Thank you all very much for your wicked awesome reviews! Shout out to everyone. Don't stop there; keep 'em coming.

Update 29 January, 2024: I don't know what possessed me to type 23 goddamn pages for one single chapter, but here we are XD

Enjoy…

CHAPTER 21

Wave country was a rapidly developing country that was fully allied to Waterfall, Marsh, Fang, Smoke and Chill. The country was also allied, but not fully, to Konoha, Suna and Kiri, possibly even to Kumo. Wave was on friendly trade-oriented relations with Kumo, Snow Country, Demon Country and Hidden Darkness. Wave country was on neutral relations with Iron country.

The only villages to note that weren't on positive terms with Wave were Iwa and Hidden Sound.

The villages that were in positive or neutral relations with Wave alone made up almost half of the entire elemental nations; where every village that was tied to Wave associated with each other without shame and benefited in spades from this association, no village or country had any complaints, even the picky samurai in the iron country, so even though it wasn't his core goal Naruto had spread peace to the other villages he was allied to, fully or not, through contact.

Wave though wasn't the only part of the six minor village alliance that was allied to other villages and countries, Marsh village was allied to Hidden Mountain, this indirectly evened out relations with every other member of the six-village alliance, facilitating trade and movement of shinobi from villages.

Smoke was allied to Feather village, a shinobi village that was enemies with Fang village, but when Smoke had allied with Feather, they had agreed to set aside their differences and trade, for the benefit of those under them. Even though Wave was not formally allied to Feather, relations with the hidden village were good, he even had some civilians making requests to move there and set up shops.

The same could be said with his alliance with the major hidden villages; Suna was not allied to Mountain Village formally but currently, there were Suna shinobi conducting joint missions with each other, and this fact was because they had seen that the six-village alliance was legitimate and by extension the villages allied to each was also worth working with. With each village allying to either Wave or any other village Wave was allied to the notion that order can be maintained if all worked well with each other was being spread unconsciously. So far there hadn't been any major arguments or complaints from any other village that hadn't been settled on the spot.

That was what he told Nagato.

"There are easier ways to go about seeking peace, Nagato; I found my peace in Wave and it spread to the villages I am allied to. Directly and indirectly. It wasn't what I was expecting but it is what happened, I have no complaints," Naruto said as he stared down at the restrained Kage. "I understand that you have lost nearly everything and I sympathise, but to seek peace by putting everyone through pain…? I may still be very young compared to my comrades but I know that that is not the way to go. Bringing death and destruction wherever you go is not the way to go. You called yourself unbeatable. You called yourself a god…and I beat you…but I will not call myself a god. I do not call myself a god."

"What do you call yourself then, Naruto?" Nagato asked, looking up at Naruto with his purple rippled eyes.

"I call myself a Wave shinobi," he simply replied. He put his hands on his knees and pursed his lips. "Give me a reason not to kill you, Nagato."

"I have none." It wasn't a stubborn statement; it was the truth.

"Fair enough." Naruto whipped out a kunai from his right sleeve and was about to slit Nagato's throat until.

"Wait!" The boy hummed and looked at who had yelled, his weapon on Nagato's throat; it was the paper user he had knocked out. "D-Don't kill him…please." Her cloak was torn in places to reveal her purple shirt and black tights. Her stoic façade was gone, and in its place were tears that cascaded down her pale porcelain face, smeared black eyeliner and pale, cracked lips. Konan knelt unabashed in front of Naruto with her forehead touching the ground. "I'm begging you."

"And why shouldn't I kill him? He kidnapped me from my home and threatened to destroy everything I've built."

"He's the only one I have left," she pleaded with her head still bowed; she couldn't attack Naruto. She was as defeated as Nagato, and more so helpless. She was spent, and Naruto hardly looked winded.

"I had no one…before Wave, and he threatened to take it away from me," Naruto said coolly, though he squeezed the handle of his knife and pressed it a little deeper into Nagato's neck. A thin line of blood trickled from Nagato's neck.

Naruto looked at Nagato and saw that the man already had his eyes closed, a resigned expression on his face.

There was a tense five minutes of silence before Naruto raised his hand and allowed the kunai to slip back into his sleeve. He stood up, dusting off his pants and his jounin vest before he looked at the still kneeling woman. "I won't kill him…yet." Konan sobbed, relieved, and quietly blubbered her thanks to him. "I will give you both two options to choose from."

"Yes," she immediately said, sending Nagato a harsh glare for him to keep quiet; he was still very much at the blonde powerhouse's mercy.

"The first option is that I kill you both and keep this whole village under stasis just in case they come after me." This had to do with the same seal Minato and Kushina used to preserve their house after all those years.

Naruto's level ten parents had combined their genius into making a containment and restraint seal not limited to chakra outburst but more on the movement of living and nonliving things as well, human beings included and spread it out over a large area; Naruto didn't need to be a level ten to learn the seal, but it did take a considerable amount of concentration to do so.

Nagato and Konan looked at him sceptically. "I'm sure you've heard what Wave did to Hidden Star for attempting to invade. You, on the other hand, threatened to destroy my country. You have no idea the manner of seals I have at my fingertips." He pointed out with jarring matter-of-factness that it couldn't be mistaken for cockiness.

Konan rubbed the back of her head at the memory of Naruto halting all of her movements after an overhead punch, then she couldn't even turn around to defend against the punches he returned to her head.

"What's the second option?" Konan asked quietly, expecting the worst.

"The second option is that, as crazy as it may sound, I want you two under my services. Not as Wave shinobi but as two high-ranked ninjas I can call on for aid. This also extends to Hidden Rain."

"After everything I've done, why do you still want my help?" Nagato asked.

"One of your Akatsuki members, Sasori of the Red Sands, managed to tell me about an imminent attack that is coming to me and my country. He said Orochimaru and Iwa are going to be behind this attack and the Sannin is bringing a shinobi trained to destroy me; he is a sick, twisted man so I can only assume what will happen to Wave after my death. I want…no…I need your help."

Konan had already made her decision but she hesitantly looked at the rinnegan holder; Naruto was giving them a chance to live. The first option was out of the way since they would still end up dying but the second option…

The boy had not said that they would be his servants or even his lap dogs; he called them high-ranked shinobi that would come to his aid when he needed it. It was a touch of their pride as highly powered shinobi.

"Ok," Nagato simply said after a sigh. "We will help you."

"Then we should set up a mutual alliance…Ame can join in with every other village allied to the minor six," Naruto said but after a short hesitation he continued, "Quite frankly your village is in bad shape."

