-Rumble in the Mountains-
The rest of the time in Kumogakore was spent training, performing sealing jobs and constructing the first teleportation tower. Naruto summoned over Dord, Myrd and Kajin to help him with the design and construction. The things the three dwarf brothers could do with metal was absolutely amazing and chakra metal was no exception to that rule. Once the people of Kumo got used to seeing three dwarves accompanying the Senjus, they accepted them without issue.
It was the same story for the Kijin. Naruto introduced team Yugito to the Kijin, which included Hakurou, and it didn't take long for the kenjutsu instructor to test their skills. Soon, it became a test of all kenjutsu practitioners in Kumo and Hakurou put them all to the task. Hakurou's skill, 'All Seeing Eye', lets him slow down time quite a bit. It was like a supped-up Sharingan in that regard. That, combined with flawless kenjutsu skills made Hakurou the fiercest sword wielder in Kumo.
Ai was impressed by the Kijin and it was in more ways than one. When Shion decided to join training one day, Ai was knocked unconscious by a right hook from Mabui because he was ogling Shion's massive rack. He wasn't the only one, but he was the only one that got caught doing it. Ai spent most of his time with the Senju family and he really enjoyed their company, especially since Samui was to be wed to Naruto alongside Temari and Ino at the end of the training trip.
That being said, Samui was indeed pregnant, and Naruto was made to pay the piper for his offenses to Kami. The genjutsu he went through was absolutely terrifying to him and he developed a newfound respect for the females of the world. He also felt a rift emerge between himself and Kami for the first time.
-Flashback – Two Weeks After Sleeping with Samui-
Tsunade got her divine inspiration from Kami for the jutsu, and she was wearing a devilish smirk as she walked into the medical bay that Naruto was in. Somehow, when Naruto transformed into his female form, which was strangely attractive despite its resemblance to Hikari, he transformed into a pregnant woman. Tsunade giggled at the evil prank of Kami, and she couldn't wait to see Naruto go through what she actually considered a just punishment.
Tsunade walked into the medical room and saw that Naruto was waiting there while cuffed to the bed. He had tried to escape multiple times, but it didn't work, and he was unable to transform back into his male form. Kami's justice is absolute, after all. Tsunade saw Naruto beginning to sweat through the hospital gown and she walked forward while weaving through hand signs.
"Take this like a man, Ruto. Once this is over, we will be square." Tsunade said with a menacing humor and a tyrannical grin on her face. She then placed two hands on Naruto's temples and the illusion began.
All the males of the training group shrunk back from Tsunade's crazed look despite watching on in morbid fascination. Naruto was squirming uncontrollably, and his body seemed to be pained. Samui was watching with her hands over her mouth, and she was near tears since she felt like this was her fault. Naruto turned his head to the side and threw up into a bucket that was prepared. Everyone heard him groaning about morning sickness, which earned a giggle out of Ino.
"That was the worst part for me. I puked almost every morning for the first few months." She informed the group.
"Holy crap, Kami is a sadistic bitch for making women go through this." Yami said in morbid fascination. He cringed at the angry ethereal growl that echoed around the room.
Temari was clutching Ino's hand, "Is it really that bad?"
Ino kissed Temari's forehead, "Yes and no. In the end, it is worth it. Well, for me it was but I guess that's not so much the case for Ruto." Temari looked down at the baby in her arms and that reaffirmed her words. She had asked Naruto to go back to Wave and bring their son after things started going crazy and Samui was pregnant. Hashi was the only thing she could think of, and Naruto didn't want her to fall into post-partum depression, so he brought Hashi back after doing some work on the teleportation tower in Wave.
Temari cooed at Hashi and started to put her pinky near the side of his mouth, which made the baby shift and latch on to the tip of Temari's finger. "The Akatsuki need to hurry up and die so I can have one of my own." She said with a fond longing on her face.
"Yeah … oh my." Rias shrieked, Naruto was writhing around in discomfort and clutching his swollen belly. "This seems kind of harsh."
Hikari asked the question on everyone's mind, "What is even inside of Naruto anyway?"
"A clone." Tsunade answered for the group. "A wood clone. And his body is going through all of the bells and whistles."
Everyone cringed at that, wasn't Kami taking this a little too far? A genjutsu is one thing, but an actual pregnancy? That is just brutal. Another scream tore itself from Naruto's throat and Tsunade announced that his contractions had started. Feeling nine months' worth of shit in 15 minutes is a real bitch move by Kami. Even the goddess was feeling a little sullen for what she is subjecting her Chosen to.
Kushina was stuck somewhere between tears and a grimace as she watched her son suffer, "Kami-Sama, this … this … it isn't fun. It doesn't seem right."
