A/N: Hello everyone, so here we are with another chapter, featuring the last fight of the Chunin exams arc. From the next chapter onwards, we will be moving into the Tsunade retrieval arc, with the next two chapters being transitional ones between the two arcs. On a side note, I have also started writing a second fic titled "One Year Early", with assistance from my beta GBAboy313. I am very glad that, that fic has also received a warm welcome from you all, thank you very much for the support again. Also me and GBA are in the process of editing the older chapters of the story since last week and we expect to have chapters 1 through 12 edited and updated within a month or so. (Chapters 1 and 2 have already been updated.). Lastly, thank you all for the continued love and support. Now, without further ado, lets get on with the show!

CHAPTER 17: AFTERMATH OF THE INVASION

*Outskirts of Konoha, 30 minutes after Gaara's defeat and 45 minutes after Orochimaru's*

Naruto and Hinata were walking towards the village. The couple had earlier taken to the trees but soon they, especially Hinata felt the fatigue, due to which our lovely duo decided to conserve their chakra and walk to the village.

Though Hinata could feel her fatigue dissipating far easier than she felt it should have. Though her mind didn't have time to dwell on her fortune or the cause behind it.

'I can feel negative emotions, at least three hostiles.' Naruto sensed thanks to the negative emotion sensing ability from Kurama.

"Hinata-chan, I can sense some hostile shinobi headed towards us, can you check around?"

"Hai, Byakugan!" Veins around Hinata's eyes bulged as she scanned around with her dojutsu.

"You're right, I can see three shinobi heading towards us, and they are 600 meters ahead and closing. They seem to be at least more than chunin from their chakra levels." Hinata explained.

"We aren't exactly in our best shape to make a dash for the village. Konoha is still 5 kilometres ahead and if those Shinobi are not tired out, then they will catch up to us in no time, it's best to confront them here. What I am more worried about is that their negative emotions are directed towards you, which means you are the target, Hime. Let's hide."

Hinata's eyes widened. The mental scars of ten years ago threatened to open up again.

Confirming Hinata's worst fears, three ninjas wearing Kumo outfits jumped into the clearing.

Naruto saw that Hinata was feeling very uneasy and was moments away from having a panic attack. He immediately squeezed her hand, which calmed her down.

"I know you are here, heiress of the Hyuuga; it will be better for you to come out and surrender yourself to us. Struggling will only be harmful to you." One Kumo shinobi with a head covered by black hair and a dark skin colour said out loud. His companions, a rather white skinned guy with brown hair and another dark-skinned guy, who happened to be bald, took out their swords and charged them up with lightning.

'I was right, Hinata is their target after all. What to do? What to do? Come on Naruto think! I don't know how they fight so let's try overwhelming them with numbers and see how they respond.'

Suddenly a horde of Narutos (still not sure what the proper plural is) descended upon the three Kumo shinobi, attacking them from all directions. Despite the severe numerical disadvantage, the Kumo-nin began dispatching the clones with relative ease, showing expert swordsmanship.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Some clones yelled, releasing a huge gust of wind from their mouths.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" the bald dark-skinned guy yelled making hand-signs. The gust of wind from Naruto's jutsu had enough power to break parts of the wall, but the three Kumo-nin stayed protected.

"This boy's features match with that of Konoha's jinchuuriki." The white-skinned one whispered his comrades, who began chuckling, much to Naruto's irritation.

"Well, well, we found not only the Hyuuga heiress but also Konoha's resident jinchuuriki. If we get these two brats, the Raikage will make us Jonin and reward us handsomely for it." The black-haired ninja said with a smirk. (… are these three idiots? Why on earth would anyone defy their leader and expected that they would be REWARDED FOR IT?)

"Dee, Yoroi and Goro! You aren't going to kidnap anyone from here and what awaits you in Kumo is punishment for leaving your posts, the village, crossing the border of the Land of Lightning, infiltrating the territory of another country, threatening and engaging in a fight with Shinobi from another village, all without authorization. Being tokubetsu jonin, I am sure you three clearly understand that all these crimes are treated as treason and I am also sure that you three are well aware of what the punishment for treason is." Yugito said in a cold voice as she landed on the branch of a nearby tree, with her eyes having a hard and cold look. (Ant, meet BOOT!)