"You will help us rebuild? After what we have done?" Konan said sceptically and Naruto nodded. "Then it's settled."

"Where do we sign?"

Naruto pursed his lip for a full minute, looking at the duo and the clones that managed to keep the gathering crowd out of earshot before he said. "I hope you understand…you tried to kill me and you have techniques that can level an entire country with no problem…" he trailed off as his eyes flicked to the restraint seal on Nagato's chest and the red-haired man realised what Naruto was saying.

"You wish to place a seal on me."

"It's purely for insurance purposes. You see…I love my country and every other country and village my country is allied to, and a shinobi of your calibre—"

"I understand," the older man said with a small smile.

"Are you sure…?"

"Yes, I am what most people call a 'loose cannon'"

"Nagato…" Konan started.

"It's fine. I understand your position. You may place it on me."

"…First I want to explain just what I'm placing on you," Naruto said and explained. It was a variation of a prisoner control seal he had augmented. He drew it on Nagato's forehead and a similar variation of the seal appeared on the back of Naruto's hand. He showed it to Nagato. "It is directly connected to your brain. You may hold negative thoughts about me and my friends but if you act on them, it would first paralyse you and notify me. Then I would fry your brain if I want; I don't need to be in your immediate vicinity to do it too. Believe me when I say that that seal is tested and trusted."

There were a few Hoshi clan members who had tried to sell secrets to other hidden villages, not fully aware that the villages they intended to sell them to were 'mutually allied' with Wave, which pretty much means they were not formally allied to Wave but were allied to the villages Wave was allied to; Naruto was notified and they were made examples of, as vile as it sounded it was a necessity to show that he was still the same person that had invaded Hidden Star.

"The brain is connected to the eyes…that means…"

"Yes, your eyes go too."

"Do I get one as well?" Konan asked.

"I've already placed a tracking seal on you, don't bother trying to find it." It was at the back of her head, somewhere on her scalp.

The woman huffed tiredly and shrugged. "As long as Nagato doesn't die."

"That's entirely up to him." He then pulled out an empty scroll from one of his bottomless sleeves. "Now, about that alliance…"

He released the restraint seal and Konan helped Nagato sit up, sitting around the scroll with Naruto.

The blonde boy stayed for two hours, outlining what they would be doing in the alliance and all the lines they could not cross. The duo told him what they wanted from the alliance and it was finally settled when he shook hands with the purple-haired woman, seeing as Nagato was still tied up. This was when he finally remembered something.

"What about that man in the mask?"

Konan too wondered the same thing. "He was just here…" she looked around before she shrugged. She never liked that man anyway; why should she care where he was?

"Who is he?"

"Uchiha Madara."

Naruto snorted, amused. "That's not possible."

"That's what he called himself, but I can say with certainty that he is one of Madara's followers."

"He has the sharingan?" Naruto asked slowly, afraid of the answer he would get and a weight settled on his stomach.

"He has the highest form a sharingan can have."

Sasuke had told him something similar when he had spoken to the boy about the Uchiha clan massacre.

The young Uchiha had said that Itachi's usual sharingan had 'changed' and he was placed in a 'strange genjutsu' for hours but it turned out to be only a few minutes just before he passed out. Naruto also remembered when Itachi had thrown black fire at Jiraiya and Tsunade back in Tanzuki town when Itachi and Kisame had come to retrieve him; Naruto could bet all his life's saving that that was not a normal jutsu or even normal sharingan ability.

He could only guess the extent the eye techniques could go, and he asked Nagato and Konan to tell him all they knew about this masked person who called himself Madara Uchiha, a name most would not even think to call themselves if they could not back it up.

As Naruto listened to what the duo were telling him of what they knew about the person that called himself Madara he realised that nearly everything he had done since he was four could be nullified very easily; Madara could teleport himself directly in front of him and this would force him to look into his Mangekyo sharingan, putting him into an illusion. He didn't even want to think how easily the man would be able to get the jinchuriki if he wanted to, a simple teleportation directly behind the jinchuriki, like how he kidnapped him from his reinforced Kyuubi chakra training room. Madara could simply grab the tailed beast holder and pull him into a contained environment and, simply put, hold them down with a genjutsu.

The situation just got dire.

All of this was without adding Rai or even Kisame, who were still missing after the fight at Wave. Rai was fully capable of running faster than Daku, since she was the living embodiment of lightning, and Kisame had a sword as well as years of experience on how to fight against any shinobi with strange, volatile chakra.

Madara Uchiha was most likely enraged that Wave had been able to defeat the Akatsuki in its entirety.

He had to get back to Wave and set in motion a few more things. For that every jinchuriki that he was friendly with would have a chakra destruction seal and an automatic sharingan destruction seal on them, that way when they were grabbed through teleportation, they would be able to face the man and hold him off until reinforcements arrived.

Another problem was that whenever it came to bloodlines, or even clan-based abilities, his seal work on them was always experimental.

Naruto didn't notice he had been silent for ten minutes, staring at the ground with his eyebrows furrowed and his lips pursed in thought. He had a niggling feeling that the mother of all wars was coming and it would all start with the Sound-Rock battle.

"I need to be heading back to Wave now. I have things to prepare. I will be sending some of my shinobi to help rebuild your village." He stood up and was about to leap onto his flying sealboard until Konan called after him.

"Thank you, Naruto." She stood up and bowed slightly to him.

He waved over his shoulder and said, "Don't make me regret this…"

He brought out his seal board, repaired from his battle against Deidara and Sasori, and took off into the sky, accelerating in a blaze of blue fire and hot wind to Wave Country.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

One week later

Temari hastily read through a long scroll and murmured the words under her breath as she stopped in front of the Wave leader's office door; she gulped a little and read through it again, and then again before she took a deep breath and slipped the scroll into a pocket inside her kimono. She was wearing a short blue and white short-sleeved battle kimono with black tights that stopped mid-calf and light blue shinobi sandals. The fifteen-year-old girl closed her teal eyes and took another deep breath, smoothing out the invisible wrinkles on her dress before she knocked on the door politely.

"Enter."

A gentle smile etched onto her face when she heard Naruto's voice and she pushed the door open, peaking in and waving a little to the Wave leader. "Hey there, Naruto."

The blonde boy looked up from the papers on his desk and smiled back at her. "Temari." His eyes trailed over what she wore, the same as she usually wore but at the same time different. His nose also caught the faint smell of lily and rose perfume, a smell he greatly enjoyed whenever he was sketching nature. His brow creased and he hummed. "How can I help you?"