Kami remained with pursed lips as she watched Naruto go through the punishment. She may have agreed with Kushina, but she was a goddess, and she can't go back on her word. "He will be alright, Kushina."
Minato had stopped watching, it was a nightmare for every male, and it was even worse for him watching his son go through it. He was trying to keep his mind clear so that Kami couldn't feel his disgust and slight bit of resentment for this. Naruto only gave into love; he loved a good girl, and it was genuine and not sexual. Did he really deserve such a gruesome punishment?
"Oh, relax and quit pouting, Minato. You two are spoiling my entertainment." Kami said in a condescending tone. Why was watching this having such an effect on her? Why does she care so much about a human child? Why was she so vindictive when he accepted the love of another woman? Jealous? No, no it couldn't be that … could it?
As Kami was reflecting, Naruto was going through the pain of the crowning process and all males had dismissed themselves from the room. It was gruesome, terrifying and definitely not as entertaining as they were hoping for. They decided to wait in the waiting room, and they were having their own conversation.
"No way, ain't no way I could go through that." Yami said defiantly, he resonated pretty sharply with Naruto's pain and discomfort. Turns out, his negative emotion sensing was not affected by his true separation from Naruto.
Kurama was nodding along, "Yeah, that was brutal. I was starting to think that Kami was just a fun-loving, whimsical lady, but now, now I am terrified of her."
Yosuke was nodding along, "Yes, I would rather fight an endless battle than go through that. It did make me appreciate Himawari more though."
Gaara was trying to regain his stoic composure, "I agree with you all. Speaking of Himawari, when are you planning on going back to Wave, Suke?"
"When the blood clone transfer is complete. Wooded bodies and transformations are great, but Naruto and Tsunade agree that we would now be better off in blood clones."
Kokuo had left Temari's seal and joined the guys, "I thought you guys couldn't go into the blood clones?"
Yosuke shrugged, "I don't know the specifics. Ruto and Tsunade figured something out and they said we should be able to transfer over soon. What is important is that we will be able to use Sage mode and that will replenish our chakra supply."
"Can't you do that now?" Gaara asked.
"Yeah, we can, at least partially. We are in wood clones though. The blood clone creates a complete rendition of the body." Yosuke answered before a blood curdling scream ripped through the hallway.
A girly voice could be heard through an open door, "Kami, I hate you!"
The guys winced in unison, "RIP Ruto, RIP…" Yami said softly.
Back in the room, a wood clone of baby Naruto was pushed out and Naruto was panting and bleeding everywhere. Tsunade was holding the wood clone with interest, and she had a smile on her face. Naruto was freed from his shackles by Samui, and the girls watched Naruto enter Sage mode in his female form. He kept his eyes closed and the wounds started healing before he transformed back into his male form.
"I hope you got your pound of flesh, Momma. I am going home." Naruto said in a flat and tired voice before he disappeared in a green flash without another word.
Tsunade started feeling guilty for the pleasure she took from this experience. True, she had been vindictive, and she took a small measure of amusement out of the situation, but it wasn't worth it. The kid always followed his heart and did the right thing. That was a pretty brutal experience, even just watching it she knew that it was more intense for him than she could understand. At least a mother had a prize at the end of the tunnel, but that was just a punishment.
Kami was experiencing a similar feeling as she watched the conclusion of the event that was supposed to be funny. She thought Naruto would make a joke of it and have fun being able to understand his girls better, but that was clearly not the case. Maybe the whole genjutsu of experiencing 9 months of pregnancy in 15 minutes took it a little too far? Yeah, okay, Kami could admit that.
Kami's realm was silent, nobody wanted to say anything, and it made the goddess sigh, "Kushi and Minato, I am sorry. I may have taken that too far." She got silence in return for her words and saw both of her Chosen's parents focusing on paperwork. 'Why do I actually care what they think? What is happening to me?' Kami thought.
-End of Flashback-
Naruto disappeared back to the Sage's temple for a week to re-center himself after that experience. Naruto was meditating in the Sage's gardens, and he was trying to re-synchronize himself after that painful experience. It was far worse than he had imagined, and he was really starting to resent the fact that he went through that because he followed his heart. Not only that, but Kami disabled the safeguards he took and now another of his children would be put at risk.
During his meditation, Kami pulled his mind to her realm and had a talk with him. Naruto saw her sitting behind her desk and he bowed and greeted her respectfully. Unfortunately, it felt forced, and he knew even Kami could detect it. That prompted the goddess to address him.
"Naruto, I apologize for letting what was supposed to be a light-hearted punishment get taken a little too far." She began.