The three shinobi, now identified as Dee, Yoroi and Goro looked back towards Yugito and paled in terror, as the jinchuuriki of Matatabi was leaking her killing intent towards them. They began trembling.

"Y-Yugito-s-sama, w-we are o-only doing t-this for Kumo. W-we a-are only c-completing the m-mission, t-the one J failed 10 y-years a-ago. P-please t-try to understand." The white-skinned one, identified as Dee stuttered out. (Yeah, not helping your case)

Only for Yugito to become even more pissed. "10 years ago, when that mission was planned, I was vehemently opposed to it as we were able to do just fine with what we have so why break what works by trying to 'fix' it, but the fools we have in our council and the power-hungry fool we have for a Daimyo ordered Raikage-sama into going with it. Now that we are trying to make up for the blunder that we committed back then, you three came here to repeat it! Do you three fools have any idea what kind of repercussions this stupid act of yours, No that wording implies that there was actual intelligence in your skulls at play when making this decision so let's try again, of what this utterly foolish act of yours can have on our village's reputation and trustworthiness?" The blonde jonin spat in disgust. "As a jonin, I am ordering you to immediately head back to Kumo and surrender to C-san. Doing so, your lives will be spared." Yugito ordered.

However, the three special jonin took a fighting stance, having somehow overcome the fear of Yugito. (*SIGH* dumbasses)

"You are a demon container, it is natural that you will sympathize with another one of your kind and ignore the interests of our village, YOU'RE THE TRAITOR!" The bald man Yoroi exclaimed. (The words of a cornered rat) Yugito's eyes hardened even more and her killing intent increased.

"So now you've defied a direct order from your superior, get ready to face your punishment." She calmly stated as a cloak of bluish-black flames surrounded her body.

The three special jonin were paralyzed for a moment in the face of the Nibi's power being unleashed so nearby. Paralyzed with fear, and scared speechless.

That is, until Goro began ranting, "Damned demons! Every last one of you is untrustworthy and a nuisance to good and loyal ninja like the three of us! Always drawing so much attention with your power while we are lucky just to get in the Bingo Book! (Why would you WANT to be in the Bingo Book?!) Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Ay-sama's treatment of you and Bee is just to get you both where he can gut you and have those damn demons of yours dealt with for good!" The man stopped ranting with Yugito looking at him strangely.

An almost confusing look in her eyes and quizzical tilt of her head as if she was debating in her head.

Goro's entire rant stopped and he asked confused. "W-what are you doing?"

Yugito looked genuinely confused. "I could have sworn you were going to say something but then your mouth started moving with no words coming out," Yugito paused as the vaguest hints of quirking of the sides of her lips showed up under the cloak of flames and her legs tensed and crouched the tiniest bit, "It's almost as if…" Yugito trailed off before her fingernails became long claws and she dashed at them.

Within seconds, Goro's body was torn up into two pieces, courtesy of Yugito's burning claws before the special jonin could react.

Yugito continued and finished her thought, "…As if this cat really did get your tongue." (Clever girl…)

Charging up lightning in his sword, Dee tried to slash Yugito from behind, however the blonde female caught his sword and then broke it into two.

"Perhaps I should tell you that the only shinobi that Ringo Ameyuri lost in combat to was me. You're worse than academy students in front of her, in terms of swordsmanship." Yugito calmly said, scaring the hell out of Dee, before pushing her claw into his chest and pulling out his still his still beating heart, which immediately burnt up, Dee died instantly. Yugito then looked back at the last member of the traitor trio that tried to kidnap Hinata. Yoroi was paralyzed in fear and found himself unable to move, but that was enough for Yugito, she dispelled her cloak and launched a shuriken at him, and then quickly went through hand-signs; "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!". The single shuriken multiplied into 40 and got the last of the trio of attackers stuck on the trunk of a tree. "I misspoke, even academy students would be more interesting and challenging then you three idiots. They would actually use their heads and know that fighting me is hopeless for them. Unlike you three who believe you stand a chance." Yugito stated as she began breathing in deeply and molding chakra.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball jutsu!" Yugito released a gigantic blue fireball from her mouth which incinerated Yoroi, removing any traces of him from existence. Then Nibi jinchuuriki then let out a deep breath.