The girl slipped in and closed the door quietly, thanking her lucky stars that Frog was stationed in the receptionist area and Daku was in the DARK commander's office. "I came over to say hi and to see how you're doing." She idly put a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear then realised that they were still styled in four pigtails.

"Thanks for your concern, Temari. I'm fine, how are you?" he looked down at the document he was reading before she entered his office, a request for a fountain to be built inside the mall; he stamped his approval and dropped the thin document in the 'out' section.

"I'm also fine," she chirped and lilted on her heels. "I was wondering though…"

"Mhm?" the boy said as he began organising his desk, the girl already knew what was going to happen.

"Are you going to be free soon…?"

"Yes…" Naruto looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed before he slowly nodded. "Matter of fact, I'm about to head for my evening break. What do you need me to do?"

It was dark outside, and he valued his evening breaks.

He felt rude for not wanting her to bother him during his break, even after she had been nice enough to stay in Wave long-term to assist with the country's mission quota. He quietly shook away these thoughts and raised his eyebrows at her; the least he could do for all she had done was give her his time.

"I was wondering if we could have dinner…together." She quickly raised her hand when his eyes widened in horror and his face tinged green with queasiness. "I'm not the one cooking; there's this nice place in the market district that makes great food."

The boy silently looked at her with his critical eyes before a slow smirk crawled onto his face when he caught a light tinge of red on her cheeks. He stated knowingly, "You know my schedule."

She stared back into his eyes for a full minute until a nervous giggle escaped her lips and she looked away, scratching the back of her neck. "Yeah…"

The blonde boy took off his Wave leader robes and hung them on his office chair, showing the older by two years blonde girl that he was wearing a short-sleeved light blue shirt that showed his spider webbing seal art that covered his arms and disappeared into his sleeve, and calf-length black ninja pants. He also had on his seal glasses but he took them off and sealed them into a storage seal on his neck. The boy ushered her out of his office and closed the door behind him. She vaguely suspected that it was now locked off from the world. Probably only his inner circle members could enter.

The boy put his hands behind his back and began walking to the exit of the main administrative tower of Wave Country, nodding for her to follow. She hurried after him with her hands clasped together in front of her.

"Where is this place you were talking about?"

"In the market district, across the street from Kobayashi Grocery." Kobayashi was a farmer who had moved to Wave from Kiri. The man leased a small plot of land in Outer Wave, near a cluster of separated farms owned by Wave-born and Hoshi clan members, and he was farming on the land.

They walked in silence through the well-lit but emptying streets of Wave, waving to the few civilians and shinobi who still walked around either to close up shop or pick up their children in the civilian academy who were doing extra-curricular activities. Naruto pursed his lips and Temari caught his expression from the side of her eyes. She gulped at what it meant. "Can you tell me what else you know about me, Temari?"

"I-I don't know—"

"You know my Saturday evening break time. That's oddly specific if you ask me." Naruto eyed her suspiciously before he lightened his facial expression. "I'm just curious."

The Suna ninja bit the bottom of her lip nervously and glanced at the taller blonde before she sighed and said, "Your favourite colour is blue, you like ramen, you sleep for only four hours every day even if you try to sleep for longer, you're a natural sensor but you have seals that boost your sensory abilities, you don't need those glasses but you wear them to make you seem less intimidating, but in my opinion, it's not working." She gave him a lilting smirk.

Naruto chuckled and shook his head. "Most of that could be found in the library."

"I just paid attention."

"It seems you did." The boy trailed on as he held the door to the quaint eatery open for the Suna ninja to enter.

The place was designed with nostalgic, warm furniture and appliances that eerily reminded everyone who entered their home. It was a reigning fad in the eateries at Inner Wave's northernmost residential areas, greatly influenced by Marsh and Chill immigrants, as well as Kiri visitors who were vying for long-term working status. There were small tables around the café and a bar where those who wanted to eat could sit and order; this was where the blonde pair sat down. A bushy-browed man in a long-sleeved white shirt with black formal pants that had suspenders walked up to them and smiled.

"Welcome to Ivy's Coast. My name is Koun. What can I get you, Master Naruto and Temari?" he motioned to the vast menu they had that hung overhead behind him.

Naruto squinted his eyes and said, "A number three and one please, I'm in the mood for something light." He propped up an elbow on the bar counter and turned to Temari.

"I'll have the same, thank you."

The man scribbled down their orders in a small jotter and muttered, "So that's two miso soups and water." He tore off the page and handed it to the chef, walking off and sliding two cups of water to them. "If you need anything else just give me a ring." He placed a bronze bell on the table, bowed and left.

It was silent between them. Temari began frantically scrambling for everything she had rehearsed but for some reason, it kept slipping from her fingers. "So…how was your day?"

Naruto inhaled slowly and pursed his lips, reflectively saying with a slight smile. "It was great actually; I got a lot of work done today?" He propped his elbow on the counter and looked at her.

She too mirrored his posture and leaned forward. "Like what?"

"I've sent some seals to villages with jinchuriki in case anyone tries to kidnap them. I've finally finished selling off the land in the fire country I inherited from my parents, and the chunin exams arena construction here is going well." They weren't exactly secret projects and Temari was a relative to the Kazekage, Gaara, so she would be aware of the threat of the masked man and the looming battle. Suna, Konoha and Kiri had reaffirmed their positions as Naruto's allies and had sworn to lend help to them when the war started.

The other six minor villages he was allied to restated their commitment to their alliance. Since Naruto wouldn't hesitate to help them as well.

Kumo though was still sceptical of the alliance with Wave and had been keeping an eye out for any signs of deception. Naruto was scheduled to visit the Raikage at Kumo in two months, which was almost four months before the deadline for the battle to begin.

"That is great." She thanked the waitress who dropped their food. "Your students, the ones you have in Konoha, are planning on entering the chunin exams."

"Yes, I'm sure they're ready for a promotion."

"Yes, there was a mission I went on with Sasuke to raid a slavery ring in the deserts near Suna. He was unstoppable. I didn't know you could teach so well," Temari said with a complimentary smile.

Sasuke and Naruto's other two Konoha students had been visiting Wave three times a week to train. They usually arrived with the rest of her team or, in Yakumo's case, a few Kurama guards.

Sasuke had made significant progress in his training under Naruto; he had been focusing on becoming a stealth/assassination kind of shinobi. Weight seals had been placed on his back and feet, and chakra limiters on his arms to force the boy to deeply concentrate if he wanted to perform a jutsu. Since the Uchiha people were reputed for being ninjutsu masters he had tasked Sasuke to master fifteen C-rank fire jutsu and boost them with his Evolved Cursed seal, a seal Naruto was still rigorously training Sasuke to know how to handle.