Naruto shrugged indifferently, "If you wish to make a mockery of the miracle of childbirth, that is your right, Kami-Sama." Kami winced at the indifference in his tone and the harsh bite of truth in his words.
"Naruto …"
"Forgive me, Kami-Sama, but I do not need your apology. You issued your punishment, and I took it. That concludes our business, and I am free to enjoy Samui's company. I do wish you wouldn't punish those I love for my selfish actions in the future." Naruto didn't care that she was a goddess, he needed to get this off his chest. The spanking was fine, and it was a fitting punishment. He just couldn't get over the fact that Kami dragged Samui into the equation.
Kami winced again at his words and emotions. "What will it take to make this right, Ruto?"
Naruto sighed; he knew he needed to come to peace with this. He took a deep breath and looked Kami in the eyes for the first time since he arrived. "I don't know. Forgive me, Kami-Sama. I was meditating to try and sort everything out."
Kami sighed, "What if I gave you a gift to make amends?" Naruto shrugged once more. "What if you can have your parents back for say … oh … I can give them a week vacation?"
Naruto's azure eyes lit up and sparkled, "You … you would do that?"
Kami smiled, seeing that she broke through. "For you, Ruto, I would allow it."
When Naruto returned to the compound, he had made peace with the experience and he started acting like his usual, cheery self. Kami apologized to him during his meditation, and she made him an offer that he couldn't refuse. He would have his parents back for a whole week and that alone made the terrible experience worth it. Naruto requested that week be the during his wedding and Kami agreed to that request, which put Naruto right back on cloud nine.
Of course, there was another hashing-out that needed to happen, but it would take nearly a week for Tsunade to apologize to Naruto. For a Sage that can feel what others are feeling, it truly bothered Naruto how much his Momma enjoyed his punishment. That whole experience was a nightmare for him, and he had to stomach that on top of Tsunade's sadistic pleasure. It caused a rift between the two and while Naruto forgave her, it would take some time for things to get back to the way they were.
That brings this story to the capstone event of the time in Kumo. An all-out spar between Ai, the Fourth Raikage of Kumo and Naruto Senju-Uzumaki. What started as an agreement for a respectable and friendly spar got blown out of proportion when news spread to the local population. Then Ai scheduled the spar in Kumo's stadium, but Naruto convinced him to change venues because he wouldn't be able to go all-out in the stadium. Ai, being the battle crazed and recently battle starved Raikage that he was, agreed to shift the spar to Bee's training grounds.
As if that wasn't enough, the people of Kumo began moaning and groaning about not being able to sit down and watch the fight, which meant that Naruto grew bleachers for the people to view the fight in the mountains around the training area. That led to word getting out to Kinji, Raiji (the Lightning Daimyo), Itachi and a couple other people. What was once a friendly and goodwilled spar suddenly became a pride match between Kumo and the Senju heir.
"Can you believe this, Kyu? It is like they have never seen a real fight before?" Naruto said as he looked around the mountains at the thousands of people in the stands or just sitting on random ledges around the area.
Kurama chuckled within the seal, "Yes, it is quite impressive. Not to burst your bubble, bud, but most people will never witness a fight of this level in their lives."
Naruto shrugged mid-stretch, "Meh, I guess so. It just seems like I am always wrapped up in them."
Kurama let out a full-bellied laugh, "Yeah. It does seem that way, doesn't it?"
"Alright, I am going to focus for a bit and see if I can sense any of the Akatsuki. Help me with that?" Naruto thought through the link as he closed his eyes.
"Sure thing, Ruto."
Up in the VIP bleachers, the whole Senju family was present, minus the babies. They would never needlessly expose them to the public like that. At least not until they were ready to defend themselves. In the bleachers, Tsunade was missing Kurama, and she was worrying about the fight. Even if Naruto won, it may create international backlash at this point because it would mean that he beat a Kage of a foreign village. A Kage that was known for his pride and speed.
"Relax, Momma. Just enjoy the fight. You have fought Ruto hundreds of times. This is just another fight." Rias said as she put a calming hand on Tsunade's. She had noticed how strained Tsunade had been since the whole 'fake birth' incident and it was mostly one-sided guilt at this point.
"I am calm, Rias. When Ruto and I fought it was to make each other better and have fun. This fight has a lot more riding on it then two men just having a friendly spar." Tsunade replied.
Anko scoffed, "Yeah, because these people made it that way. It is a pride match now."
Yosuke joined in as the conversation had pulled his attention away from Himawari, "Yes, this is now a match about warrior's pride. Do not worry, Momma, Naruto is good at winning in a way that lets people save face."
"I hope you are right, Yosuke."