"Are you two, okay?" She asked, now in a rather reassuring tone. After seeing the Kumo-Nin, Hinata was still a little apprehensive towards another shinobi from Kumo.

Naruto squeezed her hand.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan, I don't sense any ill intent, it's okay." He whispered.

Yugito chuckled a bit.

"Sorry, Hinata-chan. There are still some people in our village who let their ultra-nationalistic beliefs cloud their common sense. I never saw any sense in the mission that was launched to kidnap you back then, neither do I see any sense in it now." The blonde woman said with a smile. Hinata relaxed a bit more.

'How did I forget that she has super hearing?' Naruto thought to himself.

"So, Naruto, I suppose you took care of the Ichibi jinchuuriki?" Yugito asked her fellow blond jinchuuriki from Konoha.

"Yeah, Gaara was really one hell of an opponent, it took the combined efforts of Hinata-chan, myself and Shikamaru to stop him." Naruto replied. "Although, it seems people in Suna treated him like shit all this time, making him shut off his emotions towards others."

"It seems that people like us can't have a good life, regardless of where they live. Only if people could begin to understand that the Biju are not just some mindless weapons of mass destruction, out to eat them all." Yugito said with a sigh.

*In Naruto's mindscape*

"It's good to see you again Kurama, it's been some time." Matatabi greeted as she appeared in front of Kurama.

"Good to see you too, Matatabi. I guess things are going well at your end, unlike that idiot Shukaku who didn't even talk to Gaara, let alone begin preparing him from the future." Kurama responded

"Gaara seems to be quite competent by himself. When me and Yugito were destroying those huge snake summons near Konoha's gates, we sensed Shukaku being released in his full Biju form." Matatabi stated.

"That indeed happened but the Kit managed to stop him and give Shukaku's brat a talk, similar to the one he gave him in the previous timeline. I suppose things will start getting better with Gaara now." Kurama explained.

"That's good. Anyways, Gyuuki and I had an easier time convincing our hosts as our past selves were already fully in sync with them when we arrived. Some days after coming back, we told them everything. Surprisingly they took everything really well. It took a lot of time for them to convince the Raikage to mellow out his ego and start working towards improving relations with Konoha and here we are." Matatabi said happily.

"That's good to hear. I only was able to start talking with the kit only a month ago but we became friends in no time. His parents even got revived in the mindscape by opening the seal. Since then, he has grown by leaps and bounds, though he is still not ready to manage all of my power and enter the chakra mode, but I have to admit his growth within just a month has been phenomenal, he has far surpassed his past self of this point." Kurama explained.

Matatabi would have been annoyed by Kurama's almost preening boast, but when you've known someone for almost a thousand years, you learn to handle minor quirks,"And have you told him about the time-travel?"

"Not yet, he is still very young, me and his parents have decided to wait for a year or two before telling him everything." The nine-tailed fox replied.

"Sounds reasonable. However, I am not sure when, or even if, Yugito-chan will meet Naruto-kun again, so I have decided to share my power with him right now." The two-tailed fiery cat stated.

"Very well."

Matatabi then told her decision to Yugito.

The blonde woman then extended her fist to Naruto, puzzling him.

"Don't get confused Naruto-kun, Matatabi just wanted to say hi." Yugito explained.

"Umm O-Okay." Naruto replied by bumping fists. Immediately the blond found himself in Yugito's mindscape standing before the majestic two tailed cat.

"Whoa, Hello there Matatabi-san. I am Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto introduced himself, earning a chuckle from the Biju.

"You are a good-mannered kid. Nice to meet you Naruto-kun." Matatabi replied as she remembered how brash the Naruto of the previous timeline was.