It didn't have the same effect as Naruto's Chakra High seals or Yakumo's Demonic Chakra Reversal seal, as Sasuke didn't need to be low on chakra to use his Evolved Cursed seal, but the effect was eerily similar.

Those were three chakra-boosting seals Naruto was particularly proud of creating. Those seals, the seals that allowed him to walk, his Blue Bubble Shell seal and his ever-nifty Chakra Beam seal. Everything else was further a product of his dedication to fuinjutsu.

This also reminded Naruto that Tsunade had taken up Sakura Haruno, Sasuke's female teammate, as an apprentice, a one-sided rivalry the Senju had to one-up Naruto when it came to training students. Daku had informed him of Sakura's development during their Gaara retrieval mission. Sai had also gotten the attention of Tenzo, an ANBU captain and he was also receiving extra lessons.

Naruto smiled at the girl. "It's one thing to teach and it's another to accept what is being taught. Sasuke is just a good student." He sipped a spoon full of his miso soup. Then another memory came to him of when Neji had found him in his special place so he could make a request.

Flashback

Konoha,

A few days after the team picnic

Naruto was sitting in his special place in his wheelchair in front of a painting, a palette in his left hand and a brush in his right. Yakumo was standing beside him with her own painting set; both were going through the slow motions of drawing a tree fifteen paces in front of them. Naruto's youngest student was in a stiff standing posture and Naruto looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

"Is there something bothering you, Yakumo?" he went back to painting the tree.

"I'll tell you after training, sensei."

"Why not now?"

She pursed her lips tightly and was about to speak when she felt Naruto place a hand on her shoulder, now standing on his feet beside her. "Does it have to do with graduating from the academy early?"

The girl dropped her brush in shock and turned to him sharply. "How did you know?"

Naruto winked at her and patted her back. "Have you forgotten? I was signed up as one of your next of kin. Everyone now knows I'm your teacher. Does that bother you?"

She frantically shook her head, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. "Not at all. I'm glad. So…do you approve?"

He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. "Is that what you want? Is anyone pressuring you?"

"No, sensei. I have learnt more from you in a week than in a month over there. My taijutsu is passable, my ninjutsu is good and my genjutsu is ok."

"You're selling yourself short, Yakumo; your taijutsu is very good for one's upbringing and physical health, your ninjutsu is growing and your genjutsu is almost unbeatable."

She bowed quickly, appreciative. "Thank you, sensei."

He ruffled her hair. "I'm just being honest. But we can talk more about it later; we have a visitor." She dipped her head and nodded slightly. Neji walked out of the shrubs curtly and crossed his arms tightly when Naruto saw him.

"I came to speak to you, Naruto," he said and his byakugan eyes quickly motioned to the brown-haired Kurama princess.

"Yakumo, can you meet me back here in thirty minutes?"

"Yes, Naruto-sensei." She bowed again and was about to pack up her painting set until Naruto waved for her to leave them.

"We still have things to discuss." He winked at her and she flushed a little before she scampered past Neji into the shrubs and out into the training ground situated in front of his special place. "What do you want to talk about, Neji?"

The Hyuuga branch member hesitated, frowning deeply and glaring to his right until he opened his mouth and muttered, "Can you help me get this off?" He untied his hitaite to show the level nine-and-a-half seal master the hideous caged bird seal. Naruto walked up to him and when he was given nonverbal permission to touch it, he traced the seal with his pointer finger. "Well? Can you?"

Naruto stepped back and crossed his arms, "I can. I assume that's the Hyuuga clan's famed Caged Bird seal; it is an archaic, unused variation of the Prisoner seal that is so old I am shocked it's still in existence. Any level nine or ten seal master will be able to break it with no problem, much easier than any Prisoner seals used these days."

"Then…please…"

Naruto shrugged and suppressed a small wince. "That is a clan-administered seal. Even though I'm not a shinobi, I'm still a member of this village. I'm technically bound by law not to interfere with clan affairs; it's specifically written in Konoha's founding charter."

Neji took the news well; he clenched his fists tightly but his face remained neutral. "You haven't cared about rules before. Why start now?"

Naruto looked at the older boy for a minute before he replied, "There are some things that are out of my power. That seal has a tracking component on it; the moment I take it off, your clan head will be notified."

"Then you're useless to me." Neji snarled and turned around.

The blonde seal master raised an eyebrow and said after him, "Seals can't do everything, you know." Neji stopped in his tracks but didn't turn. "Seals can't give me my leg back forever."

"You can already walk—"

"That's the popular perception with you guys; I can walk, no big deal. But the thing is the seal that helps me walk runs on a battery fuelled by my strength. My chakra; if I'm on my feet for too long it would begin tapping into my life's essence." Neji didn't know how to respond to that. "But with every seal, there is a loophole or a way to go around it."

"Is there…is there a loophole for the caged bird seal?" the Hyuuga prodigy asked hesitantly.

Naruto scoffed. "Of course, there is. That seal is a second version Prisoner seal, which was created many, many, many years ago. The standard prisoner seal used in Konoha is the eleventh version." The Hyuuga's eyes widened at the implications; it showed just how old and primitive the caged bird seal was. "But I will reaffirm what I have said; anyone below level nine wouldn't be able to break it because it needs a certain level of patience to understand and act on what the person needs to understand. The problem is that the Uzumaki clan were usually in charge of updating various seals and, you know, they were wiped out. So that means that the last time a seal was updated it was over twenty maybe thirty years ago. Long overdue if you ask me. But I'm getting sidetracked."

It was a bad habit of his whenever he spoke about fuinjutsu.

"Just like every seal on this planet has a counter seal, every seal has an Alter/Modify seal. Just like I can modify a Standard Storage seal to make an Infinity Storage seal, or I can alter a trap seal to make a Light or Strong Contact Trap seal. It's all about looking at the bigger picture and knowing exactly what you want." There was much more to fuinjutsu than Neji would admit he appreciated. Who would have thought that seals, once upon a time, were being updated? "Since that seal on your forehead is so damn old it can be modified." He walked up to Neji and tapped his shoulder. "I need you to tell me a few things first."

The older boy turned around and the blonde motioned to a plain wooden chair he had unsealed from his wrist. Neji slowly sat down and Naruto returned to his wheelchair. "What do you want to know?"

"Why do you want it off?"

The boy didn't answer him for a minute and Naruto simply sat forward and continued his painting. Neji finally caved when the silence got too heavy. "You said it yourself, it's a prisoner seal. I feel trapped and it's messing with my concentration."