Back on the field, Ruto confirmed 'all was clear' with Kurama and he purged the senjutsu chakra from his system. He didn't want to start the fight in Sage mode. It is likely Ai wouldn't be prepared for that level of a fight right off the bat and Naruto knew what he had to do. This was now a performance of fists for the audience. Plus, Naruto really wanted to enjoy this fight. Just dodging the Raikage's fastest punch last time around wasn't really an accomplishment to Naruto.
"You all loosened up, old man?" Naruto asked playfully.
Ai growled back playfully, he had grown to like the kid a lot during his stay in Kumo, "Sure thing, Ruto. I know you have a destructive arsenal, but please make sure not to endanger our audience."
Naruto laughed, "Don't worry, Lord Raikage, I will keep it under control. I never asked, are you a weapons user?"
"And why should I tell you that?" Ai shot back with a cocked eyebrow.
Naruto shrugged, "I just wanted to know if Benihime or Dragon's Roar were going to get a shot at you. I have really come to enjoy kenjutsu and I have never seen you with a sword."
Ai laughed at that, "My body is my weapon, Ruto. My fist can tear into an opponent just as easy as any blade."
Naruto chuckled at that, "Yeah, well, I guess that's true. Alrighty then, no proctor. Just us and our fists. No killing blows?"
Ai nodded, "Yes, I don't want to think what Samui, or your mother would do to me if the worst happened."
Naruto nodded, "And I could never make Mabui cry. I am glad you took my advice on that one."
"Not now, Ruto, now is time to fight. All seals off."
With a final nod, Ruto disabled his resistance seals and pulled a coin from his pouch. He positioned it on his thumb, took a ready stance, got a nod from Ai and flipped it into the air. The coin spun wildly through the air and made a soft clink sound. By the time the sound reached either of the twos' original position, they were already blurs of motion. The fastest man alive was now fully engaged in the fight against the prodigious son of his rival.
The fight started in a clash of fists and legs that were far too easy for each man to track. Fist parried with open palms, shins blocking sidekicks, elbows clashing against forearm and knees blocked by any form of guard. To the crowd, the intricate, high-speed dance of death was beautiful and majestic. To the Kumo shinobi, this was the appetizer. To the Senju family, this wasn't even the prologue.
After five minutes of warming up, Ai shot a smirk over at Naruto and cracked his neck, "Good so far, shall we take it up a notch?"
Naruto merely nodded before he weaved through hand signs and enveloped himself in his 'wood style – light armor' jutsu and then he formed his greaves and gauntlets out of the wood chakra. Ai whistle in appreciation as he equipped a pair of chakra steel knuckles and dropped the golden wrist bracers. He made a show of putting on a pair of forearm guards that glistened with the same golden color as his bracers.
"It has been a long time since I took these puppies out of the closet." Naruto addressed the jibe with a raised eyebrow. "The last time I took these out was when I fought your old man."
Naruto whistled, "Yeah, that was what? A hundred years ago? Damn you're a geezer."
Ai belted out a laugh, "Alright, brat. Stage two. Let's go."
This time, Ai encompassed himself in his 'lightning armor – level 1', which increased his speed and response time. It also made each impact feel electric and each block that hit an area devoid of wood armor slightly numbed Naruto's arms. Naruto realized that Ai's increase in speed basically mandated that he take in a least a little senjutsu chakra and he could do that as easily as breathing. A forest green dusting appeared around Naruto's eyes and his eyes flashed a powerful emerald color as Ai's fist connected with his X-guard and sent him flying back a couple meters.
Naruto flipped midair and leaped into a series of back handsprings to dodge the lightning covered kick. Naruto pushed off hard from the ground to get out of the straight punch that Ai had leveled at his face and now Naruto was airborne. Ai smirked as he recovered his footing and jumped into the air like a bullet at Naruto. Naruto knew Ai would do this once he was airborne, so he used a chakra chain from the palm of his gauntlet to meet Ai in midair.
Since the match was nonlethal, Naruto's chains were blunted at the tip and the blunted chain slammed into Ai's fist midair. The shockwave released sent dust flying and Naruto used another chain to link with the ground and he pulled himself down and under the airborne Ai as a third chain wrapped around Ai's ankle and slammed him into the ground. Ai hopped up and brushed the imaginary dust off of the lightning coating his body.
What followed was a blur of motion with clashes of electric blue a couple times per second. There were very few shinobi present that could keep up with the match, especially when they were positioned so far away. On the big screen televisions set up around the area, all the camera could capture were blurs of light and shockwaves of dirt, dust and chunks of earth whenever a bigger blow missed its target.
Jiraiya leaned over the seat and addressed Tsunade, "The kid is keeping up pretty well."
Tsunade scoffed, "Ruto is just greeting him. Look at that look on his face, he is enjoying every moment of this."