"How come your body is just made up of flames, don't they burn you and Yugito as well when she uses that cloak of fire?" Naruto asked loudly. (I mean, I can't blame the question but seriously that's what you focused on?)

'It's still the same goofy boy I met in the previous timeline' Matatabi thought to herself.

"Naruto-kun, Kurama must have told you that we Biju are made up of chakra, the chakra that I am made up of is fire-natured, in other words I am a mass of fire. Since Yugito-chan is fully synchronized with me, she can acquire my flame-chakra cloak without causing any damage to her body, it functions like a kekkei genkai for her"

"O-Okay, I can understand that a bit" Naruto replied.

"You'll understand it better very soon, since I am about to share a small amount of my chakra with you. Soon you'll be able to use some of the techniques with my chakra" Matatabi explained much to Naruto's surprise.

"But why? I mean, it will be great but still, I don't really understand."

Matatabi chuckled again.

"The reason is quite simple, it will help me stay in touch with Kurama, regardless of the distance between us. Also, if you or Yugito-chan ever get into any trouble, you could call upon each other. Kurama must have told you that there are people who are after the power of the Biju."

"Yeah, he did. He did mention briefly about Madara Uchiha, who snatched him out of my Mom and unleashed him upon our village." Naruto replied, barely hiding the contempt he had for the man, who was responsible for the death of his parents as well as the reason of the scorn and hatred he had received from the villagers.

"That's true and there has been no confirmation of his death, so it is still possible that he is out there lurking in the shadows, looking for the opportune moment to grab us and gain our power, which also makes people like you and Yugito-chan their targets." Matatabi explained again.

"Alright then, I understand. I promise, I'll do anything I can to help if you and Yugito ever got into trouble." Naruto exclaimed with a confident smile, earning a smile from the gigantic two-tailed cat as well.

"And if you are ever wondering that Yugito-chan's village could take advantage of this then you don't need to worry, having my chakra won't give out your location to me without your consent, it will only allow long distance telepathic link as well as allow you to use some of Yugito-chan's tricks in due time."

"I don't doubt it at all. Yugito is a jinchuuriki like me, I am sure she wouldn't betray my trust and I would never betray hers as well." Naruto said with determination.

"I am sure of that, now raise your fist." Matatabi said as she raised her paw. The blonde Uzumaki bumped his fist with the Nibi's paw. He immediately felt the sensation of a new chakra over his body.

"Done. Although it will take some time before you could utilize my blue flames, your fire affinity is now stronger than before as both me and Kurama are fire types, well to be precise Kurama isn't exactly a pure mass of fire chakra like me, rather he is made up of mostly pure natural chakra with some affinity towards fire. Anyways, I am sure that your fire affinity is now as strong as your primary wind affinity."

"That will be great! I know that Kakashi-sensei and Ero-Sennin have a good mastery over Fire Style, I can learn jutsus from them easily now." Naruto said with excitement.

"I am sure that you will become stronger than most Shinobi in some years, Naruto-kun, perhaps the strongest of them all. I wish you luck. You should go now your mate is waiting. We will meet again soon." Matatabi bid farewell using a teasing voice when she spoke about Hinata, earning a small blush from Naruto.

"All right see ya soon, Matatabi!" Naruto bid farewell to the Nibi as he left Yugito's mindscape.

Back in the real world, he found Hinata looking at him with confusion and Yugito smiling at him. The Kumo jonin spoke first.

"So how was it?"

"Matatabi is really cool, she's much more patient than Kurama; it was really nice talking to her." Naruto enthusiastically said. He heard Kurama pout from his mindscape as Yugito heard Matatabi chuckle in hers.

"What can I say, Matatabi has always been like a big sister to me, my life was difficult but I am grateful to have been her jinchuuriki and partner." Yugito said with a smile.

"Same goes for me and Kurama." Naruto replied.

"We are getting late, it seems all the fights in the village have come to an end, let's head back." Yugito suggested, earning nods from both the genin.