"And your perception," Naruto piped in from behind his canvas.

"What—"

"The fact you antagonise Hinata whenever you see her, and for no clear reason either. It's the seal right?" he asked sarcastically.

"She…she…she is weak…" he slowly said, already doubting his words.

"I have trained Hinata for months, Neji. I know you've been watching her spar with her sister; she doesn't seem so weak anymore, is she?"

Neji's shoulders slumped in defeat.

It was true.

During the Sound invasion, as he was also running with his team to help fight the invaders, his byakugan caught a whirlwind of blood and gore wafting past them. It was Hinata, and she was unstoppable.

She would pass by a perfectly healthy chunin invader and when you look at the chunin again they would either have their heads caved in or have a large chunk of their chest over their heart carved out.

Neji shook his head, lowered a little and his eyes sagged. "No…Hinata is strong." He clenched his fists after admitting this; Hinata could now be stronger than even him. Just how the hell was Naruto training her? Yakumo too for that matter; the Kurama princess was at the top of her class in the academy. They were supposed to be fated to always be weak. "It's just that…"

Naruto paused and looked around his painting canvas at him. "You don't need to tell me if it's too personal, Neij."

Neji shook his head slightly and blinked away the thin layer of tears in his eyes. "No. I need to say it." Naruto furrowed his eyebrows and dropped his paintbrush, motioning for Neji to continue. "It's that…nine years ago, a Kumo shinobi took her from her room and her father killed the kidnapper. My father…sacrificed himself so that her father could survive. It…It was because he was a branch member and his life was unimportant to the main branch member."

"So, you chose to blame her for your father's death since you couldn't directly antagonise her father or Kumo." Neji shrugged and nodded slightly. "What if I told you that it wasn't a Kumo ninja that kidnapped Hinata?"

"I'd say that's preposterous; there was even a Kumo forehead protector found at the scene."

"They didn't recover the body because it spontaneously combusted, correct?"

Neji tried to cover up his shocked look expertly but his eyes widened only a little. He nodded. "Father told me that was what Hiashi saw."

"The thing is that, sometimes, there are some things that are out of our control and some things you think make perfect sense but don't even make the slightest bit of sense. Like I once assumed that once I was able to make an explosive tag, I would be invincible, but I was wrong. I blame it on my inability to walk and my lack of confidence, avoiding the fact that it is logically impossible to use bombs defensively. I blamed something within my reach instead of the bigger picture; which was that I was too young to understand just what I wanted."

"So, what's the bigger picture in my situation?"

"That there are things out of your control, but there are also things that are within reach. You might not notice this but there are a lot of things our elders hide from us for our good."

"So…you're saying that my father lied to me to cover up the bigger picture…?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes, for a while though. You were much too young to go into a rampaging investigation on what truly happened when Hinata was kidnapped."

"Oh." The boy's shoulder sagged. "Did…Did Hinata ever tell you what happened that night?"

Naruto nodded again. "She did. She even watched her father kill the man. She says the person who took her wore a white mask, which he took off when Hiashi showed up. Before he died, he left behind a Kumo forehead protector." The Hyuuga clan head was allowed limited knowledge of some of the inner workings of Konoha, so Hiashi would have at least suspected that something was wrong. Mole had mentioned a mission where a Kumo delegate was killed in his quarters in the Hyuuga main clan house. His body was hidden in a seal until the ROOT shinobi had been killed.

"What do you think I should do? Where should I go from here?" degrading Hinata every step of the way and proving to her every day that she was inferior to him was all he had known since his father had died. It was what kept him going.

"That, Neji, is entirely up to you."

The Hyuuga prodigy for most of his life had thought that it was because of fate that his father had died in place of Hinata, and since his father was a branch member their lives were expendable, and to an extent it was true. Naruto though was telling him that it was not because of the division of the clan his father was sacrificed.

Naruto interrupted his train of thought. "I can remove the limiter, and it'll put less strain on you when you want to perform any jutsu."

He had given Neji time to reply but to this day he had received none.

Flashback end

Naruto propped his head on his hand and was now listening to what Temari was saying; it was about an encounter she had during a mission to Kiri where she had been accompanied by Mole, Mole's DARK team, and a few Sand ANBU, where they had caught sight of Kisame but were too slow to catch up to him.

Naruto's head snapped up when he felt a sharp pinch to his arm and Temari paused in her story. "What the hell?"

"What happened?"

The blonde seal master hastily pulled out a few crisp notes from his pocket and left it on the table, least bit caring if he grossly overpaid. He grabbed her by her forearm and ran out of the restaurant with her. She swiftly got her feet back under her and ran with him. His eyes were fractionally wide as he ran to the library. He didn't respond to the librarian as he greeted him but rather sped up the stairs to the top floor.

There was a thick iron door on the top floor with a hypnotising spiral-like seal painted on it; Naruto swiped over it with his thumb and pushed his hand through the centre where the spiral met and turned it in the direction of the spiral. There was a soft clicking sound and the door swung open to reveal Tobi casually pulling out a seal from the 'C' section of the library.

The red-masked man looked at them mutely, exasperated, before muttering, "Amaterasu," just as a vortex swallowed him up. His voice echoed over the din of black flames rampaging the confidential section of the library. "Times running out, Naruto."

"Shit," Naruto swore. The black flames travelled towards them, burning the seals they passed by to a crisp but as it reached Naruto he spread his arms then crossed his forearms, standing in front of the stunned Sand ninja. His forearm protectors melted out of their storage seals and covered his arms. The blonde girl watched in awe as the unstoppable black flames clashed against Naruto's forearms and were summarily sucked in by a whirlpool of water.

The young seal master wasted no time running to where the Uchiha had picked a seal from and muttered a quiet curse as he rubbed his eyes. Temari queried her eyebrows in question.

"He took my Chakra High seal," he muttered as he looked around the half-burned room, which had absorption and suppression seals dotted around that contained the Amaterasu flames from burning down the whole building. When she still looked at him in confusion, he elaborated, "The seal Mole has that boosts her abilities."

"The one that gives her pink fire?" she asked slowly, afraid of the answer but her heart sank when the blonde boy nodded. She cursed. "What about all the destroyed seals?"

"I can replace them at any time. I have to worry about what other seals he stole." He ushered her out of the private library section. The room had been protected by what the level nine fuinjutsu scroll called a 'Tri-Security seal' which not only made sure that it was his blood but also scanned his fingerprint and the exact way he would turn the spiral seal, there was no possible way to break it since all of this had to be done simultaneously but he had been proven wrong by the Uchiha; Tobi merely teleported into the room.