"Yeah, but he is already in Sage mode and Ai isn't even into his full lightning armor." Jiraiya cautioned.
"That's not his Sage mode. That is barely even level one. Just wait until he gets the tree, that will be when he is serious." Tsunade answered while never taking her eyes off of the fight.
"The tree? I never saw the tree when I was sparring against him." Jiraiya said confused.
"Because you rarely used your Sage mode with Ma and Pa. Mainly because he didn't want to see them. Trust me, Jiraiya, the kid is playing around and putting on a show right now."
Temari chimed in, "Momma's right. He won't use Kurama's chakra here, but as far as his Sage mode goes, Naruto is somewhere between five and ten percent right now."
Jiraiya zipped his lips and watched his grandson work. It was truly impressive how the kid was keeping up with the Raikage and now that Jiraiya knew the whole truth, he truly lamented his earlier actions with Naruto. He also regretted how little he taught the kid last go around and he didn't know how to feel about the toads anymore. He loved Ma and Pa, but that memory of them dropping Naruto hurt Jiraiya's trust in them far more than they would ever know.
After another ten minutes of what the two would agree was an actual fight, Ai was forced to enter 'lightning armor – stage three' because he was cornered by five earth and five water dragons at the same time and that was the only way he was going to have enough speed and resilience to dodge Naruto's attack. The fierce, blue lightning chakra crackling off of Ai let everyone know that the fight had just escalated to the next level.
Naruto saw this and he jumped high into the air, clapped his hands, closed his eyes and pulled on the life chakra from the people around the stadium, the chakra in the mountain air currents and the chakra found in the strength of the mountains. The energy answered his call eagerly, as if it wanted nothing more than to heed his call and join his play. The eye shadow around Naruto's eyes turned a dark forest green, his emerald orbs glowed with power and the tree of Yggdrasil made its appearance on his forehead. The real fight was on.
Despite the benefits of Sage mode level two, Naruto still found it difficult to keep up with the insane speed of the Fourth Raikage. Naruto sensed every bit of excitement from the crowd as their leader entered his full lightning armor and Naruto knew from previous experience that Ai could maintain that armor for extended periods of time. It was time to put it to the test and break out some of the flashier techniques he had. First, Naruto needed to slow Ai down, if even just a little bit.
While nearly 100 feet in the air, Naruto saw Ai was waiting for him and a devilish smirk plastered itself on his face as he formed two pistols with his hands. Over the left hand, a translucent, light-blue glowing ball of condensed air appeared. Over his right hand, a globule of water the size of a basketball formed. What followed was a demonstration of Ai's speed and Naruto's accuracy as Naruto called out 'wind water combination - twin machine pistols'. The hundreds of nearly invisible air bullets and water bullets tore into the ground of the training area and sent clouds of dust and chunks of earth flying. Each bullet tore nearly five feet into the ground and created a ten-foot-wide crater.
Ai saw and felt Naruto's increased power. His heightened synapses also saw Naruto's hands in a strange position and then his eyes went wide. Ai never struggled to dodge anything when he was encompassed in his full lightning armor, but he was struggling now. Each bullet was menacing, and clumps of earth were repeatedly disintegrated as the missed shots created craters and Ai was forced to dodge through the debris. Finally, he saw Naruto land and flip through hand signs and his jaw nearly dropped when the whole training ground turned into a swamp as Naruto placed both hands on the ground and called out 'earth style – swamp of the underworld'.
"Yes! I taught him that one!" Jiraiya's cheer was heard throughout the mountains.
Ai couldn't escape this technique and he couldn't believe the kid could literally encompass the whole fighting area in a single jutsu. If he stood still at all, he would sink into the swampy earth and he would really be in trouble. Good thing speed was his thing. Ai dashed toward Naruto in a crackle of lightning, and he barely jumped over the layer of wooden spikes that rose to greet him. Unfortunately, when one moves at the speeds Ai was moving, an impromptu jump means a flight of several hundred feet. Ai soared over Naruto, and he swore he saw the kid wink at him.
Ai skidded to a halt in the muddy swamp, and he turned fully to face a truly terrifying sight. The muddy swamp had risen into a tidal wave nearly a kilometer wide and a hundred feet tall and it was coming straight for Ai. Resigning himself to getting a little dirty, Ai blurred forward straight into and through the tidal wave of mud. It was thicker and harder to get through than he thought, but it was nothing his lightning armor couldn't disintegrate. As he cleared the muddy tidal wave, he opened his eyes to see Naruto flipping through hand seals for another jutsu.
