honored One" is not a JJK reference. JJK quoted the phrase from Buddhism, where traditions says that the Buddha said it after being born. I took the quote from there.