The only people keyed in were him, Mole and Frog; Daku didn't need to enter because he already knew every content in the S rank section since he was the one that wrote them. He secured the door again, making sure he heard the soft click before he walked down the stairs.

"Naruto, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to inform my comrades." He looked at her from the corner of his eyes and continued, "No civilian needs to find out about this happening."

She nodded, swearing herself to secrecy. "Understood."

'Now, I need to start those classes. What do you think, Kyu?'

"Maybe placing a Sharingan Destruction and Chakra Control Destruction seal in every important room."

'Great idea but I don't think he's going to come back, I've always been known to be too careful.'

"What about Mole's team?"

"Their reports say that Sound's borders are too tightly secured, maybe I should drop a Seal-Enhanced Tailed Beast Bomb on Sound…'

Kurama chuckled at the boys musing. "This may sound out of character but hold your horses. Aren't you all about limited bloodshed and maximum reward?"

'You're right…the fact remains that this Madara character may use the battle to kidnap jinchuriki.'

Six jinchuriki, him included, were already accounted for but only two of them, the eight and two tails, didn't have the Dual Destruction seals—Sharingan and Chakra Control—on their person, but from their reputations and bingo book entries they were very capable of taking care of themselves. Gaara too was a formidable tailed beast holder and Fuu was just getting her feet under her when it came to controlling beast chakra, which was what the Waterfall leader was telling him. Utakata, the holder of the six tails, was a strong ninja in his own right; there were very few people who could beat him, even at his worst. He could take care of himself.

"We can continue our dinner later, Temari." There weren't too many people outside besides two Hoshi policewomen who patrolled the streets, illuminated by bright street lights. His senses even informed him of his DARK shinobi speeding around in the darkness. He nodded to the sharp salutes the policewomen sent him and made sure the Sand princess was safely inside her rented apartment before he walked back to his office.

The thing about being a leader about to go into a life-or-death battle with other hidden villages was to make sure there wasn't any mass hysteria among the civilians or even the shinobi populace. So ever since he had returned from Ame, Naruto had made sure to subtly display the strength of his DARK and police force to the citizens and visitors in Wave to non-verbally reassure them that no matter what hit them they were fully prepared to halt it before there was any loss of lives. He did this by having more police walk the streets during the day at different places so criminal activities were at an all-time low and by having the black ops briefly show up during the day when they were to report their mission to him, or if they wanted to leave the village.

The police force and black ops had their own designated training grounds that protected them from the eyes of the public but that wasn't the case for the average ninja, which is the genin, chunin, special jounin and jounin. The training grounds numbered one to fifty-seven, were located on the vast land in outer Wave. Some of these training grounds were more private than others but the fact remained that civilians were free to watch if they wanted. It was a sort of internal display of strength that reassured the citizens of Waves security to make sure there wasn't any panic among them.

His budding hunter ninja corps, headed by the demon brothers, was in charge of patrolling the borders with chunin and collecting bounties, though they had to get permission from Mole or Daku before they could pursue high-ranking missing ninjas from allied villages (A to S rank). They were also to idly watch over travelling merchants. It was this hunter ninja squad that informed Daku, who told Naruto, that there was growing activity coming from their borders of Sound and Rock shinobi simply watching Wave. The hunter ninja had prevented a hijacking, though the shinobi retreated before a fight could erupt.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Room 10

The Academy,

Inner Wave,

Wave country.

A woman with mousy brown hair, wearing black shinobi pants and a red short-sleeved shirt under a blue Wave jounin flak jacket walked into the class and they quietened down when they saw her peculiar thin scar running down from under her left eye to her chin, a battle scar she had acquired from her fight with Itachi Uchiha. Her brown eyes glinted slightly with recognition when she saw Noriko, a member of Naruto's genin team, among the thirty occupants of the classroom, most were academy students and genin, whether Wave-born or Hoshi clan members; even though Noriko was personally trained by Naruto he still wanted to attend the fuinjutsu class Rat had requested be set up. The boy flushed when she smiled a little in his direction, she walked to the front of the class and sat down on the desk.

"Good morning students. My name is Em and I will be your level one to four fuinjutsu teacher."

"Good morning, Em-sensei!" The class chorused, each member excited about learning the specialised branch of jutsu their leader specialised in.

"Leader has entrusted me to lay the basic foundations of fuinjutsu for anyone willing to learn it, which just so happens to be your lot. The leader has a dream of seeing a Fuinjutsu Corps in his ninja force, just like there is a Hunter Ninja Corps and Medical Ninja Corps. He has seen that this dream is possible and he also sees that every person in this class, as well as every person in the entire country, has the potential to master fuinjutsu. The key to mastering fuinjutsu though is patience." She looked over at the students to make sure her words had sunk in before she continued, "We are all aware that Master Naruto is a level nine and a half seal master, yes?" They nodded in agreement. "But do you know how much patience it took for him to reach the stage he is currently in? How much patience did it take for him to fully master Contact Trap seals? Haven't you ever wondered why Master Naruto has never exploded in a fit of rage or even gotten frustrated, that is without it being caused by people trying to destroy Wave?" She caught a few of the Wave born and Hoshi genin nodded their heads to what she had asked, too wondering just what their leader had gone through to acquire so much patience.

The genin had all encountered Naruto in one way or the other, whether it was when they were submitting mission reports he was walking through training grounds on the weekend or when he was training his genin. Each time they saw him he hadn't allowed the famed Uzumaki temper to rear its head when he was met with anything that wasn't satisfactory, rather he would encourage the person sternly to do better.

"Fuinjutsu isn't an art, one can just open a scroll and master it within a day or merely train your chakra control to learn to master it, similar to genjutsu. Rather you have to be ready to meet disappointment and injury; your first seal may be flawless but what's to say your second seal would be the same, or even your third seal. Master Naruto has created plenty of seals but do you know how many times he has escaped death and permanent impairment when the seal combinations were incorrect? He told me and my jounin comrades during a meeting in his office that he had once broken all the bones in his arms after he had first attempted to create the infinity storage seal. Then on the second attempt, he had a mild concussion. It was his thirty-sixth attempt that the seal was finally complete. Being stubborn is doing one thing over and over again whether it is wrong or not, but being patient is carefully going over what you have done and correcting it. If that is a failure it is not about giving up and going to the next project but pushing through and being persistent about your passion. If the leader had not been patient with his art Wave would still be how it was under Gato. There would be no mass development in the other five villages allied to Wave. It was a small catalyst, patience, which brought all of this into being and do any of you have any complaints about the results?" They perked up and shook their heads negatively. "Do you all see how patience is key to mastering fuinjutsu?"