Rather than let Naruto get the jutsu off, Ai cranked his speed to 110% and launched a 'lightning lariat' at Naruto. He was surprised when it impacted, and he felt sorry for the kid when he forced his arm down and into the ground. The ground shattered in a roar and created a crater nearly 100-feet in diameter. It was only decades of battle experience that allowed Ai's instinct to guide him out of the crater as his legs blurred into motion across the muddy terrain.
When Ai skid to a halt and his brain caught up with his actions, he turned around and was met by a windstorm as a dome of what had to be wind chakra filled the whole crater he created and expanded an additional 150-feet in diameter upon it. Ai could tell that that wind dome was truly fierce and would have likely shredded him, but that distraction cost him as a blunt force wind from Naruto using 'Divine Breakthrough' slammed into Ai's chest. Ai felt the impact and sensed the lightning chakra encompassing his chest and torso fizzle out briefly as he was sent flying like a bullet into the far mountain.
Naruto landed and took a moment to appreciate his work. He used the Rasenshuriken for old time's sake and to show off. It felt great throwing that jutsu again, but he knew it would distract the Raikage enough for his less lethal attack to hit him. He watched the blue bundle of lightning sail into the base of a mountain nearly a kilometer away and he used that time to gather more natural energy into himself. His markings turned golden, and his eyes now glowed with a fierce golden determination. As the four Magatama appeared on Naruto's combat jacket, he thought that it was time to show the world what a Sage could do.
"Now he is serious, Jiraiya. More serious than I ever fought him in." Tsunade said with amazement.
"Holy Kami, can you sense all of that natural chakra he is gathering? How is he not being turned to stone?" Jiraiya gasped out.
Chomei spoke up, "Naruto has more than enough of his own chakra to balance that out. If he starts to get overwhelmed, then Kurama absorbs the excess. It is a truly amazing feeling to be inside him when he is in that state."
"Yeah, he feels so warm, energetic and full of … well life." Samui said, remembering what it felt like to meditate with Naruto when he was in his Golden Sage mode. She thought that was a way better name than Stage Three.
"Watch out guys, he is going to break out the big guns now." Gaara cautioned.
"You mean the Rasenshuriken isn't the big guns?" Jiraiya asked. He had been busy with Iwa and hadn't been able to keep up with Naruto's progress.
"Nope." Temari chirped in support of her brother.
As Ai collected himself from the newest hole in one of his mountains, he took a deep breath and reignited the full lightning armor. He growled, that one actually hurt. The scale of the kid's attacks made it nearly impossible to counterattack and it made Ai desperate enough to fall for a clone swap. Who can blame him? Who possibly has enough chakra to chuck out jutsu like that. Well, if the kid wanted jutsu then Ai could do jutsu, or so he thought.
Ai dodged around massive pits filled with wooden spikes, earthen projectiles the size of small houses and he jumped over another wave of mud. As he closed the distance to Naruto, he finished his hand signs, landed on the ground, slammed his lightning-covered hands on the ground, funneled a massive amount of lightning chakra and called out 'supreme electromagnetic murder'.
The muddy field immediately hardened as all of the residual water in the field immediately electrolyzed and then the earth began cracking as a wave of electricity nearly 200-feet wide sped toward Naruto at incredible speeds. Naruto saw this and two chains sprouted out of his tailbone and pushed him up into the air like he was on insulated stilts. The Raikage's jutsu passed underneath him without incident and Ai launched himself into the air at the airborne Naruto.
Naruto thought the wooden tail dodge was cool, but it also left him fairly immobile, especially against an opponent as fast as Ai. Spittle flew from Naruto's mouth when Ai slammed into him, his body crackled with electricity as the contact with Ai electrocuted him and then his head hurt really bad when Ai wrapped him up in midair and called out 'liger bomb drop'. Naruto went headfirst into the hardened earth of the training ground and a crater nearly 400-feet wide was formed and Naruto was buried nearly 100-feet below what used to be ground level.
The audience roared in approval at the display of prowess from the Raikage. That was a supreme display of speed and power from the man they all respect. However, their joy was short lived as Naruto kipped up with a bit of blood trickling from his head. The whole mountain range crackled with natural energy as Naruto weaved through hand signs faster than anyone could process and what happened next dropped the jaws of every onlooker, including the Senju family.
Naruto stomped his foot into the ground and a fissure 500-feet wide appeared in the mountain and moved toward Ai faster than even he could dodge in his stunned state. Ai started bouncing on the walls of the chasm that was still in the process of forming and attempted to regain altitude and return to the plane of battle. That was until hundreds of wooden tentacles sprouted from the ground and impeded his progress. His lightning armor was not enough to simply dash through them and for the first time in the fight the Raikage was truly in trouble.