As they headed towards Konoha;

"Naruto-kun" Hinata called her boyfriend, who saw the quizzical look on her face.

"Oh, these stuffs were a bit confusing to you, isn't it? My bad." Naruto replied before going on to explain his short meeting with Matatabi and the sharing of chakra. Hinata understood the logic of Jinchuuriki needing to be in touch so that they can alert each other when in trouble.

'I have already started walking by your side, and I am not going to let anyone separate us no matter what Naruto-kun. You will never ever be alone when in trouble.' She mentally vowed to herself.

*Back in the Hokage tower*

Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Shikaku, Ay and Darui had gathered at the Hokage's office. Two hours had passed since Orochimaru was killed.

"The death of Rasa, the 4th Kazekage, has been confirmed. His corpse was discovered by a Suna patrolling team some 100 kms away from the border with the Land of Rivers, in a clearing in the great desert." Jiraiya reported.

Hiruzen let out a sigh.

"Cause of death?"

"Although, the autopsy was performed in top-secret, multiple stab wounds were confirmed to be the cause of death. I couldn't learn anything more as it turns out my network in the Land of Wind has been routed. Orochimaru must have been having someone very skilled with espionage and counter-espionage do the work to have uncovered my network and eliminate it. I have to build it up all over again." Jiraiya explained with a groan.

"That's unfortunate, though it explains the lack of any advance warning regarding Suna gearing up for an invasion of Konoha." Hiruzen stated with a grim expression.

"Also, it has been confirmed that the Kazekage has been dead for at least 5 days, however I am certain that Orochimaru coaxed Rasa into joining forces with him against us, long before that, so the innocence Suna claims is just a farce. The planning must have been done weeks, if not months ago." Shikaku explained. "So, we have to take their claim of innocence and being completely fooled by Orochimaru with a pinch of salt. It is pretty much certain that their top brass was already considering going to war with us for quite some time. They simply jumped on the wagon when Orochimaru offered them an alliance." The Head Jonin further explained.

"It has been a tiresome day; however, I have sent word to Hyuuga Hiashi regarding your interest in normalizing our ties, Raikage-dono." Hiruzen told his fellow Kage from Kumo who raised an eyebrow. "I would like to repeat my sincere gratitude for your invaluable assistance in overcoming this invasion, personally I owe you my life as I am sure, I wouldn't have made it out alive out of a fight with the first two Hokage as well as Orochimaru, had I been alone. However, when we consider our diplomatic ties, we will need the Hyuuga clan's support to improve our ties. They are the largest and most influential clan of our village and they have a say over our internal and international affairs due to the sheer number of shinobi they have in our forces, which is greater than that of any other clan of the village. If they decide to sabotage our dealings, they could seriously affect things between us. Also they have a significant grievance with your village, which makes it all the more important to take them into confidence. I am sure you understand Raikage-dono."

Ay looked at Darui who only offered a small nod. The Raikage's face showed a bit of irritation, but they already knew even before departing for Konoha that things would come to this. They also pretty much knew what the demand of the Hyuuga clan would be.

"I understand it." Ay said. Shikaku and Jiraiya smirked a little, so did Hiruzen internally.

'I hope that with this, Hiashi, that you could finally take the first steps towards getting rid of the questionable traditions of their clan, which would be a blessing for Naruto-kun as well, considering how close he and Hinata-chan have become of late.'

Just at that moment, a knock was heard.

"Enter." Hiruzen stated. The door opened to reveal a definitely winded Hiashi Hyuuga, showing that he has had his own share of fighting during the invasion, though his face suggested that a major psychological burden had been lifted from his head.

The stoic Hyuuga clan head bowed to the Hokage and Jiraiya, however his looks hardened when his eyes fell on the Raikage, he couldn't help clench his fists. Darui and Ay didn't have any visible reaction to that.

"You called for me Hokage-sama?"