"Yes, Em-sensei!"

"Good, you might all come upon roadblocks along the way and you may lose hope that you will remain the same but there is nothing impossible about mastering sealing."

She used Naruto as an example, again, since he was the closest example they had to a successful seal master and ninjutsu-based fighter, besides Jiraiya.

"When you want to give up and drop your brushes for good I want you to have something in mind." She stood up and placed her hands behind her back, her eyes roving over all of the students, who sat up attentively. "If a boy who had resigned to not having a future could discover the use of fuinjutsu and capitalise on it, then everyone can do it too."

It wasn't an insult to Naruto, rather it was a motivator since he had set the lower limit for fuinjutsu students and he was also the present highest limit; it was one of the reasons the ninja of Wave respected him. The depths of depression and hopelessness he had crawled up from to become so many things; the most politically powerful person on the planet, the most powerful fuinjutsu master to date, and possibly the strongest shinobi alive.

"I've been told you have all brushed through the meaning and importance of fuinjutsu in the academy syllabus, am I correct?" They nodded. "Good. Now after finding out about the numerous advantages and dangers inherent to fuinjutsu…who wants to leave?" he raised her right hand in silence before the noise erupted. "It won't be held against you if you choose not to study seal work anymore; you're free to leave." It was possible to be a seal master with minimum injuries from his work, but those were the seal masters who chose to follow after what had already been laid down, not what they wanted to create.

Em seemed to have underestimated the students' drive to learn seals; they had each, at one point or the other, after finding out about Naruto, read about seals by themselves and they were very much aware of the dangers it had. No student left the class after thirty minutes of waiting. Em clapped her hands together.

"Well, then that's good. Before coming here the leader told me he had great faith in this class. He was positive, great minds and great discoveries would come from here. Is his faith misplaced?"

"No, sensei!" they yelled.

"Are you going to put in all your effort?!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, sensei!" they yelled.

"Are you all going to prove to the world that fuinjutsu isn't dead?!"

"Yes, sensei!" they chorused again, this was when she smiled widely and motioned for them to be quiet, she leaned forward like she wanted to tell them a secret and they leaned forward to hear it.

"Master Naruto has a plan to revolutionise the world with seals; he wants to create seals that would be able to transport a person through the air, or even teleport people to and from other villages. He has so many plans and so many ideas it is overwhelming him. I can see it. He needs your help." When she had said the last part they began murmuring to themselves; it seemed too far-fetched that their leader would need help, but they were silenced by Em's nod. "Yes, he wants to work with capable people to bring about this revolution. Do you think you can lend a hand?"

"Yes, sensei." They nodded with fire in their eyes.

"Good, now your first lesson is to know what fuinjutsu is and also know all of the basic strokes by heart. I trust you all have the Fuinjutsu: Level One by Minato Namikaze." They all nodded and brought out the books, the woman turned around and picked up a piece of chalk, she then started writing on the board the numerous basic seal strokes.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

At the same time,

Training ground fourteen,

Outer Wave,

Wave country,

Team Kakashi and Team Naruto with Yakumo were currently leisurely sitting under a tree, idly chatting amongst themselves as they waited for the Wave leader to come; Kakashi was sitting on a tree branch reading one of his many perverse books.

Naruto's first three students had been regularly visiting Wave to receive training from their teacher. Most times their visits would clash with the Wave leader training his Wave students, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing; it gave the older students time to find out about the younger students and vice versa. The plan was usually that Sakura and Sai would stay back in Konoha to train with their different teachers but it seemed they wanted to come to Wave as well.

Hinata and Yakumo were sitting with Kamlyn, Noriko, Sai and Sakura, recounting a time in Konoha during one of Naruto's training sessions. The Wave students' eyes widened in surprise.

"He made you guys do that?"

Yakumo nodded and tugged the bandages around her left hand down to reveal the multiple pine-like marks on her palm. "Yup, and for good reason too. It makes me know how to fight outside my centre of gravity and it also helps me trust my chakra." Hinata agreed with her. "Senbon balancing isn't as bad as it seems. They'll heal."

"It's a mental thing; if you envision yourself doing it then you're going to be able to do it."

"Sensei hasn't told us about senbon balancing," Noriko muttered.

"Yet," Yakumo piped up.

Meanwhile, Inari was lying on his back with his fingers laced together, snoozing off while Sasuke twirled a kunai in his fingers, alternating between activating his sharingan and switching it off.

They all looked up when they heard slow footsteps walk toward them, it was Naruto and he was in full combat uniform. "Sorry, I'm late. Tsunami mixed up my laundry and I had to go and get new ones because I couldn't wait for her to get them organised again."

He was in a long-sleeved black shirt with a thick blue stripe going down his shoulders to his hands, which were free. He also had on a pair of ankle-length black shinobi pants the DARK ninja usually wears on missions with his shuriken and kunai pouch on his left thigh and right hip respectively. He also had on black sandals, black forearm and shin protectors. Over his torso was a blue Wave jounin flak jacket and a blue banded forehead protector wrapped around his forehead. Despite this they could vaguely see that it didn't hinder his movements, he probably tested it out in the store where he bought the clothes.

He nudged his toe against Inari and the boy snorted away, snapping to his feet when he saw that it was Naruto. "I'll be teaching you guys how to—"

"Uhm, Naruto-sensei…?" he paused and raised his eyebrows at Hinata. He hummed and motioned for her to speak. "Well…we were thinking…"

"We want a team spar against you," Sasuke spoke up as the Hyuuga princess hesitated.

"Yeah. Hinata, Sasuke, and I against you," Yakumo said.

"Can I ask why?" Naruto replied.

"We just want to see how far we've come, as your first students," Hinata said to him.

Naruto looked at each of his older students for a minute then at his Wave students; he could see that they wanted to see him face off against his older students, probably to see what his training regimen could do as well as see him fighting. The seal master nodded and rolled his wrists. "What are the rules?"

Yakumo pumped her fist in the air but it was Sasuke who spoke up first, "No trap seals; contact traps or anything."

"No sleeping chain and no blue iron bubble," Hinata continued.

"No Kyuubi and we don't want you holding back, sensei," Yakumo finished.

Naruto smirked at them. "That's an awful lot you've taken away. I agree." He also wanted to see how this would end. "No holding back." He walked backwards to the centre of the training ground and motioned for them to come at him.

"Let's watch how this ends, hm?" Kakashi murmured and sat upright. He also wanted to know what Naruto could do against his students. Sakura and Sai nodded and focused on the fight.