As he was frantically dodging, Ai couldn't think about the next step in the battle or what he would do next. It took every millisecond for Ai to focus on dodging the wooden monstrosities in order to return to the fight. That was why he missed the insane buildup of chakra and natural energy as Naruto called on the water from a river that was over a mile away from the current training field. When Ai was near the top of the newly made chasm, he looked up and froze.
Naruto was so into the match that he didn't realize he may have gone a bit overboard. The training ground no longer existed and all that mattered was winning this match over Ai. That was why he didn't consider it overkill when he used 'water style – wrath of the water god'. This jutsu collects all of the water the user can muster, which in Naruto's case is all of the water vapor in the air, the drinks from the viewers around the mountain range, the streams in the area and evidently a river that should have been out of his range. That was why even Naruto was surprised to see a small ocean's worth of water appear in the air in the form of a fist nearly 800-feet wide.
Bee saw that his brother was in serious trouble, and he jumped to his brother's defense as he synced with Gyuuki and took his full biju form overtop of the Raikage and ate the full brunt of the water attack. Gyuuki secured Ai in the interior of his tentacles and wrapped himself into a ball before hardening his body with his yokai. The deluge of hardened water slammed into Gyuuki, splashed everyone in the audience like a ride in an extreme water park and filled the newly created gorge with water.
"Holy shit…" Tsunade said with her hands over her mouth.
Jiraiya's jaw was on the floor, his hair was a sopping wet mess, and his finger was stuck pointing toward the training ground. He was so stunned he didn't even take the time to appreciate all of the beautiful breasts that now had soaked linen sensually exposing cleavage. It was like the largest wet t-shirt contest of all time and Jiraiya wasn't even basking in the glory of it. He was simply too stunned.
"I think he may have overdone it." Ino said through giggles.
"You think?" Temari shot back with a proud smirk on her face.
"Is he even human? A human can't do that…" Karui said in a state of stunned disbelief.
"Oh, it's cool, he is human alright. A mighty fine human that is very, very well endowed." Samui said as she cradled her pregnant belly with a fond, proud and slightly perverted look on her face.
"There are so many disaster scenarios running through my head right now that I can't even choose one." Said Omoi who's lollipop had fallen on the ground, forgotten in favor of simply gawking at the display.
"Kitten, that is like what my father used to do. It is hard to believe his training yielded such results." Matatabi said to Yugito through their mental link.
Yugito nodded dumbly, "Anko and RiRi, how? How is your brother …" Yugito couldn't even finish her thought.
Rias decided to answer the question, "It is nearly impossible to describe what it feels like when he is in that mode. He is so connected to the world and nature that he can simply bend it to his will. His body is nearly indestructible and the power he can wield at any given time is … well you can see a small sample of it now."
"A small sample!?" Mabui said incredulously. "What about that was small?"
Rias shrugged, "Pray you never see the big guns. And if you do see them, make sure you are very, very far away."
Back on the battlefield, the water was finally starting to recede, and everyone could see Gyuuki emerging in his oxtopus form with Ai standing on his head. Ai was scowling while adorned in his lightning armor and the armor was crackling fiercely enough to light up the top of Gyuuki's head like some bright star on a Christmas tree.
"Oi, what the hell, Senju?" Ai shouted at Naruto.
Naruto shrugged nonchalantly, "I should be asking you that. You are the one that brought the tag-team into the equation. Do you concede?"
Ai scowled, but it was Bee that spoke through Gyuuki's form, "You went overboard, fool ya fool, and the Ai/Bee combo will make you sore!"
Naruto laughed, "Oh, okay, so we are breaking out the big guns now? Very well then." Before anyone could stop him, Naruto clapped his hands together, flashed into his full Kurama Sage Mode, gathered a colossal amount of natural energy and Mokuton chakra in his body and called out 'Wood Style – True Several Thousand Hands!'
"Let's do this Ruto!" Kurama shouted in glee from the mindscape. This was going to be his defining statement to Gyuuki that he was, is and always will be the leader of the biju.
The crowd gasped in shock as a truly amazing sight that hasn't graced the world since Hashirama Senju formed in the training ground and grew to tower over the mountains themselves. Naruto looked down from the head of a giant Buddha statue with thousands of hands arranged in a circle behind the Buddha emerged. To put it in perspective, the Buddha statue was about five time taller than Gyuuki and much, much wider. Each of the hands on the Buddha statue was at least half the size of Gyuuki, and there were a thousand of those things!
"No fucking way." Ai said in denial.
"Ay, yo, too far bro. Ain't no way that you bring that thing out to play." Bee said in a mumble rap.