"Yes Hiashi, considering how tiresome the day has been for all of us, I will come straight to the point. The Raikage and his delegation visited our village for diplomatic purposes, namely to begin normalizing our ties. Such a step will be very beneficial for both our villages. However-"

"I understand that you will need my approval of this normalization of ties, since you are afraid that my clan and I might be opposed to any such moves." Hiashi completed for Hiruzen as looked at Ay, he was doing all he could to maintain his stoic Hyuuga persona so as to not lash out at the Raikage and his assistant for causing the death of his brother and making the division between the branch and the main houses even worse than it ever was.

"You are correct, I would like you to endorse this peace process between Kumo and Konoha, your support to this endeavour will be invaluable. Also, in today's battle, Kumo's assistance has been invaluable. In fact, I personally owe my life to the Raikage and Darui-san." Hiruzen stated, leaving it unsaid that giving a negative response to Kumo's offer of improving ties will look very bad on Konoha's part and will be a blow to the Hokage's honour as well.

Hiashi closed his eyes in contemplation for some seconds. He knew he couldn't be the cause of dishonour of the Hokage, as a loyal shinobi he was duty bound to protect the honour of the village and the Hokage, however he saw that Hiruzen had left him room to lay down his demands in exchange for his endorsement of normalization of ties with Kumo.

"I understand that Raikage-sama and his delegation have been of invaluable assistance today, however as the clan head I can't overlook the grievances of several members of our clan on this matter, especially the feelings of my nephew Neji, whose life has been turned upside down due to the 'incident' ten years ago." Hiashi stated with a very serious look.

"Do you have any specific demands in exchange for supporting our peace initiative, Hyuuga-san?" Darui asked.

Hiashi internally smirked.

'Neji, today you came to know about Hizashi's choice ten years ago, perhaps today you will finally get justice of some form as well.' The Hyuuga clan head thought.

"I would like to be blunt and direct, Hokage-sama, Raikage-sama." He asked, doing his best to assign the '-sama' honorific for the Raikage, without showing his displeasure. Both kage nodded.

"Thank you. In exchange for the support of our clan to the peace initiative between Kumo and Konoha, I would like Kumogakure to return the body of my deceased brother, peace be upon him and issue an apology to our clan for the betrayal we suffered ten years ago. Also considering that our villages will have joint missions, upon improvement of ties, I would like to have personal assurance from the Raikage that none of my clan members will be harmed by Kumo shinobi during such missions or anytime in the future." Hiashi half stated-half demanded. His face didn't show it but he was internally excited.

Ay got up from his seat, making Hiashi raise an eyebrow.

The Raikage didn't like it, but he didn't want to undergo Bee's incessant demands to improve ties with Konoha all over again, his brother was really a handful and could be very persuasive when he wanted it. It didn't help that Bee was supported by Yugito, Darui and C, his key associates, he didn't want to let them down, so he knew he had to set his ego and pride aside for the moment.

"Very well, I, the Raikage, sincerely apologize to the Hyuuga clan on behalf of Kumogakure, for betraying their trust ten years ago. I also promise upon my honour as a kage that such actions towards any of the Hyuuga clan members or anyone from Konoha will not be repeated ever again. And the body of Hyuuga Hizashi will be returned." Ay stated with his voice leaving no doubt that he was dead serious about what he said.

Hiashi allowed a small smile to grace his lips.

"Then I believe we have a deal, Raikage-sama." Hiashi replied, this time without facing any mental difficulty to address the Raikage with an honorific. Although he could never fully overcome his brother's death, he knew that ninja villages engaged in shady operations like that all the time, this was the best form of justice he could get from Kumo.

The rest of the people present in the room also smiled, a new era of peace and cooperation between two villages, who have had extremely tense relations till that point was about to begin, thanks to the efforts of those whom many humans still regarded as bloodthirsty monsters, although nobody knew that at that moment.

A/N: And another chapter done! I hope you all had a good read. Before signing off, I would like to apologize for being unable to give individual responses to the constructive reviews, such as the ones from AvatarUzumaki, Taelune and others, however I am very grateful for the suggestions. I would also like to reiterate that me and my beta-editor always try our best to incorporate all the useful suggestions that we receive in the form of reviews. Thank you for the continued love and support. See ya all in the next chapter.