"You know what to do," Hinata muttered to the two beside her.

"Yes," they barked and Sasuke and purple-haired heiress rocketed to Naruto. Yakumo stayed back and unsealed a painting set, a canvas and a brush, she wasted no time to begin painting. Naruto smirked at their plan, already impressed, and the hand-to-hand fight began.

Naruto raised his left forearm as Hinata yelled out a war cry and her fist smashed against it, the attack reverberated through the seal-augmented black metal and escaped through Naruto's feet, moving out of his as if he were a lightning rod. The ground broke apart violently under him but he didn't retreat like expected.

Their teacher leaned away when Sasuke swiped at him with his fist, using his left shin protector to meet the blow and that was when he decided to enter the offensive. His pointer and middle finger, laced with chakra, reached around the blow but the Uchiha, with his sharingan spinning wildly in his sockets, leapt away and Hinata met the attack with her chakra-laced fingers. Naruto's tree root seals flared to life and held him in place as a backlash of chakra blew violently around him and Hinata; he spun on his left heel and used his right heel to kick the girl across her face. She burst into smoke on impact and his sensory seals warned him in time for him to slide to his right from a pair of bandaged hands that reached out of the ground. His eyes widened when Sasuke appeared behind him and punched his back, his tree root seals held him in place; he used the momentum of the surprise attack to swing his now earth-clumped right leg around and nail Sasuke at his side.

A kunai slid out of both of his sleeves to deflect the gentle fist strikes Hinata began sending to him. His eyes twinkled when he saw a small opening in her form but before he could capitalise on it his body was peppered with hundreds of Water Drills. He burst into chakra smoke to reveal a log of wood in his place.

"How…?" Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in irritation and his three tomoe sharingan tracked a paper shuriken. He bent down away from it but a hand from the ground erupted and caught his neck; the Uchiha's eyes widened in shock before his face met the hard, unforgiving ground. Naruto leapt out of the ground and Sasuke rolled away from him as an axe kick cracked the ground.

Naruto's taijutsu style demanded he know any and every form of attack possible so that he would be able to think up a way to defend and counter. It wasn't easy to do with the hundreds of fighting styles and millions of possible attacks but it was relatively easy to do so against his students because he was the one that had taught them most of what they knew, even the jutsu they were using.

Hinata began flashing through a short set of hand seals. "Earth Release: Mud Balls." She took a deep breath and began spitting out mud balls at her teacher. Naruto's shield spiralled into sight and the balls of mud bounced against it. He spun away from the last few and muttered a jutsu.

"Water Release: Cold Tidal Wave."

A thick jet of water erupted from his mouth and snaked toward the Hyuuga girl. She leaped above the attack and it followed after her stubbornly. Naruto cut the attack off to dodge the kunai swipe Sasuke gave him. He flipped backwards and when his eyes were level he slapped his left hand on the ground, the chakra beam seal glowed ominously and a pillar of earth rose from the ground like a snake with a drill in its mouth. The earth attack groaned down at Sasuke but Hinata used the boy as a springboard. She grit her teeth as her chakra coated her whole fist and she punched the attack.

Dust erupted around them and Naruto used a wind jutsu to clear it away.

He noticed that he was now alone, besides team seven and Kakashi watching from the sidelines. His ears twitched for any sound but his sensory seals were all over the place, telling him that his three students were there but not there at the same time.

"So, you finally decided to join, Yakumo," he said and slapped his palms together. A loud click resonated around the training ground. "Kai!"

The air visibly broke apart to reveal Hinata smashing her fist into his stomach.

All the air in his lungs blew out and he felt a harsh heel meet his back courtesy of Sasuke, Yakumo tied it all together by holding her painting brush against his neck, a sharp blade glinted in the light.

"You lose sensei," she said with a proud smirk.

"Have I?" the blonde said, his face to the ground, spread eagle.

As if on cue the ground rumbled and five stone arms burst from the ground, which was when they noticed that his chakra beam seal was still ominously glowing. Two of the fists punched Sasuke clean under his chin and two hit Hinata on her unprotected belly, the last one grabbed Yakumo by her neck, lifting her off the ground.

Naruto got his feet back under him but made sure his left palm was still on the ground; he used his other hand to dust his shoulder before he brought Yakumo down and poked the nerve cluster on her neck, summarily knocking her out. He got back upright and threw his right hand to where Sasuke was still trying to get his legs steady after the earth-shattering blows; three snake ropes burst from his wrist and speed tied the boy up, he motioned for them to come back and he poked the nerve cluster again, knocking the boy out as well. He looked over his shoulder and snapped his fingers for the ropes to converge on Hinata. The girl had her byakugan blazing as she poked and jabbed the three semi-sentient ropes. She crossed her forearms when Naruto suddenly appeared in front of her with his knee hitting her arms, it was all in slow motion as he flipped behind her but at the same time burst into chakra smoke,

"A clone!?" Before she could drop her weight, her leg was grabbed by a snake rope and the others used this opportunity to also wrap around her, squeezing the air out of her. This was when Naruto walked out from somewhere behind her and pushed her, she fell back like a tree. He cocked his head to the side silently and held a kunai under her chin.

"I win." He frowned at her. "You should have dropped your weights immediately." He commanded a single snake rope to retrieve Sasuke and Yakumo, poking their necks again to wake them up. "You should have used your cursed seal and you should have used your beast chakra." He scratched his chin and the trio began perspiring on their foreheads. "Either you three underestimated me or…"

"Sensei we're sorry!" the Kurama princess screamed as torrents of tears flowed out from her eyes.

"You were overconfident…" he finished as if he wasn't interrupted, "I was certain I had squashed that out of you three." Yakumo kept on crying, blubbering her apologies. "Training has tripled. For all of you," he spoke to even his genin team. "Let's start with bucket balancing on beds of senbon." He grinned at them ominously and the six students gulped. "While I throw shuriken at you."

They all gulped.

Authors note

Jutsu list

Water Release: Cold Tidal Wave: this is a simple C-rank jutsu. It is mainly made up of loosely packed water that is compacted together in a way it loose and feels cold but it remains mostly liquid rather than solid. This fact also makes it seem like it is controllable but the user is only able to throw it in a direction, even up for instance, and it would keep going until it reached a point where it would fall. This is the intimidating factor of the jutsu since the user can also craft it in any shape he wants before he spits it out, Naruto chose to change it into a snake since Sasuke was always shaken when he saw snakes (read: not scared). This jutsu originates from Hidden Chill but the creator is still unknown to this day.

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See you all on the flip side.

Foy.