Naruto's smirk encompassed his entire glowing face as he looked down on Gyuuki, Ai and Bee as he reveled in the opportunity to cut loose and debut one of his grandfather's jutsu. His smirk was so pronounced that Tsunade groaned from her position in the stands as she was stood up in shock of seeing the jutsu again.
"This isn't good, he is lost in the bloodlust of the battle. All he wants is to test himself…" Tsunade whispered.
"No way, he wouldn't do that. He can feel all of the people and that jutsu would destroy this mountain range. He is just showing off." Temari comforted Tsunade.
Back on top of Gyuuki, there was a debate going on and it wasn't going in Ai's favor.
"Ay, bro, Gyuuki says no. No, no, no,no, no." Bee said passionately in an attempt to break his brother out of his battle-crazed state.
"So, Lord Raikage, do you wish to continue?" Naruto's voice echoed across the mountain range as the wind obeyed his call to carry his calm words.
Before Ai could answer, Gyuuki spoke, "I want no part of this Bee. I fought against that once before and I do not wish to do so again."
With those words, both Bee and Ai were surprised as Gyuuki's chakra was sucked back into Bee and Ai fell from nearly 100-feet in the air. Ai flipped gracefully and reinforced his body to withstand the ground shaking impact as he landed. This brought Ai back to reality as he was forced to crane his neck to look up at the intricately carved Buddha statue. It was unbelievable that this 16-year-old child could bring the stuff of legends back to life.
"I concede, Naruto Senju." Ai bellowed.
Naruto briefly pouted atop his wooden statue before a devilish smirk crossed his face. One of the Buddha's hands extended and reach over a kilometer before it slammed into a mountain Naruto had cleared. Naruto reveled in the crowd's gasp as the single fist of his statue disintegrated the top half of the mountain.
"Good choice and great fight, Lord Raikage." Naruto shouted as he released his jutsu in a slow fashion that let him descend down to the training ground, or what used to be a training ground. "Sorry for reshaping your terrain without your permission. I think I got kinda carried away." Naruto said as he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.
Ai sighed before cocking an eyebrow at Naruto, "Oh ho? And what gave you that impression?" Naruto simply smiled in response. "Was it the new gorge? Or the new reservoir? Or maybe it was the fact that you blew up one of my mountains just to show off?"
Naruto walked forward, completely ignoring the Raikage's sarcasm, and extended a hand. "Good fight. I just wanted everyone to know that you only conceded to save your people. There was no shame in your defeat and that mountain over there, or ex-mountain I should say, it's more of a small hill now. Anyway, that last part was to show people that there is absolutely no shame in your defeat. I respect you, Ai, and I didn't want to do anything to compromise our future relationship.
"That kid is just as scary as father used to be." Gyuuki said through Bee's body, before Bee retook control. "Listen to my main man Gyuuki, he said it is too much for Ai and Bee. Ain't no shame in losing to family! Wee!"
Naruto belted out a laugh before he was forced to duck a chakra-enhanced punch to the head from Tsunade. "What the hell were you thinking brat!?"
Naruto continued to dodge around his Momma, "That we were just two guys having fun. He isn't even mad, Momma, so why are you?"
Ai couldn't help the bout of full-blown laughter that overtook his being. The strongest man in the world was be chased and chastised by the strongest woman in the world and a girl he considered his niece will be marrying into that crazy family. He honestly didn't know whether he should be happy or scared for Samui. At least anyone that witnessed this display wouldn't dare hurt her for fear of Naruto's wrath.
That evening, a going away party was held by Kumo for the Senju family. The village truly appreciated what the Senju family had done for them, and a festival was held in their honor. The display put on by Naruto and the Raikage was all anyone could talk about, and it was talked about in reverence by nearly everyone in Kumo. Things like the following were heard throughout the night:
"Lord Senju will protect us alongside the Raikage. There is nothing stronger in the world than those two."
"The Lord Raikage fought for so long against that man."
"Lord Senju isn't even human. He must be the son of Kami." Not too far from the truth.
"Thank Kami the Senjus are on our side."
There were many other mutterings that could be heard by those attending the festival, but it didn't matter to Naruto. He was just glad nobody was talking down about Ai or any of the other shinobi of Kumo. All that mattered to him were the overwhelmingly positive feelings and vibes that he got from the Kumo crowd. He wanted to keep them as an ally moving forward and he would need them in the future.
A couple days later, the Senju family departed for Uzushiogakore. Almost nobody knew the island was being rebuilt and Tsunade had installed a state-of-the-art medical suite there. She figured Samui having the baby off the radar would be the best approach and nowhere was more off the radar than Uzushiogakore. They would spend the final month and a half of Samui's pregnancy on the island and use that time to chip away at the endless pile of work that rebuilding New Uzu would be.